Anyone complaining about an older Doctor?

[Jax]

Wouldn't the true answer be in the ratings? Has anyone seen how they've been both in the US and the UK?

UK Wise, the first 4 episodes have no lower than 7 million and around 20-25% share of the TV audience.

9.17 Million
7.29 Million
7.28 Million
7.01 Million

*Final numbers do not include I Player ratings, which are factored into the +7 days shifted audience (add around another 500,000 to 1 million onto the final ratings)

Based off the inital numbers for episode 5 that should be just over 7 million too.

 

[SPCTRE]

the Doctor is a couple thousand years old; i'm glad he doesn't really look his age.

What I found unusual is that he shrank with age.

If he got that short after just a 900 years, does that mean that he'd have halved in height again after another 11 hundred years?

Yes, and he will look like a house elf in a couple of centuries, if memory serves.

When 900 years old, you reach… Look as good, you will not.

 

[Green Lantern]

What my mother doesn't like isn't that he's 56 so much as that he looks in his 70s and isn't very attractive anyway. There are some older actors even she couldn't have not liked in the role, she just doesn't like Capaldi because he isn't attractive at all.

Don't get me wrong, I like Capaldi in the role though.

 

[Sindatur]

What my mother doesn't like isn't that he's 56 so much as that he looks in his 70s and isn't very attractive anyway. There are some older actors even she couldn't have not liked in the role, she just doesn't like Capaldi because he isn't attractive at all.

Don't get me wrong, I like Capaldi in the role though.

With all due respect, I'm not sure your mother knows what a 70 year old man looks like then. I would never in a million years think he looks anywhere near 70. Also, although, I don't mind the Doctor being attractive (Though, I think classic "Leading Man" good looks are wrong for the part), but, the part doesn't really scream for an attractive lead.

And, I actually think Capaldi is quite attractive, and many others do as well.

 

[Starkers]

Capaldi only looks in his seventies if your definition of what a man in his seventies looks like is Patrick Stewart!

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Wouldn't the true answer be in the ratings?

Not really. Ratings include too many confounding variables to truly measure the popularity of this incarnation of the Doctor and nothing else. The Doctor, the scripts, the companion, viewer fatigue, whether there's anything else on as competition, etc. are all factors that affect ratings.

 

[Captaindemotion]

What my mother doesn't like isn't that he's 56 so much as that he looks in his 70s and isn't very attractive anyway. There are some older actors even she couldn't have not liked in the role, she just doesn't like Capaldi because he isn't attractive at all.

I'd say that William Hartnell aged 55 looked 70-something but not Capaldi. He looks about 50 or so to me (speaking as a remarkably well-preserved 42, myself ).

Other than maybe Davison, McGann, Tennant or Smith (Eccleston has his admirers too) the Doctor has rarely been played by a conventionally attractive type (I've listed Smith but he's simultaneously odd-looking and good-looking IMHO) and even those I've named aren't really Brad Pitt/ Channing Tatum movie idol-types.

Capaldi isn't a silver fox a la Clooney or Liam Neeson but I would imagine that his personality and charisma make him attractive to some women of a certain age.

 

[Starkers]

What my mother doesn't like isn't that he's 56 so much as that he looks in his 70s and isn't very attractive anyway. There are some older actors even she couldn't have not liked in the role, she just doesn't like Capaldi because he isn't attractive at all.

I'd say that William Hartnell aged 55 looked 70-something but not Capaldi. He looks about 50 or so to me (speaking as a remarkably well-preserved 42, myself ).

Other than maybe Davison, McGann, Tennant or Smith (Eccleston has his admirers too) the Doctor has rarely been played by a conventionally attractive type (I've listed Smith but he's simultaneously odd-looking and good-looking IMHO) and even those I've named aren't really Brad Pitt/ Channing Tatum movie idol-types.

Capaldi isn't a silver fox a la Clooney or Liam Neeson but I would imagine that his personality and charisma make him attractive to some women of a certain age.

Yeah, I know plenty of women who don't get the whole David Tennant thing, their view being quite similar to Donna's!

That’s part of the reason I’m wary about a female Doctor, as I fear the temptation would be to hire someone too conventionally attractive.

 

[Green Lantern]

What my mother doesn't like isn't that he's 56 so much as that he looks in his 70s and isn't very attractive anyway. There are some older actors even she couldn't have not liked in the role, she just doesn't like Capaldi because he isn't attractive at all.

Don't get me wrong, I like Capaldi in the role though.

