Weighing in on Doctors

[starsuperion]

Okay, so this is just basically a free for all on the series of Doctor who seasons per Doc as a whole.

I will start with the first premise.. this should be fun to hear feedback with such like minded and brilliant forum chums.

Excellent!

Anyhow, I will just call it like I see it.. Matt Smith's Doctor was the most spoiled Doctor in terms of story content, new monsters, old monsters, time war stuff, firsts! I mean wow! the amount of firsts was massive!!

Seriously tho, compare the amount of new versions of monsters, or old ones who returned.. New Cybermen since the series began, Silurians on screen not seen since the 1970s, a revamped Zygons! even with a new Capaldi Doc in place, spoiled again, he gets a heartfelt cameo!

Matt Smith's era has so much.. looking back, I wish there could have been much more in Ten's run.. but then again, Tennant got to have Elizabeth Sladen as a companion once again if briefly.. Still.. Eleven got to cheat even on the Sontaran.. he's got one as a sort of back up team that shows up pretty regularly.

I would have thought it would have been years till I saw more sontarans..

what about the Ice Warrior? Time Lords? Kate Stewart..

Spoiled Smith! Matt you got the very best out of Old Moff there.. even got to kiss a female version of the Tardis.. come on!!

Not that it is a bad thing, don't get me wrong.. I just think he got spoiled..rotten is all.

What Say you?

 

[DWF]

I never got what the big deal about Matt Smith's Doctor was, he really didn't do much for as the Doctor.

 

[Starkers]

I never got what the big deal about Matt Smith's Doctor was, he really didn't do much for as the Doctor.

You have my pity

Matt was the best Doctor evah!! (ok well he's top three anyway).

But that;s the great thing about Who, we all have our favourites. We all like different things. I kinda get the who-ha about Tennant but though he's a good Doctor too much about his portryal turns me off, similarly I think Tom is slightly overrated in the pantheon (though again Its not that I don't like him).

 

[Ithekro]

For being a very young actor, Matt Smith did manage to pull off being the Doctor, or at least making the audiance believe he is the Doctor very quickly. Most new actors taking on the role have the audiance questioning him and trying to feel out his Doctor for a few episodes. But Matt Smith? The Eleveth Hour sold him as the Doctor.

He may have gotten some weird and bad stories, but all the Doctors get those (poor Colin Baker). Matt Smith managed to pull off something with his Doctor. Even as his was a young man and playing a very crazy/mad Doctor, he also played the Doctor as very old. He could convincingly act the Doctor's age, and make you look into his eyes and thing there was a 1,000 or more year old Time Lord looking at you, rather than a guy in his late 20s.

Peter Capaldi plays the grumpy and usually irritated old man. Though there are sparks of the young man still inside him. He tends to talk with his hands a bit like the Matt Smith Doctor. He however is also capable of action and moves much younger than he might look.

Tennant could sometimes pull off the old man in a young body but he played a very human Doctor.

Eccelston had his own take on the Doctor. The sometime fun but also guilty Doctor who was still shell shocked about the war. There just isn't quite enough of him as the Doctor to see the old man in there.

John Hurt of course was the old man who, while being the guy that had fought the war seemed more innocent than the later Doctors.

McGann had to misfortune to not have much screen time, but comes off as a young and honest soul dispite being the Doctor. His numerous audio books might tell a different tale though.

----------My knowledge of the 1980s Doctors is limited, I have not gotten around to them yet in the long list of episodes to watch---------

McCoy is the old man with plans within plans under a funny face.

C. Baker is the Doctor that is full of himself. This Doctor's ego is huge and also caustic at times.

Davison is the gentler Doctor. He does seem a bit stressed at times though.

----------------------------------

T. Baker's Doctor is probably the most alien of the Doctors. His also has a large ego and is rather self centered. His own form of madness works though. His reactions to things varies from human norm and can be quite interesting to watch. His does pull off the old and young at various times.

Pertwee's the action Doctor who can be grumpy at people and short tempered with them. He acts younger than his age would imply.

