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David Tennant Cast as New Doctor Who 200

Posted by CowboyNeal from the tipping-the-tardis dept.
A user writes "Doctor Who fan site Output Gallifrey is reporting that David Tennant has been cast as the tenth incarnation of the Time Lord. Tennant, who has recently appeared in BBC dramas Blackpool and Casanova, has been linked with the role of the Doctor since the announcement of Christopher Eccleston's departure."
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David Tennant Cast as New Doctor Who More

David Tennant Cast as New Doctor Who

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  • Depressing (Score:5, Funny)

    by Average_Joe_Sixpack ( 534373 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @10:46AM (#12254765)
    I am now older than the guy playing Dr Who :-(

    • Re:Depressing (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Good point. One of the most sickening things about television these days is that with anything related to action/adventure, they seem insist on casting young actors, probably in hopes of creating a significant female following. "Casanova"? Give me a break! FormerSomething tells me this fellow will last as long as Eccleston did. Naturally, Doctor Who fans should be obsessed with the well-groomed careers of these actors. The better Doctors tended to be a little older, and so the show focused on plots an
      • What about Doogie Houser M.D.?

      • Re:Depressing (Score:3, Informative)

        by Skuld-Chan ( 302449 )
        Peter Davidson was 31 when he took on the role of Dr. Who #5 in 1981.

        • Re:Depressing (Score:2, Informative)

          by DJTodd242 ( 560481 )
          I'll take your geek card now please. His name is Peter Davison!
        • and the worst doctor yet was he. not that he's a bad actor, it was just a bad casting choice. but then... I doubt that anyone would have been popular as the 5th dr :)
          • I think Peter Davison was a more appealing Doctor than both Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. He was like a younger Patrick Troughton for me.

            What spoilt virtually all of the Peter Davison era for me was the companions, especially Tegan. There was just so much tension in the TARDIS.

            The best companions have been curious and playful, willing to experience all the wonder of a wide universe. I particularly liked those who were the Doctor's equal, especially Romana #2.
    • Just think about how much older you are than all the doctor's female assistants. You could almost put a "Barely Legal Teens!" caption to most of them.
    • I am now older than the guy playing Dr Who :-

      Agreed. He should have regenerated into Angelina Jolie [imdb.com] and then I would not be so depressed about it by myself.
      • Maybe you've stumbled onto a way around the re-incarnation limit problem. He gets to come back, but as a female. With the right actress and decent scripts it might just actually work.

    • Re:Depressing (Score:4, Funny)

      by WolfWithoutAClause ( 162946 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @04:50PM (#12257065) Homepage
      Still, it could be worse, you could be older than Dr. Who the character. :-)

      • Still, it could be worse, you could be older than Dr. Who

        the character. :-)

        I am.
        Your point is?

        I think Tennant has the potential to be a good doctor - I wasn't sure until I saw him in Casanova. Now I'm looking forward to seeing his realisation of the role, even if I wanted Richard E. Grant myself - at least he's older than I am! (And he'd be great in the part too).
        I hope they stop doing such short story lines - most of the better Who stories were 4-6 parters. Oh and my pet gripe is the credits - Ecc

  • Salary details (Score:3, Funny)

    by LiquidCoooled ( 634315 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @10:46AM (#12254767) Homepage Journal
    In one of the papers, they are saying he landed a £500,000 salary deal.

    If he was the real doctor, he could setup a bank account with bit of money in, and come back in a couple of million years to collect his interest.
    • No no no - all he'd have to do is deposit one penny in a savings account in his own era, and when he arrives at the End of Time the operation of compound interest means that the fabulous cost of his meal has been paid for. This, many claim, is not merely impossible but clearly insane. Oh, sorry... I got a little confused there. All this reviving and updating Sci Fi from my youth is getting to me.

  • Classically trained. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by MisanthropicProgram ( 763655 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @10:51AM (#12254794)
    From imbd: Graduated from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

    I always wondered if people like this get bored playing TV characters. Then again, over the span of a series, I guess you can develop a character and his emotions.
    Or, he just wants to buy a house in the Caribbean.

