Capaldi IS leaving

[cosmichobo]

He's dead to me.

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2017/01...20415.html?m=1

[Gatefan1976]

Sad, but understandable.

[Novus]

I read in an article somewhere he said something along the lines of that him staying on in Doctor Who any longer would have gotten quite stale and would have undermined the quality of the show.

[rkgardner2003]

I've enjoyed him more with every season, now we'll have to watch all the guessing about who will be the new Doctor.

[cosmichobo]

I'm really confused about the future of Doctor Who.

David Tennant's last year as the Doctor only saw an output of 2 slightly-longer than normal episodes, plus Christmas & New Year specials - IE it was not a "full" season.

Matt Smith saw effectively 1 season split over 2 years - IE 2 years of half length duration.

And Capaldi had a year off except for a Christmas special.

We "should" by now be entering the 13th Season of the revival, and yet it is only the 10th...

WHY?

I know there was talk that Tennant's season of specials may have been to accommodate his request to do some other things (?) but I'm not sure if that is correct or not. I do recall hearing that Smith was pissed off at the short seasons that he endured (and loss of income?). And this whole taking a year off so they can return to a Spring debut seems like absolute **** to me. I cannot fathom why they couldn't have worked something out, even if it meant splitting the season again - but just with a 2 month break or similar (as with Smith's first season?).

Surely these long breaks in Doctor Who's delivery to its audience is damaging to the brand. And damaging to merchandising - the thing that is bringing in huge revenues to the BBC.

Why?

Now we lose one of the best actors to play the role - yes, Gatefan1976, I don't blame him, either. He's not dead to me. I'm just very bitter at the taste in my mouth right now...

[Gatefan1976]

Don't get me wrong Cosmic, I'm not ragging on you mate. My fave doctor of the new series was Chris, and he only lasted a season.
I'm glad we will get 3 "full" seasons of Peter, even if I had my reservations about some episodes and his portrayal. He could (at his best) evoke a gravitas to the doctor that has been absent for quite some time, and he was magnificent in the role when that happened. I look at this like when I was a kid, and Tom Baker just simply -was- the doctor. I struggled through Colin Bakers time, and was ready to forget Dr Who, until Sylvester McCoy who played the doctor seemingly so flippant, yet so hard and -old- sometimes and once again made me interested in Who again.

If I came across a little harsh or mean, I apologise mate, that was not my intent.

[DigiFluid]

I'm really confused about the future of Doctor Who.

David Tennant's last year as the Doctor only saw an output of 2 slightly-longer than normal episodes, plus Christmas & New Year specials - IE it was not a "full" season.

Matt Smith saw effectively 1 season split over 2 years - IE 2 years of half length duration.

And Capaldi had a year off except for a Christmas special.

We "should" by now be entering the 13th Season of the revival, and yet it is only the 10th...

WHY?

Easy: money. Doctor Who is not cheap. The BBC is.

[cosmichobo]

No offense meant toward you, Gatefan. Was agreeing that it's totally underestandable from Capaldi's perspective - you get your dream role, you've been in it for 3 years and they've only put out 2 seasons...

By the sounds of it, I think he's been pushed, because the BBC aren't happy with an older actor in the role. And that's a huge shame! If they'd stopped ramming the Coal Hill stories down our throats (Capaldi's weakest, I feel), and not wasted a year asking if he was a good man...

Capaldi's era could have seen the series move in a completely new direction (apparently what the BBC wants), yet it was hamstrung with children. Classic Who was adored by children, yet how many actually featured child characters? Dragonfire kind of...

Arrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!

(It's ok, I'll go take a bex and a lay down soon)

[Gatefan1976]

Easy: money. Doctor Who is not cheap. The BBC is.

Probably the reason the US/UK co-operation on the money side of things.

[Gatefan1976]

No offense meant toward you, Gatefan. Was agreeing that it's totally underestandable from Capaldi's perspective - you get your dream role, you've been in it for 3 years and they've only put out 2 seasons...

Sure, but we -will- get 3 before he leaves, and that's pretty cool!!

By the sounds of it, I think he's been pushed, because the BBC aren't happy with an older actor in the role. And that's a huge shame! If they'd stopped ramming the Coal Hill stories down our throats (Capaldi's weakest, I feel), and not wasted a year asking if he was a good man...

I liked the self reflection eps, the dude is over a thousand years old!!
But the coal hill eps............ were hit and miss.

Capaldi's era could have seen the series move in a completely new direction (apparently what the BBC wants), yet it was hamstrung with children. Classic Who was adored by children, yet how many actually featured child characters? Dragonfire kind of...

Arrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!

Adric was pretty childish, and Leah, and Ace. Not exactly -child- characters, but -childlike- in the scheme of things. I dunno, The doctor when I was a kid -was- the adult in the room, and the companions were mainly "childlike" when I go back and think of it. The companion has a different role now, to be the viewers touchstone, rather than the doctors "foil".

(It's ok, I'll go take a bex and a lay down soon)

Forums are good for venting

[cosmichobo]

But, Adric was a mid-late teen... as were many of the companions. The (modern) Coal Hill stories gave us episodes full of young kids, that as an adult, I felt like they were trying to say to the younger viewers - hey, look, kids just like you! But in reality, they don't need any of that. Worst episode of Tennant's era - Fear Her - with the main guest being a young girl... Maybe I'm just seeing patterns in things that aren't there.

[rushy]

The problem I always had with Capaldi was that he was so nostalgia-bent. So many of the episodes felt like aimless filler(like "oh, we have to have a monster. Let him do monster things") or sequels to earlier stories.

Plus, it seemed like nobody could ever decide what kind of character his Doctor should be. I was hoping for a reserved and quietly witty incarnation, but instead he spent his first season sulking under Clara's boot and his second season donning a new cringy gimmick every other episode. Now he's calmed down into an older version of Matt Smith's Doctor.

I was hoping that Chibnall could rectify this and give his era some point, but I guess Series 10 will have to do.

[Ian-S]

By the sounds of it, I think he's been pushed, because the BBC aren't happy with an older actor in the role. And that's a huge shame! If they'd stopped ramming the Coal Hill stories down our throats (Capaldi's weakest, I feel), and not wasted a year asking if he was a good man...

I agree, he was cast around the time the whole Jimmy Savile scandal was at it's height, so I can imagine the BBC have been itching to find a way to push him out, it can't have helped things from his pov to find out the new companion looks barely old enough to be out of school.

If the new writers first season of Broadchurch is anything to go by, then Doctor Who could return to some great complicated season long story arcs, but I suspect all we're going to get is monster of the week mashup with a couple of moody teenagers laying down the law.