"Doctor Who," He's Back and it's About Time!

[Spiffy]

I've been trying to find Matt Smith's work in the BBC adaptation of Ruby in the Smoke online, just for a taste of how he acts.....anyone have any suggestions?

 

[bobalooba]

I have to agree. He doesn't look very "Doctor Who" at all ..... oh well, I guess once I see a few episodes with him in I may change my mind....

none of the doctors have looked like their previous incarnations, that's the beauty of it. I rented several different old stories from netflix and was impressed, in the begining he was a crochety old man in an edwardian suit who was able to become a hobo-ish character, then a fop, then a tom baker (don't know how else to describe that one) then a cricketer.

Etc. etc. when christopher eccleston left I thought they would never find an actor as fit for the role as him but david tennant filled his shoes perfectly and is one of my favorite doctors to date. Just give matt smith a chance and unless he's as bad as jon pertwee I think it'll merit watching more.

 

[Mahagonny Bill]

Just give matt smith a chance and unless he's as bad as jon pertwee I think it'll merit watching more.

OOOOOOO! Thems is fightin words!!! Jon Pertwee is one of my favorite Doctors! What Pertwee episode did you watch that made you think he was bad? I'll send you the title of a better one....

 

[bobalooba]

the jon pertwee episode I saw that turned me off was day of the Daleks.

I also saw the five doctors in which I was fairly indifferent to him.

 

[Mahagonny Bill]

the jon pertwee episode I saw that turned me off was day of the Daleks.

I also saw the five doctors in which I was fairly indifferent to him.

Well, I don't blame you from walking away from Day of the Daleks with a bad impression. Some good Pertwee stories that are out on DVD:

Spearhead from Space (Pertwee's first story)
The Green Death (Doctor Who vs Giant Maggots)
The Time Warrior (Sarah Jane Smith's first story)

 

[bobalooba]

a new question to make sure the thread doesn't die

thanks for the tips, I'll watch these.


I'd like to put this question out to all of you in this thread...




WHICH DOCTOR(s) IS YOUR FAVORITE?

Mine are patrick troughton, Tom Baker, Peter Davison, and have liked both new ones (tennant and eccleston)

 

[Mahagonny Bill]

WHICH DOCTOR(s) IS YOUR FAVORITE?

I really can't pick favorites. He's a splendid fellow, all of them.

I will say that my favorite stories are the first two years with Ian, Barbara, and Susan. There is a special chemistry between those characters and the series changes as they begin to rotate cast members out and it becomes more about The Doctor than a group of lost time travelers. Check out The Aztecs or Dalek Invasion of the Earth for the the best stories of this era.

 

[bobalooba]

I second bill's episode choices, I am currently three eps into the dalek invasion of earth and it is great.

As time progressed I really began to dislike the Daleks simply because when it was retconned in the tom baker era and the story was that they were davros'(am i spelling that right?) creation.

However Hartnell's daleks were wonderful, enough of a threat to be taken seriously, I really enjoy them, the new series ones, like dalek caan, are interesting too though.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I think this is probably where I get off of this show. Tennant was brilliant, as was Eccelston. Matt Smith however may be the finest actor of his generation, but he is totally wrong for this role. In fact, it's the cynicism of it all that offends me. It seems that the show has been bitten by the "Twilight" bug and that they felt, to retain the younger audience, they had to find a boyish Doctor and a teenage sidekick in an odd stripper-like fake police uniform.

How can this "Rocky Dennis" doppelgänger play the most brilliant mind in the universe? And one that is 907, by then, years old? What will he look like if he runs into Sarah Jane Smith again, her grandson? "Capt. Jack's" little baby brother? "The Master's" son? He has no gravitas! It's ridiculous.

I will console myself with Tom Baker episodes downloaded from iTunes waiting out the next regeneration. Eccelston left after a year, so there is hope.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I think this is probably where I get off of this show. Tennant was brilliant, as was Eccelston. Matt Smith however may be the finest actor of his generation, but he is totally wrong for this role. In fact, it's the cynicism of it all that offends me. It seems that the show has been bitten by the "Twilight" bug and that they felt, to retain the younger audience, they had to find a boyish Doctor and a teenage sidekick in an odd stripper-like fake police uniform.

