Female Doctor for 12?

So as always now we know we are getting a new Doctor the discussion starts on who will be the actor to take Matt Smiths place.

And as always be big debate on whether they should cast a man/women/black/white/actual real life alien as the next Doctor starts.

Now you can't talk about whether there should or shouldn't be a black Doctor without sounding weird or racist and as I have no problem with his skin color anyway (other then on a few points I'll make in this blog) there is no point to write about it. In fact most of the arguments I'm going to make in this blog can be made for anything from the color of his skin, gender or whether or not he's disabled.

Do I want a women as the 12th Doctor?

For some reason I really don't! I admit I have very little reason for this feeling I just see the Doctor as a male character, he's been played by 11 (12 as of NotD) male actors and so far has been portrayed as a male. Yeah alright I admit there isn't any masculine traits, to be honest there is no such thing really now-a-days as a masculine trait anyway, and it could easily be changed to a female part.

But the question is why should it change?

Answering that with "well why not?" kind of misses the point.

To start with the funniest argument I've heard as to why there should be a female Doctor goes along the lines of "well the Doctor is an alien so he isn't male in the sense of a human male so making him a female would be great as it means that he'll have to come to terms with being female with all these new emotions and how other people treat her inferior then when she was a male..."

Again, kind of missing your OWN point there!

So the reason it doesn't matter if the Doctor suddenly became female is he is a Time Lord and with mention of the Corsair changing sex frequently we have the starting point of this idea.

BUT in the same breath you say it would be interesting because he'd have to come to terms with a real HUMAN issue. If regenerating can turn you from male to female no matter what your species version of male and female is then why the hell would you have to "come to terms" with it? And how is a real human issue like being the wrong sex in the wrong body got to do with a family time sci-fi show?

Personally I would hate that, and if that isn't the way they go then it would be played as one big joke. "Oh look breasts *grope*".

I'm a fan of Steven Moffat and don't necessarily believe he'd do that but at the same time I can't see many writers not using this as something to change the Doctor.

What I would LOVE was a female Doctor who was just, you know, the Doctor. I don't want to be told that the Romans would ignore her because she was female, I don't want her to struggle against male characters for a whole episode, I don't want her to have a knight in shining armor companion. If we HAVE to have a female Doctor I want her to be THE DOCTOR. Independent, traveling across the whole of time and space (yeah predominately on Earth I know) with a companion that is just a friend. In fact the companion bit I've been hoping for most of the series since it came back in 2005.

Now as I said I don't really want a female Doctor, I won't turn off never to watch just because there is a female Doctor, if I didn't like her (like Tennant) I won't watch it or only watch it when I can be bothered. But that'll be down to acting, stories and likability personally, nothing to do with her sex (or if it turns out to be a black Doctor to do with his or her skin color.) If anyone tried to say any different I'd point to RTDs era and say well explain why I wouldn't watch pretty white boy Tennant then?

Personally I'd be happy just to get the right person for the job either way.

I want them to feel like they are older then they look, you won't find a 900+ year old actor to play the role so either way they have to be able to look like they've carried 900+ years of a life well traveled. I want them to be eccentric, maybe a more condescending tone at times, an older actor/actress who takes their companions under their wing. I want a Doctor that is loving and caring, smart and brave and gets the best out of the people around them.

I just want a decent 12th Doctor!

So you cry why can't it be female? I said I didn't have a valid reason. Then again no one has turned me towards the idea with all these "great" storyline ideas. Maybe it is just a thing I'll get over in time, at the moment the Doctor has always been male, I've always thought of him as male, he might be a alien but he's a male one. Just like Sherlock Holmes is male, James Bond is male... They are just male.

I don't particularly want anyone that isn't British as the Doctor either. Not because I hate Americans, New Zealanders, Australians or anything like that, my favorite actor is Karl Urban (now he'd be a great Doctor) but for me the show has always been British (yeah I know the whole thing about the people who made it etc but have you ever really thought it WASN'T British?) and I like how it promotes British actors.

Unlike stout opponents to female Doctors I'd be willing to give them a chance but I've not heard a reason why we should change other then "why not?"

For me the Doctor is male, the Corsair provided a path I'd never thought about but I never saw the Corsair change sex on screen so for me it was a comment that made me giggle at the time and I forgot about it.

What makes the Doctor so male?

Nothing. But for 50 years he has been male, we've seen female Time Lords, we've seen other Time Lords regenerate into the same gender as they were to begin with. In my opinion we've had a few jokes about changing gender, one example we never met let alone see it happen but nothing to say that all Time Lords can do it.

Out of all the possibilities a female Doctor just seems... Wrong.

Not because I don't want one really but because I'd fear they only did it to boost ratings, make it sexy or appease people who will still see sexism even if the gender did change.

Not to mention a lot of people like the thought of the Doctor acting like Irene Adler did in Sherlock............

I won't even comment on that!

I don't believe there is ingrained sexism, racism or any other ism in the BBC. They do a bloody good job of trying to represent Britain at this time in my opinion. I really don't think the place to tackle any of these issues is a family program that people just want to sit down and relax after a tiring day either at work or looking after young ones and forget about their trouble.

Why not create a new exciting show with a female lead? Why not start a spin off with Romana or the Rani or Jenny? Why change the sex of the Doctor? Why not wait a few years then have another "Merlin" just this time the whole of the round table being female? Why is it not OK to change that kind of fact but just because Doctor Who is Sci-Fi and we've heard of one Time Lord who changed sex does that mean he's the ideal person to change to appease people or make a statement of non-sexism?

Of course Moffat might just want a female because she's the best actress for the job.

Well good luck to her! And I'd hope to hell the writers didn't touch upon the fact she's female and just had her carry on and be the Doctor not "that female Doctor" just the Doctor.

So maybe I'm not so against a female Doctor as I am  worried about the way she would be written?

I want every Doctor that comes to the show in the future to just be able to stand on their feet and be their version of the Doctor. Whether they be male or female.

Just give me a Doctor with a male companion... Yeah I said it, that is my one big bug bear! I want a proper full time male companion like Rory was come the end. A new Jamie that will stick up for himself against the Doctor, be strong and brave but also has to learn from the Doctor and other characters. That would be fun.


In conclusion....

Just lets wait until we're a few episodes into 12s first series and then lets decide whether they were the right Doctor for the job.