In a way, he's doing the later.
The Problem With The New Doctor... *spoilers*
- Thread starter DangerMouse
- Start date
In a way, he's doing the later.
I think all three actors are very good as The Doctor but each have/had their own approach to the role. It took me a few episodes to warm up to Christopher Ecceleston but he grew on me so much so that I was really nervous about this new guy David Tennant but after a strong performance in "New Earth" I was sold.
I've been sold on Matt Smith since before the season premier and for my money he is The Doctor. That being said David Tennant only got better over time and I think that if Matt Smith sticks around for another three or more years then he's going to be just as awesome as Christopher Ecceleston, David Tennant and every other actor who has had the role previously.
Yeah, disagree completely. Sure, Eccleston had me at 'Run'. But Tennant? I have never cringed more than his uneven overacting in Season Two. I would say he didn't even hit the "Doctor" mark until probably Smith and Jones.
The moment Smith had the "Box falls out of sky, man falls out of box, man eats fish custard" conversation, I knew without a shred of doubt this guy was not only as strong as his predecessors, but had already nailed the part of The Doctor...
There's that. He's rather flat by comparison - in episode three, he really couldn't portray the depth of outrage, fear and angst in his confrontation with the [SPOILER, THOUGH OBVIOUS] that Eccleston and Tennant did so well. He could only shriek and hit things. Eccleson and Tennant differed, but they were both marvelous and had real soul. This kid is just callow.
It's funny, this is the sequence that had on-set audio leaked onto YouTube a few months ago that was the source of quite some derision - seeing it in all it's full-produced "glory" turned out to be hardly any better than that.
I thought Smith's was stronger by far.
Eccleston was ok, but I thought Rose was a pretty poor episode. I remember remarking at the time that the new series of Doctor Who (2005) felt like a parody to me.
And Tennant spent half the episode asleep! Once he was up he was ok, in a rambling mad-man kind of way, but still not a very strong start..
Pretty much completely agree. Eccleston was The Doctor from the off, Tennant...I dunno, I loved him in The Christmas Invasion, but after that he really fluctuated and I'd wholeheartedly agree that it was smith and jones before he really seemed comfortable. In part this was because they toned down the insane gurning ( a bit!) but also thanks to the lack of Rose which seemed to stop 10 acting like a giggling love struck schoolgirl!
The oddest (and probably least logical) thing for me is this. From the off Tennant seemed the right choice at the wrong time. He was clearly too young. By contrast Smith seems the right man at the right time despite being several years younger.
I wonder if, in part, it's down to the fact that for Eccleston and Smith this is just a job, whereas for Tennant it was a childhood dream, maybe he was just trying too hard that first year?
Like the previous 10 times. And sorry, but sucking up some radiation doesn't even come close to absorbing all the energy of the freaking Time Vortex. Given the way 10 ended, he just seems like a self absorbed bastard. 9 had to die for him to exist.....no problem and that's okay.....but oh the humanity that he had to die! 11 should no more care than 10 or any of the others....and really the whole idea that each regen is almost a seperate entity is new. In the past, the Doctor would regenerate, dress differently, maybe act a bit different, but he pretty much said he was the same guy, new face.
Fans may have speculated about such things, but it was never aired on t.v.
Luckily for us storytelling has evolved to the point where they recognize that these are important factors. Yes the 10th Doctor was selfish and dramatic but his reasons were perfectly sound. Its like the whole idea of creating a copy of you with a transporter or whatever. The 'you' that walks out on the other side has all your memories to the point that it thinks it is you and acts like you and may as well be you but for one niggling fact. You either died or continue to exist apart from the copy. In the case of the Doctor maybe 10 is the first personality to realize the value of his temporary 'self', rather than the more long-term memory collection of "The Doctor" that links all his personalities together. I know it was tongue-in-cheek but you get a bit of this in 'Time Crash' when 10 talks about how much he enjoyed being 5.
It is never too late to introduce new aspects to the Doctor, why would it be so bad for him to lament the death of his previous self, like mourning the loss of a friend. This goes for 9 into 10 as well. We saw a little bit of it with his interactions with Rose, knowing that she wanted 9 back and he couldn't give it to her.
the fact that he is nearing the end of the line with his regenerations needs to be considered as well. Mortality is a powerful influence, especially for a man like 10 who had begun to believe his own hype. Knowing beforehand that he was going to die soon couldn't have helped either. Most (all?) of his previous regenerations had been rather quick affairs too, with him either jumping in to save the day or having some unforeseen accident/crisis cause it. 10's death was like a slow but unstoppable cancer, a force of nature (fate) he couldn't resist but neither could he simply accept.
Like I said. It worked for me.
It is never too late to introduce new aspects to the Doctor, why would it be so bad for him to lament the death of his previous self, like mourning the loss of a friend. This goes for 9 into 10 as well. We saw a little bit of it with his interactions with Rose, knowing that she wanted 9 back and he couldn't give it to her.
the fact that he is nearing the end of the line with his regenerations needs to be considered as well. Mortality is a powerful influence, especially for a man like 10 who had begun to believe his own hype. Knowing beforehand that he was going to die soon couldn't have helped either. Most (all?) of his previous regenerations had been rather quick affairs too, with him either jumping in to save the day or having some unforeseen accident/crisis cause it. 10's death was like a slow but unstoppable cancer, a force of nature (fate) he couldn't resist but neither could he simply accept.
