Friday 9 August 2013

New Who, Same as the Old Who

We have a name: Peter Capaldi. (Hey, a white guy! What a surprise!) It's already causing extreme reaction in some, but as others have pointed out, he's the same as as when Hartnell took the role, and Hartnell was 'the guv' of Doctor Whos. Does this mean a young male to do action? Well, he is a lot fitter than Hartnell, so maybe not...

We've seen Capaldi has a great range. Dramatic earnestness in Children of Earth. Rather more basic affair in Fires of Pompeii... and that's all of his stuff I've seen. No Malcolm Tucker for me. ("Ooo, he's a swearing Scotsman, there's the Doctor for you!" - I don't care.)

But can he do the light hearted comedy that will earn him the role?

When Tennant was brought in, he had that Children in Need special, a nice light romp to get people used to this new actor. (Although after seeing him in Cassanova, I saw he had the charisma and charm, so 'sold!'.) When Smith came in, he had a bit more dialogue than Tennant's only last line, so we got to feel that this Doctor was one that we could get a feel for.

So then, how will Capaldi be introduced? What witty bot mot will he utter? We got a glimpse in the 'Live Unveiling'... which was utterly pants, wasn't it? Drew it out pointlessly, just like when Smith was announced. And then Capaldi came out and gave rather stock answers to stock questions.

...oh, it's a long way to Christmas, roll on the movie!

[END]

2 comments:

evildicemonkey said...

For a while there I was getting worried, a few days with no post on the new Doctor, what could have happened to you?

Having watched the live program myself, the only thing I really remember about it now is how overwhelmed Peter looked when he stepped out on stage, he looked totally unprepared for the reaction of the crowd.

Jamas Enright said...

I was contemplating waiting until Monday, which is my usual Who day.

I watched live... tweets come in. I tried to watch the stream, but it wasn't happening. (They didn't say 'you aren't in the right country', but the sentiment was there.)