In case you haven’t heard, Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who sometime after the Christmas Special. How anyone can miss this is beyond me as I can’t log onto Facebook without getting slammed by it everyday. I’m going to take a moment to reflect in wibbly wobbly fashion the current and future status of the show.
Overall Matt did an excellent job as the Doctor. In spite of the fact he’d never watched the show before, he really dug deep into the source material making the character his own. By melding equal measures of child-like wonder and grumpy old man the Doctor became much more complicated a character.
Under Moffat’s tenure the series was pretty much a mixed bag. The overall story arcs were some of the best while individual episodes became more mediocre with each season. There were a few that stood out like “Angels Take Manhattan”. Season 7B was particularly bad with the only highlight being “The Name Of The Doctor.” Moffat needs someone to help him stay focused to ensure the overall quality of each episode while preserving the main arc.
As for the upcoming year, I look forward to the 50th anniversary and other tidbits. I also look forward to seeing a new Doctor. Quite frankly, I am ready for a change. For any actor to stay in the role too long makes the character tiresome. I am with John Barrowman that I’m not devastated by Matt leaving. Much like rain or the tides an actor leaving is inevitable. We all know it’s coming at some point. Get over it.
Another thing I look forward to is all the inane babble about who will play the Doctor next. Don’t pay attention to the book makers or anybody else for that matter. Either way you will get it wrong. One thing The BBC does very well with the new series is keeping it close to the chest. Could it be a woman? Could he be a different race? Or finally ginger? Don’t know, don’t care. All I care about is what will the actor do. Neil Gaiman recently opined it should be an older actor who isn’t well known. I couldn’t agree more. With back to back youngins at the helm we need someone a little longer in the tooth. In most cases they pick someone we’d never expect. Even as I write this the odds on favorite is Rory Kinnear who appeared in the recent Bond reboot and has made major headlines. In under one day he was offered, considered, not even close but kind of maybe the next Doctor. I have no clue. I contacted a friend in England and even they don’t know.
In spite of my crankiness about Who Theory Overload I’m expecting good things this upcoming year. I have no answers to many of my questions and I am sure I will have more questions as time goes on. We will get a new Doctor leading to a time of adjustment. Some will grouse while others accept that change is good. Give whoever they pick a chance. Just remember that no matter who is chosen as the next Doctor it won’t be David Tennant no matter how much you want it.
