Peter Capaldi.
Cool. This is going to be the first time a Doctor has been played by someone I'm familiar with before watching him in Who. (I'd seen Troughton, Tom Baker, McGann, Eccleston, and Tennant in various things, but didn't recognize them) Capaldi's a brilliant actor, and I'm sure he'll be terrific.
But given that -
1. His life was saved by the Doctor in Fires of Pompeii
2. He played an unforgettable villain in Torchwood: Children of Earth, culminating in him pulling a truly horrific act
3. His last role was as a WHO Doctor in World War Z
... this is going to be even weirder than that part in Arc of Infinity where Colin Baker shoots Peter Davison.
Incidentally, Capaldi's an Oscar Winner - he won Best Live Action Short for writing and directing "Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life"... which starred Richard E Grant. You know, the Great Intelligence. And also the campy Doctor from Curse of the Fatal Death.
It's like they're trying to make our nerd-brains explode.
(HBO has Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life up on Youtube. And yes, it's every bit as insane as that title.)
 |
| This happens in the first three minutes. |
I'm currently working on my long-belated review of The Name of the Doctor and my review of Season 7 overall, after which I'm going to return to posting regularly: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. After finishing Torchwood Season 1, I'll be attempting to get entirely through the New Series, interspersed with Torchwood, before the 50th Anniversary Special. If my math is right, I should just make it.
Mr Capaldi will be amazing, can't wait. Wonder what his costume will be? He seems to suit the suits (ahaha), I really can't picture him looking shabby and bohemian like Tom or Patrick. Well, at least to start with we know he'll be in Matt's rather spiffy dark coat. I don't expect he'll keep it though, he's got a far more contemporary vibe to him.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading your upcoming reviews :)
(And that banana picture is insane!)
I'm with you, he's the Doctor I was hoping for! http://cdogzilla.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-fires-of-pompeii-oh-youre-celtic.html
DeleteI imagine his costume will be mostly suitish, but with some weird touch of eccentricity. A little classier than Davison or Smith, but just as offset by whatever strange addition gets pinned on.
DeleteCan't wait to see how wrong I am!
Very pleased as well. Personally I was hoping that they'd either buck the youth trend by casting someone (of whatever ethnicity) who is older than the recent performers or go ahead and go nuts and really shake the game up (by casting a female). Peter fits my top wish list all around. Surprised it happened money wise. Sure is a different game than the old days...
ReplyDeleteIt's not the Doctor that concerns me though, it's ol' Moffat. Peter is different enough, it would seem, to suggest a fairly deep change in approach for the series in many dramatic senses and that could be very welcome. For just one obvious point, consider how Clara does (or perhaps does not) jive as companion for him. Perhaps there may be a nastier side, as part of framing things towards the John Hurt "Doctor" end of things. If so, boy I hope they are careful treading in that area. Off to a good start with this choice though, I feel.
I guess the idea of a difference ethnicity or sex doesn't really excite me. I mean, I have nothing against it - Romana and River both prove decisively that a female Doctor totally works, and obviously race makes no difference. But the Doctor is so throughoutly built on white male tropes that something else, while fine, doesn't really interest me. So I'm not disappointed they stuck with a white dude.
DeleteAs for Moffat writing for Capaldi, I remember what Robert Holmes said about how he wrote so well for multiple Doctors: he said he just wrote the Doctor the same way he always did. And if you watch, say, Caves of Androzani, you can imagine Tom Baker saying the same lines and it working with his Doctor just fine, albeit very differently. It's mostly the actor's interpretation; as long as he has a good script that lets him be generally Doctorish, he'll fill in the blanks.