fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2461 ]

[ SECRET POST #2461 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2461 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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I'm still getting people complaining about how the Doctor wasn't cast as a non-white woman, and I want to agree with them, but at the same time...

I can't think of a single good in-universe reason for that to happen. And I know that the Doctor doesn't consciously pick how he'll look in the next regeneration, but there's enough that I think he unconsciously does (falls in love with Rose as 9 -> becomes someone Rose could be with (aka more conventionally "handsome", more willing to stay with her, etc.)), and I just can't see any in-universe reason for him to choose that. I mean, if Matha had come back and he had gotten really close to her as 11, and really "got" her or whatever, and then regenerated as a non-white woman in her honor, I could see it, but...

Can anyone else think of a good, in-character/in-universe reason for the Doctor to have become a non-white woman? Because I'm just not seeing any.

I thought (canonly) only female Time Lords (ladies?) could choose their appearance.

It is generally accepted Romana used one regeneration and a period of post-regeneration fluctuation (supported by New Who regenerative healing) that allowed her to change her appearance several times after such.

She chose her appearance, but NOBODY ever canonically states that only Time Ladies can do so. The Doctor might not be able to (or he doesn't wish to change it), but it has never ever been tied to his gender in tv canon.

But isn't there canon to support the possibility of conscious selection of the regenerated form?

When Romana regenerated (Mary Tamm to Lalla Ward)during the 4th Doctor's time, she tried on a selection of bodies when the Doctor was snarky about her regenerated form, settling on the one she started out with despite the Doctor's attitude toward it.

In my headcanon, I've always thought that the Doctor treats his regeneration like a crap shoot: whatever he gets, he sticks with.

only social justice warriors. Many authors and writers have now been on the internet long enough to realize their input is worthless

And there is no fucking good reason at all. It'd be idiotic and would do the show more harm then good in backlash.

If we must have something, a legacy character would be better. Let the doctor spawn and finally run out of lives and have his progeny be a non-white woman if you must.

Is it even possible for a timelord to regenerate as the opposite sex?

What's his face said no, because it'd be like a man playing the Queen. So who knows?

In The Doctor's Wife the Doctor said his friend the Corsair had.

Yes. It's never happened with the Doctor but it did happen with other timelords on Gallifrey in Classic Who.

My theory is that Time Lords can choose their appearance but that it takes a serious amount of mental discipline and planning. The Doctor regenerates suddenly and under traumatic circumstances and as such can't get himself in the right state of mind to choose his appearance, so he sort of defaults to something fairly similar to what he already looks like. Alternatively (to answer your question) he defaults to something that blends in well with his current circumstances, which would potentially allow for a bigger departure from white middle-aged male humanoid.

I heard a great fan theory once that when the Time Lords forced the Doctor regenerate from Two into Three, this damaged him to the point that he no longer had much - if any - control over his regeneration. This explains why he seems so upset about his appearance when he first wakes up as Three - it is not at all what he would have chosen had he the chance to control it.

I like to think that for a Time Lord to change into something very different (like the Corsair becoming a woman or River changing her race) conscious control is required and in the absence of that control, the regeneration defaults to something that isn't super-super-different from the way the Time Lord was before.

As for why the Doctor would chose to become a non-white woman... out of curiosity? Shits and giggles? After all those centuries as a white man, one would think he might want to experiment a bit. We know not all Gallifreyans are white and that switching one's sex is possible for Time Lords, so there's no reason for the Doctor not to become a non-white woman unless he physically can't due to lack of control. Of course, that assumes he wants to experiment like that. I know that if I could regenerate, I might want to change my sex just to see what it's like, knowing I could go back again the next time around. Not everyone would be comfortable with that, though, and that is okay. This might be one area where the Doctor isn't very curious or daring, or maybe he's so used to being a white dude that he sees it as an immutable part of his identity. Or maybe Thirteen will be different, who knows?

I don't watch the show (except for a few episodes here and there), but isn't the Doctor some kind of non-human entity who travels all of time and space and stuff? It puzzles me as an outsider that someone like that would always look like a new white dude in every incarnation when there's a vast swath of human appearances to draw from. I mean, what's the in-character/in-universe reason why he wouldn't become a non-white woman? Is being a white dude a serious part of his non-human identity because he's been doing it so long? You explained why the one who fell in love with a straight white woman would want to look that way, but do they all fall for their Companions? I'm really wondering, I keep seeing this debate and I thought it was obvious that the sole reason he'll always be a straight white dude is because he's always been a straight white dude and nobody wants to risk a major change and possibly upset the status quo.

dingdingding we have a winner.

I am not offended by the Doctor being eternally male any more than I am by him being eternally British (maybe a bit Scottish sometimes).

But if he WERE a woman, I'd want him to be Gina Bellman. She'd be awesome.

Most humans are very attached to their gender identities and place great importance on them (if this wasn't the case then FtM and MtF people would never go to the trouble of having painful surgical procedures in order to have a body that matches their true gender). I'm therefore baffled as to why people insist that the Doctor ought to be required to switch genders.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the writers shouldn't switch the Doctor's gender if they want to. The character is an alien after all (and there are a minority of humans who don't have much in the way gender attachment). It just seems silly to view it as some sort of moral imperative. I know that if I could somehow regenerate I'd never, ever want to be male or have a male body. Not because I have any dislike of men, but because I'm a woman who's very attached to being a woman.

+1.

Not in the fandom, don't watch and don't really care to (because the first and only episode I saw he had regenerated, was relieved he wasn't a woman so I realised he'd probably never be a woman and promptly loss what little interest I had because urgh I am just so over following a main guy all the time)

But my understanding was that he doesn't choose his new body and that there is no reason for his new looks other than random (lol) chance while regenerating?

So why would he need a reason anymore than he has no reason for whatever he looks like now?

I can't think of a single good in-universe reason for that to happen.

Because it doesn't make much sense for a human space-faring future to look ethnically like contemporary England. (In at least one of those futures, UNIT is based out of India.)

We also have hints that at least one Time Lord gender-switches (The Corsair according to both Four and Eleven.)

Edited 2013-09-29 14:39 (UTC)

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[ SECRET POST #2461 ]

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