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Matt Smith Leaving Doctor Who Already?
bowman9991 sent in a disappointing rumor saying "Ironically Matt Smith, the youngest Doctor Who ever, apparently wants to retire early. An unconfirmed report suggests Smith would like to try his hand at Hollywood films after the end of his second season as the Doctor. Smith is currently filming this year's Doctor Who Christmas special with Karen Gillan, who plays his companion Amy Pond, and opera star Katherine Jenkins. After the Christmas special he goes straight into production on a new Doctor Who series set to air next year." I've tremendously enjoyed the Smith/Gillan combo, personally.
I hear Mel Gibson is available.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I remember the last time a sci-fi franchise I enjoyed made a Christmas Special...
*barfs*
Farewell, Matt Smith!
I did enjoy Tennant, but Eccleston and Smith are on a whole different level for me. To be fair, Smith has the benefits of a better showrunner.
In the revived series, each time the actor playing the Doctor has changed, I expected that the new one couldn't be as great as the one retiring. But I've been pleasantly surprised each time.
So while I'm sad to see the current one go, I'm meta-okay with it.
Bring back Tom Baker!
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
For the love of God, can you lock these actors into three year contracts, please? Tennant did right by the role, but Eccleston and Smith have burned up their regenerations wastefully...
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
It's all the writing. I don't particularly care for Matt Smith, but I think that's my problem--having an unholy love for the previous Doctor. But for me, it's pretty hard to get past all of the continuity they've been screwing with, and even when they aren't doing that, the writing is just bad.
The Telegraph reports Karen Gillan as specifically denying that Smith's going anywhere, so this is just a spurious attempt by the Sun to generate "news".
Here's hoping Smith stays on for at least 3 years, and we get some more multi-season arcs going.
xkcdsw: the unofficial archive of Making xkcd Slightly Worse
Doctor Who star Matt Smith is staying put, says Karen Gillan
Karen Gillan, who plays Doctor Who's assistant, says Matt Smith isn't going to Los Angeles
Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond, the assistant to Matt Smith's Doctor Who, has reassuring news for his fans. The actor isn't about to decamp to Los Angeles.
"Matt will be sticking around," she told me at the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup Final at Cowdray Park Polo Club yesterday. "I think those rumours were made up."
Karen, left, added that she and Smith have started filming the Doctor Who Christmas special, and adds that the atmosphere on the set is "great."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/7897262/Doctor-Who-star-Matt-Smith-is-staying-put-says-Karen-Gillan.html
Does this mean there'll be no Fez? Fez + Bow-tie combo was going to be so badass
Shitty tabloid with history of claiming every Doctor Who star is quitting at the end of the next season claims current Doctor Who star is quitting at the end of the next season.
You're is a small minority if you're a Who fan and not enjoying the new series. The new show has made efforts to honor the older shows and maintain a reasonable continuity. The storytelling has been solid, a good run of actors... I'm a fan of the older shows too but I don't see any reason to dislike the newer episodes.
And I hope they can keep Smith on for 3 or 4 seasons. That's the average run for most of the Doctors.
They're going to need to write around that 13th regeneration limit before long...
Matt Smith's contract gives him a salary of only £200,000 per year - far lower than the estimated £1,000,000 earned by Tennant. He just happened to sign on at exactly the wrong time - the global economic crisis was in full swing, and the BBC (as a public broadcaster) had come under attack for its seemingly extravagant on-air talent salaries. If he can raise his profile enough over the next couple of years to attract serious attention from Hollywood, he can easily earn more than £200,000 from a single film. Let's hope that a reasonable compromise can be met before the second season is up, because the revolving door of doctors is getting tiring.
Of course the Doctor will remain a British alien, but there's no reason he has to be white. How about a Indian? Are there any such actors who would do well in this role?
If this rumour happens to be true, I think it's a good time to nominate Hugh Laurie for the next doctor...
... was rumored to be on the short list of candidates to follow Tennant. Ejiofor was great in Serenity and Children of Men. He would have been a really great Doctor.
In my opinion, he's the best the show has seen. That's a shame that he feels it's beneath him to stay beyond 2 seasons.
