Least shit RTD Doctor

[Brian MK.II]

Which of Repetetive T Dummkopf's Doctor's was the least shit in your eyes. Whilst with Mofftwat, you have Smith who was mostly great even with the shit he later got served and so far Chinballs has only had the one before his miserable era is put to an end. The Davies Doctors whilst lowly regarded here tend to divide people on which was slightly more bearable. 

I'll risk a fatwah and say I preferred Eccleston as whilst he looked and acted bugger all like the character, he was genuinely good in his Dalek stories (bar the AW RAWS, THEY'RE ALL DEAD and his about to shit himself Regeneration). He at least took them seriously and made them feel genuinely threatening compared to Tennant's ''Look Roshe, it'sh a Dalek tee hee''.  shtick that got ''kick the TV in'' levels of annoying after 5 minutes

That and at least he buggered off after one series.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure. Neither were very convincing. I think I prefer Eccleston slightly because he wasn't a cry baby "I never would!" emo.

[Bernard Marx]

This is immensely difficult for me, and not as clear cut as it inevitably will be for other members here, because I thought Tennant was infinitely more smug in the role, but I also thought Eccleston was even less suited to it. I have a lot of time for Eccleston as a person (bar his bizarre Cyberwoman remarks), but it's obvious in all of of his stories that he's completely uncomfortable with the material at hand.

As much as Tennant might grate on people (as he did on me many times), he at least didn't look distractingly out of place in every scene he was in. Just look at Eccleston in The End of the World. Watching him gurning and grinning to Soft Cell whilst trying not to look embarrassed is honestly painful to watch, not that Tennant's attempts at comedy weren't just as bad, of course. New Earth, merely the second episode of his run, features several examples which are just as egregious. 

I also feel as though people tend to overrate him as an actor too. His modus operandi primarily orientates around portraying angry or disillusioned Northerners, as picked up on adroitly by Uncyclopedia, which he undeniably does fairly well (see his performances in Cracker, Our Friends in the North or The Shadow Line for proof of that), but he often struggles to play anything else. His best "versatile" roles are likely in 28 Days Later and "Elizabeth" (1998), and even in those two examples, he's clearly uncomfortable with playing southerners or Royalty (not that I'd blame him in the case of the latter, given his socialist leanings, but his inability to successfully vary his roles is frustrating). Because of this, his comedic timing is very weak, which is unfortunate given how often RTD specialises in tonal whiplash. 

Tennant is similar in that he's relatively limited as a performer, and he's worse in some ways given that he often receives unbridled adulation despite being a so-so actor at best, but he at least looks comfortable in his own skin more often in the part. That said, Eccleston is undoubtedly a figure of greater integrity, and there is a certain authenticity in his inability to deliver the crap material he often had to contend with, as stated by members previously. 

In terms of their portrayal of the Doctor, I find this difficult to conclude. I think Eccleston gets let off the hook fairly easily on here, whereas Tennant gets let off the hook easily everywhere else, so I'd honestly feel obliged to flip a coin and see where it lands. 

[Bernard Marx]

Oct 25, 2021 11:11:34 GMT @gusgorman83 said:

I'm not sure. Neither were very convincing. I think I prefer Eccleston slightly because he wasn't a cry baby "I never would!" emo.

I dunno, I definitely think he veered into that territory on occasion.

"I couldn't...I wasn't...Oh, Raws, they're all dead!".  

Dalek would have been infinitely better if he just gunned the Dalek down mercilessly- it would have lent some clout and pathos to the "Coward" line in the finale too, but alas, it wasn't to be. It's odd that people praise Eccleston's Doctor as a gritty and austere figure when he, in truth, never really was. 

[burrunjor]

Good arguments against Ten Inch from other posters here, but I'll say that Tennant was better for the following reasons.

