Jodie Whittaker's Doctor Who outfit

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@amarinth

Yes, all of the Rainbow Brite cosplayers will just need to find a pair of culottes instead of a skirt.

It’s awful.

That said, I do not watch Doctor Who for the Doctor’s sartorial brilliance.

There’s good evidence that people stop watching the show when that brilliance fades sufficiently into “crazy homeless person” territory, tho.

[Sage_Rat]

@Snowboarder_Bo

Actually, I kind of think they have.

This is the first impression the new show, new Doctor and new showrunner get to make on us, the viewing public. And the first impression they’ve made isn’t a good one, going by the majority of comments.

FWIW, here’s my take on Doctors and their outfits: the more outrageous the outfit, or the more outrageous elements it has, the shittier the Doctor and the show. It’s camouflage, is all, and it never works. Eccentric is fine, affectations are fine, but when it crosses over into crazy homeless person territory (and this new outfit does), things are never at their best for the show as a whole. My cites are 5-8 and 11. I didn’t see any 12s so I have no idea if the conceit holds for Capaldi’s Doctor.

ETA: What Exit? sees it, too. Good; it’s not just me, maybe.

I’m not sure why the both of you include 5 in your list. While his outfit is, by today’s standards, pretty horrendous, I feel like it’s not anything different than you’d see on any handsome guy in a 70s TV show. Granted, my memory of 70s shows is pretty faint, but I feel like if you took away the sprig of parsley, he’d fit right in to Threes Company or Laverne & Sherley or any of those shows.

And Eccleston was certainly the worst Doctor of the new set, and the most normally dressed.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@Pantastic

No New Series Doctor has ever made a favorable first impression going by internet comments,

I doubt this is something that is even able to be accurately assessed.

@Pantastic

and as I understand it the same is true for fanzine discussion of the pre-internet Who.

Well, if you’re talking about 5-7, the fans were right: the poor judgement in outfits was also seen in the poor scripts, direction and performances, which only got worse with each successive iteration. And it did affect viewership (the show was canceled, right?)

[Snowboarder_Bo]

@Sage_Rat

I’m not sure why the both of you include 5 in your list. While his outfit is, by today’s standards, pretty horrendous, I feel like it’s not anything different than you’d see on any handsome guy in a 70s TV show. Granted, my memory of 70s shows is pretty faint, but I feel like if you took away the sprig of parsley, he’d fit right in to Threes Company or Laverne & Sherley or any of those shows.

That’s it right there: the sprig of parsley. The hat is eccentric or an affectation. The jacket, shirt and sweater are the same, with their red trim. But pinning a piece of parsley to your lapel, as if it were a flower? That’s crazy homeless person fashion.

@Sage_Rat

And Eccleston was certainly the worst Doctor of the new set, and the most normally dressed.

I liked 9 and thought he should have had a run of at least 2 years, if not 3-4. 1 year was certainly not a long enough tenure, IMO.

[Baron_Greenback]

@Snowboarder_Bo

That’s it right there: the sprig of parsley. The hat is eccentric or an affectation. The jacket, shirt and sweater are the same, with their red trim. But pinning a piece of parsley to your lapel, as if it were a flower? That’s crazy homeless person fashion.

It was celery and therefore perfectly normal.

[Sage_Rat]

@Snowboarder_Bo

That’s it right there: the sprig of parsley. The hat is eccentric or an affectation. The jacket, shirt and sweater are the same, with their red trim. But pinning a piece of parsley to your lapel, as if it were a flower? That’s crazy homeless person fashion.

I’m reasonably sure that if I dressed like a preppy 20 year old whose favorite hobbies are tennis and playing acoustic guitar, then pinned a spring of [del]parsley[/del] celery to my chest, people wouldn’t be thinking, “Oh my, that boy’s just one step off from homelessness!”

6 and 7 do certainly look quite strange, but 5 looked more normal (in the context of his time) than 4 did, so far as I can see. Singling him out seems strange. To me it looks like they were trying to make him look more normal than 1-4 had been, realized they had overshot, and added the celery to try and offset the general reasonableness of the outfit.

[What_Exit]

@Pantastic

No New Series Doctor has ever made a favorable first impression going by internet comments, and as I understand it the same is true for fanzine discussion of the pre-internet Who.

Really? I recall Tennant being very well received, but that’s base on the awesome first episode and not any previews. As I have said, I judge the show by the writing. I’m not writing this Doctor off for her weird oufit and I am hopeful the new showrunner can improve the show.

@Sage_Rat

I’m not sure why the both of you include 5 in your list. While his outfit is, by today’s standards, pretty horrendous, I feel like it’s not anything different than you’d see on any handsome guy in a 70s TV show. Granted, my memory of 70s shows is pretty faint, but I feel like if you took away the sprig of parsley, he’d fit right in to Threes Company or Laverne & Sherley or any of those shows.

And Eccleston was certainly the worst Doctor of the new set, and the most normally dressed.

5’s outfit and personality was ridiculous and especially hard after following the greatest Doctor. Tom Baker was basically the Doctor as Gandalf & Sherlock mashed together. Now you can guess my age for which Doctor was my Doctor. I thought Eccleston was quite good and was disappointed when I heard he was leaving until I saw the first episode for David Tennant who might really be the best Doctor of all time.

[Broomstick]

@Pantastic

No New Series Doctor has ever made a favorable first impression going by internet comments, and as I understand it the same is true for fanzine discussion of the pre-internet Who.

Yep.

Been a fan over 30 years now and every change of Doctor, show runner, etc. is met with cries of DOOM! and THEY RUINED IT FOREVER! and AIIIEEEEEEE!

And then the new season starts and 95% of the fans are OK to happy with the change, 5% drop out, and 5% are new folks to the show.

>yawn<

[Broomstick]

@What_Exit

5’s outfit and personality was ridiculous and especially hard after following the greatest Doctor. Tom Baker was basically the Doctor as Gandalf & Sherlock mashed together.

Except by the end of his run it was clear he was just phoning it in, bored/dissatisfied with the role, and more than ready to move on to other things. Which is why no one else has ever had a 7 year run, and even ascended fanboys David Tennant and Peter Capaldi chose to step down after about have that time span.