Wherein I wank about the new Doctor

[dangermousie]

The more I think about it (and look at him), the more I find the actor who is going to play Eleven positively hideous. Forget rumpled charm or plainness. No, I mean hideous. I think it has something to so with facial symmetry (or utter lack thereof). I don't find Eccleston or Tennant particularly good-looking (even though I adore their Doctors), but they don't inspire a "Good God, is this a work by Picasso?" reaction in me. They are going to have to light him verrrrrry carefully.

Also, no matter how I think about it, he is just too young. More importantly, he looks too young! Watching someone who looks like a Twilighter try to be smart and boss people around will be irritating.

Seriously, I know young demographic and all is important, but how about a Doctor in his 50s? 40s? Come on! I don't have an age problem per se (he is only a few years younger than me anyway, and I have been fine with actors who were even younger, in their various roles. Heck, if you like jdramas, you are almost forced to think 22-year old leading men are the norm) but it just doesn't seem role-appropriate here.

Basically, the more I think about it, the more UGH I get. Oh well, I am not a huge Moffat fan anyway so probably not the target audience for the new Timelord in his TARDIS of emo.

Comments

[marspeach.livejournal.com]

Pictures?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That's about the most photogenic pic out there, which says a lot.

http://i44.tinypic.com/fblwup.jpg

[marspeach.livejournal.com]

Wow... yeah, uh....

Maybe he's just so much of an incredible actor that no one notices his looks?

[animeshon.livejournal.com]

The stupid thing is, the way they got around the older Doctor in earlier series was to have young companions who appealed to the younger audience. They are totally fixating on capturing the younger audiences now and not thinking about the people who have been watching a long time. I for one was hoping for a Doctor at least around the age of Four

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

a Doctor at least around the age of Four

The way they are going, Twelve is going to be not around the age of Four, but around the age of four.

[animeshon.livejournal.com]

I know, and this does not make me happy. Ten was young enough, considering how old The Doctor is supposed to be :(

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I believe Moffat was looking to cast someone 40+ but this guy apparently blew them away at the audition, so for any reservations I have, I'm holding on to that main fact.

I don't find Eccleston or Tennant particularly good-looking (even though I adore their Doctors)

LOL. Perhaps the less attractive you find them, the more you enjoy their Doctor? It's early days. I for one don't like the fuss people are making about age. I mean, I'm 25 - does that make am a rabid generation-Twilighter? Ack no. Besides, the Doctor is 900 years old, not 26. Looks are kind of irrelevant.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Looks (i.e. how old he looks) might be irrelevant in abstract but not practicality-wise, for me, on-screen. Someone very young, unless they are exceptional, can't really come across with much wisdom or authority. IMO.

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

That's fair enough, I guess. Clearly either this guy really impressed Moffat at the auditions with the ability to play "young yet old", or Moffat was serverely wrong. We'll have to see I guess :)

EDIT: I do have some issues with Moffat: kind of a love/hate thing. Brilliant writer, but in RTD's season has a tendency to put aside the companion in favour of his own companion. That said, now he is running the show, this might change (fingers crossed?)

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

You don't like Moffat? Do you have specific objections? He's written 3 of my favorite eps! Of all Doctor Who! (Have you seen 3.10 yet?)

Although I will grant that I did see Jekyll, which he was in charge of, and I wasn't impressed at all. Oh, Nesbitt did a great job splitting the parts but I wasn't into the story and mostly yelled at the computer for the eps to move along a bit.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I like Coupling but I don't like Moffat on Who.

He has a tendency to do "Lady of the Week" which makes my inner feminist irritated, especially when you combine it with 'woman in the refrigerator' trope those eps have.

Plus, he is not so good about season-long continuity and he likes to put aside established companions in favor of those 'ladies of the week' characters. I'll leave Rose out of it since it's a wanky topic, but e.g. in 'Silence in the Library', some of which I did like, he shuffled off Donna pretty quickly out of the way in order for the super-awesome (or super-irritating, if you are me) River Song to come in and do companioning for one ep.

But anyway, this post that I am linking to explains my feminist issues with him better than I can. I think he is a good writer, if reigned in, but I don't like the idea of him as a show-runner.

http://arabian.livejournal.com/265297.html#cutid1

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

Wow. I totally thought I was commenting on someone else's LJ. A lot of times I'll comment on yours and think I'm talking to alexandral and vice versa; this time I thought you were girlfromsouth, who's two seasons behind.

