The 11th Doctor could have been dressed like Captain Jack...

[davejames]

More and more, what I really like about the 11th Doctor's outfit is how much it really DOES feel like a mishmash of old and young styles-- as if he's been through so many regenerations and personalities that they're starting to jumble together a lot more now, and that's being reflected in the confused way he's dressing.

 

[jbny67]

Yeah, count me in that number. All in all, he just looked like and (for me at least) felt like the perfect Doctor, taking into account all that had gone before and the nature of the character. I'll always feel robbed of a series with him.

For all we know, after 8's first adventure he could have found a different outfit in the tardis to wear.

...yeah, good point mate, thanks for that.

Anyway, didn't you read the RadioTimes Doctor Who comics that carried on from after the film? He kept the same outfit and nearly got turned into a Cyberman.

And as I'm referencing the deeply uncanon, on that whoisdoctorwho site (or whatever it was called) that was launched just before the new show, one of the "sightings" of the Ninth Doctor was of him stumbling around near Totter's Lane in Victorian-looking clothes talking to himself about what he'd done. Or something like that.

The site is still there.
http://www.whoisdoctorwho.co.uk/index1.shtml

Here's the part you referred to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/whoisdoctorwho/sightings.shtml

Steven Hudson
I saw him a couple a years ago outside a new building development in Totters Lane, East London. The guy seemed really confused and keep muttering, "They’re all gone, I'm the only one left". The man was either a complete loon or was drunk. Looking back I think he was probably drunk as he looked as if he'd been to a fancy dress party. He was wearing some old Edwardian outfit, not a leather jacket.

 

[Bones2]

^
Yeah, that's the one. Good work

 

[Saul]

It weas my understanding from previous interviews that both Tennant and Eccleston took part in choosing the costume for the Doctor.

 

[Checkmate]

Can someone remind me why the time-traveling, space-faring Doctor looks any more ridiculous wearing a late 20th-century suit than he would wearing anything else? I can't seem to remember where such a stupid comment makes any logical sense whatsoever. But obviously it must with all the people here complaining about the time-traveling, space-faring Doctor wearing a "costume" rather than something "modern."

 

[Marc]

There's a term called "brainstorming" that folks need to learn about. People kick ideas around until they find one that works. Moffat says "theatrical costume" and people immediately default to Colin Baker's clown suit instead of Jon Pertwee's flamboyant outfits or Tom Baker's scarf which I don't hear anyone complaining about.

Alex

Though sometimes it's only the actor at the time who can pull it off with a certain costume.

Imagine the 3rd Doctor with a long scarf or the 4th with a velvet smoking jacket?

 

[wamdue]

It weas my understanding from previous interviews that both Tennant and Eccleston took part in choosing the costume for the Doctor.

im not sure why you wouldnt let the actor have a part in choosing the costume, it has to look good on them after all.

 

[Sci]

Can someone remind me why the time-traveling, space-faring Doctor looks any more ridiculous wearing a late 20th-century suit than he would wearing anything else? I can't seem to remember where such a stupid comment makes any logical sense whatsoever. But obviously it must with all the people here complaining about the time-traveling, space-faring Doctor wearing a "costume" rather than something "modern."

Of course when we say something looks ridiculous, we're talking about relative to our modern culture's standards.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

It weas my understanding from previous interviews that both Tennant and Eccleston took part in choosing the costume for the Doctor.

im not sure why you wouldnt let the actor have a part in choosing the costume, it has to look good on them after all.

It's certainly a good idea but things weren't always so flexible. Colin Baker wanted an all black outfit, but JNT insisted on the multi-colored dream coat which Baker hated.

 

[Checkmate]

Of course when we say something looks ridiculous, we're talking about relative to our modern culture's standards.

And?

I'm still waiting for how or why it's ridiculous for a time-travelling, space-faring Doctor to wear pretty much whatever the Hell he wants, as opposed to something from a minute period of time on some backwater little world that he just happens to fancy. Especially when the show seems like it's going to be taking place in different times and on different worlds more frequently than it has the last few seasons.

 

[Sci]

Of course when we say something looks ridiculous, we're talking about relative to our modern culture's standards.

And?

I'm still waiting for how or why it's ridiculous for a time-travelling, space-faring Doctor to wear pretty much whatever the Hell he wants,

Because relative to this culture's standards, he looks ridiculous in some outfits, and this culture can't take a character seriously if he dresses in a manner it finds ridiculous.

Yes, it's a bit closed-minded. I don't think they care much.

As for me, I tend to think that something like the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's outfits work best -- something that's of a specific century, but not necessarily of a specific decade or period within that century. One could reasonably conceive of someone dressing like Nine and Ten throughout most of the 20th and 21st Centuries without it seeming ridiculous, even if they seemed a little out of place.

