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

Couldn't it just be someone going, "Hey, we've told a bunch of stories with male Doctors. Wouldn't it be interesting to explore what it would be like for a female Doctor? And maybe the next one could be a black Doctor? We could tell some great stories with that."? Does it have to be "well, it's not about storytelling; it's a PC stunt."? Why is it that every time a role doesn't go to a white man, it's because of political correctness? I could see it if it was a role that was a white male human. But it's an alien that regenerates into either gender. The Doctor could literally be anything. Hell, if they wanted to be PC, they'd have made the Doctor a black trans Muslim man.

And honestly, why do people say being "PC" here by being inclusive like it's a bad thing? Capaldi's Doctor was mediocre. This gives a chance for a fresh, completely different take that the character needs.

 

As others have said, start with the more recent vintage. Either the reboot or even the TV movie in 1996, because it helps to have a little bit of familiarity with that incarnation later on. The rest you can hit Wikipedia to familiarize yourself with, mostly for the circumstances surrounding their regenerations.

 

My girlfriend is going to be thrilled when I tell her I'm rounding out my nerd credentials by binging Doctor Who. This will likely be one she will be okay with me watching without her.

 

It could be that, and hopefully it will become that very quickly.
And this has nothing to do with "a role that didn't go to a white man," it's an iconic character that has always been a white male throughout its 50-plus year existence, and a formula that they only just recently decided to start tinkering with. As far as I know, it wasn't until the last show runner -- who was a decided factor in Capaldi's mediocrity, BTW -- decided to veer away from that that Time Lords could suddenly change gender.
As for the black trans Muslim man ... well, we haven't seen Whittaker's companion yet. Give it time.

 

The David Tennant era (Seasons 2-4) is a helluva lot of fun. Some great episodes in there that you might be able to hook her with.
If she stays on for Matt Smith, though, prepare for her eyes to glaze over. That is the one point where they do get bogged down in continuity, mostly because they were leading up to the nostalgic 50th anniversary celebration toward the end of his run. The first half was simply incomprehensible a lot of the time.

 

I think convincing her of the overall premise - a form-shifting, time-traveling alien solves problems with his blue phone booth - is going to be a major deterrent. She tends to roll her eyes when you get too out of the realm of possibility.

But tell her that Chris Hemsworth is a bearded Thunder God who never wears sleeves and Chris Evans is an unfrozen WWII super solider in star-spangled tights, and she is ready to line up at the theater.

 

These are going to be entirely personal taste. I liked the Smith era more than the Tennant era. God I am so sick of Rose. I'm surprised she isn't the new doctor

 

I liked the Ponds a lot more than Rose, but Tennant's Doctor and the episodes just seemed to have a bit more levity and better writing than Smith's era. For my money, the Tennant-Catherine Tate pairing was the show's peak.
But, yeah, it is personal taste. There's a reason people always refer to one incarnation or the other as "MY Doctor."

 

One thing about old, iconic characters is that they were created by a culture that was sexist and relatively racist when compared to our own. For example, look back and you can find plenty of examples of Wonder Woman being treated as less than an equal despite her power and skill. Look at the other traditional DC heroes and you see a lot of white guys. (Marvel, too, though many of its iconic heroes aren't quite as old.)

That is why we see these changes, which are quite common geek culture.

The original Star Wars trilogy is famous for its lack of women and diversity, something that has changed with The Force Awakens and Rogue One. The original Star Trek was groundbreaking in some ways, particularly with one of the first scripted interracial kisses on television, but there were few female characters and their outfits were impractical and a bit short in the skirts. It was The Next Generation that introduced more female characters, not just in larger roles but in leadership positions as admirals and captains.

I mentioned the increased diversity in comic books earlier. This extends to LGBTQ characters in the last 20-25 years. In the early 90s, it was a big deal when a relatively minor character, Northstar, came out as gay. I'm not as familiar with DC's history in that area. Now it really isn't an issue, though I don't know of any transgender characters in comics.

We've seen it with movie casting as well. Making Johnny Storm black in the last Fantastic Four movie was an example. (I forget if the mother was white or Sue Storm was adopted in that one. I believe it was the latter, but I'd prefer not to remember that disaster of a movie.) Perry White was always an older, white male until Man of Steel. As I mentioned earlier, there are quite a few such changes with supporting characters in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

 

Because "political correctness" is the most thinly veiled code phrase of all time.

 

I think she may like Matt Smith even more just because the chemistry with Matt Smith and the companions were fantastic. The Ponds with Smith were great, even if they got a little goofy with Amy and Rory together. Then they brought in Clara and things didn't drop off in terms of the chemistry. And I say that as a huge fan of the chemistry between Tennant and Rose.

That's part of the reason why I think Capaldi wasn't as great as Smith or Tennant. He had some great individual moments and I thought his story lines were interesting, but he never really clicked with Clara and the actress who played Bill wasn't anything to write home about.