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[Bluth54]

Scumbag Moffat. Says previous Doctors are too old to be in the 50th anniversary special. Replaces them with an actor in his mid 70s.

Honestly they all look too old to play the Doctor besides Mcgann since we don't know when he regenerates.

Probably the best thing to do would be to do what they did with Brent Spiner on Enterprise and bring back the actors but have them play another character. Seeing Johnathan Frankes and Marina Sirtis try to play themselves 10-15 years younger for the Enterprise finale was just sad.

 

[DarkFlow]

Avatars. Come get 'em.

Thanks!

 

[Exterminieren]

Probably unpopular opinion: John Hurt is a better actor than any of the Classic Doctors...

He's a better actor than any of the Doctors full stop. He's probably the best actor to have appeared on the show.

 

[V_Arnold]

He's a better actor than any of the Doctors full stop. He's probably the best actor to have appeared on the show.

Both Tennant and Smith has extraordinary talent in acting, imho. I do not consider Hurt better than them. Besides, give them both a decade and let us come back to this question

 

[acheron_xl]

He's a better actor than any of the Doctors full stop. He's probably the best actor to have appeared on the show.

Better than Jacoby?

And I'd give Matt a few decades before writing him off. He seems to clearly be top tier as far as skills are concerned.

 

[Exterminieren]

I'm not arguing that Smith and Tennant aren't great actors. They are. It's just that Hurt is amongst the best professional actors in the world.

 

[Hot Coldman]

If you think Exterminierien is wrong here, that's cool and all, but he isn't.

 

[twobear]

He's a better actor than any of the Doctors full stop. He's probably the best actor to have appeared on the show.

I dunno, we've had Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon too. FWIW I would have killed for more of Jacobi as the Master.

 

[V_Arnold]

If you think Exterminierien is wrong here, that's cool and all, but he isn't.

Again: it is a weird comparison in the first place. Hurt has decades of work behind him, the whole apples and oranges here certainly are in effect now. They (Matt/Tennant) cant play the same roles as he does, and vica versa. Incomparable. We could travel in time and see how middle-aged Matt Smith will do in 20 years, but we do not have that luxury.

So until that....yes, Hurt is more experienced, more well known, more whatever. But comparing talents and potentials is moot at this point.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

I think we can probably all agree he beats Colin Baker... not that the other Doctors are bad actors by any stretch of the imagination, but John Hurt is John Hurt.

 

[APZonerunner]

I think we can probably all agree he beats Colin Baker... not that the other Doctors are bad actors by any stretch of the imagination, but John Hurt is John Hurt.

In terms of range ironically Colin is probably one of the more talented actors to take on the role up there with Troughton and Eccleston, whatever you might think of the material he was given.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Again: it is a weird comparison in the first place. Hurt has decades of work behind him, the whole apples and oranges here certainly are in effect now. They (Matt/Tennant) cant play the same roles as he does, and vica versa. Incomparable. We could travel in time and see how middle-aged Matt Smith will do in 20 years, but we do not have that luxury.

So until that....yes, Hurt is more experienced, more well known, more whatever. But comparing talents and potentials is moot at this point.

I was more comparing him to the others, because yes, Matt's career is only really just beginning. I wasn't even thinking that much of Hurt's later-day work. His best material he did before he was Tennant's age (Elephant Man, Naked Civil Servant), for example.

But yes, you're probably right about the apples/oranges point. I wish Tennant was able to spread his wings a bit more, really. I'm not totally convinced that the classic Doctors would fare (or have fared) much better outside of their most iconic role, but Tennant I believe has a defining performance left in him somewhere.

Ecclestone, I feel like we've seen all of him. And I don't feel bad rating Hurt over him, despite the age gap.

 

[King of the Potato People]

Three stages of the Doctor, from left to right young, middle-age and old. I like that thematically.

 

[Exterminieren]

Just a point of order, though- being a good Doctor doesn't have all that much to do with being a great actor. As an actor, Tom Baker is pretty wank- I'd probably say he's the worst actor to have taken on the role. Doesn't stop him from being an iconic and beloved Doctor.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Three stages of the Doctor, from left to right young, middle-age and old. I like that thematically.

I also like how their sense of dress gets more radical the older they get. :lol

 

[acheron_xl]

Just a point of order, though- being a good actor doesn't have all that much to do with being a great actor. As an actor, Tom Baker is pretty wank- I'd probably say he's the worst actor to have taken on the role. Doesn't stop him from being an iconic and beloved Doctor.

