I take it the OP has mentioned having an older doctor before? I am sure they wouldn't have hired Capaldi if he was not up for the role. That said, David Tennant will always be my personal favorite. But again I do not think there is any "certain look" the Doctor needs to have. The fun part about him regenerating is that he can turn into any look!
Matt Smith's Doctor was all about misdirection. People who caracterize him as 'manic college freshman' or 'not out of diapers' were themselves fooled. He could be pretty damn chilling when the need arose and will be sorely missed. I understand that this Capaldi is a good actor, but I'm not at all looking forward to his portrayal. His first 30 seconds at the end of the Christmas special weren't particularly inspiring. Tennant and Smith, on the other hand, nailed it immediately.
His intro at the end of the episode basically felt like a rehash of Smith's intro in "The End of Time." I read somewhere that Capaldi was trying to act like Smith in that scene and that his Doctor will evolve his own personality as time goes on, but I don't know how true that is. Either way, I think 30 seconds at the end of an episode is way too little time to actually judge a performance.
Oh, rash away! It's my job to point out that you're being rash. It's how the internet balances itself out.
I don't think we can ever really judge the new Doctor until the new season starts, right? I mean with Tennant and Smith it was the same way...you only see them for a few brief moments at the end of the regeneration then you gotta wait and see!
Plus, several post regeneration stories have not presented the strongest material. So we may have to wait until halfway into his first series before everything starts to really "click". Sincerely, Bill
Not a fan of Matt Smith, but he wasn't terrible. Not helped by the terrible scripts he had to deal with, I'm not sure if it was the scripts or himself that made him always seem to act like Tennant though. Capaldi seemed from the first few seconds he'll be more along the lines of Tom Baker.
I found out over the holiday that my stepbrother's 11-year-old daughter and her 14-year-old cousin are quite taken with Matt Smith's Doctor Who. I couldn't help but think they will be a little less enthusiastic about Capaldi.
The first couple of times through, I really enjoyed Capaldi's Interpretation, and think it's got a lot of promise. After the third or fourth time through, yea, his lines seemed to be delivered a bit mechanically, but, that's common with many things you watch repeatedly in a single sitting. I don't know Capaldi from his roles outside the Whoniverse, but, I'm really looking forward to seeing the new Doctor (Though, I've never hated any one of them, like many have with McCoy or C. Baker, or others). Yea, his first episode, will likely be him scrambled, as the first story traditionally is, so, look for at least the second episode of Series 8 to be the first time you can really comfortably get a feel for his interpretation Spoiler: Capaldi's Lines Oh, and I don't think "I don't like the color" was referring to his kidneys. I think that was referring to the desktop theme. I can't imagine they'll change it radically again, so soon, so, those that like the basic design, but, not the blue-gray lighting, may get a pleasant surprise, with a different lighting color? Maybe?
And that is part of the problem with skewing younger and younger. The kids come to expect KIDS. The opposite was true when I was younger - I started watching DW with Pertwee, so for me, the Doctor was always like an old professor. Cut to Tom Baker and it's still good - not only is he like an old professor still but he's also portrayed brilliantly and a little mad. It's no coincidence I didn't take to Peter Davidson - not only was he Tristram from "All Creatures Great and Small" but he was too YOUNG - that was NOT the Doctor for me.
It's funny but after all this time even I found the older Capaldi took me back a bit when he came on. It will be interesting to see how/if audiences take to him. I couldn't really tell from the little bit he was on what I think just yet.
The past 8 Doctors (Baker, Davidson, Baker, McCoy, McCann, Eccleston, Tennant, Smith) debuted when they were under 45. The average age for a newly regenerated Doctor (not including Capaldi) is 37. Including him it's 39. If you want to include Hurt it's still only 41. Classic Doctor average age is 41. NuDr average is 35. But please, do go on about the kids on your lawn and how they made the series insanely popular.
And by the end of series eight, fans will be whining about how he's ruined the show, and we need Matt back. Happens every time.
Manic college Freshman? College freshmen don't wear tweed and bowties and try and act "cool" by saying goofy things are cool. Smith's doctor wasn't a student; Smith's Doctor was the eccentric college professor.
That's one thing that gets to me about criticisms of Smith's Doctor. Sure, Smith himself is young, but his Doctor definitely isn't. There've been times when he rivaled the grumpiest of Doctors. At times he was even grumpier than the War Doctor, and that was even before the War Doctor's debut. I liked that Smith could mix youthful jubilation with observations and mannerisms of age, as to me, any good Doctor should be full of built-in contradictions.
Indeed, however, if you watch the 50th Anniversary biopic "An Adventure in Time and Space," they show the original idea for the show was a cantankerous OLD man as the Doctor. Now, things are organic and change over time, but they initially wanted the Doctor to be a somewhat crabby grandfatherly type. Every Doctor since Davison has really been anything but. SHOULD the Doctor be portrayed as a younger feller? Well, we've had that. SHOULD the Doctor be portrayed as an old guy? We've had that too. No reason we can't go back to that, especially if there is to be an homage to the First Doctor with Capaldi being the first Doctor of the new set of regenerations.
I would like to think that the Doctor can regenerate into any type of man. I personally prefer the 30-40 look. Not too young, but not older either. I enjoy the manic energy the younger doctors brought to the show, especially with Tennant (just the right age imo) and Smith (a bit younger). However I do think that having a variety is necessary. I would prefer it to kind of bounce around from one to the other from time to time.