    • If like me you don't get BBC3, thanks to google image search you can see what he looks like here [google.com].

      And here [lyceum.org.uk]he is with a pretty lady.
    • But it can make a difference. How do you you draw on your personal experiences to method act a character like Dr. Who? Or Richard III, for that matter? It may be that for the kind of archetypal roles that appear in science fiction, a classically trained actor is best.

      Recently I rented the original Star Wars movies for my kids, and the thing that struck me is how shaky and unsure most of the acting was. The exceptions were old pros Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing, who were completely sure of themselves an
    • As opposed to playing the same character saying the same lines every night in the theatre you mean?

  • BBC (Score:4, Informative)

    by BarryNorton ( 778694 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @10:52AM (#12254797)
    Oh well, if a fan site say it they're the authority... never mind checking the BBC [bbc.co.uk]!
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • True, the story had only been up on the BBC News site since early this morning (in UK, i.e. eight hours before this was posted), but the news had been already been long released officially; it was in The Guardian this morning...

    • Re:BBC (Score:3, Funny)

      by fishbot ( 301821 )
      I love this bit:

      "Actor David Tennant has been named the new Doctor Who after a meteoric rise in television and theatre."

      Meteoric? I wasn't aware of many meteorites rising. Let's just hope he doesn't wipe out any species, eh?
  • Eccleston, whose first appearance as the ninth Doctor attracted 10 million viewers, said he feared being typecast.

    Can one really be typecast as the sole surviving Time Lord? Did he think his next gig would be in a sitcom of a similar premise? :)

  • Sometimes i wonder if the tabloid drama generated by changing actors makes for more publicity than the quality of the show itself.

  • The best Dr. Who (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Of all the modern incarnations of the Doctor, the best actor in the role was Paul McGann. He looked the part and is a very good actor.

    Now we get somebody who just doesn't fit the role. Kind of like what happened to the Batman movies. Most of the actors sucked at being Batman.

    • McGann's Doctor-by-committee was *wrong* idea (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Dogtanian ( 588974 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @11:11AM (#12254896) Homepage
      Of all the modern incarnations of the Doctor, the best actor in the role was Paul McGann. He looked the part and is a very good actor. Now we get somebody who just doesn't fit the role.

      Paul McGann was passable, but was really just a slightly bland generic amalgalm of previous Doctors (read the second half of this post [slashdot.org]) and someone's idea of what the Doctor "should" be like.

      IMHO, to be successful and avoid comparisons with previous Doctors, an actor *has* to bring something new. The Batman comparison is flawed, because Batman was meant to be the same character in each, whereas each Doctor has a distinctly different personality- or at least they should.

  • Derren Brown (Score:3, Interesting)

    by t_allardyce ( 48447 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @11:16AM (#12254919) Journal
    He'd make a good time lord.

    I've watched the first 3 episodes and i had only seen a couple of Dr Who's before that, but the old ones seemed more entertaining, tonights show will make or break it for me, I wonder if the ratings will still be high?
  • At least he looks a bit more interesting than the current one:

    http://iloveharrypotter3.weblogger.com.br/img/we bl ogger82.jpg
  • This guy's already got 2 roles he'll be remembered for. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0855039/ Being in a Harry Potter film AND the Doctor must make you some kind of geek über actor. Only Patrick 'Picard and Xavier' Stewart and Sir Ian 'Gandalf and Magneto' McKellen can compete.
  • At last a good choice! Tennant is the just the sort of 'light' actor that can be driven by the role and not look like a big fish in a little pond (as Eccleston did).
    Nonetheless, I would have preferred Chris Evans (talented-yet-flawed DJ/TV presenter/Billy-ex) because he has obvious character; or Eddie Izzard (surreal comedian) who could have written his own lines and used his own clothes ;) and made the show something really special (and funny too!) but in an interview on fanboy Johnathan Ross's show recent

  • Being a Dr Who veteran... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Skiron ( 735617 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @11:27AM (#12254974)
    ... and seen them all on TV from 1963ish onwards from behind the sofa, I don't care as LONG AS SWEET LITTLE BILLIE PIPER stays.