This was my thought on the matter, too. I don't know anything about Matt Smith, other than what I saw on the show last night, but I'm wishing they had gone with someone older. As for companions, I liked Donna Noble (eventually) far more than Rose Tyler or Martha Jones precisely because she was older and didn't have the blatant crush on the Doctor.

I'll give the new season a go, mostly because I've liked the episodes that Steven Moffat's written, and with him running the show now there should still be some good stories.

Brad

 

[LordBest]

This conversation parallels the one that occured when they announced the little known actor David Tennant for the role of Doctor back in 2006. I will give the new one a shot and see how he does. Moffat thinks he will be brilliant and that counts for something.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

This conversation parallels the one that occured when they announced the little known actor David Tennant for the role of Doctor back in 2006. I will give the new one a shot and see how he does. Moffat thinks he will be brilliant and that counts for something.

Actually, it's entirely different. Tennant may have been a relative unknown, but he was quite known to me, being a fan as I was of "Bright Young Things."

Time Lord changes are something I have been experiencing since the 1970s when Tom Baker gave up the ghost, so to speak. Doctors have come and gone, some good, some excellent, some awful, but all were, up to now, qualified to be "The Doctor." They all achieved the minimum standard of age, experience, gravitas. All of which, this young fellow lacks. It is as if they hired Robert Pattinson to play "James Bond!"

I'll give him a chance as well, but I snickered at the preview and rolled my eyes at both his and his companion's wardrobe.

I think perhaps the best exit for Tennant would have been to have him killed while trying to jump a shark tank on his motorcycle or while seeking safety in a refrigerator from a nuclear explosion!

 

[LordBest]

Matt Smith is known to me (and many others) having been a fan of 'Party Animals'. You may be right, of course, he may be a bad Doctor, but we won't know until we actually see him perform for more than 30 seconds. The fact is this debate does parallel the one about Tennant, right down to people criticising Tennants age, lack of gravitas ("he's too comical") etc.
I hope he turns out to be a decent Doctor, if not, he can be replaced in a year. I have to admit he would not be my first choice of replacement for Tennant, but then, I'm not Steven Moffat.

Edit: Here is the Series 5 trailer featuring Matt Smith, it looks ok.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tPte4rQMpI

 

[deadpandiva]

I hated Dr. Who when I was little but My sister and her boyfriend love the new series and I spent New Year's Weekend watching a good deal of the David Tennant episodes. I will have to rent the first 4 seasons to see them all. I guess that will give me time to decide if I want to watch season 5 at all.

 

[Smuterella]

I am altogether more bothered about the change in writers.

 

[Lady Day]

I am altogether more bothered about the change in writers.

So true.
And as always that is the most important thing.

LD

 

[Edward]

This was my thought on the matter, too. I don't know anything about Matt Smith, other than what I saw on the show last night, but I'm wishing they had gone with someone older. As for companions, I liked Donna Noble (eventually) far more than Rose Tyler or Martha Jones precisely because she was older and didn't have the blatant crush on the Doctor.

Absolutely. It was also nice to see someone with a bit of acting range playing the doctor's sidekick too, after a season of Martha "Two Expressions" Jones. Such a shame that the writing all too often fell back on getting her to do the 'comedy shouting' thing for which she is well known in the UK in her comedy career.

I'll give the new season a go, mostly because I've liked the episodes that Steven Moffat's written, and with him running the show now there should still be some good stories.

Brad

I'm delighted Moffat is in charge, I'd take him over RTD any day.

This conversation parallels the one that occured when they announced the little known actor David Tennant for the role of Doctor back in 2006. I will give the new one a shot and see how he does. Moffat thinks he will be brilliant and that counts for something.

