Spoilers, dears. This shouldn't happen until some 50-odd years into my future... what with the trouble I'm having starting from the first Doctor now.

Well, at this point I won't care about any further changes anyway. But no, I wouldn't care in the same way, as I don't think skin color has the same impact on personality. It would still feel like forced political correctness, and it always feels a bit silly to me when alien races turn out to have the same ethnicities as humans (black Vulcans for example, though I liked Tuvok a lot as a character), and I guess it would depend on the actor they chose if I'd "buy" him as the Doctor.

Yes, in a way I do believe that "masculinity" is one of his defining traits, and yes, becasue it's one of the things that have remained consistant. I think it rather makes sense that it would be the things that remain consistant that become defining. Like I said already, I think some things have to remain consistant, or we'll end up with a completely different character who only shares the same name and using the "he regenerates, we can do whatever" excuse is not something I consider good writing. I'm not sure how to explain it better than I already did. In a way I already gave it a shot with Missy and I never really bought her as the Master. It never really clicked for me that it's the same character.

I don't know why you're calling it a "freak out". I think I've made my case pretty reasonably and calmly. People seem to have the need to imply fear or hate guide everyone who dislikes this (or similiar) decisions, but it's nothing like that.

When grandad passed away In Only Fools and Horses, the studio wanted to replace him with an aunt. The creator John Sullivan axed this idea, stating 'you can't have the boys dragging an old woman down the street and threatening to smack her one.' An aunt would've changed the entire dynamic of the show.

I could probably sit here all day producing examples but I'll just stick with these two - you're never going to see a female doctor get punched in the face (Rory), nor receive unwanted kisses (Amy). The raw physicality audiences respond to will be noticeably absent, and if the writers don't find ways to make up for it then this is likely to be the show's final season. One can't switch genders and assume everything will be the same.

Very well put. I doubt however that this could entirely kill the show. At the most it will be a very short run, like Eccleston had, and they will claim that was always the plan. I wouldn't be surprised if there already was an "emergency plan" for another regeneration episode on christmas 2018 in case the show is indeed badly losing viewers.

Yes, they did. Lords are male. Ladies are female. Dr. Who is a Time Lady now. :)

Ah, but no one said lords were male in time lord culture. 'Lord' may not be gender specific to them. :D

It gets worse.

In the new upcoming Avengers movie, Captain America's new shield is going to be female!

This is the kind of thing I hope they don't do.
So she's a woman, doesn't mean she shouldn't get beaten up if required. I think if they do drop those kind of elements that will be far more damaging than merely changing the Doctor's gender could be.
If suddenly the Doctor becomes a porcelain doll who never gets hurt just because she's female now then I will lose a lot of respect for the writers, because that's not equality.

I'm not sure they will do that though, I'm trying to think of actual examples but I'm fairly sure the female companions have gotten bashed about in the past...

Wouldn't it be sad if things stay the same? For any show, not just for Doctor Who (who, as I see it, is often based on subverting expectations).
Dame Judi Dench was great as M in Bond movies, Starbuck (to lazy to google actress name :) ) from Battlestar Galactica was raw and physical, jump to female lead in Life on Mars sequel/spin-off went just fine...

In this day and age I'm just grateful they didn't replace Doctor Who with some CG character :)

Are they going to change the white star to a pink box?

That post was a slam on everyone in here who is actually making an issue of this.

Seriously, WHO CARES!?

Dr Who is a woman now, and this matters why? XD

I can see it from both sides. Dr. Who changes when he/she/it dies but then Dr. Who has always been male. If Dr. Who had started out as a female, I'd have less of a problem with it. You know there are people who want Captain America and Bucky to be gay, right? It makes as much sense as making Spiderman Mexican or Iron Man a black chick. If those characters had started that way, there'd be no problem. Continuity is important. If you want a Mexican dude to be a superhero, make a new character for him. If you want a black chick to be a superheroine, make a new character for her. We already have a black Iron Man. (War Machine) Why do they need to rip off of Iron Man again?

Mind you, I don't really like change, anyway. I like it even less when it doesn't make sense. Next, they'll make The Beyonder female and she'll go around using whole planets as Ben Wa balls or some shit.

why?

serious question

And do you really need to slam anyone here? I mean, so far the thread's been surprisingly civil, and I think both "sides" made some good arguments. In the end it's all very subjective, as things always are when it comes to changes to a beloved franchise. I don't think anyone deserves to be ridiculed about this, I'm certainly not going to slam anyone just because they like the idea even if I don't.

Oh sorry, I forgot it was your forum. :P

I'll leave now. :D