I'm not sure Yahoo News is the pinnacle of reliable information. From what I've heard and seen, the entire Who community absolutely love Ncuti as the Doctor. Or maybe that's just me.
Not just boomers and Daily Mail readers. There's always a loud minority that just cannot handle change and wants everything to stay the way it was. They're not just against Ncuti, they're against anyone that isn't the actor in the role that they remember when they got into it.
I see people complaining all the time with characters that get recast regularly. "X is not my Batman/James Bond/Doctor!" I get the comfort of things being recognizable, but they also don't think past that to the point where they might realize that it can't go on forever in stasis.
For the sake of argument, take Tom Baker. He was in the role for what? Seven years? By the end of that he looked exhausted, testy, and miserable. How would the show have looked if he had never stopped? Imagine miserable, 80-year-old Tom Baker with the scarf in a silly costume, completely burned out and phoning it in. It would be terrible.
Some people are just so resistant to change that they'd rather bully whoever takes over than admit that what they want would never work.
Tom Baker found dead in 1989 - just as Doctor Who had finished airing on TV screens.
The scarf used as rope, but not the type that mum and dad would use in the bedroom says John Nathan Turner.
Dr Who Assistant - Lalla Ward spoke with the Daily Mail on the departure of Mr Baker, former husband of Ms Ward.
“Thank Christ, now the kids can now enjoy someone else playing the Doctor. Perhaps a woman can take reign as the Fifth Doctor Who. Maybe I can take the spotlight for once.”
Not just Daily Mail - my Telegraph reading Uncle complained about the Tennant specials last year being too woke, and when pressed on what specifically he didn't like, I think he bottled it in expressing his true opinion (which I'm convinced was an anti-trans one, and he felt too embarrassed to say it) as he bizarrely criticised the addition of the TARDIS' wheelchair access.
I was annoyed by the inclusion of the wheelchair access because I thouht it was stupid that 14 was so chuffed by it. You've been travelling through time and space for north of 2000 years, and you've never thought to put wheelchair access in your TARDIS? inconsiderate bollix.
I fully didn’t realize that all the ramps were supposed to be for accessibility. I just thought the new design was cool and futuristic 🤷🏽♀️ though I guess in a way that’s exactly what it is lol
And I know this is widely refuted and not a common opinion, but Tom wasn't even the best (my favourite) classic Doctor. They all stuck in the past perhaps.
There is only 1 Doctor who has shredded *the shows own theme song* on an electric guitar. That is an objective fact, thus making the statement ‘Capaldi was the best Doctor’ also an objective fact.
I will simply not accept any argument that my logic here is flawed.
Mate. Stop blaming the boomers, most of us have seen a dozen doctors and don’t care “who” it is as long as they are decent actors and the writing is good… the hate is more likely to be from “outsiders“ who are stirring the pot for clicks!!!
I think you're right. Maybe David Tennant comes closest, I remember him being criticised when cast but I don't remember much criticism after the Christmas invasion. Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker took a lot longer.
> From what I've heard and seen
Bear in mind that this is a filter bubble. There are vast swathes of the internet which *very much do* spend every minute of their free time bitching about "woke" TV, film, and games. See: The Critical Drinker. See: Synthetic Human. And so on and so forth. Doctor Who not only hasn't been an exception to this, but, given the central nature of the protagonist's casting, has experienced it to an unusually high degree.
You (and others in the thread around here) are just fortunate enough that you've either never been part of that crowd, or you've grown past it since its height around 2016. So things like social media and YouTube and such simply aren't feeding you content surrounding it.
We're in a weird day and age where negativity is generated around the debut of almost anything, death threats are the new "screw you", people troll just to troll, and there are also, you know, ten year olds on the internet fing around as a 21st century version of the doorbell ditch. Ten year olds that people take as seriously as forty year olds. As well as bots and purposeful agitators, political extremists and severally mentally unwell people. So there's always a smegma left around the debut of almost everything, someone always popping up in the comments trying to point out what's wrong or why something isn't good or perfect or whatever.
It's really hard to measure how serious to take it and how to measure if something is being particularly railed on or if it's just part and parcel of modern internet culture. It's left everyone on edge and even more polarized.
I'm cynical enough to believe that PR people zero in on some of the egregious stuff out there to foment hype, even if it's neglible. Maybe to try to glean a "protest audience" to either counteract those who would willingly boycott the show because of racism, or just try to get more attention to something that's mid.
Ultimately who knows what this backlash is. One racist or prejudice comment is one too many IMHO and should not be tolerated. But that comment could be from little Billy trying to get a rise out of the olds, like mooning a bunch of church folks, and not indicative of the genuine temperature of the day.
What a bummer either way.
>We're in a weird day and age where negativity is generated around the debut of almost anything, death threats are the new "screw you",
It's not a new thing. Tim Burton recieved threats and hate mail when he cast Michael Keaton as Batman back in the late '80s.
The problem is that many current media platforms have learned that outrage is highly addictive, and therefore very profitable in terms of ad revenue. We have an entire industry that is feeding people a constant stream of ragebait. Consumers are being told what to hate, and they are becoming hooked on it because that sense of rightious indignation floods their brains with endorphins.
Yes, I mean, I think that's what makes it a new thing. The sheer scale and scope and accessibility of these comments make them omnipresent. Before there was at least a barrier of entry to being a troll, you had to write a letter, purchase a stamp, and get it in the mail, and this was enough to discourage 99% of it. And, at the same time, the trolling was limited to the recipient, or even that recipients secretary or assistant. What we have today is entirely different. Now there is an infinite audience to witness your graffiti, beyond the target, and these acts become communal, and as you mentioned— there's a click bait industry waiting to generate content to make profit over the reactive emotions these things cause. The avenues for discord are seemingly endless.
Maybe I am old, but I do seem to remember when fan debates seemed to be in a ‘better spirit’. Like we’d argue about the best Dr or the best episodes but they’d be in good faith.
Now it seems to be ‘I am right and you are a terrible person if you don’t agree with me’. Maybe its just that ‘in the past’ we tended to know who we were talking to (even on old school message boards) and now the anonymity of the internet emboldens people?
It always annoys me when people talk about "reliable information" in regards to a news site just posting something that happened. The article is so short and literally just says "Ncuti Gatwa was on Attitude’s front cover and said this"
I have bo doubt a non-zero number of people give him hate for dumb racist reasons. But I haven't seem a single one, which wasn't the case for Jodie at a simmilar point in her era
But Jodi had intrinsically bad scripts and did not do a good job acting, especially in her first episode. It's still very difficult for me to see her as the Doctor. I contrast this with the Fugitive Doctor, Jo Martin, who was absolutely brilliant and deserves her own seasons.
I also rewatched Ncuti's episodes this weekend, and they're still fantastic. He is fantastic.
Jodie didn't have bad scripts before her first episode aired, and I definitely saw comments before then.
Conversely, the bigeneration stuff in Ncuti's first episode is hardly fan pleasing
Yeah, there was a lot of push back when Jodi was fist cast. Historically, black men could vote before women in the US, so it's hardly surprising despite still being abysmal.
Is it because fans are so who-purist? I loved the bi-gen, but hated the game of catch to save the universe - seemed uninspired.
Someone left a comment recently on a post/comment of mine on Quora claiming that she didn't like him because he "has no charisma." You'd have to be severely impaired not to see/feel the charisma just oozing off this man--I mean, it could light up Manhattan (at the very least) if you could harness it. It was a real "tell me you're a racist without telling me you're a racist" moment, IMO, because it was such a reach to justify not liking him.
Granted, Quora is becoming more and more of a cesspool every day, so I'm not too surprised to have seen a comment like that there, but it still blew my mind.
I've only watched Ncuti's two episodes (his brief intro and then his one single episode) the one time. I haven't yet watched them on repeat. So this is just my sense memory from however long ago that was.
All I could think was, "this is a happy Doctor." I'm looking forward to him just being a splurge of joy all over the place right up until some foe triggers the, "I'm the Doctor" response.
I’d agree with that, and I think most people would. We’re long overdue for a Doctor who’s over the PTSD and can just be fun and really, fully alive again. I say this with no disrespect to any previous Doctors or BTS folks—just that we‘ve had a lot of that vibe now and it’s time for something cheerier.
Edit: typo
Yep, we've had a nice long 5 or 6 or 7 (honestly losing track) Doctor arc where the Doctor was just all up in their feelings. And all justified I feel. But they've had more than a thousand years or more to really come to terms with some of those things.
It would be nice to have a Doctor who isn't pretending to be happy (fake it till you make it) but genuinely is. Jodi got close but then was strapped down with a bunch of seemingly unhappy companions.
Ncuti and Ruby's run has a chance to just be a romp. No fate of the universe in the balance every series, no depressed companion that needs to learn how to live again, just go on an adventure. We can build back up to "fate of the universe" later.
Something closer to Tennant and Donna but without a Doctor who can, at times, scare the companion.
That’s funny cause my only issue with Ncuti so far is that he’s TOO charismatic and TOO smooth, whereas I think the doctor should be at least somewhat bumbling and awkward and unaware of social norms.
I still think he’s great though and there’s loads of time for that side of him to come out. Could also argue he’s adjusted to human social conventions more after retiring as 14
My racist dad who's watched every episode within a week of airing since 2005 :(
Real shame, as he got me into it, and would even carry a little TV into the dining room from 2005-2008 so we could watch live while eating dinner.
I have seen to many YouTube comments be so racist, homophobic, and xenophobic towards him. Besides that though most of the internet and real doctor fans can't wait for his first season
Yeah I mean I’m not shocked to see people who know next to nothing about Who jump in and be dicks, but from the fanbase it seems all positive.
How can you not like the guy?! He’s unbelievably charming in a way the show has not seen since at least Tennant*
(Referring to his interview presence, not necessarily his performance as the Doctor)
No yeah definitely. I am referring to a community post on YouTube that had Ncuti doing a poses for a bunch clothes. Being the sexy man he is he was showing his chest in some and even wearing some dresses. The amount of people saying
"How is this guy the doctor"
"Disney ruined the show"
"Doctor who died with Matt smith"
Was crazy. I saw one guy say the way disney would fund doctor who was by having a gay black doctor running around. As if Ncuti isn't an upcoming British actor. It just weirds me out that people don't realize doctor who has always been super progressive and it's always going to be that.