I can see your point, to an extent. "Girl in the Fireplace" (season 2, the one with Madame Pompadour) was one of my least favorites because it pairs the Doctor with.. well, somebody. I don't like him shipped. I think he should be a solo-guy no matter who pines after him. Surprisingly, I'm not even an old-school Doctor Who fan.

I did not like the "Silence in the Library" for a similar reason, because all the River Song is his future OTP! We all must worship and realize that he has someone waiting for him! I did, however, like the scary. (Oddly enough, I saw the same actress in Lost in Austen [which: NEVER EVER WATCH. IT IS THE WORST FORM OF LIVE MARY-SUE LIVE FANFIC THAT I'VE EVER SEEN AND I WANTED TO RIP MY EYES OUT] as Mrs. Bennet and was like, where the hell have I seen this person, recently?

My favorite eps are "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" (I cry at the end each time) and "Blink." "Blink" is, in my opinion, the best standalone episode of anything I've ever seen. These two eps scared the CRAP out of me, and they're why I love Moffat.

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

Ok, I just went and read that post and a bunch of the comments. And... whoa. I can see the points a little bit more when you look at them as the 6 he wrote and the trends, but I agree more with the comments of people who DIDN'T jump up in praise that it's absolutely right.

I don't know. I guess my inner feminist doesn't get riled up as easily. If I think really hard about it, sure, I get a little unhappy that Sally and Larry ended up together in "Blink" because he's kind of a good-for-not-much but, whatever, it was cute. Besides, Kathy was her best friend; if Kathy and her brother were complementary why is it so hard to believe they might be compatible? As for Ben and Kathy, it was some cute banter (which, if read with sinister intent, can be all WOMAN OPPRESSED or somesuch) that quickly introduced her character to the guy who'd grand-sire the man who delivered the note to Sally. If anything, the banter represented a similar relationship she had with Sally, quick witted and breezy. I didn't find his "I won't stop following you" equal to I'm STALKING YOU/NO-MEANS-YES. He was.... joking around, curious about someone who appeared in front of him dressed kind of funny, and maybe wanted to see if she needed help that she clearly wasn't going to ask for. I never got a creep/I hate women vibe off him.

Jekyll never struck me as particularly mysogynist when I watched it, mostly boring. After reading that article I don't have to try too hard to fit the few female characters into the mold: Katharine was just his assistant, Claire just his wife, and I'm sure better feminist academics than I could make it all work out just to fit the theme.

However, I can't help but feel that a lot of feminist arguments read far too much into the material.

I'll be on the lookout if the themes prevail, but when I think Moffat, I think "ability to scare," not overwhelming misogyny.

Basically...

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

Moffat doesn't push my buttons in terms of anti-feminism or whatever unless I think really, really hard about it. Frankly, I'm happier to just watch the scary and I'm hoping for more along those lines. If the writer of that article turns out to be correct, I'll be disappointed, but I can't say I wasn't warned.

Now, Stephanie Meyers had me completely up in arms when I read about that series. Maybe Moffat's just better at hiding it from people like me.

Re: Basically...

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree that the article over-reacted, but it did hit on the issues I had (even if mine aren't so severe). Oh well, we'll see.

Re: Moffat & Misogyny

[mycenae.livejournal.com]

I find Coupling hilarious, but I was recently rewatching some of it and it struck me how flat the female characters seemed. They seemed a lot more like a man's idea of women than actual women I know. Sally especially drove me nuts, a cardboard cutout neurotic. Jane's craziness was an intentional counterpoint to Jeff, and yet his antics seemed much more relatable and developed than hers. And Susan didn't get any epic rants the way Steve did, where, as a Moffat mouthpiece, he would blather on for five minutes about porn or sofa cushions or whatnot. Clearly it is beyond Moffat to write convincingly from a woman's point of view for any length of time- perhaps at all.

At the Comic Con Doctor Who panel this summer, which was basically an hour long Moffat monologue, he called the Doctor leaving Rose with the Doctor clone "a brilliant way to get rid of a clingy girlfriend." He delivered it in a tongue-in-cheek way, and I found it hilarious at the time, but now I'm left wondering if that was really how he saw the character of Rose.