Very much so. It really is far too early to judge. He's had what, thirty seconds of acting on screen so far? And there with the Doctor still in transition during regeneration, so all we're seeing there is a character that hasn't fully moved out of being Tennant. The "at least I'm not ginger" "joke" was a bit tedious (I'm neither ginger nor offended..... it just wasn't funny), but that's the fault of the writer.

I am altogether more bothered about the change in writers.

I am too.... in the sense that I am absolutely delighted to see the back of Russell T Davies' involvement in the show. To be fair, he's done a lot for Who, but I can't forgive him his many crimes against it either.... There was the "Rose = Badwolf" absurdity, a plot turn he can only possibly have come up with in the notion that it was one that nobody would have foreseen. Unfortunately, nobody though of it because it was simply awful. Then killing Jack only to bring him back with fairy dust.... wrong, wrong, wrong. (If they wanted him to be immortal for Torchwood, there would have been some much better way of doing it, I'm sure). Or there was also Gods and Monsters aka the 'Peter Kay in a fatsuit' episode. Vile. Putting Kylie Minogue in a Christmas episode (surely the very living personfication of the ultimate triumph of persistence over talent, whatever her chosen endeavour)... words fail me. Then there was the hideous mess that was the closer of Tennant's second season. A self-indulgent nonsense of bringing back several characters better left wher they were (way to wholly destroy the poignancy of Rose and the Doctor's original separation) simply because Davies wanted to work with them again. I'm still seething at the "here's a doctor of your own to play with" fangirl crap he threw into the mix. And now this closer to the Tennant era. Well, much, much better than what Davies has done to Who many times. And fortunately not wholly ruined by his characteristic self-indulgence, even if the unnecessary 'goodbye' sequences seemed to run on forever. I hated the 'lottery ticket' time cheating with Donna... whatever happened to not interfering with fixed events? Didn't he learn that lesson earlier in the season, then - or was that simply brushed under the carpet in order to shoe-in a convenient happy ending? I know the doctor felt guilty and all, but still.... Oh, and the Doctor saving Mickey and Martha - the two most irritating characters in the show's entire history, how I wish that Sontaron had gunned them down! Unforgiveable.

So, yeah. Colour me very excited indeed to see RTD gone, as he is single handedly responsible for every one of the very worst episodes and plot decisions in the revamped show's run to date. What really smarts is that we know he is capable of so much better - see, for instance the flawless third season of Torchwood. Moffat, on the other hand, I have much more faith in. The episodes he made are easily the best (including the critically and popularly acclaimed Blink), and I believe we have much more to look forward to with him at the helm. Indeed, I do believe this will mark a much greater change for the show than the change in actor playing the Doctor, and a very welcome one at that.

The sole concern I have, shared with many, it seems, is the increasing youth of the actor portraying the Doctor, and his sidekick. Tennant was the youngest Doctor so far, and here we are going even younger again. I do so hope that in three year's time or whenever we see a much older Doctor (my ideals? Richard Wilson would be a great start; ditto, Richard O'Brien - somebody older, meaner, more cynical.... Oh, and I'd just love for a couple of episodes for a regeneration to take a temporary turn back to resemble a previous in carnation - nice cameo for Peter Davidson, or Tom Baker.... hell, even might give Paul McGann a shot, as I don't feel he was at all well serviced by that Hollywoodised TV feature, the only shot he got at it).
Still, that reservation aside, I'm open minded about the new run. Just wish it would start, already.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Well, the writing of the show has declined overall since season three. They tend to throw too much in at a time. "Blink" seems to be about as good as it got.

 

[Edward]

Well, the writing of the show has declined overall since season three. They tend to throw too much in at a time. "Blink" seems to be about as good as it got.

Yes, and that's Moffat writing.... I see good things ahead.

 

[Brad Bowers]

"Blink" is one of my favorites as well. Amazing writing; the Doctor is hardly in it at all, yet it's still riveting and genuinely scary. Just goes to show you don't need a lot of special effects/CGI to create a good story. Just a good property department and writer.lol

Brad