Note: Originally Published on June 13th 2017

The Message

It had started out as just another regular day. I had become accustomed to a sort of, routine, that I would carry out without fault every single day. I had woken up to the sound of some birds chirping at the window of my room inside the cozy single-storey house that I lived in. The dog was once again barking at them, just as per usual. I got up out of my warm bed & got changed into one of my usual outfits. I proceeded down the hallway & made myself some breakfast, then walked into the lounge room & sat on the plush sofa. I decided to watch a bit of television before my morning walk, something I usually wouldn’t do, but hey, it was past time for a slight variation to my morning routine. And so I turned on the television, intending to watch something interesting, maybe just something fun, something that would humour me slightly. Maybe just watch the news or something, although there were always without fail distressing & depressing stories aired on the news, with some feel-good ones scattered between them. It was probably a waste of time really. So I went on to the TV guide built into the television, & scrolled through the various channels featured until I came across a sci-fi television show that I’d seen once before, but hey, it was entertaining, so why not? And so I clicked the remote, fully intending to witness some supernatural stuff. And boy, was I in for something else.

When I hit select on the remote, the television changed channels to show me the sci-fi show I wished to view. And yeah, the show did play & was good entertainment, for about ten minutes at least. Ten minutes in, just as the action was getting good & the tension was building up, I witnessed something that was absolutely astounding. The show stopped midway, the screen went black, & then there was a flicker & some words appeared on the screen that seemed out of this world. It was a message, one that read ‘Hello, you have been in a coma for eighteen years. We have managed to develop a new technique using newly created technology, capable of delivering messages such as this to comatose individuals who have shown no sign of awaking any time soon. We don’t know where this will appear in your dream, or even if it will actually appear. But if it does, & if you are reading this, PLEASE WAKE UP.’

I couldn’t believe what I had just read. What was this? Was it true? Was I really comatose? Was this ‘reality’ that I had been living in just a dream? Was it all inside my head? And if it was true, how would I wake up? It was all so confusing. I could barely get my head around it. So I decided that it wasn’t worth pursuing. It wasn’t worth a throbbing headache. And so I decided to just switch off the television & get to my morning walk. So I grabbed the dog’s collar & lead & fastened them around his neck. He was a good little pup. He jumped up & down as soon as he saw me grab the lead, & so he was bounding & ready to go when we walked outside. I locked up & off we went on our daily walk through the streets of the little town we lived in. Trance hopped along in front of me, sniffing out all those familiar smells he’d identified each day we took our walk. I decided after about fifteen minutes of walking that I’d grab a coffee from the local café, & so that’s where we arrived about five minutes later. And as fate would have it, it was there that I bore witness to more strangeties.

I had ordered a cappuccino, & as I sat there waiting for my order number to be called, I quickly flicked through today’s paper. Everything was pretty much just same old, same old. But then something caught my eye. As I was rustling through the pages, I came across an article titled ‘Man In Coma For Eighteen Years, Doctors Attempt Wake Up Using New Technique’. I was astounded. Twice in one day. And yet it wasn’t over, because just as I had decided to ignore the article & throw the paper in the trash, I heard something on the café’s radio. Someone was talking about motorcycling accidents, how they were becoming all too common, & how some were resulting in comas. I thought nothing of it until they just happened to mention a man who had been involved in one such accident who had been in one of the longest comas that medical professionals had ever witnessed. Eighteen years. That’s when I began to freak out. What was happening? Just as I had gone into a flurrying state of nervousness, my order number was called out; number eighteen. I went over to grab my cappuccino, & saw that the workers here had apparently employed one of those coffee artists. There was a little drawing that had been done on my cappuccino. It appeared to be an image of a motorcycle driving along a road which had the number eighteen in a sign at its end. Ok, that was it, now I was in full blown panic, chaos, whatever you want to call it.

