Wow, that sounds intense. I propose watching an episode of Alias tonight directly before bed and seeing if you can get any awesomely wacky spynanigans.
First of all, I am in serious awe of your subconscious. Must be a marvellous place.
Eleven: I have used "younger because filming schedule grueling" as a possible explanation for going younger (I've since noticed that most actors over fifty are probably in better shape than I will likely be at that age, which was my original correlation. Ahem.), but that someone would claim it was obligatory they had to go younger is astonishing to me. I mean, it's not like the audience was complaining about a 35 - 38 year old who pretty much looks his age (nor his predecessor who also looks his age)and running away from the program because of that.
Personally, I'm willing to wait and see, but I can't stop imagining Donna or Sarah Jane or the Brig making fun of him because he looks boyish. ;)
Given the number of performers who handle action-heavy roles on US TV (which is even more demanding than UK TV) in their 40s and even 50s, I think they've got a lot of latitude to cast an older Doctor. William Hartnell probably couldn't manage it today, but I think most performers short of AARP age would be well able to deal with it, and perhaps even some older than that. (Right now, on Broadway, Estelle Parsons is starring in "August: Osage County." The staging of the play involves multiple stories of a house, and she -- like all the other actors -- ends up climbing something like 90 flights of stairs per performance, eight performances a week. Estelle Parsons is 80.)
They could've gone older. For Twelve, I very much hope they will, or else the New Who role sort of gets strongly defined as a lad, which I'd like to avoid. But like you say, the main thing is to wait and see, and if we get a few Companions or the Master freaking out about his youthful looks, it will be hilarious.
No, really, I've realized that it was a dumb argument. *g* (Kudos to Ms. Parsons, nonetheless!)
They could've gone older.
The more cynical part of me which just won't shut up ponders that lower pay for a younger, more inexperienced actor may also have played a role, aside from the obvious hope of drawing in a very specific audience of people in their teens and twenties. In that vein, I think your fear of the role becoming too defined as laddish is very legitimate. But dismissing him just out of pessimistic expectations seems rather limited, so wait and see it is.
(I very much hope we won't have this conversation again when it's time for Twelve.)
Oh, sorry, didn't mean to yammer on -- it's just sort of my stock paragraph on the subject in this day's post-a-looza that Who fandom is of course carrying on. :)
I wish we'd gotten more of Jacobi's Master. I mean, how awesome was that?
The sweet dream visions are courtesy of amitriptyline. It's like the benevolent cousin of that medication Liz Lemon was given for her plane ride, the one that could cause "sexual hallucinations and sleep crime."
Amitriptyline is technically an antidepressant, but apparently there's some sort of kinship between changing the chemical patterns of depression and changing the chemical patterns of chronic headache. Don't quote me on that - I am not 100% I understood his explanation -- but that's what I understood.
Something with a time-traveling academic returning to Ancient Greek culture, but somehow situated in prehistoric Manhattan, and fighting mammoths between bouts of translating the song "Baby Got Back" for ancient flute as a tribute to Aphrodite Kallipygos!*
Hmm. I suppose my reaction to the casting is that, dramatically younger is at least different, which means they'll have something to play with. I would've been more annoyed if they'd cast a David Tennant clone. I do hope they choose to do something more interesting than "younger and white" with the casting of Twelve, though. Anyway, it's all moot until we see how he approaches the character, you know?
On a total tangent, I had no idea they'd adapted those Phillip Pullman books for the BBC! Was it any good?
I had to look up Aphrodite Kallipygos, but then I started laughing like a fiend. I <3 your brain. :)
On another total tangent, I saw the BEST VAMPIRE MOVIE EVER last night, and you HAVE to see it. It's this Swedish vampire romance/horror film, Let The Right One In, and it's seriously awesome, in the original sense of the word. It somehow manages to be creepy and disturbing and incredibly sweet and sympathetic all at the same time, which is quite a feat, and exactly how I like my vampires. Anyway, it's playing at a theater on
( ... )
I can't really see the move to cast Matt Smith as a drive to do something different -- I feel fairly sure they are trying to get the same feel as with Tennant -- though a lot of that is up to Smith and how he ultimately handles the role. I guess we'll see.
