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[APZonerunner]

Some great hate articles from the Daily Mail. Capaldi is such a good choice even they can't slag it off unconditionally, hilariously, so they're prodding holes while admitting he's likely to be very good:

GREAT CHOICE, MISSED OPPORTUNITY: Jim Shelley on the creators of Doctor Who selecting Peter Capaldi to become the new Doctor

Peter Capaldi is the perfect choice to be the new Doctor: intelligent, funny, charming, and blessed with a hint of mischief. His cadaverous pallor also gives him an otherworldly quality that Matt Smith never had – like a Glaswegian Christopher Walken. As he showed in his legendary portrayal of Malcolm Tucker in The Thick Of It, he is also a fantastic actor, deceptively so. Everyone always instantly associates Malcolm with his hilariously obscene put-downs but by the series’ conclusion in 2012, the fact that Capaldi was also able to generate tremendous pathos for his spin-doctor/monster during his humiliating demise was no mean feat.

So all in all, I have no doubt Capaldi will be a terrific Doctor and a huge success. But I can’t help feeling disappointed he’s got the gig or see his selection as a missed opportunity. Capaldi is such a safe choice I can imagine him doing the Doctor, being the Doctor, already. In fact, he and the scriptwriters will have to come up with something seriously special to make me feel I actually need to see it.

At least Capaldi should put an end to the sentimental, romantic, guff that has marred Doctor Who for the last few years when David Tennant and Matt Smith have spent too long drooling over Billie Piper, Alex Kingston and Karen Gillan rather than fighting creatures from other galaxies. Hopefully with Capaldi, there'll be less chase scenes per episodes accompanied by that by now familar hollow motif. One images that at 55, Capaldi will be a more erudite, flamboyant, classic Doctor in the style of Jon Pertwee.

I’m relieved that the show’s guru Steven Moffat didn’t go for someone dishy or overtly aimed at a younger audience like the much-fancied Aneurin Barnard from The White Queen. That said, someone with the unpredictable energy of a Russell Tovey or Robert Sheehan might have been interesting. Someone who might have given The Doctor a slightly sinister side, like Christopher Eccleston did, would have been bolder – like Toby Jones (Alfred Hitchcock in The Girl) or Andrew Scott (Moriarty from Sherlock).

For years now, Moffat has teased us about Doctor Who having a female Doctor and even in Sunday night’s show while announcing Capaldi’s accession, said that he’d like to see a woman play the role. I never wanted to see any of the established stars that had been mooted, like Judi Dench or Helen Mirren, but from Luther’s Ruth Wilson to Maggie Smith, there are plenty of others who could have added something to the role that it’s never had before. For a start, they wouldn’t have had 11 (male) predecessors to be compared to, like Capaldi. You wonder whether Moffat really gave serious consideration to deciding it was time for the first black Doctor and selecting an actor like Paterson Joseph, Chiwetel Ejiofor or Homeland’s David Harewood, who would have been my own personal preference - if Eric Cantona or Vivienne Westwood were considered TOO radical.

We can only hope that the new era of Capaldi as The Doctor will be better than the truly excruciating show that announced its arrival. Presenter Zoe Ball demonstrated why we never see her on mainstream TV anymore, giving a display of such gushing inanity she made Claudia Winkleman look like Sylvia Plath, even introducing 'our very special guest - the TARDIS.' 'It's all very, very exciting isn't it?' she said every two minutes, as she filled out the time chatting 'stars' like Peter Davidson, Liza Tarbuck and Rufus Hound. ''I'm very, very excited about you being on the show,' she even told Daniel Roche, one of the kids from Outnumbered who, like Hound had only really started watching it when David Tennant started.

Considering it was there to hype the BBC's biggest programme, it really was a fiasco. For a start, Zoe Ball's connection to Doctor Who never did become clear. I think she was just excited to be on Saturday telly as peak time again. Ironically, amidst all this nonsense, the show included two contributors who would have made an even better Doctor than Capaldi: Professor Robert Winston and Stephen Hawking. Sadly, in this day and age, Doctor Who has such phenomenal worldwide sales, it will be a long time before we ever see such an exciting or radical choice as The Doctor.

