A little late on this, but since my preview post, the 13th Doctor has been announced, Jodie Whittaker. She's most recently been in Broadchurch, so indeed the doctor comes from a Chris Chibnall project. In this post, I'll give a brief summary of Whittaker's prior work, and also illustrate how exiting showrunner Steven Moffat paved the way for a female doctor, from the very start.
One of Whittaker's first top roles was alongside Peter O' Toole in 2006's Venus. A comedy-drama, it centered around O'Toole as a veteran actor falling for his new housekeeper/friend's grand-niece (Whittaker).
Jodie was able to not only show off her comedic skills, but demonstrated her ability for drama.
She's also got a sci-fi film under her belt with the underrated Attack the Block, which with Jodie Whittaker, along with John Boyega (Star Wars) and Franz Drameh (CW's the Flash/Legends of Tommorow), has now been a pretty good launch point for top sci-fi/superhero roles.
And then there's the role she's probably been most known for, Broadchurch, where she's put on a tour de force, along with Olivia Coleman and David Tennant.
With just this brief snapshot, she seems more than ready to take on the role of the 13th Doctor.
Moving on, the announcement of a female doctor brought up a lot of fanfare (and deservedly so). Personally, and no offense to him, but I was dreading a Kris Marshall reveal, who'd been among the rumor mill. While hoping they would do a female doctor, I still found myself in a bit of shock that they actually did it. When you think about it though, Moffat had paved the way for a female doctor...starting from the very first lines of Matt Smith.
Upon his remarks of "I'm a girl", while feeling his hair, its an early sign that in the Doctor Who universe, it's indeed possible to have a female timelord. And the clues go on from there.
In the 6th season episode "The Doctor's Wife", The Doctor mentions a timelord that goes by 'The Corsair'. Its revealed that the Corsair had been female, with the line "she was a bad girl".
One of the biggest hints of an upcoming female doctor, was of course 'Missy'.
If The Doctor's best "frenemy" The Master could regenerate female, then why not the Doctor?
In the Season 9 finale "Hell Bent", we even witness a timelord regenerate female, with the general.
The 10th season dropped a good amount of hints, with the most blatant one in the first part of the finale "World Enough & Time". In a flashback scene, The Doctor talks with Bill about how timelords don't stand by human gender stereotypes.
So with all this being said, I don't quite understand why some people have a problem with a female doctor? Its been sketched out throughout the Moffat era that it indeed is possible.
I'm not going to dive into their criticisms, but I think its important that after 50+ years, girls now have a doctor that they can look up to. Steven Moffat tends to get a love/hate level reaction from fans, but one of his biggest successes in his legacy is paving the way for this to finally happen.
With just this brief snapshot, she seems more than ready to take on the role of the 13th Doctor.
Moving on, the announcement of a female doctor brought up a lot of fanfare (and deservedly so). Personally, and no offense to him, but I was dreading a Kris Marshall reveal, who'd been among the rumor mill. While hoping they would do a female doctor, I still found myself in a bit of shock that they actually did it. When you think about it though, Moffat had paved the way for a female doctor...starting from the very first lines of Matt Smith.
Upon his remarks of "I'm a girl", while feeling his hair, its an early sign that in the Doctor Who universe, it's indeed possible to have a female timelord. And the clues go on from there.
In the 6th season episode "The Doctor's Wife", The Doctor mentions a timelord that goes by 'The Corsair'. Its revealed that the Corsair had been female, with the line "she was a bad girl".
One of the biggest hints of an upcoming female doctor, was of course 'Missy'.
If The Doctor's best "frenemy" The Master could regenerate female, then why not the Doctor?
In the Season 9 finale "Hell Bent", we even witness a timelord regenerate female, with the general.
The 10th season dropped a good amount of hints, with the most blatant one in the first part of the finale "World Enough & Time". In a flashback scene, The Doctor talks with Bill about how timelords don't stand by human gender stereotypes.
So with all this being said, I don't quite understand why some people have a problem with a female doctor? Its been sketched out throughout the Moffat era that it indeed is possible.
I'm not going to dive into their criticisms, but I think its important that after 50+ years, girls now have a doctor that they can look up to. Steven Moffat tends to get a love/hate level reaction from fans, but one of his biggest successes in his legacy is paving the way for this to finally happen.
