New rumor floating around is that the BBC is considering reviving “Doctor Who” with Anthony Stewart Head as the traveling Time Lord.
My understanding is that this rumor, while enthusiastic and certainly food for thought, is also not true. So why am I repeating it here? Well, I figure that maybe it’s like “Beetlejuice.” If you same it enough times, maybe it’ll just spontaneously happen. Now personally, I liked Paul McGann in the role, but I think Tony Head would be even better in it. McGann captured the man of action aspect, but not the scholarly manner of the Doctor, and I think Head could encompass both.
PAD
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Hmm…While I’m not the biggest Dr. Who fan out there (for instance I have no idea who Paul McGann is) I think it would be cool if ASH took the role.
Unrelated to this: “Once More With Feeling” was re-run last night. Man, that was good…its an absolute travesty that something that original and well done was left off the Emmy balloting. Marti Noxon’s cameo was a hoot.
Original? At this point turning an episode of a TV series into a musical is hardly original…it’s more like being the last band on the wagon. A fun episode to be sure, but…
What do you mean “hardly original?” How many TV series have done musical episodes? Successfully? Of this high quality? And with the music and songs worked in to the episode and ongoing show plots? OMWF is probably the best episode last season and prob. 2nd best of the post high school years (behind “Hush”).
Well, I’m still hoping that Head will reprise his role as Giles in the BBC spinoff series, “Ripper”. I’d much rather see that than another Dr. Who show. For those interested, here’s a link to a recent interview with Anthony Stewart Head:
http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,264153~329780~0~,00.html
He talks about Buffy, Ripper and some of his other work.
-Markisan
I think I once saw some episodes of Doctor Who when I was young. Maybe it could be a great idea.
ASH would make a fantastic Doctor, but I must admit, I’ve always been a fan of the wilder, more ‘eccentric’ Doctors like Tom Baker or, to a lesser degree, Jon Pertwee. In fact, having Tom Baker come back to the role constitutes one of my major unfulfilled sci-fi fantasies. Perhaps if we dressed up Alexis Denisof in a huge scarf and a fedora
Oooh, lovely idea! 🙂 But didn’t he already do the voice of a villian for Dr Who in the radio show? I love Tom Baker’s wackiness, but I loved Peter Davidson’s confuzzled state too, and ASH could work well along his style, I think.
I, for one, adored the musical ep of Buffy, as well as ASH’s other musical moments on the show (“Free Bird” is a song that always brings a tear to my eye *sniff*). Someday when I actually have money, I’ll by ASH’s CD, Music for Elevators … And in the meantime, I want to now what the hëll the hold-up is with the cd for “Once More, With Feeling”! Grrrrrr …
Anthony Head was on V Graham Norton tonight… nothing particularly informative (and nothing whatsoever regarding Doctor Who), but the Hellmouth was described as a foul opening that Buffy investigates. And he pointed out that Giles (the action figure) is a “choking hazard”.
Note that Head played a villain in several of the “audio adventures” on the BBC Doctor Who web site…
I have nothing against Anthony Stewart Head; I think he would do a creditable job as the Doctor in any possible Doctor Who revival. As much as I liked Paul McGann’s work in the 1996 FOX telefilm and the recent Big Finish Doctor Who audios, I’m not tied to McGann as the Doctor.
My personal preference in casting the Doctor would be Stephen Fry. Ten years ago it would have been David Warner or Malcolm McDowell. Casting the Doctor is as much a reflection of the times as it is a reflection of the role. The Doctor is the embodiment of a certain way of life, a certain universal outlook. Not everyone can be the Doctor. Not everyone can be Sherlock Holmes, or Superman, or Tarzan. The Doctor is a universal character, a force of nature. Dare I say it, a legend.
Anthony Stewart Head could embody that legend. Perhaps other actors could embody that legend better. All that truly matters, though, is that someone be given the opportunity to carry on the legacy of Doctor Who, to introduce a whole new generation to the show and its universe.
Allyn–whaddaya mean we can’t be Sherlock Holmes?!
The appeal of Holmes is that we _could_ approach what he does. Remember, Holmes himself was based on Dr. Joseph Bell, Conan Doyle’s med school teacher.
I realize observation and deduction don’t fix all problems, but they fix a great many, and they’re easier to develop than mastery of the Force.
How many?
5,000. From Xena to the Simpsons to Drew Carey to South Park.
No doubt it is the best episode of last season, but it wasn’t much of a season. And I have a nagging suspicion, a feeling, that the more musicals you grew up with, the less blown away you were by this.
Though it IS sad that McGann only can be seen once.
But I’ve been waiting for a “Doctor Who”-revival for years, because without the Doctor something really great is missing on TV.
