Who Wants Matt Smith Back?

[The Nth Doctor]

Audio books just aren't the same thing as actual episodes IMO

While it's true audio plays aren't the same as televised episodes, I do think it's unfair to dismiss them out of hand as if they're inferior. The audio medium allows for certain freedoms that television (and film) cannot, especially the freedom of imagination. Plus it doesn't have to worry about budgets, sets, costumes, make-up, etc., and allows actors to perform in different ways that wouldn't be possible in a visual medium.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

This is just coming from DWM 500, in which Moffat says he ran into Smith recently and he expressed regret at leaving the show too early. Nothing more.

Odd that Smith would think he left to soon. I guess maybe it feels that way to him in hindsight. (I've felt that way about jobs that I've left and none of them were anywhere near as cool as being the Doctor!) But, looking back on Season 7, I've always felt that Smith seemed a bit tired & bored during his final year. Like, he'd discovered everything that he wanted to explore about the role in his first 2 seasons and his 3rd one was just going through the motions because he was contractually obligated to do it. Although, I felt like he did up his game when Tennant was around in "The Day of the Doctor."

^ I couldn't agree more with that sentiment. If BBC are worried that such a project would detract from the main show, this year would have been a great opportunity.
The Beeb aren't very good at thinking outside the "box", are they?

The only time Doctor Who ever thought outside the "box" was during the early Jon Pertwee years!

Though it seems to me that the reason why we didn't get a season this year wasn't because the BBC didn't want to do it but because they couldn't find anyone to produce it. Moffat was busy doing Sherlock, Chibnall was busy finishing Broadchurch, and Whithouse & everyone else that they asked said no. Seems like either the BBC has a shortage of producers or they're too timid about giving such a popular, established series to young, inexperienced show-runners. (Ironic considering how green Verity Lambert was when she started the show back in 1963.)

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

While it's true audio plays aren't the same as televised episodes, I do think it's unfair to dismiss them out of hand as if they're inferior. The audio medium allows for certain freedoms that television (and film) cannot, especially the freedom of imagination. Plus it doesn't have to worry about budgets, sets, costumes, make-up, etc., and allows actors to perform in different ways that wouldn't be possible in a visual medium.

*cough*"Scherzo"*cough*"The Natural History of Fear"*cough*

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Smith's entire purpose in leaving at the height of his popularity was to leave the audience wanting more. Now he apparently wishes he had more? Is his career just not going anywhere after Who? More likely he's probably just wistful.

If he came back, it wouldn't be full-time. I'd like to see him again in a one-off, or if they did a 2-Doctor team up like was noted upthread and that Smith wanted to do following the 50th Anniversary. But only for a few episodes maximum.

 

[Skywalker]

Matt Smith is my favorite Doctor but even if this were true (and it doesn't seem to be), I don't think it'd be a very good idea. The Doctor should keep on moving forward. That said, I do think Smith maybe left a bit too soon. I feel like Season Eight might have worked out a bit better if Eleven were still around and the season didn't also have to contend with figuring out a new Doctor.

 

[MacLeod]

Short anser No.

 

[maneth]

Not as a regular, but I'd love to see him in a special with more than one Doctor. The Doctor's always gone forward rather than back.

 

[Relayer1]

I'm up for more than a one-off but don't want a degeneration scenario, or at least not a full one.

Wouldn't it be fun if a whole season was set up with an arc including all the Doctors available/suitable, with cameos from some older ones, maybe as framing sequences (David Bradley as one ?). A couple of episodes apiece from eight, ten, eleven, twelve, a few team-ups, yeah, I'd like that.

Might even be time to get back in touch with Sean Pertwee and David Troughton. Last chance Guys !

 

[The Wormhole]

Is his career just not going anywhere after Who?

His film career really hasn't turned out so well so far. That movie he did directed by Ryan Gosling (which he shaved his hair for) basically flopped. Although Terminator Genesis hints at his character having a more prominent role in the sequel, Genesis didn't really perform at the box office all that well, and indeed whatever plans they might have had for a sequel might have to be adjusted or even abandoned, given a few other actors have backed out already (like Emilia Clarke). Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was also definitive flop, and Smith's next movie, Patient Zero doesn't seem like it's going to be number one at the box office.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Tough, and sad as I think he's one of Britain's best young actors right now.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Terminator Genisys didn't do particularly well at the American box office ($89,760,956) but it did very well internationally ($350,842,581). Overall, it's the 2nd highest grossing of all the Terminator films. (T2 is still king though, even 25 years later, even without adjusting for inflation.) Proving once again that foreigners seem to have really shitty taste in action movies, particularly additional sequels to played-out franchises.

But it looks like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies was a disaster.

I'd never even heard of Smith's Ryan Gosling movie before this.

 

[Ithekro]

The Day of the Doctor left him the perfect opening to come back as the Doctor. The Curator (Tom Baker) was more than likely the Doctor much later in his life, rather than the Fourth Doctor. The conversation goes on about the 11th Doctor never forgetting a face, to which the Curator says something like, "I know you don't, but someday you may revisit a few, but just the old favorites" to which their is a wink of sorts.

