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It's time for an American Doctor

JRoss

JRoss

Commodore
Commodore
Yep, I said it. There are a profusion of talented American/Canadian actors who could easily do justice to the part, and they've long been overlooked. Since the show is growing in popularity over here in leaps and bounds, it would ultimately help the budget and the quality of the stories as a big-name actor brings even more fans into the fold.

My personal candidates:

Matthew Bomer
Tim Daly
Robert Downey Jr.
Morgan Freeman
Jeff Goldblum
Terrence Howard
John Malkovich
Tahmoh Penniket
Zachary Quinto
James Roday
David Strathairn
BD Wong

Admit it, there's no good reason for there not to be an American Doctor. To say otherwise displays a closed mind.
 
JRoss said:
Yep, I said it. There are a profusion of talented American/Canadian actors who could easily do justice to the part, and they've long been overlooked. Since the show is growing in popularity over here in leaps and bounds, it would ultimately help the budget and the quality of the stories as a big-name actor brings even more fans into the fold.

My personal candidates:

Matthew Bomer
Tim Daly
Robert Downey Jr.
Morgan Freeman
Jeff Goldblum
Terrence Howard
John Malkovich
Tahmoh Penniket
Zachary Quinto
James Roday
David Strathairn
BD Wong

Admit it, there's no good reason for there not to be an American Doctor. To say otherwise displays a closed mind.
Click to expand...

These two things are contradictory. There is no TV show in the world that would ever ever ever be able to afford RDJ for 13 episodes, for nine months of his time.

Ever.

And I'll say it: no. I like the idea of a British show with a British lead. Maybe my mind is closed, but, that said, it has a TON of fans world wide, and I don't see getting an American or a Canadian actor would actually grow it. It IS a sic-fi show about traveling through time and space. To think that casting BD Wong or Tahmoh Pennikt (who is completely wrong for the part) would grow the fan base that much more is hopeless naive.

In other words: the show is working incredibly well world wide--why fix something that is, in fact, not broken?
 
The American (or Canadian) would have to be living in the UK. For that and other reasons, it looks like we're talking Fantasy Football League (especially with the likes of RDJ, who could make a fine Doctor).

My picks:
Edward James Olmos.
Johnny Depp.

Widening the net a bit:
John Noble. (Like Olmos, easy to imagine as the War Doctor. Also easy to imagine as a rebooted First Doctor.)
Colin Farrell.
 
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AS if it wasn't obvious from the American co-production filmed in Canada sticking with a British Doctor, there will never be a non-British Doctor. To do so would be an offensive perversion of nature and just completely wrong on so many levels. And I'm not even British. Doctor Who without a British Doctor is like a car without wheels, what the hell is the point of it?
 
The BBC would get ripped to shreds in the press over here if they tried to give pretty much the biggest role on British TV to a non Brit. And why would they ever want to when there are so many actors over here who can do the job.

It just won't happen.
 
Well the last Batman, current Superman and current Spiderman are Brits (ok I know Garfield was born in the US but he was raised over here) so never say never...

the primary criteria for being the Doctor should be that you're a good fit for the Doctor, and it shouldn't matter whether you're male, female, black or white, British or American...

That said I think there is a certain quirky eccentricity that comes with a British accent as opposed to an American one, so in the same way I wouldn't be horrified by an American Bond, the deal breaker would have to be them affecting a British accent of some description, in the same way Cavill and Bale use American accents.

If they were going down the route of an known actor in American tv then I'd go with Simon Baker (he is Australian but has duel citizenship now I believe) or Gillian Anderson (who practically seems to be English these days anyway!)

As others have said, I can't see the BBC doing it unless an exceptional candidate became available.
 
JRoss said:
Admit it, there's no good reason for there not to be an American Doctor. To say otherwise displays a closed mind.
Click to expand...

Right after there has been a non-white Doctor and a female Doctor and maybe one who sounds a bit like they are from a European country? Maybe Italy or German.

But yeah, your personal bias towards North America and the supposed snubbing of North American actors is clouding your judgement on this matter. I see you have no women on that list either, does that mean you're demonstrating a closed mind?
 
JRoss said:
Yep, I said it. There are a profusion of talented American/Canadian actors who could easily do justice to the part, and they've long been overlooked. Since the show is growing in popularity over here in leaps and bounds, it would ultimately help the budget and the quality of the stories as a big-name actor brings even more fans into the fold.
Click to expand...


One has to examine the reasons as to why it is growing in popularity, could part of the reason be it's for lack of a better term it's Britishness? If so why potentially mess with that.

How would having a "big" name help with the budget? It's not like the BBC is a bottomless pit of money as it stands DW has a reasonable budget (I'm sure they would like a bigger budget however what show doesn't)

If they wanted to appeal more to the American market, they could always go down the route of having an American companion (again).
 
Dimesdan said:
JRoss said:
Admit it, there's no good reason for there not to be an American Doctor. To say otherwise displays a closed mind.
Click to expand...

Right after there has been a non-white Doctor and a female Doctor and maybe one who sounds a bit like they are from a European country? Maybe Italy or German.
Click to expand...
Roberto Benigni as il Dottore. INSTANT WIN

More seriously, I like the Doctor being British. I don't care about gender or ethnicity, but making it just another "American Hero" will take away part of its charm, I think.
 
Wereghost said:
Widening the net a bit:
John Noble. (Like Olmos, easy to imagine as the War Doctor. Also easy to imagine as a rebooted First Doctor.)
Colin Farrell.
Click to expand...

Farrell is Irish and Noble is Australian. Or is that what you meant by 'widening the net' - neither British nor American?

Not being British or American myself, I'm just about open to persuasion on the idea of an American Doctor though I do think it's a very British show and there are any amount of great actors in the UK who can play the role. I don't know why they'd need to look outside the UK. It's just not realistic to suggest major movie stars like RDJ, Depp or Farrell for a British tv series which dominates ones career while playing the lead.

Given that previously having been in the show is not a bar to playing the Doctor, what about Mark Shepherd as an American incarnation?
 
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