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capri0mni...to pour over every detail of this with stereotypical geeky delight.
You have been warned.
[Image description: Thumbnail image for the YouTube video: “Meet the Thirteenth Doctor” posted by the Doctor Who YouTube channel, showing a close-up of a white woman’s open hand, with the cuff of a dark coat’s sleeve, holding a brass colored key in her open palm. Description Ends]
Begin (No voices, throughout):
Video opening: A forest in summer; it is sunny, and there is the sound of various birds calling. A tall-stemmed yellow flower is at the center of the shot.
Footsteps are heard, and a figure in a long, dark, coat strides into the frame (the camera is at the level of the coat’s hem). As the figure passes, the camera pans upward, and we see that the coat has a hood, which is shrouding the figure’s head. The figure continues on with a purpose, and the camera follows.
Cut to a close-up of the figure’s head, as the camera pulls alongside. An ominous chord begins to play, and continues.
Cut to an establishing shot, from a different place in the forest; a rusted wagon wheel, lying at an angle, with pieces of the rotting wood wagon beside it, dominates the frame. Now, we see the figure from a distance, walking from screen left to screen right, dwarfed by the trees around them.
Cut to a close-up of the figure’s boots, now walking toward the camera. The figure steps on a dry branch in the path, which cracks.
Cut to a medium shot, again, viewing the figure, all in black, from behind. The figure stops before a nearly completely collapsed stone wall. There is a gap in the wall, as if there were once a door and entry steps there.
Cut to a close up of the figure’s hand – it is a white woman’s hand. There is a faint sound of the Doctor’s TARDIS materializing, which intensifies as the woman opens her palm and a brass door key gradually appears there, with a flicker and crackle of electricity.
Cut to a close-up of the woman’s (brown) eye and cheek, seen in ¾ view.
Cut to a head-and-shoulders shot from behind, as the woman raises her hands and pulls back her hood for the first time.
Cut to a view from the front, as she lowers her hood and we see her face for the first time. She has shoulder-length blonde hair that curls slightly inward at the ends. There is a final “clank,” as the TARDIS finishes materializing. The Doctor smiles.
Cut to a similar shot from behind, when the woman first stopped before the stone wall. Only now, the bright blue TARDIS dominates the space before her. The Doctor strides forward.
Fade to Black.
Title card that fades into view, on line at a time: “Introducing / Jodie Whittaker / The 13th Doctor / BBC”
End. Total Runtime: One minute.
Okay, so this is what I am wondering: Can we garner any further clues from this (beyond what’s already been leaked/officially released) about what happens in the Christmas Special?
I mean, that hooded coat is very like the one Twelve has been wearing, the last two series. But Jodie Whittaker is a lot smaller than Peter Capaldi, and she is not lost in there – it’s clearly tailored to her.
So is this her fresh after regeneration and the outfit 12 had been wearing changed with her, to accommodate (via TARDIS magic), or is this outfit this incarnation’s Chosen Look? And if so, what does that say about her character, if she’s chosen something so similar?
Also – presumably, the Christmas Special will at least start out wintry, but this scene is in the height of summer. So what happens in the intervening seasons/years? Also also – the bit where first, a fresh key, and then the TARDIS, appears is reminiscent of the end of Eleventh Hour… Apparently, they’ve been separated from each other for a while. Does that mean that Twelve’s regeneration will be as destructive as Ten’s was?
(I did warn you…)
Or, alternatively, do you think this scene’s only purpose is to introduce 13? And the mysterious walk through the woods just looks cool? And if that’s the case, what do you think it says about the tone and/or themes for the show that Chibnall wants to set?
Discuss.
^Everything above this line started as a Tumblr post.^
Everything from here is fresh for Dreamwidth:
You have been warned.
[Image description: Thumbnail image for the YouTube video: “Meet the Thirteenth Doctor” posted by the Doctor Who YouTube channel, showing a close-up of a white woman’s open hand, with the cuff of a dark coat’s sleeve, holding a brass colored key in her open palm. Description Ends]
Begin (No voices, throughout):
Video opening: A forest in summer; it is sunny, and there is the sound of various birds calling. A tall-stemmed yellow flower is at the center of the shot.
Footsteps are heard, and a figure in a long, dark, coat strides into the frame (the camera is at the level of the coat’s hem). As the figure passes, the camera pans upward, and we see that the coat has a hood, which is shrouding the figure’s head. The figure continues on with a purpose, and the camera follows.
Cut to a close-up of the figure’s head, as the camera pulls alongside. An ominous chord begins to play, and continues.
Cut to an establishing shot, from a different place in the forest; a rusted wagon wheel, lying at an angle, with pieces of the rotting wood wagon beside it, dominates the frame. Now, we see the figure from a distance, walking from screen left to screen right, dwarfed by the trees around them.
Cut to a close-up of the figure’s boots, now walking toward the camera. The figure steps on a dry branch in the path, which cracks.