Because he's a total nutball who barely had to act to come across as alien. That's something I think he has in common with Smith and McCoy. It's also the characteristic I'm most curious about when it comes to Capaldi, since he seems somewhat normal, and will have to do some acting to be 'Doctor-y'.

 

[8bit]

Just a point of order, though- being a good actor doesn't have all that much to do with being a great actor. As an actor, Tom Baker is pretty wank- I'd probably say he's the worst actor to have taken on the role. Doesn't stop him from being an iconic and beloved Doctor.

Not really relevant but I saw this pic earlier today, was this an alternative costume or just some tomfoolery?

 

[infiniteloop]

Not really relevant but I saw this pic earlier today, was this an alternative costume or just some tomfoolery?

You should watch Robot. The first episode at least.

 

[8bit]

You should watch Robot. The first episode at least.

Ooh, of course. It's been years since I've seen that. Didn't recognise it.

 

[isny]

Not really relevant but I saw this pic earlier today, was this an alternative costume or just some tomfoolery?

Did you really just make this joke?

 

[8bit]

That's a very interesting by-line.

http://www.sfx.co.uk/2013/10/16/sfx-241-on-sale-now/

 

[Hot Coldman]

Oh please, Moffat. Chapter 2 started in 2005.

He talks a good hype game, though.

 

[Quick]

Three stages of the Doctor, from left to right young, middle-age and old. I like that thematically.

I also like how their sense of dress gets more radical the older they get. :lol

Check out that Hurt Hawk.

Tennant's hair looks to be between series 2 and 3. Doesn't seem to be held up by so much product.

Smith's hair is still cool.

 

[Slowdive]

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/moffat-50th-will-change-the-course-of-the-series-53951.htm

Steven Moffat has made another bold statement promising that the The Day of the Doctor will change the show as we know it.

In an interview with SFX (#241, out today), Moffat says: “We’ve got to set the Doctor off in a brand new direction. It’s chapter two of his life. Now something happens to him that changes the way he thinks and the way he will adventure from now on. You can celebrate an anniversary in many ways – I think the most productive one within the narrative is to say “This is where the story really starts. This is where he finds his mission, he finds his destiny.”

He adds: “We’re not fibbing – this one is going to change the course of the series. And it’s very rare in Doctor Who that the story happens to the Doctor. It happens to people around him, and he helps out – he’s the hero figure who rides in and saves everybody from the story of the week. He is not the story of the week. In this, he is the story of the week. This is the day of the Doctor. This is his most important day. His most important moment. This is the one he’ll remember, whereas I often think the Doctor wanders back to his TARDIS and forgets all about it.”

Moffat also spoke about the dynamic between the Doctors: “I wrote it as the friction version. When you’re talking to yourself there are no limitations, there’s no holding back. You wouldn’t be kind or courteous. At the same time, because they are two loveable, madcap, caffeinated Doctors, they’re also quite fanboyish about each other. They think it’s quite cool. They’re not broody, upset Doctors – it’s more “There’s two of us! Brilliant!” But that’s mostly in the playing, because they were having such a good time together that they brought that out. They get giggly with each other. It is, by lovely accident, a tremendous double-act. They’re naturally funny together. Enough alike and enough dissimilar. Matt said it was like Laurel and Laurel, as if Hardy didn’t show up – except he does in the form of John Hurt!”

Adding: “The weird thing is there’s never that much contrast between Doctors. The truth is it’s not wildly different how they’re written. I’ve written quite a lot for both of them, and you just have the voice in your head, very clearly. Where they are similar is funny, because they’re practically in unison, and where they are different is David is a cheeky, sexy, genuinely cool Doctor, up against a Doctor who thinks he’s sexy and cool but is woefully wrong on that subject! And that’s just naturally funny.”

Sounds really interesting. Sounds like he really means it as well, unlike a "This finale will change the show forever!" line. Okay, I guess the Hurt Doctor is a game changer but I feel like he's said this every series.

 

[ChaoticJack]

Three stages of the Doctor, from left to right young, middle-age and old. I like that thematically.

And right to left.

 

[Blader]

First Karen, now Moffat...wonder how Smith feels about his colleagues constantly shitting on his looks. :lol

 

[obin_gam]

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/moffat-50th-will-change-the-course-of-the-series-53951.htm



Sounds really interesting. Sounds like he really means it as well, unlike a "This finale will change the show forever!" line. Okay, I guess the Hurt Doctor is a game changer but I feel like he's said this every series.