With all due respect, I'm not sure your mother knows what a 70 year old man looks like then. I would never in a million years think he looks anywhere near 70. Also, although, I don't mind the Doctor being attractive (Though, I think classic "Leading Man" good looks are wrong for the part), but, the part doesn't really scream for an attractive lead.

And, I actually think Capaldi is quite attractive, and many others do as well.

Well I'd say he looks like he's in his early to mid 60s. But my mother is kinda picky, she's the kind of person to always point out someone on telly that she doesn't like the look of. I think it's mainly the nose that ages him. He looks better with longer hair though, his shorter hair in his first couple of episodes aged him IMO.

Well I wouldn't say he's attractive nor ugly, he's just in the middle, pretty average. But I'd say he looks older than 56.

Capaldi only looks in his seventies if your definition of what a man in his seventies looks like is Patrick Stewart!

No this is my mother's definition, not mine. I'd say he looks early to mid 60s myself. It's the nose as I've said. And Stewart is exceptional for his age.

 

[bryce]

I was worried that my *kids* (I have 3 kid, 2 "stepkids age rnge from 9 to 19) would lose interest - but so far they love it. He's The Doctor, and that's all that matters.

(Though my 19 year-old, a budding feminist, would like a female Doctor next. Not sure how my youngest - a boy, my soon to be 9 stepkid - will *understand* that the Doctor is a girl now - but it will be a teachable moment. And hey, we ALL KNOW IT'S COMING. Like it or not. I for one an cool with it - and if it doesn't work - well, the Doctor can *ALWAYS* Change BACK at the end of the season. My oldest has a LOT of trans-gender friends - and one girlfriend once, but she lives here in Arizona with me, and he is in Illinois (and I miss him like HELL)...and never met my daughter's one Illinois trans friend. He's a good kid, I just think the Doctor changing genders may...confuse him. like, he may be wondering "Where's the Doctor, Uncle-Daddy Bryce? Is he coming back?" But I will just tell him that the Doctor is n alien, and sometimes can be a girl.)

 

[marillion]

^^ Honestly? I think at that age, only having been exposed to Doctor Who for a short time, he might have an easier go at understanding how the Doctor can change into anyone or anything, man or woman... At that age, a simple "Well, because he can" might suffice... Whereas long time fans, who, although they know the Doctor could be any gender, might not have as easy a time with it. Simply due to the fact that we've always known him as a man.

While on principle I have no issues with the Doctor being a woman, the more I think about it, the more I try to understand how it would work... The Doctor was born male. Grew up a male, and has been a male though an entire series of regenerations. Should he suddenly regenerate into a female, would he truly be a female, or still inherently male on the inside?

Or am I just trying to peel back too many layers that don't really exist? lol!

 

[arch101]

I'm just thrilled that the Doc is older than me once again. That won't be the case forever.

Same here! Matt Smith was two years younger than me.

Matt Smith was, well, quite a few years younger than me. As a Pertwee fan, I think Capaldi is a perfect age. Old enough to look the wizened traveler, young enough to do "action" when necessary. Now, if they would only bring back Venusian Karate...

 

[Australis]

What I found unusual is that he shrank with age.

If he got that short after just a 900 years, does that mean that he'd have halved in height again after another 11 hundred years?

Yes, and he will look like a house elf in a couple of centuries, if memory serves.

When 900 years old, you reach… Look as good, you will not.

Well... I'm willing to try...

That’s part of the reason I’m wary about a female Doctor, as I fear the temptation would be to hire someone too conventionally attractive.

Whilke it would never happen, I have one name for you: Joanna Lumley. Easy to watch in all senses of the phrase, and pretty smart too.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Whilke it would never happen, I have one name for you: Joanna Lumley. Easy to watch in all senses of the phrase, and pretty smart too.

She's older than Capaldi. I think they'll hire someone like Amanda Hale or Faye Marsay or Daisy Haggard.

 

[Velocity]

I hope they don't yield to temptation and regenerate a female Doctor. Just not interested in that. Although I did like Romana...

 

[Vic Sixx]

I like the Doctor being older and less comedic than Matt Smith's Doctor. Capaldi's is growing his own personality and style.

 

[Green Lantern]

Matt Smith was trying to much to be "his" doctor while Capaldi is simply just "the doctor". This is why Capaldi is succeeding. I also feel in Smith's era Moffat was trying to make the show his own but now he's simply making Doctor Who, yet again why this era is superior.