[Crimson Dynamo]

Originally Posted by Denver

The people on here who are actually attacking a man for for being black

We love Fan Fiction

[Glenn.]

Well this thread was a delight to read.

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Is Discord down for the day

Only joking guys how lovely to see you all

I agree that it's nice to see old faces return to the Forum.

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Denver

The people on here who are actually attacking a man for for being black need to realise it is a hate crime to be racist, but I bet you a tenner they are all 2 faced when in public as they can only he their true selves when hidden behind a keyboard, thank god they will never be anyones role model

Hopefully he'll get given good material so it'll be hard to criticize his performance.

[arista]

[Ashley.]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Is Discord down for the day

Only joking guys how lovely to see you all

I'm not on Discord, but if that's where everyone is gathering these days then I'd love an invite!

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by Ashley.

I'm not on Discord, but if that's where everyone is gathering these days then I'd love an invite!

I know that Daniel posts on there nowadays.

With the exception of today, and hopefully many more days to come on this Forum.

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by arista

Wtf is he wearing that "jacket" is hideous and it better not relate to his Doctor costume. Hopefully he ditches the blond, the Guinness look doesn't really work for him.

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

Anyway, waaaay back when the Second Doctor was being forced by the Time Lords to regenerate, they initially gave him an array of photos as to what he'd look like. One or two of them were obviously non-white.

Oh not only that but the character of the Second Doctor came pretty close to being non-white as well.

[thesheriff443]

The question is, has he been chosen for his suitability for the role and acting ability or the need for the bbc to appear inclusive whenever comes to people of colour.

Not watched doctor who for a good while but it has gone down hill and that’s partly to do with poor choices of doctors.

[arista]

The Online Paper

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

The question is, has he been chosen for his suitability for the role and acting ability or the need for the bbc to appear inclusive whenever comes to people of colour.

Not watched doctor who for a good while but it has gone down hill and that’s partly to do with poor choices of doctors.

In all honestly I think it may well be a bit of both - I think they clearly did want a non-white Doctor next, however the fact that they apparently auditioned for the part rather than hand-picking an actor suggests that they did consider who is best for the role as well. Not something that can really be judged until seeing him on screen. Like I said above, for me he needs to be able to capture the energy and irreverence of the character (from his character in Sex Education I think he'll do this part fine) but also has to be able to switch to that serious, darker character capable of being cold and intimidating when the plotline needs that (this part is a bit of an unknown). To be fair I think thus far only Tennant and Smith have nailed both sides of the character for me - with Smith being marginally better at walking that line than Tennant (his anger is more controlled and thus more intimidating). Capaldi was great at being the Scary Doctor. He got a bit "stage school" when it came to the lighter side. Whittaker couldn't really pull off a dark side at the end of the day.

Ultimately though I think he should be given a chance.

It's really not important or new that they had a trait that they wanted before picking the actor - they clearly wanted "younger" actors for Tennant/Smith and made a very clear choice to cast an older actor with Capaldi... that doesn't mean they "only picked Capaldi because he's old" - but being older is one of the reasons he was in the running and no one had any issue with that .

As always I'm more concerned with it being plausible (for what it is... anyway...) and lore-accurate. e.g. like I said, The Doctor can't suddenly be gay because we know The Doctor is not gay (and in fact, as regenerations can gender-swap, the very notion is somewhat meaningless). For whoever asked above as to when that was suggested with Eccleston - it was the first Captain Jack episodes when he talks to Rose about how Jack isn't gay or straight per se he's just from so far in the future that he's not fussy at all (women, men, aliens, whatever). There's a clear implication that the same applies to Time Lords/he's perfectly comfortable with Jack kissing him, etc.

Secord point that I'm interested to see how they handle though, is historical storylines. They can't have a black Doctor going back to certain times/places and it not being commented on or completely affecting how he's treated by characters from that time period... it would be historically not accurate and frankly IMO offensive to black people to not acknowledge how it would have been. I'd rather it isn't hammered home constantly though -- they can get around that by having only one or two episodes set in eras where there would be race issues (and they probably should do at least one), but other than that it's easily enough solved by having most episodes be modern day/future or non-Earth. In all honesty I pretty much always prefer those to the "historical" episodes anyway.