    She is real cute, and the best Dr Who assistant ever.

    From keeping a young boy 'shit scared behind the sofa' to keeping an older man watching, Whoo Whoooooo Whooo Whoooo (hum that last part) cares. Keep Billie!

  • Star of a not-very-well-known gem (Score:4, Interesting)

    by joppabukowski ( 844481 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @11:32AM (#12255000)
    This one seemed to totally slip by the mainstream. It's called L.A. Without a Map (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119565/ [imdb.com]).

    It's a strange little film about a Scottish undertaker/wannabe screenwriter (Tennant) who falls in love with an American tourist and travels to L.A. to find her.

    Vinessa Shaw, Julie Delpy, Vincent Gallo are all excellent, and there are a few very funny cameos by Johhny Depp. He appears in most of the film as his own poster for Dead Man, who Tennant talks to for inspiration (difficult to explain, something like this:- http://www.posterplanet.net/images/deadmangun.jpg [posterplanet.net])

    Tennant is, in my opinion a good actor and while I'm not a huge fan of Doctor Who, I'm glad for his success. Maybe it will make this film easier to find?

  • Stick Around! (Score:3, Informative)

    by stellabambino ( 858304 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @11:41AM (#12255045)
    Hopefully, we'll get more than one season with Tennant's Doctor, since we're now on number ten - leaving us with what, three more before he's out of Regenerations? IF the actor's keep leaving, we'll be done with Doctor Who by 2010.

    • Re:Stick Around! (Score:2, Insightful)

      by tuffy ( 10202 )
      I'm hoping the same if only for the sake of some consistency. But once they've exceeded the established limit of regenerations, you can be sure they'll find a way to bypass it for the sake of bringing new leads into the role. The whole concept was invented to serve the show not vice versa.
    • I think the Doctor has already exceeded his original number of regenerations.

      See http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/episodeguide/b rainmorbius/ [bbc.co.uk] . In the Time Lord Mind Game the Doctor and Morbius battle and Morbius asks the Doctor how long he has lived. We see the faces of the incarnations of the Doctor we know and then other faces we don't know, totaling 12. This implies that Tom Baker's Doctor is the 12th regeneration.

      Then see http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/episodeguide/l ogopolis/ [bbc.co.uk]. I th
    • " leaving us with what, three more before he's out of Regenerations?"

      Actually, there was a mention in an episode years ago about being able to renew regenerations in a Time Lord. I don't remember the specifics, sorry. (I do wonder, tho, how come the Doc was able to live to 900 years in his first incarnation?)

      Now that the Time Lords are gone, I'm curious how that'll play out. Hehe.

      • Now that the Time Lords are gone, I'm curious how that'll play out

        That ticked me off and was totally unnecessary. If you don't want to use the backstory then don't. There's no need to trash it for future storylines - unless they're going to bring Gallifray back of course. It's also a bit anachronistic - when are the Time Lords dead - in 50 billion ad? Go back in time to when they're still around.
        Trek screwed around with crap time travel stories for years, let's have the Doc meddle some more.

        • That ticked me off and was totally unnecessary.

          We don't know if it was totally unnecessary yet, though. It's obvious they're building to something and now it's a matter of finding out what. I'm interested in finding out who the culprit is: Sontarans? 60s-style time travelling Daleks? Something new?

      • I do wonder, tho, how come the Doc was able to live to 900 years in his first incarnation?

        I have a theory about that...

        Any Time Lord can live hundreds of years in the same body, provided they don't get seriously injured. They age at maybe 1/10 the rate of humans... so after 700-800 years, they start to look and feel old. The first Doctor (Hartnell) acted like a crusty old man... We don't know how old the Doc was when he `borrowed' the TARDIS, but he was old enough for Susan to think of him as her grandfa

  • Casanova star to play new Doctor Who (Score:5, Funny)

    by JohnCC ( 534168 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @11:46AM (#12255072) Homepage
    Dr. Who: Lets go to my tardis, Rose.
    Dalek: Fornicate!! Fornicate!!
  • BBC is holding out for cash before distribution in the US. I'll reserve judgement on this new series until I see it.