I ran out of the café, leaving my cappuccino behind, & quickly taking the lead of little Trance. Wait a minute. The dog’s name. Trance. Did I name him that? I don’t remember calling him that? Wait isn’t trance another word for a sleep. Oh great. As if I needed addition to the panic that was already bubbling over inside me. I ran, with the dog of course, even if he wasn’t real he was still cute & I wasn’t just gonna leave him behind. I made it back to my home in ten minutes flat. It was then I noticed something I’d never thought about before today. My house number was 18, 18 Fantasia Drive. Well this was just great. What was I supposed to do now?

At this point, I almost fully believed what was being conveyed to me through these messages, these little hints scattered everywhere, all over this world which seemed real, but was potentially just a fantasy, a hallucination, an image that my extraordinary mind, my avid imagination had conjured up after the accident. Even though I believed all of this now, & I had discovered the truth, I came to a very sudden & scary realization; I didn’t know how to get out of here. If this ‘reality’ was all just a dream, how was I supposed to wake up?

Note: Originally Published on June 14th 2017

Football – commonly referred to as the beautiful game. A game of skill, possession, and tactics. There are many a talented footballer out there from countries such as Spain, England, France, Argentina, and the list goes on. All of these international footballers have prospective talent, and many show great skill in what they do and how they play. There are some players who just amaze and leave in awe anyone who watches them play. For example, the masterful likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Coaches/Managers in a range of different countries also show great tactical precision, alike to those of coaches such as the renowned former coach of English Premier League side Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson. There are also former players who have turned to coaching after their initial retirement from playing football. The likes of former FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique and current Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane have both played and coached for their respective clubs. So international football summed up in one word, brilliant.

And then there’s Australian football. Now of course the Aussies aren’t all that bad, but they do have a lot of work to do in order to get things right. The Aussies just aren’t as skilful as many of their counterparts the world over. Now that’s not to say that all the players that Australia produces are terrible. No, there are actually a few decent players in the mix. We have a recently turned English Premier League star in Aaron Mooy, who has previously played with teams like the Western Sydney Wanderers

and Melbourne City, and the well known Tim Cahill, who has played for teams like Chelsea and Everton in the Premier League before doing a stint in China and then returning home to play for Melbourne City in the A-league. The problem: Tim Cahill is getting to an age where his football career may be coming to an end. And the question really is: who is going to take his spot in the Socceroos?

And so Australia needs an answer to the question of who will play for us in a side that actually has a chance in the coveted FIFA World Cup. The Socceroos have played in the regions of Oceania, too easy a feat for them, and then Asia, in which they have won the Asian Cup, but are now somewhat struggling to get through the World Cup Qualifiers. And Australia needs to produce home-grown top-quality footballers in order to outperform other international sides. We were very much subject to this lesson last night, in which the Socceroos suffered a 4-0 loss to the spectacular Brazilian international side, who put one in the back of our net after playing for only 12 seconds. They showed great skill, and Australian football should aspire to become like that of other great international sides, such as the Spanish and the Argentinians. These countries produce the highest quality players, who go on to be highly sought after by clubs in league-based competitions the world over. And our Australians need to keep up.

The Australian Football League, known as the A-League, is not particularly one of the greatest the world has seen. It consists of ten teams, nine of which are from around Australia, consisting of 2 teams from Sydney, 2 from Melbourne, as well as 1 from Newcastle, the Central Coast, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as a New Zealand based team in the Wellington Phoenix. The League basically goes like this: 10 teams, 24 rounds, Finals Series, top 2 teams as well as a third will go to play in the Asian Champions League, happy days, right? Wrong. It’s really not good enough. The A-League is one of, if not THE only League in the world football to have a salary cap. Why? Because of one man: David Gallop. Gallop may sound familiar because he was once the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Rugby League (NRL). He possessed this job for 10 years or thereabouts, from 2002-2012, before taking up the position of CEO for the Football Federation of Australia (FFA). Yes, the FFA. Probably what could be considered one of the worst, if not THE worst run football federations in the world (Although FIFA did a pretty good job of being horrendously run there for a while with the corruption that took place). The FFA practically run the A-League, and in saying that, in simple terms, David Gallop and his co-authoritarian and fellow dictator Steven Lowy basically run the A-League and get the final say on anything and everything to do with it. This ruins the League. The A-League should be like all leagues around the world, united and together, democratic, and fair, with absolutely no salary caps. If this was the case, we would see a major improvement in the A-League, the players who are involved, and the quality of football that results from it.

