And the new doctor is...

Matt Smith

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Smith

but add _(British_actor) to that.

Don't know much about him, pretty sure I've never seen him act.

I've never heard of him at all. From Wiki, he doesn't seem to have acted in very much either. Although it's interesting that he did work on the Pullman dramatisations, alongside Billie Piper.

Ah well - will be interesting to see what he does with the role then. More so, since I can come to it without any previous ideas of what he's like.

I bet the bookies are happy though! I don't think he even figured on their list, did he?

I had been firmly convinced that, sharp off the back of US election fever and Obama-mania, that they would go with Patterson Joseph. If only for the kudos and extra PR they could squeeze out of "Look - it's the first black Dr. Who!".

They've kind of gone up in my estimation for not jumping on that particular bandwagon.


LabRat

Oh god

First Moffat taking over, now this kid as the Doctor.

See me losing interest fast...


Wendy

Don't back off too fast, Wendy. After all, I'm sure he played an excellent "Curious Onlooker" in the movie "Gotham, IL."

Dear me. To me, he doesn't have the looks of the Doctor. Let alone that he is younger than me!! So I don't quite see this as a continuation of the show I fell in love. As Wendy, I'm no fan of Moffat. This doesn't bode well at all. But I'll probably give it a shot anyhow, yet I do not expect it to live up to the fantastic show I've follwed for the last four years.

Saskia

BBC announcement here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/news/latest/090103_news_01

I'm trying not to let the age thing worry me too much - all of the doctors have been younger than my current age when they first started.

I'm with Wendy and Sas. This selection doesn't bode well. He doesn't look serious enough to be a Doctor.

I am without words.

Never mind, I do have words. I saw him in The Ruby in the Smoke and, well, he's just a kid! I'm not concerned too much about his actual age because I'm sure there are 26-year-olds who could portray a Time Lord, but I am concerned that this particular person won't be able to pull off being 900 years old.

Then again, I'm still feeling personally wounded that David is abandoning DW, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Right. Of course, Tom Baker was the soul of serious, as was Sylvester McCoy.

(I never took to McCoy, by the way. I thought he looked and acted like a whiny little goof.)

And we have to remember that there were many who derided the selection of Dean Cain as Clark Kent because he wasn't tall enough or "heroic" enough or forceful enough to play Superman. But he did pretty well, don't you think?

Serious Doctor is Serious Business??

I'll give the new Doctor a try. It took me a few episodes to get past Barty Crouch playing the Doctor, so I can give the new one a few episodes. Unlike some other people... my husband refused to watch after David Tennant took over! He said he looked too.. squirrelly. Wonder if this'll bring him back into watching it with me?

He'll be 27 when he films his first season - that's not exactly a kid.

Actually, Marcus, they'll start shooting the new series this summer and he will still be 26 then... While I agree that age doesn't make him a kid still, I don't see how he'll be able to pull off a 900 year old Time Lord. Especially after what the Doctor has gone through recently, I don't see him having enough experience yet. But I haven't seen him act in anything, so I'm only judging by what I've seen online tonight.

I'm probably also prejudiced since I'm rather taken with David Tennant as the Doctor. I'll be sorry to see him go after the specials.

Saskia

Yeah, I'm a little dubious about this guy, but I'll reserve judgement till I've seen him in the role - having learned my lesson with Donna. I was one of those who, on learning that CT was going to be the new companion, reacted with utter horror. And, well...how wrong can a person be?

LabRat

I agree; I ranted long and loud on my LJ about the selection of Catherine Tate as the S4 companion, and by ten minutes into Partners in Crime was well and truly won over. So, although I'm not particularly impressed and think he looks far, far too young to play the Doctor, I've kept my LJ reaction this time to some facetious quasi-companion reactions


Wendy

Are there any discussions on whether there will be a new companion, too, along with the new Doctor? It'll be weird to see two completely new faces in 2010.

Haven't seen any discussions of that sort yet, but we know there'll be no companion for the Specials - that's already been made clear in the Confidential for The Next Doctor. The Doctor will be travelling alone, so there'll be a special guest companion for each Special. We can only assume that he'll pick someone up early in his new regeneration.


Wendy

I know that it's deeply unlikely, but it would be wonderful if, by the time we roll around to 2010 and a new Doctor, CT was able to come back as Donna.

That would certainly help me get over the transition.

But, as I say, I'm not holding my breath.

LabRat

Aw darn. I'm currently more into Torchwood than I am Dr. Who, but I'm slowly getting into Dr. Who, too. I was pulling for Chiwetel Ejiofor, he's been great in everything I've seen him in. Guess I'll wait to see how this guy does.

Maybe this is when River Song comes into the Doctor's life? Not sure how I would feel about her being a companion, but at least it's a familiar character.

I'm always amazed by how many women in L&C fandom are caught up in the Doctor Who series.

