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"The mentality of a homosexual civil servant" SENT ME

“And a very merry Pronouns to all of you at home!”

as a non binary trans dude, the "male-presenting time lord would never understand" line made me feel like i was thanos snapped. i understand the intention behind it i guess but lol

Tenants clothes being regenerated to avoid him being in drag in the same set of episodes where the master wears Jodie Whittakers outfit in a male incarnation is so wack. Like yeah the villain can be in drag, but not the good guy Edit: the doctor regenerates into the master who wears her clothes in the same episode where the doctor regenerates into ten and doesn’t wear her clothes. For all the people genuinely confused and in the dark about what I’m talking about for some reason.

"The pure voice of a young boy with the mentality of a homosexual civil servant" is a truly *wild* statement! And I'm all here for it!

The "male presenting time lord" scene would have been vastly improved on if it had been more about how the last time The Doctor had this particular face, he was refusing to let go and accept his fate of regeneration

I think K9 being assigned male, specifically to ruin JK Rowling's childhood, fits very well into the lore if the doctor being a time traveler.

as deeply 70s as the phrase "pure voice of a young boy and the mentality of a homosexual civil servant" is it also perfectly describes my gender. I have no notes

At one point, Jodie said that she had wanted a pixie cut for her Doctor, but Chibnall (and possibly studio execs) said no to it. Interestingly, her hair has gotten shorter in subsequent roles. Ray Holman (costume designer) also said in a podcast (Who Corner to Corner) that he was VERY constrained on what he could do with Jodie’s outfit because the studio didn’t want the original approved costume changed at all because they liked the silhouette.

My ass who loved every moment of cassandra lmao one of my favorite characters

Honestly Jodie Whittaker forgetting her gender is very relatable, but by the second season it starts to feel like she doesn't want to be a woman lol

The thing about the whole 'male presenting timelord' line that really bothered me was the implication that he couldn't just imagine giving up power, despite being proclaimed president of Gallifrey twice, and abandoning the position, twice. It just doesn't make any sense for the doctors character.

That's why Tennant's clothes regenerated? Well that was a weird as hell decision. I guess I kinda get it. DW was close to getting cancelled, so RTD wanted to be super safe, but still... I wish he had had the balls to have Tennant in Jodie's clothes for a bit (and I don't even like her doctor).

It would be interesting to have Jodie's doctor just always have a different "charity shop" outfit each episode. The doctor who just kept hitting random when making their outfit. A different reference every episode. Unfortunately that isn't what we got.

At the New York Comic Con panel that premiered Jodie Whittaker's first episode, Chris Chibnall declared on stage that "The Doctor is nonbinary." Direct quote. I was there. I texted my editors immediately. But no news outlet, not even LGBTQ ones, ever picked up on that or ran any commentary or speculation, ever.

It can be MESSY, especially in the 2000's, but I always did find this resonance in the way the future was frequently imagined as place where gender fluidity and queerness was so normalised that it flew by in passing remarks. Like it was presented as "Oh isn't it alien and different" but it felt like a wink and nod saying "Hang in there kids, one day this can be yours". Well hopefully not the giant killer space road crabs, but the show never made them feel linked. I think it's partially why I can tolerate the cringe with a bit of fondness, even knowing it probably won't age well. Because I remember that feeling of being seen back then and I can recognise the feeling now.

7:40 "...and the Sixth Doctor's outfit says quite cleverly and quite brilliantly that the producer is an idiot and needs sacking" That fucking sent me.

"--and the Sixth Doctor's outfit says quite cleverly and quite brilliantly-" Me: Uh, oh. "--that the producer is an idiot and needs sacking." 😆 I don't know if it's just being enby or neurodivergent that does it, but most clothing looks gender neutral to me by default, so I just get even more confused by pointless gendered things. To me, it's just clothes. \__(**)__/ Also, if Good Omens proved anything, it's that David Tennant looks great in drag, so I don't know what Russel T. Davis was on about.

The Fugitive Doctor's outfit was truly fabulous. An island of drip trapped in an ocean of boring outfits.

The Jo Martin doctor was the female doctor we should have gotten in general. Better costume, better writing, better acting.