 

[StCoop]

I'm still waiting for how or why it's ridiculous for a time-travelling, space-faring Doctor to wear pretty much whatever the Hell he wants, as opposed to something from a minute period of time on some backwater little world that he just happens to fancy. Especially when the show seems like it's going to be taking place in different times and on different worlds more frequently than it has the last few seasons.

Because you don't want people laughing at your main character and changing the channel.

Ask Colin Baker how he feels about having to play a Doctor who wore whatever the hell he wanted...

 

[Checkmate]

I guess that's why shows like Star Trek, Rome, Merlin, etc. and even characters in the franchise, like Jack Harkness, are such failures, huh? Clearly they can't be popular because the characters all where "costumes" instead of a not-quite-contemporary suit from one specific period of time that makes very little sense for the character.

There simply aren't enough in the world for that mindset.

Colin Baker's outfit failed because it looked stupid. Period. It wasn't a period outfit or even something tasteful. If the Doctor showed up in an outfit like Captain Jack, it would have been fine. Especially if his first adventure after regenerating took place in an appropriate setting.

It's completely asinine to say otherwise. Especially when you start pulling out idiotic arguments like "people won't accept it!!!!"

 

[Sci]

I guess that's why shows like Star Trek, Rome, Merlin, etc. and even characters in the franchise, like Jack Harkness, are such failures, huh? Clearly they can't be popular because the characters all where "costumes" instead of a not-quite-contemporary suit from one specific period of time that makes very little sense for the character.

The characters from Star Trek, Rome, and Merlin don't spend most of their time interacting with people from the present day. The ability of the audience to take those characters seriously is contingent upon their being in a different setting.

As for Captain Jack, he's dressed only moderately anachronistically.

Colin Baker's outfit failed because it looked stupid. Period.

And the majority of anachronistic costumes -- including those of the 8th, 7th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Doctors -- look really stupid, especially in the modern context.

 

[Samurai8472]

I could see the "pirate doctor" looking like Russel Brand with pirate boots and white t-shirt

 

[Checkmate]

And the majority of anachronistic costumes -- including those of the 8th, 7th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Doctors -- look really stupid, especially in the modern context.

Yes, and the old Doctor Who used to use cheap, cheesy plastic and cardboard sets, too. Especially for alien settings. Ergo, according to this kind of logic, it is UNACCEPTABLE for them to do any scenes on an alien setting. Because, clearly, there have been no strides in the improvement of set design over the decades.

Translation, since I have a strange feeling you're intentionally going to pretend that you don't quite get the parallel there, costuming has evolved over the years. It's very, very possible to have a tastefully anachronistic costume in this day and age. Why, real people do it every single day as part of their regular wardrobe. Russell Brand is a fine example. Another is this steampunky professor.

A tasteful period piece can blend in just fine and can look really great all at the same time. It doesn't have to be a fucking clown outfit just because the creators of the show dressed poor Colin Baker up like one in a now distant era chock full of gawdy costumes.

 

[Sci]

And the majority of anachronistic costumes -- including those of the 8th, 7th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st Doctors -- look really stupid, especially in the modern context.

Yes, and the old Doctor Who used to use cheap, cheesy plastic and cardboard sets, too. Especially for alien settings. Ergo, according to this kind of logic, it is UNACCEPTABLE for them to do any scenes on an alien setting. Because, clearly, there have been no strides in the improvement of set design over the decades.

Translation, since I have a strange feeling you're intentionally going to pretend that you don't quite get the parallel there, costuming has evolved over the years. It's very, very possible to have a tastefully anachronistic costume in this day and age. Why, real people do it every single day as part of their regular wardrobe. Russell Brand is a fine example. Another is this steampunky professor.

That outfit looks like shit, and I'm amazed you would cite it as a "tasteful" anachronistic outfit.

Doctor Who'd best stick to mild anachronisms with its costuming, I think.

 

[Mr. Sin]

Interestingly there's been attempts in the Who spin-off fiction to alter some of the Doctor's more wacky costumes.


There's the Sixth Doctor's blue coat he wears in some of the spin-off audios, and the Seventh Doctor wore a business suit that was suppossed to be a take on Alec Guiness's outfit in OUR MAN IN HAVANA. (McCoy actually wore a similar outfit in one of his films, THREE KINDS OF HEAT).


Funny thing is Smith in public is seen many times with a fedora and scarf....

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

RTD was right to make the Doctor's clothing a little less, um, flamboyant. He's the Doctor and should be the coolest looking dude in the room. That said, Smith's costume is growing on me. It's hipster by way of academia, something I could easily see on the streets of San Francisco, especially along Valencia Street in the Mission.

 

[captcalhoun]

there's a woman comes in the shop i work in quite regular, who wears a long beige mac and a tricorn hat.

people dress how they want.

if i was the new actor playing the Doctor, I'd wanna cause some head 'splosions among fanboys by wearing a Star Trek t-shirt...