# The 50th Anniversary Doctor Who Companion.



## JCFarnham (Mar 22, 2012)

Right. I had to do it. Simply because everyone is acting as though its _such_ a controversial choice ...

The newest companion to enter the TARDIS will be (and if you don't want to do know why are you even reading this thread) Jenna-Louise Coleman (of Emmerdale and Captain America fame). The top comments I've seen regarding this casting choice are raging about the fact that: 

"Shes fat" (don't know where this came from, she isn't _at all_ and it wouldn't matter if she was), 
"She's not Billie Piper or Karen Gillan" (uhhh well done? frankly I'm glad she's neither of them. change of pace and all that.),
"I flat out don't like her for (insert reason here)" (the list could go on she's been picked on for all manner of insignificant reasons)

but the one that really struck a nerve with me is the sheer amount of people I've seen calling Steven Moffat a racist because the DW cast is "still" predominantly young, itwhe and pretty, or heaven forgive me, chewing Jenna-Louise herself out because she's white. 

Just so we're _totally_ clear, I'm not racist and I'm all for diversity. (I shouldn't even have to say this, but some people ...)

Now I'm sorry but is it really logical to hate on the casting of Jenna-Louise because she isn't part of a minority? 

People are genuinely angry about this. The fact is plenty of people of various ethnic groups auditioned for the role. They must have done considering just how diverse the UK is. Now, call me crazy, but maybe the reason Jenna-Louise got the role is because she was best actress of the bunch? Is that hard to believe? Steven Moffat _has_ proven himself in casting very decent actors for the show in my opinion. He found us Matt Smith after David Tennents (brilliant) run started to get stale. And let us not forget Alex Kingston.

I'd hazard a guess at saying that these claims have arisen simply because at first _everyone_ hates _every_ casting choice made in relation to Doctor Who. The fandom usually hates any companion who isn't Rose, and any Doctor who isn't the previous one. It's dare I say easy to pick on them. I'd like to think that no one in their right mind would make racially bias casting choices for a prime time BBC family show... or stand for tokenism or negative diversity. 

Can we all just wait and see how the girl handles filling the shoes of Karen Gillan before we start hating her? So what if she's white and young and pretty. That shouldn't matter right? Do we really care about skin colour? All people are just people. It is after all about acting a character the world will come to love. Let her try at least.

Thank you for listen to my rant.


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## soulless (Mar 22, 2012)

My thoughts exactly, reserve judgment until she's proven herself.  Don't put her down before she's even started filming!


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## JCFarnham (Mar 22, 2012)

What really gets me is that its been little more than 24 hours since the announcement.


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## Kelise (Mar 24, 2012)

I'm not having any opinion on her until I see the Christmas episode. I'm more interested in what they're doing for the 50th birthday  I hope they do special episodes, audio plays, maybe involve past-Doctor actors somehow (McGann!) and so on. I really hope they do something utterly massive for it, in a few different media forms, possibly even over a few weeks.


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## JCFarnham (Mar 24, 2012)

starconstant said:


> I'm not having any opinion on her until I see the Christmas episode. I'm more interested in what they're doing for the 50th birthday  I hope they do special episodes, audio plays, maybe involve past-Doctor actors somehow (McGann!) and so on. I really hope they do something utterly massive for it, in a few different media forms, possibly even over a few weeks.



I have heard talk of returning actors, but at the moment its all conjecture and unfounded rumour. There will certainly be something special though for the birthday, we must have faith in the Moff. haha

I like you am not forming an opinion. well not as such, her portrayal of Jasmine in the soaps was apparently well received (I don't watch them) and her part in Cap America was not bad (I think I know where she appears in it but I didn't recognise her the first time through).


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