'The new Doctor... He's so young!'

March 27, 2007 8:48 AM

Doctor Who fun and games. While you wait for Series 3 to start - and toss and turn wondering who the next Doctor will be - blow a little bit of time with K-9, the Daleks and the Slitheen.
posted by jbickers (54 comments total)

Thom Yorke.
posted by drezdn at 9:10 AM on March 27, 2007

Also, is there any reasonable way for an American to see the third series without breaking the law?
posted by drezdn at 9:10 AM on March 27, 2007

Am I the only one who longs for the days when a single doctor could go for multiple seasons without being replaced? I mean, there comes a point where you can only stretch people's suspension of disbelief so far regarding how many regenerations a time lord can go through.
posted by shmegegge at 9:18 AM on March 27, 2007

12. The official answer is 12.

And then, you know what happens? The last vestige of the child you once were finally dies a whimpering, lonely death.
posted by redhanrahan at 9:34 AM on March 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

Am I the only one who longs for the days when a single doctor could go for multiple seasons without being replaced?

Nope. Big Christopher E. fan here. Wish he had stayed much longer.

Also, is there any reasonable way for an American to see the third series without breaking the law?

Not that I'm aware of. There's a new Sherlock Holmes show with Jonathan Pryce, just debuted Sunday, that I'd also like to catch ...
posted by jbickers at 9:36 AM on March 27, 2007

Also, is there any reasonable way for an American to see the third series without breaking the law?

Play are listing the first volume DVD as being available in May, with the second volume in June if you can wait that long.
posted by Z303 at 9:39 AM on March 27, 2007

Thanks for the near heart attack with your 2nd link, I thought there was news that the current Doctor was quitting. It's bad enough that Rose is gone.

Am I the only one who longs for the days when a single doctor could go for multiple seasons without being replaced?

Seriously! My mom got to go through her teens right into her 20s with just one Doctor! The best one too.
posted by zarah at 9:45 AM on March 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

A misreading of that Sun article lead me to imagine Morrissey playing the Doctor. After that, I think anything is going to be a dissapointment.

Also: count me as another one who wishes they'd hold on to Doctors longer, especially Eccleston.
posted by moss at 10:04 AM on March 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

Wait, Jonathan Pryce as Sherlock Holmes? Jesus, that's awesome!
posted by moss at 10:05 AM on March 27, 2007

While Tennant is a good doctor, my inner scifan died a little inside with Eccleston left. So yeah, I want someone who takes the role to stick around for at least a few seasons.
posted by ursus_comiter at 10:17 AM on March 27, 2007

Also, is there any reasonable way for an American to see the third series without breaking the law?

As long as the sale of broadcast rights to non-UK markets is a very sweet plum, no. That's also why the BBC will never implement a "global license fee"* that anyone could buy to watch all their content online, even though it would be completely brilliant.


*Grumblebee brought up the idea here, though I think I've seen it elsewhere.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 10:28 AM on March 27, 2007

What, you mean this thread hasn't yet turned into a "Who (heh) should be the next Doctor" discussion?

Okay, I'll start by agreeing with whoever said, somewhere around here, that it was a pity Joanna Lumley only got to play, um... him... in the Red Nose Day parody. For those few seconds she was brilliant. Rowan Atkinson wasn't bad, either, in a kind of fragilely hyperdecent Blackadder's Christmas Special sort of way.
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:37 AM on March 27, 2007

Wait, Jonathan Pryce as Sherlock Holmes? Jesus, that's awesome!

Yup.
posted by jbickers at 10:40 AM on March 27, 2007

I'm sad that the Eddie Izzard rumors -gleefully started by Tom Baker if memory serves- proved to be untrue (though the real miss was not casting Eddie as John Constantine).
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 10:42 AM on March 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

who the next Doctor will be

The final Cylon.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:07 AM on March 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

Eccleston left of his own volition, apparently -- he never intended to play the Doctor for more than one year. Pity... he was great, and you never like to see the Doctor burn thru another of his regenerations.

The show has definitely been renewed for a 4th season. Tennant has not yet declared whether he'll be starring in it or not. At least one British paper is reporting that he will:

One source said: "To be honest, David was never going anywhere. He loves to create an air of mystery about his role in Doctor Who, and when he might leave, so he's happy for people to speculate about his departure.

"But the truth is he's finished filming the third series and he's signed a contract to appear in the whole of the next series. That will see him filming throughout 2008. It's brilliant for the show and the fans."
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:15 PM on March 27, 2007

Pryce makes a superb Holmes in the Baker Street Irregulars. Sadly the script is clunky and the kid actors are far from great—you end up being a lot more interested in the Holmes end of the story than the disappeared brother of the irritating girl. But then it was written by the same people who did the only sub-par episode of Primeval...

