Lead Time Lords: The Tenth Doctor

A month ago in 1986 BBC Controller Michael Grade put Doctor Who on ice, imperiling the series and effectively sacking its star. In 2014 we're mercifully nowhere close to that sort of real-life drama, but for myself I am approaching something of a hiatus, as I'm running out of Doctors to paint! Oh, sure. I have a few in reserve - some alternative Tom, Jon and Bill, and a conversion idea for Pat. Plus there are more recent Doctors (War and the Twelfth) to come, but I don't have those, and so with four Time Lords left to post it's time for me to wind this thread down and move on. Thank God. So, with no further ado here he is, Heresy’s Dr Hugh McCrimmon, doubling nicely for David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor.

Heresy produced two versions of this in the end, including one without the greatcoat, but this is the one I like. It has enough detail in the posture to evoke both the youthful cockiness of Tennant’s early photocalls (I’m guessing this shot here) with the older, wearier, more aloof Tenth toward the end of his tenure (or second tenure, according to Time of the Doctor.) I could say a lot about what I think of this incarnation, but, er, I feel the eyes of a fellow fan burning over my shoulder as I type this. So I’ll just close on saying that he’s an interesting Doctor, and like his predecessor seems to deliberately go through a character change culminating in his regeneration. Seems to be a New Series thing, that.

Tennant’s costume stays pretty constant through his time as the Doctor, with no change in coat and a seasonal change in his suit – your choices are brown with a blue pinstripe, or blue; cobalt blue shirt or ivory (as in his last story), and a burgundy tie. I feel the browns work best together, though I’ve seen a few attempts at matching the blue to the fawn of the coat (it’s sofa upholstery, apparently) and to me the effect looks a little… forced, maybe. As is, my pinstripes here probably add enough blue to the suit. Basing was fun, as I’ve not done a snow effect before. I stared with a coarse sand primed grey then layered in lighter shades of blue before a final heavy dry brush with white and two generous dustings of Force9 snow flock. I’d been told that this is pulverised marble chips, but it feels more acrylic than anything. Never mind, the blue comes through where I want it and the effect (an attempt to render a Christmassy scene, or perhaps the Ood Sphere) is good enough for me.