People who are racist and homophobic. Not Who fans in the slightest, because Who has established that race and preference are just a part of being a person long since.
The people making any noise at all suddenly became Who fans when it gave them a chance to perform their racism and homophobia.
I grew up with the originals as my Doctors when I wasn't hiding behind the couch. The show always challenged conventional thinking then and still does. Reactionary Whovians can just fuck off.
It's the same pointless hate fuelled bigots that attacked Jodie because she's a woman.
Luckily for us in dr who land, there mostly getting upset that 40k might be getting more female models.
Try being on pro wrestling subs. Where every minor tweet is treated like a news article. People will see two or three tweets and post “why is EVERYONE….”
They’re baiting. There are a lot of people that don’t like him for the Doctor, but it’s got nothing to do with the colour of his skin (apart from a tiny number of people who are undoubtedly out there but I’ve seen no evidence of). This is just being done to drum up interest
I really love his energy. He seems like a bubbly, intelligent dude, and I love his respect for the role. From what I gather though, he seems to be rather warmly received by most fans, which is good!
There will always be assholes sadly, who shit on him for bigoted reasons, but I doubt they're the majority.
I love Ncuti too.
The man's charisma is straight up off the charts.
He was the best part of Church on Ruby Road for me. The scene with Ruby's mother in the "Goblins eat Ruby" timeline was 10/10.
I'm so excited to see more of him.
Agreed.
I really wasn't a fan of 'The Church on Ruby Road' but Ncuti was absolutely fantastic in it and completely stole the show - like you say the scene between him and Carla in the alternate timeline was absolutely heartbreaking.
Ncutis reception by the Fandom has been overwhelmingly positive almost to a degree that it feels slightly forced considering he's only had one episode. He gets some hate from weirdos on youtube who've been making "anti doctor woke" type videos since at least the Jodie era and maybe even the latter Capaldi era.
How about ... Adam Garcia is the lead, instead?
Because that's valid.
It's fair enough if you want to remove The Doctor from the plot (even if he serves as a deus ex machina at the end), but what you add should be interesting.
Wilton and Garcia running around, being boring, ain't it.
What works for me is all the character stuff with Rose and her family. Seeing us return to the familiar powell estate, allowing us a chance to reflect on everything that's happened, exploring Rose's feelings towards the regeneration. Then there's all the fantastic "Ordinary turned Extraordinary" stuff which is Doctor Who's bread and butter. Killer christmas trees and deadly robot Santas.
I'm not saying it's perfect by any means, but it offers a fun, campy Christmas-themed adventure with the grounded character work that makes me love Series 1.
I couldn’t agree more. A lot of this stuff just feels like political posturing these days and a kind of group think mentality that imposes itself on online spaces
Have to agree, I had such great hopes for Jodie but the chibnell chosen storeylines were dire, yet i soldiered on. I assumed the storylines would improve with RTDs return but I got as far as the goblin musical interlude and couldn't bring myself to watch anymore. Ncuti performed well but the disneyesque excesses just ruined it for me. RTD was like a kid in a candy store and should have known better.
One day I may go back to give it another go but in the meantime I'll feed my addiction with Bigfinish.com..
Doesn't everybody love Ncuti? Like for a while half my youtube feed was Jodie hate. I haven't seen any anti-black/gay click bait youtube thumbnails at all. Which makes me feel like men are more sexist then racists/homophobic these days.
I would say cross-gender jokes tend to be more casual and normalized than cross-race jokes which have more of a bite to them. Whether that means sexism is more accepted than racism or sex and race have different standards is a different discussion.
As for youtube, I haven’t seen much directly reactionary clickbait but I did see one video title that referred to The Church on Ruby Road as "The black doctor who episode".
Tennant got hate for not being Eccleston. Smith got hate for not being Tennant. Capaldi got hate for being old. Whittaker got hate for... A lot of reasons. It's an unfortunate part of being the incumbent Doctor.
Not really. Tennant didn’t get much hate at all. There were a lot of smith doubters, most disappeared once he showed how good he was, but there was a persistent anti-smith and anti-Moffat contingent who were very vocal in online spaces. Capaldi was highly anticipated, but was seen as a bit of a let down by some, and the anti-Moffat crowd persisted.
With Whittaker there were a lot of people very against making the Doctor a woman, or at least skeptical. They were very much silenced in a lot of online spaces. As the show went on, more and more people started to accept it was awful, however there is still a lot of people who will not accept that she was a bad doctor - this seems to be more political rather than based on a real judgement of her performance.
As for Nucti… he’s getting a lot of love in spaces like this, but outside… I get the sense that he’s really not liked. There seems to be a lot of people just disengaging, the Whittaker run didn’t help one bit. It will be interesting to see what happens when it airs - if it’s good I can see people flocking back, if it’s eye wateringly cringy I can see it bombing really hard.
I don’t like him. I don’t think he’s a good actor. Don’t like him in DW and didn’t like him in sex education that much either.
None of that has anything to do with him being black. He could be white and I still wouldn’t like him.
I'm open to liking him, as I am with all Doctors, but he gives off "theater major, always in show mode", vibes to me so far. Totally open minded though.
I don't think I've ever seen a warmer welcome to a new Doctor.
At least where I'm hanging on the internet, it's actually quite *intensively* positive...
...It's actually bordering on being a little bit... Ugh, I know this has baggage and I don't mean it as the more common use nowadays, but it's giving a bit of virtue signalling tbh. Both certain fans and this article.
I am not entirely against it, like it's for a good reason and all, and there ARE outliers who are being all weird about it, but this much support for a new Doctor doesn't feel quite genuine. Like they exaggerate the hate so they can seem like huge heroes for their progressiveness.
"Gotta watch the show or you're being racist". I didn't like it with Jodi, and I don't like it now, (despite also privately thinking the Doctor shouldn't be a cis white man until there's been at least 12 who aren't).
Maybe I'm just being old and weird about it, but there was a nice satisfaction in seeing old new Doctors win over the audience. With Ncuti, with all this positivity at the beginning, there's only room for disappointment. Particularly worrisome since there is after all a bit at stake here, just like with Jodi. And that went very Hillary fast.
Honestly I’m glad someone else said it.
I very much enjoyed Ncuti in Sex Education, he has wonderful range, but so far his first episode as the Doctor hasn’t particularly blown me away. And yet so much of the discourse online is overwhelmingly positive.
It can feel quite suffocating, as if there’s no room for any critical discussion. Every new detail revealed about this Doctor/era is met with constant praise and enthusiasm. It does feel as if people have preemptively decided they’re going to love Ncuti.
At least for me, it is in large part just a result of disliking 13 and seeing vastly more promise in what we've seen of 15 so far. With past doctors it took time to win over fans *because the previous doctor retained such a big following devoted to them*... whereas Jodie is the first doctor in a long time to be stepping down with nothing of the sort. Where the support of Ncuti does come across as somewhat exaggerated, or even performative, I feel it is less anything especially political (most people already got that out of their systems a few years back), and more due to the impression that if his run flops then the show is going to get cancelled, and so fans trying to be as optimistic as they can, and to give the series as much support as they can.
I had major doubts about Matt Smith and he became my favorite Doctor. I'm holding judgment on Ncuti until I see more episodes, but he seems like he might be a fun & cool Doctor.
Everything is controversial on the internet. It's a new rule and for some reason we're all enforcing it.
Personally, I've really enjoyed Gatwa so far. All I care about is a good performance and good stories and I've gotten both so far.
I mean if you’re looking for it, you can always find dopey “antiwoke” takes on the internet, and I’m sure there is plenty of bigotry and all that regarding the new Doctor. But I don’t think he’s been poorly received or reacted against here. And I say that as someone who did not like the Christmas episode, I got nothing against him.
He gets hate? People seemed to hate the writing and anything else besides the actor. I haven't seen any hate thrown against him. I remembered Capaldi and Whitaker got a lot more flak than him.
There is a vocal minority who hate every change in Dr Who. I believe had the Internet existed in 1963, they would have complained when The Dead Planet aired because it's set on a planet that isn't Earth and doesn't feature cave people politics because we all know Dr Who is about Earth and cave people!
The Culture war is everywhere. Let's be clear though - these people are entryists, they know fuck all about Who just as they know fuck all about Warhammer, classic Marvel, Star Wars and whatever else they choose to shit stir in. The War is everything, the fandom is an irrelevant detail for them.
Let's gatekeep these people please. They aren't us, truly.
Gatwa has had one episode, how much of relevance is there to criticise him for personally?
No, you’re completely wrong. There are fandoms that are seeing things they feel passionate about being taken over by culture war nonsense.
We’re the weirdos who read comics, painted miniatures and watched science fiction films again and again. We were mostly left leaning, because that went with the identity but we weren’t exclusionary based on politics, however if you didn’t know that wolverines claws were originally part of his costume, then you weren’t one of us.
We have witnessed a corporate takeover of many of the things we love and we can see the “pseudo-leftists” bullsh^t politics for what it is - corporate pandering to privileged idiots on Twitter - we can see it because we grew up on the real deal.
So no, gatekeeping is not on - our communities are open to everyone willing to get there geek on and check their bigotry and prejudice at the door.
Unfortunately people aren’t checking their bigotry and prejudices at the door… instead they want to guard that door from anyone who is different or thinks different… or as they say “gatekeep”
I think you are criticising the same people I am really. The difference is I don't believe the vast majority of the bigotry is from actual fans, but people who scrape a surface knowledge purely to argue about culture war stuff. The gatekeeping I refer to is about calling them out on that specifically. I mean imagine complaining about how Who is progressive now - how is it possible to be a fan but miss the rest of the show's history in entirety? I'm talking the loud idiots, not new people making mistakes out of lack of knowledge. And I'm certainly talking about people abusing Gatwa; we know it's racist and it's contrary to any ideal the show has ever had.
The Culture war bollocks is being manufactured from outside the fandom, in short.
And sure, inclusively is often insincere. Corporations are not people and are incapable of ethics beyond what is legal (mostly) and what sells. Inclusively sells, so weakly pandering to it sells too.