Whenever people complain that Doctor Who's 'gone woke' , I just point them towards "everyone is bisexual" Torchwood

'Watching feminist paint dry' is also a summation of so many large budget superhero movies coming out these days. The inspo is fine, but OOOF the product is rough

In defense of Jodie Whittaker's "come to daddy! Well, mommy" lines, that is absolutely how I talk. The closest I've ever come to regretting transition was when I introduced myself as "Uncle" and someone pointed out I was an Aunt.

"Cassandra was a con artist who transitioned back and forth to kill and steal across the galaxy" That's awesome tbh love that for her

also just like. jodie's doctor costume is SO damn mainstream 21st century all things considered. the only thing that looks doctor-y in any way to me is the freaking boots. nothing about it is unique interesting or special and it doesn't convey any personality at all. six's coat is ugly as hell but like.... at least it says something. thirteen's outfit is hard to hate because it's so bland there's nothing there. it's like a screensaver.

The line about letting it go was indeed confusingly cringe and I laughed about it for months. But I will always love Davies for his genuine care, which comes across even when he's trying too hard. I trust him. He's in the struggle with us. And thank god Doctor Who is trans-friendly, because Britain REALLY needs that in the culture right now. Also your singing voice is beautiful!

God that haunted Tennnat glare into the middle distance when Cassandra dies. Chefs kiss. Divine.

I was under the impression that the doctor was british

I love people watching the first show I ever saw explicitly gay characters in when I was growing up and screaming that it went woke, my friend, were you watching?

Talking with my friend, he said that the whole 'let it go' felt like it came from a place of good intentions, and the gesture was nice, but overall felt quite shoved in. What he DID like was Donna! She supports, accepts and sticks up for her kid in a way that he wishes his parents did (and its Donna, what's there not to love?)

"nessie big naturals" sent me

I'm sorry but next to the Fugitive Doctor Jodie looks like a companion.

I’m very passionate about Cassandra, I made a video myself when rose was announced because I really didn’t want her to be forgotten as the actual first trans character for a number of reasons. She’s flawed definitely but I think the reason she doesn’t make me cringe in the same way “a male presenting time lord could never understand” does is that she’s like so unapologetically deranged. She doesn’t feel like she’s there to check off a representation quota or like she’s walking on eggshells to be as artificially progressive as possible. I say this in the video I made but I kind of appreciate the strange immunity to rainbow capitalism problematic queer representation often has just by way of it being so so not designed to sell to a queer audience. It’s easier for me to reclaim weird characters than it is for me to convince my cynical self that a lot of trans representation isn’t just pandering superficial trash.

You are so right Jodi looks like a soccer mom with that haircut 😭

Hold on... has Meep from Phineas and Ferb been a Doctor Who reference this whole time??!?!

“She didn’t pick her jacket because it looked like the colours of the sky. [cheeky whisper] Which one?” …I came out to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now.

I'm glad that you not only mentioned that the 'male presenting timelord' line was cringe, but that it's gender essentialist in a really counter-productive way. It felt like Moffatt had come along to write a single line in his 'It's feminist if the women slap men' way. I loved the analysis, the work you did making notes of gender usage did not go wasted. There's so little I disagree with at all here. (I thought the meep pronouns were both reasonable for an alien and funny in the way learning about complicated alien personalities could be, I think that we should wholeheartedly retcon Gallifrey being a bunch of dudes and instead re-establish it as the nb utopia that Capaldi's doctor describes, and I think that doesn't require nb actors, but would still benefit from them). But yeah, love the video, love the history, have been waiting for this ever since the specials. I'm a little worried that doctor who going forward may try to be so loose, cartoony and free flowing that it doesn't have anything interesting to dig into, and I'm dreading the potential further returns of previous doctors. Low expectations are still standard and have been since 2010.