Primeval, ITV's Who-spoiler, was an almost unqualified success: a joyous, modern adventure romp with dinosaurs emerging in the present day through rifts in time. It rocked far harder than it had any right to, and in the lead role Dougie Henshall simultaneously proved he would have made a superb Who, and disqualified himself from the job forever. A second series is shooting right now.
posted by Hogshead at 12:23 PM on March 27, 2007

The official answer is 12.

And he's used at least one of them up being Mr. Bean.
posted by Artw at 12:24 PM on March 27, 2007

By the way, the Sun article linked in the FPP contains some pretty dubious rumors. I've heard the claim that Tennant will leave halfway thru season 4 debunked elsewhere. Also, John Simm is not going to play the next Doctor... he's going to play, er...

SPOILER:





...another familiar (and evil) Time Lord who is scheduled to return at the end of this season!
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 12:30 PM on March 27, 2007

Not the Ranii I hope. She's crap. Plus only saddo fans remember her. oh wait...
posted by Artw at 1:40 PM on March 27, 2007

XQUZYPHYR: I already posted both of those links above.

The BBC has NOT confirmed Tennant will be on board next year -- the link is to an anonymously-sourced story in the Mirror.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:40 PM on March 27, 2007

Correction: I did not post the second link, I just mentioned the story.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:42 PM on March 27, 2007

Nope. Big Christopher E. fan here. Wish he had stayed much longer.

Me too--i dislike Tennant (he mugs and overacts), and think the character has gotten much more amoral since he took over.

That said, i think the new companion will be good, and as long as the stories are good, i can deal.
posted by amberglow at 2:36 PM on March 27, 2007

(they're coming to NY this season with Daleks, but it's set in the 30s) : >
posted by amberglow at 2:36 PM on March 27, 2007

Life on Mars Simm? (i love him! that's such a wonderful show!)
posted by amberglow at 2:38 PM on March 27, 2007

I haven't been able to really enjoy any Doctor Who I've seen post Tom Baker, and come to think of it, I wasn't all that impressed by the Doctors before Tom Baker either, though I'm supposed to respect them and appreciate that they were in some way better. Baker made The Doctor an iconic figure for me, and his performance made the show fun and worth returning to again and again. I just can't bring myself to be excited that they've brought it back and oh gee it's going into it's third season, is it? How ...brilliant.

Yes. I said season. Not 'series.' It's the third SEASON within the one SERIES. Saying 'third series' doesn't make any sense. Tomaytoh - Tomahtoh.

Has there honestly been any vain attempt at continuity? Are all these Doctors really the same character? Did this series ever make sense? Why only twelve regenerations? By the time they get to the twelfth, a good writer will have found a way to extend his regenerations, so long as there's a market for the show.

As for me, I'm still wishing "Dead Like Me" made it to its third season, before the series was cancelled.
posted by ZachsMind at 2:38 PM on March 27, 2007

I'd love to see a truly alien companion -- or doctor.
posted by amberglow at 2:39 PM on March 27, 2007

...oh. And the games were cute. I liked the K9 one, and it's good to hear Anthony Stewart Head's voice again.
posted by ZachsMind at 2:44 PM on March 27, 2007

I've been watching the really old ones--Hartnell was carried by everyone else, Troughton was fabulous (and had some truly amazingly good stories--i wish more still existed), and Pertwee was not so great, and way too earthbound.
posted by amberglow at 2:45 PM on March 27, 2007

Jesus, people, stop worrying about this. Doctor Who is one giant "A Wizard Did It."

Exactly. Sonic screwdriver, anyone?
posted by box elder at 2:46 PM on March 27, 2007

This fanboy is excited about Daleks in Manhattan!

I thought I saw Tennant on the L train last fall. At the time I figured it must be a case of mistaken identity. Later I read that they actually did film some scenes in NYC.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 2:59 PM on March 27, 2007

And yes, the writers can pull another 12 regenerations for him out of the Conch Shell of Rassilon if necessary.

IIRC, the Time Lords were on the verge of giving the Master 12 new regenerations during The Five Doctors, as a reward for his cooperation. </whogeek>
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 3:03 PM on March 27, 2007

Yeah, it's pretty clear they'll find some way to give the doctor new regenerations if need be. There aren't too many of us timelords left ya know. Anyways, I'm looking forward to the return of Captain Jack Harkness (outside of Torchwood that is).
posted by timelord at 3:18 PM on March 27, 2007

I am Tom Baker's love slave forever, but he's not the only good Doctor by any stretch. Pertwee and Troughton were both brilliant in their own ways. I liked Davison but he never really inhabited the role in a significant way. I've only ever seen a couple of the Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy doctors.

