Sherlock’s Irene Adler Isn’t Sure How Doctor Who Fans Would Handle A Female Doctor

I was just having this conversation with my gf last week, im all about it

Female Doctor Who? Bring it on. :)

She’d be brilliant. There was a fanfic ‘world’ a while back with the 11th doctor played by rachel weisz. It worked, and was awesome fun actually..!

On the one hand, I like equality and I like the thought of a woman playing the Doctor. On the other hand, I like gorgeous men to look at, and the more the better. This is a really tough call for me.

As much as it would kick ass, I agree with the idea that many Who fans won’t respond well to it. After all, a large portion of the fan base are women who like to fantasize about the doctor. Though it’d be a positive step in female character representation, ironically, I think it’ll more than likely be the very large female fangirl fanbase that makes a deal about this more than any other.

If the doctor becomes a woman, then that’s fine, as long as I get more male companions, its all about balance.

Totally into a female regeneration of the doctor….just…really not a fan of Moffat and female characters…

As great an idea as a male Miss Marple

I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea about a female doctor, but Lara Pulver as Doctor?
Oh my god, that would be so perfect, I would love that!

I think it’d be great. I’m just disappointed that so many fans who are against it are for such sexist reasons.

Most of them simply don’t want to see it done because it would ruin their fantasizing, which to me is a shame and really does the show a big disservice. I’d like to think Doctor Who is a lot more than just eyecandy and “oooh, hot guys.”

Female Doctor? Yes! Just like we need a Doctor of colour. Really not a fan of Lara Pulver, though.  Racking my brain for an alternative, and hit upon Anna Maxwell Martin.

So many people freak out over ANY new Doctor, but they always turn out to be great. I’m sure whomever they decide on, male or female, it would be awesome. The decision making process seems to be in good hands.

 Doesn’t the doctor traditionally have a companion? Make the companion a hot guy. I would love to see that; role reversal, but still both being awesome.

I would be perfectly fine so long as she was chosen for meritstraits other than just being female or how she looks. But I’m pretty sure they know what they are doing so chances are it’d be awesome for there to be a female doctor… if there was one. No use getting excited yet.

So far they’ve yet to follow through on the idea that when regenerating the doctor could end up as anything or anyone… so it’d be interesting to actually do that. Hell, why not make the Doctor actually look alien in a future regeneration… might make for some interesting stories. ;)

I’ve actually already seen this.  Back in the 1980′s a fan film maker in Seattle made a few episodes with the Dr. played by an actress… Barbara Beneditti I believe.  I’ve got them on vhs somewhere and they play very well.  He used the Peter Davidson opening.  

My thoughts on this are complicated. 

There would be nothing better than a female doctor. And I don’t want to hear any fangirl whining about it either. I myself love fanning out over gorgeous guys in my favorite geeky properties, but the fact that the Doctor changes forms every so often is kinda a key characteristic of Doctor Who. I think everyone can stand one or two series of less fangirling for the sake of something interesting and new and revolutionary. If you really need to fan over David Tennant, watch some older episodes on Netflix. And why not give a female Doctor a female companion? Why do we always have to have something we can project shipping on to? 
On the other hand, Moffat sucks at female characters. There is no way to get around it. The actual Sherlock episode that introduced Pulver was one of the most blatant examples of, clueless male privilege disguised as “empowerment” I’ve ever seen. Seriously, it was as if Moffat has taken his cue directly from Kate Beaton’s “Strong Female Characters.” I’ve ranted about that episode pretty thoroughly, but let’s just say I will never forgive Moffat for turning Irene Adler, defeating Homes with her superior brain power and all her clothes on, in a story written in the 19th century, to a dominatrix who greets Sherlock naked, ultimately loses, because she’s just too in love with him, and needs rescuing. I shudder to think how a female Doctor would be handled under Moffat’s supervision.

I don’t know how I’d feel about the Doctor being a woman. I mean I’m certainly open to the idea of it, but I think it’d have to be the right person with the right… style.

I wouldn’t say I’d want a girly-girl or even a posher girl, I’d want a sort of tomboy-ish is-she-gay-isn’t-she kind of girl if the Doctor was to become female.

I’d be very interested in seeing how they handle a female doctor.  It would be an interesting switch.  The dynamics would change significantly, and I think that’d be for the better.

