美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Doctor Who' Is A Woman: Jodie Whittaker Chosen To Play Lead In British Sci-Fi Series

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Now to a famous British export - "Doctor Who."

(SOUNDBITE OF MURRAY GOLD'S "DOCTOR WHO THEME")

SIEGEL: The BBC has announced that the latest actor to play its time-traveling alien is a woman, Jodie Whittaker. She'll take over from the current Doctor, Peter Capaldi, at Christmas. Our resident "Doctor Who" fanatic¹ Petra Mayer is here now to talk about the transition. And, Petra, for those who aren't so familiar with "Doctor Who," first, why have there been so many Doctors?

PETRA MAYER, BYLINE²: Ah, that's the important question here. The show began way back in 1963 with William Hartnell, and it was a huge hit. And as they went along, Hartnell was getting older. He was - eventually he was too ill to perform the role, and they had to come up with some way to keep the show going without him. So their solution was kind of ingenious. He's an alien. This is a fictional³ show. We can do what we want. He will just magically become someone else when he gets old and sick enough or injured enough. And so that's where the concept of regeneration comes from. William Hartnell became Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor, and onward⁴ from there.

SIEGEL: And now to Jodie Whittaker. Where have we seen her before?

MAYER: Americans who have seen her before will probably have seen her in the British detective series "Broadchurch." She played the mother of the boy whose murder was at the center of the first season. And there's kind of this whole web of connections there. You know, David Tennant was one of the stars of "Broadchurch." He was the tenth Doctor. Olivia Colman, the other star, had also had a bit role. Chris Chibnall, who is now taking over as the showrunner, was one of the main writers of "Broadchurch." So, you know, it's an infinite universe, but it's a really small world.

SIEGEL: What are "Doctor Who" fans saying about Jodie Whittaker and the idea of a woman playing the part?

MAYER: Oh, well, I've been having a lot of laughs watching the #dr13 hashtag on Twitter, I'll tell you that much. Whittaker did do an interview with the BBC after the announcement where she said to fans, please don't be afraid of my gender⁵. The nature of this character is change, right? And I think overall the reaction's been pretty positive. You know, there are always going to be people yelling about political correctness and they'll never watch the show again, which is kind of part of the tradition of "Doctor Who," is people flouncing because some change in the casting or writing upsets them.

The one important criticism that I kind of do want to point out - I've seen a lot of fans talking online about that we should just take a moment to pause the celebrations and to remember that The Doctor's a woman, but she is still a white woman. And the show has made it canonical⁶, in fact, that Time Lords can change gender as well as race. So I think a lot of fans out there are wondering - and they're disappointed that there's not yet an actor of color playing the part.

SIEGEL: We are talking about an ancient time-traveling alien - a Time Lord, yes?

MAYER: A Time Lord, yes.

SIEGEL: Two hearts, and he or she can do whatever he or she wants.

MAYER: Sure, yeah. I mean, the canon of the show - right? - traditionally is that there is no canon. You have all of time and space to play with. You can do whatever you want. But it has been running for 50 years, and there's, you know, a huge and dedicated⁷ fan base that has a very deep connection to the show as they know it. And it is true that apart from, you know, a comedy short in the '90s The Doctor has never been a woman. So it's really cool that Steven Moffat, who's the outgoing showrunner, he's been really building up a foundation. A couple seasons ago we actually saw The Master, who's The Doctor's big frenemy, regenerate⁸ as a woman called Missy. And then, of course, in the season finale just a couple weeks ago there was this delightful⁹ little Easter egg.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOCTOR WHO")

JOHN SIMM: (As The Master) Is the future going to be all girl?

PETER CAPALDI: (As The Doctor) We can only hope.

SIEGEL: (Laughter) I encountered "Doctor Who" living in London in the - I guess the Tom Baker¹⁰ era. He was...

MAYER: The fourth Doctor.

SIEGEL: ...The fourth Doctor.

MAYER: Sure. Would you care for a jelly baby?

SIEGEL: He traveled around - The Doctor was transported, I guess, from one dimension to the next by a TARDIS, his TARDIS.

MAYER: Yeah.

SIEGEL: A flying - the Brits would say call box, we'd say a phone booth. There aren't that many phone booths in the world anymore.

MAYER: No. Well, the TARDIS, if you want to be real specific about it, is a police call box. And it stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. So it is his - yeah, it's his spacecraft. He can go wherever and whenever he wants in it.

SIEGEL: And it will be hers as well?

MAYER: It will be hers. In the short where they - the BBC made a little announcement video, and the final scene was Jodie Whittaker walking up to the TARDIS as it appears in a forest. And my singular human heart went pitter-pat (ph). It was very exciting.

SIEGEL: NPR's Petra Mayer on the new "Doctor Who." Thanks.

MAYER: Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF ALT-J SONG, "3WW")

1 fanatic   

n.狂热者，入迷者；adj.狂热入迷的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a football fanatic.亚历山大是个足球迷。
• I am not a religious fanatic but I am a Christian.我不是宗教狂热分子，但我是基督徒。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

4 onward   

adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先

参考例句：

• The Yellow River surges onward like ten thousand horses galloping.黄河以万马奔腾之势滚滚向前。
• He followed in the steps of forerunners and marched onward.他跟随着先辈的足迹前进。

5 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

6 canonical   

n.权威的；典型的

参考例句：

• These canonical forms have to existence except in our imagination.这些正规式并不存在，只是我们的想象。
• This is a combinatorial problem in canonical form.这是组合论中的典型问题。

7 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

8 regenerate   

vt.使恢复，使新生；vi.恢复，再生；adj.恢复的

参考例句：

• Their aim is to regenerate British industry.他们的目的是复兴英国的工业。
• Although it is not easy,you have the power to regenerate your life.尽管这不容易，但你有使生活重获新生的能力。

9 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

10 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。