In the meantime though, Peter Capaldi should be, as ever, great to watch.

Funny guys. Especially like how they forgot what day it was.

 

[zychi]

Obviously this isn't going anywhere, where can I watch this announcement now that the shit is spoiled?

 

[Amir0x]

You are happy to see Matt Smith off now, but I imagine that his last two episode will have you missing him.

Spoiler

I feel the same

Haha. I was fine with Matt Smith in the abstract, but this last season was dreadfully dull and I never truly thought he captured the features I most enjoy watching a Doctor for. But as you can see, one of the best things about the show is how wildly varied opinions can be. None of them can be wrong because each Doctor captures unique properties that others don't have.


Except that one Doctor. You know the one. If you like that one Doctor, then clearly you're not a true Doctor Who fan!

.....It is possible.

Haha. Seriously though I am totally curious to read something if you have any links.

Well, I call myself a fangirl, because I am: I squee and get super excited about the show (and others). I cry and rage and flail. It's wonderful. I enjoy being passionate about something decidedly not important.

But yeah, there are some fangirls out there that are awful. I hate that type >.<

I guess I'm a 'fanboy' of Doctor Who by that definition. Whenever a big announcement happens like today, I get my sisters and Mom and my brother-in-law on the line and we all squeal together as we find out "The Next Big Thing" in the Doctor Whoniverse. It's kind of a tradition, now.

As I said in another topic. It was about people watching Doctor Who "ironically":

I wouldn't say anyone watches Doctor Who "ironically", but I would say people do like Doctor Who partly for its enthusiastic and cheerful cheesiness, which is not necessarily a knock so much as it is that people appreciate things that are pretty innocent, that they can sit in front with their family with them and also enjoy it themselves (as the writing quality is wildly varied from episode to episode, there is straight up bad things and straight up good, and every thing in between) without some of the heavy cynicism that effects some of the other television shows that exist for modern audiences.

Many shows as a foundation have an inherently negative view of humanity, and are fairly bleak affairs. And if you don't want to go into a straight up comedy while still being able to watch with your whole family and still get something out of it yourself, the pickings are limited.

Doctor Who has a fairly high minded view of humanity in its idealized heights, really. Humanity survives to watch the sun explode, waxing nostalgia over what our Earth gave us. Humanity survives until the end of time, which the Doctor notes with amazement how amazing our race is. Doctor loves to hang around with humans out of any race in the galaxy, because of how resilient and unexpected we all are. The show doesn't necessarily shy from showing our potential dark side, but it does have a view that humanity is by and large good and worth saving and full of boundless potential, which is a view a lot of shows frankly don't have these days.

This lack of cynicism is refreshing in a sea of hard faced dramas or over-the-top comedies with no emotional core, and the fact that many episodes are genuinely good and entertaining and that when you watch them you mostly leave feeling happy with no preconditions on that feeling... it's got its niche, and its audience... and I think it deserves it.

I also think the show has plenty of bad episodes too, of which the first one or two would fit in that category as the show had some early growing pains upon its return, but I don't think that detracts from the ability to be a Who Fan, considering how many episodes there have been of the show in fifty years.

People who really love Doctor Who, who are enthusiastic as they are, are there for a reason. There's a quality to the show that is not very well emulated elsewhere, and I understand the passion entirely.

 

[LordGouda]

As long as the role was known then yea. Were you not expecting Dr. Who to be a character in the tv show called...Dr. Who?

You reminded me of the REAL forgotten Doctor:

Spoiler

Peter Cushing's Dr. Who!

 

[CorrisD]

Did you watch this season of GOT? f someone posted the character name of a torturer(trying to be extremely vague here) the whole season of the show would have been ruined for many non-book readers.

IIRC HBO never named him officially and was only listed as "Boy" when it was revealed that he was going to be in the show, so no, it would have been a different situation entirely. Any mention of who the character actually was came from book readers themselves as suggestions and never an official source as news.

Unreasonable to ask that the OP/thread title changer didn't include the name in the title? Rather the actual post?

When half of the appeal of the regeneration is the new look and feel of a new Doctor, I don't understand why you would want to know who is next?