I can’t speak for anyone else but I think it’s high time for a female Doctor and I’m actually surprised it hasn’t happened yet.

I think it would be great, unfortunately I can see it turning into a large wank fest by male fans who will end up commenting on it and revealing how much of a misogynist they really are. Plus of all, isn’t Benedict Cumberbatch already coming back as the Master on Doctor Who?  Sherlock really is invading all of the BBC isn’t it?

YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES. Especially Lara. I would love to see that.

I’d love to see it. I think the Doctor is a character that’s written in such a way that a Rule 63 shift wouldn’t affect the core of his/her personality at all. I think they’d have to figure out a very good way to handle River Song and a female Doctor, though. We have no idea how many more regenerations go between the Doctor and the last time they meet before “Silence in the Library,” so we’re bound to see her and her relationship with the Doctor.

Honestly it’s such a huge shift (in appearance, if not actually in spirit) to the show, I don’t think the majority of fans would go for it. Which is a shame, because I’d love to see a great, odd character like the Doctor as a lady, exploring the galaxy with an attractive young man. But I think it’d make a spectacular mini-series or special or something.

Well actually there were those shorts that moffat made, that basically showed that Smith’s doctor IS the last doctor she sees.

I absolutely agree. Irene and River are the two greatest disappointments in Moffat’s history. What he did with their plot lines does no justice to them as characters.

I’m pro-female Doctor and have been for sometime. It’s like they forgot the part about the doctor having various regenerative forms. Plus I think it could make for some interesting ideas to open up in the plots she’s in. Well, maybe.

I’d love to see a female doctor, but I think Moffat is too sexist to pull it off. He’d probably just end up making me angry.
That said, when they get a better, less sexist writer (PLEASE, BBC), I think Lara Pulver should be first in line for the Doctor role.

i vote for an Ojibwa doctor…sex is unimportant as long as they have that clueless/uncomfortable look about them when the sexual tension rises…to me, that is quintessential

or how ’bout a tranny?

If there is a female doctor that would be amazing, but I don’t want Steven Moffat at the helm when there is. He is a brilliant writer and tells fantastic stories that are interesting and mind bending, but as a woman, I really, really dislike how he writes women.

He still writes within that bygone idea that just making a woman strong willed and over sexualized makes them modern and independent. I just think his idea of woman being “empowered” is very skewed, and not what young girls show be aiming for. Write us as interesting human beings first and foremost, both men and woman can appreciate that.  The only woman character he has written that doesn’t take on that persona I can think of, is Molly from Sherlock.

It would be great for young girls growing up to have one their most beloved shows have a female doctor, but I am sorry, Steven Moffat has a penchant for sexing up woman to an obnoxious degree, and calling them empowered and I don’t think we need that. Get somebody that we know can write female and male character’s well.

Well, logically, The Doctor very well could become a woman. As the Ninth Doctor said before he regenerated “You never know what you’re gonna end up with.” So already it’s plausible. I’ve never seen an episode of Sherlock myself, but based on what I’ve heard of how Moffat portrays females, it seems that the bigger problem is how he’s gonna portray it. Maybe if they just got him to write The Doctor as a little bit male, even when he becomes female, because he’s always been male, so he’d definetely feel incredibly awkward suddenly becoming a woman. (And it sets up a lot of good jokes.)

 I like the idea of Rachel Weisz, she seems to be that kind of actress that can carry a female role but all the characters that I’ve seen her play her in the states have been nothing but eye candy. Which is a waste of an actress.

The Doctor is one role, I’m not sure I’d like see a woman helmming. Well I have ideas for a female Doctor…. but she’d be way to cute and hyper for most.

I’d be totally fine with a female Doctor. This brings up an interesting question though. Can Time Lords switch gender? That would make for a pretty interesting culture, where gender identity is fluid due to the regeneration ability. I have only seen the reboot series so, for you long-time Whovians, has this ever been addressed on the show?

If I’m not mistaken, in “The Doctor’s Wife” the Doctor mentioned in passing that the Corsair switched genders.

