This could be the case, and I shall always love many of his stories, The Story & the Engine being a lofty pinnacle.
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I imagine once he gets some Big Finish audios, it’ll help as well.
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Oh, now that I would love! Will it come to pass? Who knows. I just hope Ncuti’s up for it some day.
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I agree, I felt nothing when he regenerated. When he was first cast tbh I was disappointed, I would have preferred a woman. But seeing him in interviews he came across as so charismatic I was looking forward to his Doctor. But in the role, for the most part, I’ve never really been able to see him as any more than Ncuti playing the Doctor rather than just seeing the character. & as with my main problems with this era it all comes down to the writing, just not good enough.
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Fifteenth is the first NuWho Doctor whose regeneration was an actual surprise. Hell, aside from Sixth (another unfortunate comparison…), the stories when the role changes hands tend be events within the show. Logopolis, Androzani, the TV movie, Parting Of The Ways, End Of Time, Time And The Doctor, Twice Upon A Time, Power Of The Doctor, even The Giggle; generally speaking, those stories were framed, both from a marketing standpoint and narratively, as their respective Doctor’s finale.
With Fifteenth (irrespective of leaks and spoilers), he just… went away. It was really sudden too, to the point where it felt like it was gearing up for a Journey’s End-style fake-out. So when the realisation sank in that, yep, this was actually happening, it felt a bit empty. Hell, with the way Billie’s appearance is framed and credited, the show itself doesn’t even seem certain that he has left, at least permanently. That lack of certainty combined with the lack of closure is… not ideal.
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Same for me 
I’m not a long time fan but I can’t see myself giving up on this huge universe , there is still so much to see for me and I absolutely love it
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Yeah this is the lowest I’ve felt on the show in a long time (not just due to the episode itself, it’s a mix of things around it too) but I know I always have the classic backlog and audios. Plus other EU stuff if I ever become interested in that. I love Doccy Who and that’ll never change; even if maybe one day I don’t wanna watch the show for a while
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I’ve been able to see him as the Doctor (no problem). What I haven’t been able to do is really get a feel for exactly who his Doctor is evolving into? He’s wonderful in individual stories, but there feels like a narrative hole to me in the way we normally feel we gradually learn more about them and their particular evolving personality. Basically, I normally feel that a new Doctor emerges with a raw personality that is distinctive (Fifteen got that in spades) but unmoulded. The experiences across their various stories then mould and shape how they develop. There’s a sense of forward momentum where we see the person start to shape themselves from that raw set of traits. I don’t get the sense that this properly happened, though elements were starting to emerge (trust issues in The Story & the Engine for example) which I think might have led to this becoming more apparent in his (tragically never to be) season three. I hope that makes my slight disconnection a little clearer?
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I do think every Doctor deserves 3 seasons to allow for the actor to establish themselves & for their departure to cary enough meaning. Having said that I connected with 9 immediately.
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By contrast, I’d like to make clear that, despite my misgivings regarding The Reality War, I still feel just as positive about DW as a whole as I’ve ever felt. I don’t really feel I can fully or fairly judge what The Reality War was intended to be before everything had to course correct (following events). The fact I think they chose the wrong course correction doesn’t mean I’d have felt so disappointed by the original plan. From what we saw, I suspect it would still have had its problems but would very possibly have felt a lot more satisfying for me. That episode, despite the frequent joyful bits, was disappointing for me (for reasons I think I’ve articulated extensively) but I feel it’s unfair to feel particularly negative towards the show, especially as I’ve felt such joy for the vast majority of this season, not to mention season one. I know not everyone feels the same (which is fine), but that’s where I’m at.
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As a general rule, I agree most fully and wholeheartedly.
This is also true. Within 13 episodes, he achieved considerable growth as a character. His era, short and beautiful as it was, felt richly developed and thematically complete.
That said, I’d have loved two more seasons with Eccleston.
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It was cheaper for UNIT to have a slowly rotating tower rather than just have lazer gun emplacements all around?
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I actually did not connect with Nine until my first rewatch. But that might have been because it was the first Doctor Who I watched, and I had not started loving the show yet.
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I think, to touch on the “Ncuti didn’t feel Doctor-ish” sentiments I’m seeing discussed, one of the big problems there is that in contrast to super-fan David Tennant and “I’m going to call Moffat about Tomb of the Cybermen at 2am” Matt Smith, Ncuti and Jodie were much more hired guns. EDIT APPARENTLY NCUTI DID WATCH THE SHOW I’m a big silly buffoon, although I will instead dovetail into the fact that he barely got to be in a lot of his own season - either way, a consistent portrayal has to be at least central to making the show work, from a Doctor and companion perspective.
