Doctor Who - getting younger every day...
Nov. 16th, 2005 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrph"We live in an age now where you would never cast an older Doctor," says Russell T Davies in an interview for the show. "Absolutely never. Never over fifty, I wouldn't say over forty-five actually. So we'll always have young Doctors now, because that's what a hero is these days."
He goes from "never" through "always" to the important bit - "these days". These days won't last forever. Perhaps the targer audience will remain hostile to the idea of an older Doctor for years to come. But perhaps it won't - SF's in a slightly different situation from police procedurals and Doctor Who isn't an ensemble show like West Wing or Six Feet Under...
...but even so, Patrick Stewart seemed to work in ST:TNG and Edward Woodward worked just fine in The Equalizer. Never say never, hmm?
He goes from "never" through "always" to the important bit - "these days". These days won't last forever. Perhaps the targer audience will remain hostile to the idea of an older Doctor for years to come. But perhaps it won't - SF's in a slightly different situation from police procedurals and Doctor Who isn't an ensemble show like West Wing or Six Feet Under...
...but even so, Patrick Stewart seemed to work in ST:TNG and Edward Woodward worked just fine in The Equalizer. Never say never, hmm?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 12:03 am (UTC)Physical confrontations were a regular feature in the Kirk days, a little less so (but still there) in the Next Generation. How many times has the Doctor had to punch someone, though? Even in the new series, we see him running about but he doesn't end up in 'heroic' physical confrontations. That's just not how the show works.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-17 02:15 pm (UTC)mmmmmmm...Jack!
Now I have got that out the way, I totally agree - The Doctor has never been an action hero.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-18 12:03 am (UTC)Hmm, I'm not totally sure about that - I certainly think Pertwee saw himself a bit that way, what with his "Venusian Aikido", the Whomobile etc.
Personally I think that what made the classic doctors (pre-Davison) work so well was a mixture of eccentricity, and authority/charisma - Davison was just too much of a wimp, especially after a Doctor as dominant as Tom Baker. I think Colin Baker's Doctor was a crude attempt to redress the balance, and he just came across as a bit of a bully. McCoy reintroduced the eccentricity, but IMO failed to regain the authority.
(sorry for thread-crashing, BTW!)
no subject
Date: 2005-11-18 01:51 am (UTC)Good point. I guess I had just blanked out the embarrassing memory of these things.