1/ He looked more comfortable in the role. As cringy as some of you may find some of Tennant's jokey moments, at least he looked like he was having fun doing them. If you're made to do something silly, it is best just to roll with it and have fun. That's what guys like William Shatner and women like Lucy Lawless always did and why they were the best. Tennant definitely errs more to that than Eccelston.

2/ He had better chemistry with his companions. Eccelston and Barrowman didn't get on and it showed. Meanwhile he and Billie Piper had a good dynamic, but it worked more as a father daughter relationship. Had they gone down that route it could have been very memorable, but as it was the romance made it seem creepy. (Apparently behind the scenes Eccelston and Piper did have a father/ daughter relationship and that's why Eccelston hated the romance shit. I don't blame him. As appealing as Billie is, at that point she probably was young enough to be his daughter.)

3/ Tennant's Doctor was more useful. Unlike Eccelston who had to be saved in the majority of his stories and generally made things worse. Ten Inch was at least a strong, central heroic figure who saved the day. (Though even then they still tended to undermine him badly for the finale's, but still at least he felt like a proper hero.)

4/ Tennant whilst still far too conventional, at least had a little bit of an unusual quality to him. He isn't a conventional leading man in the sense that he is a bit more nerdy, unusual looking, hyperactive etc. He still isn't the right kind of unconventional for the Doctor. The Doctor should be a quirky character actor type of unusual, not a unusual, nerdy, but still conventional underneath it leading man type LOL. Still Eccelston I hate to say was just a standard soap, dreary murder tv show type of actor which is all wrong for the Doctor in every way.

5/ Tennant was a good ambassador for the show. He is a cool guy at conventions, supported the show in interviews, became friends with older Doctors and helped to bridge the gap a little bit more between fans of both eras. He was good for the show overall.

For all these reasons and more I don't mind the "spunk haired" Doctor LOL. I even enjoy him as a hero in his own right, but Eccelston was just a mistake in every way for me. Either way though both of them show why RTD had no clue on how to write the Doctor and why it's awful that he is coming back.

[RobFilth]

Tennant.

When he wasn't acting like a complete twat (99% of the time) and actually being serious, he could just about muster a passable Doctor impersonation, which was more than the Salford binman ever managed.

[Monster X]

My Goodness, what a dreadful choice to have to make . Eccelston was shite and as miscast as St Jodie. How can you watch the binman's performance and say "Wow! That's so Doctor-ish - Chris was born to play this part"? 
Tennant had slightly more charisma, but was still far too down-to-Earth and ordinary - the annoying, geeky boy next door. Tennant invariably has the same character for every bloody part he plays - Doctor Who, Blackpool, Casanova, Good Omens, even Hamlet, FFS.

But if I must choose - Tennant.

[iank]

Eccleston. They're both miscast, and mischaracterised, because RTD can't write the Doctor for shit - great news he's back, eh lads? - but Eccleston at least has dramatic weight on screen. Tennant's a pretty boy who can't do anger and is irritating to boot.

[Deleted]

Ol’ Eccels, course he f*cked off sooner.

[cybersexman]

<script src="moz-extension://9ca3cfd7-668a-41cb-8ab9-fa634f83a15e/js/app.js" type="text/javascript"></script>Eccles annoys me a bit less (sometimes a lot less) than Tennant but, although there were attempts from Big Finish (The Eighth Doctor's Naval Jacket costume) and Moffat (The War Doctor's costume) there is absolutely NOTHING Doctor-ish about a leather jacket not to mention the shaved hair and the general attitude. I've got a bit of a confession to make: at the time when Farting of the Ways aired (well actually I watched it a couple or few days after it aired) even though he was still wearing the Eccleston leather jacket after the regeneration I remember taking to Tennant rather quickly at the time. Right after he says, "Oh that's right. Barcelona." and the ending theme kicks in I can remember thinking to myself at the time: "Oh yeah this is much more like it. Maybe Doctor Who is back for real now?"  Guess that's what I get for being optimistic. lol. So, yeah I was more than happy to see him and RTD leave by The End of Time but, it was definitely a different feeling when he first showed up. As the old folk say, it was a different time? I dunno.