That is the perfect opening for an actor that played the Doctor to come back later as another incarnation of the Doctor, but with a familiar face. I can see it as an opening for Paul McGann, David Tennant, and Matt Smith to easily get the role of the Doctor back as the 13th plus Doctor. It also allows them to play it different.

For a Matt Smith Doctor, it would actually play out perfectly given the story of him in the universe. He is the Doctor everyone is afraid of. Maybe it wasn't the 11th Doctor they were afraid of, but the 13+ Doctor that had the same face, but because of that, they thought it was the same Doctor all the time. It would also give a possible return of River Song, as she'd never know if was a different Doctor as seen with the 12th and their last night before the Library.

This also works for Paul McGann. He could come back as a 13th plus Doctor, or the 8th Doctor. But if the BBC wants to move forward with McGann as the lead, he would have to be the 13th plus Doctor with the same face as the 8th Doctor.

This works with Tennant as well, though he does have the half-Time Lord handy Doctor to fall back on as well.

Multi-Doctor stories work too. Just the Curator scene allows for the setup of an actor coming back as the Doctor while not being their original incarnation of the Doctor, but a new one instead.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

For a Matt Smith Doctor, it would actually play out perfectly given the story of him in the universe. He is the Doctor everyone is afraid of. Maybe it wasn't the 11th Doctor they were afraid of, but the 13+ Doctor that had the same face, but because of that, they thought it was the same Doctor all the time.

My idea for bringing back Smith actually involves bringing him back as a villain. I figure, the version of the Doctor that went through the crack to seal it in "The Big Bang" is still trapped in the void on the other side. The Doctor that we've seen since then is a copy loosely extrapolated from Amy's memories. What if the original pre-"Big Bang" Doctor came back and had been driven villainously insane by being trapped in the void for so long, kinda like Omega. (Good news: Since this is a Doctor who is also at the end of his regenerations, it means that our heroes might actually stand a chance of killing him and saving the day!)

It would also give a possible return of River Song, as she'd never know if was a different Doctor as seen with the 12th and their last night before the Library.

Yeah, but "Silence in the Library" implies that River can still tell the Doctor's age by looking in his eyes. (Clara suggested the same thing in "The Day of the Doctor" when she said that she could tell just from the eyes that John Hurt was so much younger than Tennant & Smith.)

 

[Ithekro]

I sort of want to see what the Doctor's reaction to having an old face back would be like. Would he know as soon as he's in it? Would he feel like something is familiar? Would he notice at all until he looked in a mirror? He'd still have his usual post-regeneration problems I suspect.

Also it totally weird out Clair if she bumped into an 11th faced Doctor that was not the 11th Doctor, and didn't recognize her. I wonder if she'd assume that was him from before he met her, or if she'd figure it out that this was a memory wiped Doctor post 12th Doctor? Clair can be sharp at times. No telling how many Doctors ME had run across in her long way around to the end of the Universe before getting her own stolen TARDIS.

As for River, assume that any encounter she has with any post 12th Doctor with a known face takes place before she meet the 12th Doctor and that after she meets the 12th the next time she sees the Doctor is at the Library (10th Doctor). So for his age, she could assume he's the one on his way to his death still as the oldest we know she saw him was in New York, which he lived for around 1,000 years afterwards without seeing her again before he regenerated. THis could even add to her dismissal of the 12th Doctor as the Doctor early on as his eyes were "too young" until he made it blatantly obvious it was him at her confession with "Hello Sweetie".

 

[tomalak301]

I much rather have Tennant come back than Smith, even though I liked Smith's Doctor. I like the idea of McGann having his run though. I really liked the look of Night of the Doctor and want to see more of that universe, even if it was a one season thing.

 

[USS KG5]

No. He had his chance. I'd love to see him return in multi-Doctor stories, but I'd rather have Capaldi stay in the role and, hopefully, get a full decent season out of him. So far, he's not had a single good season from top to bottom.

I think that would be a big ask in any case, every season has had some ropey episodes to date, at least in someone's book.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I think that would be a big ask in any case, every season has had some ropey episodes to date, at least in someone's book.

But still, even Matt Smith had a decent season in season 5, despite the occasional clunker. It had a great arc, great performances and was a lot of fun and enjoyable. Capaldi's two seasons both had outlandish (even for DW) arcs that never paid off. Especially season 9's, which we didn't even understand what the hell it was all about.

 

[Tom]

I could see the Master looking like one of the doctors past incarnations, would be kinda cool.

 

[Samurai8472]

That would an intriguing idea.

The Master- Can you stop me if I look like THIS

*BOOM*

The Master resembles the 11th doctor.

The Doctor- Oh you've managed to become the one person I hate the most!

 

[Marten]

Matt Smith is my favourite doctor (Though it may have a lot to do with the interplay with Darvil and Gillan), but I don't really want to see him be back for more than possibly a multiple doctors-thing. His story is more or less done, and it makes no sense for the doctor to take the same face again,