6th Doctor/12th Doctor - a comparison
Mulett
Posts: 9,056 Forum Member
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OK, so Peter Capaldi hasn't tried to throttle Clara (yet) but I wondered how everyone feels about Capaldi's less user-friendly Doctor - and whether older viewers would compare this with Colin Baker's early days.
Its an interesting situation because I personally loved the 6th Doctor - I loved him at the time, and I think I've grown to appreciate him even more over the years (and thanks to some degree to Big Finish too).
For those too young to know: the whole idea driving the characterisation of the 6th Doctor was that he would start off as being (basically) unlikeable and then - as the years passed - we would gradually see different layers within his character and eventually warm to him.
This never came to pass, sadly, because Colin left after a very short period of time and so never had the opportunity to really develop the 6th Doctor as he had wished/planned.
The 12th Doctor feels to me to be in a similar place - darker, less friendly and perhaps a little less caring about all the deaths happening around him. Hopefully Capaldi's Doctor will have time to develop and for viewers to warm to him (that is the plan, right?).
But taking into account what happened to the 6th Doctor I just wondered if viewers/fans think this tactic is something of a risk to try again - or whether they feel a comparison between 6th and 12th Doctors is not really fair in the first place.
Its an interesting situation because I personally loved the 6th Doctor - I loved him at the time, and I think I've grown to appreciate him even more over the years (and thanks to some degree to Big Finish too).
For those too young to know: the whole idea driving the characterisation of the 6th Doctor was that he would start off as being (basically) unlikeable and then - as the years passed - we would gradually see different layers within his character and eventually warm to him.
This never came to pass, sadly, because Colin left after a very short period of time and so never had the opportunity to really develop the 6th Doctor as he had wished/planned.
The 12th Doctor feels to me to be in a similar place - darker, less friendly and perhaps a little less caring about all the deaths happening around him. Hopefully Capaldi's Doctor will have time to develop and for viewers to warm to him (that is the plan, right?).
But taking into account what happened to the 6th Doctor I just wondered if viewers/fans think this tactic is something of a risk to try again - or whether they feel a comparison between 6th and 12th Doctors is not really fair in the first place.
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Which, after all, Capaldi is also. Not so much 12 as 2.1.
Teachers from Coal Hill provide the human perspective to his moral compass and smooth off the rough edges.
One of those Doctors jump-started a show that would last fifty years and the other was the most popular Doctor ever. I'm confident that Capaldi can also be a success. The only reasons I can see that a darker Doctor may be percieved as 'risky' is if modern day general audiences lack the imagination to embrace such an unconventional central character. Or, if viewers who only came to the show with New Who can't handle such a radical change from a nice, warm and inoffensive character to an acerbic, detached and edgy one.
4+6 = 9
5+8 = 10
2+7 = 11
1+3 = 12
3/9 Largely Earth Bound Doctors
4/10 Wildly Popular and long running Doctors.
5/11 Young Doctors
6/12 Darker less user friendly Doctors (Who've also appeared in the show before)
The reason I thought it would resonate more with older viewers here on DS is that watching old episodes on DVD isn't the same as watching them live on TV at the time of broadcast - if you are watching on DVD and you don't like a particular classic Doctor you can just skip ahead to the next one.
But watching it live at the time you have no choice: that actor is the Doctor for the coming years.
I'm not saying Capaldi's Doctor is awful (I actually really like him). But it is something of a risk to make him immediately less accessible than Matt Smith's 11th Doctor had become by his final season.
I would add Jon Pertwee, who was pretty abrasive at times although he did mellow, after the twinkly whimsy of Season 6 Troughton. Agree it's a bit of a risk, but you've got to mix things up. Am delighted with Capaldi so far.
Give Capaldi a chance
So what you're saying is, he is the Doctor whether you like it or not? ;-)
Yes!! lol
I agree. I too was seeing parallels with Colin Baker's portrayal. Not specifally in his mannerisms but in the idea that he had distinctly dislikeable qualities. Colin's was my least favourite Doctor until the Big Finish audios where I grew to like him a lot.
I would also agree that the first Doctor started off with some similarly dislikeable qualities but I have no child-hood memories of the first Doctor. I think I started watching with Troughton but only really remember from Pertwee onwards. Of course, I've seen them all since.
I'm not really liking the idea of a dislikeable Doctor. I want the Doctor to be the unequivocal good guy. I understand that adding darker elements might make the drama more insightful and intelligent etc. etc. but it's not what I'm looking for in Doctor Who. I didn't like it when they did it with Colin and I don't like it now.
Having said that, it hasn't completely spoiled my enjoyment of the episodes so far but it has dampened my enjoyment just a tad
I am, I already like him more than I expected, and he's still not my least fav new-who Doctor.
Really, Tom Baker's portrayal was quite sociopathic. To maintain that manic and seemingly genuine grin during some pretty terrible situations... he wasn't the most obviously 'nasty' Doctor but I think he was the least human intrepretation to date.
The 6th Doctor was vain, but that is a very human characteristic.
Exactly, he does care: he cares aout whether he is a good or bad man, he 'cared' about the Dalek when he tried to show it all the good things about life but it focussed on the Dr's hatred for the Daleks.
I hope he remains the way he is - he will most like soften slightly when he realises he is 'not as god a person as he wants to be' but I hope he remains slightly more detached and to the point than the recent incarnations for a bit of a change and show the new viewers what Dr Who is all about.
I don't like it when the Doctor is too au fait with pop culture. In one of the Big Finish 8th Audios there's references to The Wizard of Oz and Only Fools and Horses!