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Eadie Galactic Ambassador
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 1695
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 3:58 pm Post subject: What are the Producers Thinking? |
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The Significance of Casting the First Black Time Lord
In the series' 57-year history, Jo Martin is also just the second woman to play the time-traveling extraterrestrial.
[See paragraph highlighted in dark red.]
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/01/doctor-who-jo-martin-first-black-time-lord-1202207187/
British science-fiction series Doctor WHO has made history by introducing the first actor of color to play the Doctor: Jo Martin, who’s also only the second woman to be cast in the series’ lead role.
The January 26 episode, titled Fugitive of the Judoon, starred Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor, alongside Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill as her companions, Graham O’Brien, Ryan Sinclair, and Yasmin Khan, respectively, along with the return of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness.
Martin is introduced as a character named Ruth Clayton, who is later revealed to be a previously unknown incarnation of the Doctor.
Fans weren’t entirely sure if Martin’s appearance meant what it implied, but series boss Chris Chibnall has confirmed that she is the real deal. Speaking to The Mirror, Chibnall said, “The important thing to say is: She is definitively The Doctor. There’s not a sort of parallel universe going on, there’s no tricks. Jo Martin is The Doctor.”
Chibnall also noted that Martin was credited in the same way John Hurt was credited when he first appeared as another incarnation of the character, who was featured in the 50th anniversary special The Day of the Doctor, in 2013.
“That’s why we gave her the credit at the end which all new Doctors have the first time you see them,” he said. “John Hurt got that credit.”
It’s still unclear where Martin’s incarnation fits in the Doctor universe, but Chibnall spoke to that uncertainty as well.
“There will be answers to some of these mysteries this [season],” he said. “But as ever with Doctor WHO, answers often reveal new questions. It’s all very deliberate.”
He also revealed Martin wasn’t aware she was auditioning to play The Doctor when she met the producers to read for them.
Martin’s casting comes after another Doctor WHO star, Lenny Henry, who plays a billionaire tech mogul in the series, claimed that the BBC would rather cast a dog as the next Time Lord than use a black actor.
Talking about his guest appearance ahead of the series’ 12th season in December, Henry said: “Why have we never had a black Doctor WHO? They would rather have a dog do Doctor WHO than a black person. There’s no black people in Doctor WHO.”
On the diversity issue, he added: “We’re still a long way away. The ‘in’ group who are in charge of everything are getting complacent.”
Jo Martin is a regular on Holby City, where she plays Max McGerry, consultant neurosurgeon and acting CEO of the hospital. She has also appeared in Fleabag, Batman Begins and first gained attention in the early 2000s playing Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom The Crouches.
She posted a picture of herself in costume as the Doctor on social media after the show aired on Sunday night — having kept her new role secret for months.
Whittaker, who joined Doctor WHO in 2017, isn’t going anywhere. Whittaker told Entertainment Weekly a week ago that she’s signed on for another season as the 13th Doctor.
“Yes, I’m doing another season,” she said, before Martin’s Doctor was unveiled. “I absolutely adore it. At some point, these shoes are going to be handed on, but it’s not yet. I’m clinging on tight!” _________________ ____________
Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable. |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17166 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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________________________________
I'm not opposed to the idea of rethinking traditionally white male characters as African Amerians or women or African American women . . . or any other nationality in any other gender.
But sometimes the nature of beloved characters in fiction is is so strongly rooted in the original character's gender, age, and ethnicity that changing any of these is very annoying!
Film producers shouldn't always feel perfectly free change these characteristics just to conform to the new PC standards of diversity. Doing so can end up creating bizarre and unsatisfying versions of legendary heroes. For example —
What would Wonder Woman, the amazon princess, look like it "she" was change to Wonder Man? He'd look pretty silly in the costume, right? And he wouldn't look much like the traditional character in a "male version" of that sexy outfit.
And what if a "gender switch" was applied to the Louisa May Alcott classic, Little Woman, turning into Little Men?