Cut to a medium shot, again, viewing the figure, all in black, from behind. The figure stops before a nearly completely collapsed stone wall. There is a gap in the wall, as if there were once a door and entry steps there.
Cut to a close up of the figure’s hand – it is a white woman’s hand. There is a faint sound of the Doctor’s TARDIS materializing, which intensifies as the woman opens her palm and a brass door key gradually appears there, with a flicker and crackle of electricity.
Cut to a close-up of the woman’s (brown) eye and cheek, seen in ¾ view.
Cut to a head-and-shoulders shot from behind, as the woman raises her hands and pulls back her hood for the first time.
Cut to a view from the front, as she lowers her hood and we see her face for the first time. She has shoulder-length blonde hair that curls slightly inward at the ends. There is a final “clank,” as the TARDIS finishes materializing. The Doctor smiles.
Cut to a similar shot from behind, when the woman first stopped before the stone wall. Only now, the bright blue TARDIS dominates the space before her. The Doctor strides forward.
Fade to Black.
Title card that fades into view, on line at a time: “Introducing / Jodie Whittaker / The 13th Doctor / BBC”
End. Total Runtime: One minute.
Okay, so this is what I am wondering: Can we garner any further clues from this (beyond what’s already been leaked/officially released) about what happens in the Christmas Special?
I mean, that hooded coat is very like the one Twelve has been wearing, the last two series. But Jodie Whittaker is a lot smaller than Peter Capaldi, and she is not lost in there – it’s clearly tailored to her.
So is this her fresh after regeneration and the outfit 12 had been wearing changed with her, to accommodate (via TARDIS magic), or is this outfit this incarnation’s Chosen Look? And if so, what does that say about her character, if she’s chosen something so similar?
Also – presumably, the Christmas Special will at least start out wintry, but this scene is in the height of summer. So what happens in the intervening seasons/years? Also also – the bit where first, a fresh key, and then the TARDIS, appears is reminiscent of the end of Eleventh Hour… Apparently, they’ve been separated from each other for a while. Does that mean that Twelve’s regeneration will be as destructive as Ten’s was?
(I did warn you…)
Or, alternatively, do you think this scene’s only purpose is to introduce 13? And the mysterious walk through the woods just looks cool? And if that’s the case, what do you think it says about the tone and/or themes for the show that Chibnall wants to set?
Discuss.
^Everything above this line started as a Tumblr post.^
Everything from here is fresh for Dreamwidth:
- I'm glad they decided to go with a woman.
- I'm disappointed she's so white (and still not ginger!).
- But I'm even more disappointed than I expected to be that they went back to the conventional "pretty youth" mold; for those viewers who just started watching with Doctor 10,* it must seem that Clara's concern in "Deep Breath" was valid: 12's regeneration as an 'old' person must seem like something was broken, that time. I don't need a full head of grey hair. But would a wrinkle or two really be so bad?
no subject
Date: 2017-07-17 10:13 pm (UTC)Whittaker is 35 -- the same age as Matt Smith now, and a year older than Tennant when he took the role. Not exactly old (I'm 35!) but in candid photos you can see she has crow's feet, lines under her eyes and around her mouth, she's youthful, but hardly an ingenue.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-17 11:42 pm (UTC)I was kind of hoping, since 12 was a call-back to Hartnell's Doctor, 13 would be a call-back to Troughton's, especially since he's one of my top three faves as the Doctor, and most of his stories had been burninated. And Troughton was a youthful 46 when he was cast, so...
*And I remember how much buzz there was when the show was announced, that he would be the youngest ever actor to play the role -- at 41. I was unsettled then, too. The Doctor was supposed to be an older figure than I am -- not a peer!
**I was secretly kinda/sorta rooting for Dawn French to be given the role...
no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 08:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 11:50 am (UTC)And Matt Smith has said that he was inspired by Troughton's performance in his physical mannerisms (and bow tie!).
"Can you talk without flapping your hands about?!"
But I saw more Hartnell than Pertwee in 12's short patience and blunt manner when it comes to foolishness. From what I've seen of 3, he always struck me as more deliberately charming, if also paternalistic and a bit pompous -- like an action adventure uncle.
Now, when I was hoping that 13 will be like 2 (and this may still happen -- won't know until we see scripts and acting unfold), is the cunning way he played the fool: deliberately leading his opponents to underestimate him, only to be outwitting them all along. Maybe what I'm actually hoping for is a 13/Companion relationship like 2 and Jamie had: intensely close, bantering, and protective, but without the romantic overtones that have (in my view) plagued 21st century Who.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 08:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 12:11 pm (UTC)Indeed. One name I kept running across in the "wouldn't it be great, if?" discussions was Richard Ayoade.
There have also been speculations around women of different races, but I, not being "up" even on current American stars, recognized neither their names nor faces. ... But the head shots I saw did look Doctor-ish.
