So that’s it then. The new 11th Doctor Who is Matt Smith.
All of the speculation, all of the hype. It’s now been replaced by cries of Who? Who is Who?
So congratulations to Steven Moffat for keeping it so quiet and spinning the speculation away from Matt Smith. Everyone was wrong. Rich Johnston called it for Matt Smith earlier today via twitter. But it does mean that his daughter doesn’t get new shoes for a while because Rich put a bet on Paterson Joseph.
Matt Smith is the youngest Doctor yet at 26 and his C.V. is hardly substantial, with his biggest part so far being Party Animals and The Ruby In The Smoke (with that strange Docotr Who synchronicity of sharing the screen with Billie Piper). And there’s this interview with Smith in the London Theatre Guide. And a piece on thisislondon.co.uk with an article entitled “That Face To Watch”. Oh how right that proved to me.
But I imagine the Internet will be awash with information about him in the next few months. The backlash will probably start with cries of “he’s too young” but this happens every single time the Doctor regenerates. The only way we’ll know for sure is when the 11th Doctor takes his place sometime in 2010. (Unless some of the wilder rumours about Tennant stepping down earlier than planned due to the back problem are true.)
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:27 pm
He seemed pleasant and engaging on the telly this evening, so confidence is high. We have to presume that Moffat knows what he’s doing…
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:19 pm
That was completely out of left field. I’d put Paterson Joseph as the favorite myself, but even I and my source at the BBC, literally in the same building as the Doctor Who production office weren’t sure.
I mean credit has to go to Moffat for keeping it so hush, hush.
As you say, well done Matt Smith. Lets hope he makes it his own in much the same way as all other actors have before him.
January 3rd, 2009 at 8:07 pm
He looks like a cross between Eccleston and Tennant, with a bit of adolescent vampire chic thrown in for the Twilight tweenies. I could hear the too young yelp as soon as I read the BBC report too!
January 4th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Well who’d have thought that 2000AD editor Matt Smith would be the new Dr Who!
(It probably isn’t the first time you’ve heard that joke, and it won’t be the last time…)
January 5th, 2009 at 7:34 am
No, No, No! He’s very wrong. Too young, and frightfully ugly. I wouldn’t want to have him as the Doctor if I were still a young child. I don’t think this will work at all. Very disappointed. There have already been mistakes made – Freema, and Co, for example. I hope that Steven Moffat knows what he’s doing, because this boy looks too much like a Vampire than a Timelord. I was hoping that John Simm would return as The Master, but can’t see him tackling this Boy-Doctor in a convincing way. Sean Pertwee would have been a better choice. Come back, David!
January 5th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Oh I think that with a little BBC tweaking and a little time everyone will get used to him as Doctor. And if he’s not as gorgeous as Tennant I don’t think it matters – surely interesting face and great acting ability is what we’re all after?
And we just have to keep our fingers crossed that Moffat knows what he’s doing.
Only another year of this sort of speculation to go!
February 16th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I think he’s going to be a great doctor. I didn’t like david tennant anyway. It’s about time we got a vampire doctor. I’m still waiting for a ginger to be honest=) GO 11TH DOCTOR!
February 17th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Grrr. Unfortunately there is no underline or bold possible. He would have made a good Edward though.
March 7th, 2009 at 2:38 am
well…i’m kinda doubtful, but maybe he’ll turn out alright…
December 5th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
…He’s ugly xD I hope his acting is good! I thought that Tennant was amazing as the Doctor, so this guy has a lot to live up to.
December 29th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Why change a good thing , David,s talent speaks for its self…Everyone likes him and knows him as the Doctor, keep the talented actor were he belongs in the blue box…..Canada likes this doc , he is great talent..
December 31st, 2009 at 7:13 pm
i so prefere the old doctor
June 7th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Yikes!
This new guy is not at all what I expected. I agree with all the above David Tennant fans. He is the Sh*t.
I have been a fan since the seventies, when I was like eight years old, and have gone through this process several times. My fav from back then was Tom Baker. “All Teeth and Hair,” he used to say. That and that long coat, crazy, long scarf and penchant for jelly-babies… made him endearable. When Peter Davidson took over I really felt offended. I did some digging into previous doctors and found a wealth in the early three. All different, but with one binding aspect that made them “the Doctor.” It is beyond the desire to save worlds and right wrongs and be damnably clever. He is earnestly good at heart and hurt to his very bones about what he has experiened. Peter Davidson was given a new chance in my eyes and I watched. He developed well and I began to really like him. I was unhappy when he left, but not as scorched as I felt about Baker’s exit.
The first doctor of the new series was unexpectedly great. I was uncertain about him, but he grew on me. It was the age that seemed right. He had modern clothing and all, but he was old enough to have experienced things in his normal life (as the actor himself) that he had credence in being an “experienced” person without being aged and infirmed as the first doctor was cast. They assumed, I’m sure, that venerable age is necessary for a believeable genius of time and space. Hmmm. Eccleston did well and “felt” old enough without being old.
Tennant, similarly, was of an age where the character could be very physical without having to take a breather. The Cybermen don’t take breaks while in pursuit. Tennant was fabulous on so many other levels, as well. He looked good, sounded good, and was for all intents and purposes like he’d always been the Doctor. I must admit that he ranks right up there with Tom Baker. He made that role shine.
With the coming of this new, very different, angsty-tweenish-emo-vapyr-waif doctor I have a lot of concern. The writer’s can do a lot, but can they undo a lot? Numbers nine and ten did so much to revamp and empower the show to take a place of dominance not even realized in the original series height. Are they changing their focus group to the squalling tweens that throw money at moonlight and wish someone would bite them? Maybe I can speak for all the rest of us when I say… they can bite me!
David Tennant ROCKS!