The DOCTOR WHO Thread

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The DOCTOR WHO Thread

Post by ShyViolet » June 1st, 2013, 11:00 pm

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/tv/matt- ... f-2013/#/0

I saw about five episodes with him but just never took to him. I'm very much a DW traditionalist and believe he was way too young. Not a bad actor, but I could never see the Doctor in him. He was just Matt Smith.

I really hope that they go much older when picking the next actor--at least twenty years--but I doubt they will. Too much ageism in Hollywood today. :roll: The Doctor is an old, crotchety, alien being. Whoever plays him should reflect this.
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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by Randall » June 2nd, 2013, 9:24 am

I'm still early in the Tennant years (yes, I came late to the party), but yes--- it does feel like they need to go older. I've also been watching some of the Hartnell and Troughton stories lately, and those concepts are much truer to the idea of the "old, crotchety, alien being" for sure.

I look forward to seeing who they announce as a replacement.

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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by Ben » June 2nd, 2013, 4:58 pm

The thing is...the Doctor gets younger with each regeneration, so quite how young they will go is anyone's guess. Even the show was surprised Smith decided to leave as he was loosely contracted to at least through series 8 and more...it was assumed his option through 2015 would be picked up. From what I understand, the 50th anniversary special in the fall will serve as a capping/reboot, so I'm guessing they explain something away during that...

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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by ShyViolet » June 3rd, 2013, 12:23 pm

Yeah but wasn't Peter Davison younger than Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy? Then they went for young again with Paul McGann but then a bit older with Christopher Eccelston. (At least I think so.)
I'm not saying the Doctor has to be fifty years old every time but IMHO 26 was just way too young. And yes, I realize Davison was 28 but he is very much an exception. Tehnically he should not have worked--but he did, beause Davison pulled it off and very much suggested an old man in a young man's body. Paul McGann did as well. But as much as I liked Tennant, I never got that feeling from him. He seemed a bit world weary at times, but never old.

I do think they will probably stay with a young man since many DW fans are young now and they don't want to lose them. This is really why I don't consider the new show a continuation, but a reboot. I'm also almost completely against the Doctor falling in love, ESPECIALLY with a human (partularly a human as young as Rose). Again, to me it's a reboot. They just break too many rules.
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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by Ben » June 3rd, 2013, 5:45 pm

Dr Who has broken rules from the start Vi! The whole regen thing was a casting get out clause. Yes, this is a reboot, but confusingly one that is aware and references all the past (especially the charity mini-special when Tennant met Davison!). They call this season 7 and the next one season 8, like a reboot, but then make references to past Doctors and companions (Sarah Jane and K-9 for starters) like it's a continuation.

The thing to remember with Who's rules are...Who has no rules! :)

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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by Randall » June 3rd, 2013, 8:08 pm

For the reasons you cite, I don't consider it a reboot. But one does have to be flexible in one's thinking when it comes to continuity.

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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by Ben » June 4th, 2013, 4:07 am

I'm with you...to long time Whovians, this is simply the following on from Hartnell, Troughton, etc (excluding the non-canon Cushing films, however fun they are). I would also - if we're being completist about things, include the radio series that McGann did between his 1990s movie and the Davies "reboot" (at least, that's what they call it).

I can't remember how many of those there were, but it was a cool way to keep the Doctor going when TV budgets couldn't allow for them to be visual episodes at the time. They were good audio productions, though, and had many crossovers to the TV show: it was clearly, like Trek's animated "fourth season", a continuation.

When Eccleston came along, the intention was a clear reboot, since we never saw a regen between McGann and the new Doctor, and I don't think he "died" at the end of his radio stint. There was a clear line drawn but the show then quickly reverted to referencing previous stories and encounters, and it was vaguely clear as it went on that this was the tenth, eleventh, twelth Doctor, etc.

He used to only have ten "lives", but they've upped it somewhere along the line to 13, which would be Smith's transformation into the next one. Lots of "make him a girl" or "make him black" rumors going around here, so it'll be interesting to see how they go, but what they really need to do is sort out the final regen problem. Of course, there's always a way in sci-fi (my personal "favorite" is that he regens into a former self somehow, however briefly, thus resetting a few lives, or that there's some kind of regen mishap that resets the counter).

Over here I've not watched the latest season, because I missed the second half of the last and I want to catch up with that first. But from what I hear the Doctor has accidentally infiltrated his own timeline, so this might be the get-out clause for a reset/solution to the recasting regen issue.

Nevertheless, as a time lord, the Doctor can't die: there will always be a version of him out there, somewhere in space and time. If he's clever, he'll divert some event so that he doesn't regen at that time and skews his timeline in a different direction. Yes, it breaks his own rule, but as I said, the show breaks these kinds of rules all the time. :)

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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by ShyViolet » June 4th, 2013, 12:36 pm

I know it's important to be open-minded to new kinds of stories, stories with perhaps a bit more "depth" than the original series, but I also don't consider the Doctor a constant changeling. Even with all the diversity that the original Doctors had, he STILL remained "the Doctor" a mysterious being from another time who stole a time machine for reasons that were never and might not ever be explained.