AMAZING I LITTERALY SAID "what?" out loud at the EXACT same time you did at the male presenting timelord part

A Tumblr ‘colours of the sky’ post reference?! In 2024?! Great touch! (The reference is around 10:35ish)

Im glad RTD doesnt use twitter tbh

I SCREAMED with joy when I opened the video and saw Cassandra

AAAAAHAHAH ok I howled when Ysanne Churchman described what they wanted for their voice 17:50 “the pure voice of a young boy with the mentality of a homosexual civil servant” 😂😂

I feel bad for Jodie Whitaker, her era got burned like a dragon roasts a knight during this 😅

Always has been

Ironically, I think Peter Capaldi's Doctor is more genderfluid than Jodie Whittaker's. His closest relationships are all with queer women (all of whom express at least some level of romantic, if not necessarily sexual, feelings for him-even Bill says in one of the COVID specials that she'd kiss the Doctor if they were a woman), the Master-who typically serves as a mirror to the Doctor-is a woman during his tenure, and while he's grumpy and doesn't suffer fools in general, he's typically more dismissive of men. (EDIT: River also says he reminds her of her second wife.) Twelve is a nonbinary lesbian! And I read the Doctor talking about the Time Lords' gender progressiveness as him thinking of his people as he'd like them to be, not how they actually are (although we do see women in Trial of a Time Lord), especially since Bill immediately calls him out on it. In terms of single sex aliens, there are the Asari from Mass Effect, whom are all she/her. They're also all pansexual, since gender is meaningless to them, and as such are stereotyped by other species as promiscuous, however the two Asari we get to know best are demisexual Liara, and Samara (voiced by Billie Eilish's mom), a warrior monk whom has forsworn all attachments. The only Asari who really fits the stereotype is essentially the Mass Effect universe's take on a vampire.

Jody's Doctor genuinely looked better and more gender ambiguous in the *12th* Doctor's clothes then she did in her normal clothing.

I think all of the issues highlighted can be summarised simply in showrunners thinking, overthinking and caring too much about what their decisions are implying rather than just focusing on telling a compelling story. I thought some of the 13th Doctor episodes were great actually. The issue is that there is a chronic, constant anxiety in almost every episode where all points and turns in the narrative are punctuated with an overly careful, contemporary platitude. Guaranteed if they'd handled the character and season properly you'd have forgotten that 13 is played by a woman because at the end of the day the entire point of the character is that the Doctor's appearance is even less central to their core being than a human.

oh thank GOD someone acknowledged those rose scenes. as a trans person my entire face wrinkled up like a vacuum seal bag having to sit through it when it aired. the new doctor's wardrobe screams nonbinary to me so much more than jodie's, too, so im already relating to him more! amazing video and great sentiment lol

Tangentily related, but as a gray-ace person who is only occasionally attracted to men and is surprised by it every time, the little moment in the second special when Tenant Doctor was like 'yeah Isaac Newton was hot- oh! that was interesting!' was maybe the most seen I've ever felt, like YES that is EXACTLY how that feels

I actually forgot about this scene till now, I also sobbed like a baby watching this scene and it still dared to draw a tear from my eyes.....the Cassandra Dying while holding herself scene

this is how i find out jinx is gonna be on dr who and i wouldn't have it any other way

"she's a flap of skin attached to a frame" Don't talk about me like I'm not here. Cassandra is one of the funniest characters, I don't care what ppl say! 🙌

"Something a male presenting timelord will never understand" was peak cringe and made me question if RTD had suffered some brain damage in the last few years. It basically destroyed any good he had done in that episode.

Cassandra being the person who called herself beautiful is one of the most profound moments in all of doctor who.

So Cassandra weaponized gender fluidity? Slay.

I'm a very small creator and I coincidentally released a video with this exact same title two weeks ago 😅 I do think we discuss it in very different ways though, mostly the deep dive into Jodie's doctor and costume! Great points and super well put together!

Them calling the doctor a “male presenting timelord” in the same episode that calls the doctor male and female, RIGHT after they regenerated from being a woman, is SO RIDICULOUS

Oh gosh I cried just watching Cassandra be with herself as she died---just watching the clip. It is burnt on my heart, oh dear.

As soon as I saw the Fugitive Doctor I was like can't wait till she's the regeneration- she looked ICONIC.

I sobbed for Cassandra as a child, and when I rewatched the series I bawled my eyes out once again. She was a brilliant character, and spoke to me on the idea of being considered beautiful in your own eyes above others. I miss characters like that.