At the current time, A-League teams sign players who have previously played for either their own club, or another club within the league. And if current A-League players get an overseas offer, most of which come from China or another Asian country, they will more than likely jump at the chance and take it. Why? Money. Players in the A-League earn a significant amount less than that of players in overseas leagues, inclusive of leagues in Asia. And naturally, players want to earn a high amount of money, so displaying the incentive for international transfers. But we have to ask ourselves, why can’t they be offered enough to stay in Australia? And so we come back to that detested idea that is the salary cap. Every year, at the end of another season in the A-League, teams must, somewhat regretfully, offload some highly respected players in order to make room for new players, or simply because they cannot afford these players anymore. Teams then purchase players who are at a skill level decreased from what has been lost, inevitably resulting in an occurrence of the skill level in the League decreasing. This is the exact reason for which the salary cap must be eradicated, and an expansion should be on the cards, so that talent already formed can be kept, and high quality players can be brought in from overseas. Sure, the marquee and visa spots each team has allows for international players to join up, but it’s not enough. Then there’s the guest player position that was created more recently, most likely an excuse for the FFA to bring Tim Cahill into the A-League, proven through the way in which the FFA have rejected requests from the Western Sydney Wanderers to bring in Bulgarian former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov. The reason given by the FFA: He wouldn’t draw a big enough crowd to the A-League. This really does display how incoherent and ineffective the organisation known as the FFA is. The guest player spot is now therefore classified by some as the Tim Cahill spot.

Expansion also needs to occur in order to bring in new players and grow new talent in Australian football. Expansion has been on the cards for the FFA, with many teams from around the country putting in their applications for joining should there be an expansion. The FFA has previously promised expansion, but have inevitably and not at all surprisingly delayed this necessity, again showing how unnecessary this football organisation is. In fact, current clubs have considered breaking away from the FFA should the need arise in the future. That is, if an intervention from the reformed FIFA organisation doesn’t step in first. The addition of more teams to the A-League, as well as a second division, accompanied of course by the concepts of promotion and relegation, would be promising for Australian football, and for the future of the international team in terms of stability and growth. So it should prove a definite for the future of Australian football.

On another note, the A-League has some very passionate supporter bases, with active support groups such as the Western Sydney Wanderers’ prominent (or infamous) Red and Black Block, and Sydney FC’s The Cove. These groups cheer and chant, powerful and strong in number, but sometimes there are members who get out of hand, and so need to be kept in check. Derbies, particularly the Sydney and Melbourne varieties, pull a strong crowd, with tensions being high every time. It’s great to see the world of football growing in Australia, becoming one of, if not the, biggest sport in the country.

So that’s it from me on football for now. Make sure to check in later for more stories, and I hope you enjoyed this somewhat thorough and detailed analysis. Let me know any suggestions or ideas in the comments and thanks for reading!

JJ

Note: Originally Published June 15th 2017

Science fiction, commonly known by many as, quite simply, sci-fi. A genre of immense and expansive proportions. And quite a fun one at that. It’s quite interesting in some regards, as some of the obscure, dreamy ideas of sorts that come from the realm of science fiction, are being looked into and could in some sense become a reality at some point in the future. I personally am a big fan of the genre, and become enthralled in the many concepts that are presented in science fiction texts, television shows and films on a regular basis. I actually find it quite fun to just imagine the wide range of possibilities that could be within this small world of ours, how much more there is to see out there, beyond our own planet.

