Special Thanks to Katie (http://tennydr10confidential.tumblr.com/) for inspiring this post. (original post is here- with a bit less editing on my part)
David Tennant- well, I first started watching Doctor Who on April 26th, 2008 (I’m crazy enough to remember the US airdate of Partners in Crime). This was on the recommendation of friends from the UK. Before I was a Whovian I had been a fan of the BBC’s Robin Hood so it was pretty obvious that I’d branch out to watch more British shows. So, watching Partners in Crime and the whole of series 4, I was hooked by the Tenth Doctor’s charm and how he always tends to ramble on.
In my final year of high school, we had to read Hamlet in English class. I usually don’t mind Shakespeare, but I can tell when a certain filmed movie version was terribly directed and it was about as enjoyable to watch as watching paint dry. (Hint- it was the 1996 Hamlet). So I tried to just imagine him in the title role, and honestly, I still need to watch this. When David Tennant does Shakespeare, I have a huge possibility of enjoying it.
Around the time Matt Smith took over, (I had a hard time warming up to Eleven 5 years ago), I had heard that he’d done one of the voices on How to Train Your Dragon. So on a plane ride to London was when I first watched it and I loved the movie despite David’s lines being taken out. I wouldn’t think of it for another 3 1/2 years.
When I finally became a fan of Dragons- one of my favourite moments came when I was watching Riders of Berk. Thawfest- the first time I watched the episode- I knew Spitelout’s voice sounded like David’s, but I didn’t want to get excited til seeing the closing credits just to be sure. Now when Spitelout shows up in a new episode of Race to the Edge- I get super excited even if he’s only on for maybe, a minute and a half our of a full episode. I love being surprised by the smaller roles.
Fast forward to January 2015. I was involved in a role-play and had only one character, with vague inklings into her past and her family and friends. The weekend he was awarded the Special Recognition- a character with a familiar accent appeared in my imagination and the rest is history. When I first started writing this particular character I said to myself “You’re played by David Tennant? Okay, you win.”
I have to admit- I’ve had trouble getting past some of the later books in the How to Train Your Dragon series- so listening to the audiobooks has helped a ton, and I’ll take any excuse to listen to his voice. Heck if that Absolute Radio broadcast a month ago is any indication- he could read traffic reports and I’ll just sit there with a big smile on my face.
Not too long ago I listened to his forward to Elisabeth Sladen’s autobiography. I was blown away. As a writer, I can only hope I can take readers into different worlds and extraordinary adventures.
For me, he’s the “one degree of separation” between HTTYD, Doctor Who, and now Marvel. I get blown away by his acting, be it terrible mind controlling bad guys like Kilgrave, to the excited ramblings of the Tenth Doctor. He is part of my motivation to write, and it’s a pleasure to be entertained by him.
(P.S- looking forward to listening to that Panto next Friday early morning ;) )
No comments:
Post a Comment