There's something so odd about RTD deciding not to have David wearing Jodie's outfit even after Sacha Dhawan had worn it earlier in that episode, and then immediately having Ncuti show up and casually wear a skirt to a club in his first proper appearance in his first lead episode. I do wonder if David was also part of the choice to regenerate the clothing too, or if it came from RTD's desire to jump straight into the story upon the beginning of the episode and not wanting to have to reveal the outfit in that episode like with David choosing his outfit the first time around in Christmas Invasion, as well as showing it in the BBC centenary episode that aired right before Christmas, and allowing merchandise to immediately release to sell for the upcoming Christmas, before the full release the following year once the episodes had aired and plot points were known. There is a part of me that wished they'd not changed the clothes but they probably would have been right about the Tory gammon being up in arms, but given what we've heard about Ncuti's upcoming series, It pushes me more toward wishing they'd let it rip and ignored the tabloids with each passing day. I'm hopeful that the new series continues to kick down the walls of possibility and Russell surrounds himself with more people in the community and actually gives them a platform to speak rather than speaking for them.

"Gender neutral men" also makes me think of the Gorons from Zelda. Though of course there they also have the all-women Gerudo.

I'd much rather the community be discussing whether our representation is good or bad, than to not have any representation at all. The fact that RTD is upsetting the right wing "fans" of the show is kinda refreshing. I am gonna have to dislike and unsubscribe for you forcing my innocent ears to hear the phrase "Nessie big naturals".

When there were flasbacks between donna and rose and binary and non-binary i honestly cringed 😭. Like im non-binary but the line delivery just killed me. Also i felt like they cast the only trans actress they know as rose even though rose should be at max 15 and the actress makes it look like shes 20+

THE DO YOU LOVE THE COLORS OF THE SKY REFERENCE 😭

12:23 ironically, Jodie would later cut her hair after finishing her filming of Doctor Who. And the fans immediately said: this should’ve been her hairstyle all along.

I will always say; they should have said the reason they could let it go was their humanity. The original episode Donna mentioned that her humanity mixed with Time Lord would allow her to do more than any Time Lord could imagine; great, work with that. As a companion Donna was a protector. She was always calling on the Doctor to save people, to help. That is a fundamental part of her. And if Rose and Donna were able to give up the power because of their humanity that also speaks to the humanity of trans people at the same time without being so cringe.

Do we want to retake the shot? The alpha centauri's helment keeps falling over and exposing the actor underneath. No? Keep rolling? Alright whatever you say, boss.

I lost it at Nessie Big Naturals 😂😂😂

The new season is much better than the previous, but I will always be in a state of cringe and laughter everytime I hear that N O N - B I N A R Y line. This is prob the worst implementation of lgbtq into the plot of any media I've ever seen, it is soooooooo funny.

Well I'm definitely headcanoning K9 choosing to be a good boy just to short circuit JK's brain.

That explains everything! Not telling your writers important details about the main character how on earth do we expect them to write a good story?

Okay, I did not expect the thing about the person calling Cassandra beautiful being herself to hit me like a truck. I felt that. 😭

As a trans man whose past experiences as a woman are still very important to me, the whole "as a male-presenting time lord you can't understand" thing did sting a bit. Sometimes it felt like the writing left no room for the Doctor to really BE anything beyond what they physically were at that precise moment. The Doctor could make jokes about once being a man or once being a woman, but those experiences of gender couldn't genuinely continue to be a part of them once that incarnation was over. Which... was a bit sad. I always skip that part of 'The Star Beast' on rewatch. But I am definitely enthusiastic about the new run and how much room it's making for transgender characters and transgender stories. >:) (And I've gotta say, just getting to see David "Transmasc Awakening" Tennant talk about transitioning his gender and discovering who he is now fucking SENT me)

The roasting of 13s outfit TICKLED me😂

cassandra dying in the arms of her past self is so utterly gut wrenching, especially since shes like this joke character from silly episodes and then BOOM EMPATHY IS RUINING ME

