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Sci-Fi United Kingdom

New Doctor Who Actor To Be Revealed This Sunday 249

New submitter b06r011 writes "The 12th actor to play Doctor Who will be revealed on BBC1 this Sunday at 1900. Rupert Grint and Peter Capaldi have been tipped as favourites to replace Matt Smith but that is no reason to stop idle speculation on a Friday afternooon. This all raises an interesting point though — particularly for Dr Who, where the replacement of an actor whilst maintaining the character is a key part of the plot. Would you rather find out in advance or wait until the end of the regeneration sequence?"
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New Doctor Who Actor To Be Revealed This Sunday

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  • Rupert Grint? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nine-times ( 778537 ) <nine.times@gmail.com> on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:00AM (#44457135) Homepage
    Really? Rupert Grint? I suppose there have been some references to the Doctor wanting to be a ginger, but I don't really see Ron Weasley pulling it off.
    • by Shatrat ( 855151 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:10AM (#44457255)

      It's the modern era progression of making the Doctor younger and more of a wimp, until eventually he is a zygote time lord.

      • Re:Rupert Grint? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by firex726 ( 1188453 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:50AM (#44457877)

        I wish they'd do something radical, make him an older woman for example. There are many established british actresses who could play the part.

        Plus it'd add an interesting dynamic with River.

        • Re:Rupert Grint? (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Comrade Ogilvy ( 1719488 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @12:10PM (#44458159)
          Catherine Tate. I wish they would go with Catherine Tate. As Donna Noble is timelordish already, one can easily imagine another regeneration accident might accomplish the transition.
          • by Zordak ( 123132 )
            She would make an awesome Doctor. And she's ginger. If it's Rupert Grint, I may just have to stop watching. I was willing to give Matt Smith a chance, and he was much better than I had feared, but I'm tired of this race to prepubescence. And while we're talking crazy paradoxes, I actually kind of liked Paul McGann. His TARDIS console room was easily my favorite of all time. If they're not going to give us Catherine Tate, bring back Eight as Twelve. Make it have something to do with the Valeyard if you want.
        • I wish they'd do something radical, make him an older woman for example. There are many established british actresses who could play the part.

          Plus it'd add an interesting dynamic with River.

          Except this has been said so many times, it's now not radical at all. I don't particularly agree since the reason is nearly always for political reasons, not storytelling reasons. Though I trust Steven Moffat to make a good decision.

          • You trust Stephen Moffat? Did you not notice how utterly crap the most recent series was? He has exhausted whatever usefulness he supposedly had...
      • by EvilSS ( 557649 )

        It's the modern era progression of making the Doctor younger and more of a wimp, until eventually he is a zygote time lord.

        Thus why I'm rooting for them to pick Vinnie Jones as the next Doctor!

      • He does have a governess for a companion; it all fits the pattern.

      • by Thud457 ( 234763 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @12:41PM (#44458613) Homepage Journal
        As long as he can yell " RUN! " and wave his SONIC SCREWDRIVER around like a bloody magic wand, I'm sure whoever'll be perfectly adequate.
    • Re:Rupert Grint? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by interkin3tic ( 1469267 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:32AM (#44457617)
      I didn't see underwear model and rapper Marky Mark pulling off a serious acting career. Maybe assume that the people in charge of casting know a little bit more about whether he can act than you do.
    • He could do a Tom Baker style Doctor -- I can see him with that scarf.

    • He was good in Wild Target. Not a hint of Weasley.

  • by jellomizer ( 103300 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:01AM (#44457145)

    He would make an awesome Doctor.

  • I was almost unable to sleep last night with excitement.

    So, crazy, excited.

    Still, there would be something to be said for waiting till the regeneration sequence... though in this day and age it would be very tough to like Doctor Who and not find out via some means beforehand.

  • by omnichad ( 1198475 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:03AM (#44457161) Homepage

    Sure, I'd love to wait and find out. It will be literally impossible. Headlines will spoil it, photos attached to stories will spoil it. Won't even be able to log into Facebook. Just trying to look up details on air date. It will be impossible to remain uninformed.

