So, as I predicted...

[avevale_intelligencer]

...after all the assurances that Matt Smith would be around for the 2014 season of nuWho, it turns out he won't. This is fine. Mr Smith is a good actor, who's done his best with the role, and deserves every bit of the glittering career that doubtless awaits him. And now begins the speculation as to the identity of the replacement who has certainly already been chosen.

I do not believe they'll have cast a non-white or female actor, not because they're racist or sexist, but because at this point, arguably forty years and eight regenerations too late, it would look like the pathetic afterthought that it would in fact be. Their most dignified course is to acknowledge that the Doctor's genetic template or whatever simply does not have that much diversity in it, that (for instance) once that second X chromosome has lost its leg no amount of regenerative twiddling will graft it back on. I personally believe they will have cast yet another skinny hyperactive twentysomething in the role, because that is clearly what they, and the target audience, want the Doctor to be. We can safely discount Moffat's claim that he really, really wanted to cast an older actor last time, because, you know, I really, really wanted to do my homework and tidy my room, Mum, but there was this programme I needed to watch and it just wasn't possible. It's safe to say that if they had not been looking for more of the same Mr Smith wouldn't have been in the audition process at all. So, expect another basic brown suit with one carefully calculated eccentricity, another non-threatening classless accent, more running and jumping and gabbling and posturing, and of course a credible romantic interest for the inevitable young female companion.

Or I could be dead wrong. We'll see. But I'll be very surprised if I am.

We're off to Lincolnshire tomorrow, just for the one night (it's the DC's birthday), so if you want a copy of Oonaverse, get your request in tonight or hang on till Wednesday. Also, I'll be taking Tetrad off the site some time soon, so if you want it, grab it.

Comments

[seticat.livejournal.com]

Well... I read a short fic somewhere where The Doctor regenerated as a rather dapper ginger tom cat...

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Fanfic has been the doom and the salvation of Who. It led to Audio Visuals, and thence to Big Finish, not to mention other offerings. Unfortunately, when they put a fan in charge of nuWho, he did a number of things that should only have been done in fanfic and made them canon, and that has continued to this day.

[feetnotes.livejournal.com]

i fink der beeb shud carst won uv dose pussy rriot grrlz as the nex docter

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

A closely-reasoned and exhaustive argument. I salute you.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

We've spoken about this elsewhere, but I wanted to get on the record here as noting that even though it would indeed be a day late and a dollar short if they started to cast The Doctor as racially or genderwise diverse, that doesn't mean doing so should be avoided. After all, doing a good thing late and under pressure is still better than resisting doing that good thing. (That said, I wouldn't bet against a young white male, possibly in order to set up an inner conflict in The Doctor, between the part that keeps regenerating younger and trying to avoid whatever responsibility the final reveal of the seventh series finale is about, and that responsibility.)

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

You're quite right...if the reason for doing the good thing is to do the good thing regardless. What tends to happen in my experience is that what gets noticed is not "the good thing" but the "late and under pressure," so if they did cast differently there would be some approving noises and a great deal of flak about why they didn't do it sooner and how they're just caving in to pressure.

I don't think they will do it, for the reasons I stated, but I agree that if they did it would be...shall we say...quite courageous of them, Prime Minister.

[occams_pyramid]

Let's change the Time Lord again!

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Write it!

[howeird]

Matt Smith's looks tweak something in my subconscious which makes it impossible to watch him for more than a few minutes. It's just me, but it means maybe I can watch my favorite show again. You're certainly right that they have already cast a replacement Youthful White Man™, but this has not kept me from suggesting to Seanan McGuire that she audition.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Seanan would enjoy herself immensely in the role, I think, and only a fool with a heart of stone would resist that. I don't know whether it would be Who as I knew it--probably not--but it might be fun.

[eintx.livejournal.com]

Are you sure you want to take it off?
Daniel suggests having both the ebook version and a Lulu link on the site, so people who prefer "real" books can order it while the others are getting a "hot deal" (because they don't necessarily have to donate as much as the book costs).

Plus Oonaverse is even more fun if one has read Tetrad first, so perhaps they should stay there next to each other?