With the BBCs big announcement regarding Matt Smiths imminent departure from the TARDIS control room, in typical Whovian fashion, the blogosphere erupted with online petitions, Reddit threads & top 10 lists for the serious contenders to play the Oncoming Storms 12th incarnation. Some names Ive heard friends, fellow bloggers and others in the Whovian family toss around, if they dont include themselves (and theyd be fantastic too!), include David Oakes (
The Borgias), Hugh Laurie (
Fry & Laurie/House), Ben Whishaw (
Skyfall), James McAvoy (
X-Men: First Class), Eddie Izzard (
The Riches/Ocean's 11-13) Richard Madden (
Game of Thrones; also Jenna Louise Coleman's real life sweetie), Simon Pegg (
Shaun of the Dead/Star Trek) & Chiwetel Ejiofor (
Serenity/Children of Men). Among all of these very strong contenders for the Doctor (Oakes & Whishaw being my two personal favorite choices) there are also some other popular, as well as not-so-popular, choices for the Time Lord who, for some reason or another and not always through fault of their own, just wouldn't quite work in the role despite best objections. #7 after the jump...
7. Anthony Stewart Head
Okay, now this one particularly stings to mention for one reason: I adore this man in a totally heterosexual man crush kind of way (also see John Barrowman & David Tennant). Why must I say no to Tony Head, an actor who is usually typecast in enigmatic and authoritative roles such as Rupert Giles and everybody's favorite 1100 year old Time Lord and is a fan favourite to take the reins in 2014? Simple: because he's already been in Doctor Who as a villain! If you remember way back when we were still warming up to our beloved David Tennant in 2006, the third episode of season two dealt with a race of scavenger aliens known as the Krillitanes who teach high school children superhuman intellect in order to use them to become God-like creatures, and who is the headmaster other than Tony Head himself? (Hehe. Tony Head. Headmaster. Clever. Didn't think of that before.) Now, Doctor Who is not exactly any stranger to recasting old guest stars; in fact, Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) appeared as a doomed Torchwood employee in season two's "Army of Ghosts" and Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) appeared as a soothsayer in season 4's "The Fires of Pompeii." They were recast as companions, though, and not the Doctor himself. They weren't originally villains per se either; I mean sure, Freema's character worked for Torchwood One but she wasn't exactly the flying reptilian menace Head played here. As qualified for the role as he would be, I think it just wouldn't work; we would see Head and think of the headmaster.