Well the thread title would have either been requested to be changed to this or a mod did it of their own volition, evidently it wasn't seen as something of concern as no one else has complained about it but you that I have noticed.

I would say practically everyone who watches Doctor Who will always know who the new actor is, that isn't anything new by DW standards, knowing who it was going to be beforehand hand for the last 50 years seemingly hasn't mattered that much to most people in regards to the personas look and feel.

 

[slightconfuse]

Im hopping he has a more stricter attitude. less goof

 

[APZonerunner]

Obviously this isn't going anywhere, where can I watch this announcement now that the shit is spoiled?

Start a thread. Start a debate. Get the rules changed. There's no point in wringing hands over it in here, though. I'm all for debating if we should change how we approach thread titles like this one. So start that debate.

That is so crazy. When I first started watching Who, I thought it was this fairly popular cult show in the UK. I had no idea it was a bonafide institution.

Also, why do the Mail & Sun hate the BBC?

Yeah, absolutely an institution. I mean, right, I was born in 89, the year it went off air, and I never caught a single repeat, but growing up I absolutely knew what a Dalek, a Time Lord, the TARDIS was. My first main memory of -seeing- a Dalek was a 90's ad campaign for Kit Kats, where they used their slogan "Have a Break/Have a Kit-Kat" with the Daleks, having them parading through the streets screeching "PEACE AND LOVE". Stuck in my mind, completely. Absolutely. Even without the show on air, I know when my 10 or 11 year old self saw those old Daleks in that ad I knew they were special.

I think something that's lost to a lot of the US viewers is that in the UK Who is basically the only non-reality/variety show that is 'event' viewing for a family. It's a family show first, and a sci-fi show second. It exists to please children before anybody else, and then hopes to sweep adults up in it. What's interesting is that BBC Worldwide has chosen to market Doctor Who in the US and other territories as a sci-fi show, like a Star Trek or what have you, but in the UK it really isn't marketed like that. In the US, Sonic Screwdrivers are sold in book stores and 'nerd interest' stores. In the UK, they're sold in Toys R Us. That's the key difference, really, and a big part of why it's an institution; because it's family viewing. It's an event, something you all sit around and watch together. I think that really helps to give it a status in the public mind. It's a solid sci-fi show as well, though, and that's lovely for nerds like me.

When it came back I knew I had to watch, like it was in my blood.

The Mail is right wing, and the BBC is centrist (unbias, but realistically they employ a lot of left-leaning folk) so they just hate them. The Sun is owned by Murdoch and his empire (FOX, etc) who have the most to gain if the BBC is gutted and privatized, as the current government would like to do, as then the TV structure here would be like the US, which'd suit them more and make them more money. So they stick the boot in at every available opportunity.

 

[User 100115]

Haha. Seriously though I am totally curious to read something if you have any links.

I am not confident enough to share my fanvids on this forum, much less any of my fanfic

I guess I'm a 'fanboy' of Doctor Who by that definition. Whenever a big announcement happens like today, I get my sisters and Mom and my brother-in-law on the line and we all squeal together as we find out "The Next Big Thing" in the Doctor Whoniverse. It's kind of a tradition, now.

As I said in another topic. It was about people watching Doctor Who "ironically":


People who really love Doctor Who, who are enthusiastic as they are, are there for a reason. There's a quality to the show that is not very well emulated elsewhere, and I understand the passion entirely.

That's what is so gloriously freeing about being fannish in general: People may mock it, but it's so damned refreshing to be insane about something that doesn't actually matter. We can get all hyped up about elections and passionate about other stuff too, but it's draining, especially when stuff doesn't go your way.

 

[mattiewheels]

Anyone know about this "Valeyard" stuff? I read that it's old Who lore about an antichrist type that was supposed to regenerate around now...

 

[CorrisD]

If anyone wants to see some Capaldi magic after this news and wants something a bit more meatier than YouTube clips, Netflix UK has the first 3 series including the specials of "The Thick of it" with him in.

I haven't seen it myself besides what people have posted here, think I'll give it a viewing before he arrives as the Doctor.

