美国国家公共电台 NPR For Christmas, 'Doctor Who' Gets A Historic Change（在线收听）

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

It's time to say goodbye - and then hello - to a TV legend. The BBC's longtime sci-fi series "Doctor Who" bids farewell tonight to the current doctor played by Peter Capaldi. And we'll see the debut of the new star of the show as well. But before we move on, NPR TV critic Eric Degens offers this appreciation of Capaldi's version of The Doctor.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: A lot of terrific performers have played this character, but I think Peter Capaldi might be the best actor to play the heroic time-traveling alien known as The Doctor since the show began in 1963. And he achieved this by making a brave choice when he first took on the role three years ago.

His version of The Doctor, especially early on, focused on beating villains without worrying so much about collateral damage - like this moment where The Doctor's stuck in a room with a group of people and a monster who kills them one by one. Only the person about to die can see the monster, which makes The Doctor badger that person for details that might help defeat it.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOCTOR WHO")

PETER CAPALDI: (As The Twelfth Doctor) You can see this thing. We can't. Tell us what you can see. Even the smallest detail might help us save the next one.

CHRISTOPHER VILLIERS: (As Emile Moorhouse) The next one? You mean you can't save me?

CAPALDI: (As The Twelfth Doctor) Well, that is implied, isn't it? Yes, this is probably the end for you. But make it count. Details, please.

DEGGANS: In another episode, The Doctor asked his trusty companion, Clara, a question few heroes ever ask.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOCTOR WHO")

CAPALDI: (As The Twelfth Doctor) I'm terrified.

JENNA COLEMAN: (As Clara) Of what?

CAPALDI: (As The Twelfth Doctor) The answer to my next question - which must be honest, without kindness or restraint. Tell me - am I a good man?

DEGGANS: Her full answer came later.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOCTOR WHO")

COLEMAN: (As Clara) You asked me if you were a good man. And the answer is, I don't know. But I think you try to be. And I think that's probably the point.

DEGGANS: I asked Capaldi if The Doctor was a manipulative jerk during a press event at Comic Con in San Diego this summer. And he pushed back on the idea that The Doctor was simply hardhearted.

CAPALDI: You know, when I grew up, Doctor Who was not a guy that you recognized. He wasn't a kind of avuncular uncle. He was a distant creature of mysterious power. And so in a way, I wanted to go back to that.

DEGGANS: Doctor Who survives, in part, because of an innovative idea the show's producers had back in the 1960s. They called it regeneration. The Doctor morphs into a new person when he's near death, allowing the show to cast a new actor every so often. Now Capaldi has chosen to depart, saying goodbye in a special Christmas episode, "Twice Upon A Time," in which his Doctor meets the very first version of the character.

The actor who played the original Doctor, William Hartnell, died in 1975. Producers cast "Game Of Thrones" alum David Bradley, who is his spitting image. At age 75, he's also senior to the 59-year-old Capaldi - though the original Doctor doesn't quite see it that way when they meet.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DOCTOR WHO")

DAVID BRADLEY: (As The First Doctor) Who are you?

CAPALDI: (As The Twelfth Doctor) You know who I am. You knew the moment you saw me. I'd say stop being an idiot, but I kind of know what's coming.

BRADLEY: (As The First Doctor) But I thought...

CAPALDI: (As The Twelfth Doctor) What?

BRADLEY: (As The First Doctor) Well, I assumed I'd get younger.

CAPALDI: (As The Twelfth Doctor) I am younger.

DEGGANS: Capaldi, who was a fan of the show as a kid, was exceptional - even when the episodes he starred in weren't. He shifted the franchise from more romantic stories and offered a more inscrutable version of the character.

The Christmas show also features a historic transition. Jodie Whittaker will take over as the new Doctor, the first woman to play the character. But let's take a moment before then to celebrate Capaldi, a consummate actor who brought a fan's passion to one of the trickiest roles in television.

I'm Eric Deggans.