I’m going to take the opposite route and say “No” I don’t want a female doctor. The BBC & Doctor Who have had plenty of opportunities to use female characters from their past series that were in fact Time Lords and bring them back in a big way. They of course have failed to do that every time. I thought that they did one hell of cop out with River when she transformed just so they could give the actress screen time. They didn’t bother to even develop her character at all nor give a reason why the Doctor would ever fall in love with her.
I don’t want the Doctor to be a female character for a variety of reasons some being a lot of the adult material that gets posted on websites that just destroys the fun of the series. Another is that I don’t want them tanking the writing because we have to be hip and cool with the times and pull that hipster s*%t. Plus one thing no one’s addressing is that their going to make it if it is in deed a female doctor just eye candy for the male audience & do the same for the Champion. So you might want to ask yourself do you want the BBC to turn into the CW because I sure as hell don’t.
So yes I do agree and don’t agree in Steven Moffat direction with female characters, to me River is a fun character same with Donna both are really fun characters and not really portrayed as week and in need of rescuing. Because in the end both of them couldn’t be saved by the Doctor anyway. Personally though if your going to have a female character please let
a women write it unless you have a man who is as equally good at creating female characters because instead of trying to figure out how
women act and think we can just jump right into it and make that
character happen.
Finally though I’m opposed to a younger woman play the Doctor for the reasons I stated above I’m not opposed to an older woman playing the Doctor. It would be fun to see how we could have such a dramatic shift in personality & movement. Case in point I think Helen Mirren is a nice choice because she is still active and fun to watch playing roles in both TV & movies. Just no Misses Marple rip off PLEASE! She is one of the most annoying literary characters ever conceived and I know when the books were written hurting an old woman was a sin but really when you think about what’s going to stop somebody from killing an old woman to cover up a crime? Nothing that’s what.

Watch Agora.

I think with half the population to choose from they could manage to find a woman with enough talent to play the Doctor, hm?

It would be phenomenal having Helen Mirren for the part. She is very talented.

 I’ll take a look at it when I can. Don’t have Netflicks yet.

This all sounds a lot like the old ‘female led films don’t sell’ crap that hollywood has been pushing at us for the last however many years. I think it’s past time we had a female Doctor.  There have been rumours circulating about it since the 80s.

I would be fine with a female Doctor so long as you had someone who would do right by the character.  Someone like Joss Whedon for instance as the women he writes tend to be the type I personally would think of if the Doctor were a female.

Since there’s typically sexual tension between the Doctor and his travelling friends, I’d be really interested to see what sort of companion they picked if the Doctor was female. We’ve seen that small things like fashion preferences and favourite foods change from regeneration to regeneration, does that mean something as big as sexual orientation could change too?

I largely support a lady as the Doctor! Sadly, I don’t think we’ll see one as the next “official” one.

I’d certainly petition for the stars of the inevitable reboot to be females (or an alternating mix–hopefully mostly female, though), or for Doctor Who to continue by following the daughter/clone from Tennant’s run (who hasn’t been seen since! Wasted opportunity!).

The worst disaster they could do with this idea would be to turn an entire series or two into an extended body-swap style story of a male personality finding out what life is like ‘on the other side’, and the Doctor figuring out what to do all the time. On the other hand, if the Doctor’s personality doesn’t change that much, would that make the character less believable?  It might do if handled badly, but the scenes with DoctorDonna worked well enough that there’s hope, there. 

Nice idea!  I’d love to see that too.

If there is a female doctor, I guarantee she’ll die and regenerate back to male within just a few episodes.  When the women squawk they’re tired of all male doctors, that’s just ladies being ladies – but when the gents start getting upset by a lady doctor (and they will) that will be something handled very quickly.

Oh – and don’t forget all her cunning ended up being down to Moriarty’s schemes – leaving the viewer to wonder if she was even that smart anyway.

”
the Doctor figuring out what to do all the time.”

For someone as intelligent as the doctor, I doubt the <1% difference between a male and female form would be all that crazy….but then I don't put much past most writers….

Meh – Joss does not actually write all that great female characters.  He write females that a *better* than the majority of what’s out there, but I’d be incredibly wary of having Joss write the Doctor.  

Or perhaps it can be a message that “gender” doesn’t necessarily coincide with “sex”.  Someone can be take-charge and brilliant whether they have a vagina or a penis, and people might realize, “why do I find the Doctor’s brusque behavior okay when it’s a man and annoying when it’s a woman?  Does that make me sexist?  Gosh, it does!  I should rethink things, maybe!”
Seriously, I’ve never seen the Doctor do anything overtly “male”.  It’s not like he scratches his balls every episode or talks about draining the lizard.

