Matt Smith and Age

[Pindar]

So now we are well into the season is anyone still not convinced that Matt is a fantastic Doctor?

Does anyone still care that he is the youngest Doctor so far?

Given I am ancient I am used to there actually being functional adults who are younger than me, but that seemed somehow to be difficult for people to grasp this regeneration.

Does this mean a lot of the people here were kids when the new series started?

11 isn't much younger than 5 and as all trek fans should know

"Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor."

Doctor Age
1 55
2 46
3 51
4 40
5 30
6 41
7 44
8 37
9 41
10 34
11 27/28

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Young people are weird. That makes Matt Smith feel even more alien.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Smith doesn't really impress me, no.

 

[Neroon]

Smith doesn't really impress me, no.

Why do you say that? I've enjoyed his performance so far, myself. But I am still what I'd consider to be new to the fandom.

 

[Tom]

I think they try to portray the irony of how a young looking man is indeed a 906 year old Timelord. They did it a bit with 10 (10 to Wilf, im older then you) and more so with Smith. Tennant is my age so I guess I relate to him him the best, now i feel old with Smith. LOL

 

[DAK]

So now we are well into the season is anyone still not convinced that Matt is a fantastic Doctor?

Nope, he had me by the first episode!

A friend of mine who is an old time fan like myself still idolized Tom Baker as the best Doctor ever, liked Eccleston and Tennant but he thought Tom Baker would never get knocked off his pedestal. After "The 11th Hour" aired I asked him what he thought, and he replied that Tom Baker had just been knocked off his pedestal! So yeah, he appeals to us old folk too!

"Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor."

Doctor Age

11 27/28

He was 26 when he was cast (I believe); he turned 27 during filming of "The Hungry Earth", as shown on the Confidential.

Geez, I can't believe I find a guy that's (cough) so many years younger than me so hot.

 

[WillsBabe]

I believe that Matt Smith's Doctor is the Doctor. For me, that's important. And I like him a great deal. After having said that, I can't place him. By that I mean, I can't say what I think of him. I can't get a handle on him. That's not a bad thing. I do think he has a vulnerability to him. I'm not sure where that's come from, but I do see that in him. I think he's got a whacky sense of humour, very contemporary in a way, and off the wall. I can almost see an authoritiveness in him, but I don't totally buy it in the way I've bought it with other Doctors. When I see him asserting his "I am the Doctor" authority, I see Matt Smith working hard to convince. Maybe he just needs to settle in. That's the only weakness I see in him. That might be an age thing; it might be a skill thing, it might be an experience thing. Who knows. I'm happy to watch it develop.

 

[John Picard]

Smith doesn't really impress me, no.

Why do you say that? I've enjoyed his performance so far, myself. But I am still what I'd consider to be new to the fandom.

X2. I really enjoy his portrayal.

 

[Dar70]

I think hes doing an excellent job. In a few years he will be well into his 30's and this nonsense about age will end.

 

[Silent_Bob]

I think hes doing an excellent job. In a few years he will be well into his 30's and this nonsense about age will end.

Yes, then we can start complaining he's too old to still be playing the Doctor

I'm with Willsbabe on this one. I can believe that Smiths portrayal is still The Doctor, even if i don't find him as good as Tennant- although thats not to say i don't think he's doing a good job.

 

[Snaploud]

I'm still not sold on Smith, and I don't think it has anything to do with his age. I'll try to withhold judgment until his season is done, though.

 

[Mr Awe]

I've been thoroughly enjoying Matt Smith as the Doctor. I loved Tennant, thought I'd miss him a lot, but haven't really. He's doing a great job.

Mr Awe

 

[23skidoo]

I think Smith has been fantastic so far. I was discussing him with a fellow fan, who states that he doesn't think Smith has started to own the role quite yet and at times comes off too much like Tennant.

Fair comment. I mean the guy's only had about 6 episodes -- it's rare for anyone to "own" a role so quickly. There are exceptions, and I think Tennant was one of them. He and Tom Baker were, in my opinion, the only two Doctors to really hit the ground at full speed. Pertwee took nearly a full season, as did Davison. Colin Baker arguably didn't begin owning the role till he started doing the Big Finish audio dramas. McCoy didn't really put a truly distinctive mark on it until the Cartmel Masterplan kicked in. They took a while.

I personally think Smith started to own the role around the time of the Angels episodes. (Although it's worth repeating those were actually the very first episodes he filmed as the Doctor.) Eccleston took about the same length, really.

The question of age is irrelevant. Had they cast someone of Hartnell's age they would have been criticised as casting someone too old for the part. Interestingly, two actors often cited as being favorites to play the Doctor -- Anthony Head and Bill Nighy -- are both now several years older than Hartnell was when he started the role. Had they gone with Paterson Joseph there would have been criticisms about making the Doctor black. A female Doctor probably would have fractured fandom down the middle, even if they were to cast a fan favorite like Farscape's Claudia Black in the role.

It all comes down to two factors - the actor and the script. So far both have been stellar, with plenty of room for improvement. Which is as it should be. If Smith and Moffat were perfection from the get-go, they may as well quit now because there's nowhere to progress. If Smith stays with the show long enough, we'll have a chance to really see someone maturing as an actor as he matures in the role. Same with Karen Gillan.

And of course the overall concept of Doctor Who hasn't changed, so if you really don't like Matt Smith, just wait a few years and we'll have some new guy to debate about.