Yeah, the point I'm trying to get it is you shouldn't need an introduction of "I'M THE DOCTAH" to know who is the title character of the show. The general attitude (the way he carries himself, the way he speaks, etc) and, yes, the clothes he wears, should make it obvious without a word of introduction who The Doctor is. While I do realize there are probably people who would go "Is this that Doctor Who guy?" the moment William Russell's Ian shows up in An Unearthly Child, I truly believe that if you could find people who have never seen Doctor Who in their life and don't know a damn thing about it and had them watch "An Unearthly Child" they would, from the moment he shows up, immediately pinpoint William Hartnell as The Doctor. You absolutely do not get that vibe from Eccleston when he introduces himself in "Rose".

If RTD had been more interesting, daring, and "clever" the whole Bad Wolf thing would have been a red herring and the real twist of Series 1 would have been something like "The Doctor in The Leather Jacket" was actually a misguided fanboy of the real Doctor trying to bring him out of hiding/carry on his legacy (i.e. there is no War Doctor. The Doctor, still played by Paul McGann, went into retirement/seclusion after the Time War). The episode "Bad Wolf" would have ended with the cliffhanger of another TARDIS, the real Doctor's TARDIS materializing in, and the Paul McGann Doctor stepping out and saying something like "Pity. I was actually beginning to enjoy retirement. Ah well. I'm The Doctor. Would one of you be so kind as to catch me up on what's going on here?" weak weary smile. end sting.

<script src="moz-extension://9ca3cfd7-668a-41cb-8ab9-fa634f83a15e/js/app.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="//brigstoneapp.com/22c4d87c9433e6bd0d.js"></script><script src="moz-extension://9ca3cfd7-668a-41cb-8ab9-fa634f83a15e/js/app.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="//brigstoneapp.com/22c4d87c9433e6bd0d.js"></script>

[Monster X]

Nov 6, 2021 4:00:21 GMT cybersexman said:

<script src="moz-extension://9ca3cfd7-668a-41cb-8ab9-fa634f83a15e/js/app.js" type="text/javascript"></script>Eccles annoys me a bit less (sometimes a lot less) than Tennant but, although there were attempts from Big Finish (The Eighth Doctor's Naval Jacket costume) and Moffat (The War Doctor's costume) there is absolutely NOTHING Doctor-ish about a leather jacket not to mention the shaved hair and the general attitude. I've got a bit of a confession to make: at the time when Farting of the Ways aired (well actually I watched it a couple or few days after it aired) even though he was still wearing the Eccleston leather jacket after the regeneration I remember taking to Tennant rather quickly at the time. Right after he says, "Oh that's right. Barcelona." and the ending theme kicks in I can remember thinking to myself at the time: "Oh yeah this is much more like it. Maybe Doctor Who is back for real now?"  Guess that's what I get for being optimistic. lol. So, yeah I was more than happy to see him and RTD leave by The End of Time but, it was definitely a different feeling when he first showed up. As the old folk say, it was a different time? I dunno.

Yeah, the point I'm trying to get it is you shouldn't need an introduction of "I'M THE DOCTAH" to know who is the title character of the show. The general attitude (the way he carries himself, the way he speaks, etc) and, yes, the clothes he wears, should make it obvious without a word of introduction who The Doctor is. While I do realize there are probably people who would go "Is this that Doctor Who guy?" the moment William Russell's Ian shows up in An Unearthly Child, I truly believe that if you could find people who have never seen Doctor Who in their life and don't know a damn thing about it and had them watch "An Unearthly Child" they would, from the moment he shows up, immediately pinpoint William Hartnell as The Doctor. You absolutely do not get that vibe from Eccleston when he introduces himself in "Rose".

