Helen Mirren Interested In Playing Dr. Who?

[Aeolius]

I find that weird - it implies Time Lords can choose their regeneration, whereas the Doctor has never shown any ability to do so (and has often been surprised by the result).

When the Time Lords forced the second Doctor to regenerate into the third Doctor, they originally gave him a list of potential appearances. He was far too picky, so they forced the regeneration.

That being said, maybe it's a "girl thing"?

 

[Umbran]

I find that weird - it implies Time Lords can choose their regeneration, whereas the Doctor has never shown any ability to do so (and has often been surprised by the result).

The justifications for that particular regeneration are varied, and thus rather apocryphal. Most hinge on the fact that it was a chosen regeneration, rather than forced by trauma. In one case, the author suggests it was actually a personification of the TARDIS that did the choosing, and that later made Romana take that form....

And while Colin Baker had appeared on the show before playing the Doctor, they just ignored that little tidbit in the regeneration, such that I wouldn't use it as precedent.

 

[Aeolius]

And while Colin Baker had appeared on the show before playing the Doctor, they just ignored that little tidbit in the regeneration, such that I wouldn't use it as precedent.

Never mind the tenth doctor having regenerated into the form of Barty Crouch Jr.

 

[Umbran]

Never mind the tenth doctor having regenerated into the form of Barty Crouch Jr.

Magic Wand. Sonic Screwdriver. Same thing, really.

 

[hopeless]

A Female Doctor...

Given the doctor supposedly died at the end of the last series there's nothing to say his granddaughter Susan chooses to take up his mantle as a way of honouring her late ancestor?

Or even Jenny for that matter, all it requires is a TARDIS of her own which is the tricky part but not impossible mind you...

You could even reveal she's the descendant of Rose and the human doctor who eventually discovered that like the original first doctor having one heart doesn't mean he isn't a Timelord and might have passed on his remaining lives so he could grow old and die with his wife meanwhile creating a dynasty to keep up the mantle of the doctor using the name as an alias after all how are the bad guys going to know they're facing someone entirely different?!

The Silence might be annoyed but given at the end of season 5 the daleks agreed to seal the doctor away since they didn't believe they could kill him permanently so what if it has already happened but doc 11 hasn't found out there's another doctor out there?

And as for Mirren playing a female doctor, why not? She has the acting chops to go with it, it will be interesting to see how they handle that!

 

[Herschel]

I love Helen Mirren, but I don't see it. Maybe in a trench coat and sensible heals but I'm not feeling it.

 

[Morrus]

Anyway, whatever she says, I din't believe she'd really do it. Spending 10 months of every year in Cardiff, no more movies or Oscars? Nah. She's too big.

 

[Richards]

I'd be perfectly fine with a female Time Lord show...but that said, I don't want the Doctor to be a woman. Where, in the Doctor Who mythos, is it established that Time Lords can swap genders when they regenerate, anyway? (Besides the "Curse of the Fatal Death" comedy episode, which is hardly canonical.) [Disclaimer: I haven't seen the most recent season of the show - I'm waiting for Christmas to get it on DVD - so hopefully it isn't established in one of those episodes, as I'd hate for that concept to become the norm.]

To me, the Doctor needs to be male - and furthermore, British. (I'd be as displeased with an American Doctor as I would with a female one.) If nothing else, if Gallifreyan gender-swapping were as prevalent as some would like to think, why has the Doctor remained male throughout all of his eleven incarnations thus far? Likewise with the Master, likewise with Romana (who was female in all of her incarnations), likewise with Borusa and every Time Lord shown thus far?

As for concurrent TV shows, I believe over in the Star Trek universe we had "Deep Space Nine" starting up while "Star Trek: the Next Generation" was still in production, and likewise "Voyager" started up while "Deep Space Nine" was still running. So it's been done before, and I'd be perfectly fine with a separate female Time Lord TV show running at the same time as "Doctor Who." That way, we crusty old traditionalists get to keep our male Doctor and you can still have a female Time Lord running around giving the Doctor a run for his money on her own show.

Johnathan

 

[Morrus]

I'd be perfectly fine with a female Time Lord show...but that said, I don't want the Doctor to be a woman. Where, in the Doctor Who mythos, is it established that Time Lords can swap genders when they regenerate, anyway? (Besides the "Curse of the Fatal Death" comedy episode, which is hardly canonical.) [Disclaimer: I haven't seen the most recent season of the show - I'm waiting for Christmas to get it on DVD - so hopefully it isn't established in one of those episodes, as I'd hate for that concept to become the norm.]

It is indeed specifically established in the 2011 series. Look for references to The Corsair (another Time Lord) in the episode "The Doctor's Wife".

It's further established in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures where the Doctor specifically days that he can turn into anything - male, female, black, white, etc. (He also mentions that he now has 500+ regenerations).

 

[Richards]

Sounds like I've got some catching up to do, then - Not just with "Doctor Who," but "The Sarah Jane Adventures" as well. Thanks, Morrus!

Johnathan