Greetings, fellow travelers, and welcome to another posting of the Blog. As you may have noticed, the post title, where I usually just list the posting number, now has an actual title. I did that since, now I post every two weeks, these postings need more than just random thoughts. The title today says all you need to know. For a number of my readers, the title explains itself. For the other number of my readers, a little background.
On Saturday, June 1st, the BBC made the announcement no one saw coming. After first stating he would be back for next year, Matt Smith has decided to walk away from being the Doctor. With this news, I was beside myself. I was enjoying him in the role very well. I thought he brought some much needed personality to the series. Mind you, I've enjoyed his two predecessors in the role as well. Matt, despite his youth, gave the character that mix of young and old in equal measure.
His portrayal showed how the Doctor saw the Universe. Every time the Doctor took a punch from it, he fought back with a combination of wit and fast movement. His version was also content to stick himself in the background. Indeed, I thought some of his best moments in the role came in episodes where he wasn't a major player. The best example was in "The Girl Who Waited". The Doctor's screen time is in bits and pieces and Matt allows his companions to shine in a way few get to. By the end, he makes his only plot movement but it's a moment well earned.
That being said, the time has now come for the Doctor to regenerate. Now, many of you wonder how this cornerstone of the show came about. Believe it or not, the show didn't start with it. In 1963, the idea that the title character could change wasn't in sight. It was just William Hartnell playing an old man. After three years, however, Hartnell was slowly showing his age. His inability to remember lines was gaining on him. Also, action going on outside the studio was ganging up on him and it wasn't going well.
The first person to take over from Verity Lambert as producer of the show was a man named John Wiles. Wiles had his own vision of what "Doctor Who" was than Lambert and its creator Sydney Newman. Wiles found himself at increasing odds with Hartnell. The main reason for this was the dark nature of the material he was pushing on the show. He also okayed a 12-part Dalek serial for no other reason than that a relative of the head of the BBC loved them. By the middle of the season, Wiles had had enough of Hartnell and came up with an idea.
It centered around a story called "The Celestial Toymaker". In the story, the Doctor is made invisible. Wiles, seeing a chance, came up with a plan to replace Hartnell in the role. His plan was that at the end of the story, when the title villain made the Doctor visible again, he would look different. What would help was that Hartnell was taking a two-week break in the middle of the story. In one move, Wiles would remove Hartnell and ask his replacement to act the same way as Hartnell. Problem solved as to the problem of the star and the show could go down that path he wanted.
While Lambert was gone, Newman wasn't, and he refused Wiles' plan. Other channels eventually proved naught and Wiles soon found himself the one removed from the show. His replacement was Innes Lloyd. Lloyd got along better with Hartnell but even he could see the gifts of this remarkable person were fading away. Lloyd soon found himself thinking about replacing the star. However, unlike Wiles, he came up with a new approach. Since the Doctor had already been said to be an alien, he could undergo a process that would change him. This idea soon gained traction with the right people at the BBC.
The one holdout was Hartnell, who didn't want to leave. Lloyd was eventually able to get Hartnell to give up the role, pointing out the health problems he was having. In July 1966, it was announced that Hartnell was leaving and that a replacement would be cast. Reportedly, it was Hartnell who made the choice of Patrick Troughton to replace him as the Doctor, saying that he was the only one who could. That fall, at the end at "The Tenth Planet", Hartnell made his final bow as, before viewers' eyes, the Doctor changed from an old man to the cosmic hobo that was Troughton. At that time, the process was called a renewal.
What that meant was that Troughton's Doctor was the younger version of Hartnell's, aged backwards a couple of hundred years. Over the next three years, Troughton wowed viewers with his unique vision of the character, helped by his constant companion of Jaime, played by Frasier Hines. The two developed an almost comedy act and that helped the show along. However, after three years, due to the almost constant work load and fears of typecasting, Troughton decided to leave. So, the production staff came up with the Time Lords, who would both ground the Doctor and change his appearance in the process.
