This thread was a little bit inspired by the title of another one currently in the forum, namely 'An American Doctor?'. That one is about a fan-pic with the titular US actor as the Doc but when I read it, I thought it was about how people would react to an American being officially cast as The Doctor.
So, in slightly similar vein, I'm wondering how fans would react to or even make a standalone official movie that didn't affect the tv series. Something like the Peter Cushing movies in the 1960s. Peter Cushing was elderly and a little crusty like William Hartnell and he journeyed in a TARDIS but he clearly wasn't the same incarnation (nor could he have been any future incarnation). The stories were a bit of amalgams of tv plots that had already aired.
So let's imagine that a Hollywood studio buys the rights to a DW movie but doesn't want to cast Matt Smith or David Tennant in the lead role. Nor do they want to be overly worried about almost 50 years of backstory or continuity. They do, however, want to cast someone charismatic and Doctor-ish in the main role, they want someone charismatic and villainous as The Master and they want to include the Daleks. And naturally, the TARDIS, time travel and an assistant/ companion will be included. It won't be part of the continuity of the current series but it won't affect it either.
How would you like to see such an undertaking? Or how would you make it if given a role as creative consultant? Would you cast a big-name actor but have him play the Doctor in the vein of a previous incarnation? Say, Sean Bean or Robert Carlyle playing an Eccleston-esque Doctor. Or Ian McKellen doing a Hartnell type take? Or would you want someone doing an entirely new take on the Doctor, the way all of the tv actors have done to date? Would you cast young(ish) - Ioan Grufyd, Orlando Bloom, middle-aged - Ralph Fiennes, Daniel Day-Lewis - or old - McKellen, John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins? Or would you - gasp - cast an American?
How would you do the Master? Would he have to have a black pointy beard or could he do a new take on the role, like Sims or Eric Roberts? Would the new companion be a sexy glamour puss or someone more in the vein of Catherine Tate? And what plot would you have? Your own take on the Time War (remember, it wouldn't contradict anything in the tv series).
Or is it just such a horrible idea that you couldn't countenance it? But bear in mind that DW has frequently done alternate takes in the radio, audio and internet versions, so this wouldn't be a first!
So, in slightly similar vein, I'm wondering how fans would react to or even make a standalone official movie that didn't affect the tv series. Something like the Peter Cushing movies in the 1960s. Peter Cushing was elderly and a little crusty like William Hartnell and he journeyed in a TARDIS but he clearly wasn't the same incarnation (nor could he have been any future incarnation). The stories were a bit of amalgams of tv plots that had already aired.
So let's imagine that a Hollywood studio buys the rights to a DW movie but doesn't want to cast Matt Smith or David Tennant in the lead role. Nor do they want to be overly worried about almost 50 years of backstory or continuity. They do, however, want to cast someone charismatic and Doctor-ish in the main role, they want someone charismatic and villainous as The Master and they want to include the Daleks. And naturally, the TARDIS, time travel and an assistant/ companion will be included. It won't be part of the continuity of the current series but it won't affect it either.
How would you like to see such an undertaking? Or how would you make it if given a role as creative consultant? Would you cast a big-name actor but have him play the Doctor in the vein of a previous incarnation? Say, Sean Bean or Robert Carlyle playing an Eccleston-esque Doctor. Or Ian McKellen doing a Hartnell type take? Or would you want someone doing an entirely new take on the Doctor, the way all of the tv actors have done to date? Would you cast young(ish) - Ioan Grufyd, Orlando Bloom, middle-aged - Ralph Fiennes, Daniel Day-Lewis - or old - McKellen, John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins? Or would you - gasp - cast an American?
How would you do the Master? Would he have to have a black pointy beard or could he do a new take on the role, like Sims or Eric Roberts? Would the new companion be a sexy glamour puss or someone more in the vein of Catherine Tate? And what plot would you have? Your own take on the Time War (remember, it wouldn't contradict anything in the tv series).
Or is it just such a horrible idea that you couldn't countenance it? But bear in mind that DW has frequently done alternate takes in the radio, audio and internet versions, so this wouldn't be a first!
