Long live the first female doctor! – Rolling stone



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During his five decades in the cosmos and the popular imagination, Doctor Who has given us many philosophical choices: "Move forward in all your convictions." "There is no point in growing up if you can not be childish sometimes." "We are all stories at the end." "Bananas, it's good. "But at the premiere of Season 11 yesterday, the latest incarnation of Time Lord, who was traveling back in time, leaping into galaxies and changing all species capable of the most incredible change."

As surely as the Doctor has two hearts, change is embedded in the DNA of this series. This has a lot to do with Doctor WhoA permanent message of hope and progress, and even more practice: a show can continue indefinitely if its main role can change body every time an actor decides to leave it. During its 54 years of existence, 12 types have succeeded each other, including four in the last 13 years, since the resurrection of the series in 2005. But no change has been more monumental and more upsetting than the decision to regenerate the Doctor as a woman.

As with any important news about a beloved franchise, last year we announced that our hero would be going from Peter Capaldi to Jodie Whittaker (with a new showrunner, Broadchurch scribe Chris Chibnall) was met with equal amounts of euphoria and derision. But the proof is in the pudding, and the long-awaited beginning of Whittaker, "The woman who fell on Earth," is an episode deeply rooted in the film. who tradition while offering something new delusional.

After six seasons under the baton of Steven Moffat, delighted with this kind of conspiracy that would turn his head, the myth of the character had become so complicated that it was indecipherable for beginners and casual viewers. The last series happily crosses this jungle of backgrounds to give us a fresh start. New in this universe? No worries – the doctor too.

Freshly regenerated and separated from its TARDIS (it's the blue police box that can travel in time and space and that is bigger inside, for those who have just joined us) Whittaker's Who lands on Earth dressed in his ragged and oversized predecessor's clothes. She is a little confused and always cooking, her body new. "Why do you call me Mrs? She asks one of the first humans she meets. When she discovers that it's because she's a woman, she's wide-eyed, surprised and delighted. "Am I, are I okay?"

But it does not matter, because the lady has evil extraterrestrials fighting as soon as possible – in this case, an electrified tentacle creature and a Gothic guy with a Power Ranger look threatening the great Sheffield. It would not be Doctor Who without a few jolts threatening Great Britain, or without a man of four, endearing, endearing, to join the Lord of the Times in his heroic deeds.

The new generation of companions breaks the usual mold of the "brave young woman looking for adventure". This time it's a foursome: local teen Ryan Sinclair (Tosin Cole); policewoman in training Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill); Ryan's Nan, Grace (Sharon D. Clarke); and her husband, Graham (Bradley Walsh). Together, they help the sleeping but very cheerful doctor find her bearings, make a new brilliant sonic screwdriver, and eliminate the threat of the week. (The fact that this group has three color actors reflects the spirit of inclusion of the new series.)

Rightly, the villain is a toxic masculinity personified: an alien with a deep voice (Samuel Oatley) who comes from a planet where he hunts and kills innocent people for the sport in order to climb the ladder; As a bonus, the guy wears the teeth of his victims as a jewel for the face. When the Doctor wins the day and returns his own DNA fusion weapons, she tells him, "You had a choice. You did this to yourself. Go home."

This is one of the many lines of this episode that work both in the plot and as a message to skeptics and haters. "Do not be afraid. All of this is new to you, and the new can be scary, "she told Graham, and later, in an unprecedented confrontation:" We can evolve while staying true to who we are. We can honor who we have been and choose who we want to be next. All of this is a bit on the nose, of course, but you can argue that it's a moment – in a show whose occasional heaviness is part of its charm – when everyone needs a good kick.

Because, well, let's get personal here: as Who's fan since Christopher Eccleston grabbed Billie Piper's hand for the first time and shouted, "Run! You know the exercise: brains on the muscles, divine powers married by a devaluing spirit, dazzling curiosity, hidden darkness, endless wonders and determined compassion for the most monstrous creatures.

Through its many incarnations, the series has imagined a universe of infinite possibilities. It seemed so foolish that the Doctor limited himself to resurrecting in the form of a series of whites. It's not that the 12 men who ordered the TARDIS have not often been brilliant, but like many other women Doctor Who, I was waiting for the day when this regenerating glow of the Lord of times would dissipate to reveal a different type of face from the one we were used to.

It is a universally recognized truth that the Doctor is always the most intelligent and capable person in a room. And the value of seeing a woman in this position, after five decades of extraterrestrial explanation, can not be underestimated. The real world is miles behind, but in terms of speculative fiction, we have the science fiction equivalent of a woman president.

Whittaker (who is best known for his earlier work with Chibnall on Broadchurch) absolutely holds the piece from the moment she jumps into the frame. Like all doctors, she is a frantic energy ball and a single line, controlling the room by annoying and talking to everyone. But she also brings to the table something else that sets her apart from her male background: emotional availability. Here's how she describes the experience of regeneration: "This is the moment when you are sure to die. And then … you were born! It's terrifying. The previous incarnations drew the power to repress their true feelings in depth; The Whittaker version airs them outdoors and is no less formidable to them.

There comes a moment in the first episode of each doctor when he takes a stand against the wicked, caresses his shoulders and declares: "I am the doctor". It's a formula, but it's exciting; the mantra is both the establishment of a nickname and mission statement, a super-heroic call to fight injustice through time and space. And when Whittaker said it – lashed by the wind and majestically in the charred remains of a black cloak cut on an old body that did not suit him anymore – he shivered in my back. For the first time in half a century, women are not only in the passenger seat of the TARDIS. We are the damn lords of time and space.

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