What are you basing ”
a large portion of the fan base are women who like to fantasize about the doctor” on?  Do you have stats?

Because some women watch Dr. Who because they want to BE involved in the fantasy.  Romantic interests are secondary.  With a female Dr. and a cute male companion, I really don’t think “a large portion” of women would be all that annoyed at the Dr. not being the man.

 Gaiman? I like to think he’d do a good job, or at least get the ball rolling in the right direction.

Still better than the Adler in the RDJ movies, but agreed. It’s too bad that a female doctor hasn’t been already included in the doctor roster so that one could say, well, there’s a 50/50 shot he could be a woman after each rejuvenation…still, that shouldn’t be the reason NOT to do it. Their worries don’t make a lot of sense to me since most of the new viewers I know that watch the show are open to a female doctor (granted I don’t know many viewers, I’m just trying to extrapolate), but I’m not aware of the overall demographic.

Out of curiosity, are there any female Time Lords? I assume yes, but they ARE aliens, so…

I fail to see why this hypothetical male wank-fest should be considered anymore unfortunate than the current female wank-stock of  Doctor Who fan-fics.

Personaly I heartily support either or both. In the words of Principle Skinner, “stand back it’s wanking time!”

Please.  ”Tranny” is impolite.  Are you talking about a transman or transwoman?

I love the idea of a female Doctor :)

Has anybody considered how problematic the portrayal the Doctor’s transition from one biological sex to another could be for trans* audience? I get the strong impression that should the Doctor incarnate as a woman, it will be glossed over with some rubbish about gender not ultimately mattering – similar to how it was implied in The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances that the human race will “evolve” into nigh universal omnisexuality.

I can see the notion that the Doctor is somehow “beyond gender” being something of a slap in the face people who experience dysmorphia and whose lives are deeply impacted by the dissonance between their physical body and their gender identity; people for whom gender and sex matter deeply and for whom these concepts can’t be dismissed as a superficial characteristics. I don’t think the Doctor has ever been shown as anything other than a cis-male, and I certainly don’t think that any attempt to shunt him into a female body will take into serious consideration the ramifications of having a person with nine-hundred years of life as a man (likely involuntarily) changing his sex

A single throw-away line in the thirty-second season of the show isn’t enough to make me think that Gallifreyans are all inherently gender-fluid to the point that moving from a male to a female body or vice versa wouldn’t be as massively harrowing as it would be for a human, and until the show proves it can handle this topic intellegently, I’m hesitant to call for a female Doctor. If there were an episode that actually addressed alien gender-bending in a thoughtful way (The Time Lords are gone, but Chronovores and Eternals are probably still mucking about and would be great for this), I’d be a lot more comfortable with the prospect of an actress playing the Doctor.

Note: I do not ID as trans* and defer to the input of those who do where this issue is concerned.

If we judge by canon Time Lords have at least some ability to control the form they generate into if not the details of it. Every single time the Doctor has regenerated he has chosen to be a male and in the one time he thought he might have regened into a girl he didn’t seem chuffed about it. So to me that pretty much settles the woman as the Doctor debate imo. Not because of any sexist reason or anything else. Simply for the fact it doesn’t make sense for the character given existing canon and there is no reason to change it just to satisfy fans obsessed with genderswap stories. That’s what fan fiction is for. It doesn’t conflict with canon because it’s fanon.

No, thank you. I’ve been watching the show for 32 years now, and while I am not averse to change, the changes should be necessary ones with an actual reason behind them, not merely experiments for the sake of experimentation.  As a wise friend of mine is fond of saying, the answer to most propositions that begin with: “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” is invariably, “No, it wouldn’t.”

There have been several Time Ladies over the years, notably the Rani, Flavia, and Romana, but their status is currently unknown/presumed dead in the new show. The only legitimate Time Lady (not River or Donna/Doctor) currently in existence is probably the Doctor’s daughter/clone Jenny, but she hasn’t made an appearance since her debut episode.

TY for the info! I’m still working on the “first season” with Eccleston and I’m not a fan, but the further adventures sound promising…I’ve never wanted a protagonist to keel over more.

