wshaffer

I have not yet read this nearly novel-length critical review of Laura J. Mixon's essay on Requires Hate, but I'm leaving a link here to remind myself to come back and read it properly.

I had very mixed feelings about Mixon's essay, which was part of why I did not vote for her for the Best Fan Writer Hugo. One of the reasons I had mixed feelings about it is that it tended to conflate harassment and general crappy behavior with harsh and aggressive rhetoric in reviewing/critiquing. I think there's an interesting conversation to be had about the utility/appropriateness of harsh reviewing and conflating it with harassment muddies the waters. Édouard Brière-Allard seems at least to be trying to be careful in distinguishing between the two. (See above caveat about not having read complete essay - I may change my mind when I've had a chance to properly dig in.)

There is new old Doctor Who on iTunes right now. I am resisting the temptation to download straight to my iPhone and watch while at work.

This latest haul of missing episodes did not include my hoped-for "Power of the Daleks", but it was a pretty spectacular find nonetheless - 5 episodes of "Enemy of the World" (making that story now complete) and all but one of the missing episodes of "The Web of Fear". (Details and clips at the link.) Finding any missing Doctor Who is pretty wonderful, but finding enough to restore a story to complete watchable status is really a jackpot.

I'm particularly looking forward to seeing "Enemy of the World", which features Patrick Troughton not only playing the Doctor but also the villain of the story - I've always regretted not being able to see more of that. I don't have very strong memories of "Web of Fear", although I'm pretty sure I have listened to the audio soundtrack, so it will be interesting to see if that improves with visuals. (Some of the 1960s Doctor Who serials work remarkably well as an audio soundtrack with a bit of descriptive narration overdubbed. Others really don't.)

There are even some tantalizing hints still floating around that the 9 episodes just released might not represent the total of what's been recovered. Although I imagine that anything that's been held back is probably less spectacular than what's been announced today. So, I'm not holding out hope that the BBC is sitting on a complete "Power of the Daleks" or anything like that, but perhaps a few more episodes will turn up.

Well, I'd been idly wondering since Matt Smith rolled into his fourth year playing the Doctor if we'd see an announcement like this: Matt Smith to leave Doctor Who. And here we are.

I think Smith has been a superb Doctor, even if I sometimes wish he'd been given better scripts to work with. (Or, I think I do. I have not been keeping up with the current season as obsessively as I have seasons past, although I can't quite put my finger on what seems to be missing for me. It may be that nothing's missing at all, and this is just part of the natural ebb and flow of my fannishness. In the nearly 30 years that Doctor Who has more or less consistently been my favorite television show, I've noticed that now and then I need to step back from it a bit.)

Anyway, what do I hope for in Doctor number twelve? As I think I said last time the casting was up for grabs, I'd like them to go for a somewhat older actor. Not because I think older actors are inherently better for the job, but because we've had a few now on the younger side, and I think it would be nice to restore the balance. Doctor Who has often provided excellent actors who weren't classic "leading man" material a chance to be leading men, and I think perhaps we risk losing that.

I'd also be delighted if they cast an actor of color.

Yes, Patterson Joseph still ticks all my boxes. Failing that, I don't have any other names that spring to mind. Given past casting patterns, it'll be someone I've never heard of, and they'll be brilliant in the part. I guess we'll see.

I wonder if they'll really do the regeneration in the Christmas episode, though. Christmas episodes are usually so fluffy and feel-good, and a regeneration will have us all crying into our eggnogg. I wonder if this is a tiny bit of misdirection, and the regeneration will actually happen in the 50th anniversary episode. And when Smith says he'll be back for the Christmas episode, he means the pre-credits reprise of the regeneration sequence, or some flashbacks, or something. Given Moffatt's penchant for wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff, we could easily have a post-regeneration episode featuring both the new Doctor and his current incarnation. That could be interesting.

So, it's not clear whether newly-announced 11th Doctor Matt Smith watched Doctor Who at all as a kid. As far as I can glean from his Doctor Who Confidential interview, he's certainly aware of the show now, but I think it's safe to say that he's not a huge fan the way David Tennant is.

However, given that Smith was born in 1982, if he ever did watch the show as a kid, then "his" Doctor was either Colin Baker or, more likely, Sylvester McCoy.

And the idea of younger actor playing the part with a touch of Colin's blustery arrogance or, even better, a bit of Sylvester's alien trickster quality, really appeals to me. Provided that said younger actor can pull it off, of course.

Someone over on the Doctor Who forums posted a link to a site where you can bet on who will be the next Doctor.

I'm surprised to see my current favorite, Patterson Joseph, being given the best odds at 3-1. This has a certain plausibility, since he's been talked about for the role ever since he appeared as the Marquis de Carabas in Neverwhere and he's worked with incoming producer Steven Moffatt before. Every time he comes up in conversations I have with fans, someone solemnly declares that The Fans Are Not Ready for a Black Doctor. Presumably in the same way Americans are not ready for a black president.

Next up, David Morrissey at 5-1. Morrissey is a fine actor, though not someone who's struck me as particularly Doctorish in the roles I've seen him in. Morrissey is guest-starring in the upcoming Christmas special, which is titled..."The Next Doctor". When this title was announced, I thought it was a wind-up in the same vein as "The Doctor's Daughter". Now I'm wondering if RTD has just pulled off the greatest double-bluff in the history of the show. We'll see.

After that is James Nesbitt, who has been a popular object of Doctorly speculation since he appeared in Moffatt's Jekyll. I don't see it, personally, though I can't quite say why. Nesbitt's about the right age, he's slightly funny looking in the right sort of way, and he can do quirky.

After that, it's pretty much a collection of everyone who's ever appeared on a fan wishlist for the part. Although, I'm rather surprised that they're offering odds on John Barrowman (dear God, please, no) and Christopher Eccleston.