All New Who

Its not as black and white as that. Generally its the same man, but they all show reluctance to end their current manifestation, they have a sense of loss, it not being the right time, or being sad to lose something. Eccy did, Tennant did and so did Smith. They also forget stuff and seem disorientated in a new body, like Capaldi did. He didn't remember who he was. They are not the same man in important ways. They forget who they were and have different personalities, their love for certain companions changes as well. Rose, Donna or Amy wouldn't be as important to Whittaker, they would be just someone they used to care for.

{{ It's a different personality, but from all the same ingredients. All that happens is particular traits get emphasised or de-emphasised in each version. Forgetting stuff and being disoriented post regeneration is a common side effect of the process, on Gallifrey and in every TARDIS there are  Zero Rooms specifically to deal with this if its particular severe or there is a real issue with a regeneration. And how they feel about someone will alter according to the new personality and body.
Each modern Who Doctor has been sad to go, thats not always been the case however. The 1st choose to go as he was simply "wearing a bit thin", 2 was forced to change by the Time Lords as punishment for his breaking of the non-interferance policy, and his concern was not about regenerating, or a sense he was in any way dying, but about what he would look like (the Doctors always been vain).
3 reassures a crying Sarah Jane telling her not to cry. When the General gets shot by the Doctor on Gallifrey and regenerates she gets up and gets on with her job, theres no wining about dying or being a different person.
A character trait of regeneration seems to be that whatever your new body is you always think is the best one so far, a sortof mental health evolution to help them deal with the experience of having their entire personality reshuffled along with a new body, or even sex.
explains why whenever he Doctor meets themselves they always disagree and bicker, each one thinks they are the best version there ever could be. But they all agree on one thing, that they are all the same person, they are all the Doctor. }}

I think their sense of loss and sadness at leaving their current body is the whole point of the pathos of being The Doctor. if there were no consequences and they carried on as usual it wouldn't be sad, and there would be no stakes, and there would be no existential crisis. The whole point of Regeneration is that it is a traumatic process, a 'death' in a way, and a 'rebirth' into a new form. He may have the same soul in a way that he is essentially the same person, but he knows there is a cost and a price to pay.

{{ It's the comparison to actual dying I dont like. As 9 said in explanation to Rose of regeneration, "it's sort of a way of cheating death". Time Lords wouldn't think of it as a means to cheat death if it was just like dying anyway. But its sort of like it because that particular mix of the Time Lords personality is ending, but its still cheating as the Time Lord goes on living anyway, just after the ingredients get shaken about again. But its still them. Its not death and they have not died, just changed again.}}

I agree its not an actual death, they would have some memory of the person who went before, but it would feel different, they realise that and mourn their lost self. Tennant gave us that strong sense of loss and mourning, he knew that he wouldn't feel the same, he knew that part died with him.

{{ Happy Birthday to Tom Baker! 88 and still my Doctor, and still being the Doctor to this day. }}

I don't really remember Tom Baker apart from his liking of sweeties, doing googly eyes, and the clothes. I guess Tennant is my Doctor.

{{ Technically 3 was the first Doctor I saw, but only the very end of his time which are among my earliest memories, I also saw it in black and white as we didn't have a colour TV yet. And I all I really remember clearly is finding his car, Bessie, driving about on its own and going at ridiculous speeds hysterically funny.



Though I also put his final story down to why I dont trust spiders- its not that I have a phobia of them or cant catch or handle them to throw them out, just that I dont trust them. Sure watching this aged 3 is why and reading Lord of the Rings just reinforced it.



Tom was the Doctor from when I was 3 till I was 10.



I took his regeneration hard }}

I vaguely remember the leather bikini woman. But I stopped watching and totally lost interest during the Peter Davison period. It bored my pants off.

{{ Leather bikini lady was Leela, a great companion. Not human she was from a primitive tribe on another planet, hard as nails, took the Doctor a while to get her natural instinct to draw her dagger and just stab people to death out of her system, and convince her there was no magic only science.



But even though she tended to control the impulse she still wanted too just get annoying folk out the way. There's a great moment in the creepy Horror of Fang Rock, set in Victorian times with bunch of shipwrecked upper class types trapped in a lighthouse, after episodes of this one women shrieking hysterically every time something happens, and Leela has just had enough of her shit-



One of my favourite Leela lines is from a story where she gets arrested by Victorian era police, and tells the person she is with the only reason she is going along with being arrested is the Doctor insisted, when on Earth, she is not allowed to kill the blue guards.


Huge change between 3 and 4.- Halfy

{{Yes and no. Both can be silly and childish, both are arrogant and full of themselves and boastful, both have a love of science, neither will shirk from just smacking someone or even shooting them if need be, they are both short tempered with stupid and ignorant people who dont want to learn or see any other perspectives but their own, neither like authority, and if it has to be done they will kill people.  And both just cant stop themselves getting involved if someone needs help or are being oppressed and downtrodden, no matter the persona risk or cost to themselves.

Of course that above paragraph could have been written exactly the same for 1 and 2, 2 and 3, 4,2, etc. They are all the Doctor. The actual core personality traits of the Doctor never change really. Its down to what the actor in the role can add to it within the scope of the Doctor.

As what does get added each time to the mix is an ever wider variety of personalities the Doctor can have within the spectrum of his core Doctor being.