Anyone know about this "Valeyard" stuff? I read that it's old Who lore about an antichrist type that was supposed to regenerate around now...

Essentially a sort of evil version of the Doctor that is formed between his 12th and 13th regenerations, we don't really know how but it has to do with the darker side of The Doctor not wanton to run out of regenerations and die. His basis in the older episodes was that if he managed to convict the 6th Doctor who was on trial he would get his remaining regenerations and so live longer and this evil entity.

Whether we will actually see him again officially we don't know, but in the last episode The Great Intelligence said quite blatantly that it is a name The Doctor would be known by in the future, hinting quite obviously at that part of the lore was still to come.

We don't know yet if Hurt playing a version of The Doctor at some point messes with his number yet either, so what is labeled as the 12th Doctor with Capaldi could technically be 13.

 

[APZonerunner]

Anyone know about this "Valeyard" stuff? I read that it's old Who lore about an antichrist type that was supposed to regenerate around now...

It's old Who lore. It's an evil incarnation of the Doctor that fits 'between' the 12th and 13th incarnations. He crosses his own timeline to steal additional regenerations from himself. He fails. Matt is technically 11, but if the John Hurt Doctor from Series 7 finale/the 50th slots somewhere into the past as a 'missing' regeneration, that makes Matt 12, which means that he'd pop up between Smith and Capaldi. That's the fan theory, and that's why since Name of the Doctor it's been mentioned a lot more - as in addition to being mentioned IN that episode, the Hurt Doctor carries implications for what regeneration number he's actually on. Read it up on the TARDIS wikia if you want, but Moffat said at Comic Con he just put it in as a fan nod and isn't planning to use it. It's a sort of rubbish old plot thread anyway. It's one of those things people like to focus on, like the regeneration limit. Like the regeneration limit, it will probably be hand-waved away in one line of dialogue when the time comes. Or ignored entirely! Crap bits of lore like this are exactly why RTD had the Time War; to wash it all away.

 

[Amir0x]

Anyone know about this "Valeyard" stuff? I read that it's old Who lore about an antichrist type that was supposed to regenerate around now...

I guess it was supposed to be some version of The Doctor whose personality is such that he's actually out-of-control bad, like maybe some chaotic evil version of The Doctor. So he's not even allowed to use The Doctor name.

But it's all interpretation I think... I dunno. Old school lore that won't really be used again.

I am not confident enough to share my fanvids on this forum, much less any of my fanfic

Haha, alright. Well if you ever feel confident enough to let me read something, shoot me a PM. I am curious I admit

That's what is so gloriously freeing about being fannish in general: People may mock it, but it's so damned refreshing to be insane about something that doesn't actually matter. We can get all hyped up about elections and passionate about other stuff too, but it's draining, especially when stuff doesn't go your way.

The thing about being a fanboy/girl is that it's only negative if you let it be. Fanboys/girls only become negative when they use their fanboy-ness to attack things that they aren't fanboys of, like the way videogame fanboys can be

Somehow I don't think being a Doctor Who fanboy/girl fits this negative criteria. So we're good!

 

[RetroMG]

Or ignored entirely! Crap bits of lore like this are exactly why RTD had the Time War; to wash it all away.

Moffatt also said at one point that a big reason for the cracks in time was so that they could ignore any part of continuity that they wanted to. We want people to forget that Daleks moved the earth in 2008? Well that's great! A Time Crack ate them!

 

[Slime]

Anyone know about this "Valeyard" stuff? I read that it's old Who lore about an antichrist type that was supposed to regenerate around now...

Apparently between his Twelfth and Thirteenth (final) regeneration, some entity spawned from the Doctor's dark side, or something, comes out.

Moffat doesn't like the idea of the Thirteenth regeneration being the final (for obvious reasons), so I thought he'd never touch on it, but then he had the Great Intelligence namedrop him in the finale.

Spoiler

Random (likely wrong) theories:

I have a suspicion that Moffat is telling that story through John Hurt. Don't know how he'll explain the numbering, though. Maybe when the Eighth became this guy, he got so fucked up during the Time War that he went through way more regenerations than we've even seen? Perhaps the Ninth Doctor was just the ninth "proper" Doctor, after the Time War finally ended and he regained his sense of identity.