Enter Jon Pertwee, who also wowed viewers for a long time than both his predecessors, an amazing five years. Eventually, however, Pertwee wanted out. His reason was a combination of production staff changes and, as with Troughton, fears of typecasting. The production staff did the same as before. However, the staff decided to call the change-over process "regeneration". The staff decided that this was how Time Lords changed bodies. The term was soon retroactively applied to the previous two changeovers in actors. Now that the process had a name, the staff was quick to figure that rules needed to be set up.
The most famous rule that came up with might be have been thought after they realized that, if the show could just change its lead actor every few years, the show would be on for centuries. To give the show a more manageable run on the BBC, it was stated in a 1976 story that Time Lords could only regenerate twelve times, leading to thirteen lives for one Time Lord. At the time, the Doctor was only on his fourth life. That fourth life would last a good seven years, the longest one yet. Now, due to various forces and whatnot, the Doctor is nearing the end of his eleventh life. That means he only has two lives left, or does he?
Since the series was revived in 2005, the production staff and a large number of fans, have suggested a way for the Doctor to have a fourteenth life and beyond. Many feel that other fans would never accept the idea of a Fourteenth Doctor and are waiting for the series end with the Thirteenth Doctor. I'm one of those fans who wish the Doctor to live beyond his thirteen original lives. The most popular method is one the show always said was possible. The Time Lords might have given him thirteen more lives during the Time War. If this is true, the Doctor now has the chance to go up to a twenty-sixth life if he pleases.
However, the biggest thing with regeneration at this point in time is who will be the Twelfth Doctor? I can remember the hoopla that came during the last time this happened. The world has changed since then and I feel social media will play a bigger role in the hoopla this time. The top movement taking the web is the idea of a female Doctor. Now, this is not a new idea. Sydney Newman himself suggested it back in the 1980s when he called on to save the show. He suggested that the Time Lord change into a Time Lady. I can see his line of thinking, as a sudden change in sex would bring in new viewers, curious into how a female Doctor would act.
As I think on it, I could be comfortable with a female Doctor in this day and age. My main problem with this is how it would used. Such an idea is just one step away from parody. In fact, most fans' idea of a female Doctor comes from a work of parody, written by the current producer of the show. A serious take on the idea came be found in the audio range of stories, with a story that deals with a what-if situation that the Doctor escaped the Time Lords at the end of his second life. If the show can take on the idea with a very serious tone, I would keep watching. In fact, I have a suggestion.
It's a suggestion that a lot of people couldn't take well. If we were going with a female Doctor, my suggestion for the actress is Karen Gillan. I know that she was just on the show but when I think about a female Doctor, hers is what comes to mind. She is my idea of a female Doctor, a tough-as-nails woman with the right kind of smarts to get out of a situation. Plus, the chance to see her work alongside Clara is worth the price of it. I know that I'm in a minority here but let the idea sink in and you will probably see my point. However, for a number of fans, the Doctor was and is always male. With that in mind, here's my choice for a male Doctor.
It's Stephen Fry. Seeing how the average ages of the three most recent actors to take the role are going down, I feel that it's time to head the other way. Fun fact, if he is selected, he would be the same age as our first man William Hartnell when he took the role (56). Also, he would combine the style sense of Pertwee (my favorite Doctor) with the wit and whimsy of Troughton. It also be nice to see this Doctor take a more fatherly role toward Clara. My ideal Doctor is someone who take in the action only when he wishes. Stephen Fry is the closest to that ideal and it would be lovely to see him helm the TARDIS across the universe.
Ultimately, the person who will be the next Doctor is someone we're probable not thinking of at this moment. Let me remind you, no one saw Matt Smith coming. If he was listed, it was on the bottom. Maybe noted comic book master Neil Gaiman said it best when he recently posted that he wants to see the Doctor as the Doctor, not the actor playing him. He believes that a well-known name would bring too much baggage to the role. Indeed, recent lists features names I've never heard of, so it seems good advice. Then again, I'm just a viewer. I'll let the people at the BBC make the decision.
In conclusion, the Doctor is Britain's most famous visitor. People have watched his adventures for fifty years now and enjoy each one. While many of those are gone from us, the memories remain. Eleven people out of the whole of Britain's actors have been able to claim to be a hero to Britain's children. Now, a race is being held for that twelfth person. The show's title is, according to the show, the oldest question in the universe. If that is true, then the following is the second-oldest, asked since a mind could think a thought to itself. That question is: "What do I know?"
