Jimmy Akin, Fr. Cory Sticha, and Dom Bettinelli discuss the announcement of Jodie Whittaker as the 13th Doctor. What does it mean for the Doctor to be a woman now?
How will it change the show? Is there any precedent in Doctor Who history?
And what does the mysterious word “pre-pleblican” mean?
And next time, we’ll be discussing the Big Finish audio play, “Spare Parts”.
If you want to listen before our next episode, you can purchase and download the audio play for just three dollars.
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
View all posts by Jimmy Akin
4 thoughts on “Secrets of Doctor Who – The 13th Doctor”
Jodie Whittaker, the new doctor, at 35 is 24 years younger than Peter Capaldi. It’s 2017 and women are still being chosen for their looks and their weight. What do the feminists have to say about that?.
The teaser for the Thirteenth Doctor shows
her to be in possession of the key.
In the narrative the key opens the
door to the TARDIS. Has the canon
ever addressed whether the key also
signifies some authority?
I was sure that when Tom Baker regenerated, we would have a female Doctor. Ditto for David Tennant. This one kind of took me by surprise, and I’m not sure why.
Great actress, and that half-smile she gives at the end of the video reveal reminds me of Peter Davidson. She’ll be fine.
Thanks Jimmy, you’ve been a good influence in my life, from your Catholic blogs to your diet. My 17 yr old daughter got me intererested in Dr. Who a few years ago. We stopped watching about 2 seasons ago. She just mentioned the other day that a woman is going to be the next doctor, I forwarded your latest email to her… We watched online, TV hasn’t been in this house since 1992, meaning, I’m out of touch. Just wanted to share that my impression of Dr Who is something like a Jesus figure (because he leaves the problem to the human to work out and solve) but he’s not Jesus because he is trapped inside TIME. I really liked the show but the love interest stuff seemed to de-rail things.
Jodie Whittaker, the new doctor, at 35 is 24 years younger than Peter Capaldi. It’s 2017 and women are still being chosen for their looks and their weight. What do the feminists have to say about that?.
The teaser for the Thirteenth Doctor shows
her to be in possession of the key.
In the narrative the key opens the
door to the TARDIS. Has the canon
ever addressed whether the key also
signifies some authority?
I was sure that when Tom Baker regenerated, we would have a female Doctor. Ditto for David Tennant. This one kind of took me by surprise, and I’m not sure why.
Great actress, and that half-smile she gives at the end of the video reveal reminds me of Peter Davidson. She’ll be fine.
Thanks Jimmy, you’ve been a good influence in my life, from your Catholic blogs to your diet. My 17 yr old daughter got me intererested in Dr. Who a few years ago. We stopped watching about 2 seasons ago. She just mentioned the other day that a woman is going to be the next doctor, I forwarded your latest email to her… We watched online, TV hasn’t been in this house since 1992, meaning, I’m out of touch. Just wanted to share that my impression of Dr Who is something like a Jesus figure (because he leaves the problem to the human to work out and solve) but he’s not Jesus because he is trapped inside TIME. I really liked the show but the love interest stuff seemed to de-rail things.