If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
Davies made some reboot comments prior to the first season but he was selling it to new viewers at the time. As the show has had four more seasons there have been numerous bridges built to recognize the older shows, including actually showing all of the other TV Who actors in flashback (including Paul McGann). There have been references to older adventures, characters from the older shows (Sarah Jane and K-9, hello?). What the show was sold as initially and what it has become are two different things. The story very clearly is telling the further adventures of the Doctor, not a do-over.
I don't think I've seen him in anything recently, but his role as the Marquis De Carabas in Neverwhere shows he could pull off an eccentric character ... even if that was 14 years ago.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
This series very blatantly sets out to get away from that. Even from the very first episode where he has to save the Earth without any of his usual toys - or in his own words: "No TARDIS. No Sonic Screwdriver. Two minutes to spare!". And then at other points in the series, it's re-emphasised. E.g. the line in 'Vincent and the Doctor': "That does it! From now on, I'm only using this thing to screw in screws". The device has mainly just been used in this series as a short-hand for things. Similar goes for all the maudln Rose/Martha/Kylie pining love story stuff. If you haven't seen the episode in question yet, I'll avoid saying what happens, but we get a very clear (and funny) distancing from romantic entanglements with the new Doctor. And the one character that may or may not be a romantic entanglement (Doctor River Song), we have only deep suspicions as to what might happen between her and the Doctor. Originally, we assumed she was the Doctor's wife. Now... maybe yes, maybe something more sinister. We've been promised some answers next series, but it's definitely a deliberate stepping away from all the "Roooooose!" unstated love stuff.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Have a watch of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do-wDPoC6GM
If you can sit through this without laughing, you should seek professional help.
Ian Ameline
Well she said the same about Tennant. I think it's more a reference to her knowing the doctor from like... decades/centuries into his future.
Tennant may not be the greatest British Shakespearian actor of his generation --- Jonathan Slinger probably gets that nod at the moment, after his Richards in 2007/8 --- but he's very, very good and his Hamlet sits alongside Branagh's as one of the best in recent years. Who knows what Tennant will be like in his late sixties, as Patrick Stewart was for his recent Anthony, Prospero, Macbeth and Claudius (with a side-order of Vladimir in Godot) --- I saw all of those bar the Anthony, and he was superb --- but at the moment in his forties the RSC would kill to have Tennant on hand to do Henry V or Richard II. And in ten years' time he's going to be the defining Prospero of the 2020s. The BBC got a bargain for his Who, as he's the first serious actor to take the part.
By the way, another Who name to watch: Sam Troughton, son of David, grandson of Patrick. Stunning Romeo this year.
Matt Smith has been very good, and if they could get Tom Baker back for a story nobody would be happier than me. Baker's not likely to return to the show full time but a story or two would kick ass. He's aged a lot since Logopolis, so they'd need to explain that. Baker suggested a few years ago he'd be interested in playing the Master, and that would be extremely cool.
>>"The magical way they brought back The Master for the end of season 4 was just stupid."
I watched "End of Time" 1 and 2 in one sitting, so I was a lot happier with it than other people. the way the brought back the Master was goofy, but hardly the worst plot device in Who history. The scene where the Doctor asks the Master to travel the universe with him was great, there was a moment where the Master actually considered it. But mostly John Simm is awesome so any chance for him to return to the show...
>>"At least with a form of history reset they can ignore a lot of previous shows"
They gave themselves a big broom to sweep up mistakes with the time crack last season. I doubt they'd completely reset the Who universe, Mofit is such a fan of the older show.
>>"Its getting too melodramatic and mushy on these story ark endings as well"
Hey, my wife cried at the end of "Vincent". Some of the shows cater to the female Who fans.
>>"...WW2 planes in space... the UK on an endangered space whale ..."
I was more sorry to see them scrap the cool Dalek props they've used for the last four years for the iPod version.
>>"...it would be nice if the UK was not the center of the universe"
But that's part of Doctor Who! They're doing new Torchwood episodes and filming much if not all of the season here in the US, and and they did the '96 Who movie here in the US. It doesn't feel right. That's why you can't have a yank play the Doctor, even Johnny Depp. Doctor Who is uniquely British and should always be that way.