  • Don't let anyone know which one it will be until it airs.
    • Then reuse the scenes from the other actors later in the series to create one or more alternate-Doctor uber-villains that someone creates by diverging the timeline at his moment of regeneration.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:08AM (#44457235)

    I'm waiting until they reveal the next writer. Matt Smith has done a fine job, but Moffat just hasn't been giving him as good of scripts as Davies wrote for Eccleston and Tennant.

    • Having Moffat write occasional fantasy episodes was fine, and resulted in some great Doctor Who, but turning the whole series into a fantasy show was a mistake. They should have a science fiction fan at the helm.
      • Same, Moffat is fine for the one off deals, and he did a great job with them; but writing longer over arcing plots does not seem to be his strong suit. I think this last one was pretty weak compared to all the others.

        Come to think of it, did they ever resolve the Exploding Tardis storyline? Didn't seem to be explicitly stated, and best guess was The Silence, but also in the final moments there was a voice speaking on one of the monitors and The Silence have not been shown to speak.

    • by pauljlucas ( 529435 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:37AM (#44457703) Homepage Journal

      I'm waiting until they reveal the next writer. Matt Smith has done a fine job, but Moffat just hasn't been giving him as good of scripts as Davies wrote for Eccleston and Tennant.

      During the Eccleston and Tennant years, Davies' scripts were mediocre/bad. It was only Moffat that wrote the good stories (e.g., The Empty Child [wikipedia.org], The Girl in the Fireplace [wikipedia.org], and, probably the best story in the new series, Blink [wikipedia.org]).

      Given stories like that, I was really excited when Moffat took over from Davies, but, sadly, now that's he's lead writer, the stores are back to being mediocre/bad. It might be because being lead writer, nobody has the guts to tell him his scripts are rubbish and go back and rewrite them.

      • Well keep in mind many of the ones from Davies was written alongside someone else too. The ones he did himself were on the better side of that spectrum.

      • Being a showrunner is one of the toughest jobs in showbiz. It is easy to be spread too thin. Just because Moffat is not doing great does not mean anyone else can do better. To me, it suggests that they need fresh blood amongst the stable of non-lead writers.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • by Aggrazel ( 13616 ) <aggrazel@gmail.com> on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:10AM (#44457259) Journal

    I'm going to try to avoid finding out who the next doctor will be, though it'll probably be next to impossible.

    Though I'd love to see the nerdrage/glee if they name a female actor to the role.

  • Next Doctor (Score:5, Interesting)

    by captain_dope_pants ( 842414 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:11AM (#44457265)
    I'd go for Christopher Lloyd - in full-on Emmett Brown / Jim Ignatowski mode, preferably with a British accent but it's not that important. That'd be awesome :)
  • by Golddess ( 1361003 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @11:11AM (#44457267)
    Not sure I understand how "who" could be considered a spoiler. I could see someone caring about the how/why he needs to regenerate, but not who he regenerates into.
  • What does it say about the state of Slashdot's editorial practices that I assumed the headline was just the usual word salad of grammatical errors on first parse?
  • They just keep making the same mistake 10+ times, don't they? THIS TIME hire an actor that will sign a 10 year contract and shows intent to actually stay with the show. In England, the actor who plays Doctor Who is the highest level of attainable status, one level higher than the queen herself. But nope, the last asshole thought "maybe I can do better" or "I just need to be making less money" or "I like movies better" and dropped out after a mere, what 2 or 3 years? Pathetic. Definitely a slap in the f
    • In England the change over of Dr Who actors is now treated like a big celebrity event - it's in all the papers, TV, magazines. The BBC knows what it's doing - Eccleston taught them that lesson --- lots of publicity and celebrity news for what is a pretty weak show in many respects. Obviously Eccleston was the true inheritor of Tom Baker's mantle, but that's just for us to agree on... ;)

    • But that's part of the Doctor's appeal. He's not just a single personality... he's a complex alien whose latest mentality comes forth upon regeneration. After being forced to commit genocide against his whole species, he's an angry nihilist. Slowly, major events in his life make him a more well-rounded person, and the exrenal changes are the most visible part of that. Frankly, seeing the same Doctor for 10 years would be boring, because a major aspect of the character's development would stall.

