WHO Do You Prefer: Tennant or Eccleston?
January 30, 2008 by Spotlight-on WM
Filed under ACTORS, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Doctor Who, TV SHOWS
After watching DOCTOR WHO for the last 3 seasons and counting, I find I like both “new” Doctors, ninth and tenth in the overall series, but since Christopher Eccleston was “my” first Doctor, I think I’ll always like him the best.
According to an excerpt of his autobiography ANYTHING GOES at the DAILYRECORD.CO.UK, John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness) had this to say about the two doctors:
“I found the set to be a lighter one with David than it had been with Christopher in the lead role. I think David is a happier person, whereas I found Chris to be a bit angsty.”
However, part of the reason he may have found Chris to be a little “angsty” (besides the fact that he’s a serious, intense, focused actor most of the time to begin with) is that John also says,
“On the December day in 2004 when I walked on to the Doctor Who set in Cardiff for the first time, I was bursting with energy, while Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper were exhausted and ready to break for the Christmas holiday.”
I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be very bouncy either after 16 hour days of filming over the course of a few months… (LOL) Of course, John Barrowman says about himself, “At the best of times I make a subtle first impression.” (Uh, huh.) No doubt, being of Scots origin, John feels a bit more kinship with Tennant than Eccleston, too, saying, “The hardest part for me was to resist speaking to him [Tennant] in a Scottish accent.”
While I like David Tennant as the Doctor, I fear he sometimes strays a bit too far into campiness with the character. (Writing? Acting? Combo of both?) Happy is one thing, but manic is a bit much. (He did crazy/manic/evil well, though, in HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE.) I like Eccleston’s more restrained, drier wit (again, Writing? Acting? Best of Both?) With his Doctor, the peril in each episode felt more real, less cartoony than it can with Tennant’s Doctor.
What I would really like to see in DOCTOR WHO Season 4 or 5 is an episode on the alternate Earth, where Tennant’s Doctor meets up with the Doctor of that universe, played again by Christopher Eccleston. (He’d most likely still be the Doctor there since Rose never existed in that universe, except as a dog, so he wouldn’t have had to suck the Time Vortex out of her, causing him to change…) Add back in Rose, top off with a dash of Captain Jack, make it at least a 2 hour episode, maybe even a 3 part arc, and that would be heaven!
