Who's she?

[Big RR]

I might if I were a 12 year old boy, but the Bond films have ceased to be an attraction for me a long time ago. But I would agree that replacing Bond with a woman (or a gay man which I read was also being considered) would change that franchise; it is kind of a fantasy for preadolescent boys where Bond can beat everyone up, is smarter than everyone, and can make any woman fall deeply in love with him.

BTW, there was a 2003 film on of Peter Pan that starred a boy (Jeremy Sumpter) as the lead; if I'm not mistaken he later was on a TV series where he played the Bat Boy for a NYC baseball team in the 50s (don't recall the name). My guess for why women were cast as Peter Pan had to do with the demands of the role (especially in musical versions) being beyond boys (actually children) of that age, but I didn't realize it went back that far. My kids and I saw KAthy Rigby play the role on Broadway and she was fine in it (although she's really not much of a singer, but she was passable IMHO).

[MajGenl.Meade]

It goes back to the 19th century in the UK as a commonality in certain kinds of stage productions. It was known before that in "breeches boy" parts which became acceptable after the 17th century habit of having young men play female roles was abandoned.

English pantomimes before "Peter Pan" hit the stage used females in male roles; Dick Whittington in 1877 for example - Miss Topsy Venn played the lead. I think she was a USian. OTOH, in Mother Goose, the female lead is traditionally played by a man in drag as became true of Widow Twankey in the Snow White panto.

The issue of child labor laws seems rather specious in connection with Peter Pan, or anything else for that matter. If Peter had to be played by a woman because children could not work after 9 p.m., who played the Lost Boys, John and Michael?

Charles Frohman may well have suggested a woman play Peter Pan so that his girlfriend could get the gig, but it certainly was not the start of a new tradition. He surely pointed to the British children's panto tradition as being precedent for this children's play as well.

[Burning Petard]

I too have been puzzled by DW. Is it some kind of Brit satire of Star Trek? And the basic,l 'reverse twist' on the special effects. 'Plan 9 From Outer Space" was in the same league, but that one was doing the best they could with what they had. Amen to Jim Wright above. I alway have thought of DW as 'the attack of the killer household gadgets' Does the Doctor have a new tardis? Surely by now the English telephone booth is no more common than they are in the USofA.

snailgate

[BoSoxGal]

Dr. Who was airing 3 years before Star Trek, so the spoof theory doesn't fit. As I recall, Star Trek had some pretty goofy special effects back in the day, too.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Does the Doctor have a new tardis? Surely by now the English telephone booth is no more common than they are in the USofA.

snailgate

Tsk, tsk. It's a Police telephone box and a few examples (non-operating) still exist. And for heaven's sake! The Tardis has defective chameleon circuitry which prevent it from adapting the exterior appearance.

I understand that with the new Doctorette, there will be drapes and an exterior flower box added (with herbs, of course).

[BoSoxGal]

[Big RR]

[Gob]

English pantomimes before "Peter Pan" hit the stage used females in male roles; Dick Whittington in 1877 for example - Miss Topsy Venn played the lead. I think she was a USian. OTOH, in Mother Goose, the female lead is traditionally played by a man in drag as became true of Widow Twankey in the Snow White panto.

My Dame role, in the annual Sennen pantomime, was nonpareil....

[Lord Jim]

I don't know what to make of this, "Female Dr. Who" thing...

But I'm prepared to approach it with an open mind....

I think Peter Capaldi has been a rather unimpressive Dr. Who...

My personal preference would have been for David Tennant to retake the role, (he could do it quite well...) but given the fact that he has no interest in reprising the role, (And Billie Piper doesn't want to reprise her role as "Rose Tyler")

I'm open to suggestions...

[BoSoxGal]

I watched Broadchurch twice, largely because Jodie Whittaker was so terrific in her performance - Olivia Colman, too. I highly recommend it to those who haven't seen it.

Anyway, I'm sure she'll be a great Doctor. I think she's a better actor than Tennant - at least based on Broadchurch - but maybe that's just because I'm generally more interested in female characters and actors the older I get.

Boy are stinky, after all.

[Lord Jim]

I think she's a better actor than Tennant

Do you remember his performance as the super villain Kilgrave in Jessica Jones?

Olivia Colman is a fantastic actress, (her portrayal of Angela Burr in The Night Manager is a tour de force...And her chemistry with Tennant in the Broadchurch series is first rate..)

I'm guessing that you may not have seen David Tennant as Dr. Who...

His portrayal of the character captures the quintessential nature of the role...(though of course he's no Tom Baker...)

[BoSoxGal]

I was actually referring to Whittaker, but I'd put both of those female actors ahead of Tennant.

But no, I've not seen him playing a Time Lord - only a tortured cop in the two Broadchurch series, British and American (Gracepoint), and a tortured barrister in a British TV series titled The Escape Artist. He's good, I just don't think he's remarkable.

[Lord Jim]

Well, the bottom line will be the, well, bottom line...

It seems like there are a whole lot of folks in the interwebs who are praising this decision that aren't really Dr. Who fans, but just reflexively like to praise anything they view as "social progress" in popular culture...

How the actual audience will respond remains to be seen...

The modern, post 2004 version of Dr. Who is a cash cow franchise, and if the ratings take a huge hit because of this move, this will be a very short-lived experiment...

I don't think the issue with the core audience will be accepting a female Time Lord per se; (as has been pointed out, there have been other female Time Lords...including one featured this season, who established the precedent of having a male Time Lord regenerate as a female Time Lord)

It will be accepting a female Doctor Who...

And Whittaker's ability to gain that acceptance will have a lot to do with how well she is able to capture the basic nature of Dr. Who (an eccentric but good-hearted alien traveler with a quick wit) and convey it as a woman character...

ETA:

And for heaven's sake! The Tardis has defective chameleon circuitry which prevent it from adapting the exterior appearance.

Exactly...

The story about the Tardis exterior appearance is that it used to adapt to blend in with whatever locale it materialized in, but got stuck as an old style British police box, and hasn't changed since...

(Yeah I know... a piece of hardware so advanced that it can travel anywhere in time and space but it can't change its exterior appearance from looking like a 50s era London police box...Dr. Who is not overwhelmingly obsessed with logical consistency...)

[MajGenl.Meade]

The modern, post 2004 version of Dr. Who is a cash cow franchise

Uh. You wanna rephrase that a tad, LJ? Maybe?

[Lord Jim]

Uh. You wanna rephrase that a tad, LJ? Maybe?

Not that I can think of...(well, except that the first season was 2005, not 2004)

The revived show has been much more lucrative than the original 30 minute version that went off the air in 1989. That show lasted a lot of years, but it was conceived as a low budget kids show, and wasn't seen much outside of the UK till the late 70s. The revived version has huge world-wide distribution, and has spawned a series of spinoffs and large scale merchandising:

The programme was relaunched in 2005, and since then has been produced in-house by BBC Wales in Cardiff. Doctor Who has also spawned numerous spin-offs, including comic books, films, novels, audio dramas, and the television series Torchwood (2006–2011), The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), K-9 (2009–2010), and Class (2016–present)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who

[MajGenl.Meade]

It was "cash cow" that I found a little disturbing, giving the new casting

[Lord Jim]

Oh, okay, now I get it...

I apologize; your sophomoric sexist humor attempt went right past me...

[Long Run]

Let him milk it, for a while at least.

[Guinevere]

No thanks, it was curdled immediately.

[RayThom]

What a whey to go.