So it would go:
Eighth Doctor
Time War Regeneration #1 (Ninth)
Time War Regeneration #2 (Tenth)
Time War Regeneration #3 (Eleventh)
Time War Regeneration #4 (Twelfth)
Time War Regeneration #5 (The Valeyard/Hurt Doctor)
Ninth Doctor (Thirteenth and previously final, but given the destruction of the Time Lords, the restriction has been lifted)

EDIT:

Read it up on the TARDIS wikia if you want, but Moffat said at Comic Con he just put it in as a fan nod and isn't planning to use it.

Never knew about that. Probably for the best!

 

[Blader]

It kinda seems like Hurt's Doctor is the Valeyard: an "evil" Doctor that appears between regenerations. And the Time War - being a universal event with implications for all of time and space - alters history enough the Valeyard appears earlier than originally, between 8 and 9 rather than 12 and 13. This shift causes the different appearance, different motivations, etc.

Or maybe the Valeyard is the Dream Lord.

Or no one at all.

 

[gabbo]

Apparently between his Twelfth and Thirteenth (final) regeneration, some entity spawned from the Doctor's dark side, or something, comes out.

Moffat doesn't like the idea of the Thirteenth regeneration being the final (for obvious reasons), so I thought he'd never touch on it, but then he had the Great Intelligence namedrop him in the finale.

Spoiler

Random (likely wrong) theories:

I have a suspicion that Moffat is telling that story through John Hurt. Don't know how he'll explain the numbering, though. Maybe when the Eighth became this guy, he got so fucked up during the Time War that he went through way more regenerations than we've even seen? Perhaps the Ninth Doctor was just the ninth "proper" Doctor, after the Time War finally ended and he regained his sense of identity.

So it would go:
Eighth Doctor
Time War Regeneration #1 (Ninth)
Time War Regeneration #2 (Tenth)
Time War Regeneration #3 (Eleventh)
Time War Regeneration #4 (Twelfth)
Time War Regeneration #5 (The Valeyard/Hurt Doctor)
Ninth Doctor (Thirteenth and previously final, but given the destruction of the Time Lords, the restriction has been lifted)

EDIT:


Never knew about that. Probably for the best!

I'll be honest don't like those theories that

Spoiler

there were several regenerations between 8 and 9

, personally. I feel those theories somehow take away and cheapen the 3 Doctors we've had since the reboot.

 

[wenis]

oh neat! I know who this guy is.

 

[mattiewheels]

Daily Mail keepin' it real, as usual.

 

[Tim the Wiz]

He could save the accent for when he's angry or if the Doc ever gets drunk.

 

[Trike]

Apparently between his Twelfth and Thirteenth (final) regeneration, some entity spawned from the Doctor's dark side, or something, comes out.

Moffat doesn't like the idea of the Thirteenth regeneration being the final (for obvious reasons), so I thought he'd never touch on it, but then he had the Great Intelligence namedrop him in the finale.

Spoiler

Random (likely wrong) theories:

I have a suspicion that Moffat is telling that story through John Hurt. Don't know how he'll explain the numbering, though. Maybe when the Eighth became this guy, he got so fucked up during the Time War that he went through way more regenerations than we've even seen? Perhaps the Ninth Doctor was just the ninth "proper" Doctor, after the Time War finally ended and he regained his sense of identity.

So it would go:
Eighth Doctor
Time War Regeneration #1 (Ninth)
Time War Regeneration #2 (Tenth)
Time War Regeneration #3 (Eleventh)
Time War Regeneration #4 (Twelfth)
Time War Regeneration #5 (The Valeyard/Hurt Doctor)
Ninth Doctor (Thirteenth and previously final, but given the destruction of the Time Lords, the restriction has been lifted)

EDIT:


Never knew about that. Probably for the best!

The thirteen regenerations limit is a limit imposed by the time lords, but I believe it is a biological thing. Meaning that with the time lords gone the Doctor has no way of gaining more regenerations. Actually, in the audio drama Zagreus

Spoiler

Rassilon's notes on his experiments that would lead to Time Lords mention that the regeneration limit was imposed because after the thirteenth regeneration the molecules or something would become unstable.

