They did this with the military commander of Gallifrey. They've been building up to this for a while.

Shouldn't you be in one of the GA threads shamelessly begging, or do you have the day off?

Unlike other major character changes, this one actually fits within the lore. Whether the motivation behind it is story or politically driven, I cannot say.

Here's the other side of that though - I think there should be some limits to that reinvention. Otherwise we'll end up with an entirely different character who just shares the same name. Like in DC comics when they rebooted the Justice Society as the Earth 2 comic. Sure, the cahracters had all the same names and powers, but they were not the characters we knew anymore. Alan Scott was always my favourite Green Lantern, and now suddenly they tell me "here you go - this young, gay guy is Alan Scott". He's not. I actually enjoyed the comic, it was quite a good series, but nevertheless the JSA I knew and loved is gone. For me it was always a tough but succesfull balancing act on the shows part to keep the different Doctors distinct, and yet still believably the same character. This just feel like completely giving up on hat balancing act, and instead embracing a "screw it, he's a regenerating alien we can do anything approach". I guess one could argue it's just as valid, but I don't like that idea.

Did Broadchurch improve over time? I see a lot of people praising it, but I've watched the first few episodes and it bored the hell out of me. It felt like the most generic crime mystery possible.

You and I have agreed in the past about how heavily Moffat has utterly boned this series. His obsession with making everything massive, and making The Doctor so powerful and special (I think he was putting himself in the role, I seriously think there's an amount of self placement there). It's been such a mess, they even failed to make it gritty with killing Bill, instead a lovely afterlife journey. They've ripped apart canon, ripped up continuity (which for someone that can time travel is quite a feat).

It's been taken apart to the point there's nothing to defend, so lets see what happens now. I think it's going to be interesting, could be make or break for women in the role (number 14 being a man would be a very contentious swap, basically saying women failed).

They turned the Doctor into other PEOPLE. Twelve times. Different person, personality, character, quirks, even morals at times.

Considering the above massive changes throughout the decades, changing race, gender or sexuality seems completely and utterly trivial to me.

I'm not at all a fan of gender bending, I much prefer female characters that are their individual creations. Yet here, it really doesn't matter. The doctor isn't a singular, inalterable character. Never has been. The doctor's nature and appeal is this massive change, the literal reincarnation.

I agree with Breja this much though: The new season could still be shit. They got rid of Moffat as showrunner though, and that bodes very well for the show. May even get hooked on it again. :)

Like I said before here, I really liked this last season. Well, most of it. Not without some issues, but it was a hell of an improvement over the previous one, and I really liked the finale. I don't even mind the happy ending for Bill - I don't need Doctor Who to be a gritty show, and unlike Clara I felt Bill earned it after what she's been through. It even dialed down on Doctor's all-power, as throught the finale it really felt like he is at the end of his rope, desperate and out of options. In fact, I'm okay with this finale being the finale of the show for me, at least for the time being. Much like with long running comic book series, or game series or whatever, sometimes one just has to pick a moment to jump off.

I think, I should. Since it's more productive than to reason with SJWs like Breja (or any SJW for that matter).

Now now,kiddies try and keep it clean as it is a kids show and no more strings showing up on the Daleks.

Personally I don't care if it's a man or woman.

I think Jodie Whittaker will be an improvement on Peter Capaldi. I haven't enjoyed his time as the Doctor. In fact this last season was a complete drag for me.

Tennant and Smith (once he warmed up) are my two (modern) favorites thus far. And for me Amy Pond and Rory the best companions.

Can't wait for the Xmas special so Caps can bugger off!!

I agree with all of this.

I'm still not entirely sure about the change, I have no particular problem with it but it will depend what they do with it. But Jodie is a really good actress, if you didn't like Broadchurch (and while I think it was alright it definitely falls short of the praise it received, but the cast were stellar) than watch Marchlands. A really brilliantly spooky mini series she starred in with Alex Kingston. I certainly prefer her to the male favourite for the role (Kris Marshall).

But getting rid of Moffat is far more exciting to me, he was a talent-less hack who's only decent achievement is to have somehow managed to write Blink.

The last season has been a real improvement for me on anything since Tennant's time so I'm cautiously optmistic.

Now now kiddies,stop down voting harmless posts or I'll tell fables to investigate and ask why you are down voting.

Except in this case we're talking about a fictional alien who changes all the time. When everything else about them changes every few years, why have you decided that masculinity is a defining trait of the character? If it's because all the actors so far have been white men, does that mean you'll also freak out if the Doctor isn't white at some point in the future?

I'm with you there. After Blink being a really clever idea the Angels just got ruined by subsequent episodes.

It will be interesting to see the next season.