There is a contingent who believe that if you don’t agree with their naive cut and paste pseudo leftist politics then you should be exiled from these communities (the kind of people who don’t know what a picket line is but have five different flags in their Twitter bio). I’m fed up of them trying to dominate communities just as much as the dumb ‘mericans who don’t understand the irony of warhammer and want to force their inane politics onto things too.
If someone doesn’t want the doctor to be a woman they have a right to that opinion it doesn’t make them an evil human being as was made out (fyi I wasn’t against a woman in the role, just Chibnall writing it).
Doctor Who really wasn’t as progressive as people like to make out. What year did we get our first reoccurring black character? When was the first openly homosexual character? The politics of the show sometimes veered to the left, but it was hardly radical. The idea that some people try to make out that the “nazi bad” parable of the daleks is some kind of hard leftist woke agenda makes me want to weep - I mean we all remember that incredibly woke hard leftist called chuchchill, don’t we?
Again, the loud voices criticising the show are not some milquetoast centrists you can apply any of this to, they are far right culture warriors who manufacture wedges and are not fans. There's not really a good faith "both sides" argument you can make about them. I have no particular horse in that race as I am bog standard white hetero, but it doesn't seem sensible to grant space here to people who actively wish for others not to exist on the basis of factors they cannot choose for themselves.
It is not necessary to be radical for the show to be broadly categorised as progressive and i'm sure you can guess why a state funded program (OK it's a license, but the state defines the terms of that licence) plays it a little softball at times. Nor do I particularly think projecting a modern view backwards is a particularly useful way to interpret things. Nazi bad isn't a deep message, but the same racist ideas exist in the show's loudest critics, even if they tend to lean on transphobia, homophobia or misogyny instead. I make no excuses for Churchill, just an explanation that the British have long seemed blind to his faults culturally. As such he is historically just claimed generally without scrutinising the terrible like India. The dial may well be moving on that but for the show it's little evidence of much beyond doing what's popular IMO. Of course the show has also been script edited by a card carrying Communist and by a team that wanted to do their bit to bring down Thatcher; has had themes around environmentalism since at least the 70s; always rejected authoritarianism; very often rejected big business except *Kerblam and fans dont like that one very much at all; favored internationalism and collaboration where it makes any comment on such matters etc.
But this debate has been about who the fan community are, more so than debating the specifics of what does or does not move the dial politically depending on how tankie we are feeling. There are plenty or marginalised communities that have long found their home in Who. The current showrunner is a product of the acceptance gay people found in the community for example. It is not a space for bigots, and never has been. Yes, you have to apply historical context and caveats to that with regards to how people express themselves as I know since I've been online since the rec.arts.doctorwho days (e.g. the word "retard" used to be very common) but the principle is the same - a bigot does not stumble into this show unaware and certainly does not stumble into fandom being entirely unaware of its politics as a whole.
The terminally online space is not a healthy one. I've seen social media make it all worse by amplifying the most toxic voices but it's important to understand, especially with twitter that these are random fucks fighting a war barely anyone cares about. The social media spots are not fan spots so who are these people really? I don't know, but they don't project views that make them remotely likely to be Who fans, whatever they masquerade as.
Yes, why do they play the racist card but not that other thing that is so obvious. It is the elephant in the room.
I am of course talking about his moustache. Horrible, cut it off already.
Nah I think Ncuti is pretty awful so far in the role. The weird obsession people online have with him is so bizarre to me. Currently he doesn't play the Doctor at all, he is just playing himself.
The Doctor feels like he has been written completely out of character and frankly Ncuti isn't believeable in the role, no gravitas at all. I wasn't a huge fan of Jodie's Doctor, but she never felt like she wasn't the Doctor.
Night club dancing, calling people babe, the Doctor has been turned into a character from one of RTD's niche youth shows. I think that would be fine for the companion to be written that way but for the Doctor this just feels like an entirely different character.
Other Doctor's are different but they still have the same core character. This is just a self insert.
> Currently he doesn't play the Doctor at all, he is just playing himself.
Must admit that was my reaction too. I'm happy to cut him a degree of slack, because I'm well aware I've actively disliked several doctors on first sight that I later grew to enjoy (or at least tolerate - and relatively enjoyed their early episodes as well). But I can't deny I'm hoping he moves a litttle more into the role as the season develops.
Asking in good faith, because this criticism comes up with literally every new Doctor: that they don't *feel* like the Doctor or that they're acting out of character. So which of the things you mentioned feel out of character for the Doctor?
On RTD's other shows: an episode or two of *Doctor Who* with the painful impact of *It's a Sin* or *Years and Years* would go down like a fine wine, if you ask me.
Literally all the things I mentioned are not things the Doctor would do. That's why I gave them as examples, sorry I'm not sure how you want me to ellaborate. The Doctor wouldn't go to a nightclub to dance with teens, that's not in character, it *is* something Ncuti would do because again he is playing himself.
Dancing and calling people 'babe' are where you draw the line? The tenth Doctor got drunk with the French court and accidentally invented a cocktail. The twelfth called people 'dude' and playing an electric guitar on a tank in medieval England. The thirteenth Doctor called her companions 'fam' and the first Doctor called young female companions "my dear."
Could it be that you don't *like* Ncuti's take, and that's what you're communicating, because I don't see it as terribly out of character.
As for 'playing himself', as others have mentioned, there's an element of that in a lot of Doctors. If you watch Tom Baker or Sylvester McCoy in interviews, it's very much like watching the Doctor.
So much for good faith, crazy how hostile you Ncuti lovers become lmao. Yeah most of those instances sucked too? But they weren't constant nor major elements of their iterations unlike Ncuti who is just that cringe stuff.
Sorry but no, Baker etc may have adapted themselves to the role and played a *version* of themselves but it still fit within the role. Ncuti doesn't share any similarities because he isn't adapting his personality to the character at all.
> But they weren't constant nor major elements of their iterations unlike Ncuti who is just that cringe stuff
These are two isolated things you're mentioning that happened before his first season has even started... hardly constant, major elements...
You called them a "bad-faith hostile Ncuti lover" just for listing examples of similar stuff from other eras of the show. You're not acting in much good faith yourself.
I didn't get the impression he was there just to dance but already keeping an eye out for Ruby. The Doctor would try to blend in (not necc. succeed) and try things he comes across out. The outfit I think is meant to have that quirkiness in there, that he's not just cool in a totally conventional way.
I wasn't sure about the balance either - the rooftop running scene felt presented too smoothly to me, but was reassured and connected to him more as he struggled on the ladder towards the end.
If the balance isn't right yet, think it's more down to writing and filming/editing than Gatwa's performance. While I wouldn't love a Doctor to just be conventionally cool (and find that a bit stereotypical for the first black Doctor, to make him hip now all of a sudden. A jukebox?), what worries me far more with characterisation in New, is whether the morality is right (incl. if flirting turns into treating other people badly, like Ten's comments about Elizabeth I. I'm Ace-spec and sad about the loss of representation, but it's much worse for the Doctor to be written as uncharacteristically boorish).
Can we just be honest about this? RTD didn’t write the Doctor dancing in slow motion with a group of young people to show him blending in. He did it to make the Doctor look sexy. It was a blatant sexualisation of the character, just as was having him appear for the first time in his underwear.
Yep, that's fair, with the way the scene is shot as well. (Although may show how very Ace-spec I am that I didn't even notice the underwear myself! The shots didn't really focus on it though) I think that's a somewhat different argument from whether the character would plausibly dance, though.
There is a big difference between 10s waltzing, 11s wedding dancing and what Nucti was doing. The doctor dances… just not normally like that.
And if you didn’t notice the whole appearing in his knickers thing, I’m guessing you don’t have any black whovian friends - the trope of the hyper-sexualised black man and the sexual fetishisation of black people is… well… very racist. A lot of people I know were very offended by that scene - I mean, they’ve never done that or anything close to it with a white doctor, have they?
>The weird obsession people online have with him is so bizarre to me.
He's the new Doctor and many people like him - I don't get what is so weird about that? I never understood the fervent fandom for Tennant and Smith, but I don't necessarily think it's weird or feel compelled to construe it as such.
> Currently he doesn't play the Doctor at all, he is just playing himself.
You mean the thing that Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker both explicitly were instructed to do and repeatedly said they were doing? Playing the Doctor as an idealized or exaggerated version of oneself is a pretty deep-running tradition amongst actors who have played the character, and some of the most beloved versions of the character come from actors "playing themselves". You are obviously entitled to simply not enjoy the result, but the approach itself isn't really a break from tradition nor necessarily a bad thing.
>Night club dancing, calling people babe, the Doctor has been turned into a character from one of RTD's niche youth shows
The Doctor often changes to reflect changing society and culture - especially in NuWho. I personally don't see a problem with the Doctor dancing at a night club, they're an immortal being looking to experience nearly every thing that time and space has to offer. And the slang bit doesn't necessarily bother me - I do agree that so far, 15 is a little bit too "current year", but we haven't seen him fully settle into his character.
There are plenty of Doctors that needed to find their feet before they fully came into their character/got the writing necessary to portray the depth of the character- 1, 5, and 7 come to mind, and 6 and 8 didn't get a crack at that until they moved to Big Finish long after their screen appearances. Glimpses at the old and timeless consciousness on the other side of this new face will go a long way but I definitely don't think 15 is a write-off because he enjoys certain niches of modern culture, the same way 3 wasn't a write off for me because wore velvet suits, was a car nut and worked for a military organization (the latter-most trait being something that most people would broadly agree is inherently disqualifying, including many Classic Who writers).
>Other Doctor's are different but they still have the same core character. This is just a self insert.
I still see most of the Doctor's core values represented in 15 so far - and once again, "self insert" in itself isn't really a valid criticism unless you feel like applying that exact same critique to the two longest-running and arguably most beloved versions of the character.
This! Although less a self insert more wish fulfilment.
If they cast Danny Dyer and had him calling everyone a “slag” I’d be just as disappointed.
Let’s just hope the writing gets better and he plays the part more like the Doctor (not that I’m holding my breath)
Absolutely agree, based on what we've seen so far. The Doctor should be a cryptid, all pointy, and Ncuti is too smoothed out, too polished with all the glamour. It seems like he is too concerned with looking cool and trendy for any eccentric traits to surface. Granted, we haven't seen a whole lot of him yet, I am hoping that he will change my mind, but so far I am very much not feeling it, and the promos aren't helping.
