We got what is (at the moment) probably the biggest news in the Whovian universe Sunday at about 2:25 eastern time – we know who’s taking over for Matt Smith.
Matt Smith’s Doctor (Eleven) will be regenerating into Peter Capaldi’s Doctor (Twelve) during the Christmas special in just a few months (I know, I know, it’s almost five full months away, but saying “just a few months” just makes me feel better and like it’s closer!), likely during the last moments. Usually how this works is that we get the new Doctor for about a minute after regeneration and then the show is over and we have to wait for whatever is next (which, if rumors are correct, might possibly be next August, which would officially make me cry).
For those of you who don’t know, that’s classic Hartnell
So, Peter Capaldi. This announcement has set the Whovian fans rolling with plenty to talk about – and not all of it is good.
And that bothers me a bit.
Now, I will admit that, as late as Sunday morning, when answering the “who do you think it will be” I was, specifically, saying “NOT CAPALDI!” and giving other names. A couple of those names were completely selfish eye candy possibilities that were more joking than anything. A couple were, I thought at the time, legitimate possibilities that would have taken the Doctor in a bit of a different direction (I say “at the time” because apparently, according to Moffat, the list this time was extremely short – there was never anyone on it but Capaldi). One would have taken the Doctor in an entirely different direction that I’m not entirely sure the world is ready for yet and I’m not entirely sure I want to see yet (all of which I’ll talk about). But let me be clear: my calls of “Not Capaldi!” were not, in any way, because I don’t think he can play the Doctor or because I don’t think he’s a good actor. He’s a phenomenal actor and I think he’ll be amazing as the Doctor – different, but amazing (and that’s good). My not wanting him to be picked had nothing to do with age or looks or anything of the sort – it was purely my own ornery nature wanting all those people betting on him, so sure they had it figured out, or had good information, to be dead wrong. I would have laughed my head off if one of the “long shot” (but still well qualified and would be good at the part) actors had walked out the other night.
(On a side note: BBC, you missed an amazing chance there. When the show came on and she saw the TARDIS, Punky looked at me and went “Is the new Doctor in the TARDIS?” “No, baby,” I responded, “it’s just a prop” but then immediately turned to the TV and said, out loud, “Oh my God, y’all should totally have him come out of the TARDIS!”
You have to admit: It would have been awesome to see Capaldi emerge from that spinning blue box for the first time right there, even if he wasn’t in what will become the “regalia” of Twelve. Though watching some replays, it doesn’t appear to be full sized or sturdy so, yeah. But still. That was an awesome opportunity they totally missed!)
I had my reservations at first, mostly due to the fact that he was in Fires of Pompeii (which I can suspend belief on and accept) and also played a rather major (and very un-Doctor-like) character over on Torchwood. Now, don’t tell me that Torchwood isn’t Doctor Who. It’s a direct spin off, based on the same characters, in the same universe, with tie in and cross overs and if someone appears in Torchwood (especially as that major of a character), they just as well appeared as the same person in Doctor Who.
My reservations – the reason why my initial gut reaction was “Uh…….I’m not so sure” – was the concern over acknowledging, recognizing, and explaining that character in Torchwood.
Like I said, Fires of Pompeii is in the Doctor Who universe, but is so far removed from “today” I can accept a doppelganger without much concern. I’m going to look at him and go “Oh, it’s the dad from Pompeii” but it’s not going to keep nagging at my brain too badly. (Though someone pitched an idea that I found wonderfully hilarious on Facebook – The Doctor, far enough removed from the Doctor Donna for the pain to have healed some, decides to go back to Pompeii and pose as a merchant for a number of years just to get to see her again. Not even all that timey wimey and BOOM! It’s explained! – again, I will not take credit for this theory. I saw it this morning but can’t find it again to credit the original poster.)
There is, however, a distinct chance I might not be able to separate John Frobisher from Torchwood (who, by the way, ends up, you know, killing his family during that arc, so, yeah, not really a “Doctor” thing to do (even if it was to save them from what he thought was worse)!) from the Doctor should they look alike.
And then, later on Sunday, I realized that was the caveat – should they look alike.
The new Doctor Who has, on a couple of occasions, had an actor who has previously appeared in an episode come back as a (separate) major character (so things like Jack or Harriett Jones or anyone playing the same character over multiple episodes wouldn’t count here). Freema Agyeman, who played Ten’s second companion, Martha Jones, first played Adeola Oshodi, an agent at the Torchwood Institute at Canary Wharf helping open the “ghost gate” in Army of the Dead during the previous season. In character and on camera, the role is acknowledged when Martha mentions having a cousin that worked at Canary Wharf and died during the Cyberman / Dalek invasion.
Martha on the left, Adeola on the right. Yeah…………that’s not a cousin. That’s a doppelganger. But I’ll accept it.
Also within the Who-verse, Eve Myles played Gwen Cooper in Torchwood and Gwyneth in Doctor Who Series 1’s The Unquiet Dead. There isn’t a specific relation given, but when Ten and Rose meet Gwen Cooper during The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End, there is a reference made to her similarities to Gwyneth and it is implied that Gwyneth is probably an ancestor.
Again, not quite as strong, but the family resemblance in the Who-verse is crazy. I don’t look this much like my SISTER, much less a great-great aunt or something.
But then we get to Karen Gillan, who played Eleven’s first companion, Amy Pond. She was originally used as a soothsayer in The Fires of Pompeii during Series 4 with Ten and Donna. This was never acknowledged on camera, and I’m okay with that. Know why?
Not so much with the OMG resemblance (amazing what make up can do, huh?)