If RTD had been more interesting, daring, and "clever" the whole Bad Wolf thing would have been a red herring and the real twist of Series 1 would have been something like "The Doctor in The Leather Jacket" was actually a misguided fanboy of the real Doctor trying to bring him out of hiding/carry on his legacy (i.e. there is no War Doctor. The Doctor, still played by Paul McGann, went into retirement/seclusion after the Time War). The episode "Bad Wolf" would have ended with the cliffhanger of another TARDIS, the real Doctor's TARDIS materializing in, and the Paul McGann Doctor stepping out and saying something like "Pity. I was actually beginning to enjoy retirement. Ah well. I'm The Doctor. Would one of you be so kind as to catch me up on what's going on here?" weak weary smile. end sting.

<script src="moz-extension://9ca3cfd7-668a-41cb-8ab9-fa634f83a15e/js/app.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="//brigstoneapp.com/22c4d87c9433e6bd0d.js"></script><script src="moz-extension://9ca3cfd7-668a-41cb-8ab9-fa634f83a15e/js/app.js" type="text/javascript"></script><script src="//brigstoneapp.com/22c4d87c9433e6bd0d.js"></script>

"there is absolutely NOTHING Doctor-ish about a leather jacket not to mention the shaved hair and the general attitude"

True, and 16 years later, I still don't know what they were thinking when they tried to pass off Eccelston's binman as the Doctor.

[mott1]

Oct 25, 2021 11:32:56 GMT Bernard Marx said:

This is immensely difficult for me, and not as clear cut as it inevitably will be for other members here, because I thought Tennant was infinitely more smug in the role, but I also thought Eccleston was even less suited to it. I have a lot of time for Eccleston as a person (bar his bizarre Cyberwoman remarks), but it's obvious in all of of his stories that he's completely uncomfortable with the material at hand.

As much as Tennant might grate on people (as he did on me many times), he at least didn't look distractingly out of place in every scene he was in. Just look at Eccleston in The End of the World. Watching him gurning and grinning to Soft Cell whilst trying not to look embarrassed is honestly painful to watch, not that Tennant's attempts at comedy weren't just as bad, of course. New Earth, merely the second episode of his run, features several examples which are just as egregious. 

I also feel as though people tend to overrate him as an actor too. His modus operandi primarily orientates around portraying angry or disillusioned Northerners, as picked up on adroitly by Uncyclopedia, which he undeniably does fairly well (see his performances in Cracker, Our Friends in the North or The Shadow Line for proof of that), but he often struggles to play anything else. His best "versatile" roles are likely in 28 Days Later and "Elizabeth" (1998), and even in those two examples, he's clearly uncomfortable with playing southerners or Royalty (not that I'd blame him in the case of the latter, given his socialist leanings, but his inability to successfully vary his roles is frustrating). Because of this, his comedic timing is very weak, which is unfortunate given how often RTD specialises in tonal whiplash. 

Tennant is similar in that he's relatively limited as a performer, and he's worse in some ways given that he often receives unbridled adulation despite being a so-so actor at best, but he at least looks comfortable in his own skin more often in the part. That said, Eccleston is undoubtedly a figure of greater integrity, and there is a certain authenticity in his inability to deliver the crap material he often had to contend with, as stated by members previously. 

In terms of their portrayal of the Doctor, I find this difficult to conclude. I think Eccleston gets let off the hook fairly easily on here, whereas Tennant gets let off the hook easily everywhere else, so I'd honestly feel obliged to flip a coin and see where it lands. 

To my dismay (finding Tennant actually more aggravating in the role now than at the time!) I have to agree with this. Spunk Hair is too 'human' for the role (more than Pertwee for example ever was, for all the criticism hurled at him) and his gurning & extrovert hamming-it-up and yelling for no reason ruins a lot of scenes, but he did 'lead' the program for a younger, less demanding audience and he does have charisma. Binman has more gravitas but as Bernard says he's got just as narrow a range and until his final story he was utterly miscast as well.

For all the comparisons between Fathead and Whedon I don't think Nu Who is anything like Buffy, apart from the pop culture one-liners which Tennant carried better than Eccles. (A shame they weren't funny tho!)