His hyperbole about himself is reaching quite the embarrassing scale imo.

 

[Future Foundation]

I wasn't watching during the RTD era, but was he ever huge on hype like Moffat is?

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Will never forgive the whole "He's really going to die, fo real!" shtick around Series 6.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Guys, I just got into series 5. I think I'm going to make it in time for this special. Also, Doctor Who is now one of my all-time favorite shows and David Tennant is amazing. Then again, so is Karen Gillan.

 

[The Technomancer]

Sorry Moffat, pretty sure whoever takes over after you will take things in their own direction

 

[Blader]

I wasn't watching during the RTD era, but was he ever huge on hype like Moffat is?

Yes, they're both equally annoying about it.

 

[Savitar]

Sounds like to me The Doctor will get another new set of regenerations.

Hence his second life.

 

[aHebrewMenagerie]

Guys, I just got into series 5. I think I'm going to make it in time for this special. Also, Doctor Who is now one of my all-time favorite shows and David Tennant is amazing. Then again, so is Karen Gillan.

Dem legggssss.....

 

[Exterminieren]

I wasn't watching during the RTD era, but was he ever huge on hype like Moffat is?

Yes. Big style, and not subtle about it.

Will never forgive the whole "He's really going to die, fo real!" shtick around Series 6.

Is that really worse than, well... anything about The Next Doctor, for example? The insistence that Billie Piper would be staying on the show right up until they turned around and admitted that she wouldn't be? RTD saying in the run up to series 3 that he had no interest in bringing the Master back? The massive sleight-of-hand that was the cliffhanger to The Stolen Earth?

Publicity is publicity is publicity. RTD was NEVER averse to lying about the show if it kept people watching and preserved surprises.

Sorry Moffat, pretty sure whoever takes over after you will take things in their own direction

That may be so, but, in much the same way that Moffat didn't wipe out the Time War the second he took charge, there's no guarantee that it will be disregarded, either.

 

[Box of Bunnies]

Publicity is publicity is publicity. RTD was NEVER averse to lying about the show if it kept people watching and preserved surprises.

The thing is that season six's arc was simply never going to be resolved in a satisfactory way. It aimed high and the Moff talked big but at the end of the day any interesting character drama generated by the scenario feels kind of cheap in retrospect when you get to the end and it's just "oh, well I guess he uses the shapeshifting robot after all. Well, whatever." It's the same kind of "resolution set up earlier in the story/season but not satisfactorily executed" problem that Rusty's big finishes could have, but the difference there was that the situation was a means to the end of the character drama, where it ultimately didn't matter how the Cybermen and Daleks, or the Master, of Davros and friends were defeated, it was the effect they had on the characters that mattered. Whereas when your drama is hinged on the Doctor dying, it kind of loses its impact when he just calls up his micoperson piloted spaceship to sub in for him.

Swerving a regeneration with the hand Doctor and faking the audience out with a character who thinks he's the Doctor because he's been exposed to something or other but actually isn't is entirely different to half a year of "no guys the Doctor is totally going to die for real this time, I mean it."

Obviously he isn't and obviously whatever you come up with to get out of that situation isn't going to be as interesting as the idea itself so it's a story better left untold.

 

[APZonerunner]

Yes. Big style, and not subtle about it.

Is that really worse than, well... anything about The Next Doctor, for example? The insistence that Billie Piper would be staying on the show right up until they turned around and admitted that she wouldn't be? RTD saying in the run up to series 3 that he had no interest in bringing the Master back? The massive sleight-of-hand that was the cliffhanger to The Stolen Earth?

Publicity is publicity is publicity. RTD was NEVER averse to lying about the show if it kept people watching and preserved surprises.

That may be so, but, in much the same way that Moffat didn't wipe out the Time War the second he took charge, there's no guarantee that it will be disregarded, either.

I think the way Moffat's a bit worse than RTD is that RTD used to lie, yes, to protect what was going to happen, but he never particularly used to hype it up (outside of the show) in a specific way. He'd say "It's going to be marvellous" and then do that big gay belly laugh of his, but that'd be it. I think in a sense Moffat's downfall in this area is his need to every single series say "this is going to change everything forever!!!" - it does people's heads in, and of course it never does.

They are on the whole as bad as each other, though, and RTD liked to do those things in the show anyway - Rose will die in battle, one companion will die, etc etc. Though he paid those ones off relatively well.

