In The News---Doctor Who Rumors

[rabid1st]

There are two rumors in the news. One is that Matt Smith might be replaced as the Doctor. I think this would be a mistake. And it is probably unlikely, too. Matt does an okay job as the Doctor. He's not David Tennant, but that's okay. What the show needs is more heart. Stronger writing from episode to episode. Not more romance, just more of a solid relationship between the characters. And less of the grandstanding attitude the writers have had for the last two years, the "We don't need to write for this character because he's such a legend already" nonsense. You can't just sit on your laurels or spend all your time saying how great some character or other is (Hello, RIVER) rather than having the character BE great and expect that the audience will believe you or care.

Second, Johnny Depp as the Doctor. Well, this would work if we went retro. If we made him a young version of the FIRST Doctor...and gave him a reason to flee Gallifrey and introduced him to Susan (Yes, you can be introduced to a granddaughter)...or gave him some reason to take her with him into time and space in a stolen TARDIS. If they paid close attention to the real canon of the show this time...and didn't try to recreate it. But only put some RTD spin on it. I could buy Johnny Depp as a young William Hartnell...with the Victorian frock coat and long hair and glasses. He would work.

But if we are doing something that is just a Doctor Who story for today...then the canon demands they stick with David Tennant and Billie Piper. They stand the best chance of winning over a film audience to the franchise. The canon is just too ponderous to introduce a mythical short term Doctor into it. As I have said all along, Matt Smith isn't going to cut it on the big screen. I think he might want free of the show in a few seasons himself...if he wants to recover his career. But I could see a proper intro to Doctor Who from RTD and Depp...if it went RETRO to pre-1963. If it told the story of the Doctor's original exodus from Gallifrey.

Rae

Comments

[mrs_roy.livejournal.com]

I just read this - http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/48403668.html#cutid1

All I have to say is, if JD so much as goes near the Tenth Doctor, I'll slit my wrists here and now.

Tennant and Piper are the only two who can even poke a candle at those roles. No, Depp is just not right! It can't happen and I for one will NOT support it! He's a fruit loop, sure, but he's NOT a Doctor!

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Well, as I said, I would have him play ONE not TEN. Him playing Ten is not going to work at all. The recast of Ten and Rose would infuriate fans of the show...just as you are saying it would you. I, too, wouldn't go near Depp as a modern Doctor. But I would watch him if he was playing the younger version of the FIRST Doctor. And really, that's where there is a story to tell, too.

Rae

[mrs_roy.livejournal.com]

I cant really see RTD giving that era of Who a crack though, he'd be more inclined to stick to his brand of storytelling, the love story, the quirky Doctor and his faithful companion who fall in love and are wrenched from each other, bound to utter lonliness for all of eternity.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Well, yes! But that's the thing...he could tell that story about ONE! And have it be legitimate...and also very steam punk looking which would sell. I wouldn't put it past him to go retro...I know that's what I would do in his place.

[mrs_roy.livejournal.com]

Ok, but my argument is, would that style of writing work for the first Doctor? Granted, I don't know all that much about Classic Who, I'm a bit youngish, I barely remember Tom Baker and he was my first Doctor. But I do know that the first Doctor was a bit different to what he is now.

I just think, put Johnny Depp in any role as the Doctor and you're asking for trouble. But that's just me. I think as an Actor, Depps gone down-hill from his Scissor hand days!

[saku-teiki.livejournal.com]

I'm actually trying to convince my boyfriend that the Deppster would ONLY work as a younger 1st Doctor. I've been watching the 1st Doctor this summer and that could really work, but ONLY if they actually TRIED. They could put romance in there; who knows WHERE Susan came from (I like to think she's Ten and Rose's daughter; I blame your fannovel! Hah!)!

I forgot the rest of what I was going to say.

I like seeing Depp in Victorian clothing. I wish he'd stop playing the same character, though. Cheapens his image. I know he has kids and he wants to make movies for his kids (who are now 11ish and 7ish), but he should stop playing the same Tim Burton character. >_<;;

[spellweaver731.livejournal.com]

Definitely, Susan is so Rose and Ten's daughter, she even looks like Rose. Disheveled convinced me of that and I will never see it otherwise.

