Doctor Who Casting Spoilers/Discussion

[nobleplatypus]

My thoughts, in no particular order:

- I like Peter Capaldi. I like that he's older, and I like the fact that he has a bit of inherent creepiness/menace going on.

- The reason I like the creep/menace factor is because I'm really hoping it will result in less romanticization of the Doctor and companion's relationship. Also, given Moffat's pledge to not really write the character any differently (which, given how his female characters have turned out, I'm not so sure he could even if he wanted to), I can't help but take a perverse interest in whether or not Twelve espouses some of the gross, sexist shit that Eleven has let fly with on occasion. Eleven was able to get away with a lot of troubling stuff, in large part (I suspect) because he's young-looking and goofy and affable, so it was only a certain portion of the fandom that squirmed uncomfortably when he, say, forcibly kissed Jenny without her consent, or mused about the relative tightness of Clara's skirt. If Capaldi!Doc did either of those things, I'm pretty sure the entire audience would be intensely uncomfortable, so it'll be interesting to see whether they necessarily cut back on that stuff, or whether they just embrace the ick factor. I'm hoping for the former.

- Speaking of gross, sexist shit, I'm not all that thrilled that Moffat is still the head writer. My enthusiasm for the show has really waned over the past couple of seasons, so even the casting of a new Doctor can only interest me so much. I don't really want the same crap via a different mouthpiece.

- Also, can we talk about a) how ludicrously blasé he was about Capaldi's name being bandied about before the ~big reveal~ compared to how downright tyrannical he was about any potential leaks of the trailer they showed at ComiCon; and b) how much he deserves to be kicked in the shins over that asinine comment about the Queen being played by a man?

Comments

[philosophercat.livejournal.com]

I didn't get to see/hear Moff's comment re: the Queen but I'd heard he made some (expectedly) dumb, trolling comments. It's fair to say that I feel the same, plus I *am* enjoying the wailing about the Doctor being old. I read an article from the Daily Fail (uuuhhhh) which reposted dumb comments from fans about how "the Doctor is supposed to be young." Not paying attention, these young 'uns! Still, their grief amuses me. :P Back at the eleventh Doctor com on LJ, people are showing almost no interest really. Mostly optimism, with a little sad desperation that there be some hot River/12 action because they can't get enough of bad writing, I guess. ;)

[barsukthom.livejournal.com]

My BiL declared, "Finally! The Doctor is younger than ME again!"

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

The thing about Moffat, I suppose, is he's under economic demands like any other producer. No, he could choose not to say stupid shit out loud and in public (and frontier justice forced his Twitter shutdown thanks to his conduct), but the fact is that youth sells and it's been under the last two young actors (and their interactions with female companions, for good or ill) that "Doctor Who" has gone from a known-but-still-obscure show to a worldwide earner in merchandise, DVD sales, and syndication. He sort of can't help that this is what a LOT of new, younger, spending fans seem to want ... any more than T&T could largely help that a lot of the POTC fans were rabid over J/E above all else.

/shrug

[nobleplatypus]

I can't say I blame Moffat for the fanpoodles or their relentless shipping; it was RTD who took the show in that direction with Ten and Rose, and both RTD and Moffat have since had to deal with the messy repercussions of that choice. It was definitely lucrative, but it's also fundamentally unsustainable: you can't have every single female companion be the Doctor's One True Love.

It's probably to Moffat's credit that he doesn't seem all that keen on playing up the romance angle (though his idea of romance tends to veer towards the creepy and problematic end of the spectrum, anyway), but it'll be hard to shake it entirely. Still, it's not like he's the one who set that particular ball rolling.

[nobleplatypus]

Helen Mirren said it was about time the Doctor was played by a woman. Moffat referenced that quote, and then snarkily suggested that it was also about time the Queen was played by a man. AHAHA HILARIOUS. /sarcasm

And never mind that regardless of how he looks, the dude is over 1,000 years old. They should be thankful he doesn't look like Yoda, frankly. :P

And oh, god. As if there is any salvaging the whole Doctor/River ship. Just let it die with whatever dignity it can scrape together.