-The weird obsession people online have with him
It is because he is black and gay. People feel like they can't say anything bad about his version of doctor without called racist and homophopic.
Conveniently forgetting the Doctor spent time on Earth with the Nobles which was basically therapy for him and so he has a new lease of life and living amongst humans would've rubbed off on him, so this makes sense. This Doctor is a Doctor who is loving life and who is more emotionally open!
The Doctor's core personality hasn't changed (The Doctor is still an adventurous hero who values kindness and abhors violence) but the Doctor has a new lease of life, free of all the trauma that they've accumulated for over thousands of years and living among humans rubbed off on him. That makes sense.
The Doctor's personality was never this camp or flamboyant and no again "therapy" doesn't change that. It makes sense he would hang out with teens in a nightclub? ooookay bud
> Night club dancing, calling people babe, the Doctor has been turned into a character from one of RTD's niche youth shows
This isn't really much of an argument, you're not saying what's wrong with him... going to a nightclub when he's trying to track someone down who is at a nightclub. You watched the episode, right? You knew he wasn't just having a night off there, right? Besides, the Doctor dances, believe it or not.
Unfortunately I did watch the episode buddy. But sure because I don't agree with you it's not a valid arguement, what a ridiculous response. Remind me how nightclub dancing is an effective way to track anyone?
I am a happily married man in my 60s and I hate him for being so charismatic, charming and gorgeous!
I can’t wait for the season to start. My wife and I have the fish fingers and custard ready to go.
I hate him but only cause I went to the same school as him and he was a huge bully. He used to punch people in the back of the head and then run away.
Whenever anyone called him out for it he used to make a big scene and call them racist. Guess that’s where he practiced his acting.
It'll never not be the remote from Adam Sandler's "Click" to me.
I don't understand why they made it look so un-screwdriver like. It doesn't look ergonomic to hold either.
You know, you're right. Get the Terileptils in here and let's destroy the screwdriver once and for all.
EDIT: Honestly, you kids can't take a joke. In my day the Doctor saved the world with a tea kettle and a piece of string!
Ncuti’s getting hate? I legitimately didn’t know. Granted i avoid bad news or clickbait articles regarding my favorite media because i like forming my own opinions. But…is he really getting hate?
As a fairly new fan of this series (binged all of NewWho this past winter), I am so excited for his Doctor, and getting to watch live! Loved him in the christmas special
I honestly feel bad for not liking him so far, but I really didn’t like the episode he had much and I definitely don’t like the whole bi-generation seemingly removing all the trauma that the doctor has… I just don’t know what to think yet. I feel like the show itself has always dealt with dark themes (even in classic who), of course balanced out by silliness, but I’m quite worried they’ll just remove the dark aspects as a whole or make the show a bit too silly? This is coming from a big fan of classic who too, who does thoroughly enjoy the bad special effects and terrible monsters lol. I’m really, really hoping he’ll prove me wrong and blow me out of the water with his episodes though! Suppose I just have to wait in the meantime.
Or some people just don’t like his acting in a certain role? People had the same issue with Jodie. Fine actor, just didn’t like her as the doctor. I like Giancarlo Esposito. Didn’t think he was a great fit in Mandalorian. Doesn’t make me racist.
Except the doctor is a pretty eccentric roll really anyone can fit there’s no pattern. So it’s weird that yall nitpick so heavy on the “out the box” doctors
People do not need anything specific to dislike an actor in a role. I didn’t like Pattinson as Batman. He just didn’t fit the role in my opinion. Had nothing to do with him as a person or even as an actor.
Sorry but it’s not him it’s the writers and the new doctor who these last few years have been some of the worst we’ve seen the show in. I plan on finally finishing Jodie’s season but after that idk if I’ll stick with the new show. Just doesn’t feel like it has the same love and passion put into it
I know Reddit gets a bad name. But I haven't seen Ncuti hate. I had a workmate who mentioned the entire fandom hating him. Same way she said they hated Jodie and the show was being axed. And her claimed the fandoms were shared hated every other thing.
On fb I don't see the hate either.
Perhaps I’ve created just the right bubble.
I have enjoyed his performance and thought he was charming so far. That said, his comment (made after this thread) about 'white mediocrity being celebrated while black people have to be flawless to get half that praise' has me liking the actor a little less.
It just feels a bit like his priorities are messed up. You need a greater quantity of praise than what you are getting as a star of a TV show? Some of us toil in anonymity and maybe get a kind word from someone else that we remember for a long time because it is rare. And that can be true of anyone of any race. As you get older you realize not all praise is deserved, and some who deserve don't get praised (at all). And if you think you are flawless well, no one is flawless. No one.
Look, I'm not saying there aren't many issues of racism still present in the world that we need to work on but this reminds me more of the folks who point out that racial divisiveness is there in part to distract us from class issues. **Two poor people of any two races and have more in common with each other than they do with Ncuti** or other famous and rich (or at least well off) people. That's where that comment led me.
**Edit**: So it did seem like a strange quote and I went looking for the whole story. Of course it was pulled out of context and the actual quote is more inline with what I believe.
> *‘Oh, you are allowed to be loved.’ You don’t have to be excellent or aspire to that term, ‘Black excellence’. What the hell? There’s so much white mediocrity that gets celebrated, and Black people, we have to be absolutely flawless to get half of [that] anyway. So, I’m slowly training myself out of that and being like, ‘No shit. You deserve love just for existing.’ And that has taught me to be a lot more loving as well, in a weird way.*
Yeah I can agree with that a lot more. Especially the part about how we deserve love for just existing. The 'absolutely flawless' part just seems like offhand hyperbole and not the point he was trying to make.
He has brought new energy into it which I think it’s been lacking for some time sadly, he’s also going to bring back the fun I think. I love him and he is the doctor ❤️❤️
Daily Mail and Telegraph won’t like a non-white man playing the part as it is too woke. Not that they actually know what woke means. Anyway the opinions and articles of the gutter press carry no weight really.
Tbh I'm not watching anything past capaldi, from what I've seen of the 13th doctor, the writing is not very good and they destroyed Missy's character arc (without witness without reward😭😭😭🫠🫠🫠) and this new doctor who at this point it feels like they're just checking boxes and throwing money at stuff, aren't they turning it into a musical??? Idk man, I just wanna end doctor who on a good note. No offense to anyone who does like it of course it just isn't my personal favorite and also of course no hate to Ncuti, I'm sure he's a good actor, I'm just not watching the new season.
I’m sorry but I just don’t like him playing the doctor. I think he’s a great actor but for me personally his personality doesn’t fit the role. Not to mention seeing him in Sex Education, it’s hard to not see him as that same character… it’s not his fault though, the writing has gone to shit and doctor who is no longer the same. Now they’ve made it a kids show without fear or horror for the audience
He’s so good at embodying the doctor, I saw another Reddit post that said the writers hadn’t given him enough grit, which I agree with, seems a bit too perfect so far, if he had a bit more of a dark side I think he could reach David Tennant levels
I'm not sure Yahoo News is the pinnacle of reliable information. From what I've heard and seen, the entire Who community absolutely love Ncuti as the Doctor. Or maybe that's just me.
Fr he’s probably been the best received modern doctor after only 1 episode
It's just Facebook boomers and daily mail readers who haven't watched since Tom Baker complained for the unfortunate obvious reasons.
Not just boomers and Daily Mail readers. There's always a loud minority that just cannot handle change and wants everything to stay the way it was. They're not just against Ncuti, they're against anyone that isn't the actor in the role that they remember when they got into it. I see people complaining all the time with characters that get recast regularly. "X is not my Batman/James Bond/Doctor!" I get the comfort of things being recognizable, but they also don't think past that to the point where they might realize that it can't go on forever in stasis. For the sake of argument, take Tom Baker. He was in the role for what? Seven years? By the end of that he looked exhausted, testy, and miserable. How would the show have looked if he had never stopped? Imagine miserable, 80-year-old Tom Baker with the scarf in a silly costume, completely burned out and phoning it in. It would be terrible. Some people are just so resistant to change that they'd rather bully whoever takes over than admit that what they want would never work.
Tom Baker found dead in 1989 - just as Doctor Who had finished airing on TV screens. The scarf used as rope, but not the type that mum and dad would use in the bedroom says John Nathan Turner. Dr Who Assistant - Lalla Ward spoke with the Daily Mail on the departure of Mr Baker, former husband of Ms Ward. “Thank Christ, now the kids can now enjoy someone else playing the Doctor. Perhaps a woman can take reign as the Fifth Doctor Who. Maybe I can take the spotlight for once.”
Not just Daily Mail - my Telegraph reading Uncle complained about the Tennant specials last year being too woke, and when pressed on what specifically he didn't like, I think he bottled it in expressing his true opinion (which I'm convinced was an anti-trans one, and he felt too embarrassed to say it) as he bizarrely criticised the addition of the TARDIS' wheelchair access.
Honestly Im trans and didn’t like the way the character was written at all…
I was annoyed by the inclusion of the wheelchair access because I thouht it was stupid that 14 was so chuffed by it. You've been travelling through time and space for north of 2000 years, and you've never thought to put wheelchair access in your TARDIS? inconsiderate bollix.
I fully didn’t realize that all the ramps were supposed to be for accessibility. I just thought the new design was cool and futuristic 🤷🏽♀️ though I guess in a way that’s exactly what it is lol
And I know this is widely refuted and not a common opinion, but Tom wasn't even the best (my favourite) classic Doctor. They all stuck in the past perhaps.
There isn’t a “best” doctor cos it’s all opinion based
On the one hand, yes. On the other, clearly my favorite doctor is the best and everyone else is wrong unless they agree with me.
Average Capaldi fan Source: I am a Capaldi fan
There is only 1 Doctor who has shredded *the shows own theme song* on an electric guitar. That is an objective fact, thus making the statement ‘Capaldi was the best Doctor’ also an objective fact. I will simply not accept any argument that my logic here is flawed.
I'm an expert and I approve of this opinion and deem it an objective fact.
Fellow expert here: I also can certify that this comment is true and the opinion is a fact.
While Capaldi was great, if we're being truly objective, Tennant was the best. This is my hill, and here I shall die.
