Doctor Who 7.2- Page 2

[bwayrose7]

Posted: 5/18/13 at 10:22pm

Whoa. Did anyone watch the finale? Bit of an improvement, I thought, although the problem with Clara discussed above still remains (especially when contrasted with River's return). And the last reveal- I'll admit I had been spoiled that John Hurt would be in the 50th in some capacity (actually, a specific one, even more specific than last night's reveal, but I won't spell it out here out of respect for those who'd prefer to remain unspoiled), but the spoilers seemed so ludicrous, even for Moffat's era, I was skeptical. Looks like they might be accurate!
Loved all the references and footage of old Doctors; a nice buildup to the next episode- the 50th anniversary in November!

Updated On: 5/19/13 at 10:22 PM

[John Adams]

Posted: 5/19/13 at 10:56am

Hmmmm.....

Just finished watching the finale. Although, now, so much makes sense, why do I still feel cheated?

A big part of me feels like a victim of Moffat's ego. ...like all season long he's been saying, "You think you're cleverer than me? That you can 'put clues together' and predict an outcome? Well, I'll fix that - I'll give you nothing. NOTHING! ...and then we'll see who's the 'cleverer boy'!"

Moffat has spoken about "cleverness" before. When interviewed for the Guardian regarding the death of Holmes in Sherlock Moffat says, "There is a clue everybody's missed [...] So many people theorising about Sherlock's death online – and they missed it!"

Later in the article, he comments on viewer reactions saying, "They [Sherlock, and Dr. Who] are very clever shows, but they also fetishise cleverness. Cleverness is the superpower. So I get irritated when people say on Twitter: 'It's too complicated. I'm not following it.' Well, you could try putting your phone down and watching it."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/jan/20/steven-moffat-sherlock-doctor-who

The issue that I have with Moffat's thinking is that there's a difference between "clues" and "red herrings". One offers a way to solve a puzzle. The other is designed to deceive, and lead to a false conclusion. I'm finding that, in his effort to be clever, Moffat resorts to incorporating red herrings more often than he offers clues. He also slips in esoteric phrases like, "The souffle isn't the souffle. The souffle is the recipe" and "Run you clever boy - and remember me!" ...as if those are "clues" we should have picked up on to solve the puzzle.

After watching this Dr. Who finale, I wonder if those two specific "clues" aren't meant to be part of the story arc at all. In the case of the latter, do any of the characters left on screen actually take the advice to "run"? Would it have made any difference if they had, or had not?

Perhaps they were written directly at and for the viewers. Perhaps they are Moffat's "upper-handed" scoldings to remind us who's in charge. Maybe it's Moffat who fetishizes the "cleverness" in his own recipes, and as we are left scrambling to find answers from week to week, we should always remember who really is the cleverer boy. Updated On: 5/19/13 at 10:56 AM

[kec]

Posted: 5/20/13 at 3:16pm

Matt Smith and Steven Moffat apparently were in NY to watch the finale -- in Brooklyn to be specific!
Steven Moffat at The Way Station.

[kec]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 5:26pm

Matt Smith to Leave Doctor Who

[bwayrose7]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 7:40pm

Sad to see Smith go. Although Tennant will always be "my" Doctor, I have really loved Smith's take on the character. Wishing him all the best in his future career. So now the inevitable question: who will play Twelve?

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 6/1/13 at 8:57pm

Oh wow, all the best to him. Sad to see him go. He fast became my very favorite Doctor of all.

[kec]

Posted: 6/2/13 at 4:50am

Same here bwayrose7. Tennant was my first Doctor and as such was "my doctor," but I loved Matt's portrayal.

[John Adams]

Posted: 6/2/13 at 8:44am

>> Although Tennant will always be "my" Doctor, I have really loved Smith's take on the character.

I never felt like Smith had his own, original take on the Doctor. Tennant is "my" Doctor, too, but Smith's Doctor always felt like "Tennant Lite". Right from the beginning, I've found that I've often been able to see and hear Smith strictly imitating the character Tennant created (minus the catch-phrases).

Given his unique physical appearance, I expected Smith to be his own Doctor, similar to how Tennant's Doctor is so completely different from Eccleston's (who I also enjoyed very much!). That never happened.

I wonder if that was a direction selected for him by the showrunners as a way to help transition fans like me, who were so enraptured by Tennant.

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 6/2/13 at 3:33pm

John Adams, that's interesting. I have never noticed that at all. I thought Matt Smith's Doctor was completely different from David Tennant's. (I very much liked both Eccleston and Tennant in the role but prefer Smith over them both.)

I also find it doubtful that showrunners would direct any new actor to copy any prior actor's take on the Doctor since fans of this show are long-accustomed to adjusting to new actors in the role.

[broadway86]

Posted: 6/2/13 at 4:41pm

I totally disagree, John Adams. Aside from Tennant and Smith both possessing a talent for speaking very fast, I don't really see many similarities between their performances, if any.

[MusicalTheatreGeek2]

Posted: 6/2/13 at 4:51pm

Who do people want as the next doctor then? Here's hoping for Idris Elba! (Stringer from the wire)

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 6/3/13 at 10:36am

David Tennant will always be my favorite doctor, but I like Matt Smith. The problem with Matt's era is, basically, the writing. Other than a few episodes here and there, it's not as engaging as the majority of Tennant's tenure. Also, it's starting to seem that Matt is starting to go on auto pilot as the Doctor. If you look at the first season, he has SO much more energy and wonder in his eyes. Now, it seems like he lost a lot of that. Am I sad he's leaving? Yes. Am I devastated? No. Honestly, I'm ready for Moffatt to hand the reigns over to someone else and he just write the occasional episode (where I think he excelled).

Updated On: 6/3/13 at 10:36 AM

[Wynbish]

Posted: 6/3/13 at 10:56am

I disagree that Matt is Tennant-lite. I think Matt and his Doctor handle the tragic moments so much differently and more devastatingly. When he was trying to convince his enemies to let him out of the Pandorica, when he was trying to convince Amy to not let the angel take her to Rory, when he heard from Clara about Trenzalore. He was teary and scared or desperate in a way David rarely was. Even when Ten was trying to convince River to not essentially end her life, it was different. Now, one is not better than the other, but it's different.

[HoldThatThought]

Posted: 6/3/13 at 11:16am

"David Tennant will always be my favorite doctor, but I like Matt Smith. The problem with Matt's era is, basically, the writing. Other than a few episodes here and there, it's not as engaging as the majority of Tennant's tenure. Also, it's starting to seem that Matt is starting to go on auto pilot as the Doctor. If you look at the first season, he has SO much more energy and wonder in his eyes. Now, it seems like he lost a lot of that. Am I sad he's leaving? Yes. Am I devastated? No. Honestly, I'm ready for Moffatt to hand the reigns over to someone else and he just write the occasional episode (where I think he excelled)."

Well said! I agree. Wish Moffat would just stick to writing.

[Patronus]

Posted: 6/3/13 at 11:46am

If you look at the first season, he has SO much more energy and wonder in his eyes. Now, it seems like he lost a lot of that.

That is very much by design, imo. After losing Amy and Rory from his life I think he did lose some of his spark. I think it was the largest reminder yet of how alone he really is in the universe. The show even addressed that in the dark place the Doctor was in at the beginning of The Snowman.

Matt Smith hasn't lost energy and wonder, 11 has. There is a difference.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 6/3/13 at 11:58am

^ I agree

When Ten lost Rose, he was slightly less energetic for a while with Martha. He met Shakespeare and still thought of Rose.

I think Matt showed more energy when he had to play The Doctor and the Cyberplanner or whatever it was called in one scene.

[capnkidd]

Posted: 6/8/13 at 11:04pm

I will miss Matt. Perfect combo of youth, wackiness, and age-old weariness.
Speculation of the new Doctor casting. I vote Mirren.

[kec]

Posted: 8/1/13 at 7:33pm

Will be announced on Sunday on both BBC and BBC America:
Who will be the next Doctor?

[Addison D.]

Posted: 8/1/13 at 9:37pm

I really am not ready to lose Matt Smith. At the same time, however, I remember clearly that I was not ready to lose Tennant. And I was sorry to see Eccleston go.

It strikes me that avid watchers of 'Doctor Who' experience the same feelings of loss and regret and fond memories and hopeful expectations about each incarnation that the Doctor must feel with every new companion.

That's comforting to me. It makes me feel like we'd have something to talk about if we were seated next to each other at dinner...

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/1/13 at 10:35pm

Wholeheartedly agree

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 8/2/13 at 1:27am

If Ben Whishaw were the new Doctor I would literally die from cumming too hard.

Updated On: 8/2/13 at 01:27 AM

[Addison D.]

Posted: 8/2/13 at 8:16am

British television has always struck me as more open than American to casting men and women of color in major roles. Surely, across the infinite span of time and space, there have to be vessels for the Doctor other than skinny, 30-ish white dudes.

[jnb9872]

Posted: 8/2/13 at 8:53am

Well, historically speaking, it usually isn't a 30-ish role... Matt only just turned 30 himself, and most Doctors were in their 40s when they started. But the whitewash is notable and also reportedly something Moffat and Co. are sensitive to.

BuzzFeed had a nice round-up of the bookmaker's odds, always grain-of-salt-worthy, since it's most likely to be a relative unknown, but some of the names they mentioned were great. Peter Capaldi apparently is the odds-on first choice (I would love nothing more, personally), Ben Whishaw also up there. David Harewood and Idris Elba also bandied about... it's a fun game that will ultimately be resolved Sunday, and I'm psyched.

[Wynbish]

Posted: 8/2/13 at 9:17am

I love Ben. I love most of his roles, even if I didn't like the movie (Perfume, for example). However, Ben Whishaw is too private and reserved to probably ever want the role. Too much constant attention, I'd think.

Did you guys know Ben doesn't even have a private computer?

And he has said before that it would be weird for him to be Q and The Doctor. That's why my first choice for so long, Andrew Scott, wouldn't work. Too many know him too well as Moriarty.

I still think James Callis would be excellent

Ben on the wrongness of being The Doctor

[Patronus]

Posted: 8/2/13 at 9:31am

My dream choices would either be Anthony Stewart Head, Naveen Andrews of Maggie Smith, but Peter Capaldi would be a strong choice.

I can't help but think that if they are staging this Live special to announce the Doctor that it'll need to have a bit of a "wow factor". Something new like a female, a person of color or recasting a former Doctor in the role would address those issues.

It'll be fun to see how it turns out.