I've liked all the Doctors except Ten (and that was all RTD anyway)
Well, technically, Nine was also RTD, but since (as I understand it) Eccleston didn't agree with everything RTD wanted, there was at least some nuance.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 07:04 pm (UTC)Sigh.
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Date: 2017-07-18 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 09:33 pm (UTC)I only know Richard Ayoade from "The IT Crowd", a comedy. I think you'd like it, though of course it's very British. He was very funny but I've never seen him in a serious role.
Asians and Indians/Pakistanis have been under-represented in DW, though the Sarah Jane adventures did well with the latter. But then, there probably aren't the number of Asians in the UK as here - it's about 25% in larger cities. Them missing seems to be a huge gap to me, but maybe it isn't at all.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 10:25 pm (UTC)I know Richard Ayoade from his panel appearances on Q.I. (which I used to watch before YouTube cracked down on bootleg uploads), and also from his time as host of Gadget Man (ditto).
no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 11:08 pm (UTC)But yes, a brown female Doctor would have been awesome, but I suppose it's one thing at a time. Don't want to upset the dinosaurs too much!
Oddly, Greg had to leave at 5am the night (here) it was announced, and he just said, "The DOctor's a woman, but I don't know her." I went back to sleep and dreamed her as a tall, well-built, middle-aged woman with a scar across her face. No idea why, but I liked her a lot.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 12:06 am (UTC)You don't know why she had a scar?
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Date: 2017-07-19 12:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 12:30 am (UTC)"A dream is a wish your heart makes..."
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Date: 2017-07-18 11:18 am (UTC)I mean, the filming schedule alone is taxing, add in the level of stunt work they do nowadays, and as Capaldi himself said, it's knackering and he's too old for this!
It's been shown that the harder the Doctor resists regeneration, the more explosive it tends to be. We saw that with Ten and Eleven, who variously fought it or put it off for ages. Now 12 has done/is doing both... The TARDIS is going to need to regenerate after this one... and I doubt the production team are going to miss the opportunity to come up with a new interior for her. [I do hope they don't go back to making the console look like a junkpile.]
no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 12:17 pm (UTC)But one thing neither Pertwee nor the other pre-reboot Doctors had to deal with is the international fan convention schedule, and the insane public attention, which seems to be at least half the job, nowadays.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 12:40 pm (UTC)But you are right about the P.R side of it, that's at least half the business nowadays and the physical demands of it are nuts! I mean, Tennet complained it left him a physical wreck, and they scaled it back with Capaldi. So you've got to figure they wanted someone who isn't likely to drop dead of exhaustion!
Still, as I said else-web to someone who was complaining about the choice, they could have gone with Josette Simon. [she was apparently in the running for it.]
no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 02:44 pm (UTC)And work that strenuous needs a period of real rest in the off-season -- not time-zone-hopping and autograph-signing, and press junkets. Good (or bad) Grief!
Still, as I said else-web to someone who was complaining about the choice, they could have gone with Josette Simon.
I don't know (of) her, but I will look her up
no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 11:22 pm (UTC)Although some sections of fandom probably would've spontaneously combusted if she had.
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Date: 2017-07-18 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-18 11:34 pm (UTC)BTW Hi from Jaxomsride... I'm her S.O. [she's sitting next to me right now.]
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Date: 2017-07-18 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 12:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 12:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 08:13 am (UTC)Tilda Swinton;
Anna Maxwell Martin;
Rachael Stirling;
Julie Graham.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 08:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 11:04 am (UTC)FredRomana) borrowed one for hers.Admittedly, though, none of these faces belonged to people as close to the Doctor as a Companion...
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Date: 2017-07-19 11:16 am (UTC)Ah, yes... all those folk "look Doctor-ish.'
And I'm wonder, now, if my initial reaction to Jodie Whittaker is "She's too young!" is because she's blonde. And if so, is that because: a) our culture infantilizes blonde women, b) I was blonde as a young child, and am now a dark brunette (so when I see a blond woman, I think of my own baby pictures), or c) both.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-19 02:32 pm (UTC)Ah, yes... all those folk "look Doctor-ish.'
There are some links to some good pictures of them here:
http://lilysea.dreamwidth.org/671762.html
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Date: 2017-07-19 03:26 pm (UTC)In those pics, A. M. M. even looks (to my eye) somewhat Troughtonesque (again, it may be the hair -- or the overall shape of her face).
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Date: 2017-07-19 03:49 pm (UTC)Huh! I don't see it myself.
She mainly plays very intelligent characters:
Jane Austen
an ex-Bletchley Park code breaker applying her skills to solving crimes in The Bletchley Circle.
(It's no coincidence that two of my other preferred Doctors, Rachael Stirling and Julie Graham also played very intelligent, brave, capable women in The Bletchley Circle.)
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Date: 2017-07-19 04:36 pm (UTC)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Troughton#/media/File:Patrick_Troughton_Head.jpg