I often sit back and wonder what the future may be like. All the possibilities, however extensive, are displayed within science fiction based texts, TV shows and films, and they occasionally will show some promise of actually being a premise for a reality of some form within the future, whether it be distant or maybe even at a point quite close in proximity to the time of now. Many recurring themes and ideas present themselves in the world of science fiction. For example, the prospect of time travel and teleportation is a recurrent, as well as the never-ending, ever-changing idea of superhuman, or supernatural abnormalities (put simply, ‘superpowers’ and note: that’s going to sound somewhat amusing coming from me seeing as I may endeavour in this area at some point in the future😁).

It would be brilliant to see some of these well-known ideas become a reality at some point in the future. Wouldn’t it be brilliant to be able to just travel anywhere at will, even if it is with the aid of an ever-powerful machine? Wouldn’t you love to be able to travel through time and space to any point across the universe at any point in time? Wouldn’t it be great to have the capability to jump into a range of other dimensions and parallel universes? I’m sure that occasionally some individuals will wonder what’s really out there, and what humanity is capable of achieving in terms of technological advances in the future. Some may even give thought to whether or not there may be other various versions of their own selves living out there in parallel universes/dimensions. The universe really is a wonder.

Of all the things that we’ve seen in shows like Doctor Who, Star Trek and for those who know of it, The Twilight Zone, as well as films like the Star Wars franchise, The Matrix, the Marvel cinematic franchise (The Avengers, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Thor, Ant-Man, etc.), and the Back To The Future series, and science fiction novels like the Skulduggery Pleasant series, the ever-popular Harry Potter series, and The Hunger Games series, we have basically seen next to none of these things become a reality. Although, there is one thing. Hoverboards. Although the hoverboards we were promised in Back To The Future Part II had less wheels and more hover. And I don’t believe they exploded either. We’ve also had a breakthrough in that the Nike self lacing shoes have become a reality, however an expensive one. And so we still wait on a reality of time travel, teleportation, and spectacular superhuman powers. And no matter how long it takes for these prospects to become a reality, we will still wait in anticipation, and in the meantime be entertained by the endless possibilities of the science fiction realm.

Hope you all enjoyed this one. A bit of a change from the detailed analysis of the world and everything, but a bit of a fun imaginative idea. As usual, any suggestions or ideas you might have are welcome in the comments, and thanks for reading!

JJ

Note: This one of from July 2017

So the other day, I was watching a television quiz show and one of the contestants, who happened to be a musician, told the host that he had a condition called synesthesia. The condition relates to the senses in terms of auditory senses and sight, and in essence means that the individual who has the unique condition may be able to hear or taste colours. This really took my interest, and yes, it is a little confusing the way I’ve put it. You’d need a bit more information and clarification to understand it fully, or at least a little more. So let me explain.

Synesthesia is, by definition, a perceptual condition, or rather a phenomenon, in which the stimulation of one sense triggers an automatic and involuntary experience in terms of another sense. Basically, two senses overlap. And it’s not a condition unique to one pair of senses. It could combine any of the senses together, for example sight and sound, sight and taste, etc. People who have this amazing phenomenon may be able to hear or taste colours, or taste words. The most common form of the condition is one in which an individual relates a colour to numbers or letters they can physically see. For example, an individual with what is termed grapheme-colour synesthesia may be shown the number 7 in bold black, but may see it in a colour such as blue. A different individual who also has the condition may see this same number in yellow. Amazing, right?

There are also a range of other forms of synesthesia which are somewhat rarer, but are also very very cool. For example, hearing colours. Some synesthetes are able to, when a note is played, instantly recognise it as a colour. For example, an individual with this type of synesthesia, termed chromesthesia, when hearing a certain note, maybe one played on a piano such as a C, would get a flash of a certain colour which they would then relate to this note, such as red. They may then hear a B, and see green, D could evoke blue, E could evoke purple, etcetera. What really intrigues me though is a question to which I will avail to find the answer. Would someone with this type of synesthesia, when hearing two notes played at the same time, or even a three note chord, see two or three different colours, or one single colour? And if they see only one colour, would this colour be a mix of those which they see when they hear the two or three notes played individually? Something to really get you thinking there.