 

[The Technomancer]

I think the way Moffat's a bit worse than RTD is that RTD used to lie, yes, to protect what was going to happen, but he never particularly used to hype it up (outside of the show) in a specific way. He'd say "It's going to be marvellous" and then do that big gay belly laugh of his, but that'd be it. I think in a sense Moffat's downfall in this area is his need to every single series say "this is going to change everything forever!!!" - it does people's heads in, and of course it never does.

They are on the whole as bad as each other, though, and RTD liked to do those things in the show anyway - Rose will die in battle, one companion will die, etc etc. Though he paid those ones off relatively well.

I was getting into this in the other thread but really I think specificity is what separates the two, and its what Moffat has really been struggling with. All of the foreshadowing and hinting that RTD did was vague, nebulous and able to be fitted pretty easily into whatever story he decided he wanted to tell at the end of the day. Moffat in the last two seasons in particular has gotten specific with his allusions, the most blatant being the "no-one can fail to answer on the Fields of Trenzalore where the last question will be answered", which is...not intrinsically worse, but its not working for him because he actually doesn't have the planning that that requires. In fact the particular resolution to that particular plot point is a perfect example: everything about it screams that they reached the finale with no idea how it was going to be resolved, panicked, and wrote just about the most unsatisfying thing ever. (seriously, the resolution being "River Song's ghost did it" is just about the dumbest thing ever)

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Is that really worse than, well... anything about The Next Doctor, for example? The insistence that Billie Piper would be staying on the show right up until they turned around and admitted that she wouldn't be? RTD saying in the run up to series 3 that he had no interest in bringing the Master back? The massive sleight-of-hand that was the cliffhanger to The Stolen Earth?

Publicity is publicity is publicity. RTD was NEVER averse to lying about the show if it kept people watching and preserved surprises.

I wasn't personally comparing him to RTD, I'm sure RTD was just as bad/worse. Still doesn't make me not roll my eyes at Moffatt's attempt to get everybody on board the hype train.

 

[Future Foundation]

I was getting into this in the other thread but really I think specificity is what separates the two, and its what Moffat has really been struggling with. All of the foreshadowing and hinting that RTD did was vague, nebulous and able to be fitted pretty easily into whatever story he decided he wanted to tell at the end of the day. Moffat in the last two seasons in particular has gotten specific with his allusions, the most blatant being the "no-one can fail to answer on the Fields of Trenzalore where the last question will be answered", which is...not intrinsically worse, but its not working for him because he actually doesn't have the planning that that requires. In fact the particular resolution to that particular plot point is a perfect example: everything about it screams that they reached the finale with no idea how it was going to be resolved, panicked, and wrote just about the most unsatisfying thing ever. (seriously, the resolution being "River Song's ghost did it" is just about the dumbest thing ever)

I dunno, shit like "a companion will die" from Stolen Earth/Journey's End seems pretty specific.

Also, a full-body shot of The Hurt Doctor, courtesy of the DW Tumblr:

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Meh, Donna was more "dead" than Series 6 Doctor was "dead"

 

[acheron_xl]

I dunno, shit like "a companion will die" from Stolen Earth/Journey's End seems pretty specific.

Also, a full-body shot of The Hurt Doctor, courtesy of the DW Tumblr:

Oh, hey. Spats!

 

[bengraven]

God I can't believe we're getting two massive, game-changing episodes of Who, with four Doctors, in the next two months...

AND YET THERE'S NO FUCKING TRAILER.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

God I can't believe we're getting two massive, game-changing episodes of Who, with four Doctors, in the next two months...

AND YET THERE'S NO FUCKING TRAILER.

Be patient. We now have several pictures. We can make a slideshow, which is practically a trailer.

 

[acheron_xl]

Be patient. We now have several pictures. We can make a slideshow, which is practically a trailer.

Just crudely animate the stills and set it to Inception music. It fooled a shitload of people last time around.

 

[Box of Bunnies]

Pretend it's a lost 60s show and you're watching a reconstruction.

 

[infiniteloop]

Not sure what thread 'An Adventure in Time and Space' fits in.. but here's a pic of "Ian" and "Barbara":

The real deal for reference:

Brian Cox as Sydney Newman:

 

[Slowdive]

Some more:

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Not sure what thread 'An Adventure in Time and Space' fits in.. but here's a pic of "Ian" and "Barbara":

So I mean... they straight up got in the TARDIS and kidnapped the actors right? That's spookily uncanny.

 

[BocoDragon]

Re: pseudo-Hartnell and crew

I wish they appeared in the 50th special too.