Recast Doctors

I read the last post and suddenly thought “didn’t we already have a thread about this?” and by gum we did. Have a look at this one for more recasting thoughts.

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I have a fairly complicated Opinion about recasting a Doctor’s Incarnation, especially since it shifts very much when it comes to the Medium of Visual Media and Audio.
For the TV Show, I’d rather they let the Incarnations whose Actors are sadly not with us anymore rest outside of Archive Footage. They did already recast the first Doctor and I somewhat get it with him, that said neither Hurndall or Bradley really impressed in their Role as much as I’d like to. Partially because both were very much written one-noted. And while I can safely say from what I’ve seen of him, Bradley is a superb Performer, and I am glad they have embraced him more as an “alternative” Take. I do think his Audio Dramas from what I heard are quite good, then again those Stories are just very well-written and do get the Essence of this Incarnation quite well.
While I understand why some Fans would like seeing an Incarnation like 2 or 3 make their Return to the TV Show, I think an Incarnation is so associated with their Actor that you never quite can get it right. There is just something that doesn’t quite feel right to me or even work, and really I do rather they get a different Doctor in the first place.
That said, my Opinion when it comes to Audio Recasts is a much different Beast, those are much more okay in my Book compared to the TV Show. I think the recasts do range from pitch-perfect to a bit inconsistent at times, but still pretty stick to a tooth to gets the essence right. While I get why there are so many Approaches, it can get a little jarring at times when those clash in the same Range, but that’s just a me thing.

That said, for me personally if any of those Recast Doctors decides to step down from the Role in the near Future, I’d be completely fine if there is a break taken with any of those Ranges or Doctors. Sure they might recast eventually and that’s totally fine, but I do hope they don’t jump too quickly into it, especially considering by the time somebody does decide to step down, they surely will have a lot of Story ground already covered. (Of course probably a strange Point to bring up, and I’d be happy if any of those Actors decide to stick to their Part as long as they possibly want, but I do imagine it can be quite a hard task, especially for those who try to challenge the Original Voice).

There is probably a huge Point to be made that it’s a bit odd that we recast Incarnations rather than utilizing other Incarnations, I mean I made that Point myself when it comes to the TV Show. That said, while I must admit I have fewer Issues with that on Audio, part of me does wonder if I would be okay if at one point they decide to not move forward with those Ranges in the far Future.

I am probably rambling a bit at this point, but it’s a tricky Topic to articulate some of my Thoughts. And I hope I made it clear I have all the Respect for the Actors who take on the Parts, even if I find some Issues with some Portrayals. At the end of the Day, I don’t really have much of a Problem with recasting as long it is done respectfully, which BF clearly does with their Actors.

I hope I made somewhat Sense, I did probably echo some Points others have already mentioned here before with some of my own two senses on the Topic. :sweat_smile:

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And with every dud, there used to be a Dudman to even it out!

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With the TV show I feel like there’s no real point in recasting Doctors. As much as I’d like to see the Third Doctor pop up, realistically speaking if you’re recasting for the show the odds are you’re only going to have that performance for one episode, and it’s going to be squeezed in with so much else. In that sense it doesn’t feel worthwhile, because there’s no opportunity for that performance to develop and you’re mostly banking on an actor emulating the old one as closely as possible.

With the nature of Big Finish, you’ve got that latitude. Treloar, Carley, Noonan, Troughton, Bradley and Dudman all have had the opportunity to explore their own takes on their characters in a way the TV show couldn’t provide, and get to firmly establish themselves in their roles rather than being a one-off gimmick we all look back on and think “that was weird”.

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I like that the show will just write some sci-fi explanation for why Peter, Sylvester’s, Colin and Paul look older in POTD and TOTT rather than recasting or (god forbid) digitally de-aging them.

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IIRC it’s actually one thing that RTD invented “bigeneration” for - so they could use the older versions of the actors to play new stories on TV as themselves, just bigenerated.

Not sure it will actually happen, but I like it.

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I was about to point it out as well. RTD mentioned this in one of the Unleashed episodes or the commentary or something. It’s a good way to bring back the still living Doctor without having to come up with a new explanation every time. If that’s ever to happen, of course.

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it’s a bit cumbersome as an explanation but I appreciate the intention :slight_smile:

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Honestly I feel like they don’t even need to explain it; just have them look as they naturally do. But maybe that’s just me and most people “need” an explanation, however sci-fi timey wimey it is.

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This. Then again I don’t really want old Doctors back, unless its an anniversary special.

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I want them back sooner rather than later. I think that we have too few multi-Doctor stories with the modern Doctors!

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Yeah. A throwaway line about time dilation or whatever would be more than enough.

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Same I love multi-Doctor stories and think they’re great fun.

Give me one with Paul McGann appearing in more than a cameo!

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I think that 11, 13 and 15 would have a blast together

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Trust me, in this day and age, where fans are so hung up on canon and things making sense, everything needs an explanation. That is why we keep arguing about why the Fugitive Doctor’s TARDIS looks like a police box if she’s a pre-Hartnell Doctor, for instance. If it’s not explained, it’s a plot hole because the Doctors looked much younger when they regenerated, so why do they suddenly look much older?

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I agree.

I also like Moffat’s handwave in Time Crash - the time differentials. Three simple words to brush past it.

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Bigeneration is just not necessary to explain it, though, that’s the thing. Maybe I’m just grumpy, but I feel like saying all Doctors bigenerated cheapens their “deaths”. That’s a whooooole other topic though ahahha

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Agree totally.

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Also agree, hated the bigeneration and the stupid retrospective comment from RTD. The music and the buildup to 14’s regeneration it could’ve been one of my favourite ever scenes with how it was done, but then it gets ruined with RTD’s tennant obsession. That’s my 50p, perhaps a thread is in order one day lol.

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Oh yeah you’re right, I just am so deep into being a BF fan that I’ve accepted that canon is malleable and I don’t care about details :sweat_smile:

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