Re: Moffat & Misogyny

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...more grist for the mill.

I haven't seen Coupling in years but I am going to rewatch and see if I notice any issues with it this time.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I thought I was the only person who found River Song irritating beyond belief. I loved the idea of those episodes and the whole library plot...her, not so much.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I liked the scariness and the concept but she was so Mary Sue it crossed new limits :)

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

I've never watched DW, so I have the luxury of being able to sit back and be amused by everyone's very vocal reactions to this, but...well, if you wanted mature and ruggedly handsome, this actor isn't it. The thing is, David Tennant absolutely gives me the creeps in every way, so this actor doesn't look like a huge change to me. Granted, I know David is a good actor, but I do not find him attractive in any way and he has legions of rabid fangirls out there. Perhaps this new actor won't be as bad as everyone is expecting. :) As long as he can carry whatever is required for the role, looks/age begin to become much less important.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't mind the looks as much as the fact that he is too young and doesn't seem to have much experience. Oh well...

[vanimy.livejournal.com]

LOL... Hideous!

My sentiments exactly. The more I look at him the more I think he's ugly. I watched him in Secret Diary with Billie Piper and I thought he didn't exude any charisma. But well, we'll see. I'm not too excited about Moffat either...

But what gets me most is how young he looks.... All the Doctors are looking at least 30 which is the least we can have for a character like that. Smith better be a terrific actor to make the years appear on his face the way Tennant could in a single glance.... Doubtful.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Smith better be a terrific actor to make the years appear on his face the way Tennant could in a single glance.... Doubtful.

Exactly.

[ficchica.livejournal.com]

I'm glad he's ugly. Maybe we'll lose some of the annoying little shippers. I like Moffat he's a much better writer than RTD. Much darker as well. RTD could start with a good idea then it would rapidly descend into silliness. I'm never going to forgive RTD for the chavtastic Rose, Jackie & Mickey who developed into three of the most annoying character's I've ever had to put up with. Rose would have been all right without all the soap opera.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I loved Rose, Mickey and Jackie (and RTD) so I think my tastes are a bit different :)

I don't mind the looks (or lack thereof). I would love to see a 60+ Doctor, actually. But if they cast him to try to appear to a youth demographic, they should have cast prettier and if they haven't cast him for that reason, I still dislike someone so young. Also, I don't mind a plain-looking person of whatever age, but when someone is actively pinging my 'hideous' button, it's distracting.

[seven-trees.livejournal.com]

I just don't like that he's so young. I feel like, how am I supposed to believe that this guy could save the world and be all super smart about aliens and freaking parallel dimensions and yadda yadda when he looks like he should be at bar in South Beach drinking jello shots off the waitress's boobs. You know?

It's the same thing with James Bond. I don't even like the movies, but if they ever tried to make a twenty-year old a 007 I'd be like, yeah pull the other one.

Funny part: I'm younger than this guy.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

be all super smart about aliens and freaking parallel dimensions and yadda yadda when he looks like he should be at bar in South Beach drinking jello shots off the waitress's boobs.

Word. Exactly.

[seven-trees.livejournal.com]

I don't know. Maybe he'll be good. I heard somewhere that he was excellent during his audition, so you never know. At the very least I hope he pulls off enough talent that I don't have to keep thinking of him as fratboy!Doctor.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

let's hope!

[december-clouds.livejournal.com]

I'm sooooooooooo glad you said this. He is THUGLY. I can't believe he's going to play the Doctor. I don't even watch Dr Who but I have to see the adverts and ... ugh.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Seriously...ugh.

[kitkat-cat.livejournal.com]

yep yep yep! i agree completely!

when i saw his interview, more than the floppy hair, more than the jawline, i just absolutely hated his 'lady diana-esque' habit of pointing his face to the floor but then looking up at the interviewer/camera. hate hate hate it!

i think he looks very androgynous and i have no idea why the bbc went for him. the bells should have started ringing when they decided to move the show to an earlier time on saturday, to reel in all the kiddies out there me thinks. Tennant was *not* pleased when that happened... i just think that the bbc are probably going to lose more viewers than they gain.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

'lady diana-esque' habit of pointing his face to the floor but then looking up at the interviewer/camera. hate hate hate it!



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