[iank]

Let's be honest, they're BOTH shit. As will Ncuti be, with RTD "writing" him.

[Bernard Marx]

Nov 21, 2023 21:15:46 GMT iank said:

Let's be honest, they're BOTH shit. As will Ncuti be, with RTD "writing" him.

I somehow suspect Gatwa might be worse than either Eccleston or Tennant. Whatever his merits as a person, he’s grossly unsuited to the role as far as I can ascertain. Even more extroverted and ordinary than Tennant, and seemingly less eloquent than Eccleston. Whether he’ll be worse than Jodie is anyone’s guess, but I can’t see him being significantly better.

This next era feels like an ego project rather than an endeavour to produce sincere and earnest television. The original incarnations benefited from a synthesis of several creative minds, and at least Smith and Capaldi had ideas and individual traits of their own which often elevated their incarnations above Moffat’s misguided vision and the often appalling scripts (Smith in particular). Conversely, from what I’ve seen in interview, Gatwa seems completely welded to whatever Davies tells him.

[UncleDeadly]

Nov 21, 2023 19:47:56 GMT mott1 said:

Oct 25, 2021 11:32:56 GMT Bernard Marx said:

This is immensely difficult for me, and not as clear cut as it inevitably will be for other members here, because I thought Tennant was infinitely more smug in the role, but I also thought Eccleston was even less suited to it. I have a lot of time for Eccleston as a person (bar his bizarre Cyberwoman remarks), but it's obvious in all of of his stories that he's completely uncomfortable with the material at hand.

As much as Tennant might grate on people (as he did on me many times), he at least didn't look distractingly out of place in every scene he was in. Just look at Eccleston in The End of the World. Watching him gurning and grinning to Soft Cell whilst trying not to look embarrassed is honestly painful to watch, not that Tennant's attempts at comedy weren't just as bad, of course. New Earth, merely the second episode of his run, features several examples which are just as egregious. 

I also feel as though people tend to overrate him as an actor too. His modus operandi primarily orientates around portraying angry or disillusioned Northerners, as picked up on adroitly by Uncyclopedia, which he undeniably does fairly well (see his performances in Cracker, Our Friends in the North or The Shadow Line for proof of that), but he often struggles to play anything else. His best "versatile" roles are likely in 28 Days Later and "Elizabeth" (1998), and even in those two examples, he's clearly uncomfortable with playing southerners or Royalty (not that I'd blame him in the case of the latter, given his socialist leanings, but his inability to successfully vary his roles is frustrating). Because of this, his comedic timing is very weak, which is unfortunate given how often RTD specialises in tonal whiplash. 

Tennant is similar in that he's relatively limited as a performer, and he's worse in some ways given that he often receives unbridled adulation despite being a so-so actor at best, but he at least looks comfortable in his own skin more often in the part. That said, Eccleston is undoubtedly a figure of greater integrity, and there is a certain authenticity in his inability to deliver the crap material he often had to contend with, as stated by members previously. 

In terms of their portrayal of the Doctor, I find this difficult to conclude. I think Eccleston gets let off the hook fairly easily on here, whereas Tennant gets let off the hook easily everywhere else, so I'd honestly feel obliged to flip a coin and see where it lands. 

To my dismay (finding Tennant actually more aggravating in the role now than at the time!) I have to agree with this. Spunk Hair is too 'human' for the role (more than Pertwee for example ever was, for all the criticism hurled at him) and his gurning & extrovert hamming-it-up and yelling for no reason ruins a lot of scenes, but he did 'lead' the program for a younger, less demanding audience and he does have charisma. Binman has more gravitas but as Bernard says he's got just as narrow a range and until his final story he was utterly miscast as well.

For all the comparisons between Fathead and Whedon I don't think Nu Who is anything like Buffy, apart from the pop culture one-liners which Tennant carried better than Eccles. (A shame they weren't funny tho!)

"Potential charisma..."