The newest Doctor is in and she's ready to show that anything that men can do she can do better. That becomes very clear in the new Doctor Who trailer starring Jodie Whittaker as the thirteenth Doctor and the first female one in the show's history. Yes, it took the show 55 years to hire a female lead and it's not wasting anymore time. In fact, the makers of Doctor Who want fans to know "it's about time" that they put a woman in charge. And it's hard not to agree once Whittaker shows what she can do.
The trailer for Whittaker's Doctor Who debut season, which premieres Sunday, October 7, packs all the time-traveling fun of doctors past. "I'm the doctor," Whittaker says. "When people need help, I never refuse." That's why she's constantly running for dear life, often, as seen in this video, from balls of fire and explosions. Even when just narrowly escaping these on-the-job hazards, this Doctor will never stop. "Sometimes I see things need fixin'" she said. "And I do what I can."
What this Time Lord can't do is put up with anyone's misogyny. The look on Whittaker's face when someone questions her role as the leader of this rag-tag group of friends — Ryan (Tosin Cole), Yasmin (Mandip Gill) and Graham (Bradley Walsh) — should put the fear of any and every god in them.
What the trailer shows is that the Doctor may look different, but the show doesn't and that was important to its new star. In an interview with The Wrap, Whittaker said the gender of the Doctor doesn't matter, in fact, it's "irrelevant" because the Time Lord is an alien. "[T]he fact that a woman is playing an alien over a man playing an alien kind of is irrelevant to the qualifications," she said. "It’s playing an alien, and so the gender is irrelevant.”
That's why she thinks that those, like Peter Davison, who played the role of the Doctor from 1981 to 1984 and thinks that little boys have lost a role model now that a woman is starring in Doctor Who, goes against everything the show stands for. It's always be an inclusive show that wants to empower everyone.
"I’d be surprised by finding a boy who didn’t have a role model in their life that was female,” Whittaker said, adding, "It’s someone’s opinion that boys can’t look up to women. Role models and heroes come in all different shapes and sizes, and I’ve never needed to look like mine for me to be able to relate to them.”
The thing is, Whittaker's Doctor is still a Time Lord from Gallifrey who has traveled through time and space to defend the universe, just as all those other guys who have crashed down looking to be of service. "Essentially, it’s not a gender — the Doctor is a Time Lord, an alien with two hearts,” Whittaker explained to The Wrap, pointing out that there has been constant change when it comes to the Doctor, who has been played by 12 other actors. Yes, they were all men, but they were still different men with different takes on the character.
“The body changes, and the body change between [Christopher Eccleston], David [Tennant] and Matt [Smith] and Peter [Davison] — obviously it’s the [same] gender but it’s a very different form that the doctor’s regenerated into, and I am an extension of that change," she said. "But not a diversion from it.”
It shoudn't go unnoticed that Whittaker is the first female Doctor, but she hopes that she'll be celebrated for putting her own spin on the character that so many know and love. The hope being Doctor Who will continue to push for inclusion each time its picks a new Doctor.