Hang in there until you get to David Tennant’s run. Complete turn around. Oh, and I apologize for my inadvertent spoilers.

No need to apologize! It’s encouraging to know it’s worth continuing on…I certainly like the large concepts dealt with and how bizarre the world is.

 Wow, I had forgotten that. Good catch.

A: Moffat inevitably screws up his female characters, he needs someone smacking the hell out of him to keep him from doing as he do. (Russell COME BACK).

B: Another problem, OMFG Doctor Who is preachy enough gender and other changes would probably result in a wave of tremendous and constant preachy.

 Ah but then we might get a hot male companion. Or better yet one who is interesting on their own merits and not just their “merits”.

I always wish they’d done a spinoff with the dr’s daughter or at least brought her back.

Honestly, I didn’t like the Eccleston series, but love Tennet (?) and Tate

I wish people would stop wishing for the Doctor to become a female.  Changing appearance and personality is one thing but to completely change sex is another.  How many do men do you know that could handle or know how to put on a bra, let alone deal with other female issues.

Hopefully the Doctor’s daughter returns and travels with the Doctor for a while before getting her own series.

And recently (I think it was the Neil Gaiman episode) the Doctor has actually talked abut a Time Lord who switched sexes (the corsair?), so it’s definietely not just female time lords (time ladies?) always regenerate female and male ones male. Though the doctor did say that the one he was talking about was a bit weird (though not explicetely for the sex-switching thing (only)), not that the doctor ISN’T…, but this COULD mean that it’s at least uncommon. Which would mesh with the statistics on what we’ve seen on Doctor Who so far, because, so far, he’s been male.

Personally I’m very much in favour of a female doctor!

We’ve also got eleven on record (from his ep on the Sarah Jane Adventures) that he could also switch skin colour/race. I’m also really in favour of that! (Female POC doc = Awesome! (though, I’m sure this would cause a lot of backlash from people who thought it’s too big a shift, but I think the casting has always been awesome so far and the new actor was always doubted and then after one episode people were all, YES he IS the doctor!!!, so if that continues, then I think it could be done!))

I DO worry about the abilities of the writing team in these regards, I suppose we’ll have to ask ourselves how bad the representation would have to be to be worse than no representation.

How is Moffat any more sexist than Davies? Let’s see… 1 Companion so in love with the Doctor she needed him to give her a clone just to get through life and she treated the one person truly in love with her enough to be with her like crap. 2. Companion in love with the Doctor and when he didn’t return her favors she left him. 3. Only companion not young and fit so she’s automatically not a possible love interest for the Doctor so let’s make her brash and bossy. Sweet. Yep, RTD was sooooo much better. :P Whatever.

Haha, I could see that going awry. I love Joss Whedon to bits, but the first black woman that shows up on Buffy is doing a terrible Jamaican accent and the first black guy on Angel starts off calling everyone dog, saying “word” every ten minutes…I could see that happening in this case, as well. Good to know that it fits the canon, though. I love progress but I will nitpick to death anything that doesn’t fit within the logic of the world.

Good to know. Only four episodes left until the good stuff.

I would love a female doctor, and think the time is right. I have another take on Irene Adler entirely.  It is still she that defeated Sherlock. Things had to be convincing for Mycroft though. After all Sherlock crosses the world to keep her alive and help her fake her death, this time in far far more convincing way.

That said Moffat tends to be a bit pants at female characters over all. And though Moffat’s very first Doctor Who story actually involved a female doctor. (The Curse of the Fatal Death), Joanna Lumley’s portrayal was less than stellar writing. Though it did have some “I am still male” aspects about it; those unfortunately were limited to her taking her breasts as Dalek Bumps… and squeezing them on camera.

Yes yes!! S/he can always change back. And forth. ;) 

I don’t really want a female Doctor because I don’t think the Doctor is female. I mean, they could have a Doctor who is played by a woman and who is human-female in form but still identifies as male. But I would not trust Moffat or really any of the other major writers at the BBC to pull that off. As someone further down in the comments, the Doctor switching genders and having it not matter could really wind up being highly offensive to trans*people. I love the show, but it has a history (especially the new series) of being problematic in terms of racism and sexism. Do we really want the show to reach new levels of that?

The thing that sticks out to me is the regeneration between 10 and 11. When Eleven sees that he has long hair he goes ‘I’m a girl?’ and does not seem to like it. So, to me, the Doctor becoming a woman seems out of character.