So 12 can be grumpy and impatient like 1, seemingly oblivious to people and things around him like 2 and 7 whilst actually using it as a front whilst he notices everything, he is as arrogant at times as 6 and dark as 7, and quips one liners like 10 and 11, loves snacks and sweets like 4 and 11, and plays a musical instrument like 2. And yet he's 12, as distinct a personality to himself as all the others are to them. But still at the same time recognisably, the Doctor.
That's the genius of regeneration as a plot device and not just as a necessity of actors leaving and or getting too old, it expands itself every time yet somehow never changes. }}

{{ Ok this seems bit mad to me, so Ive been ignoring it, but seems to be gathering more traction-

Spoiler:

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I saw that too, and also tried to ignore it. Would be odd if it was it was true. Sure, as you say, it could be done and maybe it would work. I am not overly excited about the idea. Another thought is:

Spoiler:

If this is true it would make my Christmas and birthdays for the next 50 years.

{{ Wouldnt make mine- the show shouldnt be retreading old ground.

Spoiler:

}}

I would just be happy for one episode.

I don't believe that rumour for a second

Spoiler:

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{ Ok this seems bit mad to me, so Ive been ignoring it, but seems to be gathering more traction-

Spoiler:

}}

And I thought the timeless child idea was stupid...

{{ I'm very much hoping there is nothing to do it- which I suspect there is. Tennant clearly doesn't need the work, he's doing just fine after Who and actors usually don't like to be associated with a single role, so I see no benefit to him returning to the role. And I don't think RTD would have come back as showrunner if he was just wanting to replay old glories, he's the sort of writer who is always doing something new. So from both perspectives it doesn't seem to add up for me. }}

probably not.

{{ Who news- and we have a name for the new script editor for RTD replacing whoever is supposedly doing the job now (I'm not convinced Chibbers has a real script editor or stuff like Orphan 55 would never have made it to screen).
Anyhow Scott Handcock is the new man, and besides his humorous smirk-like-a-schoolboy second name this is a solid choice.
He started his career as a runner for Doctor Who Confidential (remember it!) and eventually became production secretary on series 6 of NuWHo under Moffat. Since then he has gone on to write and direct a lot of Who related stuff (Class, Torchwood, classic Who, Diary of River Song, Bernice Summerfield and more) for Big Finish. So unlike Chibbers who hired only people with no association or knowledge of the show RTD is wisely going for reliable folks that know their business and these characters. Happy to see this appointment. }}

{{ This for some reason popped up on my youtube recommended, and suitably curious to hear how Capaldi of all NuWho Doctors sounded in French I gave it a watch, well more a listen really. Now I dont speak french, not enough to get by in French at least I remember a smattering from school added to by more learned since, but not enough to follow this if I didn't pretty much already know the whole speech off by heart.

But what I was wondering was, the voice actor for both Clara (she kind of suits French) seemed both very good to me, but its hard to judge in a language you dont speak, but I felt the emotions rise from the emotion the actor for Capaldi was putting into it.

So give it a listen/watch, see if you can feel it despite not understanding it, and better, if anyone can speak fluent French how does it rate as a vocal performance? And does it sound like French spoken with a Scottish accent? Also be interested in actor choice here- Capaldi did a caricature of a famous 60's gameshow host Hughie Greene to say the "fingers on buttons! Whose going to be fastest? Whose going be quickest?" bit, what did the French actor do? Did he do same, or did he mimick a famous French gameshow host?}}

{{ From the official Who youtube channel- an entire hour of River Song goodness. But it was only after having watched it occurred to me, as River was Moffat's character and story to tell and he wrote all her episodes, that every word in these two vids are Moffat penned. The entire hour and ten minutes of it.

One characters tale, told across 7 series and 3 Doctors, told backwards in Time.

Even if you are a Moffat hater no one can say he wasn't up to setting himself a challenge!

Also the casting during the RTD and Moffat era was superb and always on point, Alex Kingston was a superb choice for the part.}}

{{ Who news - looks like RTD's return will start filming in April. Thats pretty soon which means either the stuff they are filming doesn't have a Doctor in it. One has been cast but not announced, or they are still looking. Either way we should get an idea fairly soon if they are shooting in April, as any location shooting and the press will be all over it trying to see who the new Doctor is and it'll leak. So I'd expect an official announcement pretty soon, or a leak pretty soon. }}

{{ Love a good behind the scenes Who anicdote-

'Steven mentioned the Fez to Piers and I before he even wrote it. He said, "I'm thinking of putting Matt in a Fez for episode 13". And of course both Piers and my jaw hit the floor and went, "A Fez? Youre kidding me, you're going to put Matt in a Fez? If we put Matt in a Fez, Matt will never take the Fez off. He will want to wear the Fez for the whole of the next series. It'll be glued to his head. He'll be wearing it, you know, with his own clothes. It'll be a nightmare."
And he said, "No, no, I've got a cunning plan; as soon as he's got the Fez I'm going to kill the Fez."

Moffats cunning plan in action-



Of course typical Motfat he then incorporated the whole thing into part of 11's personality and used it as a connecting gimmick in the 50th Anniversary episode, even sticking 10 in it! So Matt got to wear his fez again briefly. }}