I don’t disagree with you on this front, for me it is simply the frequency with which it happens. I think it has become a bit farcical, a bit like how Mel had to have those high-pitched screams in the 80s - the emotional impact on me as a viewer has already become nonexistent because of the frequency of the tears in Ncuti’s stories.
For it to have a genuine impact storytelling wise I think “less is more” is a far superior approach. This is already at “10 crying in the rain”-meme level for me sadly.
I think the screaming in Empire of Death could to much greater effect be replaced with just a dead look on Ncuti’s face, this is a Doctor so in touch with his emotions that if he simply have no emotions to show it would make a definite impact on me as a viewer.
He’s only screamed twice, and I think both times are justifiable. The scream in Dot and Bubble wasn’t the same, it was kind of a flabbergasted scream of utter disbelief and helplessness.
I prefer this over the Thirteenth Doctor having absolutely no reaction to anything most of the time. (Not a dig at Jodie, she’s great, but the writing and directing).
It is mainly the crying as a way to show his emotions I refer to.
And I wildly disagree with you about 13 not showing emotions, it was just a much more subtle display of emotions than what you get from the RTD or Moffat years
I honestly just don’t get the idea that seeing him cry often makes it less impactful, because he’s able to sell me on the emotions every single time. I also think that talking about him crying a lot is sort of condensing down a wide number of emotions he’s conveying in very different ways.
I just don’t think this is true. She’s definitely one of the most emotionally closed off Doctors (probably the most tbh), but she still very much reacts to things emotionally, it’s just that often instead of some clear outward show of emotions it’s a more subtle reaction and she lets it simmer until she blows up
I like the way fifteen cries because it feels like more than just crying. It’s always different, it portrays so many nuances, sometimes it’s grief, or anger, or hopelessness or a release of tension, no two times are the same, so it doesn’t feel overdone to me, but obviously those thresholds are different for everyone.
I think it is fantastic that you get that out of it.
It is fascinating how people have different takeaways on acting.
These are all arguments that I heard time and again about Mandip Gill and how good she was at emoting with her facial expressions, and I have absolutely never been able to get that out of her performance, I never had the sensation of an actor showing emotions or internal struggle when watching her acting. Which is annoying on a personal level as there apparently are levels that I don’t get/doesn’t appeal to me, like with Ncuti now.
I would like to see 15 under a different showrunner in the future where the emotional aspects of storytelling aren’t as prevalent, because at the moment I find him kind of limited by the stories being told.
I agree with everything you wrote here (except 12 being S tire but I can forgive you for that). It’s nice to see that someone else feels the way I do. I started seeing myself as an outsider for liking ten (LOL).
Ten gets stick for being so prolific in the stories but I see that as it’s because he is good and well loved, and a huge fan of the show.
The other actors who won’t come back (12), are too busy (11), or only came back after a long time to pay their mortgage (9) all seem to not love the show and the role as much as Tennant does.
(I understand that’s their choice entirely and that’s perfectly fine, just using that as an example to show that 10 loves the role more than the others)
I think it’s almost become cool to say that you dislike 10 because that was an edgy, against the norm opinion to have. But now it has become the norm!
I think he’s great!
(And 12 is amazing, you need to rewatch it some more so you agree with me )
I liked 10 when his run was first airing, but I was in my early 20s and relatively young. I rewatched up to the end of 11 during Lockdown and really disliked a lot of 10s run. He came off as a reckless, petulant child a lot of the time. He has some strong stories, so I don’t dislike him like some other Doctors, but he is nowhere near my favourite.
Tennent may love the role more than others, but that doesn’t mean the character he portrays is good because of it.
“cool to say that you dislike 10 because that was an edgy, against the norm opinion to have” may have some validity, but it doesn’t change the fact that some people do have genuine issues with 10.
But as I’ve said many times, these are my opinions and in no way am I trying to dismiss your love of 10.
Right now I’d say 15 is low A+ tier, which puts him close to the middle of all Doctors, and only above 11 for NuWho, but I still feel like there’s so much potential for him to go up in that ranking as I see more of him and get a better sense of his character, and maybe even just after I have more time to sit with what we’ve had. I do feel that this season hasn’t been the best for introducing a new Doctor, given the short season with multiple Doctor-lites and some pacing that felt a bit rushed, but I think some of the calmer moments in EoD really helped to make up for some of that. I still feel like I’ve got a bit less a sense of his character than others, but that’s not unusual for this point in a Doctor’s run, and what I am really strongly picking up on is wonderful, and Ncuti is immediately one of my favorite actors in the role and I hope we get much much more of him.
I’m going to admit that it’s entirely possible that I’m reaching here and projecting things on fifteen. I tend to have rather flat expressions of my emotions while like every human having a rich inner life, so I tend to overcorrect and assume there’s more behind a facial expression than there may be. It’s actually one of the reasons why I love thirteen so much too, I feel like she has similar way to me how she expresses and feels her emotions.
I do actually agree that the emotional impact to the narrative would have been higher if he’d cried a bit less.
Yeah my issues with 10 has nothing to do with Tennant, by all accounts he is a lovely fellow
It is the characterisation of the Doctor as this über-special Messianic figure that just doesn’t sit right with my perception of the Doctor “as a concept” so to speak. That combined with the smugness levels between him and Rose, how he treated Martha and the whole Time Lord Victorious storyline + the nostalgia-tour in The End of Time, combined those choices in characterisation and storytelling just does not appeal to me in the slightest.
He was at his best in his own era with Donna when all the romance sub-plots were discarded entirely.
And he was absolutely fantastic in The Day of the Doctor when he wasn’t determined by RTD’s approach to Doctor Who but had another spin on him while still maintaining the key characteristics of his Doctor.
Also I am fairly certain that I am neither “cool” (I don’t wear a bowtie) nor “edgy”
One of these is absolutely sobbing over the feeling of guilt for the death of the universe, one is a subtle tear in empathy for a kind stranger, and one is the grief of leaving his best friend. All of these are conveying different emotions and are played in very different ways, with the only real similarity being that he’s crying, and that range of emotions exists across the season.
Ah yes, the notoriously Doctor Who disliking Peter Capaldi, who ran the Scottish Doctor Who fanclub as a teenager and drew these pictures live in the course of a few minutes…
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