My biggest problems with the new series:

1.) The Doctor falling in love with a companion: I'm sorry, but the Docctor would never do this! He is a TIME LORD who even with all his compassion considers himself superior to humanity. Time Lords are not Earthlings, and they don't feel things the way we do. Case in point: The Cyberleader in Earthshock: "Time Lords have emotions?" The Doctor: "Of sorts." The Doctor would also never fall in love with a 19 year old. That's like the Doctor dating Ace! (Who was 16). The Doctor is protective of (if a bit condescending) to humans, but he doesn't consider them sex objects. Not in a million years.

2.) The Doctor offering to "keep" the Master as a companion and travel with him through time and space. Are they nuts? No one but the Doctor knows better what a monster the Master is, even if they were friends once. The Doctor wqtched the Master burn to death in Planet of Fire and did nothing. I doubt he would cradle him in his arms and cry.

3.) Regeneration seen as a "death" and dreaded by the Doctor. No. He's still the same man, just a different part of the same man. He doesn't throw tantrums because he's about to lose one of his lives in order to SAVE a friend. Doctor # five sacrificed himself to save Peri fron Spectrox poisoning without a second thought. He didn't moan about how "It's not fair!"that he has to give up a life.

4.) The Cybermen coming from another universe when this was never mentioned before. Someone being rescued from a Cyber transformation when it's already gone through. Sorry, just wouldn't happen.

5.) Gallifrey destroyed: IMO this just makes it easier to play down the Doctor's Time Lord status.

I mean no offense to the writers (or fans) by these comments. Again, I know Doctor Who has to change and grow to pull in new audiences. That's why I LOVED The New Adventures Novels that came out in the 90s. Doctor Who can take you to a million places, but there still needs to be some kind of bedrock. The new series is not a bad show by any meqns, but IMHO there's little connection between that and the Doctor Who I grew up with (I've loved it since age 13). Again, no offense to fans. It's just how I feel.
Last edited by ShyViolet on June 4th, 2013, 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by James » June 4th, 2013, 1:50 pm

1) But he did keep himself above all that. He never let himself give in to those emotions even when he was about to lose her forever. The metacrisis Doctor did, but that makes sense since he was part human.

2) I don't think he planned to keep him as a companion, but as a prisoner. It was going to be a huge sacrifice for him, as he would have to almost certainly give up most of his way of life.

3) Ten was not so much angry about "dying" to save a friend. He knew all along a regeneration was coming. And with the huge events happening in that episode he thought it was going to be eventful. For it to happen in such a trivial way after all that build up and after thinking he had survived it all was what made hime briefly upset. He quickly shook it off.

4) The other universe was a different timeline than ours. The old series cybermen still happened here. In the other universe they happened a different way. As for the transformation, if you're talking about Craig he technically didn't go through the same process as other cybermen -- which as you know was a lot more permanent physically!

5) That was a story telling decision that I think worked pretty well, putting the focus on this time lord rather than a whole race of Doctors.

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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by ShyViolet » June 4th, 2013, 6:09 pm

1.) He treated one companion (Martha) poorly because he missed Rose so much. IMO that's evidence that he couldn't rise above it and that he let his emotions get the best of him. He also tended to ignore Mickey when Rose was around.

2.) He talked about him and the Master seeing the Universe together, and later on tells the Master: "I don't know what I'd be without you." I think the Doctor would recognize how dangerous it would be to keep the Master in his TARDIS 24-7. The older Doctors would have found another way.

3.) None of the other Doctors ever behaved that way when faced with death. The fourth Doctor also knew he was going to die (because of the Watcher) but after he fell all he said was:"It's the end, but the moment has been prepared for. Like Four, Ten knew he was going to die, but when actually faced with it all he could do was whine to Wilf: "You just HAD to get stuck, didn't you?" Uh-uh!

4.) Got me there--my bad, sorry. ;)

5.) I've always loved stories with Gallifrey because they're the closest thing we have to learning who the Doctor really is. With Gallifrey, you really feel that the Doctor is an alien. I was so happy to see Gallifrey in. EOT and then *SPOILER*they destroyed it all over again. Bummer. :roll: I guess they felt "misunderstood whining loner" is better than "mysterious man from another planet."

Again, just my opinions! ;)
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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by ShyViolet » August 2nd, 2013, 9:40 am

New Doctor to be revealed on Sunday:

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSB ... 2?irpc=932
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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by ShyViolet » August 4th, 2013, 3:30 pm

Wow, they actually did go a lot older! I didn't expect them to.

http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/2612947
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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by Randall » August 4th, 2013, 3:51 pm

I likes the look of this guy. Nice choice.

And after all, how much younger than Smith could they really go?

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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by James » August 4th, 2013, 7:30 pm

Of the top choices, this was the one I was rooting for.

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Re: Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

Post by ShyViolet » August 13th, 2013, 9:42 am

Hey Ben, just wondering, but what do you think of the new Doctor?
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