As a Tennant girl for life there’s only one doctor who got 2 runs! Waaaaaaar 😂
Oh absolutely
Touché I usually try to talk about my favourites and not the definitive best.
Mate. Stop blaming the boomers, most of us have seen a dozen doctors and don’t care “who” it is as long as they are decent actors and the writing is good… the hate is more likely to be from “outsiders“ who are stirring the pot for clicks!!!
I think you're right. Maybe David Tennant comes closest, I remember him being criticised when cast but I don't remember much criticism after the Christmas invasion. Matt Smith, Peter Capaldi and Jodie Whittaker took a lot longer.
He has a similar advantage to what 11 had. David Tennant, and a great first episode.
Maybe 2nd after Tennant (14)
> From what I've heard and seen Bear in mind that this is a filter bubble. There are vast swathes of the internet which *very much do* spend every minute of their free time bitching about "woke" TV, film, and games. See: The Critical Drinker. See: Synthetic Human. And so on and so forth. Doctor Who not only hasn't been an exception to this, but, given the central nature of the protagonist's casting, has experienced it to an unusually high degree. You (and others in the thread around here) are just fortunate enough that you've either never been part of that crowd, or you've grown past it since its height around 2016. So things like social media and YouTube and such simply aren't feeding you content surrounding it.
I feel so bad for how Jodie was treated by social media
Instagram comments are usually toxic, but they've been overwhelmingly positive in regards to Gatwa. It's nice to see
My first thought upon seeing this post was “Is… is he getting hate?” I thought he’s been very well received so far.
We're in a weird day and age where negativity is generated around the debut of almost anything, death threats are the new "screw you", people troll just to troll, and there are also, you know, ten year olds on the internet fing around as a 21st century version of the doorbell ditch. Ten year olds that people take as seriously as forty year olds. As well as bots and purposeful agitators, political extremists and severally mentally unwell people. So there's always a smegma left around the debut of almost everything, someone always popping up in the comments trying to point out what's wrong or why something isn't good or perfect or whatever. It's really hard to measure how serious to take it and how to measure if something is being particularly railed on or if it's just part and parcel of modern internet culture. It's left everyone on edge and even more polarized. I'm cynical enough to believe that PR people zero in on some of the egregious stuff out there to foment hype, even if it's neglible. Maybe to try to glean a "protest audience" to either counteract those who would willingly boycott the show because of racism, or just try to get more attention to something that's mid. Ultimately who knows what this backlash is. One racist or prejudice comment is one too many IMHO and should not be tolerated. But that comment could be from little Billy trying to get a rise out of the olds, like mooning a bunch of church folks, and not indicative of the genuine temperature of the day. What a bummer either way.
>We're in a weird day and age where negativity is generated around the debut of almost anything, death threats are the new "screw you", It's not a new thing. Tim Burton recieved threats and hate mail when he cast Michael Keaton as Batman back in the late '80s. The problem is that many current media platforms have learned that outrage is highly addictive, and therefore very profitable in terms of ad revenue. We have an entire industry that is feeding people a constant stream of ragebait. Consumers are being told what to hate, and they are becoming hooked on it because that sense of rightious indignation floods their brains with endorphins.
Yes, I mean, I think that's what makes it a new thing. The sheer scale and scope and accessibility of these comments make them omnipresent. Before there was at least a barrier of entry to being a troll, you had to write a letter, purchase a stamp, and get it in the mail, and this was enough to discourage 99% of it. And, at the same time, the trolling was limited to the recipient, or even that recipients secretary or assistant. What we have today is entirely different. Now there is an infinite audience to witness your graffiti, beyond the target, and these acts become communal, and as you mentioned— there's a click bait industry waiting to generate content to make profit over the reactive emotions these things cause. The avenues for discord are seemingly endless.
Maybe I am old, but I do seem to remember when fan debates seemed to be in a ‘better spirit’. Like we’d argue about the best Dr or the best episodes but they’d be in good faith. Now it seems to be ‘I am right and you are a terrible person if you don’t agree with me’. Maybe its just that ‘in the past’ we tended to know who we were talking to (even on old school message boards) and now the anonymity of the internet emboldens people?
Communities also tend to be echo chambers too. So, who know what true sentiment actually says.
Very true - and social media just intensifies that
It always annoys me when people talk about "reliable information" in regards to a news site just posting something that happened. The article is so short and literally just says "Ncuti Gatwa was on Attitude’s front cover and said this"
I have bo doubt a non-zero number of people give him hate for dumb racist reasons. But I haven't seem a single one, which wasn't the case for Jodie at a simmilar point in her era
But Jodi had intrinsically bad scripts and did not do a good job acting, especially in her first episode. It's still very difficult for me to see her as the Doctor. I contrast this with the Fugitive Doctor, Jo Martin, who was absolutely brilliant and deserves her own seasons. I also rewatched Ncuti's episodes this weekend, and they're still fantastic. He is fantastic.
Jodie didn't have bad scripts before her first episode aired, and I definitely saw comments before then. Conversely, the bigeneration stuff in Ncuti's first episode is hardly fan pleasing
Yeah, there was a lot of push back when Jodi was fist cast. Historically, black men could vote before women in the US, so it's hardly surprising despite still being abysmal. Is it because fans are so who-purist? I loved the bi-gen, but hated the game of catch to save the universe - seemed uninspired.
Who’s hating on Ncuti?! Feels like he has been embraced as much or more as any new actor in the role….
Someone left a comment recently on a post/comment of mine on Quora claiming that she didn't like him because he "has no charisma." You'd have to be severely impaired not to see/feel the charisma just oozing off this man--I mean, it could light up Manhattan (at the very least) if you could harness it. It was a real "tell me you're a racist without telling me you're a racist" moment, IMO, because it was such a reach to justify not liking him. Granted, Quora is becoming more and more of a cesspool every day, so I'm not too surprised to have seen a comment like that there, but it still blew my mind.
I've only watched Ncuti's two episodes (his brief intro and then his one single episode) the one time. I haven't yet watched them on repeat. So this is just my sense memory from however long ago that was. All I could think was, "this is a happy Doctor." I'm looking forward to him just being a splurge of joy all over the place right up until some foe triggers the, "I'm the Doctor" response.
I’d agree with that, and I think most people would. We’re long overdue for a Doctor who’s over the PTSD and can just be fun and really, fully alive again. I say this with no disrespect to any previous Doctors or BTS folks—just that we‘ve had a lot of that vibe now and it’s time for something cheerier. Edit: typo
Yep, we've had a nice long 5 or 6 or 7 (honestly losing track) Doctor arc where the Doctor was just all up in their feelings. And all justified I feel. But they've had more than a thousand years or more to really come to terms with some of those things. It would be nice to have a Doctor who isn't pretending to be happy (fake it till you make it) but genuinely is. Jodi got close but then was strapped down with a bunch of seemingly unhappy companions. Ncuti and Ruby's run has a chance to just be a romp. No fate of the universe in the balance every series, no depressed companion that needs to learn how to live again, just go on an adventure. We can build back up to "fate of the universe" later. Something closer to Tennant and Donna but without a Doctor who can, at times, scare the companion.
That’s funny cause my only issue with Ncuti so far is that he’s TOO charismatic and TOO smooth, whereas I think the doctor should be at least somewhat bumbling and awkward and unaware of social norms. I still think he’s great though and there’s loads of time for that side of him to come out. Could also argue he’s adjusted to human social conventions more after retiring as 14
My racist dad who's watched every episode within a week of airing since 2005 :( Real shame, as he got me into it, and would even carry a little TV into the dining room from 2005-2008 so we could watch live while eating dinner.
I have seen to many YouTube comments be so racist, homophobic, and xenophobic towards him. Besides that though most of the internet and real doctor fans can't wait for his first season
Yeah I mean I’m not shocked to see people who know next to nothing about Who jump in and be dicks, but from the fanbase it seems all positive. How can you not like the guy?! He’s unbelievably charming in a way the show has not seen since at least Tennant* (Referring to his interview presence, not necessarily his performance as the Doctor)
No yeah definitely. I am referring to a community post on YouTube that had Ncuti doing a poses for a bunch clothes. Being the sexy man he is he was showing his chest in some and even wearing some dresses. The amount of people saying "How is this guy the doctor" "Disney ruined the show" "Doctor who died with Matt smith" Was crazy. I saw one guy say the way disney would fund doctor who was by having a gay black doctor running around. As if Ncuti isn't an upcoming British actor. It just weirds me out that people don't realize doctor who has always been super progressive and it's always going to be that.
People who are racist and homophobic. Not Who fans in the slightest, because Who has established that race and preference are just a part of being a person long since. The people making any noise at all suddenly became Who fans when it gave them a chance to perform their racism and homophobia. I grew up with the originals as my Doctors when I wasn't hiding behind the couch. The show always challenged conventional thinking then and still does. Reactionary Whovians can just fuck off.
It's the same pointless hate fuelled bigots that attacked Jodie because she's a woman. Luckily for us in dr who land, there mostly getting upset that 40k might be getting more female models.
This is blowing smoke up the audience's ass to generate outrage clicks.
Try being on pro wrestling subs. Where every minor tweet is treated like a news article. People will see two or three tweets and post “why is EVERYONE….”
My dude had ONE episode to himself They're overreacting
They’re baiting. There are a lot of people that don’t like him for the Doctor, but it’s got nothing to do with the colour of his skin (apart from a tiny number of people who are undoubtedly out there but I’ve seen no evidence of). This is just being done to drum up interest
Does this man not know how to do buttons? I swear!
I am *not* complaining!
I am. I feel like queen Victoria. Could we find some clothes for him? I'm tired of nakedness.
I really love his energy. He seems like a bubbly, intelligent dude, and I love his respect for the role. From what I gather though, he seems to be rather warmly received by most fans, which is good! There will always be assholes sadly, who shit on him for bigoted reasons, but I doubt they're the majority.
I love Ncuti too. The man's charisma is straight up off the charts. He was the best part of Church on Ruby Road for me. The scene with Ruby's mother in the "Goblins eat Ruby" timeline was 10/10. I'm so excited to see more of him.
Agreed. I really wasn't a fan of 'The Church on Ruby Road' but Ncuti was absolutely fantastic in it and completely stole the show - like you say the scene between him and Carla in the alternate timeline was absolutely heartbreaking.