Because those two women do not look alike enough that you go “There is NO WAY that is not the same person!” In fact, I guarantee you that many people didn’t even KNOW that was Karen Gillan on the right until die-hard fans who had gone back and caught it on re-watchings started pointing it out.
It doesn’t automatically draw your attention and make you go “Wait a second………”
Which is why I’m not so sure any more that this reservation is warranted. It’s going to depend on what they do with Capaldi’s Doctor and how his “look” turns out. Because, really?
How he appeared Sunday, as Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii, as John Frobisher in Torchwood, and a picture of how he appeared in May of this year (as far as I can tell that’s when that picture was taken)
Yes, right next to each other and knowing it’s the same person, you can see, yeah, that’s him. But seriously, if the guy in the far right showed up as the Doctor after Matt transforms, my mind wouldn’t automatically jump to “OMG that’s Caecilius!” Or even “OMG that’s the guy that killed his kids on Torchwood!!” Yes, in my head I’ll know it’s the same actor, but as long as my brain isn’t beating me over the head with it, I’m kind of okay with that. It’s the mirrored doppelgangers that my brain won’t allow me to shake loose.
Besides, I kind of like the facial hair for Twelve. It could be his “thing” like Eleven’s bow tie, Ten’s trench, Nine’s leather jacket (or Four’s scarf, Seven’s umbrella, ect). So yeah, I still am a bit cautious, but that reservation about the acknowledgement of the previous characters can very easily be overcome and I think they’ll manage it (and, to be honest, even if they don’t, I’m sure I’ll get used to it. It’ll nag at me though, I can guarantee that!)
So yeah, my reservations with Capaldi are purely based on character continuity (I need to talk about that on a wider basis at some point – someone remind me to do that). My “NOT CAPALDI” cries before hand have nothing to do with his acting or not wanting him to be the Doctor, honestly, it was just about being a stubborn girl and wanting to be able to find it hilarious that so many people were wrong.
My reservations initially were not, and never will be, what I have heard come from so many “fans” from the corners of the web.
I use those quotation marks on purpose. These people, these “fans”, are the ones screaming and yelling about how Capaldi can’t play the doctor because “OMG he’s old!” or “HE’S UGLY!!!! I’M NOT WATCHING ANYMORE!!!!”
I’ll be honest – I want to smack them through the computer.
Hi, “fans”. It’s so funny that you think the Doctor should always be young and “cute”. I bet you think Matt Smith is the Third Doctor and this one’s about to be Four, don’t you? :P
I saw this reposted on Facebook and couldn’t say it better myself, so I’ll just copy it here: “The Doctor is not a sex symbol. Sorry, fangirls. Now you’ll have to decide if you actually like the show.”
Before Matt, Peter Davidson was the youngest actor to ever play the Doctor (he was 30 when he took the part). Most of the previous (original) Doctors were in their 40s (Hartnell and Pertwee were actually in their 50s). Paul McGann (Eight, in the movie in 1996) was 37. John Hurt, playing some incarnation of the Doctor, is 73.
Yes, I realize that, since 2005, most of the actors who played the Doctor have been of the type that collect the fawning, will-you-marry-me fangirls. I realize that there are people who watch Doctor Who to do nothing more than drool over David Tennant or Matt Smith.
I think these people are silly and simple-minded and probably need some help.
If you want to stop watching the show because you’re not going to have eye-candy, then you probably aren’t that much of a fan anyway. I think we’re all pretty okay with that, to be honest. With you leaving the show and not watching any more. Those of us enjoying the show for what it is will continue to do so.
Besides, an older Doctor makes sense to me. First, it’s about time that the “new” Doctor Who did something a little different. While I can understand not wanting to go as crazy as, say, a woman Doctor (maybe they just aren’t ready for that yet), they didn’t need to just put in another cut-from-the-same-cloth eye candy or pretty boy. (Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying Matt Smith or David Tennant are just “eye candy pretty boys”. They are both fantastically amazing actors. But they are, well, kind of pretty.) Part of the wonderment that has always followed The Doctor is that each one is so very different. The regeneration does not just change the face, it changes who he is (but I’ll talk about that at length another time). What has happened to that incarnation, and what is happening at the time he regenerates affects who he becomes next (okay, maybe I’ll do my regeneration post sooner rather than later). But really – look at what Eleven has already gone through. Imagine what he’s probably going to be put through during the 50th and the Christmas Special.
Is it any wonder that all this might age him some?
Besides, the Doctor, we all know, is very old to begin with (the Doctor that goes down to meet River in The Impossible Astronaut was 1,103, though in some of the older fiction he was well past 1,000 before he even hit Nine. Also, in A Town Called Mercy Eleven indicates he might be almost 1,200 years old. His age seems to have been rebooted with the series, as Nine states he is 900, but previous incarnations had gone past 900 already. And, of course, Moffat and others have stated that, honestly, the Doctor probably has no idea or clue exactly how old he is). The Doctor, though looking however the face he chose looks, is not actually that age. Is it so unbelievable that he might not, at this moment, feel like being young and seen as such? That he might want to feel like he has some kind of control or authority when everything felt like it was beyond him (and I’m getting into other subject matter, so I’m going to put a halt to that).
So yeah, basically, Sunday showed us that we have some people we might want to root out of fandom. It might sound cruel, but it’s true.
Let me put it this way: If you’re going to spend the entire next series complaining about how you don’t like this Doctor and he’s too old and you just want Matt back, do us a favor and watch something else on Saturday nights.
We want to be able to enjoy the amazingness that I know will be Capaldi’s Twelve.
RAISED GEEKY 