Alex

 

[Stevil2001]

Fair comment. I mean the guy's only had about 6 episodes -- it's rare for anyone to "own" a role so quickly. There are exceptions, and I think Tennant was one of them. He and Tom Baker were, in my opinion, the only two Doctors to really hit the ground at full speed. Pertwee took nearly a full season, as did Davison. Colin Baker arguably didn't begin owning the role till he started doing the Big Finish audio dramas. McCoy didn't really put a truly distinctive mark on it until the Cartmel Masterplan kicked in. They took a while.

This is obviously relative. For me, it was the fifteen minutes of "The Beast Below" where Smith owned the Doctor for me, from the opening up to the bit where he and Amy finally meet the girl on Starship UK. Tennant took longer-- I don't think it was until late season two where I was like, "You know, this guy did it." Eccleston, on the other hand, was a done deal the moment he grabbed Rose's hand and talked about the Earth revolving.

 

[captcalhoun]

i like Matt and i've liked him since 'legs! i've still got legs!'.

 

[WillsBabe]

he doesn't think Smith has started to own the role quite yet and at times comes off too much like Tennant.

I get that too, from time to time. In my mind I'm not sure if it's the acting, the writing, or some kind of transference.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I think Smith is simply bloody brilliant.

I'm 10 years older than him. Baker is the first Doctor I remember but I never got to see a lot of him. Saw some of Davison, liked him too. They would have been 'my' Doctors. Didn't care for Colin Baker or McCoy, liked McGann, wished he'd gotten to do more.

Loved Eccleston, was gutted when he left. As a result, it took me some time to really take to Tennant in the role. I knew objectively that he was good, but I couldn't really warm to his Doctor for some time; I kept wondering how Eccleston would play a scene. However, by the end of his second season, I had to accept that Tennant had made the role his own and could be regarded as highly as any of his predecessors.

I was disappointed when he too left but I opted to keep an open mind about his successor. Liked Smith's odd looks and the fact that he was an unknown quantity (much preferred him to some of the bigger names being cast about). But after Tennant's heartbreaking swansong, how could anyone follow him?

Quite easily apparently. While we were still teary and choked up at 'I don't want to go!', Smith entered and made us all smile and laugh. A brilliant opener that made you not miss Tennant, but made you want to see more of him. And he hasn't disappointed through his debut series. Some of the eps have been ropey, but he has been consistently brilliant. He has that 'you can't take your eyes off him/ what's he gonna do next?' quality that the likes of Johnny Depp has. His age is irrelevant, he brilliantly captures the old-man-in-young-body even better than Tennant or Davison. By the end of Eleventh Hour, my wife and I were in agreement - we weren't missing Tennant at all. That's not to be disrespectful to his brilliant performances. But I just think Matt Smith is fantastic. Six episodes or so in, I've decided - he's now MY Doctor.

I'm just a promiscuous fan,I guess ...

 

[The]

Tennant took longer-- I don't think it was until late season two where I was like, "You know, this guy did it." Eccleston, on the other hand, was a done deal the moment he grabbed Rose's hand and talked about the Earth revolving.

His age is irrelevant, he brilliantly captures the old-man-in-young-body even better than Tennant or Davison. By the end of Eleventh Hour, my wife and I were in agreement - we weren't missing Tennant at all. That's not to be disrespectful to his brilliant performances. But I just think Matt Smith is fantastic.

Agreed 100%!

I couldn't buy Tennant as The Doctor until Season Three, when he started clean with Martha. He wasn't really rocking as The Doctor until Season Four, though. That's the only season I really like him as The 10th Doctor, when he fully realized the 'arrogant god'-thing he had for "Perfect Ten".

Eccleston, McGann, and Matt Smith all said "The Doctor" to me by their first appearance. Tom even took a season to become the legend we know today. Peter didn't really "have it" until somewhere around The Five Doctors. Colin was awesome, and really became HIS Doctor by the second episode. McCoy became The Doctor by his second season, when Ace entered the scene and he developed the manipulative mastermind that Seven is so known for. Pertwee was always awesome to me, but has never once felt like "The Doctor" to me. I don't know why...

 

[C.E. Evans]

IMO, Smith knocked it right out of the park from his very first story. I've never met a Doctor I didn't like, but it only took one episode for me to warm up to the Eleventh Doctor. I suspected from the first time we saw him in costume that he was going to be frequently be like an old man in a young body, which to me means he can be both.

Davison's Fifth Doctor was like that too, but I think that particular incarnation was meant to be a bit more mellow and even-tempered than his predecessor.

 

[Technobuilder]

Considering I jumped aboard Doctor Who with the US Television arrival of Paul McGann in 1996 or so, I find it odd that I still hadn't gone back and watched the early series by the time Eccleston came round in 2005.

It was a neat concept, but 96' was early days for the internet and I was still fairly young, so I guess I just forgot about it till I heard about the Series Revival.

Looking back now, 5 years gone... I'd have to say that I enjoyed Eccleston as the 9th, but Tennant as the 10th was MY Doctor. The first iteration that I'd really connected with on so many different levels of character, substance, and emotion.

Having said that... I've been enjoying Smith as the 11th quite a bit. He's a got a sense of quirkiness that is almost overstated in and apparent effort to conceal or deny the depth of pain and anguish that have built up over the years as a result of his past lives.

The whole concept of a new man, who is in fact the same man, is completely fascinating. It has such a wealth of character development automatically built in that, it's just a fantastic opportunity.

I'm really looking forward to where Matt Smith takes this "new" Doctor as Moffat crafts a whole universe of new/old wonders/horrors to encounter.