Doctor Who Roundup

[scarfman]

No spoilers (nothing in-text is discussed in that much detail).

• Is Tennant really that tall, or has Davison shrunk?
• In the immediate wake of The Doctor's Daughter I saw a lot of people drawing comparisons between Donna and Adric, but there's really not that much similarity. Adric was good at maths and Donna is good at patterns.
• I'm pleased to see the announcement that Stephen Moffat will be the Doctor Who showrunner starting with the season to air in 2010, not least because I thought Russell T. Davies was talking like he's not smart enough to get out while he's on top. But let us not forget that, while Moffat has won Doctor Who two Hugos, he's also the man who gave us Curse of the Fatal Death.
• In elitist, stoic Time Lord culture, making lame excuses when caught out at something (as opposed to adamant stonewalling) is an act of intimacy. Manufacturing such circumstances just to make lame excuses is the height of public display of affection. That's what the button-holding business was about at the beginning of Age of Steel, though Mickey and Rose never understood. The only one of the Doctor's companions who ever understood was of course Romana, who of course never let on. And this is the most common reason the TARDIS never seems to land where it's meant to.
• Sir Ian McKellen as the Doctor in flashbacks to the UNIT era y/n?

Crossposted to doctorwho.

Comments

[x-bluerose-x.livejournal.com]

Tennant is 6'1" according to some biographies on the Net.

[scarfman]

Say, that's my height.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

• I loved the explanation for Donna's pattern-recognizing skills in the first part of "The Sontaran Strategy": "I'm a temp. I can find my way around ANY office."
  
• Curse of the Fatal Death is another point in Moffat's FAVOR in my book. You've got to both love and understand the source material to pull off such a perfect parody. The news that the reins are going to the guy who's given us the best episodes of every single season of NeoWho thus far fill me will glee.
  
• McKellan as a Pertwee standin? I can see it.

[xamda.livejournal.com]

But I liked Curse Of Fatal Death.

[inaliel.livejournal.com]

Me too, actually...

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

I'm another on the "loved Curse of the Fatal Death" train. It's very smart and witty and gave me the only Doctor/Master pairing that actually strikes me as sexy. The train wreck, both emotionally and narratively, of GitF is what worries me (not to mention Coupling and Jekyll). I do hope that Moffat moves to a more stand-alone succession of episodes. They got the arc right once in S1, and it's been a problem rather than a plus in each subsequent series.

I'm also terrified it might mean James Nesbitt as Eleven, which would kill me after Tennant, but I'm hoping they'll surprise us. I think the most left-field casting has been the most successful.

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

I couldn't see Nesbitt as the Doctor -- but I think he'd make a *brilliant* Master.

[nina-ds.livejournal.com]

I can certainly see him more as the Master than as a Doctor. There's this basic inner sleaziness about him I've never been able to shake.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

McKellen taking over as the Third Doctor? Hmmmmm . . . possible . . .

[omorka.livejournal.com]

First point: Yes, Tennant is taller than Davison, but probably not by more than an inch. But his hair (and Davison's current comparative lack of) probably adds another couple of inches.

Last point: *imagines Sir Ian in Pertwee's costume* OMG, yes please! *fans self*

[pedanther]

But let us not forget that ... he's also the man who gave us Curse of the Fatal Death.

Why do you say that as if it's something to worry about?

Is it just that The Curse of Fatal Death is a rather unsubtle comedy instead of complex and interesting drama? But it was written for an occasion where unsubtle comedy was the order of the day, and complex and interesting drama would have been completely inappropriate. All that says is that Moffat can handle different styles and levels of complexity as circumstances require: this is a good thing.

[scarfman]

On reflection? I'm not sure why.

[immelmanturn.livejournal.com]

Is there something wrong with Curse of Fatal Death?

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, I don't know about Sir Ian- I think he'd look too old to be Three.

(And he definitely is NOT Four.)