Yeah and it also feels odd to me because - at least at the time series 11 was airing - I felt she was often being written a lot like Tennant and sometimes Smith. Though that opinion may change when I finally get the chance to rewatch
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@Tian thatās correct, Jodie didnāt watch any Doctor Who before she became the Doctor.
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Yeah, and itās often used as a stick to beat Whitaker with. āShe didnāt do her homeworkā. I can see why someone might think she should watch previous Doctors but I also agree with Chibnallās thought process about allowing her to characterise the Doctor without undue influence. And as I said on other online spaces while her era was airing, do we lambast Pertwee for not doing his homework, or Tom Baker? Davison is the first Doctor to admit watching the other Doctors and that was when he was a child watching Patrick Troughton. I donāt think it affected Whitakerās characterisation in the slightest and, for me, her Doctorishness was a far more front and centre than I ever felt with Capaldi (although I know Iām in a minority there).
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I was just about to mention this, the Classic Doctors didnāt watch much Who.
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Ooh, I donāt blame her for this; she just did what her boss told her to do. But I think that this was a bad decision from CC. I think that there is a difference with the classic doctors just because of availability; it was harder back then.
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Yes, it was harder back then but I donāt think thatās the point. Why was it a bad decision? Do you think her portrayal was affected? How do you think watching previous Doctors would have helped? Genuinely asking, because, as I say, for me she is one of the most Doctory Doctors.
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I think that it would have benefited her to have known how the character has been portrayed before. I am not saying that she did a bad job; I like Jodieās acting, but I think that she could have been even better.
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Okay, Iām going to push on this. In what way? The thing about the Doctor is that every actor has brought a lot of themselves to the role so Iām not entirely sure what she could emulate.
As much as Smith may have watched Troughton, I donāt see a huge amount of Troughton in his performance.
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It is not about emulating her; it is about getting inspired. I think what you say about Smith is precisely why it is a good idea to watch some of the earlier stuff. He has said that he got inspired by watching PT, and that helped him to understand the role, and in that way, he could make it his own. Every actor is different in how they prepare for a role, and maybe the best way for Jodie was not to watch any earlier stuff, but that should have been her call, not CCās, because she needs to prepare how she does it best. If she did not want to do it, then I take it back, but as I read, it was CCās decision, not hers.
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I mean he may have suggested it but there wasnāt really anything stopping her from choosing to watch some regardless. So she obviously agreed or at the very least trusted her judgement. Also, Iād be very surprised if she hadnāt seen ANY Doctor Who by that point considering how massive it was during her friend David Tennantās time. Itās not like she could have come to the role in a vacuum.
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I actually feel like it is worse if she watched some Tennant and nothing else. Then I think that it is even more important to watch some different stuff to see how different the character can beā¦ But I donāt think that we will agree on this.
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If someone is playing Hamlet, Sherlock Holmes, Batman, or any fictional character that has been around for a long time its probably hard not to have come across some other interpretation. But once cast in the role Iām not sure if its beneficial to seek out other actors peformances. In fact I have read/seen interviews where actors actively avoid looking at previous performances because they donāt want to be influenced. The core of who the character is should be in the script.
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What weāre going by on this is an interview with Jodi, incidentally:
āDoctor Who wasnāt something that was on TV in my house when I was growing up, so I thought Iād have to cane it before the first audition and watch every single episode,ā
āThankfully, Chris [Chibnall] said, āI donāt want you to. I want you to come in with fresh eyes and bring what you would do in this environment.ā
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So I just rewatched Arachnids in UK and enjoyed it,would give it 3.5/5.Loved 13 in this and Graham and Yaz are cool characters
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Still lowkey mad we didnāt see the Thijarians when 13 regeneratedā¦
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Oh, that would have been brilliant! Never thought about that until now haha
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I saw on Reddit once (I know) a post saying that Vinay Patel and Chris Chibnall had a huge falling out and Vinay was going to write more scripts but he quit?
This is fake, right?
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When I was watching kerblam the other day, I noticed that it was actually pretty similar to Robophobia, because the story makes you think that itās the robots gone wrong and killing, when its really a guy framing them because he hates robots. interesting 
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Jemma looks so much like the Brig hereā¦ more than she ever has in character!
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I watched the notorious Legend of the Sea Devils last night and really enjoyed it. Even more than Orphan 55 or Jodieās run as a whole, I canāt fathom why people hate it so much.
My chief complaint is that as a āspecialā it needed to be longer. But it looked spectacular, like Jodieās first two eps and Spyfall, and it was fun.
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