My phrasing was bad. Both the gender-swapped and the current “dancing in the crosswalk” Doctor Who attempts were dogshit. Fern Brady would actually fit the emotional timbre of the classic Doctors while also happening to be modern and female, was my point.
I have only the vaguest of vague impressions, but my vague impression is that he’s been quite a good actor in other things, but then with Doctor Who they kept giving him terrible scripts.
A lesser point: the writing is pretty bad even by who standards. Trying too hard to check inclusion boxes when they would be nailing it with a little less effort. A random line in Gatwas second season about it being illegal for nurses to not know sign language, despite the presence of universal translation, was a hamfisted attempt to force inclusivity. Good impulse, heinously bad execution.
A larger thing that stood out to me was a recent episode (first of his second season). They go to the planet, find the bad guy, turns out he’s a literal incel (feels like they didn’t have to be so on the head, but that bit is whatever) stalking the new companion. In the end he unceremoniously dies. The Doctor and the new companion shared a laugh.
The Doctor doesn’t laugh at death. Granted I’ve never watched the originals, but the other Doctors have no shortage of hang ups about it. The tenth goes out of his way to give the bad guys a chance to end peacefully on his debut episode before killing them with a frown. The fourteenth chastised a person for trying to take advantage of the bad guy hanging from a ledge in her debut episode. The eleventh was a showman, but treated a good man going to war with proper, barely restrained rage. The twelfth has a sizable plotline about his issues with soldiers that interferes with his relationship with Clara.
It just doesn’t feel like the Doctor that I grew attached to, even Jodie Whittaker (who I argue was a victim of bad writing). I blame Disney.
My phrasing was bad. Both the gender-swapped and the current “dancing in the crosswalk” Doctor Who attempts were dogshit. Fern Brady would actually fit the emotional timbre of the classic Doctors while also happening to be modern and female, was my point.
What’s wrong with Ncuti?
Nothing, as far as I can tell.
I have only the vaguest of vague impressions, but my vague impression is that he’s been quite a good actor in other things, but then with Doctor Who they kept giving him terrible scripts.
A lesser point: the writing is pretty bad even by who standards. Trying too hard to check inclusion boxes when they would be nailing it with a little less effort. A random line in Gatwas second season about it being illegal for nurses to not know sign language, despite the presence of universal translation, was a hamfisted attempt to force inclusivity. Good impulse, heinously bad execution.
A larger thing that stood out to me was a recent episode (first of his second season). They go to the planet, find the bad guy, turns out he’s a literal incel (feels like they didn’t have to be so on the head, but that bit is whatever) stalking the new companion. In the end he unceremoniously dies. The Doctor and the new companion shared a laugh.
The Doctor doesn’t laugh at death. Granted I’ve never watched the originals, but the other Doctors have no shortage of hang ups about it. The tenth goes out of his way to give the bad guys a chance to end peacefully on his debut episode before killing them with a frown. The fourteenth chastised a person for trying to take advantage of the bad guy hanging from a ledge in her debut episode. The eleventh was a showman, but treated a good man going to war with proper, barely restrained rage. The twelfth has a sizable plotline about his issues with soldiers that interferes with his relationship with Clara.
It just doesn’t feel like the Doctor that I grew attached to, even Jodie Whittaker (who I argue was a victim of bad writing). I blame Disney.