What the What?

[Heradel]

So it was with even greater surprise that movie studio sources confirmed with Tor.com today that, while it can’t comment on possible story elements, the casting of Johnny Depp as the Doctor for a 2012 film is confirmed.

Just please let it be a number eight redo, or a new 9 or 10 story (9 must have been around a while before he met Rose).

[DKT]

This is...odd. Yes, very odd indeed.

[Heradel]

It's like, I'm not really worried about if Johnny Depp can pull off a passable The Doctor, because lord knows he can be the right kind of crazy, but honesty I'm just not sure it would be any different than, say, Captain Jack Sparrow, if Captain Jack was 900 years old and had a blue box instead of a ship.

(Also, and this is entirely irrelevant, but I was watching The Trial Of the Doctor, Colin Baker Era, and he said he was around 900 in that one, so I'm kinda wondering what gives. Was his childhood 800 years long? Is the first regeneration the long one, then you get a bunch of short ones toward the end? Is Gallifrey in a Mercury-like orbit around a very cool star?)

I mean, I trust Davies to pull it off, but it's just odd.

[DKT]

Yeah. I mean, I think Depp is insanely talented, moreso than he gets credit for these days (which is partially his own fault - going from Willy Wonka to Jack Sparrow to Sweeney Todd to the Mad Hatter in 5 years will do that to your reputation, and movies like Finding Neverland or Donnie Brasco or Blow get overlooked by the tent pole films). I guess the rationale is no one does quirky quite like Depp? But yeah, it's still kind of a weird choice...

That said, I'm curious, Heradel: if you were casting a popular A-list actor as Dr. Who for a movie, who would get the Tardis?

[Talia]

I was mostly amused by the way people in th tor thread were flipping out and proclaiming it the End of Days.

I almost want to see it happen just to see angry fans' heads collectively exploding. heh. (sorry if thats mean spirited, I don't mean it as such. Its just the fervor is fascinating. I really need to get around to watching some Dr. Who sometime soon..).

[davedoty]

(Also, and this is entirely irrelevant, but I was watching The Trial Of the Doctor, Colin Baker Era, and he said he was around 900 in that one, so I'm kinda wondering what gives. Was his childhood 800 years long? Is the first regeneration the long one, then you get a bunch of short ones toward the end? Is Gallifrey in a Mercury-like orbit around a very cool star?)

Firstly, dating things in Doctor Who is a long and troublesome debate generally, and you can't really take any two ages too seriously when trying to construct a timeline of the Doctor's life.

Secondly, it absolutely makes sense for his first regeneration to be much longer than all the rest, even longer than all of them combined.  It's the only one in which he lived to old age and regenerated of "natural causes" rather than being forced to regenerate by the Timelords or to escape otherwise fatal wounds.

Also, it's not really clear what effect regenerating into a fully grown adult would have.  If he lives to 800 and regenerates into what looks like a 500 year old, does that mean he only has 300 years left until he's old and ready to regenerate again?  Not that this really matters, since we're not going to see a Doctor live long enough to die of old age again, unless they chose to go with an elderly (or made up to be elderly) Doctor at some point in the future, which seems highly unlikely.

[Heradel]

Its just the fervor is fascinating. I really need to get around to watching some Dr. Who sometime soon..).

Not seeing Who is like not seeing Firefly, though Who has a hell of a lot more back catalog.

That said, I'm curious, Heradel: if you were casting a popular A-list actor as Dr. Who for a movie, who would get the Tardis?

Bypassing the obvious dodge that the Doctor should be cast like 007, and that Bill Nighy's already used up his spot in the Whovian Universe (though then again, he could be a future Doctor going back to give Van Gogh that speech), and then not doing what I'd really like to see done (which have the next regeneration come up female (limited to the upper tier, probably Helena Bonham Carter, but we don't really get to see women allowed to be crazy-like-The-Doctor on the screen most of the time, so odds are there's more up there that could pull it off), and this is really getting to be a very long sentence, I'd probably end up casting Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

[DKT]

Oh, man. That would be fun!

Speaking of Depp, Rango looks pretty amusing...

[stePH]

...what I'd really like to see done (which have the next regeneration come up female (limited to the upper tier, probably Helena Bonham Carter, but we don't really get to see women allowed to be crazy-like-The-Doctor on the screen most of the time, so odds are there's more up there that could pull it off),...

It was funny when they did that in The Curse of Fatal Death (and Joanna Lumley was great) but I think it just wouldn't fit in canon.  I would accept a regeneration into a non-Caucasian man, but a woman just wouldn't work for me.

[Alasdair5000]

Oh, man. That would be fun!

Speaking of Depp, Rango looks pretty amusing...

Yeah that came out of nowhere for me and it looks great fun:)  I especially like the look of the owl mariachi band:)

[Heradel]

Io9 says the BBC has pretty much squashed this as a rumor:

You can scratch that rumor about Johnny Depp starring in a big-screen Doctor Who extravaganza. We checked with the BBC, and a rep says there are "no plans" for a Who movie, and any talk is "pure speculation."

[wakela]

Well, I would enjoy to continue speculating...

I think Depp would be a good Doctor.  Sort of quintessential, in fact.  But the problem is that I can already see how he would do it.  He would be quirky and English, but I wouldn't expect to be surprised by any daring choices he'd make.  Heradel's suggestions of Bill Nighy or Phillip Seymour Hoffman are inspired.  They would surprise me.  I think Ian McKellan has a Doctorly twinkle in his eye, and I wouldn't mind seeing Johnathon Pryce take a stab at it.

