Doctor Who - getting younger every day...

[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?

Comments

[dave-exile.livejournal.com]

The Doctor has never been an action hero.

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!)

[zarbi.livejournal.com]

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.

Good point. I guess I had just blanked out the embarrassing memory of these things.