If ever there was a gender-specific story, this one is it!
And does any male fan of the classic secret agent craze want to see Agent 007 turned into a flaxen-haired female who sips Vodka martinis and routinely seduces romantically inclined men?
Does the British Secret Service really need an agent named . . . Blonde . . . Jane Blonde?
I'd hate that . . . and I don't think I'd be alone.
Oh hell, let's go all out and re-imagine Gone with the Wind with the main character as Stanly O'Hara, a vain young man who enjoys the attentions of all the ladies from the surrounding plantations.
But he's swept off his feet when he meets a worldly older woman named Regina Butler who knows that the Deep South is doomed because of it's own selfish, racist, bigoted culture!
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What do you think, guys? Are my gender-switching versions of these stories really possible . . . or do they sound just as stupid to you folks as they do to me?
My point, of course, is that some stories that are gender and racially specific should not be changed!
But if you're still not convinced, consider this wild idea.
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A version of Roots in which Kunta Kinte is an attractive blonde girl who is kidnapped by Black Americans and sold into slaver.
Sounds kinda dumb, don't it? ![Shocked](images/smiles/icon_eek.gif) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Last edited by Bud Brewster on Fri Jan 31, 2020 11:24 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Gord Green Galactic Ambassador
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Joined: 06 Oct 2014 Posts: 2948 Location: Buffalo, NY
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:46 pm Post subject: |
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Bud wrote: | And what if a "gender switch" was applied to the Louisa May Alcott classic, Little Woman, turning into Little Men? |
Bud....She DID write a book titled LITTLE MEN.
But...Your overall point is well taken.
There are a few fictional characters whose persona is bound by their race, sex age or other factor of their identity.
Imagine a black Tarzan....or a female James Bond.
You certainly could do an "alternate universe" type of story, but you would lose some of the cache that accompanies the character. How about a black female Sherlock Holmes? Different idea....BUT not the original concept. We did get an Asian female version of Watson and that did work storywise. Alternate casting only works as aberration.
In the case of DOCTOR WHO it is established that through regeneration the entire identity of the character can change into any Gallifrain variation....age, sex and even racial variation is possible! That makes him/her such a great wellspring of ideas.
I loved this episode...And I haven't cared too much for Chibnails former stories.
Jody will never be my favorite Doctor, but this, at least, fit into the mythos. Seeing Captain Jack again sold it to me! _________________ There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child. |
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Bud Brewster Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)
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Joined: 14 Dec 2013 Posts: 17166 Location: North Carolina
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 11:35 am Post subject: |
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Gord Green wrote: | Bud....She DID write a book titled LITTLE MEN. |
Ah-ha. I did not know that. Thanks!
But of course, that story was created from the ground up to be about men, it wasn't just "Litttle Women" with all the genders changed.
Gord Green wrote: | Imagine . . . a female James Bond. |
Ummm, actually I did. I called her Jane Blonde in the post above.
Here code number would be 0038D. ![Wink](images/smiles/icon_wink.gif) _________________ ____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958) |
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Krel Guest
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2020 2:29 pm Post subject: |
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In the next Bond movie they won't have a female James Bond, but they will have a black, female 007.
In the movie, Bond is retired and gets called back in to handle some problem, where he finds that his number has been assigned to a female agent.
David. |
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johnnybear Mission Specialist
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Joined: 15 Jun 2016 Posts: 441
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Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2020 8:11 am Post subject: |
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As a long time Doctor Who fan I ended my love for the show when I heard of a woman taking the part! So this black female Doctor from before is a load of old trash to me! I began to dislike the show during the Matt Smith time and grew to hate it with Capaldi so it's not a question of being a sexual bigot! I bought all the Star Trek:Voyager DVDs and Highlander:The Raven set so I'm not opposed to female character heroes just those that are forcibly changed for the lunatic fringe to keep on watching! So Chinballs, go fly a kite!!!
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