Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who

[Lanthirrhos]

He'll be in the 50th Anniversary Episode, and the Christmas Special.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/articles/Matt-Smith-to-leave-Doctor-Who

[John E. Kelley]

He was much too young to be a believable Doctor anyway.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

now if we can get Davies back and stop the female doctor nonsense we have a show

[Lanthirrhos]

I'd like some weight brought back into the character (*cough*Davies*Cough*). Davies wrote Tennant really well. Moffat made Matt into a shouting gag-reel. I'm hoping a new Doctor will bring us back to having a decently written Doctor. :P

[Davrick]

I'm pretty sure he is going to be in more than the 50th and the Christmas special.  At least half of season 8 I hope.

[Basel Gill]

I'd like some weight brought back into the character (*cough*Davies*Cough*). Davies wrote Tennant really well. Moffat made Matt into a shouting gag-reel. I'm hoping a new Doctor will bring us back to having a decently written Doctor. :P

 

I haven't even gotten to Smith's episodes yet, but if you want a decently written character, then by definition you have to replace the writer. Replacing the actor but keeping the same writer will accomplish nothing.

[Lanthirrhos]

I don't think that's true. A writer writes a variety of characters in any medium, therefore is capable of writing a character in a different way. And when your lead character can regenerate and has a history of being a bit different each time... it's really not that difficult to tamper with the character's formula, and give the character new stimuli. None of that is locked in stone even with a persistent character, let alone with the Doctor.

 

Either way, I wouldn't mind Moffat leaving. He's made good episodes, I just find the lack of gravity to the character to be... lacking... in character. He could easily fix that if he chooses to do so.

[Basel Gill]

The Tor.com article on this has some interesting comments. I sort of had to skim past the spoilers, but comment #6 is good.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/06/bbc-announces-matt-smith-will-leave-doctor-who-this-christmas#more

[Starrik]

I'm still going to miss Smith. I thought he was a pretty good Doctor, in fact a couple of the episodes in this last season were his best i think. Sad to see him go.

[suchmadness]

Yes bring back Russell T. Davies. He's now doing a show call Aliens vs Wizards which is a show aiming at teenage audience. How do I know this? cos I'm a sad person.

I think Moffat's best show for Dr. Who is I Want My Mummy. It was so creepy with the little boy in mask.

 

I never got to the bottom of why Davies left the show in the first place. I watched an interview where he insisted that it was all amicable and he wanted to move on but really to Wizards vs Aliens? I don't buy it. Some said that it was a clash of ego and he wanted more money I'd say he give it to him he's worth it.

[suchmadness]

I'd like some weight brought back into the character (*cough*Davies*Cough*). Davies wrote Tennant really well. Moffat made Matt into a shouting gag-reel. I'm hoping a new Doctor will bring us back to having a decently written Doctor. :P

+1.

I never find Smith believable as the Doctor. He's too young and hasn't got the gravity 900 years of living should show.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

the way it followed the Sarah Jane adventures I felt like they were trying to capture a younger demographic. ESP after torchwood went for the older naughtier crowd.

 

they may have treated smith like bad directors treat robin Williams and let him go with his personal improv but the flaws in writing these last few seasons go well beyond that. there was some jarring discontinuity, episodes and arcs that circled and twisted almost randomly and never made any sense. with few exceptions, no one seemed to care very much about the quality.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I wonder how they're going to handle what by time lord lore should be the last regeneration... should maybe not be possible now but I think the Masters arcs may have given them an out to that limitation.

 

the profit surely must have in any case.

[SinisterDeath]

I quite like Matt Smith.

 

Are you all sure, you just Aren't letting his age, bias you against his acting?

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

it's his acting that biases me against his acting, but it's the scripts that bias me against his episodes.

[Lanthirrhos]

I don't mind Matt Smith, He did really well with what he was given; and when he was given the stuff I like, he CAN pull it off, he just hasn't been given the opportunity to do it often enough. The various Who writers went too far to the "wacky" side for him.

 

I'm mostly not feeling this season. I think that the companion who doesn't stay dead wasn't really an interesting story arch the way they did it. I feel like Matt's other seasons were mostly great.

[Lanthirrhos]

Maybe it's just that I really want there to be a change now. I'm feeling that change is necessary--either in the character or the writing. Matt did good for the most part, but I don't mind exiting statge left.

[Mr Ares]

now if we can get Davies back and stop the female doctor nonsense we have a show

Bringing back RTD would be a terrible idea. While his time running the show had many triumphs, there were also many disasters, and his style has many weaknesses. I agree that Moffatt's era has many problems, but I don't think we need to go back to RTD's era, I think we need someone new. Let's face it, both of them have a problem with coherent storytelling, and I would rather we had an end to the era of plot logic being thrown out the window for emotional moments. If you're having to sacrifice the one to fit in the other, you're probably doing something wrong, and many of the strongest episodes were those that managed to engage the emotions without leaving everyone who isn't moved to tears questioning the plot holes big enough to fit Gallifrey through. Also, I can't say I miss those season finales where the story ends half an hour before the episode does (one of the worst excesses of the RTD era).

 

Yes bring back Russell T. Davies. He's now doing a show call Aliens vs Wizards which is a show aiming at teenage audience. How do I know this? cos I'm a sad person.

I think Moffat's best show for Dr. Who is I Want My Mummy. It was so creepy with the little boy in mask.

 

I never got to the bottom of why Davies left the show in the first place. I watched an interview where he insisted that it was all amicable and he wanted to move on but really to Wizards vs Aliens? I don't buy it. Some said that it was a clash of ego and he wanted more money I'd say he give it to him he's worth it.