I'd totally forgotten about the "when I was a little boy" line from Cassandra! I always took that line to mean that in the future gender norms are so irrelevant that there isn't even a need for labels like "transgender." Therefore she can refer to herself as a little boy without feeling uncomfortable or dysphoric, because, well, there's nothing to be dysphoric about since anyone can present in any way. I really miss when Davies used the sci-fi genre as a way to explore diversity representation in a way that challenges the audience through the presentation of hypothetical social constructs. The diversity in the new season of Who is too rooted in the very restricted lens of the current political atmosphere of the English speaking world, which while well intentioned, mostly just breaks the suspension of disbelief about a time traveling alien who comes from a world with entirely foreign social constructs.

interesting how the meep is implied to be transphobic and doesnt have pronouns (only the definite article)

I know it's silly and nonsensical (and might just be me projecting the way I acted before figuring out I was trans unto others) but I actually think Cassandra is really fun because I kind of picture her being genderfluid and just using the con artistry as an excuse? 😅 As if she's like, "oops the bouncer at the club wouldn't let me in.. whelp, guess I gotta trans my gender again 😩" just doing the absolute most completely unprompted lol

I think that sort of well meaning and very liberal but also kind of awkward and ham-fisted cringe is an essential element of Doctor Who... so I think that the Star Beast fits in perfectly with the history of the program in that way. Anyone who didn't know doccy who is cringe, hasn't been paying attention. When it hits, it hit's hard and genuine, so people overlook the times it didn't come together, but ya... my favorite show is very cringey. I always knew that. Also, I always like yer doccy who vidjas. Keep 'em coming... y'know... if you want.

The doctor's outfit regenerating along with their body really pissed me off - half because it made no sense, their clothes have never regenerated before (and specifically they didn't when the Doctor changed from a man to a woman), but also because I am certain David Tennant would have had NO problem whatsoever wearing Jodie's outfit, and I legitimately think it would have looked great...

Romana's outfit in The Horns of Nimon is possibly my favourite costume in any tv show or movie ever. It's such a shame it was in _The Horns of Nimon._

Staying for the whispery reading of patreon names

0:49 "...who has transitioned back and forth over the years." Wouldn't that make her genderfluid then?

I'd like to also add and say that I think Deep Breath does a better job of being a trans allegory than any of Jodies era does!

I'm really Excited to see Mary Malone, she was fantastic in The Prince Also her character as Ruby's friend is called Trudy

i never liked the "male presenting time lord" line because it implies that as soon as the doctor regenerated into the 14th doctor, they suddenly forgot/lost all of their experiences as another gender. it places a divide between these two characters on the basis of their gender which? i hate?? because this show has always spent so long reminding us that each incarnation of the doctor is the _same_ person, and while their personality is different, their experiences still fundamentally inform on who they are, and that includes the gender they present as. i've always seen the doctor as a non-binary person who'd simply grown accustomed to the male-presenting lottery their regenerations kept providing for some reason (watsonian interpretation of course, we all know the real reason the doctor was a man for half a century). that when they finally regenerated into a female-presenting body, they were like "oh cool!" and i honestly liked how Jodie navigated that new reality with a bit of awkwardness/jokes. i think your point about the costume is so true, that i wish 13's outfit screamed a bit more "a man who is trying to dress in the way they think women dress" but then it comes across as just masculine style with a bit of flair, in the way Romana's outfits did. that would've been really neat to see. the problem with 14's existence is that Tennant played them as _too easily_ slipping back into a male-presenting timelord, without a bit of gender-queerness to be found in anything other than the dialogue, without any indication that their prior experiences as a female-presenting person had any affect on who they are as a person (a fact which is reinforced by the "male-presenting" line). i think maybe if he played his version of 14 with a bit more affectations that Jodie had, perhaps behaviors that one might view as more effeminate, then the non-binary aspect of the Doctor would feel more well-deserved rather than just lip-service. (of course, this is just one interpretation, where who the Doctor is as a person is tied to the gender they present as. others might not like that read of the character, where their personality/behavior would be what we saw for each incarnation regardless of the gender their regeneration has, and that's totally valid as well. just like real life, some non-binary people are more affected by gender presentation than others, and in the case of doctor who, its kinda up to the audience where on the spectrum the doctor falls) all of this to say, I am READY for Ncuti Gatwa to embrace the non-binary/androgynous/genderqueer side to the doctor, which i definitely expect based on some of the stuff he's been saying about the new season. great video!!

