UK Timeline : Doctor Who

[Stephen]

Can I just say that a gay actor does not mean that the Doctor would therefor be gay. A gay actor can play straight parts. Same way that a straight actor can play a gay role

[RichardCoulter]

Very true.

[General Maximus]

Sounds to me like the series lost its way a long time ago, the legacy is tarnished and the character solely serves as a platform to push agendas and messages.

[Stephen]

It was doing that back in the 70s.

Originally Posted by Stephen

It was doing that back in the 70s.

Nonsense.

[Stephen]

Many of Pertwees stories had a message about the environment or political message in them.

Originally Posted by Stephen

Many of Pertwees stories had a message about the environment or political message in them.

Only if you start looking hard enough to find what you want.
You could argue that the 'Green Death' was a little bit obvious.

The current programme is blatently in your face preaching, they dont even try to hide it, or make it subtle.

Not to mention of course the obvious pc choice of the doctor himself (oh, sorry, herself now).

We await the inevitable gay/trans black female doctor
In fact, they've already gone part of the way with that mystery black woman
Rewriting/retro fitting the whole Doctor/Timelord concept and back story to suit the latest agenda's.

[Frazz]

Dr who peaked with David Tennant, Matt Smith wasn't too bad and it has gone downhill since and Jodie has been awful

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Frazz

Dr who peaked with David Tennant, Matt Smith wasn't too bad and it has gone downhill since and Jodie has been awful

Totally agree. I've stopped watching it now.

---------- Post added at 22:21 ---------- Previous post was at 22:06 ----------

Originally Posted by Paul

Only if you start looking hard enough to find what you want.
You could argue that the 'Green Death' was a little bit obvious.

The current programme is blatently in your face preaching, they dont even try to hide it, or make it subtle.

Not to mention of course the obvious pc choice of the doctor himself (oh, sorry, herself now).

We await the inevitable gay/trans black female doctor
In fact, they've already gone part of the way with that mystery black woman
Rewriting/retro fitting the whole Doctor/Timelord concept and back story to suit the latest agenda's.

Whilst I'm all for equality etc, the BBC is now trying to brainwash people. You're right, it isn't even subtle. They stick black issues/people into programmes for the sake of it, to a point where they are overrepresented.

It's counter productive to what they are trying to achieve.

It's not just Dr Who, Radio 4 is absolutely shocking now. Every genre of programming from plays to religious programmes, from comedy to history is all black, black, black. I'm sick of hearing about it now.

Yes, in the 70's they were underrepresented or always portrayed in a negative light, then things became more balanced, but it's absolutely ridiculous now.

I find the odd programme about it interesting, but not to this level

Would I like to see more disabled people on TV/radio, yes, but not being shoehorned into every damn programme for the sake of it until the point where people resent it.

As usual, it's probably not black people doing this and if you complain you're labelled 'racist' to shut you up because they know this will work with most folk these days.

I actually think that the next Dr will be a woman as to not do this would make them look like what they did was a mistake.

To me, the doctor will always be male, just like Father Christmas. Conversely, Mother Nature will never be male.

[Mr K]

They said a while ago they wanted the next regeneration to ge a total surprise. Only to be revealed on screen at the time. Almost impossible to pull off these days, but it would be good. Maybe Olly is a 'stalking horse'.... Maybe several different regenerations filmed would be the way to do it ?

I'd like Stephen Mangan to give it a go.

Doctor Who has been political ever since I started watching at the time of the reboot. Matt Smith had such episodes, David Tennant did as well.

Science-fiction is often quite political.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Damien

Doctor Who has been political ever since I started watching at the time of the reboot. Matt Smith had such episodes, David Tennant did as well.

Science-fiction is often quite political.

It has, but it was much more subtle and not non stop.

I remember watching one from the 70's tho a bit back where Pertwees assistant was acting the sweet, unintelligent woman who was asking his permission to do something trivial. Reminded me of Corrie when Deadrie asked her husband Ray if she could have a chequebook after they were married. He said "we'll see"

It might be more obvious now which is probably down to them covering newer, different, issues as society changes and the writing not being as good. I think a lot of British television writing fails the 'show, don't tell' rule of storytelling in that they don't trust the audience to pick up on the subtext of their work and instead mainline to you via excessive exposition.

Whereas a (good) American drama might naturally hope you pick up a theme through the actions of the characters and the beats of a story a British one will pause everything so that one of the characters can tell you the theme in a little speech. I am not a writer but my theory for this is a lot of British writers come from theatre and don't fully appreciate all the additional devices film gives them over the theatre.

Doctor Who probably has an additional disadvantage here in that whilst other science fiction settings force the writers to tackle an issue via allegory they can just jump to a real-world example where the audience already brings their own knowledge/opinions/preconceptions to it. So if Star Trek wanted to do an episode on Slavery they would use a fictional example and can change that as they see fit, the audience would be new to it. Doctor Who would just go back to the American Civil War to have a chinwag with Lincoln and fight off against Confedrate Daleks.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by Damien

It might be more obvious now which is probably down to them covering newer, different, issues as society changes and the writing not being as good. I think a lot of British television writing fails the 'show, don't tell' rule of storytelling in that they don't trust the audience to pick up on the subtext of their work and instead mainline to you via excessive exposition.

Whereas a (good) American drama might naturally hope you pick up a theme through the actions of the characters and the beats of a story a British one will pause everything so that one of the characters can tell you the theme in a little speech. I am not a writer but my theory for this is a lot of British writers come from theatre and don't fully appreciate all the additional devices film gives them over the theatre.

Doctor Who probably has an additional disadvantage here in that whilst other science fiction settings force the writers to tackle an issue via allegory they can just jump to a real-world example where the audience already brings their own knowledge/opinions/preconceptions to it. So if Star Trek wanted to do an episode on Slavery they would use a fictional example and can change that as they see fit, the audience would be new to it. Doctor Who would just go back to the American Civil War to have a chinwag with Lincoln and fight off against Confedrate Daleks.

Yes, Alien Nation is a prime example of this.

[RichardCoulter]

A blind lad is raising money to help other blind fans of the show:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/metro.c...-14848133/amp/