'Doctor Who' fans are loving the first female doctor and the way the show is reinventing itself - and so are critics

BBC

• "Doctor Who" premiered Sunday night with its first female lead in the show's 55-year history.
• When Whittaker was cast, some fans of the series were upset that the Doctor, traditionally male, was cast as a woman. 
• Fans and critics are praising Jodie Whittaker's performance, as well as the series for reinventing itself.

On Sunday night, Jodie Whittaker made history as the first woman to ever play the iconic role of the Doctor on "Doctor Who."

Whittaker's casting for season 11 of the BBC series was initially met with backlash from a portion of the "Doctor Who" fandom who felt that the role was not meant for a woman. 

But Sunday night's episode, "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" is getting high praise from "Who" fans as well as critics for its clever reinvention of the series given its new lead. 

Critics agree that the show feels different from the other seasons, but in a great and necessary way, and that Whittaker was well cast. Caroline Seide of the AV Club wrote that it's "like watching a trapeze artist perform without a net, it's both thrilling and slightly terrifying to watch Doctor Who launch itself into this brand new era."

And Vox's Todd VanDerWerff wrote, "I was also struck by how Whittaker's gleefully altruistic spin on the Doctor immediately felt more akin to Tennant's version than that of her immediate predecessor, Peter Capaldi."

And here's what the fans were saying on Twitter throughout the night: