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Matt Smith Leaves "Doctor Who"

First time accepted submitter Dave Knott writes "The BBC has announced that Matt Smith will be leaving 'Doctor Who', after spending the last four seasons in the titular role of The Doctor. Smith will remain for the upcoming 50th anniversary special, where he will star alongside a majority of the other actors who have taken on the character, and will exit following the yearly Christmas episode. No actor has yet been cast as the twelfth incarnation of The Doctor, although there was a teaser involving John Hurt at the end of the most recent season of the show."

37 of 375 comments (clear)

  1. First... by webmistressrachel · · Score: 5, Funny

    I got first because I went back in my TARDIS... ;)

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    1. Re:First... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You could have bought back Tom Baker with you

    2. Re:First... by webmistressrachel · · Score: 3, Funny

      How much would he have cost me? ;)

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    3. Re:First... by VortexCortex · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm jealous. My 2nd-hand model doesn't work well. It's less like a noble police box and more like a trashy Bill's and Ted's phone booth. Nav-circuits are broke so it only takes me to places the TARDIS has already been -- Doors won't open till the other TARDIS is gone. Great for watching re-runs though. I call it the RE-TARDIS.

    4. Re:First... by Dupple · · Score: 4, Informative

      How much would he have cost me? ;)

      A bag of Jelly Babies

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  2. Often the best man for the job is a woman by auric_dude · · Score: 5, Interesting
    1. Re:Often the best man for the job is a woman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      That was The Curse of Fatal Death and Joanna Lumley was the Doctor. It was, indeed, a spoof and quite a welcome one during the Dark Time of the Hiatus.

    2. Re:Often the best man for the job is a woman by pmontra · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually Donna Noble became a sort of Doctor in Journey's End.

    3. Re:Often the best man for the job is a woman by cyber-vandal · · Score: 3, Informative

      Is it this this?

    4. Re: Often the best man for the job is a woman by UglyTool · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Chill the fuck out.

      What you saw was some shitty, obscure fan-film made for fanboys at cons. It has absolutely nothing to do with Doctor Who, except for stealing the name. If people thought you meant Curse of Fatal Death instead of an awful movie that nobody else ever saw, then that's understandable. What you linked is NOT Doctor Who. It was a shitty movie that nobody watched.

    5. Re:Often the best man for the job is a woman by Thantik · · Score: 3, Informative

      Jenny, the doctors daughter (from an episode titled the same) is actually still out there. At the end of the episode, she regenerated and flew out into space for lots of running, etc. So there is a female time lord out among the stars.

  3. No Shit by Nyder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Considering the last episode credits had: Introducing John Hurts as the Doctor, it was a pretty damn big clue that Matt was leaving the show.

    http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/9985/doctorwho20057x13thenamz.jpg

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  4. Re:Watch the age trend by Nyder · · Score: 3, Funny

    William Hartnell was the first Doctor, at about 55 years old.

    Matt Smith was 28.

    Obviously the Doctor is getting younger and younger. I predict that the next one will be around 18. Perhaps Tom Holland?

    Probably give him a 6 pack abs also, running around shirtless.

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  5. This is horrible by houghi · · Score: 5, Funny

    How can the show continue if the lead role leaves? Perhaps we should start a petition

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    1. Re:This is horrible by Noughmad · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's Doctor Whooosh to you!

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    2. Re:This is horrible by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 4, Funny

      No need to save face. Just regenerate and change it and don't tell anyone.

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  6. What I would like from the next series by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Less SHOUTING. Too often they seem to try and create a sense of excitement through the sole mechanism of having the Doctor get excited and shouty. I don't think it Matt Smith's fault, he does do some of the darker, more ponderous moments very well. I think the situation should be exciting in itself and the Doctor then rising above it.

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    1. Re:What I would like from the next series by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      More importantly: Less STUPID!

      The show got dumber and dumber every year. They are at 2.4 JJs* now! They just stopped caring if it makes any sense at all. (And yes, I did check for Dunning-Kruger effects. I can always show you the exact show-stopping non-sequiturs and inner contradictions of the stories.**)

      (* Named after JJ Abrams' "knack" for always "resolving" things with plain drooling retardedness and then calling it a day.)

      (** E.g. for Star Trek, I know it's not me being stupid, when the main one was Spock crashing a ship that has a ball of red matter the size of Chuck Norris' balls [~1m] on board, of which a *single* drop annihilates an entire damn planet, *into a fuckin' space-time rift! And the crew of the Enterprise just hovering there like drooling retards, instead of instantly going into full "This could end the fuckin' UNIVERSE" panic mode! ... Of course you can say that the moment they dropped Kirk on a deadly planet with not even a jacket nor compass and the nearest building miles away through extreme snow storms, excusing it with "Oh, he will find it!"... that that was the moment where the whole thing died and imploded in a vortex of FAIL. ... Followed by the whole Old Spock think and Scotty inventing teleportation just casually along the way, to add insult and piss in the face to injury.)

  7. A couple of corrections... by Sam+Andreas · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "after spending the last four seasons in the titular role of The Doctor" - no, it was only three. The British do TV different than the Americans but there were only three "seasons" (including the current one) with Smith.

    "where he will star alongside a majority of the other actors who have taken on the character" - That was the fan theory ages ago, but the casting has long since been confirmed by the BBC and David Tennant is the only other former doctor to appear in the special.

    Regardless, Smith had a great run. I was skeptical at first at the "youngest ever doctor" but I was thrilled with the result.

  8. Re:Not News by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    why is this crap on Slashdot ?

    Dr Who is stuff that matters.

  9. Who's next? by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So ideally who would like to see as the next Doctor?

    For me it would be Stephen Fry.

    1. Re:Who's next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Bring David Tennant back.

    2. Re:Who's next? by ChunderDownunder · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Nick Frost.

    3. Re:Who's next? by M.+Baranczak · · Score: 4, Funny

      Jason Statham.

    4. Re:Who's next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Patrick Stewart. We need a better accent and the older doctors were better.

  10. Re: No way by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wasn't it first said that time lords have 9 lives?

    No, you seem to be getting time lords and cats mixed up.

  11. Re:Not News by Killjoy_NL · · Score: 4, Informative

    If anything was News for Nerds, this is it.

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  12. Hugh Laurie by scorp1us · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Admit it, he would make the perfect doctor...

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  13. Re:Why on earth... by Megane · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's because of timey-wimey stuff. I'll explain later.

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  14. Re: No way by JustOK · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Rule 1: The Doctor lies.

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  15. Re:I hope it's John Hurt by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 3, Informative

    What's with you people? This doctor is the most fun of any since Tom Baker, and maybe even moreso.

    I also like the general attitude (both his character and the show) that the Doctors is someone all the foes have learned to fear since he always beats their ass.

    It has, logically, indeed come down to this:

    Come onnnnnnnnn, then!

    I'm fine with that -- playful. I had never taken to a doctor that quickly before.

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  16. Re: No way by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wasn't it first said that time lords have 9 lives?

    No, you seem to be getting time lords and cats mixed up.

    If the Time Lords have 13 lives, do their time cats get 12*9=117 lives? If we run out of doctors, I propose a new series, Doctor Who's Cat. The protagonist could have some non-obvious, non-ridiculous name, such as Phi Line.

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  17. Re:Not News by BonThomme · · Score: 4, Funny

    what, jonesing for a Bitcoin submission?

  18. Re:No way by bruce_the_loon · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'd love the 13th Doctor to be desperately trying to avoid dying because he knows he's the last generation, then regenerating instead and saying something like "What? Nobody ever did 14? How did I do 14? And why am I still not ginger?"

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  19. Re:No way by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Funny

    timelords only get 12 regens

    What is the Timelords' preferred numerical base?

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  20. Re:Watch the age trend by tragedy · · Score: 4, Informative

    I assumed that he was meant to be the Valeyard, who showed up in the series as the prosecutor when the Time Lords put the Doctor on trial. He was revealed to be a future incarnation of the Doctor who really has it out for himself. He's not necessarily exactly one of his normal regenerations, but may instead actually be an intermediate form like the Watcher. The Watcher was a mystery masked figure who semi-stalked the Fourth Doctor right before his death and regeneration and who actually became the new Doctor at the moment of regeneration. Another Time Lord featured in the series whose name I can't remember right now actually had his own future incarnation working for him as a sort of butler/apprentice until his own death. So, the Valeyard was meant to be possibly something similar from the Doctor's 12th regeneration (back when there was a supposedly firm limit on the number of regenerations), but evil and intent on destroying the Doctor and achieving a completely independent existence.

    Through the entire series since its revival there has been a running theme that's popped up of repressed self-loathing the Doctor keeps under the surface. There was an episode where Rory and Amy were either living in an alien-infested small village or on the Tardis with the Doctor about to plunge into a "cold star" and had to figure out which was a dream and which was real. There was a creepy dream-lord villain plaguing them through the whole thing and the Doctor made a comment to him at one point that he had figured out who he was since there was only one person in the Universe who hated him that much. It turned out to be an aspect of the Doctor's unconscious mind. So, unless they're pulling some other big twist, then this new "Doctor" is probably that aspect of his mind incarnate, probably as an intermediate form produced as part of a regeneration.

  21. Re:No way by tragedy · · Score: 3, Informative

    David Tennant played Barty Crouch Jr and the Doctor, Michael Gambon played Dumbledore and Kazran Sardick, Helen McRory played Narcissa Malfoy and Rosanna Calvierri, John Cleese played Nearly Headless Nick and had a cameo in an older episode, Zoe Wanamaker played Madame Hooch and Lady Cassandra, Toby Jones played Dobby and the Dream Lord, Bill Nighy played Rufus Scrimgeour and a Van Goph expert, Roger Lloyd Pack played Barty Crouch Sr. and John Lumic, Shirly Henderson played Moaning Myrtle and Ursula Blake, Adrian Rawlins played James Potter and the Ood sympathizer from _Planet of the Ood_, David Bradley played Argus Filch and the Shansheeth in the old series, Derek Deadman played Tom the innkeeper and a Sontaran in the old series, Elizabeth Spriggs played the Fat Lady and was strangled to death in an episode of the old series, Jeff Rawles plays Amos Diggory and played Plantagenet in an episode of the old series, Jessica Hynes played the voice of Mafilda Hopkirk and played Joan Redfern and one of her descendants, Jimmy Gardner played the Knight Bus driver and Idmon in the old series, John Atterbury played Phineas Nigellus Black and some monsters in the old series, Julian Glover played Aragog and Richard the Lionheart and Scaroth in the old series, Terence Bayler played the Bloody Baron and Yendom in the old series.

    Jim Broadbent played Horace Slughorn and also played the Doctor in _The Curse of Fatal Death_, but that's not really canon. Aside from that, Dudley Dursley and Dean Thomas are played by descendants of the 2nd doctor and one of the first companions respectively.

    So, that's quite a few crossover actors. I knew some of those off the top of my head, but obviously I found a web site listing them for all of that. It's possible they may have missed some. In any case, it's not too surprising. The Harry Potter series has used a lot of British actors and so has Dr Who and there are only so many of them.