Today was an extremely exciting day for Doctor Who fans, who either enjoyed or hated being forced to watch tennis before finally being treated to the reveal that Jodie Whittaker was chosen as the Thirteenth Doctor., the first female Doctor ever, a feat that's possible due to the characters cycle of regeneration that's allowed the Time Lord to exist for decades. As you'd expect, swaths of Whovians were incredibly excited by the news, and there was the predictable minority who were...less than thrilled. But screw that! These are some of the best Doctor reactions on Twitter.
Jodie Whittaker is no doubt a great actress, notable for a number of roles such as the critically acclaimed murder mystery Broadchurch, but some people can't help but be excited largely for the fact that a woman will be playing the iconic sci-fi TV character for the first time. It's been a long time coming, and no one is hesitating to share their jubilation over it with some fun Doctor Who GIFs.
Jodie Whittaker was a late favorite in the game to take up the role, with Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge having been a top contender among the gambling crowds, with more traditional choices like Kris Marshall getting named early on. But Whittaker is an experienced actress when it comes to genre storytelling, with roles on Black Mirror andAttack the Block, and she'll soon be seen on the upcoming psychological thriller Trust Me. The actress' fans took to social media to voice their happiness and faith in the new casting.
Okay, so maybe it was expected that Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss would be someone to champion the reveal, but a little expectations never hurt anyone.
Unfortunately, and also not so surprisingly, there is a small-but-vocal group taking issue with the Doctor becoming a woman for the foreseeable future. This sort of knee-jerk reaction is typical when something like this is first announced, as is the knee-jerk reaction by others to respond, but it's important to remember that the people leaving the foulest comments are far fewer in number than the rest. Take this comment for instance, which tries to understand why a female lead on a show about time travel and aliens and robots is so hard to grasp for others.
Anyway, as Doctor Who has always been a fun and exciting adventure, our focus shall continue on as such, now that the internationally beloved series is moving in a fresh and exciting new direction. Whether it'll be good or not with its new showrunner is still up in the clouds, of course, but now Doctor Who has continued its time in the limelight following its Season 10 finale, and that's reason enough to celebrate.
Fans can first see Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor is this year's Christmas special, which will be Peter Capaldi's final appearance as the Doctor. Also featuring a version of the First Doctor as well, the Christmas special will air on December 25, 2017. To see when other new and returning shows are hitting the small screen soon, head to our summer premiere schedule.