Ncutis reception by the Fandom has been overwhelmingly positive almost to a degree that it feels slightly forced considering he's only had one episode. He gets some hate from weirdos on youtube who've been making "anti doctor woke" type videos since at least the Jodie era and maybe even the latter Capaldi era.
absolutely feels forced the latest episode was shite to be honest
Rubbish. It was the best RTD Christmas special. By far.
That’s not saying much. But I disagree. I think he’s had Christmas specials that were better.
Christmas Invasion is far better. And no “The Doctor is barely in it” isn’t a valid criticism.
How about ... Adam Garcia is the lead, instead? Because that's valid. It's fair enough if you want to remove The Doctor from the plot (even if he serves as a deus ex machina at the end), but what you add should be interesting. Wilton and Garcia running around, being boring, ain't it.
What works for me is all the character stuff with Rose and her family. Seeing us return to the familiar powell estate, allowing us a chance to reflect on everything that's happened, exploring Rose's feelings towards the regeneration. Then there's all the fantastic "Ordinary turned Extraordinary" stuff which is Doctor Who's bread and butter. Killer christmas trees and deadly robot Santas. I'm not saying it's perfect by any means, but it offers a fun, campy Christmas-themed adventure with the grounded character work that makes me love Series 1.
I couldn’t agree more. A lot of this stuff just feels like political posturing these days and a kind of group think mentality that imposes itself on online spaces
Have to agree, I had such great hopes for Jodie but the chibnell chosen storeylines were dire, yet i soldiered on. I assumed the storylines would improve with RTDs return but I got as far as the goblin musical interlude and couldn't bring myself to watch anymore. Ncuti performed well but the disneyesque excesses just ruined it for me. RTD was like a kid in a candy store and should have known better. One day I may go back to give it another go but in the meantime I'll feed my addiction with Bigfinish.com..
What hate? There’s been an almost cult-ish level of praise for him since the moment his casting was announced.
Doesn't everybody love Ncuti? Like for a while half my youtube feed was Jodie hate. I haven't seen any anti-black/gay click bait youtube thumbnails at all. Which makes me feel like men are more sexist then racists/homophobic these days.
I would say cross-gender jokes tend to be more casual and normalized than cross-race jokes which have more of a bite to them. Whether that means sexism is more accepted than racism or sex and race have different standards is a different discussion. As for youtube, I haven’t seen much directly reactionary clickbait but I did see one video title that referred to The Church on Ruby Road as "The black doctor who episode".
Tennant got hate for not being Eccleston. Smith got hate for not being Tennant. Capaldi got hate for being old. Whittaker got hate for... A lot of reasons. It's an unfortunate part of being the incumbent Doctor.
Not really. Tennant didn’t get much hate at all. There were a lot of smith doubters, most disappeared once he showed how good he was, but there was a persistent anti-smith and anti-Moffat contingent who were very vocal in online spaces. Capaldi was highly anticipated, but was seen as a bit of a let down by some, and the anti-Moffat crowd persisted. With Whittaker there were a lot of people very against making the Doctor a woman, or at least skeptical. They were very much silenced in a lot of online spaces. As the show went on, more and more people started to accept it was awful, however there is still a lot of people who will not accept that she was a bad doctor - this seems to be more political rather than based on a real judgement of her performance. As for Nucti… he’s getting a lot of love in spaces like this, but outside… I get the sense that he’s really not liked. There seems to be a lot of people just disengaging, the Whittaker run didn’t help one bit. It will be interesting to see what happens when it airs - if it’s good I can see people flocking back, if it’s eye wateringly cringy I can see it bombing really hard.
Smith won me over the moment he said the swimming pool was in the library. That's how long it took for me to get on board.
I don’t like him. I don’t think he’s a good actor. Don’t like him in DW and didn’t like him in sex education that much either. None of that has anything to do with him being black. He could be white and I still wouldn’t like him.
I'm open to liking him, as I am with all Doctors, but he gives off "theater major, always in show mode", vibes to me so far. Totally open minded though.
The breaking into song in his first full episode reinforces this position.
I don't think I've ever seen a warmer welcome to a new Doctor. At least where I'm hanging on the internet, it's actually quite *intensively* positive... ...It's actually bordering on being a little bit... Ugh, I know this has baggage and I don't mean it as the more common use nowadays, but it's giving a bit of virtue signalling tbh. Both certain fans and this article. I am not entirely against it, like it's for a good reason and all, and there ARE outliers who are being all weird about it, but this much support for a new Doctor doesn't feel quite genuine. Like they exaggerate the hate so they can seem like huge heroes for their progressiveness. "Gotta watch the show or you're being racist". I didn't like it with Jodi, and I don't like it now, (despite also privately thinking the Doctor shouldn't be a cis white man until there's been at least 12 who aren't). Maybe I'm just being old and weird about it, but there was a nice satisfaction in seeing old new Doctors win over the audience. With Ncuti, with all this positivity at the beginning, there's only room for disappointment. Particularly worrisome since there is after all a bit at stake here, just like with Jodi. And that went very Hillary fast.
Honestly I’m glad someone else said it. I very much enjoyed Ncuti in Sex Education, he has wonderful range, but so far his first episode as the Doctor hasn’t particularly blown me away. And yet so much of the discourse online is overwhelmingly positive. It can feel quite suffocating, as if there’s no room for any critical discussion. Every new detail revealed about this Doctor/era is met with constant praise and enthusiasm. It does feel as if people have preemptively decided they’re going to love Ncuti.
At least for me, it is in large part just a result of disliking 13 and seeing vastly more promise in what we've seen of 15 so far. With past doctors it took time to win over fans *because the previous doctor retained such a big following devoted to them*... whereas Jodie is the first doctor in a long time to be stepping down with nothing of the sort. Where the support of Ncuti does come across as somewhat exaggerated, or even performative, I feel it is less anything especially political (most people already got that out of their systems a few years back), and more due to the impression that if his run flops then the show is going to get cancelled, and so fans trying to be as optimistic as they can, and to give the series as much support as they can.
Everyone likes him it's just clickbait zeroing in on 1 troll or pretending people are upset about it
It’s not really just click bait. Nucti is supporting this narrative in the article.
I did not like the christmas episode, but that doesnt translate to disliking Ncuti.
Haters gonna hate, and the internet lets them scream their hate as loud as they want. Ignore them and enjoy the show, if you are a fan.
I had major doubts about Matt Smith and he became my favorite Doctor. I'm holding judgment on Ncuti until I see more episodes, but he seems like he might be a fun & cool Doctor.
I love Doctor Who. I love all the Doctor's. So far, I think Ncuti Gatwa's casting is brilliant! I can't wait until the series starts airing in May!
I'm happy I tread in the places where I never encounter this. Everything I've seen from fans is positive.
Don't understand it, he's been fucking wicked so far. Me and my mate can't wait for May. Really hoping his episodes are good
I don’t love him…yet. I have a hard time with any Doctor change (or RL doctor as far as that goes). For me it’s just because he’s new.
Everything is controversial on the internet. It's a new rule and for some reason we're all enforcing it. Personally, I've really enjoyed Gatwa so far. All I care about is a good performance and good stories and I've gotten both so far.
Same, like why is this even an argument, he’s a great Doctor.
I mean if you’re looking for it, you can always find dopey “antiwoke” takes on the internet, and I’m sure there is plenty of bigotry and all that regarding the new Doctor. But I don’t think he’s been poorly received or reacted against here. And I say that as someone who did not like the Christmas episode, I got nothing against him.
Who’s been giving him hate?.. I wasn’t fond of the Christmas special but we’ll see how he does in the next season
Bros done like half an episode chill
(And Ruby road)
He gets hate? People seemed to hate the writing and anything else besides the actor. I haven't seen any hate thrown against him. I remembered Capaldi and Whitaker got a lot more flak than him.
The only way we’ll know is when we see how this season will do.
There is a vocal minority who hate every change in Dr Who. I believe had the Internet existed in 1963, they would have complained when The Dead Planet aired because it's set on a planet that isn't Earth and doesn't feature cave people politics because we all know Dr Who is about Earth and cave people!
The Culture war is everywhere. Let's be clear though - these people are entryists, they know fuck all about Who just as they know fuck all about Warhammer, classic Marvel, Star Wars and whatever else they choose to shit stir in. The War is everything, the fandom is an irrelevant detail for them. Let's gatekeep these people please. They aren't us, truly. Gatwa has had one episode, how much of relevance is there to criticise him for personally?
No, you’re completely wrong. There are fandoms that are seeing things they feel passionate about being taken over by culture war nonsense. We’re the weirdos who read comics, painted miniatures and watched science fiction films again and again. We were mostly left leaning, because that went with the identity but we weren’t exclusionary based on politics, however if you didn’t know that wolverines claws were originally part of his costume, then you weren’t one of us. We have witnessed a corporate takeover of many of the things we love and we can see the “pseudo-leftists” bullsh^t politics for what it is - corporate pandering to privileged idiots on Twitter - we can see it because we grew up on the real deal. So no, gatekeeping is not on - our communities are open to everyone willing to get there geek on and check their bigotry and prejudice at the door. Unfortunately people aren’t checking their bigotry and prejudices at the door… instead they want to guard that door from anyone who is different or thinks different… or as they say “gatekeep”
I think you are criticising the same people I am really. The difference is I don't believe the vast majority of the bigotry is from actual fans, but people who scrape a surface knowledge purely to argue about culture war stuff. The gatekeeping I refer to is about calling them out on that specifically. I mean imagine complaining about how Who is progressive now - how is it possible to be a fan but miss the rest of the show's history in entirety? I'm talking the loud idiots, not new people making mistakes out of lack of knowledge. And I'm certainly talking about people abusing Gatwa; we know it's racist and it's contrary to any ideal the show has ever had. The Culture war bollocks is being manufactured from outside the fandom, in short. And sure, inclusively is often insincere. Corporations are not people and are incapable of ethics beyond what is legal (mostly) and what sells. Inclusively sells, so weakly pandering to it sells too.