    • by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

      It's not a mistake. The doctor should not stay the same for that long.

  • I think he'd make an awesome Dr. Who

    • by EvilSS ( 557649 )
      Yes, but only if he played him with the same personality as House.
      • Exactly, that's why I think he'd be perfect. He's got that sarcastic sense of humor with an air of superiority that he does so well.

  • by FellowConspirator ( 882908 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @12:02PM (#44458051)

    Personally, what I'd like to see is a more deliberative and cunning Doctor, more so than a rogue -- something harkening back to previous doctors. Also more 2-3 episode story arcs. Far too many of the stories seem rushed. The pace needs to be notched down and story given more depth with some more richness to the character. They should pick someone that could carry that sort of role. The only thing I've seen Grint perform in is the Harry Potter movies, and while he did an admirable job as Ron Weasley, I don't know that he'd have the presence to carry the role of the Doctor (perhaps I'm mistaken).

    Also, I'd like the Doctor's mortality (and maybe a view into his psyche regarding the subject) to be explored. Presumably, Time Lords have finite regenerations (at one time indicated to be 12) - well, this new Doctor will be at (or nearly at) his final regeneration: will he accept it or struggle to for a way to prolong his life? Will it make him less brash/more timid? Will he consider retirement? Will he seek out his daughter and hand her the torch to become the defender of mankind and meddler in time and space?

    • If by "his daughter", you mean Jenny, the "clone daughter" from "The Doctor's Daughter", then he wouldn't seek her out. Last he saw her, she died and didn't regenerate. Only after he left did her regeneration kick in (albeit without her changing forms) and she took off to explore the Universe. They could bring her back by having her contact the Doctor or run into him, but why would he seek out someone who he thinks died (and whose timeline doesn't allow for a visit without meeting his past self)?

    • Well one loophole that might be exploited was that River gave him all her generation cycles. But then she's not full Time Lord so who knows how many that means.
  • I wouldn't believe the reported "top picks." Moffet has said that he purposefully leaked wrong names to keep us guessing. That means that none of those actors are likely the next Doctor.

    Unless he was lying about leaking wrong names so that THAT would throw us off the trail. In which case it COULD be one of the top picks.

    Curse you, Moffet. Now I can't wait until Sunday!

  • by Baby Duck ( 176251 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @12:24PM (#44458401) Homepage

    No, seriously, it's about Time.

  • by JustOK ( 667959 )

    It's going to be Wil Wheaton.

    • I really doubt that, if for no other reason than Wil Wheaton is not British and I doubt that he could do a credible British accent.

      Please note that I have nothing against Wil Wheaton and if anything I admire him. I've met him and he's a really nice guy and deserves some good rolls.

  • My vote is for Nick Frost. That would be pretty cool.
  • by Stormy Dragon ( 800799 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @01:11PM (#44459033)

    Rowan Atkinson. I actually thought he did a good enough job in the "Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death" parody that I've wanted to see what he'd be like as the real Dr. Who.

  • New Doctor Who Actor To Be Revealed This Sunday

    Actor isn't a proper verb, and even if it were, the generic conjugation would be:
    "Doctor who actors" Although why a Doctor who acts would be important enough to be publicly revealed is beyond me (unless the doctor is the rare type who also plays a doctor on TV).

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger would be awesome.. When Arnold as a Time Lord goes and says.. "I'll be back".. be afraid.. be very afraid... :) :) :) :)
  • by halcyon1234 ( 834388 ) <halcyon1234@hotmail.com> on Friday August 02, 2013 @01:22PM (#44459175) Journal
    Alton Brown for Doctor!
  • by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Friday August 02, 2013 @01:49PM (#44459499)
    This is the perfect part for Gilbert Gottfried.

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