That’s a fundamental flaw for me - to preview the ethos of the book (Same Software, Different Case) I’m writing, Doctor Who IS a character piece. It’s a deeply strange and difficult charater to do, but it still is one. The continuity matters. That, for me, is why so much of 13 and 15’s era jarred. The actors simply don’t have the history to do the work an actor needs to for a character, so we actually get a lot of the narrative telling us who the Doctor is and how they’re supposed to act, but the character as scripted flounders because by design, the actor has been given no way to connect with the history because they’re just different faces. I’m convinced that’s why Russell has been so heavy on the “face-flashback” sequences this two seasons. It’s a cheat - it’s a way to go “hey look, it’s the same person!” It’s the same thing with the “14, I healed, now you’re better” bullshit. It is a lazy contrivance so you don’t actually have to work with an actor and a script about getting the character to the next place.
No one on the show takes The Doctor seriously as a dramatic character. The Doctor is a super-hero now, so therefore we get told about the things they are, not shown.
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Still think these ‘role of cool’ (using the term loosely…) things that made little sense in the episode (the battle mode UNIT tower, Shirley’s superfast wheelchair, Mel arriving at the top of the tower with a scooter and a perm, Susan Triad Tony Stark-ing a Zero Room, the Vindicator suddenly being a BFG) were because of the wish allowing reality to be bent a bit if their will was strong enough.
If not… then yeah, UNIT’s budget management is 
and Mel has a collection of wigs?
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That’s fair and I’m happy to hear it! I wish I was in the same boat, especially as I loved s41 other than the finale.
But the problem for me is just the direction the show seems to be going in. The questionable politics. The bringing back older elements but doing nothing interesting with them. Billie Piper only two years after David Tennant. Two years of Susan teasing. It all just leaves me a little exhausted and worried, you know? Not all just issues with TRW, these are issues I had with The Giggle somewhat and EoD too. And these are things I was nervous about with the return of RTD instead of a fresh new voice in charge
But I’m glad that my experience isn’t universal; I wish I was feeling more up on the show than I am atm
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I know I’ve mentioned it elsewhere but many actors choose not to look at previous performances when taking on a role that has been played many times before. & as I have said time & time again, its about the writing. An actor is hired based on their audtion & casting directors; an undervalued & often invisible part of the process, the narrative is usually that the showrunner/director claims sole ownership of choosing the right lead, is it a coincidence that most casting directors are women? Of course there’s also nepotism & people only being selected from a specific group.
Any actor taking on the role of Doctor Who should’t be told to watch the show before going in nor should they need to, especially with Doctor Who where the character is such a part of pop culture. It should all be there in the script they are working with. I totally believed in Ncuti as the Doctor in TSATE, why? Better writing. Simple as that.
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Fundamentally disagree with this point, and the evidence is there. Both sections of the show that have been least well received are also sections of the show where the actor was actively told not to watch any of the other Doctors.
Writing is a very important part of this show because Doctor Who is a vector for stories, but it’s not the be-all and end-all, and when your central character is fundamentally defined by their sense of continuity, good writing may be the start, but I think having at least some measure of interest in where the show has come from (not all shows, but this one I think, defined by the stable presence of a central character) is also going to be a part of the secret sauce.
Also, a less knowledgeable actor feeds into the bad writing. If your Doctor has never seen Doctor Who before and has next to no knowledge of who the character is (beyond the flat time travelling alien high concept that doesn’t really afford an actor a whole lot in terms of shaping things), then obviously the scripts have to do a lot of legwork in helping an actor get into the character, which is why Russell’s scripts are full of huge tell don’t show moments and we get slammed in re-shots and flashbacks reminding us of where this is all supposed to have come from.
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By whom?
Yep. Bad writing.
True to an extent but actively watching the show to prepare for the role. I don’t think thats essential.
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I see elements on both sides, if I’m honest, but I can’t ascribe to the necessity of the actor viewing previous performances to inform their own delivery. In the modern era, some actors have and others haven’t. I actually don’t think there’s much wrong with the performances of either Jodie or Ncuti. I feel uncomfortable that Ncuti’s Doctor doesn’t seem to have evolved (for me) as other Doctor’s have. I certainly DID see that evolution in Jodie’s Doctor. This says more, most likely, about a curtailed plan rather that anything else - although I do agree that some shortcuts have been taken at a writing level. To quote @turnoftheearth
I don’t entirely agree, but I can see where you’re coming from.
However, lets consider Classic DW.
In Pertwee’s autobiography “Moon Boots and Dinner Suits”, he claimed he was advised by producer Barry Letts: “Don’t play someone else; just play Jon Pertwee as the Doctor.”
Even moreso, Tom Baker reputedly stated “I never really watched the show before I got the part. I didn’t want to copy anyone.”
And those are two of my all time favourite Doctors. 
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