However, I do wish that they would consider having a POC play the Doctor. Or, at the very least, another companion. Or, at the very, very least, a substantial recurring character who doesn’t get used as a joke, killed off, or otherwise treated poorly. 

No female Doctors. No. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for awesome crazy awesome nontypical characters of any sort in science fiction, male or female . . . just not in Doctor Who. The female characters in the show have been for the most part disappointing (excluding Amy Pond. River Song really annoyed me — she felt way overdone and overhyped), and I think that the Doctor’s zany innocence/sudden dark intensity wouldn’t translate well into a female character. She would either be too ditzy-flirtatious or not particularly feminine (so what would have been the point of making the gender switch at all?).
A spinoff would be a good way to test the waters for a female Doctor-like character, though, and I wouldn’t mind seeing how that worked out. Just don’t touch the original series. Don’t.

Stuart – if you believe there are huge physical differences between being a man and a woman (that are vastly different from growing an entire food or having a wider frame or having a larger mouth, or something) you really need to study anatomy.

“other female issues” – like what?  putting on a bra?  As you honestly saying that a genius would be unable to figure out how to work a bra?  And what’s left?

It honestly seems like the series has been preparing us for it, dropping a number of mentions in recent seasons that time lords can change genders upon regenerating.  Given in-universe it’s apparently not that uncommon, I’d say it’s high time.  As long as they do it right, as long as they don’t make The Doctor a different (read, overtly feminine because now that he’s a woman he must suddenly become overtly feminine) character just because he regenerated as a woman, I’ll be fine with it.  I would actually be very interested to see it in done.

Question to those who think there would be nothing wrong with The Doctor or that The Doctor would have to act overtly and stereotypically feminine because he regenerated as a woman:  How often in the reboot has he acted overtly and stereotypically masculine?

 Ugh, yes.  I didn’t mind her being a dominatrix, frankly.  I saw the sexual aspect of her profession as not being shameful for her at all, and I enjoyed how the only time it became an issue was when everyone else was so ashamed at having had or knowing people who had liaisons with her.  I didn’t even mind her greeting Sherlock naked.  I saw that as her toying with him more than her using her sexuality.  She was completely comfortable with herself, and Sherlock, for once, didn’t know what to do with himself.

What bothered me was everything else.  After proving herself to be brilliant, a competent fighter and an impressive sneak, she goes on to become a damsel in distress who owes all of her success to Moriarity and loses to the boys because she couldn’t stop herself from being too obvious with her emotions.  Also, too dumb to use any of the many other contacts she had in any way, ultimately fleeing unsuccessfully.

It was a bitter mockery not only of the character written by Sir Doyle but the character they wrote in the first half of the episode.

Since most of those who are against a female doctor can only say limited unintelligent comments like “but, but, but, the Doctors always been a male so he cant change into a girl” or “hell no a girl has no business being the Doctor”, people will  think that ALL whovians are against this idea and since I am a HUGE Whovian AND a girl, I say it’s about damn time! There is NOTHING in the Doctor’s universe that explicatly says he cannot change genders, so why not? Only sexist limted a-hats are against the idea!

 But what’s wrong with being not particularly feminine female? As not particularly feminine, I’d like to see that type of women more often. And why women cannot be dark, zany innocent etc.?

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Um, excuse me? A lot of the people calling for a female Doctor are male themselves. And why exactly would men be upset by a female Doctor? As a lot of people have been saying, we’d need a male companion for balance, and if that was the case, what would be the issue?

I’m basing this perspective on the massive amount of fan arts and the doctor who communities that I regular. Admittedly I don’t have stats but there’s a large enough proportion of them that chances are, they’ll make a massive fuss about it. I’m not saying that ALL female fans who like Doctor who are like this (as I am not one of them), but to try and deny that there isn’t a massively large fan girl manic community is equally as foolish.

I haven’t seen any of Sherlock past the first three episodes so I can’t really comment on how females are portrayed in that show, but the Doctor Who reboot has had some pretty bad females. Rose dumps her boyfriend on the spot to go time traveling, Donna leaves all her stuff in her car just in case he shows up again someday, and Amy attempts to cheat on Rory with him. I know that The Doctor is the sexiest man on the planet, but these girls have zero impulse control and are needy as all hell.

