Pondering, Thinking, Considering, and Does It Matter?
I don't know if anyone really cares about my opinions, but I figured I'd write them down anyway.
I am neither unhappy nor especially cheered by the announcement of the new Doctor -- I'll make my decisions on him when I see him in action. I didn't place any special credence on the bookmakers and the predictions because they had been so very wrong when Matt Smith was cast; so this time they were right. Cool. I'm reasonably happy because he's a great actor, I have seen him in a few things, and he's an older actor, which I was also hoping for.
I won't know what I think about him until I actually see him. There it is. No matter how good the actor is, he takes an episode or two (sometimes more) to get into the Doctor, and how he'll play him; for a few episodes he might be a little like his predecessor. Or he might be entirely different. We shall see.
In the meantime, I have two more episodes with Eleven.
I've been feeling somewhat defensive about my affection for Eleven lately, possibly due in some part to seeing snarky comments since Sunday about how he was "just a copy of Tennant," which I disagree with and find somewhat offensive, since he did make the part his own, and in my opinion, has been a really GREAT Doctor. Not to be mean or anything, but I cannot think of a time when Eleven spent an entire episode moping about his "lonely Godhood" and terrible it was to be alive forever, sob sob sob. (Sorry, Emo-Doctor just annoyed me; and by the forty-minute Regeneration scene, I was just screaming at the screen, "Oh, for the love of God, Regenerate already!!!")
Eleven did pause once in a while to be sad, but then something would distract him--as is perfectly in character for the Doctor--and he was off again to solve the problem. We were given to think he had been moping around for a long time after the Ponds left, but it was all off-screen and then he was interested again.
One of the things I have loved best about Eleven was he remembered that, above all things, The Doctor LOVES life. That joie de vivre is so much of what makes the character lovable. Not that I've loved every story, mind you -- there have been some serious klunkers. But I think Smith was pretty terrific in all of them.
I knew right from the start he'd be struggling in Tennant's shadow, much like Peter Davison did taking over from Tom Baker, another wildly popular Doctor who held the title until Tennant came along and took over as "most popular ever." It seems to be a tossup now which Doctor is more recognizable, the "one with the scarf" or the "one in the pinstriped suit."
But the more I see of Five the more I like him -- not only was he a pretty terrific Doctor, he had some REALLY good stories.
So I'm not going to bag on the new Doc. He's the same age Hartnell was when "Doctor Who" first broadcast -- seems a good time to circle back to the "grandfather" figure. I'm looking forward to seeing how Clara deals with a Regeneration. I'm looking forward to seeing the Regeneration -- I want Eleven to go out straightening his (very cool) bow tie and saying "Geronimo!" Three and Five were killed by poison; Two and Six were forced to Regenerate by the Time Lords; One died of old age, Four was killed falling from a radio tower (despite Ten and Eleven both managing to survive falls from ORBIT), Seven was shot, Nine absorbed the Time Vortex, Ten was radiation (never minding that he seemed to absorb that much radiation in "Smith & Jones" with no ill effects other than the loss of a shoe), and we don't know how Eight went (yet, perhaps) -- What will be the next way a Time Lord dies?
Anyway, that was mostly my weekend, getting all geared up to "find out." I'm not sorry they stuck with type and didn't cast a woman -- mostly because I think the writers would spend an entire season with "Ooooo, I'm a WOMAN now! How does a WOMAN do this?!" instead of just having a female who is the Doctor.
I have to go back to work. Lunch break over.
I am neither unhappy nor especially cheered by the announcement of the new Doctor -- I'll make my decisions on him when I see him in action. I didn't place any special credence on the bookmakers and the predictions because they had been so very wrong when Matt Smith was cast; so this time they were right. Cool. I'm reasonably happy because he's a great actor, I have seen him in a few things, and he's an older actor, which I was also hoping for.
I won't know what I think about him until I actually see him. There it is. No matter how good the actor is, he takes an episode or two (sometimes more) to get into the Doctor, and how he'll play him; for a few episodes he might be a little like his predecessor. Or he might be entirely different. We shall see.
In the meantime, I have two more episodes with Eleven.
I've been feeling somewhat defensive about my affection for Eleven lately, possibly due in some part to seeing snarky comments since Sunday about how he was "just a copy of Tennant," which I disagree with and find somewhat offensive, since he did make the part his own, and in my opinion, has been a really GREAT Doctor. Not to be mean or anything, but I cannot think of a time when Eleven spent an entire episode moping about his "lonely Godhood" and terrible it was to be alive forever, sob sob sob. (Sorry, Emo-Doctor just annoyed me; and by the forty-minute Regeneration scene, I was just screaming at the screen, "Oh, for the love of God, Regenerate already!!!")
Eleven did pause once in a while to be sad, but then something would distract him--as is perfectly in character for the Doctor--and he was off again to solve the problem. We were given to think he had been moping around for a long time after the Ponds left, but it was all off-screen and then he was interested again.
One of the things I have loved best about Eleven was he remembered that, above all things, The Doctor LOVES life. That joie de vivre is so much of what makes the character lovable. Not that I've loved every story, mind you -- there have been some serious klunkers. But I think Smith was pretty terrific in all of them.
I knew right from the start he'd be struggling in Tennant's shadow, much like Peter Davison did taking over from Tom Baker, another wildly popular Doctor who held the title until Tennant came along and took over as "most popular ever." It seems to be a tossup now which Doctor is more recognizable, the "one with the scarf" or the "one in the pinstriped suit."
But the more I see of Five the more I like him -- not only was he a pretty terrific Doctor, he had some REALLY good stories.
So I'm not going to bag on the new Doc. He's the same age Hartnell was when "Doctor Who" first broadcast -- seems a good time to circle back to the "grandfather" figure. I'm looking forward to seeing how Clara deals with a Regeneration. I'm looking forward to seeing the Regeneration -- I want Eleven to go out straightening his (very cool) bow tie and saying "Geronimo!" Three and Five were killed by poison; Two and Six were forced to Regenerate by the Time Lords; One died of old age, Four was killed falling from a radio tower (despite Ten and Eleven both managing to survive falls from ORBIT), Seven was shot, Nine absorbed the Time Vortex, Ten was radiation (never minding that he seemed to absorb that much radiation in "Smith & Jones" with no ill effects other than the loss of a shoe), and we don't know how Eight went (yet, perhaps) -- What will be the next way a Time Lord dies?
Anyway, that was mostly my weekend, getting all geared up to "find out." I'm not sorry they stuck with type and didn't cast a woman -- mostly because I think the writers would spend an entire season with "Ooooo, I'm a WOMAN now! How does a WOMAN do this?!" instead of just having a female who is the Doctor.
I have to go back to work. Lunch break over.