Doctor Who TV Show • Page 32

Tennant is a great actor, he does phenomenal work in Broadchurch and Jessica Jones just to name a few, but I don't love his work in DW a lot of the time. the characterisation of 10 is... weird, imo, it's like they drew up a baseline of "he's arrogant, self-obsessed and reckless" and then like forgot to develop it for most of his run. I don't mind a less likable Doctor if it's written with nuance, late 11 and early 12 are great examples, but 10 is kind of unwatchable sometimes because they don't seem interested in really getting below the surface of it, at least not before stuff like Midnight/The Waters of Mars which is way too late. and Tennant while still good kind of sits in the same range a lot of the time because there's not much development happening, so he's not really using his considerable range over a nearly 4-year run (seriously, how many times can I watch the dude say "I'm so sorry" before I start to tune out)

all that said there was an undeniable charge to seeing him rock up again (although the clothes regenerating bothers me beyond belief lmao) and I have faith that RTD knows what he's doing here

 

I think 10 has some really good stories and Tennant probably could have done a good job with even better writing, but the god complex around him vibes me out. Just constantly having characters talk about how smart / handsome / special / better he is feels really gross often.

EDIT: this is why Waters of Mars is so good

 

what a great piece of history

 

I have no massively strong feeling on Tennant. He was a big shift after Christopher Ecclestone being quite a tough, gloomy Doctor, so I can see why people gravitate more to the Tennant reign as much as they do. In fact, I don't know how many people even remember it was Ecclestone who rebooted the character.

On top of that, the Rose storyline and the character Cribbins played were big emotional hits. Personally though, I found his run started to become really one note and repetitive. I have to admit that I've not been back and watched his tenure since it aired, but my memory from the time is of him overacting and really chewing the scenery in his later episodes.

I also absolutely hated Katherine Tate. I hear they're bringing her back for this specials too, which may make it unwatchable for me.

 

I think Tennant has grown as an actor since his original stint on the show, Day of the Doctor he was great and not hamming it up the way he used to (though that could just be getting better material from Moffat)

I don't expect his return to be pure nostalgia bait, that would be extremely tedious, in my head I see Tennant and Tate playing characters in the mould of Billie Piper's role in Day of the Doctor. Even if you assume it's being done solely for cynical reasons to try and Make Doctor Who Great Again, I think RTD has the talent - and the pull - to do something unexpected with it.

EDIT: P.S. finally got caught up on Who because I had been put off by all the Discourse after Timeless Child.

Enjoyed Flux - warts and all, Village of the Angels onward is up there with my favourites of Jodie's era.

Eve of the Daleks feels like a Chibnall version of Blink, thought it was a welcome change of pace even if I'm sure the plot is nonsense. The fireworks in the ending is the kind of cheesy stuff I've missed.

Legend of the Sea Devils is... well now that I know it was written and filmed after Power it makes a lot more sense because it reminds me of Twice Upon A Time, in a bad way. Feels cheap and like the creative team were running on fumes.

But Power of the Doctor... wow, what an episode. Loved it, the little moments that make Who great, a wonderful tribute to the show as a whole and a lovely finale for Jodie IMO.

 

Legend is honestly down there with the all-time worst imo. atrocious on almost every level. Power and Eve were great too so it sticks out even more

 

Finally watched The Power of the Doctor the other day and really kind of loved it. Seeing all those cameos was nice but it just made me all that more bummed out that Christopher Eccleston is so adamant about never returning...on screen, anyway ha

 

given the shit he had to deal with filming s1 I can't say I blame him. I'd love Eccleston to return, he's one of my favourite actors but he's definitely within his right not to lol

 

Finally watched Power of the Doctor! I thought it was excellent, really. I haven't seen any Classic Who but those cameos must've been such a treat for people who have.

Hot take: Jodie is my favorite Doctor, Chibnall is my least favorite showrunner, hah

I have all of New Who on DVD! It's kind of funny, though: Eccleston+Tennant, Smith, and Capaldi each have their own box sets, whereas with Jodie I bought each release as it came out so I have every season and special in its own little thing

 

Jodie definitely *could have been* my favorite doctor if not for Chibnall, so i totally get it.

 

I'm still annoyed that they stopped including Christmas specials in the season box sets for some reason, buying each special separately is such a waste of space

 

your FACE is a waste of--wait no that's actually mean nvm

 

I've been called way worse by Doctor Who fans in my time lmao

but also, I don't even mean I dislike the specials (apart from Legend of the Sea Devils which was... woof) but I hate having to buy 3-4 DVDs when I used to be able to buy one lmao. like Matt Smith's second season box set had three Christmas specials, the whole season and a whole bunch of extra shit from memory, I miss when they were packaged that way

 

Well this Doctors run just ended, maybe the box set is coming soon, but it couldn’t have come before October and still been complete

 

pretty underwhelming (new Doctor's outfit)

 

I kind of like the simplicity of it.

 

there's nothing whimsical about it. that's just a wealthy dude going to a coffee shop

 

I don't mind it, I don't need every Doctor to be whimsical and decked out in bright colours constantly. actually it'd kinda rule if 15 was more like 9, kinda blunt and straightforward

 

they seem to have great chemistry based on this little video. I dig the rings and tattoos on Gatwa too

 

I like it a lot.

 

Interesting.

Ncuti wears the fuck out of that fit. Can’t wait to see it in action.

 

slightly drunk and watching Capaldi's Christmas specials. man he had a good run, Doctor Mysterio sucks but the others are all fantastic

 

Mysterio is probably my least favorite Capaldi episode period. Favorite Doctor.

 

it's definitely a dead heat between that, and In the Forest of the Night. almost want to throw in Lie of the Land too, but that's less outright bad and more just a super disappointing end to the Monk trilogy. the Missy scene redeems it a fair amount though