The New Doctor

The announcement has been made, the shots have been fired, and finally after two days, one might hope the smoke has cleared. The new Doctor, who we will not see officially until Christmas evening, several months away, will be a woman. The new Doctor Who (if that is, indeed, his/her name, hmmm, I wonder if The Doctor will need to choose new pronouns…) will be played by Jodie Whittaker.

Now, first things first, the fact that The Doctor will be a woman doesn't bother me one bit. It's been known in fandom circles for decades that Time Lords/Ladies can change gender, race, even species, when they regenerate. Such a gender switch was verified as canon on the television series itself in the episode "Hell Bent" as a white male Time Lord regenerated into a black female Time Lady. Since then, we have seen, and loved, Michelle Gomez as missy, the female regeneration of The Master. It happens, it's canon, and that's how it's going to be.

If anything, my disappointment in the choice of new Doctor was more about it not being Hayley Atwill ("Agent Carter") or Kris Marshall (Love, Actually) than it being a woman. My only doubt is in the fact I have never seen Jodie Whittaker's work, so I'm not even sure what kind of Doctor she'll be - but then again, finding out is half the fun with any new Doctor. I just hope she'll have good stories. Bad stories can ruin even the best Doctors, as in the cases of both Sylvester McCoy and Peter Capaldi, in my opinion.

And now a word about fandom, and this is where it will get ugly. There have been a few distinct factions at war on social media regarding the announcement of the new "Doctor Who" as a woman. There are those true fans of the show who know it is canon, and know it has been hinted at and telegraphed over the span of seasons that eventually The Doctor would regenerate into a woman, and they were cool with it - granted, hesitant as they would be with any new Doctor, but not over gender.

Then there were those who were only casual fans or who only knew the show by reputation and had no idea how regeneration works, let alone what it is. Typically these folks probably voted for Brexit or Trump and wouldn't know a TARDIS from a police box. They were outraged that another male icon was being stolen from them. They were also typically the same folks who spell it 'Dr. Who' as opposed to 'Doctor Who.' For the record, this is Dr. Who, and this is Doctor Who, get it right. Not true Whovians and not worth my time.

Also not worth my time are the folks who have never seen the program and yet still have an opinion. You know what you can do with your opinion. If you don't watch, you don't get one. Just my opinion. And this includes all those folks trying to use the idea of an iconic male role becoming female for your own agendas. You don't get to do that if you know nothing about the mythos.

I welcome Jodie Whittaker to the Who family, and cannot wait for her adventures to begin. I think she's going to rock.

Class

This is the "Doctor Who" spin-off that was originally planned for BBC's streaming access earlier this year. It has been broadcast after "Doctor Who" on Saturday nights after its mother show on BBC America. It's set in Coal Hill Academy (formerly School), the school that the original "Doctor Who" series began at, and recently returned to a couple seasons back.

The premise surrounds a group of students and teachers at the school, who all have their own various secrets and backstories. The school, as background of so many "Doctor Who" adventures, has become a structurally weak point in the universe, both dimensionally and temporally, allowing all manner of nasties to enter.

I was expecting something along the lines of "The Sarah Jane Adventures," a show about kids, for kids. I was very surprised at watching the pilot episode, which of course guest-starred Peter Capaldi as The Doctor, because it was so dark. And by dark I don't mean the monsters which were living shadows, this was a mature show. This is a mature show for mature viewers, much more in line with "Torchwood" than "Sarah Jane."

So you've got high school students, doing high school things, and mixing in with, and mixing it up with some pretty nasty aliens. Most of the kids for me are interchangeable. If I'm being honest I wouldn't know if they switched them around every week, but there is one character who does stand out. That's Miss Quill.

Teacher Miss Andrea Quill, played with precision and a bit of charismatic madness by Katharine Kelly, formerly of "Coronation Street" and "Mr. Selfridge." She is a shape-shifting alien bonded to one of the students, and she's smart and mean and infinitely watchable. Really Kelly is the only thing worth watching in "Class" as far as I'm concerned. Even the ongoing Shadow King subplot doesn't grab me, these monsters in particular are a bit hokey, reminding me of the clay people in Heavenly Creatures more than anything else.

If "Class" isn't renewed, I hope that Miss Quill might join The Doctor as a companion, or better yet, as an adversary. Until then, "Class" is really only worth watching for the most hardcore Who fans.

Doctor Who S08 E10: In the Forest of the Night

"The forest is in all those stories that kept you awake at night. The forest is mankind's nightmare."

As we open this episode The Doctor allows a little girl, Maebh Arden, to wander into the TARDIS. At first I thought, oh no, not another little girl, and then when I saw the terrific chemistry Peter Capaldi had with her... my mind began to wander. Forget Clara, perhaps this is the kind of companion this Doctor needs - either a child or someone with a child's mind? These two worked well together, so much better than Clara and The Doctor, I thought. I'd watch this team.

Apparently the Earth has been covered in vegetation overnight. The TARDIS is in the middle of London, along with Clara, Danny Pink, their class of 'special' kids, and The Doctor - and yet they are all engulfed in a thick forest. When all the kids are in the TARDIS of course, it becomes apparent that one kid equals good, more than one equals "Get off my lawn!"

Later on, it gets a bit silly with a psychic Little Red Riding Hood, wolves, a solar flare, trees saving the planet, and Danny Pink mesmerizing a tiger, but it's still a fairly good episode, better than some this season. Again, Clara is the whiny voice of conscience and clarity, and with this Doctor, that may be the last thing he needs. Boo hiss, let Maebh be a companion.

Peter Capaldi is at his manic and mean best here. Even if the stories are failing "Doctor Who," Capaldi is not. After this one and "Flatline," I am finally liking Peter Capaldi. It may have taken nine or ten episodes, but he's finally grown into The Doctor.

Next: The Finale Begins!



Don't forget to follow my weekly reviews of "Doctor Who" at Biff Bam Pop!, and check out David S. Ward's thoughts on this episode here. Special thanks to David for covering for me while I was on vacation!

An Adventure in Space and Time

An Adventure in Space and Time ~ Written by one of the current stable of writers for "Doctor Who" (which I cover for Biff Bam Pop!), Mark Gatiss, this is a docudrama about the creation of that series back in the early 1960s. These types of shows are done all the time, but what better time to do this one than during The Doctor's fiftieth anniversary, right?

Not just a novelty piece for the Who fans, this is also a British "Mad Men" nostalgia time capsule piece, full of semi-harmless cigarette smoking, sexism, and racism. Ironically, this is like the lighthearted good sister to "The Hour," a recent show about the same era, which coincidentally starred Peter Capaldi, the next Doctor Who come Christmas.

The cast is just full of fun and great characters. I loved Jessica Raine as Verity Lambert, Brian Cox as Sydney Newman, and David Bradley (Filch from Harry Potter) as the First Doctor William Hartnell. And Sacha Dhawan, who I loved as Manmeet in the short lived American "Outsourced," is great as first director Warris Hussein. All terrific actors bringing this fun production, and nostalgic reproduction, to life.

The movie is also a bittersweet journal of the early years of the TV series, through Dalekmania and William Hartnell's deterioration. You'll laugh and you'll cry. I think I liked this timely tale almost as much as I liked the 50th anniversary special itself. Great fun.