That’s a really good point. He’s superhuman, though, so he might deal with it better than most.

Given how conservative large portions of the franchise is, it might just be safer to give him a Time Lady companion, a la Romana.

They could release a joke episode, initially pass it off as real, and see how the fandom reacts. Personally I’d like to see it.

Other one-off ideas:

The Doctor regenerates into an American. He tries to shoot people with the sonic screwdriver and turn the TARDIS into a car.

The Doctor becomes black, and gets targeted by skinheads. They could use this for a more serious episode.

The Doctor regenerates into a Frenchman. Make up your own ideas. ;)

I’d love to see The Doctor in a female reincarnation.

Worth noting: a regeneration is explicitly a different person, though both are the Doctor. Eleven is not Ten, though Ten is now Eleven. (Compare the epilogue to American Gods: He was me, but I’m not him.)
A female Doctor is a new Doctor; the basic character remains, but the continuity of self is fuzzy. There’d be some surprise, but it’s the surprise of a new-born entity with the memories of its previous lives. As such, I’d argue it would be less gender fluidity than an identity difference between new and old. Much as there are major differences between Eleven and Ten (or Nine, or any before, obviously).

My thought is NO! He has been a male for almost 1000 yrs why the hell would he all the sudden turn into a woman???

OMG, yes yes yes

I think the statement that women enjoy Doctor Who because we fantasize romantically about the Doctor is EXTREMELY insulting. You would paint us all as Marthas and Amys when in fact we are Donnas and Sarah Janes. We don’t dream of “oh, please let the Doctor find me so I can snog him!” No, we want the Doctor to find us, see something of extraordinary quality in us, and offer us a ride in his magnificent TARDIS to worlds and times otherwise unaccessible to us.

And more on topic, I would certainly rebel against a female Doctor, but not for the reasons you state. I wouldn’t want one because:
–It’s insulting to think we NEED the Doctor to be female just to be “equal opportunity” about the whole thing. I feel perfectly well represented without giving the Doctor breasts. I don’t need anyone to “throw me a bone” by writing in a “token female”.
–Gender really only matters when you’re discussing intimate relationship possibilities. The Doctor is male, but I personally consider him in a more asexual context. I don’t care for the Doctor hooking up with his companions in the first place. I’m there for the adventures, not the romantic entanglements. For this reason, I don’t need a female Doctor.
–Moffat writes shitty females. His idea of “strong female” is “I’m so comfortable with myself that I’ll strut around in mini-skirts” and “happy to flaunt my power over the guys”. Take note, so far all of Moffat’s female have be plot devices, not individuals of exceptional quality. Amy had the crack in the wall, River was entwined with Amy and the Doctor’s timeline, and Oswin is the girl that lives twice. That’s crap. Again, I refer to Donna: the woman who was strong enough in herself to turn DOWN the Doctor’s initial invitation. There’s Sarah Jane, who couldn’t be stopped from investigating and seeking knowledge. There’s Romana, who was first taken in by the Doctor and then went on to surpass him. Bottom line, Moffat has no idea what a “strong female” looks like.
–The show needs to focus on other more basic fundamentals before worrying trivial details like the Doctor’s gender. Continuity errors are running rampant through the show right now, and the character focus needs major adjusting. I’m not watching “Doctor Who’s Companions”. I’m here to watch “Doctor Who”. Take a guess at who I want to have the focus of the story?

So bottom line, your perspective is flawed. Don’t insult the female fanbase by making implications that there’s no greater enjoyment for many of us than the idea of possibly making out with the Doctor, especially when you’re basing that perspective off “the amount of fanart” you’ve seen. There’s no arguing that David Tennant is hot. Heck yes he is. Nathan Fillion is hot, but that’s not why I watch/enjoy Firefly. Andrew Lee-Potts is hot, but that’s not why I watch/enjoy Primeval. Debrah Farentino made history as the first female scif leader, but that’s not why I watch/enjoy the Earth 2. And to bring the point home, with Captain Janeway they finally made a female captain on Star Trek (very analygous to the “make the Doctor female argument”), and yet that is not why I watch/enjoy that show.