So there you have it, synesthesia. An absolutely spectacular phenomenon. Many of those individuals who have it actually don’t even know they have it until they hear about it somewhere. Most just think it’s a normal thing that everyone has. But then they hear about on television or on the radio or through a friend or family member or from any other source, and they realise that they have a tremendously spectacular gift. I honestly wouldn’t mind having some of the abilities synesthetes have myself. And that’s it from me for now. Have a good evening and I’ll be back for the Weekly Wrap-Up tomorrow.

JJ

Note: This one is from July 2017

Well, if you’ve been tuned in to entertainment news in the day, you would have most likely seen or heard about the latest individual to be cast into the role of The Doctor in the hit BBC sci-fi television show, Doctor Who. After 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi made the announcement earlier this year in January that he would be leaving the show, coupled with the shock announcement that head show runner and screenwriter Steven Moffat would also be departing the program, the world of Doctor Who was left in waiting and anticipation as to who would become head show runner, but more importantly, who would be taking on the role of The Doctor. Shortly after Moffatt announced his departure, the new head show runner was announced to be that of Chris Chibnall, another director and screenwriter at the BBC, who has recently finished writing and directing his own television crime show, Broadchurch. After his appointment to the role, the stage was set for a new Doctor to be found and announced to the world. And so the speculation began.

Many names were thrown into the mix for months on end after Capaldi announced his departure. There was IT Crowd actor Richard Ayoade, Sherlock actor Andrew Scott, Bond actor Ben Whishaw, and Death In Paradise star Kris Marshall. There was also major speculation that Chibnall would bring in someone he’d previously worked with, an actor, or indeed actress, from his previous television work, Broadchurch. This also brought with it speculation that a woman may indeed be cast into the coveted lead role of The Doctor. Names wert thrown into the mix such as Olivia Colman and Jodie Whittaker. Actresses from other shows and films were also included, such as Tilda Swinton and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. There was even the suggestion that a previous Doctor may make a return to the role, that Doctor being David Tennant’s much loved 10th Doctor. This choice in particular ran rife with rumour as Chibnall had worked with Tennant on Broadchurch, and there have been references in the past that previous Doctors may return, in particular that the First Doctor played now by David Bradley (previously played by William Hartnell, who sadly has passed away since) has come back into the show for this year’s Christmas Special, and in that in the 50th Anniversary Special, The Day Of The Doctor, when Tom Baker appeared towards the end of the special episode and said to The Doctor that he may see the return of some ‘familiar faces.’ And in all honesty, as a fan and avid viewer of Doctor Who, I would have loved to have seen the return of a previous Doctor into the iconic role. But it wasn’t to be.

So on Saturday just gone, it was announced that the new Doctor would be announced after the men’s Wimbledon Final on Sunday (afternoon in Britain, Sunday night/early Monday morning here in Australia), and the world of Doctor Who, all those who, like me, have been waiting for the announcement for months, waited in great anticipation of who it would be, a promotional video for the announcement was also released, displaying the number 13 on iconic landmarks and areas/places such as 10 Downing Street and the Statue Of Liberty, and a crackling TARDIS key (for those who don’t know, the TARDIS, or Time And Relative Dimension In Space, is the Time Travelling Blue Box in which The Doctor travels, usually with a female companion by his side). And so, on Sunday night/Monday morning, after Roger Federer had won the Men’s Wimbledon Final in straight sets, after seeing the trophy’s being presented and Federer’s name being inscribed onto the honour board, after seeing him parade that trophy around for what felt like forever, the time finally arrived for the new Doctor to be announced. A promotional video was finally displayed on televisions and social media for all those who had waited so long to see. The 13th Doctor was finally revealed to the world and wow did it surprise us.

Now before I go on and spoil things for those who haven’t seen the reveal but wish to, the video is attached, so you can watch that first before you continue reading if you so wish. Click link for video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q1IczjLYCIM

And just a disclaimer: many opinions will be displayed in the next few paragraphs, however I will be taking an unbiased opinion in order to keep a balance.