I know typically when people complain about "political correctness" it's code for "I hate diversity" but the awkwardness of the line about the doctor being "male presenting" really feels like a good example of some actual issues with political correctness. I think a lot of time people think that the key to not offending people is to just learn the new words to substitute in place of what they planned on saying, without actually learning the meaning and context. The writers clearly threw "male presenting" as a substitution for "man" either to sound more socially aware or because they realized it would be strange to say man immediately after acknowledging the doctor as nonbinary. But instead of coming off as progressive they had a trans girl character basically implying that closeted trans women (and butch women, many nonbinary people, etc) don't *really* understand the experience of being a woman, and that regardless of one's gender, however complex it may be, the appearance is what really matters, which is a really shallow understanding of gender. (tbh I personally don't really care for the "female/male presenting" terminology except in very specific contexts because more often than not it seems to either cause confusion or be used as a sneaky way to misgender people)

As someone who identifies as Non-binary, and who grew up in RTD's first run on Doctor Who, looking back in it, both Tenant and Eccleston were a big part in formulating that identity for me. Sure, they present male, as I often do, and people assume they are male, but in reality, gender is rarely ever something that wholly affects who they are. They're a space alien. Gender and even sexuality doesn't even really have to apply to them.😊

the casual delivery of 'more power to him Nessy big naturals' SENT me

Outstanding commitment to reading/singing all our names. I was compelled to watch until the end😂 great work as always.

The "you're assuming *he* as a pronoun?" could've been delivered better, but it might've been written better. Perhaps "how do you know he's a he?" or just by taking out the question mark and emphasis on/pause after "he", getting rid of the crossed arms and replacing it with a little shrug or something, I don't know. I mean, Rose is Donna's daughter -- a big part of her mother's character is that she's very outspoken and sometimes quite aggressive at the drop of a hat and takes offense quickly where none is intended, so I suppose her getting shirty with the Doctor over pronouns is believable. It's weird, because it feels like RTD needed to have consulted someone young (or, at least, familiar with the space/community) and trans to tighten up the writing and make sure it wasn't too patronising, yet Yasmin Finney, a 20 year old trans woman, was involved. That's not to say she should have had to put in extra effort to be a consultant and advocate on top of acting, of course, but I wonder what she felt about some of the lines she had to deliver. i.e. if she reckoned they were a bit "cringe", too. The "Male-presenting" timelord line was incredibly absurd as I think there's an unavoidable genderqueer (or perhaps fluid) subtext to the Doctor's character -- it would make more sense if Rose and the doctor could better relate to one another on that basis. Might be problematic when the doctor's being portrayed by a cis actor, but I think it's weirder not to address it. The fluidity of the Doctor's identity can be and has been used to make commentary on different facets of everyday human identity, and I think it could do this for gender expression as well if handled sensitively.

No way you just brushed over "the pure voice of a young boy, with the mentality of a homosexual civil servant" LMAO i'm dead

“This is a terrible channel and you should unsubscribe” Don’t tell me what to do! I just subscribed because of that! Checkmate libraries!

I just need you to know that I have watched this video multiple times and the phrase "Nessie Big Naturals" is now permanently fried into my brain.

My explanation for why certain Daleks use he/him pronouns is because they associate it with rank instead of gender. In genesis of the daleks it's made pretty clear that Kaled society is inherently male dominated, so their culture would likely form a distinct connection between the ideas of power and masculinity. Once the Kaleds evolve into the Daleks this philosophy likely gets carried over into their own society, except as the Daleks are now an essentially genderless species with no room for individual expression the only way this masculinity can be assigned is through how these individuals are referred to. As such the most powerful members of Dalek society, such as the emperor or the supreme, are referred to by the masculine 'he/him' pronouns, while the less powerful drones are referred to as genderless 'its'.

I love the idea that the 13th Doctor wears a period outfit, but from the period of the previous episode

the episode is extremely cringey but i can forgive it because you can tell RTD is genuinely trying. like, he a little confused but he got the spirit, you know? plus it's nice to have that kind of embarrassing sincerity back in DW. idk how new fans will handle it when the new season is cringe but i'm excited to see how it goes 🫡

I was really disappointed by the 13th Doctor's costume - don't tell me you're going for androgyny and then give me suburban auntie