Of course, whether or not that is really canon is up to debate.

I actually think that the 50th anniversery will mark the return of Gallifrey and the Time Lords. My reasoning is that since it will probably be about the Time War, and that the rumored real villian is

Spoiler

Omega

, we will get them back somehow. It would give them an opportunity to give the Doctor more regenerations.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I know nothing about Peter Capaldi.

But after Eccleston, Tennant, and Smith, I expect good things.

I'm hoping for a darker Doctor this time.

 

[mattiewheels]

I know nothing about Peter Capaldi.

But after Eccleston, Tennant, and Smith, I expect good things.

I'm hoping for a darker Doctor this time.

Watch "The Thick Of It", and become a fan. With that username, I know you'd love it.

 

[mattiewheels]

And: Am I crazy, or does Capaldi seem like an old version of Rory Williams?

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Nah, that's a decent call.

To me, he's like if you blended Tennant and Pertwee together.

 

[mattiewheels]

Nah, that's a decent call.

To me, he's like if you blended Tennant and Pertwee together.

Throw in Hartnell, and you got yourself a deal.

 

[JDSN]

Make Paul Higgins a companion.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

Make Paul Higgins a companion.

The lack of swearing will then be bothersome.

 

[Aaron]

While I love the choice, it's also a little disappointing. Because I'll keep wanting him to say, "I'm going to shove this sonic screwdriver straight up your arse." but he never will.

 

[Chinner]

i was hoping for chris moyles as the next dr who. am disappointed ;/

 

[SpudBud]

Great choice, It's nice to see another older Doctor after Tennant and Smith. I expect great things.

 

[dan2026]

This really does seen like a choice that nobody can hate.

Well at least not yet.

 

[NekoFever]

Some great hate articles from the Daily Mail. Capaldi is such a good choice even they can't slag it off unconditionally, hilariously, so they're prodding holes while admitting he's likely to be very good:



Funny guys. Especially like how they forgot what day it was.

Say what you like about the Mail, but Eric Cantona as the Doctor would have been AMAZING.

 

[jambo]

The lack of swearing will then be bothersome.

PM uses Torchwood technology to try and help, but screws up in the process

Doctor: "If some cunt can fuck something up, that cunt will pick the worst possible time to fucking fuck it up cause that cunt's a cunt."

 

[Exterminieren]

Did you watch this season of GOT? f someone posted the character name of a torturer(trying to be extremely vague here) the whole season of the show would have been ruined for many non-book readers.

That character's identity was a mystery.

The Doctor is not. Your analogy is closer to trying to hide that Peter Dinklage was Tyrion. What's the possible gain from that?

 

[Lee Chaolan]

I've never watched Doctor Who. Where's the best place to start? The old version of the show (I guess these are available on DVD?), or when it was revived in 2005? (On Netflix I believe)

 

[Exterminieren]

I've never watched Doctor Who. Where's the best place to start? The old version of the show (I guess these are available on DVD?), or when it was revived in 2005? (On Netflix I believe)

2005 is far simpler, not least because it all actually exists, unlike classic Doctor Who.

If you really want to get up to speed quickly, the episode from series 5 The Eleventh Hour is an excellent place to start.

 

[Petrichor]

I've never watched Doctor Who. Where's the best place to start? The old version of the show (I guess these are available on DVD?), or when it was revived in 2005? (On Netflix I believe)

The Eleventh Hour (series 5x01) followed by 5x02, 5x03 - then backtrack to blink (3x10) and silence in the library / forest of the dead (4x08 / 4x09) before watching the rest of series 5, 6 and 7.

 

[Lee Chaolan]

2005 is far simpler, not least because it all actually exists, unlike classic Doctor Who.

If you really want to get up to speed quickly, the episode from series 5 The Eleventh Hour is an excellent place to start.

The Eleventh Hour (series 5x01) followed by 5x02, 5x03 - then backtrack to blink (3x10) and silence in the library / forest of the dead (4x08 / 4x09) before watching the rest of series 5, 6 and 7.