I’ll begin with this: For the last 54 years, The Doctor has always been a male. There have been 12 main incarnations/regenerations of The Doctor, portrayed in order by William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith, and finally the most recent, Peter Capaldi. The First Doctor has also been more recently portrayed by David Bradley. As well as that, another Doctor, known as the War Doctor, was portrayed by John Hurt in the 50th Anniversary Special, The Day Of The Doctor. Now on top of this, The Doctor has always had a female companion, be it Sarah Jane Smith, played by Elisabeth Sladen, Dorothy ‘Ace’ McShane, portrayed by Sophie Aldred, Rose Tyler, portrayed by Billie Piper, Martha Jones, portrayed by Freema Agyemen, Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate, Amy Pond, portrayed by Karen Gillan, Clara Oswald, played by Jenna Coleman, or more recently Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie. The format of the show has always been a male Doctor with a female companion. And sure, there have been male companions as well, like Ian Chesterton, played by William Russell, Mickey Smith, portrayed by Noel Clarke, Rory Williams, played by Arthur Darvill, and Nardole, portrayed by Matt Lucas. But I will reiterate that the format has always been a male Doctor with a female companion, with the male companions usually being in some way related to one of the female ones, or in Nardole’s case, being there to watch over The Doctor. And so we continue.

The announcement made within the promotional video released to the public on Sunday/Monday revealed The Doctor to have changed significantly. For the first time in 54 years, for the first time in the history of Doctor Who, the Doctor would regenerate, and the 13th incarnation of this time travelling alien from Gallifrey would be a woman. And inevitably, this major change to the format of the show brought with it a mass amount of uncertainty.

When Jodie Whittaker, who had previously worked with Chris Chibnall in Broadchurch, was announced as the 13th Doctor, the world of Doctor Who went into a spin. Social media was alive with the opinions of thousands of the show’s fans, and somewhat of a war of words broke out amongst them. Two main sides of the many arguments began to show. On one side, there were all those who were greatly excited by the prospect, by the reality of a female Doctor. And on the other side were those who believed the format of the show shouldn’t be changed after 54 years of the use of the same successful format, a male Doctor with a female companion. But there was one main point that was continually brought up, the issue of sexism and gender bias.

Now sexism is generally a prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination against one particular sex, be it male or female. And sexism was one of the main features brought into many of the arguments that broke out on social media, but in many cases shouldn’t have been. I’ll say it like this: many of the points various people were making were opinions, and common ones at that in reality, that in all fairness should be allowed to be made without issue. Many individuals who were opinionated in that The Doctor has always been a male and should stay that way are merely saying that this format has always been around for Doctor Who, and it has always been successful, so why change it now? But for some reason, people kept bringing up the idea of sexism to debate these arguments. And in all honesty, I don’t think it’s necessary. Here’s why.

Within the world of Doctor Who, we’ll call it the Whoniverse (to which it is commonly referred), there has never been an issue of gender bias. The show has been running for 54 years, which is pretty spectacular, and in that time, that very long time, it has never been biased towards one specific gender or sex. There has never been an imbalance in gender/sex. It has always been a male Doctor with a female companion. The two roles are equal, one does not dominate over the other. There have been male companions too, although minor, and there have been female aliens and time lords (a time lord is the race from which The Doctor originates) alike. Even recently, we’ve seen the likes of a female incarnation/regeneration of The Master (The Doctor’s arch-nemesis who is also a time lord) in a character called Missy. There have also been other female human time lords (or, as they are commonly referred to in the show, time ladies), such as River Song (who turns out to be the daughter of Amy Pond and Rory Williams). In retrospect, it is possible that the regeneration of The Master into Missy was a preemptive to The Doctor also becoming female. However, getting back to the point, there is no evidence within the show that it has ever been biased in any way towards one gender/sex.