I liked the TV movie, McGann would have been serviceable, but in retrospect I'm glad it didn't go forward.

The RTD revival has been simply terrific in so many ways. Eccleston was ... unique, yes. No Doctor like him before or probably after, either. He played the role with a wonderful sort of unhinged quality. I miss that -- it seemed appropriate for being the survivor of genocide.

Tennant is great, too, though -- one of my favorite Doctors. There are some elements of much more arguable morality in him, but that's not Tennant, of course, but RTD. And it's been obvious that if Daleks and Cybermen can reappear, so can the Time Lords. (I expect that to be the theme of the fourth series -- the Time Lords repairing time lines and such.)

I just can't bring myself to be excited that they've brought it back and oh gee it's going into it's third season, is it?

You should be excited. Russel T. Davies is the best writer/showrunner they've had in decades. I don't 100% agree with all his choices but he writes his characters as real characters and he's making tremendous efforts to reconcile the fantasy world with the real that bring value to the storylines. What really happens if someone jumps off to gallivant around the universe for a year or two? Does your family miss you? Do you miss them? What sort of person do you become? All previously unexplored territory in 25 years on air.

Has there honestly been any vain attempt at continuity? Are all these Doctors really the same character?

Well, yes, there's continuity. Yes, they are the same character, as anyone watching through a regeneration can tell. But of course they're also all different.

Pertwee was not so great, and way too earthbound.

The earthbound thing was a BBC budgetary restriction, not the actor's fault. If anything, Pertwee's outsize and slightly warmer personality laid the groundwork for Baker's portrayal.

Am I the only one who longs for the days when a single doctor could go for multiple seasons without being replaced?

This is true, but they all know what happened to Tom Baker. Typecasting is a horrible thing for an actor to adjust to.

The Doctor returns to Gallifrey and uncovers the ancient staff of... okay, Topedeciffo

Topedeciffo? You know perfectly well that Topedeciffo is no match for Selpats.
posted by dhartung at 3:23 PM on March 27, 2007

The earthbound thing was a BBC budgetary restriction, not the actor's fault. If anything, Pertwee's outsize and slightly warmer personality laid the groundwork for Baker's portrayal.

The budget problems are still really evident -- to me at least. I've read that this coming season is much more earthbound because of that. I don't know why SciFi and CBC and whatever Australian networks all don't contribute a million or so each so that they could not be bound by a BBC (small) budget.

I guess you're right about outsized Pertwee helping pave the way for Baker, but his stories all were very similar, and Jo Grant was horrific.
posted by amberglow at 3:57 PM on March 27, 2007

he's going to play, er...


{SPOILERY JOKE}





In the School Reunion episode they had a shot of an office door with HEADMASTER on it. And then Anthony Stewart Head was in the episode. As the Headmaster.

Head-Master.

I was so sure they were going to go for a lame pun, but they're stronger than me I guess...
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:00 PM on March 27, 2007

and you're right about Davies--we for the first time were seeing that real people are deeply affected by the Doctor's arrival and actions--that Elton/ELO/Absorbaloff episode especially, and Dickens/gas aliens, and the WW2 ones, etc...

I think some of that was lost by the intense Tennant/Rose focus of last season and it seems that's not as true anymore, which is terrible.
posted by amberglow at 4:01 PM on March 27, 2007

Jesus, people, stop worrying about this. Doctor Who is one giant "A Wizard Did It."

Well, yeah, of course - that's exactly why the show's entertainment value lives/dies on the strength of the main actor!
posted by jbickers at 5:21 PM on March 27, 2007

My mom got to go through her teens right into her 20s with just one Doctor! The best one too.

Troughton, or McCoy?

Seriously, I'm not trolling. I grew up on Pertwee and Tom Baker, but drifted off when Davison never really fitted into the role. When the ABC repeated the whole lot, sans Daleks, a year or two ago I realised my father had been right - Troughton was the one.

Ffwd over Pertwee & Baker, and on to Davison. Those episodes aren't bad (and reminded me of my teenage hormones & Nyssa! ;-), but he took too long to settle in. Still, better than the subsequent other Baker.

McCoy surprised me. He was a return to the Troughton days - a bit silly, but with a brain, dispassionate compassion, and a tough edge behind it. But, unfortunately, by that time the scripts and budget were letting Who down terribly...
posted by Pinback at 5:28 PM on March 27, 2007

Troughton, or McCoy?

I said 'the best one", which means Baker of course ;) From '74 when she was 13, to '81.
posted by zarah at 5:56 PM on March 27, 2007

Oh, didn't mean to be dismissive of Colin Baker, but I of course meant Tom Baker. Sorry to fans of Colin! Eek.

