Is it possible.

Carl B Harrison · Is it possible.

Is it possible Question

First this is only hypothetical and you may have talked about it before and I've not seen it. But is it possible that the Doctor could ever regenerate into a woman... just wondered cos, as it should be, we are all more equal opportunity aware these days and if after another few years to give the next Doctor a twist, do you think they would ever consider making the Doctor a woman or is that not ever going to happen Question

kat

didn't the doctor regenerate into joanna lumley once?

Der Martin

Possible it is. The Doctor can regenerate into a two headed bullfrog if the right conditions apply. It has in fact been done. Now where for the life of me, I can't remember. It hasn't been done in the Tv Series. Joanna Lumley was Doctor for a very brief spell in "The curse of fatal death" (Spoof probably doesn't count). And I think the Doctor has been played by a woman on radio. Certainly there are many comics and stories on the internet written by female fans of the series with their favorite character as a woman.

It would appear however that no one is ready to make the jump to the tv series just yet. Why? Well I think the easiest answer is just that it is an enormous risk and no one is sure that it would work. Nothing at all to do with sexism or racism or anything like it. The general rule of thumb in TV is that is you find a formula that works, then don't meddle with it unless you really have to.

I personally think that it could work. However, I am just as sure that it would lose a lot of fans along the way. THe concept of regeneration itself was an incredible gamble brought about by necessity. If it worked then the future of the series was secured (hoorah!) but if it didn't work then the series would inevitably be doomed to eternal failure (boo hiss!). Such a gamble is only taken when absolutely unavoidable, i.e. when not taking it would mean the end.

Throughout the years Doctor who lost a lot of fans with each new regeneration, picking some of them up at a later point and making some new ones as children discovered what their modern doctor was all about. It was and still is however a very fine line to walk. I know some who decided after Jon Pertwee's Doctor that they would never watch DW again only to look in on "Logopolis" 7 years later and be thrilled by the whole thing and not miss a single Davison Episode!

Others really did stop watching after Jon Pertwee! I myself missed almost all the Slyvester Mccoy era basically because the Baker-McCoy regen was crap, so I didn't bother to argue with my parents about changing over from Emmerdale or whatever it was my folks wanted to watch at the time. I did catch up on it later but only because I moved to the lake district where mobile children's libraries were all the rage and I got my video fix every Tuesday.

Many fans will argue that the Doctor is a male tea drinking british Phenomena. That has been the winning formula up until now (whether we like it or not). In an attempt to draw the heat from the Sexism Male/Female debate ask yourself how you might feel if the doctor was played by a non english speaking Male. An african Doctor dreadlocks n all?, A chinese Doctor with rice instead of jelly babies, A Punjab doctor who always speaks with a gerund. A native american Doctor with a feathered headdress? A Russian or Mongolian Doctor with a furry pointed hat. Actually, the newly regenerated fourth Doctor, when choosing his wardrobe, comes out in front of the Brigadier dressed as a Viking/Turk (not sure which) warrior and the brigadier hunts him with scorn as he would be likely to attract unwanted attention in such a guise.
Ay there's the rub!
For an English speaking audience, nothing is more discreet than a Bog standard english speaking male. Given time, under the surface we will discover our mysteriously complicated Doctor. However there are many times that our doctor must appear almost boringly unimportant. Women, for many, are never ever dismissable on the surface. They are also expected to have a lot more dress sense than our Doctor.
(Bang! Just caught myself with a preconceived idea, synonym of predjudice perhaps?)

Women are just too damned intriguing from the start which takes half of the intrigue away (if you can get to grips with the paradox.)

I guess what the argument suggests is that A woman doctor could work, but it would be a lot more challanging/difficult to write for and would meddle with a formula that has worked for 40 years. I suppose at the end of the day that is what innovation is all about. Little by little I am feeling myself on very dodgy ground here.--- Innovation certainly is the spice of life but then again it is also the death of many television programs. Others have thrived through innovation. Doctor who is thought to be one of those programs even though it has had the same formula for 40 years. hmmm challenge our imagination even further?[/i]

Deako

Emotions after reading Der Martin's piece: Laughing

Carl B Harrison

Well I'm really impressed.... Der Martin has given me a lot to think about.

The reason I asked for is, I'm one of these people that, if in a the new series they said the Doctor would be a hamster, I would except it and think of hammy as the Doctor. I just except the name Doctor and get into the story no matter what. Obviously as you've said not everyone thinks that way and I can except that, but I'm up for any regeneration the Doctor may hit me with.

I had the same experience as you, I missed most of the Baker-McCoy reign for similar reasons and I'm only just starting to catch up, luckily the DVD's are starting to come down in price now, making it easier. Very Happy

Deako

lol, hamster Doctor!