The New Doctor (13th)

[Melizmatic]

Suck it, misogynistic fanboys:

Whittaker's Doctor Who sets new record

Jodie Whittaker’s ‘Doctor Who’ Debut Is Most-Watched Ever in U.K. for the...

[TobinL]

And it was awesome! She is gonna do well in the role. I hope she stays for more than 3 seasons.

[Franko]

i’m really liking her so far, but she’s still in that weird period where every new doctor is still finding their character’s feet. i can’t wait to watch her really start stretching the character.

[Melizmatic]

And it was awesome!

The second ep where she’s reunited with the Tardis was pretty cool too.

[Franko]

The second ep where she’s reunited with the Tardis was pretty cool too.

that was a lovely moment. my favorite moment of the episode, i think.

[Melizmatic]

Forget the 10th Doctor and Rose; the biggest, most emotional 'ship on this show will always be between the Doctor and the TARDIS.

[gadgetgirl]

Loved the look on her face when she said, “You’ve redecorated!”.

I’m curious if the Doctor’s overall mood will shift now that she’s been reunited with the TARDIS.

[Franko]

i don’t know if i can get behind that… it’s very hard to rank the Tardis, Rose Tyler, Amy Pond, or Clara Oswald for me… they all are quite intense in their own ways.

EDIT: omg, i can’t believe i forgot to mention Sarah Jane Smith, too!

[Melizmatic]

Loved the look on her face when she said, “You’ve redecorated!”.

I admit, I do love the new design.

i don’t know if i can get behind that…

The Doctor’s relationship with the TARDIS goes above and beyond any that he/she has ever had with any companion, no matter how beloved.

I cite example A; when the TARDIS’s “soul” (or consciousness if you prefer) was displaced into the body of a living woman, during Matt Smith’s turn at the helm.

She called the Doctor “my thief” and basically stated outright that the first Doctor could never have stolen the TARDIS if she hadn’t chosen to allow it to happen… But she did allow it, because she liked him and wanted ‘some adventure.’

[Franko]

yes yes yes, i know that it’s canon and implied that way. but it doesn’t come across nearly as strongly as some of his human companions, that’s all. the doctor rarely shows the same depth towards the tardis that he does to his human companions – that’s what made the scene in this last episode so touching and singular.

[smulder]

I do love the new design

They should be giving the control rooms numbers like they do the actors.

This new one is revisiting the “hemispherical shape” concept from the Russell Davies era, but this time there seems to be natural light shining into the space from the outside. That could be tricky, especially if they have scenes where the outside of the ship is spinning rapidly, which is something they used to do.

And I noticed this Doctor has another new accent. I guess I’ll get used to it.

Jodie Whittaker Explains Her Doctor Who Accent

[Cynical]

From the article:

Both Whittaker and her accent were largely well-received on social media following her short Christmas debut and there’s no doubt that the voicing will give the new Doctor a certain level of Northern charm. However, Doctor Who is far more of a global property than it was during the Eccleston era and there may be a small chance that the Doctor’s new accent could deter some international viewers.

God forbid a being that travels through time, space and gender should have anything other than a mid-Atlantic accent…

[gadgetgirl]

I know way more Geordies, Mancunians, and Scousers, (and Cockneys, for that matter) than people with BBC standard southern accents.

[nimelennar]

I say have her speak in the Irish Traveller cant that Brad Pitt’s character had in Snatch.

[gadgetgirl]

You monster.

[Cynical]

YES! That or full-on Rab C Nesbitt Glaswegian!

[Franko]

one step at a time. it will happen. it’s bad enough that people are giving them shit over (gasp) being a woman – can you imagine if she was a non-british woman?? the internet would melt down.

[smulder]

anything other than a mid-Atlantic accent…

The earlier actors mostly spoke with a deliberately posh Received Pronunciation that went with the “time LORD” concept.* I’d be OK with sticking to that, but they didn’t ask me

 
∗ tom baker in particular played it as a sort of satire, speaking in a pretentious, plummy cadence but otherwise looking and acting like a homeless person — i think he’s the only doctor we ever see sleeping, as he naps in various inappropriate places

[Cynical]

The BBC’s use of RP was excessive until very recently but they have been taking noticeable steps to include more accents in their programming over the last decade or so.

It’s a real problem when the state broadcaster minimises the hundreds of other (perfectly understandable) accents in the UK, because it reinforces the idea that only those who speak RP (i.e. those from the Home Counties, the upper classes or those with the money to pay for voice training) are legitimate, trustworthy voices.

That means no representation for the working class and no representation for the 50% of the population that don’t fall into those categories.

There’s nothing difficult to understand about Jodie Whittaker’s actual accent, it’s just unusual to hear it because accents other than RP weren’t “acceptable” on TV until very recently.

That the article chooses to say “Jodie Whittaker has a very good reason for using that dialect” when it’s her actual voice, and seems somewhat mystified that she didn’t use one of the other accents she has perfected in order to have a career speaks volumes to the pervasiveness of the idea that RP is “neutral”, when in reality it’s entirely bound up with class and geography.

[smulder]

Well of course I’m not suggesting EVERYBODY ON THE BBC should talk like that. It’s precisely because the Doctor is supposed to be somehow the same person between one actor and the next that changing THE DOCTOR’S accent every time doesn’t seem necessary to me. They’re not postulating that the new Doctor had a new and different childhood from the other Doctors, growing up as part of a different community and talking a different way.