I quite like David Tennant (so does aforementioned mater familias), including his propensity for overacting and face making. It works for him, I think.
posted by zarah at 6:09 PM on March 27, 2007

SPOILER

No. Fucking. Way!!! This 30-ish guy is now very excited.

And as for the whole 12-regenerations problem: the Master solved that one in The Keeper of Traken. Just take over someone's body. You know. Like, using magic 'n shit.

As much as I liked Anthony Ainley, I really didn't like the way they short-circuited the 12 regeneration limit. WEAK.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 7:04 PM on March 27, 2007

I used to think Tom Baker was the best too, until i saw Troughton. : >

(and that whole endlessly running thru corridors thing and haunted house script template wasn't established yet, which helped too)
posted by amberglow at 7:50 PM on March 27, 2007

Okay, here're my thoughts on the prospective new doctor:


It should be Tom Baker. Again. And it should be very clear that the Doctor is once again regenerated as exactly that very same doctor, and he should be thrilled about it. I've been trying to think about what his first line as that doctor should be, but everything I come up with isn't as good as what the writers would have him say.
posted by shmegegge at 10:31 PM on March 27, 2007

shmegegge, have you seen Tom Baker recently? He's really old and really fat. A shadow of his former self.

Plus, for the 25th anniversary party they had in Chicago, (and by they, I mean Everyone Who Has Ever Been Involved in Who, including writers, producers, Doctors, companions, etc.) Tom Baker was the only one who didn't show up. I have a giant poster with like 40 autographs on it, but not him. Fucker.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:58 AM on March 28, 2007

Primeval, ITV's Who-spoiler, was an almost unqualified success

You really think so? Everyone I know thought it was absolute rubbish. Considering the best acting in the first couple of episodes came from a non-actor and ex-S club 7 member Hannah Spearitt - not a good sign.

Doctor Who gets away with slightly poor special effects because that's just what you expect from Who. Unfair, possibly. But Primeval was just terrible to look at, terribly scripted and almost impossible to sit through an episode of without turning the television over in disgust.

Although, admittedly - it's not made for adults. I'm sure the kids love it. It just doesn't have the legacy Who has to keep the adults interested.
posted by StuMiller at 2:26 AM on March 28, 2007

Although, admittedly - it's not made for adults.

Not that that's a guarantee: Torchwood is made for adults (you can tell cuz there's swearin' and sexin') and is just terrible. Almost every episode (of the 10 or so I watched) is built on the "a member of the team betrays everybody else in a moment of weakness" formula. I really hate when fake moral dilemmas are used as a stand in for real writing and character development (see also Angel season 5).

And weak performances ahoy!
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:20 AM on March 28, 2007

Well, I was prepared to be in a minority on Primeval but since it got love from both Nancy Banks Smith and Charlie Brooker plus consistent 6m+ ratings and the DVD is at the top of the WHSmith sales charts then, StuMiller, I think it's you. And other Who fans.

I've noticed this in other areas: fans of A are not allowed to like B if B edges too close to A, because A cannot be criticised. There's that famous fan-comment about the wrist-communicators in Babylon 5 being unrealistic because Star Trek had already established that in the future communicators will be worn on the chest. More recently, I've read reviews of the very excellent Danny Boyle movie Sunshine that mark down the plot because they assume the Icarus 2 has Trek-style technology on board and the crew forget to use it.

None of which changes the fact that Torchwood is just plain bad. Bad characters, bad plots, bad scripts, bad effects and some very silly camera work.
posted by Hogshead at 4:57 AM on March 28, 2007

Civil_Disobedient has broken my heart. Sure, it was baker who let me down, but C_D was the one who just had to tell me. Oh woe is me.
posted by shmegegge at 8:13 AM on March 28, 2007

see also Angel season 5

I've managed to avoid also seeing Angel season 5 so far, and I see no reason to change that now.
posted by moss at 9:42 AM on March 28, 2007

"SuDocWho" made me die a little inside.

And drezdn, while I am totally down with the idea of Thom Yorke as the Doctor, I can't imagine he'd stick around for more than one season. I'd move to England just so I could watch it as the episodes were actually released, though.
posted by Saellys at 10:50 AM on March 28, 2007

Can we please give Paul McGann a proper go? (see, I even asked the British way)
posted by Eideteker at 4:48 PM on March 28, 2007

Can we please give Paul McGann a proper go?

Heartily seconded. I can just see it now...
"I'm not the Doctor, I'm a multimillionaire! Yes, I am a multimillionaire, and I shall buy this planet and fire all its politicians!"
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:08 PM on March 29, 2007

Just watched the 1st episode--they have good chemistry, but he's just as annoying as ever. She's going to be good. Story wasn't fabulous at all.
posted by amberglow at 10:18 PM on March 31, 2007