Tom Riley does have the look! I actually really liked him as Robin Hood as well though... he was clearly born to play historical figures
I'd also love to see Christopher Columbus... maybe in a big Bermuda Triangle story. Two-parter, location-filming somewhere that can pass for that region of the world (maybe Florida would be appropriate), wormholes in time messing everything up - 17th Cenury Spanish Armadas coming up against spacecraft from the future. Pirates, sailors, explorers, the mystery of Flight 19...so much scope!
When they were looking for a new Doctor, I had my hopes that it would be Tom, but then they announced a second series of Demons and I knew he was out.
I wanted to see Robin Hood as a historical character and got my wish this year. Yes - he definitely counts.
Others:
Oscar Wilde
Alan Turing
Harvey Milk
Arthur Conan Doyle
Henry V
Mary Wolstancraft/Shelley
Peter The Great of Russia
Princes In The Tower Of London
My Dad
I think focusing on anything Wilde or Turing may have gotten up to may nbot be suitable for a family audience!
I think focusing on anything Wilde or Turing may have gotten up to may nbot be suitable for a family audience!
Why on earth not? ...because they are gay? We've had gay characters before with no big deal. Sure Reading Gaol might be a bit bleak but otherwise a major playwright and the greatest code breaker of WWII could make really good stories they were fascinating people and Oscar Wilde was very witty.
Why on earth not? ...because they are gay? We've had gay characters before with no big deal. Sure Reading Gaol might be a bit bleak but otherwise a major playwright and the greatest code breaker of WWII could make really good stories they were fascinating people and Oscar Wilde was very witty.
And I am sure RTD would have liked to have stuffed them in somehow (if you'll excuse the pun!).
Problem is that you can't really do a programme about Oscar Wilde without bringing his (what were) illegal practices into it.
Even a Time Traveller such as the Doctor would not lecture people that we should judge the morality of yesteryear by todays standards.
Why on earth not? ...because they are gay? We've had gay characters before with no big deal. Sure Reading Gaol might be a bit bleak but otherwise a major playwright and the greatest code breaker of WWII could make really good stories they were fascinating people and Oscar Wilde was very witty.
It's always a shame to see that there are still people that think that romantic choices overshadow professional careers. Turing's codebreaking, for example, was only one of the many contributions he made to the field - he provided the foundation for all modern computers. I'm sure there's a sci-fi story to be written around those margins.
My personal preference would be : none. Stick to the made-up stuff, and avoid the pun-laden cringes.
I enjoyed the Agatha Christie one - it was a bit of frothy fun - but yes, if they are not going to do a straightforward history story then maybe they should stay away from real historical characters for a while.
It's always a shame to see that there are still people that think that romantic choices overshadow professional careers. Turing's codebreaking, for example, was only one of the many contributions he made to the field - he provided the foundation for all modern computers. I'm sure there's a sci-fi story to be written around those margins.
As someone who enjoyed reading some of Turing's work , I would guess his work would not be found interesting by the vast majority of people who want to watch Sci Fi though the end result would be. I don't see how you can write a Sci Fi story based on Turing's Computer Science and Mathematical work.
I would love to see Da Vinci in Doctor Who, but he would have to be played by Tom Riley as he already plays him on TV - and i believe it would be easy for him to nip around BBC Wales from the Da Vinci set to the Who set. But he has already played Robin Hood.
What do you mean, third Doctor? The only thing that is canon is 2005 to today, I have no idea who you're talkign about?
So, in the end of the 50th Anniversary Special, did you just think that those were random people standing on the stage with the only three Doctors?
Of course the entire run of the show is canon. 1963-1989, 1996 and 2005-present are the same show. Many shows have been cancelled for years and then brought back. Look at Family Guy, Futurama (several times) and Dallas (which had a much, much longer hiatus than Doctor Who).
Anyway, I quite hope for another historical in Series 9. Vincent and the Doctor was the last proper one we got. A few I'd really like...
Amelia Earhart
Arthur Conan Doyle
Leonardo Da Vinci
I love your ideas. For Amelia Earhart it could be an idea as to how she disappeared; teleported to another dimension to save her from certain death in the crash. (Don't forget Amy Johnson as well on the same lines).
There would also be a good story line in explaining Leonardo's futuristic ideas
Comments
When they were looking for a new Doctor, I had my hopes that it would be Tom, but then they announced a second series of Demons and I knew he was out.
I think focusing on anything Wilde or Turing may have gotten up to may nbot be suitable for a family audience!
Why on earth not?
And I am sure RTD would have liked to have stuffed them in somehow (if you'll excuse the pun!).
Problem is that you can't really do a programme about Oscar Wilde without bringing his (what were) illegal practices into it.
Even a Time Traveller such as the Doctor would not lecture people that we should judge the morality of yesteryear by todays standards.
Albert Einstein
Mahatma Ghandi
Ronald Reagan
Chairman Mao
Saint Patrick
Lawrence of Arabia
and/or
Plato
It's always a shame to see that there are still people that think that romantic choices overshadow professional careers. Turing's codebreaking, for example, was only one of the many contributions he made to the field - he provided the foundation for all modern computers. I'm sure there's a sci-fi story to be written around those margins.
I enjoyed the Agatha Christie one - it was a bit of frothy fun - but yes, if they are not going to do a straightforward history story then maybe they should stay away from real historical characters for a while.
The Third Doctor has already met him in one of the novels, which are, of course, canon. ;-)
As someone who enjoyed reading some of Turing's work , I would guess his work would not be found interesting by the vast majority of people who want to watch Sci Fi though the end result would be. I don't see how you can write a Sci Fi story based on Turing's Computer Science and Mathematical work.
Doctor: 'Ere! Stop messing about!
The only true Da Vinci is Johnathon Rhys Davis
What do you mean, third Doctor? The only thing that is canon is 2005 to today, I have no idea who you're talkign about?
So, in the end of the 50th Anniversary Special, did you just think that those were random people standing on the stage with the only three Doctors?
Of course the entire run of the show is canon.
Conan Doyle would be fun and could be a nudge and wink to Sherlock without being a cross over.
Related to the above i'd like to see Harry Houdini. Others i'd like to see would be:
Edgar Allan Poe
Dracula
Mary Shelley
^You mean Lewis Carroll.
C.S. Lewis would chase a Witch into a Wardrobe.
Kim Jong Un: The doctor discovers that the Kim family look so weird because they're really aliens.
Muhammad: The doctor discovers that the prophet of Islam was actually an alien sent to cause havoc on earth.
Scott of the Antarctic
Emperor Nero
King Canute
Emiline Pankhurst
Bonny and Clyde
I love your ideas. For Amelia Earhart it could be an idea as to how she disappeared; teleported to another dimension to save her from certain death in the crash. (Don't forget Amy Johnson as well on the same lines).
There would also be a good story line in explaining Leonardo's futuristic ideas
Yes!
The Eleventh danced with them in The Impossible Astronaut.
Love the Hancock suggestion!
Edit: On a comedy theme, how about Capaldi's Doctor trading barbed one liners with Groucho Marx?