  • When asked for comment... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 16, 2005 @12:04PM (#12255197)
    ...David Tennant said, "I quit."
  • What about the 10 regeneration limitation?

    I know, I know, its TV, they will think of something.
    • It's a 12 regeneration limit, not 10.
    • Just so you know - the doctor can regenerate 12 times.

      (I can't believe I even said that)

      Besides - the world won't end if they extend it - there are plenty of plot holes in Dr. Who already.
      • What's worse is that the stupid producer of Dr. Who thought it would be so cool to blow up the Doctor's homeworld of Gallifrey in episode 2 of the new season, so the doctor has no real way getting more regenerations. They should just say that there were complications with the doctor's ninth regeneration and have Tennant and Ecclastion share the title of the ninth doctor.
    • "What about the 10 regeneration limitation?"

      Is consistency really so important that it could mean killing the show?
  • Maybe Tennant will be a good Doctor - he's certainly got to be better than Eccleston, who I find frankly dire - but I really don't understand this obsession TV has with youth.

    Why does the Doctor have to keep getting younger and younger? To me he should be an eccentric older man, with enough years to give gravitas to some of the absurd lines he'll surely have to say!

    We're told that it is so "youth" can relate to him - but that's surely nonsense. As a kid I grew up with Tom Baker, and didn't relate to him a
    • "Why does the Doctor have to keep getting younger and younger? To me he should be an eccentric older man, with enough years to give gravitas to some of the absurd lines he'll surely have to say!"

      We've got like 25 years of that. Frankly, I like Eccleston because his eccentricity is a little weird to watch coming from somebody who is fairly young and, for once, dresses sensibly.

      Truth be told, I don't think there's any requirement that the Doctor be 'old', just carrying the experience of traveeling around

    • Just for reference: (Score:4, Informative)

      by Rob T Firefly ( 844560 ) on Saturday April 16, 2005 @04:33PM (#12256983) Homepage Journal
      David Tennant turns 34 on Monday. When they each began playing the Doctor: Chris Eccleston was 40, Paul McGann was 37, Sylvester McCoy was 44, Colin Baker was 41, Peter Davison was 30, Tom Baker was 40, Jon Pertwee was 51, Patrick Troughton was 46, and William Hartnell was 55.
    • Why does the Doctor have to keep getting younger and younger?

      Because he's Merlin?

      (Just recently saw that episode, it's called Battlefield).

  • One word (Score:2, Funny)

    by JustOK ( 667959 )
    Pierce Brosnan

  • David Tennant [imdb.com] already had part on the Dr. Who mini series "Doctor Who: Scream of the Shalka" as the Caretaker.

  • All I can say is that I was delighted when I'd heard that Eddy Izzard was being considered for the role. Of course, that may have been untrue, but it would have been brilliant!
    • ... it would have been shite, and I speak as a very-long-standing Eddie fan. For my evidence, I offer up every single film role he has taken on, all, unanimously, crap. The man can't act. He's a hysterically funny standup but he. can't. act. Oh, forgive me, he was excellent in Lenny (the stage-play based on the life of Lenny Bruce) which I saw, and in which he played a ... stand-up comedian.
  • Wow. The Doctors are changing almost as fast as the post Breshnev Soviet leaders did.
  • As the riddle goes:

    Sal and his son Sammy were driving down the road. A car ran into them and killed Sal. Sammy was rushed to the ER for an emergency surgery. The surgeon came in and said, "I can't help him, he is my son, Sammy."

    How could this happen?

    The answer is the surgeon is .... Sal's mother. Yes, women can be doctors too.

    It would finally be time in 2005 to make the Doctor Who a woman and the companion a male. I mean this is the 21st century and there seems to be nothing in the setup that requires t

  • I don't really like Ecclestone's Dr. Who, but having see David Tennant in Cassanova, I think he'll be excellent. He is very bright and witty but his training shows through, and I think that he will bring some gravitas to the role.

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