Except for an implied but unrealilzed attraction between Billie Piper's Rose and this last Doctor, the show has never really been know to have any real romantic overtones.

There has always been a female companion, but it's always been more of a one-sided admiration type of relationship.

I came into Doctor Who with Tom Baker's Doctor, and also saw a lot of Jon Pertwee, and have to admit that I've always been a big fan of Sarah Jane Smith. But, for all the years that they were together, you never had any feeling that they were ever going to get together romantically.

I also would think that the goofy sci-fi nature of the show's general plotlines would be counter to what many of the romance-minded folks who frequent this board would generally enjoy.

I know that Superman is inherantly sci-fi with an alien who flies as one of the main protagonists, but even the more far out stories tend to feel more 'grounded' than do most of the Dr. Who stories.

I'm not knocking Dr. Who, I have watched and enjoyed it in the past, and have watched some of the newer Doctors when they came to the states. I'm just saying that I'm surprised there are so many here who are admitted romantics who enjoy a show which I don't see as having much of a romantic component.

Tank (who will admit that he never cared for this last companion, and was never a big fan of this last Doctor either)

Roger, from what I understand Stephen Moffat (the new lead writer for the 2010 series) intended to bring back River Song and tell the story of her relationship with the Doctor, but then once David Tennant announced he was leaving those scripts had to be scrapped. Fandom is pretty divided on River Song, and those of us who couldn't stand the character weren't too disappointed

Tank, this surprises me:
It was made pretty explicit, actually. The love/attraction was implied with the Ninth Doctor, but then Rose actually told the Doctor she loved him in Doomsday and, though he never said it back, it was strongly implied twice that he would have except that he doesn't say that sort of thing He then pined for her all through the third season and was overjoyed to get her back. Rose's final scene - kissing the duplicate Doctor - made the romance pretty clear. Writers, producers and actors, in interviews and behind-the-scenes documentaries, have all described the Doctor/Rose relationship as a romance and a love story.

In New Who, too, the Doctor's far more of a sexual creature than ever before, though admittedly that started with the Eighth Doctor movie. Nine flirted with just about every attractive woman, and even one man, who crossed his path, and kissed Rose (and Jack). Ten kissed Rose, Reinette, Martha, Astrid and Donna, and it's very strongly implied that he slept with Reinette. With Moffat taking over - the writer who, more than anyone, has tended to write the Doctor as an intergalactic Casanova (see Reinette, River Song) - I expect there'll be a lot more of that.

That's one of the biggest differences between Classic and New Who. Peter Davison (Fifth Doctor) has said that - because at the time he was the youngest actor to play the Doctor - he was instructed not to touch his companions on-screen at all, though he also said that he played the role as if he was in love with Nyssa As for Tom Baker, watch his episodes with Romana II (Lalla Ward), in particular City of Death; while there's no explicit romance, the chemistry is blazing. Hardly surprising, since the two of them fell in love on-set and married!


Wendy (who, for the record, loved Donna and is very sorry that she's gone)

And there has to be a romantic element in a TV show before it can interest women?

I'll admit that many of the TV shows I enjoy have a ship element to them and that's partly what I enjoy about them. But it certainly isn't the whole of my TV enjoyment by any means. Heroes, House and Battlestar Galactica are just three shows I can think of, off the top of my head, which I thoroughly enjoy but which either have no ship elements or the ship elements they do have interest me not at all and certainly aren't the reason I tune in each week.

For me, the last series of DW was its finest and the relationship (non-romantic) between the Doctor and Donna one of the most satisfying to watch.

LabRat

I have to take exception with the same remark Labrat did. I grew up watching science fiction thanks to my dad, including watching TNG. Sure, I rooted for Riker/Troi, but that was never the reason I watched it. Same goes with Doctor Who. Such a long-running series couldn't be all bad, and I was intrigued. And with the first episode, I was drawn in. And there are a few other shows that I watch without any expectation of romance.

The other point, probably, is since when did fans of a show need an explicit romantic element in order to enjoy it?

Practically every male character in a TV show you can think of out there - including many so hetrosexual you could break your teeth on their machismo - feature in slash fiction. Without any sign of them having a romantic/sexual relationship on screen.

Similiarly, fanfic galore has been written in reams by fans pairing couples who show not the slightest interest in each other in the show itself.

Romance - for the internet fan - is in the eye of the beholder. And if it doesn't exist there on the screen, most of them will make it up anyway in fanfic to satisfy themselves.

LabRat

Just to clarify a point. I didn't mean to say that women 'have' to have a romantic interest in a series to enjoy watching it, I just was making an observation regarding the folks who play on these boards since it has been fairly established that the 'ship' part of L&C has always been a major aspect of the show's appeal.

Tank (who warns the gentle board members not to read too much into his comments... he's not that deep)