Tag Archives: doctor who

Aug 4 2013

Peter Capldi as The Doctor

 

 

I’m not sure how I feel about this casting. On one hand it’s nice to see an established actor have the roll. It might bring a darker, more mature Doctor than before. On the other hand, I think he might be a touch too old. But, like I did with Matt Smith, I’m going to give him a chance to grow into the role and see what happens.

I don’t think it’s fair for any of us to pan his ability to be The Doctor without seeing how he does first. He may surprise us with a very complex, and intriguing portrayal as Smith did.

It will be interesting to see how things turn out, but I’ll tell you one thing: I’m betting the regeneration is during the 50th anniversary special. Why? Because there’s something River said the Clara and The Doctor. To enter your own time stream is fatal, that the winds of the vortex would tear you apart. Ok, so where’s the Doctor? Inside his own time stream. How will he get out if it’s fatal? Sounds like a regeneration to me.

Always pay attention to the words spoken during a Moffatt episode. He writes from the back to the front, so a lot of them foreshadow the climatic episode.

Aug 2 2013

50th Anniversary Special Funding Problems

The Radio Times is reporting that Steven Moffat had quite a lot of trouble with the budget for the 50th Anniversary special. Here’s the quote: “It was unbelievably tough actually making the 50th…It was extraordinarily difficult mainly because we were trying to push the boat out and as ever we didn’t have enough money. We were making a feature-length Doctor Who on the schedule and budget for an hour. We’re doing it in 3D on the budget for 2D.”

This sort of using-Doctor-Who-as-a-testbed for shiny new special effects isn’t unprecedented; as mentioned in “The Writer’s Tale”, RTD recorded similar woes about the budget for “Planet of the Dead” and “The Waters of Mars”. He’d been asked to start making high-def telly but didn’t get commensurate funding for it (reading between the lines, it would appear that they pulled it off by cutting some FX shots and the miracles Julie Gardner could work negotiating with other BBC departments to obtain extra funds; unfortunately, Moffat doesn’t have a Julie Gardner). We’ve mentioned the show’s funding issues before (and, for that matter, that the BBC has decided to scrap future 3D productions on grounds of not being worth the trouble for money), but Moffat has been fairly discreet about the show’s budget up to now. Perhaps that’s something to do with why Moffat was so cagey on the length of the anniversary episode, if he wasn’t sure how much money he was going to have to work with (and BBC Worldwide, which is putting up part of the funds, just did their annual budget).

Aug 2 2013

Peter Capaldi The Oddsmakers Favorite To Replace Matt Smith

BBC

 

Peter Capaldi remains the bookies’ favourite to be named the next Doctor Who on Sunday.

Capaldi, 55, who is better known for playing hot-headed Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It, has been placed above Daniel Rigby, Ben Daniels and Rory Kinnear to play the next Doctor.

Click here to see the other favourite actors in-line to be the new Doctor

William Hills has 11/8 odds on Capaldi, making him the favourite to be handed the role, although Black Mirror actor Daniel Rigby has made a late entry into the top five seeing his odds slashed from 40/1 to 9/2.

Joe Crilly, a spokesman for William Hill, said: “Peter Capaldi remains the favourite as we await the announcement, but it does not appear that the result is as cut and dry as first thought with Daniel Rigby coming in for some late support.”

The unveiling of the 12th Doctor will be announced on Sunday during a special live showon BBC One, which will see the next incarnation of Doctor Who emerge from the TARDIS.

It is thought that Capaldi’s name began to surface after Doctor Who creator Steven Moffat said he would not rule out casting an older Doctor.

He said: “We’ve never not considered an older Doctor. It is completely on all the lists we make- there are absolutely older Doctors.”

Previous frontrunner Rory Kinnear has slipped to fourth place at the bookies after he revealed he had never seen an episode of the show.

Billie Piper, former Doctor’s assistant Rose Tyler, is the only woman listed by Paddy Power to take on the title role after it was rumoured earlier this week that an actress might be in the running.

But with odds on at 33/1 it doesn’t look like Piper will be emerging from the TARDIS on Sunday.

Odds to replace Matt Smith as the Doctor

Peter Capaldi: 11/8

Daniel Rigby: 9/2

Ben Daniels: 5/1

Rory Kinnear: 15/1

Andrew Scot 10/1

Aug 1 2013

New Doctor Who Rumored To Be Peter Capaldi

Peter Capaldi

 

Peter CapaldiWhile the BBC has yet to even officially announce that they are going to officially announce the new Doctor Who, rumors are already circulating that Peter Capaldi will be named as the 12th Doctor Who in a special show to air on the BBC on Sunday.

Before it even leaked that a Doctor Who announcement was imminent, Digital Spyreported on a surge of bets at bookies that Peter Capaldi would be the new Doctor Who. While Peter Capaldi has always been considered in the running for the role, the surge in bets so soon before today’s revelation that the BBC would be making an announcement certainly suggests that those in the know might be attempting to cash-in on their knowledge.

Peter Capaldi is best known for playing spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in the British TV comedy series The Thick of It. Capaldi is also a big Doctor Who fan, having appeared on the show as Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii episode. Also, of note, on Peter Capaldi’s IMDB page, he is listed as playing a W.H.O. doctor in the movie World War Z.  Of course, the W.H.O. is short for World Health Organization, but maybe it’s a sign that he is destined for the Doctor Who role.

Doctor Who Live: The Next Doctor reportedly airs at 7 PM UK time on BBC1 on Sunday, August 4, 2013 and will be simulcast live on BBC America at 2 PM ET.