He didn't move onto Wizards vs Aliens until some some after he left Doctor Who - his work in the intervening period included Torchwood: Miracle Day (for those of you who want him back at the helm, I need only point at this to demonstrate why that's not a solution to all the show's problems). He did WvA when he moved back to the UK (he had moved to the US), which he did because his partner got cancer. I think a desire to move onto other things is natural, especially with the heavy toll Doctor Who takes (all involved have mentioned about the heavy production schedule). There really doesn't seem to be any big mystery about why he left the show - he wanted to do other things.

 

I wonder how they're going to handle what by time lord lore should be the last regeneration... should maybe not be possible now but I think the Masters arcs may have given them an out to that limitation.

Well, Russell T.Davies himself once commented on that - I don't have the exact quote, but he essentially said that he doesn't consider it a problem, because they'd just come up with a way of circumventing it (all it would take is some fairly simple technobabble). He's got a point - the actual mechanics of allowing the Doctor to continue are simple due to DW's ever flexible attitude to rules, it simply becomes a matter of the writer hanging a good story on it.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

Neil Gaiman then?

 

though he seems to not like serialization.

[SBoydW]

I'm pretty sure he is going to be in more than the 50th and the Christmas special.  At least half of season 8 I hope.

Well don't get to excited for that. It has been put ou that he regens in the Christmas special.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

no more epis till eater, no reason to keep the guy around that long

[SinisterDeath]

What gets me about this thread, is the utter lack of comment on the last season of doctor who, and apparently everyone's hatred of Mat Smith.

I loved this last season, I thought most of the episodes were constantly topping the one before it.

The only complaint I had on this season, was the last.. 3 or 4 episodes, where it just kind of jumped like we missed a couple of episodes.

[Cybertrolloc]

At least we have 20 pages of rage to look forward to when they go non-white and/or non-male given the sensibilities of many posters here. Doctor Who having strict canon is also pretty lol too, or as Moffat puts it: the screwdriver does absolutely anything unless the script needs it not to be able to this week :)

 

Smith does some of the Troughton (2) portrayal (if you think Smith's Doctor is buffoonish...) He also throws in a lot of weary old man body language as well, it's there if you look for it. Pretty sure he's not the actor Eccleston or Tenant are, but he's certainly a lot of fun while sometimes going over the top clownish (which is probably script choice anyway).

 

I think season 7 was fine on production values and acting (some guest roles excepted). Lots of good ideas, and the episodes I think didn't work often didn't because they tried to cram in too much. Dialog was pretty good throughout, it's just plot problems that really should have been caught (way too many eps don't pass the think about for 5 minutes, make a few minor changes and have a much better story test, even within being child-friendly). Certainly an improvement over 6, but not sure where I'd put it as a whole next to seasons 3,4,5...

 

Companions and how they were handled this year is probably the low point. The stupid divorce non-plot then the Ponds clocking time until they were done...then the lack of characterization for Clara which in the end wouldn't have mattered. At least there was Strax :)

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

they're going white male unknown cheap British actor and the stories they put out otherwise are to stir ppls interest in the show, which has waned.

 

re this season... I bought the DVDs and dvred the epis but I lost interest and haven't watched them.

 

I will someday but... just too meh to care atm.

[Mr Ares]

Neil Gaiman then?

 

though he seems to not like serialization.

He likes his free time too much to take on a job as time-intensive as running DW. A more plausible candidate is Mark Gatiss (who wrote Cold War and the Crimson Horror in the last series, which were both very solid, and also co-runs Sherlock with Moffat). Or perhaps Toby Whithouse (writer of, among others, A Town Called Mercy and School Reunion), given that Being Human has finished now.

 

What gets me about this thread, is the utter lack of comment on the last season of doctor who, and apparently everyone's hatred of Mat Smith.

I loved this last season, I thought most of the episodes were constantly topping the one before it.

The only complaint I had on this season, was the last.. 3 or 4 episodes, where it just kind of jumped like we missed a couple of episodes.

This season has been a bit hit and miss, but also lacking in extremes of quality - no candidates for worst episode ever, and no stand out classics. The best are solidly entertaining, the worst are a bit dull and don't hold up too well, but it's all fairly average. Not bad, but where are the episodes like Caves of Androzani (the greatest DW story ever televised, as we all know), The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, Midnight, Genesis of the Daleks and City of Death? There was plenty of good, but not much amazing.

 

At least we have 20 pages of rage to look forward to when they go non-white and/or non-male given the sensibilities of many posters here. Doctor Who having strict canon is also pretty lol too, or as Moffat puts it: the screwdriver does absolutely anything unless the script needs it not to be able to this week :)

Well, every time a Doctor announces he's leaving the papers like to run stories about the next Doctor being black or a woman or something, because apparently there isn't enough real news so they have to make some things up. If they choose an actor who is black or female, people will accept it as long as they choose the right actor. Of course, the'll accept it only after the pages of nerd rage (only twenty?), when said actor gets his or her first episode. Unless it's Paterson Joseph, in which case every attempt at nerd rage will be shut down by people posting YouTube videos of him in Neverwhere as the Marquis de Carabas. Or of him as Alan Johnson in Peep Show. Or anything else he's ever done.

 

Companions and how they were handled this year is probably the low point. The stupid divorce non-plot then the Ponds clocking time until they were done...then the lack of characterization for Clara which in the end wouldn't have mattered. At least there was Strax :)

The big problem with the Ponds was that the Doctor had already stopped travelling with them regularly, which made it really hard to plausibly write them out (without killing them, at least).