I'm talking specifically about the writing/production team in this line. Although at the rate to which Doctor Who sets stories in America to placate the American fans, it would be nice if they got someone with practical experience with America to write it - it's sometimes as blatantly weird and awful as I imagine British fans feel when reading Harry Potter fic with prom and homecoming. I'm not sure you could do the Obligatory American Episode with a black Doctor without having some kind of American weigh in - that would quickly dissolve into a terrific mess.
There's zero diversity on the writing staff at the moment, to the point that guest writer Neil Gaiman might be the most diverse guy who works there. (Being Jewish and an American citizen.)
And yes, I don't think the Time Lords have the idea of race, or if they do, it seems to be their own internal concept that doesn't quite translate to our current conception of skin color/ethnic group based race. (I'd argue that they canonically seem to have castes based on which school you attended, and that the non-Time Lord Gallifreyans seem to be like a separate racial group or tribe.) On the other hand, in the modern series we've seen black Time Lords in passing and Romana doesn't seem bothered much by the idea of changing into a different species look on the exterior. And apparently, the Doctor's friend the Corsair changed gender relatively frequently. That stuff is what makes me agree that the continual choice of a white male from the islands that make up the United Kingdom is probably best seen from the Watsonian perspective as being intrinsic to the Doctor's self-image.
no subject
There's zero diversity on the writing staff at the moment, to the point that guest writer Neil Gaiman might be the most diverse guy who works there. (Being Jewish and an American citizen.)
And yes, I don't think the Time Lords have the idea of race, or if they do, it seems to be their own internal concept that doesn't quite translate to our current conception of skin color/ethnic group based race. (I'd argue that they canonically seem to have castes based on which school you attended, and that the non-Time Lord Gallifreyans seem to be like a separate racial group or tribe.) On the other hand, in the modern series we've seen black Time Lords in passing and Romana doesn't seem bothered much by the idea of changing into a different species look on the exterior. And apparently, the Doctor's friend the Corsair changed gender relatively frequently. That stuff is what makes me agree that the continual choice of a white male from the islands that make up the United Kingdom is probably best seen from the Watsonian perspective as being intrinsic to the Doctor's self-image.