All-purpose, running Geek thread (formerly Battlestar Galactica thread)

Moffat introduced the idea of a Time Lord regenerating either male or female, I believe. It was first explicitly mentioned in "The Doctor's Wife," written by Neil Gaiman. Arguably, it could be when they went from Tennant to Smith because the Doctor wondered if he was a girl when he felt his long hair and checked to see if he had an Adam's apple, so it had to at least be conceivable that the Doctor's gender could change.

 

Yeah, I thought of the Tennant-to-Smith regeneration scene too -- which was written and directed by Moffatt. Davies let the new guy have that scene so he could put his full stamp on the character from the get-go. Even though it's been a fairly long time now (hard to believe it's been seven-plus years), I think it was mostly Moffatt steering things that way.

Maybe they did feel the time was right to try something different, shake things up a bit, but it seems like there has been a growing chorus from some segments of geekdom (and other places) that any white male character is now the embodiment of an evil male-dominated society and needs to go. Doesn't matter whether the character has been a white male for 50 years, all of a sudden if any hero doesn't have a vagina or isn't a person of color then the creators are racist, misogynist, etc.
I think that's what's not sitting well with me. Instead of creating new characters that fit those modern diverse archetypes, we end up having things that seem forced, like the flood of Marvel characters suddenly all changing races and genders, or a female Doctor in this case.
Are the old characters really that much of an affront to humanity that their identities need to be ripped from them?

 

No. That's silly. You have to go far, far, deep into the corners of the internet to find anyone who argues "any white male character is an embodiment of oppression." That's equality feeling like oppression to the guy used to being on top.

 

To be fair, Marvel didn't have characters changing genders. They had new characters stepping into existing heroic identities. I've never really read Thor comics, so I don't know how that one fit the narrative. Sam Wilson stepping in as Captain American made sense as he had been Steve Rogers' partner when he was the Falcon. The female Wolverine is actually a clone of the original, but she had been around for years and didn't immediately step into the role.

Miles Morales was forced. That one was all about diversity. The "death" of the Ultimate Universe's Peter Parker was not really story-driven and it was clumsily handled. It also wasn't permanent, though when he returned he decided to leave Spider-Man in Morales's hands. That said, they did create a new character with an entirely different set of supporting characters. That allowed the character to be popular enough to survive the end of the Ultimate Comics line. Spider-Man: Homecoming even utilized some elements of Miles Morales's story, such as the geeky best friend.

That brings us full circle to the real key, that the execution is what really matters. If the new Doctor is well acted and leads to good stories, all will be well.

 

I had no problem with Sam Wilson stepping into Cap's shoes because, like you said, he'd been around for years and Steve Rogers had taken a couple of sabbaticals before. Sam was a part of Cap's universe for decades and it makes sense he'd be there to step in. Kind of like when Dick Grayson pinch-hit as Batman for a time or two, or whenever James Rhodes assumed the role of Iron Man so Tony Stark could go get hammered.
Even the Miles Morales Spider-Man I could go with, since he was born of the Ultimate line. I remember reading and enjoying Spider-Man 2099 way back when. Alternate universes are fine on their own. It's when they permanently merge with the main one and become the "One true (insert hero here)!" and the original is cast aside for the new and improved model that I roll my eyes.

But, again, it's like you said with execution. Pull it off well, tell good stories with good writing and good acting, and no one will care by Episode 4.

 

Maybe I need to lay off the Gawker sites. That shit will get in your head. Angers the blood.

 

Off the top of my head, here's the scorecard for men of major geekdom movie and TV franchises in 2017:

80% of the movie Avengers, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, 80% of the Guardians of the Galaxy, 4/5ths of the Justice League, 3/5ths of the Power Rangers, all of the Transformers, all the major players in the Dark Tower, Sherlock, Flash, Daredevil, Green Arrow, probably more than half of GOT but I haven't counted it out, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Deadpool.

I understand the instinct of something different from what we're used to being bad, and I absolutely think there was some amount of social-justice thinking behind it. But men are doing just fine.

 

Actually, Miguel O'Hara from Spider-Man 2099 is in the main Marvel U. now, too.

 

You've also got female protagonists in main Star Wars movies and Rogue One, Wonder Woman, Wasp as a partner to Ant-Man in the upcoming sequel, and Jessica Jones. Not disputing your point, but the geek in me had to balance things out. Of course, there are more male heroes you left out, too, like Dr. Strange.

I do get your point, but you seem to be missing the point. It isn't that there isn't a need for more diversity. The question is if changes should be made to existing characters just for the sake of change or should they be creating new characters to create a better balance.

 

They should be changing existing characters. Because existing characters will always make up the vast majority of the content, and there's no need to wait 30 years for a generation to grow up with Spider-Gwen.

 

So? The goal is to tell compelling stories. It's not like you can't popularize an existing female character or develop new ones. Marvel has done that with Captain Marvel. They had Carol Danvers take on the role after years as Ms. Marvel (and other identities) and created a very popular new character, Kamala Khan, to take on the title of Ms. Marvel.

Miles Morales worked in part because he wasn't really replacing Peter Parker. Parker still existed in the main Marvel Universe and now they are both part of it. One reason so many people seem to like Spider-Man: Homecoming is that it does such a good job of capturing the characterization of Peter Parker. A big part of Spider-Man's popularity has always been including stories that show the difficulty and sacrifice involved in trying to have a life and be a super hero. That was something that the Amazing Spider-Man movies didn't do nearly as well.

Part of it is finding creators who can help audiences connect with new characters. Brian Michael Bendis is a good example. He created Miles Morales (along with an artist whose name I forget). He also took a minor, mostly-ignored character in Jessica Jones and made her an important part of the comics, which eventually led to a very good series on Netflix.

 

Captain Marvel is another example of a female character taking over a male character, though.