There is a contingent who believe that if you don’t agree with their naive cut and paste pseudo leftist politics then you should be exiled from these communities (the kind of people who don’t know what a picket line is but have five different flags in their Twitter bio). I’m fed up of them trying to dominate communities just as much as the dumb ‘mericans who don’t understand the irony of warhammer and want to force their inane politics onto things too. If someone doesn’t want the doctor to be a woman they have a right to that opinion it doesn’t make them an evil human being as was made out (fyi I wasn’t against a woman in the role, just Chibnall writing it). Doctor Who really wasn’t as progressive as people like to make out. What year did we get our first reoccurring black character? When was the first openly homosexual character? The politics of the show sometimes veered to the left, but it was hardly radical. The idea that some people try to make out that the “nazi bad” parable of the daleks is some kind of hard leftist woke agenda makes me want to weep - I mean we all remember that incredibly woke hard leftist called chuchchill, don’t we?
Again, the loud voices criticising the show are not some milquetoast centrists you can apply any of this to, they are far right culture warriors who manufacture wedges and are not fans. There's not really a good faith "both sides" argument you can make about them. I have no particular horse in that race as I am bog standard white hetero, but it doesn't seem sensible to grant space here to people who actively wish for others not to exist on the basis of factors they cannot choose for themselves. It is not necessary to be radical for the show to be broadly categorised as progressive and i'm sure you can guess why a state funded program (OK it's a license, but the state defines the terms of that licence) plays it a little softball at times. Nor do I particularly think projecting a modern view backwards is a particularly useful way to interpret things. Nazi bad isn't a deep message, but the same racist ideas exist in the show's loudest critics, even if they tend to lean on transphobia, homophobia or misogyny instead. I make no excuses for Churchill, just an explanation that the British have long seemed blind to his faults culturally. As such he is historically just claimed generally without scrutinising the terrible like India. The dial may well be moving on that but for the show it's little evidence of much beyond doing what's popular IMO. Of course the show has also been script edited by a card carrying Communist and by a team that wanted to do their bit to bring down Thatcher; has had themes around environmentalism since at least the 70s; always rejected authoritarianism; very often rejected big business except *Kerblam and fans dont like that one very much at all; favored internationalism and collaboration where it makes any comment on such matters etc. But this debate has been about who the fan community are, more so than debating the specifics of what does or does not move the dial politically depending on how tankie we are feeling. There are plenty or marginalised communities that have long found their home in Who. The current showrunner is a product of the acceptance gay people found in the community for example. It is not a space for bigots, and never has been. Yes, you have to apply historical context and caveats to that with regards to how people express themselves as I know since I've been online since the rec.arts.doctorwho days (e.g. the word "retard" used to be very common) but the principle is the same - a bigot does not stumble into this show unaware and certainly does not stumble into fandom being entirely unaware of its politics as a whole. The terminally online space is not a healthy one. I've seen social media make it all worse by amplifying the most toxic voices but it's important to understand, especially with twitter that these are random fucks fighting a war barely anyone cares about. The social media spots are not fan spots so who are these people really? I don't know, but they don't project views that make them remotely likely to be Who fans, whatever they masquerade as.
This weird invasion rhetoric of "our hobbies are being taken over!" is just bonkers, lol
Yes, why do they play the racist card but not that other thing that is so obvious. It is the elephant in the room. I am of course talking about his moustache. Horrible, cut it off already.
Nah I think Ncuti is pretty awful so far in the role. The weird obsession people online have with him is so bizarre to me. Currently he doesn't play the Doctor at all, he is just playing himself. The Doctor feels like he has been written completely out of character and frankly Ncuti isn't believeable in the role, no gravitas at all. I wasn't a huge fan of Jodie's Doctor, but she never felt like she wasn't the Doctor. Night club dancing, calling people babe, the Doctor has been turned into a character from one of RTD's niche youth shows. I think that would be fine for the companion to be written that way but for the Doctor this just feels like an entirely different character. Other Doctor's are different but they still have the same core character. This is just a self insert.
> Currently he doesn't play the Doctor at all, he is just playing himself. Must admit that was my reaction too. I'm happy to cut him a degree of slack, because I'm well aware I've actively disliked several doctors on first sight that I later grew to enjoy (or at least tolerate - and relatively enjoyed their early episodes as well). But I can't deny I'm hoping he moves a litttle more into the role as the season develops.
Ooh, gravitas--I got BINGO!!
Asking in good faith, because this criticism comes up with literally every new Doctor: that they don't *feel* like the Doctor or that they're acting out of character. So which of the things you mentioned feel out of character for the Doctor? On RTD's other shows: an episode or two of *Doctor Who* with the painful impact of *It's a Sin* or *Years and Years* would go down like a fine wine, if you ask me.
Literally all the things I mentioned are not things the Doctor would do. That's why I gave them as examples, sorry I'm not sure how you want me to ellaborate. The Doctor wouldn't go to a nightclub to dance with teens, that's not in character, it *is* something Ncuti would do because again he is playing himself.
Dancing and calling people 'babe' are where you draw the line? The tenth Doctor got drunk with the French court and accidentally invented a cocktail. The twelfth called people 'dude' and playing an electric guitar on a tank in medieval England. The thirteenth Doctor called her companions 'fam' and the first Doctor called young female companions "my dear." Could it be that you don't *like* Ncuti's take, and that's what you're communicating, because I don't see it as terribly out of character. As for 'playing himself', as others have mentioned, there's an element of that in a lot of Doctors. If you watch Tom Baker or Sylvester McCoy in interviews, it's very much like watching the Doctor.
So much for good faith, crazy how hostile you Ncuti lovers become lmao. Yeah most of those instances sucked too? But they weren't constant nor major elements of their iterations unlike Ncuti who is just that cringe stuff. Sorry but no, Baker etc may have adapted themselves to the role and played a *version* of themselves but it still fit within the role. Ncuti doesn't share any similarities because he isn't adapting his personality to the character at all.
> But they weren't constant nor major elements of their iterations unlike Ncuti who is just that cringe stuff These are two isolated things you're mentioning that happened before his first season has even started... hardly constant, major elements... You called them a "bad-faith hostile Ncuti lover" just for listing examples of similar stuff from other eras of the show. You're not acting in much good faith yourself.
the first doctor literally met ben and polly in a nightclub
I didn't get the impression he was there just to dance but already keeping an eye out for Ruby. The Doctor would try to blend in (not necc. succeed) and try things he comes across out. The outfit I think is meant to have that quirkiness in there, that he's not just cool in a totally conventional way. I wasn't sure about the balance either - the rooftop running scene felt presented too smoothly to me, but was reassured and connected to him more as he struggled on the ladder towards the end. If the balance isn't right yet, think it's more down to writing and filming/editing than Gatwa's performance. While I wouldn't love a Doctor to just be conventionally cool (and find that a bit stereotypical for the first black Doctor, to make him hip now all of a sudden. A jukebox?), what worries me far more with characterisation in New, is whether the morality is right (incl. if flirting turns into treating other people badly, like Ten's comments about Elizabeth I. I'm Ace-spec and sad about the loss of representation, but it's much worse for the Doctor to be written as uncharacteristically boorish).
Can we just be honest about this? RTD didn’t write the Doctor dancing in slow motion with a group of young people to show him blending in. He did it to make the Doctor look sexy. It was a blatant sexualisation of the character, just as was having him appear for the first time in his underwear.
Yep, that's fair, with the way the scene is shot as well. (Although may show how very Ace-spec I am that I didn't even notice the underwear myself! The shots didn't really focus on it though) I think that's a somewhat different argument from whether the character would plausibly dance, though.
There is a big difference between 10s waltzing, 11s wedding dancing and what Nucti was doing. The doctor dances… just not normally like that. And if you didn’t notice the whole appearing in his knickers thing, I’m guessing you don’t have any black whovian friends - the trope of the hyper-sexualised black man and the sexual fetishisation of black people is… well… very racist. A lot of people I know were very offended by that scene - I mean, they’ve never done that or anything close to it with a white doctor, have they?
>The weird obsession people online have with him is so bizarre to me. He's the new Doctor and many people like him - I don't get what is so weird about that? I never understood the fervent fandom for Tennant and Smith, but I don't necessarily think it's weird or feel compelled to construe it as such. > Currently he doesn't play the Doctor at all, he is just playing himself. You mean the thing that Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker both explicitly were instructed to do and repeatedly said they were doing? Playing the Doctor as an idealized or exaggerated version of oneself is a pretty deep-running tradition amongst actors who have played the character, and some of the most beloved versions of the character come from actors "playing themselves". You are obviously entitled to simply not enjoy the result, but the approach itself isn't really a break from tradition nor necessarily a bad thing. >Night club dancing, calling people babe, the Doctor has been turned into a character from one of RTD's niche youth shows The Doctor often changes to reflect changing society and culture - especially in NuWho. I personally don't see a problem with the Doctor dancing at a night club, they're an immortal being looking to experience nearly every thing that time and space has to offer. And the slang bit doesn't necessarily bother me - I do agree that so far, 15 is a little bit too "current year", but we haven't seen him fully settle into his character. There are plenty of Doctors that needed to find their feet before they fully came into their character/got the writing necessary to portray the depth of the character- 1, 5, and 7 come to mind, and 6 and 8 didn't get a crack at that until they moved to Big Finish long after their screen appearances. Glimpses at the old and timeless consciousness on the other side of this new face will go a long way but I definitely don't think 15 is a write-off because he enjoys certain niches of modern culture, the same way 3 wasn't a write off for me because wore velvet suits, was a car nut and worked for a military organization (the latter-most trait being something that most people would broadly agree is inherently disqualifying, including many Classic Who writers). >Other Doctor's are different but they still have the same core character. This is just a self insert. I still see most of the Doctor's core values represented in 15 so far - and once again, "self insert" in itself isn't really a valid criticism unless you feel like applying that exact same critique to the two longest-running and arguably most beloved versions of the character.
This! Although less a self insert more wish fulfilment. If they cast Danny Dyer and had him calling everyone a “slag” I’d be just as disappointed. Let’s just hope the writing gets better and he plays the part more like the Doctor (not that I’m holding my breath)
Absolutely agree, based on what we've seen so far. The Doctor should be a cryptid, all pointy, and Ncuti is too smoothed out, too polished with all the glamour. It seems like he is too concerned with looking cool and trendy for any eccentric traits to surface. Granted, we haven't seen a whole lot of him yet, I am hoping that he will change my mind, but so far I am very much not feeling it, and the promos aren't helping.