[Toy Soldier]

As an additional thought - they could actually do a historical story line and just have him explain that the TARDIS is applying a perception filter (as with "psychic paper", and why companions can understand and speak alien languages) that makes people see him as white. Might be a bit controversial but it's within the established abilities of the TARDIS so... ... it is possible... ...

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

As an additional thought - they could actually do a historical story line and just have him explain that the TARDIS is applying a perception filter (as with "psychic paper", and why companions can understand and speak alien languages) that makes people see him as white. Might be a bit controversial but it's within the established abilities of the TARDIS so... ... it is possible... ...

Oh you mean in case he encounters racism in different time periods he travels to ?. Well Rosita managed fine in that Christmas special ( I know she was from Victorian time anyway) , but when the cyber queen gave her a hard time she just punched her lights out.

Also Martha seemed fine in Shakespearean time , Shakespear even fancied her. But yeah She experienced racism in the family of blood episodes though. I guess they'll always be some ignorant moments to reflect the time era they're in .

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

As an additional thought - they could actually do a historical story line and just have him explain that the TARDIS is applying a perception filter (as with "psychic paper", and why companions can understand and speak alien languages) that makes people see him as white. Might be a bit controversial but it's within the established abilities of the TARDIS so... ... it is possible... ...

And reading what you said earlier , It's realistic to address the discrimination when he goes back in time. Also not everyone he meets in the past will be out and out racist . They'll probably be some surprised looks when he walks past them or something. If he's travelled to anywhere pre 1970 or further back of course.

As for the doctor's preference, it also seemed obvious to me that he was more interested in women especially in the Rose days . But I don't know what they did when Whittaker took over ?. I think he just sometimes let other kisses happen but I wouldn't say it was romantic.

[bots]

they have had black assistants for ages and thats never been an issue. Why would there be a problem with a black doctor. I just don't get it. You either enjoy the show or you don't, and that is predominantly driven by the writing

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

they have had black assistants for ages and thats never been an issue. Why would there be a problem with a black doctor. I just don't get it. You either enjoy the show or you don't, and that is predominantly driven by the writing

I think the issue is more that people don't trust the motives behind the casting, rather than the casting itself.

Most people probably wouldn't have cared if the Doctor had been cast as a woman and/or non-white back in like 2010, but the way the entertainment industry has "progressed" means people's surface level traits are more important than anything else.

Doesn't mean Gatwa can't be a fantastic Doctor, I trust RTD.

[rusticgal]

Originally Posted by bitontheslide

people talking with nostalgia about the early series seem to have forgotten the dreadful acting and the cardboard sets

But we didn't care at the time....

[Toy Soldier]

OK now I'm pretty sure RTD is trollin' .

[Glenn.]

A king

[Oliver_W]

I doubt they're gonna be a long term companion, they're probably just in for the 60th

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

I doubt they're gonna be a long term companion, they're probably just in for the 60th

I don’t necessarily mean the casting itself - I mean making her Rose (or a version of Rose, or maybe just someone else called Rose?). There’s just no way RTD isn’t deliberately poking.

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I don’t necessarily mean the casting itself - I mean making her Rose (or a version of Rose, or maybe just someone else called Rose?). There’s just no way RTD isn’t deliberately poking.

True

Some people think they may be the child of Donna and Mr Donna, because they're mixed race and Donna is white while her husband is black. She called her child Rose because despite the mind block, that name means something to her...

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

True

Some people think they may be the child of Donna and Mr Donna, because they're mixed race and Donna is white while her husband is black. She called her child Rose because despite the mind block, that name means something to her...

That theory would rely on the trans actress playing a cis female which seems somewhat unlikely... if the character is trans then it doesn't make sense that Donna came up with the name Rose. Though I guess they could do the same thing but with Donna suggesting the name Rose, a sort of "it just jumped into my head... I have no idea why..." scene.

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

That theory would rely on the trans actress playing a cis female which seems somewhat unlikely... if the character is trans then it doesn't make sense that Donna came up with the name Rose. Though I guess they could do the same thing but with Donna suggesting the name Rose, a sort of "it just jumped into my head... I have no idea why..." scene.

Hmm fair point ...

Maybe Donna goes crazy, and is like Mother Bates, and forces her son to dress up like a girl and calls him Rose?