Yours truly, John Maxwell.
The most famous rule that came up with might be have been thought after they realized that, if the show could just change its lead actor every few years, the show would be on for centuries. To give the show a more manageable run on the BBC, it was stated in a 1976 story that Time Lords could only regenerate twelve times, leading to thirteen lives for one Time Lord. At the time, the Doctor was only on his fourth life. That fourth life would last a good seven years, the longest one yet. Now, due to various forces and whatnot, the Doctor is nearing the end of his eleventh life. That means he only has two lives left, or does he?
Since the series was revived in 2005, the production staff and a large number of fans, have suggested a way for the Doctor to have a fourteenth life and beyond. Many feel that other fans would never accept the idea of a Fourteenth Doctor and are waiting for the series end with the Thirteenth Doctor. I'm one of those fans who wish the Doctor to live beyond his thirteen original lives. The most popular method is one the show always said was possible. The Time Lords might have given him thirteen more lives during the Time War. If this is true, the Doctor now has the chance to go up to a twenty-sixth life if he pleases.
However, the biggest thing with regeneration at this point in time is who will be the Twelfth Doctor? I can remember the hoopla that came during the last time this happened. The world has changed since then and I feel social media will play a bigger role in the hoopla this time. The top movement taking the web is the idea of a female Doctor. Now, this is not a new idea. Sydney Newman himself suggested it back in the 1980s when he called on to save the show. He suggested that the Time Lord change into a Time Lady. I can see his line of thinking, as a sudden change in sex would bring in new viewers, curious into how a female Doctor would act.
As I think on it, I could be comfortable with a female Doctor in this day and age. My main problem with this is how it would used. Such an idea is just one step away from parody. In fact, most fans' idea of a female Doctor comes from a work of parody, written by the current producer of the show. A serious take on the idea came be found in the audio range of stories, with a story that deals with a what-if situation that the Doctor escaped the Time Lords at the end of his second life. If the show can take on the idea with a very serious tone, I would keep watching. In fact, I have a suggestion.
It's a suggestion that a lot of people couldn't take well. If we were going with a female Doctor, my suggestion for the actress is Karen Gillan. I know that she was just on the show but when I think about a female Doctor, hers is what comes to mind. She is my idea of a female Doctor, a tough-as-nails woman with the right kind of smarts to get out of a situation. Plus, the chance to see her work alongside Clara is worth the price of it. I know that I'm in a minority here but let the idea sink in and you will probably see my point. However, for a number of fans, the Doctor was and is always male. With that in mind, here's my choice for a male Doctor.
It's Stephen Fry. Seeing how the average ages of the three most recent actors to take the role are going down, I feel that it's time to head the other way. Fun fact, if he is selected, he would be the same age as our first man William Hartnell when he took the role (56). Also, he would combine the style sense of Pertwee (my favorite Doctor) with the wit and whimsy of Troughton. It also be nice to see this Doctor take a more fatherly role toward Clara. My ideal Doctor is someone who take in the action only when he wishes. Stephen Fry is the closest to that ideal and it would be lovely to see him helm the TARDIS across the universe.
Ultimately, the person who will be the next Doctor is someone we're probable not thinking of at this moment. Let me remind you, no one saw Matt Smith coming. If he was listed, it was on the bottom. Maybe noted comic book master Neil Gaiman said it best when he recently posted that he wants to see the Doctor as the Doctor, not the actor playing him. He believes that a well-known name would bring too much baggage to the role. Indeed, recent lists features names I've never heard of, so it seems good advice. Then again, I'm just a viewer. I'll let the people at the BBC make the decision.
In conclusion, the Doctor is Britain's most famous visitor. People have watched his adventures for fifty years now and enjoy each one. While many of those are gone from us, the memories remain. Eleven people out of the whole of Britain's actors have been able to claim to be a hero to Britain's children. Now, a race is being held for that twelfth person. The show's title is, according to the show, the oldest question in the universe. If that is true, then the following is the second-oldest, asked since a mind could think a thought to itself. That question is: "What do I know?"
Yours truly, John Maxwell.