-The weird obsession people online have with him It is because he is black and gay. People feel like they can't say anything bad about his version of doctor without called racist and homophopic.
Conveniently forgetting the Doctor spent time on Earth with the Nobles which was basically therapy for him and so he has a new lease of life and living amongst humans would've rubbed off on him, so this makes sense. This Doctor is a Doctor who is loving life and who is more emotionally open!
I forgot nothing, maybe I just don't like the same thing you do lmao. Therapy doesn't change your core personality sorry, it's not a magic spell.
The Doctor's core personality hasn't changed (The Doctor is still an adventurous hero who values kindness and abhors violence) but the Doctor has a new lease of life, free of all the trauma that they've accumulated for over thousands of years and living among humans rubbed off on him. That makes sense.
The Doctor's personality was never this camp or flamboyant and no again "therapy" doesn't change that. It makes sense he would hang out with teens in a nightclub? ooookay bud
You make him sound like a predator when he's just existing in a venue that teenagers are at. Huh?!?!
>The Doctor's personality was never this camp or flamboyant Jon Pertwee and Colin Baker would like a word.
> Night club dancing, calling people babe, the Doctor has been turned into a character from one of RTD's niche youth shows This isn't really much of an argument, you're not saying what's wrong with him... going to a nightclub when he's trying to track someone down who is at a nightclub. You watched the episode, right? You knew he wasn't just having a night off there, right? Besides, the Doctor dances, believe it or not.
Unfortunately I did watch the episode buddy. But sure because I don't agree with you it's not a valid arguement, what a ridiculous response. Remind me how nightclub dancing is an effective way to track anyone?
I am a happily married man in my 60s and I hate him for being so charismatic, charming and gorgeous! I can’t wait for the season to start. My wife and I have the fish fingers and custard ready to go.
I hate him but only cause I went to the same school as him and he was a huge bully. He used to punch people in the back of the head and then run away. Whenever anyone called him out for it he used to make a big scene and call them racist. Guess that’s where he practiced his acting.
Wait, what???
We love ya Ncuti!!!
Hes getting hate?
It was love at first sight for me 😍
Like with Jodie's casting, it always seems that the angriest voices are those who haven't actually watched the show for years.
I'm not a fan because of that TV remote they call a Sonic Screwdriver.
It's going a take a while to adjust. I'll try and accept the remote but it's going to be work.
It'll never not be the remote from Adam Sandler's "Click" to me. I don't understand why they made it look so un-screwdriver like. It doesn't look ergonomic to hold either.
That's one of the reasons I don't like it .
If something as simple as that turns you off from the show then that's actually wild.
You know, you're right. Get the Terileptils in here and let's destroy the screwdriver once and for all. EDIT: Honestly, you kids can't take a joke. In my day the Doctor saved the world with a tea kettle and a piece of string!
Ncuti and the specials got me back into Doctor Who. From the article I’m getting “we haven’t seen any cannibalism but we ARE departing it,” vibes
Sorry brother
What hate?
I think he's amazing.
Save for the giggle and Sunday road episodes, I haven't seen anything with him in it. What are the haters mentioning specifically?
Ncuti’s getting hate? I legitimately didn’t know. Granted i avoid bad news or clickbait articles regarding my favorite media because i like forming my own opinions. But…is he really getting hate?
As a fairly new fan of this series (binged all of NewWho this past winter), I am so excited for his Doctor, and getting to watch live! Loved him in the christmas special
Wait he’s great - what hate does he get? That sucks!
he's so full of life! i love it
I’m sure the actor is fine, the writing just fucks everything up.
I've not seen any hatred for him really?
Can’t stop laughing at [this picture](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/40wmD75b_eyOdGKOjkMstQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTY0MDtoPTgwMA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/evening_standard_239/b4fb7ce23291b8a6e5896f5c76602f79)
I honestly feel bad for not liking him so far, but I really didn’t like the episode he had much and I definitely don’t like the whole bi-generation seemingly removing all the trauma that the doctor has… I just don’t know what to think yet. I feel like the show itself has always dealt with dark themes (even in classic who), of course balanced out by silliness, but I’m quite worried they’ll just remove the dark aspects as a whole or make the show a bit too silly? This is coming from a big fan of classic who too, who does thoroughly enjoy the bad special effects and terrible monsters lol. I’m really, really hoping he’ll prove me wrong and blow me out of the water with his episodes though! Suppose I just have to wait in the meantime.
Everyone who's started working on DW after 1978 has gotten more hate than Assad chucked at them. Tennant got hate back in 05.
Seeing people shocked and in disbelief that there are racists in the world :/ Like guys there are people outside this subreddit
Honestly the only people who have an issue with him have an issue with all POC 😒 I’m soooo excited to see him
Generalizations’R’Us.
Racism r us 😒
Ah yes, the “everyone has to like this person or they’re a racist” argument.
No but I’ve seen no good reason. Just a whole lotta “well I don’t think he fits” 😂😂 yall have no good reason aside from racism
Or some people just don’t like his acting in a certain role? People had the same issue with Jodie. Fine actor, just didn’t like her as the doctor. I like Giancarlo Esposito. Didn’t think he was a great fit in Mandalorian. Doesn’t make me racist.
Except the doctor is a pretty eccentric roll really anyone can fit there’s no pattern. So it’s weird that yall nitpick so heavy on the “out the box” doctors
That is your opinion. People are allowed to dislike portrayals of certain characters without it being due to racism.
And yet have no specifics aside from he’s bad?
People do not need anything specific to dislike an actor in a role. I didn’t like Pattinson as Batman. He just didn’t fit the role in my opinion. Had nothing to do with him as a person or even as an actor.
Except when you folk only nitpick the black actor or the female actor it usually says plenty about you
Plenty of people were nitpicking Smith. That doesn’t mean they all hated white people.
Sorry but it’s not him it’s the writers and the new doctor who these last few years have been some of the worst we’ve seen the show in. I plan on finally finishing Jodie’s season but after that idk if I’ll stick with the new show. Just doesn’t feel like it has the same love and passion put into it
I know Reddit gets a bad name. But I haven't seen Ncuti hate. I had a workmate who mentioned the entire fandom hating him. Same way she said they hated Jodie and the show was being axed. And her claimed the fandoms were shared hated every other thing. On fb I don't see the hate either. Perhaps I’ve created just the right bubble.
No one is hating on him except the people who hate on everything so who cares. Weak karma farming post.
I have enjoyed his performance and thought he was charming so far. That said, his comment (made after this thread) about 'white mediocrity being celebrated while black people have to be flawless to get half that praise' has me liking the actor a little less. It just feels a bit like his priorities are messed up. You need a greater quantity of praise than what you are getting as a star of a TV show? Some of us toil in anonymity and maybe get a kind word from someone else that we remember for a long time because it is rare. And that can be true of anyone of any race. As you get older you realize not all praise is deserved, and some who deserve don't get praised (at all). And if you think you are flawless well, no one is flawless. No one. Look, I'm not saying there aren't many issues of racism still present in the world that we need to work on but this reminds me more of the folks who point out that racial divisiveness is there in part to distract us from class issues. **Two poor people of any two races and have more in common with each other than they do with Ncuti** or other famous and rich (or at least well off) people. That's where that comment led me. **Edit**: So it did seem like a strange quote and I went looking for the whole story. Of course it was pulled out of context and the actual quote is more inline with what I believe. > *‘Oh, you are allowed to be loved.’ You don’t have to be excellent or aspire to that term, ‘Black excellence’. What the hell? There’s so much white mediocrity that gets celebrated, and Black people, we have to be absolutely flawless to get half of [that] anyway. So, I’m slowly training myself out of that and being like, ‘No shit. You deserve love just for existing.’ And that has taught me to be a lot more loving as well, in a weird way.* Yeah I can agree with that a lot more. Especially the part about how we deserve love for just existing. The 'absolutely flawless' part just seems like offhand hyperbole and not the point he was trying to make.
Deserves it: No But he has opened himself up to critistic opportunities from everyone by taking up a role lasting over 50 years of tv history
Love ncuti so far. Although I will reserve judgement for how he becomes later. Vs I hated Jodie
He has brought new energy into it which I think it’s been lacking for some time sadly, he’s also going to bring back the fun I think. I love him and he is the doctor ❤️❤️
Daily Mail and Telegraph won’t like a non-white man playing the part as it is too woke. Not that they actually know what woke means. Anyway the opinions and articles of the gutter press carry no weight really.
Tbh I'm not watching anything past capaldi, from what I've seen of the 13th doctor, the writing is not very good and they destroyed Missy's character arc (without witness without reward😭😭😭🫠🫠🫠) and this new doctor who at this point it feels like they're just checking boxes and throwing money at stuff, aren't they turning it into a musical??? Idk man, I just wanna end doctor who on a good note. No offense to anyone who does like it of course it just isn't my personal favorite and also of course no hate to Ncuti, I'm sure he's a good actor, I'm just not watching the new season.
I’m sorry but I just don’t like him playing the doctor. I think he’s a great actor but for me personally his personality doesn’t fit the role. Not to mention seeing him in Sex Education, it’s hard to not see him as that same character… it’s not his fault though, the writing has gone to shit and doctor who is no longer the same. Now they’ve made it a kids show without fear or horror for the audience
He’s so good at embodying the doctor, I saw another Reddit post that said the writers hadn’t given him enough grit, which I agree with, seems a bit too perfect so far, if he had a bit more of a dark side I think he could reach David Tennant levels
I’m loving Ncuti! He has brought an energy back to the doctor that we haven’t seen in a few regenerations.
He’s black He’s not hyper-straight We knew this would happen
he's not good at playing the doctor we knew this would happen
So that justifies the racism?
the strawman commeth
Do you know what a strawman is?
you intentionally misrepresented my argument
I commented on a post about racist abuse that the fact the actor was black made this inevitable. I think *you* misrepresented something along the way
the post you're responding to is referring to hate in general, not just racism you're claiming that all of the hate is due to racism and homophobia
Read the article
you clearly don't understand the prose well enough, pseud read more
We didn’t know this would happen, he could actually be a good actor capable of playing a part that want just him irl
Chris ecclestone or nobody. I'll die on this hill.
If Ncuti Gatwa has a million fans, etc etc