I was unimpressed by "Ruby in the Smoke," though this had less to do with the performers involved than the flatness of the story; as I've not read the original books, I don't know if that's Pullman's fault or the adaptation. I was also annoyed that nobody had bothered to treat Billie Piper's hair so that she wouldn't obviously be wearing a 21st-century dye job in the 19th century --- and just the fact that I had time to worry about this tells you how uninvolved I was with it.
I have heard raves about "Let the Right One in." I am torn about whether or not to see it now -- for me, vampires are a professional thing right now -- but I know I will see it eventually.
I am being rather optimistic about that, I'll admit. :) This is the first time I've known a change in Doctor was coming (when I marathoned the first season? No idea CE had been planning to leave all along, which was an absolute kick in the gut), so I'm pretty nervous/excited.
I think it might be the books, honestly. I actually remember that being my reaction to reading them; I wanted to get excited, because it was theoretically an interesting world and such, but I came out the other side just sort of...blah.
That's an intriguing statement. Are you worried about crossing the streams in terms of world-building, or do you just not want to have it make you think about your work instead of just enjoying the movie, or what?
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Eleven: I have used "younger because filming schedule grueling" as a possible explanation for going younger (I've since noticed that most actors over fifty are probably in better shape than I will likely be at that age, which was my original correlation. Ahem.), but that someone would claim it was obligatory they had to go younger is astonishing to me. I mean, it's not like the audience was complaining about a 35 - 38 year old who pretty much looks his age (nor his predecessor who also looks his age)and running away from the program because of that.
Personally, I'm willing to wait and see, but I can't stop imagining Donna or Sarah Jane or the Brig making fun of him because he looks boyish. ;)
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They could've gone older. For Twelve, I very much hope they will, or else the New Who role sort of gets strongly defined as a lad, which I'd like to avoid. But like you say, the main thing is to wait and see, and if we get a few Companions or the Master freaking out about his youthful looks, it will be hilarious.
Reply
They could've gone older.
The more cynical part of me which just won't shut up ponders that lower pay for a younger, more inexperienced actor may also have played a role, aside from the obvious hope of drawing in a very specific audience of people in their teens and twenties. In that vein, I think your fear of the role becoming too defined as laddish is very legitimate. But dismissing him just out of pessimistic expectations seems rather limited, so wait and see it is.
(I very much hope we won't have this conversation again when it's time for Twelve.)
(Also, an older Master would be nice.)
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I wish we'd gotten more of Jacobi's Master. I mean, how awesome was that?
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Amitriptyline is technically an antidepressant, but apparently there's some sort of kinship between changing the chemical patterns of depression and changing the chemical patterns of chronic headache. Don't quote me on that - I am not 100% I understood his explanation -- but that's what I understood.
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It's good for anti-anxiety and insomnia, and apparently sometimes it causes weight loss. I may never quit this stuff.
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ILU
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PJW
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On a total tangent, I had no idea they'd adapted those Phillip Pullman books for the BBC! Was it any good?
I had to look up Aphrodite Kallipygos, but then I started laughing like a fiend. I <3 your brain. :)
On another total tangent, I saw the BEST VAMPIRE MOVIE EVER last night, and you HAVE to see it. It's this Swedish vampire romance/horror film, Let The Right One In, and it's seriously awesome, in the original sense of the word. It somehow manages to be creepy and disturbing and incredibly sweet and sympathetic all at the same time, which is quite a feat, and exactly how I like my vampires. Anyway, it's playing at a theater on ( ... )
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I was unimpressed by "Ruby in the Smoke," though this had less to do with the performers involved than the flatness of the story; as I've not read the original books, I don't know if that's Pullman's fault or the adaptation. I was also annoyed that nobody had bothered to treat Billie Piper's hair so that she wouldn't obviously be wearing a 21st-century dye job in the 19th century --- and just the fact that I had time to worry about this tells you how uninvolved I was with it.
I have heard raves about "Let the Right One in." I am torn about whether or not to see it now -- for me, vampires are a professional thing right now -- but I know I will see it eventually.
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I think it might be the books, honestly. I actually remember that being my reaction to reading them; I wanted to get excited, because it was theoretically an interesting world and such, but I came out the other side just sort of...blah.
That's an intriguing statement. Are you worried about crossing the streams in terms of world-building, or do you just not want to have it make you think about your work instead of just enjoying the movie, or what?
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