I think the statement that women enjoy Doctor Who because we fantasize romantically about the Doctor is EXTREMELY insulting. You would paint us all as Marthas and Amys when in fact we are Donnas and Sarah Janes. We don’t dream of “oh, please let the Doctor find me so I can snog him!” No, we want the Doctor to find us, see something of extraordinary quality in us, and offer us a ride in his magnificent TARDIS to worlds and times otherwise unaccessible to us.

And more on topic, I would certainly rebel against a female Doctor, but not for the reasons you state. I wouldn’t want one because:
–It’s insulting to think we NEED the Doctor to be female just to be “equal opportunity” about the whole thing. I feel perfectly well represented without giving the Doctor breasts. I don’t need anyone to “throw me a bone” by writing in a “token female”.
–Gender really only matters when you’re discussing intimate relationship possibilities. The Doctor is male, but I personally consider him in a more asexual context. I don’t care for the Doctor hooking up with his companions in the first place. I’m there for the adventures, not the romantic entanglements. For this reason, I don’t need a female Doctor.
–Moffat writes shitty females. His idea of “strong female” is “I’m so comfortable with myself that I’ll strut around in mini-skirts” and “happy to flaunt my power over the guys”. Take note, so far all of Moffat’s female have be plot devices, not individuals of exceptional quality. Amy had the crack in the wall, River was entwined with Amy and the Doctor’s timeline, and Oswin is the girl that lives twice. That’s crap. Again, I refer to Donna: the woman who was strong enough in herself to turn DOWN the Doctor’s initial invitation. There’s Sarah Jane, who couldn’t be stopped from investigating and seeking knowledge. There’s Romana, who was first taken in by the Doctor and then went on to surpass him.
Bottom line, Moffat has no idea what a “strong female” looks like.
–The show needs to focus on other more basic fundamentals before worrying trivial details like the Doctor’s gender. Continuity errors are running rampant through the show right now, and the character focus needs major adjusting. I’m not watching “Doctor Who’s Companions”. I’m here to watch “Doctor Who”. Take a guess at who I want to have the focus of the story?

So bottom line, your perspective is flawed. Don’t insult the female
fanbase by making implications that there’s no greater enjoyment for many of us than the idea of possibly making out with the Doctor, especially when you’re basing that perspective off “the amount of fanart” you’ve seen. There’s no arguing that David Tennant is hot. Heck yes he is. Nathan Fillion is hot, but that’s not why I watch/enjoy Firefly. Andrew Lee-Potts is hot, but that’s not why I watch/enjoy Primeval. Debrah Farentino made history as the first female scif leader, but that’s not why I watch/enjoy the Earth 2. And to bring the point home, with Captain Janeway they finally made a female captain on Star Trek (very analygous to the “make the Doctor female argument”), and yet that is not why I watch/enjoy that show.

At the time, that was partly what Jenny was supposed to be for: The female Doctor compromise. She was *literally* a female version of the Doctor, as she was made from purely the Doctor’s DNA. People never seem to remember that though.

I agree with you. I’m for it if they find another way, but don’t touch the Doctor. Why can’t they just bring back Romana from her little pocket universe? She was a wonderful Time Lord, and certainly kept the Doctor on his toes!

The problem with “can always change back” if she does poorly:
–she stays so their isn’t another regeneration too quickly: THE main character fails to keep old fans and attract new, and the show suffers, and it’ll have trouble recovering when they finally do regenerate
–she’s forced to regnerate super quickly, and then we’ve burned through a life at a wasteful pace. Remember, Time Lords technically only have 13 regenerations, and we’re at 11 now. Let’s try to make ‘em count, shall we?

Sorry, did I say all female fans? No. Also, why you bothered to write this up when this was posted ages ago and expected me to -care- is baffling.

“Russell COME BACK”
THANK YOU! I’m so tired of everyone who thinks Moffat is gods gift to Doctor Who, and that RTD was horrible at life. I’m glad to see someone else can see the good things RTD did for the show.

B: I hadn’t thought about that, but you know, that’s an irritating possibility.

I don’t like the idea of “equality” as a handout. It feels cheap to say “why can’t the Doctor be a woman?!” It feels too much like “these are modern times, so we need to up the female demographic”. I don’t want them making a female Doctor just because that’s what modern times say stands for equality. I want them to first and foremost, always and only write the Doctor to be a good character. It shouldn’t matter if he’s always a dude.