And now on to another issue that also seems to be popping up quite often in the opinions of many individuals, political correctness. Some people seem to think that this somewhat significant change in Doctor Who has stemmed from and has come as a result of political correctness. And I only really have one thing to say about this. In the world of Doctor Who, there is usually a reason, however significant or insignificant, for something occurring. And I’m quite sure that there will be a reason given for The Doctor becoming female. In reality, The Master became Missy in order to gain some sense of redemption, or at least that’s the reason for the change that I could gather. And on the other hand, in reality, this is a television show, so it doesn’t necessarily need a reason for the change/s that is/are occurring. And on another note, if the show does not give a reason for The Doctor’s change in gender/sex, then we may witness further increased opinions on how the change has only come about as a result of conforming to political correctness in the 21st century. And this is all most likely an unnecessary argument to put forth. This is, after all, a new idea from a new head show runner/ screenwriter, and it should at least be given a chance.

The final thing I want to focus on a little bit is how this change will, in turn, change the dynamic of the show itself. Currently, those who have seen Doctor Who have only borne witness to a male Doctor travelling time and space with a female companion. The Doctor has, in some forms, been a bit of a flirt with people, and has indeed become emotional at points, in particular when The 10th Doctor loses Rose, and when he doesn’t want to change forms. In fact there have been a few Doctors in recent times who don’t want to regenerate and change form. The latest Doctor to do this (if you haven’t seen the finale of the latest season of Doctor Who and wish to do so before reading this part, then please skip over it and read on from a few sentences ahead) was The 12th Doctor, who blatantly refused to regenerate, doing everything in his power to stop/prevent the regeneration sequence from occurring. The reason behind this is that, when regenerating, The Doctor loses a part of himself, however large or small, and changes into a fairly new individual. And the regeneration sequence/process isn’t necessarily a painless one. In fact, it has been described by show runners/screenwriters and past Doctors alike to be quite a painful process, and why wouldn’t it be? The Doctor is, after all, changing shape and form in order to live on. But back to the main point of this part of the article. As I mentioned, The Doctor has always only ever been male, with a female companion (although, as mentioned previously, there have been male companions, however they are generally related in some way to the main female companion). Now that The 13th Doctor has been announced as a female, there will most likely be a change in the dynamic of the show. Now it is somewhat still unclear as to whether Pearl Mackie will be reappearing as The Doctor’s companion, Bill Potts, (and again, if you haven’t seen the finale and wish to, then skip over this bit) however, it is most probable that she is now, in a sense, dead, and will not be returning, at least as a regular, to the Whoniverse. This means that new head show runner Chris Chibnall has been left with a casting choice to make once again. Now let’s have a bit of a look of what could occur depending on the choice of companion. If Chibnall casts a male into the role, this may be the beginning of romance in the world of Doctor Who. More specifically, romance between The Doctor and his companion. Now in retrospect romance of some variety has occurred between a Doctor and his companion before, that being The 10th Doctor and Rose Tyler. So it’s not to say that this would necessarily be a negative for the show. However, in more recent times, this has not really occurred, and although The Doctor has been quite caring of his companions, he has not in particularly been romantic in any sense towards any of them since Rose. On the other hand, if a female companion is cast, then it would create a new dynamic in that two females would be travelling throughout time and space, rather than a male and a female. Now for some, this would seem like an imbalance in the roles in Doctor Who. However, this again may not necessarily be a bad thing, seeing as The Doctor has always had a female companion. In fact, maybe the casting of both a male and a female companion might be the best way to go. Whatever happens though, we are bound to still be watching Doctor Who.

And so to wrap up. Sure, the world of Doctor Who has been put into somewhat of a spin. Changes are being made to a show that has been on our television screens for 54 years. And so it comes as no surprise that there have been so many opinions expressed in the past few days. Sure, a female has been cast as The Doctor for the first time in the show’s history. And sure, there might be even more changes on the way. But change can be a good thing. And whilst this might be the start of a new era of Doctor Who, we should at least give it a chance. And at the end of the day, no matter what happens, we will still be watching Doctor Who, the same show, just a little bit different to usual.

I know this is a long one guys, but I just wanted to do a bit of an analysis on this big news. Thanks for reading, hope it’s alright, and as always, please leave any of your own ideas or opinions in the comments.

JJ