'Doctor Who' Goes Back To Basics, With A Twist

You know that joke-ish, brain-teasery thing about the doctor who says "I can't operate on my own son," but you're told the doctor isn't the patient's father, and the answer turns out to be that the doctor is a woman? It works, to the feeble extent it does, because it rests on our unconscious, culturally programmed preconceived notions — the kind of sexist background radiation that bombards us every day. You just assume the doctor is a man, for no clearly definable reason.

That's how the venerable British science-fiction adventure show worked for decades, despite the fact that its central character is defined by the ability to regenerate into an entirely different body (once the actor undertaking the role tires of all that running around and shouting technobabble and patiently -splaining the dire situation at hand to the nearest uncomprehending Earthling).