Like I said. It worked for me.
This is pretty much how i saw it as well. With previous regenerations it was pretty much unexpected, with perhaps the exception of 2's regeneration into 3. And we've been shown time and time again that when things get bad enough that someone needs to sacrifice themselves, The Doctor is always willing to do it.
With 10 he knew well in advance that his death was approaching. He'd had Ood and various psychics telling him repeatedly he was going to die. So he had time to dwell on it and start to dread what was to come. And yet even though he was terrified, he really didn't want to die, he still stepped into the chamber to save Wilf.
That to me doesn't diminish 10 in the slightest, i find there is a great deal of nobility in carrying out an action that you know will result in your death just because its the right thing to do.
As for the actual topic, whilst i don't think Smith is as good as Tennant it's still early days yet. And like others have said at first it appeared 10 had shed all of 9's baggage and that didn't last. If anything is seems to me like 11 is setting himself up for a fall again by depending on Amy too much. If she disappears/dies/gets mindwiped i can see 11 suffering the same heart(s)break as 10.
Ten's death was simply taken more seriously because the writing and acting on nuWho is head and shoulders above what was done on the old series. So the first eight went to their ends with little more than some melodramatic gnashing and organ music? So much the worse for them.
Why do you continue to watch if you dislike him so?BTW, couldn't disagree more. I thought Tennant had all the "rage" and "soul" of a spoiled child. But, to each their own, I guess...
Nonsense.
Because I'm unimpressed with Smith doesn't mean I'm not enjoying the series in general, which you might pick up from my other observations if you'd drop the defensiveness. Generally I enjoyed the writing in the first two episodes (VOTD had its moments, but they didn't add up to a real story), I think Karen Gillan/Amy Pond is fantastic and I'm warming to the new "look" of the show (exception of the Doctor Redenbacher costume).
The Doctor is a character in the show, and an evolving one - not a fetish - so the fact that he's not up to snuff right now doesn't ruin the series any more than Martha Jones did. My impression from this forum is that in the videotape days some older Who fans "suffered" through numbers of years with incarnations of the character they disliked, and I'm getting that now.
Overall, I'm glad to see that Moffat - quite predictably, really - is engaged in continuing and refining the modern version of DW rather than turning it into some kind of vindication for older fans who resent the RTD era. Not that he'd have had any actual motivation to do that, anyway.
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Now, now...not at all. You don't like Matt Smith. That's obvious. But, anyway...
You assume a defensiveness where there is none to be found. I am uncertain how you came to this conclusion, other than you believe I am commenting on your negativity out of some personal agenda. In fact, I only mention it because (as I said in another thread) it's become much more obvious as of late, and too, you give Bones such a hard time over his own negativity.
VOTD? 11th Hour?
Okay, so what you're saying is that, currently, Smith is your Colin Baker and you're not happy about The Doctor right now? Fair enough. So, then, if it's as simple as that, why the continual snipes and shots at points and adoration appraised by others? It's understandable to state your opinion. It's not very cool to dismiss others' opinions in an off-hand manner, though.
Which, in essence, is you saying that you are glad that older fans of the show may not be happy with the current series? And, if so, how does that benefit you? Does it bring your own agenda of being opposed to Classic Doctor Who more credence or pleasure? What if Moffat had decided to retro the entire series and make it feel much more like the Classic one (which, for my money, he's already found a nice balance)? Would you have turned off based solely on that point alone?
I only ask these questions, as I'm trying to understand your overall agenda, and whether you are actively fighting a certain sect of fandom, or if this is a general state of posting for you...
All very interesting... fascinating to read different people's perspectives 
It's all about the bloody ratings.
They want young viewers for the show, so they need young actors in it. I would welcome an older Doctor, on the level of Pertwee or Hartnell, but I doubt TPTB would allow it. Older viewers don't count, so neither do older Doctors... 
They want young viewers for the show, so they need young actors in it...older viewers don't count, so neither do older Doctors...
Pretty much right - that's become global or at least endemic throughout the West. Plus, of course, there's the romantic-tension-with-the-young-companion element of nuWho to factor in.
The other answer is that a lot of folks try hard to recover their youth in their late middle ages - the Doctor just doesn't have to go in for botox and chemical peels.
And as for the limit on regenerations: No one seriously believes this will actually apply to the Doctor, right? They'll give him an easy out. No way will the Doctor actually die. The 13th Doctor will find a way to cheat his way out of it. The show would never dare kill off the Doctor for good.
We're more likely to actually see the 8th-to-9th regeneration (which of course we won't) than the Doctor's "final death".
We're more likely to actually see the 8th-to-9th regeneration (which of course we won't) than the Doctor's "final death".
