On Doctors and Such.

[fangrrl_squees]

I'm indulging in some Ninth Doctor tonight - and, okay, a bit of Jack Harkness, too - with The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances. It's been quite a few months since I've seen them last and I think I better understand the fans who weren't terribly happy with the the Ten/Rose dynamic. There really is a heck of a difference, one I somehow failed to notice - too busy squee'ing at David Tennant, no doubt.

Contraiwise, I'm seeing points of commonality between Nine and Ten (You humans really are remarkable, that whole riff) and that's rather reassuring, because I'd sorta dismissed them as being almost impossible to compare - except via Rose. Hm. Hmm... Methinks I'll have to have an organized sit-down and rewatch all of CE's season, fairly soon, as clearly my initial memory's faded and my opinions weren't that firm to begin with - beyond 'woot, I like!', of course.

I've said it before, and I'll no-doubt say it again: Chris Ecclestone was an excellent casting choice.

A Whovian co-worker of mine just started watching it - like 'last night' and so I'm looking forward to hearing his opinions. It's always nice to have someone to squee with.

Dr. Constantine's sprouting a gas mask, I'll wibble at y'all later.

Comments

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Second Coming? In some ways, it's kind of an interesting expansion on Nine (even though it's not Who.)

For all my whining about how things changed with Ten, yadda yadda yadda - I do actually see some solid consistency/continuity in the character through both actors. I think the only way they really differed is in emotional vulnerability/accessibility. But I don't see any differences as unacceptable - The Doctor *does* change in various ways when he regenerates. I actually kind of like that. I just Eccleston had stuck around for another season or two - One season just wasn't enough time to play out some of the threads he was following.

[fangrrl-squees.livejournal.com]

*nod* I agree, I think two seasons of Ecclestone would have been lovely, but three perhaps a bit too much, depending on how the character developed.

(I'm an advocate of the three-seasons-tops guideline for Doctors, but that's just me)

A shame there's apparently no chance of getting CE to do Big Finish audios. ;)

As I continue to re-watch CE's season, I'm going to try to keep my eyes open re: further similarities because, yah, I think I focused a bit too much on the *differences*, too.

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

I'm an advocate of the three-seasons-tops guideline for Doctors...

I'm genuinely shocked they let Eccleston get away with only one season - They've only got 13 regenerations to work with and it's not like there's *any* question of this show not lasting... It's not unreasonable to sign an actor for a longer stint, right off the bat. And in the grand scheme of things, shooting themselves in the foot to allow one-season Doctors.

I never had any trouble with the Differences in the *Doctors* from Nine to Ten, it was all about the *timing* of the switch that I found difficult. As I said, one more season to work out some of the really incredible character development and chemistry Eccleston (and Piper) had and I would have been completely ready for the change. I'm not even unhappy with the change in the relationship with Rose, it was just that it was way too soon for it. And I really loved the darker, wounded-soldier phase Eccleston's Doctor seemed to be going through - Would have liked to have come out of that place a little more deliberately/slowly.

A shame there's apparently no chance of getting CE to do Big Finish audios. ;)

Yeah, that sucks (you have reason to believe?) - I've been listening to some of the Tennant-read ones and enjoying them. Actually, I was going to post about that... Some really lovely tidbits buried in those. The Stone Rose had some great stuff.

[fangrrl-squees.livejournal.com]

Well, I think they wanted CE badly enough (so he could call the shots on his terms) AND the Beeb wasn't entirely sure that the show would last, so I'm sure that a one-season contract made sense at the time. The impression I got was that RTD would have loved to have him for another season, but CE exercised his option to walk away, stating that he always intended to only do one season, no matter what. He took the role to prove he could do something other than heavies/bad guys and, mission accomplished, he wanted to move on before he risked being known as "The Doctor" for the rest of his career. So the Beeb really had no way to *make* him stay.

I'm listening to Stone Rose right now and whilst the story's left me a bit cold so far (I'm only about 8 tracks in) I'm loving listening to DT's voice. ;)