Thanks! This is on Netflix, so I'll take your recommendations and report back soonish.

 

[Nihilistic Monk]

Not a bad choice. You can see where they can take him. I still hold out hope that the rumour of Paterson Joseph ages ago will one day come to fruition however. I think he'd make for an amazing Dr.

 

[hamchan]

I've never watched Doctor Who. Where's the best place to start? The old version of the show (I guess these are available on DVD?), or when it was revived in 2005? (On Netflix I believe)

Depends how fast you can wath.

2005 is preferable IMO. Eccleston and Tennant runs have great character development and great emotional payoffs.

If you do just want to catch than series 5 is good to start too. The show basically wiped the slate clean that season.

The upcoming anniversary ep will be much more satisfying having watched Tennant's run though.

 

[Box of Bunnies]

Dude. No.

It's Doctor Who.

And his name is the Doctor. Not 'Doctor Who'

If it's good enough for Bill, it's good enough for me.

 

[NinjaCarrot]

And: Am I crazy, or does Capaldi seem like an old version of Rory Williams?

Now you said it....can't unsee!

 

[SKINNER!]

Aww wot? Richard Blackwood isn't the new Doctor. Sigh...

 

[mclem]

I don't know if 'famous' is the right word, but I'd say he's arguably the most well-know actor to ever be given the role. The Thick of It, and Capaldi's role as Malcolm Tucker, were pretty huge cultural things over here.

I'd say Eccleston edges it - Cracker and Our Friends in the North, both gargantuan - but they're certainly on a par with one another.

For a good performance in a great borderline-fantasy series, try to track down the BBC Scotland adaptation of Iain Banks's The Crow Road. He's got a good - if small - part in that. For a good performance in an average very definitely fantasy series, try to track down the BBC TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

 

[Moff]

when they showed tennant and smith for the first time I did not like them at all, but it didnt take long for me to be amazed by them.
the new guy, I like him from the beginning, what might that mean?

I am very glad they didnt pick a young one again, though. very much looking forward to this. and I even like moffat episodes, lucky me.

 

[WrenchNinja]

Originally I was talking about people who wanted the Doctor to be a female/non-white just to shake things up, as if that is the only way. I would rather that happen because of the actor's own merits. Maybe I came off as too harsh, I didn't intend that phrase to sound like that. I am just getting a bit tired of people not liking Capaldi because he is too old/ugly/white/male and not even giving him a chance. It seems like a lot of people wanted to have a female/non-white Doctor because it was something new, rather than because they think someone can play the Doctor.

To clarify, I am not against a female and/or non-white Doctor.

For the record, I do like this guy, especially after watching more stuff with him. All I originally said was it would have been nice, I apologize if I came off too hostile. I was just getting annoyed by some of the mockery and dismissiveness.

 

[Team Filler]

Obviously this isn't going anywhere, where can I watch this announcement now that the shit is spoiled?

By the way, it turns out that Peter Capaldi will be the 12th incarnation of The Doctor. Neat!

 

[8bit]

Inevitable Malcolm Tucker / Doctor Who video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Blf073f2Lc Slightly sweary, so don't open this at the office.

 

[NekoFever]

Was David Tennant really that obscure before Doctor Who? Admittedly I like Shakespeare so I'd seen him in RSC stuff, but he was in Casanova, and he was in Harry Potter in the same year as his debut as the Doctor. Maybe it's hindsight talking, but I don't remember a big "Who?" (no pun intended) for Tennant like there was with Matt Smith when he was announced.

But yeah, Christopher Eccleston was well known before becoming the Doctor. Not a huge name, perhaps, but a recognisable face who'd been in some big TV dramas and quite a few movies, with a couple of BAFTA nominations.

 

[mclem]

To give you an idea of how inescapable her show was, The fucking Prime Minister was on her show and spouted the "Bovvered" catchphrase.

Not quite; that was a skit for Comic Relief. In that context, it makes a bit more sense; big names will turn up for that who wouldn't usually for a sketch show (We'll just take a brief moment to ignore Johnny-Depp-in-The-Fast-Show!)