[spellweaver731.livejournal.com]

But if we are doing something that is just a Doctor Who story for today...then the canon demands they stick with David Tennant and Billie Piper. They stand the best chance of winning over a film audience to the franchise.

I couldn't agree more, but I could watch Depp as a young first Doctor. I'd rather see more Rose/Doctor in RTD's hands though, even with him leaving me so unsatisfied overall, and Billie and David on the big screen together would be magic.

[kellywiag.livejournal.com]

Arrrrgh! Jonny Depp as the Doctor I do not want that EVER! Its a british program, please let them cast a Brit! Im not anti American or anti Depp no way but I just feel that it should be someone from where it originated from to be cast. DT he's the man we all want, would he be intrested? has he been asked?
ooohhhh the speculation... I feel its all a bit tooo timey wimey for a movie to even be made... but hey thats just my opinion. I would love a movie and If it does go ahead please don't let it suck as badly as the last Who movie! It was woeful!

[liliaeth]

I don't know, I actually never connected to Ten. Nine pulled me in, and I love Eleven, but Ten was always a bit ... he just never got me emotionally, the way Nine and Eleven do. Which is odd, since of the three, he's the only one that I find halfway attractive.

I also liked Rose, but I love Amy more, Amy's just more fun. And I love Amy's relationship with Rory. But then overall, I loved s5 and the fairytale nature of it.

[monkeybatz.livejournal.com]

I know years back when the press asked asked Billie about a Doctor Who move she said she would do it if asked, not sure about Tennant though. I can assume he would in a heartbeat if Billie agreed and RTD was writing the script.

Oh how magical. I can definitely see Depp as a first doctor but I agree with you Rae, the modern story people will relate to the most will be Ten/Rose.

I'm still hoping "Love On The Murder Mile" will eventually be brought to screen. I would love to see those two act together in something other than Doctor Who.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

What interests me about the Depp rumor is that Billie said that David was worried they would give the film to "someone like Johnny Depp" and Americanize it. I find her being so prophetic in the case of this rumor suspicious. It seems to me more like a rumor that develops out of a casual comment of Billie's than anything that is really in the works.

I, too, hope David and Billie work together again. I would be there for anything they did together, because I really do enjoy their interaction so much...their basic chemistry.

Rae

[dharkapparition.livejournal.com]

But I could see a proper intro to Doctor Who from RTD and Depp...if it went RETRO to pre-1963. If it told the story of the Doctor's original exodus from Gallifrey.


Now that's something I'd pay to see.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I think RTD could make a fantastic movie that way...one that wouldn't ruffle too many feather and would introduce the character of the Doctor to a film going audience...and Depp could even age in the part in other movies. And he doesn't really need to have Susan with him at all times...but it would be good if he had her and we established that she IS a Time Lady. There is always the idea of adoption. I could definitely work out something along these lines for a feature film.

Rae

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

"She’s a ship. A time machine. And a time machine isn't just a gravitic anomalizer, and a chameleon circuit, and a helmic regulator, and a vortex. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is, what a TARDIS really is, is freedom."

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Exactly! And that would be a story worth telling that would introduce people to the concept of Doctor Who without treading on too many toes and would work with Depp. And who is to say that the very first Doctor wasn't infatuated with a human companion on early encounters? I mean, yes, he gets very crotchety but there is nothing to say that he was born that way.

And stealing or borrowing the TARDIS...for the first time...tasting that freedom after a lifetime of being an outcast, a misfit, on Gallifrey...well, that's a story worth telling.

Rae

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's a good idea! Though people will always be leery about Who movies. The 1996 one was... I don't know. I loved Eight. But the movie itself...?

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

Yeah! That was my exact reaction to the Eight movie. I liked Eight. I can't say I loved him as there wasn't enough of him to love and I never read any of his books. But I liked him better than Six or Seven even given his short time with us. But the movie as a whole stank. There was the half-human on my mother's side joke that was compounded by the Master believing it...or whatever...obviously it might still have been a trick on the Doctor's part to have the Master believe that. Then, there was the Master himself...who was completely out there and has had no further relevance for the series.

Rae