And this got me thinking.  What are the core attributes you would need to preserve in a Doctor character?  Could you have a dark, brooding Doctor?  A prick like Dr. House?  How violent can he get away with being? 

[Sgarre1]

I've always had this idea (not for a WHO movie, but for the ongoing series) that it would be really fun if, just for one season (maybe when the show was starting to dip in ratings and so was more open to experiments, as opposed to the current pattern of cute young men) they cast the new regeneration with an 11 or 12 year old kid.  Think of it, a pompous, overbearing, autocratic little martinet dressed in odd clothes ordering people around, never taken seriously by those in power when/wherever the TARDIS lands, but who always ends up being right (it certainly would make for a new and interesting dynamic with the companions, who'd have to kind of "front" for the Doctor with the authorities) and has a tendency to become fixated on some detail or imaginative flight of fancy (bringing forward the sense of whimsy) just like a little kid.  You could even have a story where he gets so caught up in the "fun" that he has to be reminded that human lives are involved.  I don't know why, but the idea really struck my fancy, as it could encapsulate all the aspects of the Doctor's character, light and dark.

I do think Matt Smith's been doing an interesting job - I initially pegged him as a bit like Pertwee but as the season went on he seems to be doing a "young man" version of Hartnell, cantankerous but kind, with a touch of Davison's humanity.

[stePH]

I do think Matt Smith's been doing an interesting job - I initially pegged him as a bit like Pertwee but as the season went on he seems to be doing a "young man" version of Hartnell, cantankerous but kind, with a touch of Davison's humanity.

Memo to #11:

Bow ties are not cool.  No matter how many times you say it, doesn't make it so.  I can call my next crap a cherry popsicle, but I doubt I'll convince anybody else.

[eytanz]

I do think Matt Smith's been doing an interesting job - I initially pegged him as a bit like Pertwee but as the season went on he seems to be doing a "young man" version of Hartnell, cantankerous but kind, with a touch of Davison's humanity.

Memo to #11:

Bow ties are not cool.  No matter how many times you say it, doesn't make it so.  I can call my next crap a cherry popsicle, but I doubt I'll convince anybody else.

I'm pretty sure that is what Amy, and everyone around him, thinks too.

Has America seen the series finale yet? I have something else to say on the topic but I don't want to post a spoiler.

[FireTurtle]

Memo to #11:
Bow ties are not cool.  No matter how many times you say it, doesn't make it so.  I can call my next crap a cherry popsicle, but I doubt I'll convince anybody else.

I'm pretty sure that is what Amy, and everyone around him, thinks too.

Has America seen the series finale yet? I have something else to say on the topic but I don't want to post a spoiler.

Those of us watching it via BBC America have NOT.
 . PS I like the bow-tie.

[CryptoMe]

I've always had this idea (not for a WHO movie, but for the ongoing series) that it would be really fun if, just for one season (maybe when the show was starting to dip in ratings and so was more open to experiments, as opposed to the current pattern of cute young men) they cast the new regeneration with an 11 or 12 year old kid.  Think of it, a pompous, overbearing, autocratic little martinet dressed in odd clothes ordering people around, never taken seriously by those in power when/wherever the TARDIS lands, but who always ends up being right (it certainly would make for a new and interesting dynamic with the companions, who'd have to kind of "front" for the Doctor with the authorities) and has a tendency to become fixated on some detail or imaginative flight of fancy (bringing forward the sense of whimsy) just like a little kid.  You could even have a story where he gets so caught up in the "fun" that he has to be reminded that human lives are involved.  I don't know why, but the idea really struck my fancy, as it could encapsulate all the aspects of the Doctor's character, light and dark.

Oh, I love it!! 

[Seraphim]

He maybe a bit too old nowadays, but I think John de Lancie (Q from STTNG) would make a formable Dr.  John Lithgow might work too...but probably too comic.  If you must have a younger actor, the Zachary Quinto (Sylar, Spock) could probably pull off the right mix of dangerous genius.

[stePH]

He maybe a bit too old nowadays, but I think John de Lancie (Q from STTNG) would make a formable Dr.  John Lithgow might work too...but probably too comic.  If you must have a younger actor, the Zachary Quinto (Sylar, Spock) could probably pull off the right mix of dangerous genius.

Quinto would be better as the Master.  A decidedly non-zany Master (god damn it, I hated the Jon Sim portrayal.)

[DToland]

To me, the Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainsley (very similar, and not only in appearance) Masters were the best.  As good a villain as Zachary Quinto can be, I have a hard time seeing him as the Master.

[stePH]

As good a villain as Zachary Quinto can be, I have a hard time seeing him as the Master.

He'd still be better Master than Doctor. And for my part, the hierarchy is:

Roger Delgado (by a long way)
Almost everybody else
John Sims

[DToland]

He'd still be better Master than Doctor.

Absolutely!  Quinto doesn't have any odd features.  The Doctor HAS to look kind of odd: big ears, a big nose, a fleshy chin, something that both he (especially) and others can look at and smile or laugh a little.  Part of why you love him is because he's an odd duck with hearts of gold and a razor-sharp mind.