Am I the only one who wants to see a small yellow bear of very little brain be the next Doctor? 😉
But, seriously, as a lifelong Dr. Who fan (how can I not be? I’m British; it’s not a cult over here, it’s a national institution!) I’d be more than happy for ASH (what is it these days with people just being referred to by their initials? Sheeesh…) to play the new Dr. even though I would have liked Paul McGann to do at least ONE series (or at least 2 more films) before being replaced… the Dr. only has so many incarnations before he becomes the Master, after all… 🙂
Stephen Fry would also make a great Dr. but I can’t see it happening.
– PDJS
Ever see “Curse of the Fatal Death” — a special for Comic Relief? Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Grant and others take brief turns at the role. Atkinson, particularly, makes an excellent Dr. Who. I like some of the other suggestions posited here, Stephen Fry particularly.
Still, I’d *love* to see more Dr. Who, preferably by someone who understands that great writing and storytelling can overcome mediocre special effects. I think the new trend of hour-long syndicated adventure shows (like Herc & Xena) would be a good fit for Dr. Who, provided they still let stories run for several episodes.
Here’s hoping…
I think ASH would make an excellent Doctor whether it be as a TV series or on film. I think Sci-fi Channel should really take an opportunity to bring this show back in a co-venture with the BBC. They could even do it as a series of TV movies or something. I think if it was done well, and advertised more than the Fox TV movie was, then people would embrace it, even those that refuse to watch the old Doctor Who because of the low-budget effects.
Harken back with me now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when ASH was starring in those oh-so-clever serialized coffee commercials.
Ah, memories…
I think a great format for this revial (if it ever really happens) would a series of mini series. The BBC is going to have is hand in the production, it it seems to like that format (for exsample- it has been report that while josh wheaton wants to to a “Giles” movie, the BBC wants to do a 6 part season.) And lets remember, everthing except for the Paul McGain (sorry for the spelling on his name) movie and the Five Doctors special was done this way.
If a cable network like sci-fi does it with the BBC, they could air it as a weekly show, oor maybe make it an “event” program and air it every night for a week.
Lets just hope the BBC does something with this properity that has been sitting on the shelve for much too long.
Several points.
1: Let’s get the BBC off their ‘áršë’ to even start planning a revival, then we can argue over “Who’s” next.
2: During ‘Trial of a Time Lord’, wasn’t the Doctor’s fate as the Valyard shown to be a possible future instead of the definite one? Besides, the Time Lord’s once let it slip that at least one more regeneration is possible, so who said 12 HAS to be the end?
3: Does PAD have any plans for a Dr. Who book, or at least publically publishing ‘The TARDIS at Pooh Corner’?
Well- the master regenerated twice after his 12th regeneration (well- if you count possessing other people as a regeneration), so (in theory) the doctor could do it too. Or of course- they can change the rules around however they feel like – one of the perks of writing ficton. You can have on of those “events” that “change everything you knew”. Think Peter David’s run on the Hulk.
Well, I really can’t say I’m unbiased on this issue since Paul McGann’s Doctor is my favorite, and I would want Mr. McGann to continue as the Doctor, but I just cannot see ASH as our favorite Time Lord.
It’s a moot point considering the BBC have absolutely no intention of ever bringing Doctor Who back on television or in movies–we’re more likely to see an “Assignment Earth” series, but hypothetically I cannot see ASH portraying the Doctor.
Giles is already a Who-ish type of character, and unless ASH makes his Doctor drastically different from Giles–think in terms of Tom or Colin Baker–his incarnation I think would seem too close to his role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
ASH is a fantastic actor from what I can see, but I just have trouble wrapping my brain around his being the Doctor.
Sidebar: Me and a friend cast Ioan Gruffudd who portrays Horatio Hornblower as the ninth Doctor and Natalie Portman as his companion for a fanfic we’re writing.
Ray Tate
P.S. to Patrick, The Master didn’t regenerate after his thirteenth incarnation. He possessed bodies through the godlike powers he stole from the Keeper of Traken. The Doctor couldn’t do that even if he so desired. The only other way to regenerate past the natural cycle is to steal another Time Lord’s lives which is something he would not do.
You have a better memory then I ray. Thanks for reminding me.
If anyone is interested in Paul McGann’s current work, PBS’s “Mystery” next week runs the final part of “Forgotten” starring McGann.
I apologize for the triple post. I had a little trouble operating on the site.
Hitting the post this comment gave me an error message so naturally like a monkey searching for a peanut from the wrong dispenser, I kept hitting it again and again and getting shocked. (A Cheers joke)
Ray Tate
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