Nice cheekbones, though. Despite my seemingly growing preference for younger men, I am also skeptical of the Beeb's choice. :roll: While I'm sure that many people have had crushes on all the previous incarnations of the Doctor, I think that DT was the first to inspire such rabid devotion among your average schoolgirl. I fear that the Beeb are trying to cash in on this aspect by hiring someone who fits that mold --another tall, thin, pretty brunet. Will they ever go back to someone like Eccleston or Baker? Is Moffat going to continue to use DW as a force for some social change, or will it go back more to its traditional roots of interesting story telling and a format for educating the youth of Britain? I agree with you that RTD did make the Doctor into something of a Marty Stu (sometimes),but... I don't agree that he abandoned all of the traditional roots of DW. By introducing characters like Captain Jack and using DW as a force for social change, wasn't he still essentially "educating the youth of Britain?"

There's video with Smith talking about the selection here. He doesn't come across as adolescent or juvenile to me, and I love the way he lights up just mentioning the joy at becoming the new Doctor and not being able to tell anyone. Maybe I'm taking this all in stride because I was actually following Doctor Who when Peter Davison took the role, and I remember the way that fandom (though in limited magazine/letters form at that time) castigated him at the time for replacing Tom Baker. I always liked him and felt sorry for the fact that people were dead set against him -- both because of his age and he was considered too conventionally "handsome" to be the Doctor. I never saw Russell's move as "social change," necessarily, but rather as a welcome moving of the doctor into a "real" setting, more or less. It wasn't just fake aliens and bad sets. (Though the fight with the dummy hand in the first episode certainly harkened to those old days.) Yes, deaths occurred in those earlier incarnations, but they never had the real sense of loss -- and its toll on The Doctor -- during those days. It was very much a faked setting, and not the real "world." With the new Who, there were real issues that were confronted, and by allowing the companions to maintain contact, we could also see the cost on those who traveled with him.

I got to see THE video - the one that the Beeb used to announce the new selection (a clip of it is in Namaste's post above). In it, Moffat even stated that his main idea of the next Doctor was supposed to be a male in his forties or at his youngest, about Tennant's age. Even to his idea, Tennant was the rare exception to the rule. It was just by pure luck that Smith was auditioning and that he fit what they were looking for. As for youth, he's interviewed a bit in the special. Anyway, it's looking as if they're going to try to base his performance as the Doctor on what his performance was in the special with Billie Piper. And yes RSH, I'll have you know I'm a product of the eighties. Laugh if you will, but I can tight roll my jeans with the best of them! So, Six and Seven would have been my Doctors at the time - but I first heard of the show in 1996, when my dad didn't let me watch the TV movie. Because he wanted to watch figure skating or something (yes, my dad watches figure skating). So I missed The Paul McGann. ETA - if you did see the clip and/or special - did anyone else think of poor Tennant's back? He looks a bit more pale and subdued than normal in it.

Oooh! Article on Doctor Who - SPOILERS.

That makes me very excited and also a bit sad. But mostly excited.

Oh! Oh! Oh! I am SO excited! Best news I've had all day!

I am so very excited, but I also know that I am going to cry my way through this.

In related spoilers to related Whoverse ... info (and photos) of the next Sarah Jane Adventures: here about halfway down the page. (Beware of spoilers for other things, if you care about "Heroes," Iron Man 2," and a few others.)

We should all chip in and buy this house. I assume the Dalek is included.

Time to get this thread going again. New UK special this Sunday, November 15th at 7 pm on BBC. Also, a fan-based production: Doctor Who 2009 is turning out to be well-done, if a little slow. Even though it's "fan-based," it still uses all the same production quality. The show fits into a post-tenth-Doctor area, and is not meant to be part of canon, just to exist alongside it. They're a little slow on posting, but it's still something to watch, especially with the higher quality they have for a fan-produced show.

OMG!!!!! Doctor Who was AMAZING! ::flails:: Words cannot describe. Very dark and disturbing but super good.

So when is it supposed to air on BBCA? (I haven't gone looking for a download yet, but if there's too much of a delay I will.)

*iz ded* It was so damned creepy. Ten's really lost it, when you start mistaking yourself for the controller of fate and time, there's something a little off in the old bean. I was sitting on the edge of the couch the whole last part. Honestly, the Christmas special will probably give me heart palpitations. I mean, come on! It's everything a Christmas special is meant to be.

I was totally freaking out at the end. He was just off his rocker. What a mess. Great episode. At least it's only about a month till the Christmas episode!