Troughton's Doctor is the genius hiding behind the goofy man's face. He is the old man, but can act much younger than he use to act. He is active in defending places from the evils of the universe even though he really doesn't have much control over where the TARDIS goes. (I have a fondness for the Second Doctor having watched or listened to all his serial)

Hartnell's Doctor is the Old Man. Though compared to Matt Smith or Peter Capaldi's Doctor's, he is really quite young. He is grumpy and quick to anger at first, then becomes gentlier over time. Sometimes kid like. He is young after all.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Smith didn't have the Master or Missy though (Although he's mentioned a few times, such as in A Town Called Mercy and Time and the Doctor).

 

[starsuperion]

well, as for Hartnell, Did you guys see Hartnell in the Romans? He was extremely proficient at defeating a thug trying to hill him.. and in addition, he was enjoying the fight! I hadn't seen the romans before.. there was always this mental image I had of Hartnell always needing to rest, and Susan saying "of course Grandfather" a stereotype that seemed to follow into the 5 doctors special even.. I think Hartnell was more young then I used to give him credit for. Indeed, his Doctor in the Romans was amazingly brilliant!

 

[DWF]

well, as for Hartnell, Did you guys see Hartnell in the Romans? He was extremely proficient at defeating a thug trying to hill him.. and in addition, he was enjoying the fight! I hadn't seen the romans before.. there was always this mental image I had of Hartnell always needing to rest, and Susan saying "of course Grandfather" a stereotype that seemed to follow into the 5 doctors special even.. I think Hartnell was more young then I used to give him credit for. Indeed, his Doctor in the Romans was amazingly brilliant!

Hartnell's Doctor was amazing in The Reign Of Terror as well. He walked his way to Paris freeing some prisoners on the way and taking the guy's money as well, then once in Paris wormed his way into the government.

 

[arch101]

^^^Yes.Last year I went back and watched a bunch of Hartnell eps on Netflix and, if you actually watch him instead of knowing him by reputation only, he was pretty good. You certainly appreciate him more in the TV movie they made about him.

 

[Green Lantern]

Actually I'd say Smith was one of the least fortunate Doctors, because a lot of his stories were pure shit.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Hartnell was actually in his mid 50s when he played the Doctor (apart from Three Doctors), but I think in part due to his poor health he always looked much older. David Bradley who played Hartnell in the docudrama actually was three years older than Hartnell was when he died.

 

[Volpone]

The biggest thing on Smith--I really enjoyed the few eps of his I've seen--is that he got a show runner who actually understood what it meant to have a time machine.

Back at the start of the show they were really smart to have the TARDIS wonky/the Doctor not entirely sure how to run it. Because by the time you get to "The Invisible Enemy" you have a "savage" (Leela) able to get the TARDIS to a medical facility with pinpoint accuracy (OK, maybe K-9 helped), but then when they have to get back to...wherever in time to stop the virus and Leela is getting all worked up because they are running out of time, the Doctor is all like "There, there, we can't rush these things" instead of like "Bitch, please, I have a time machine."

 

[DWF]

The biggest thing on Smith--I really enjoyed the few eps of his I've seen--is that he got a show runner who actually understood what it meant to have a time machine.

Back at the start of the show they were really smart to have the TARDIS wonky/the Doctor not entirely sure how to run it. Because by the time you get to "The Invisible Enemy" you have a "savage" (Leela) able to get the TARDIS to a medical facility with pinpoint accuracy (OK, maybe K-9 helped), but then when they have to get back to...wherever in time to stop the virus and Leela is getting all worked up because they are running out of time, the Doctor is all like "There, there, we can't rush these things" instead of like "Bitch, please, I have a time machine."

Then couldn't the Doctor use the TARDIS to travel into the past and visit Rory and Amy or prevent the Silence from invading the earth instead of turning humans into genocidal killers? Now they can rewrite hisory except for those things that are fixed points in time. And no the Doctor wasn't tell Leela to travel backwards in time, he is generally forbidden to interfer in his own timeline.

 

[Mage]

They took the interesting character aspects of Smith's Doctor, and turned them into gimmicks and gags. After that, I grew tired of him pretty fast.