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This new Doctor makes my blood boil
Monday 5th January 2009, 8:10AM GMT.
It was the decision no-one could possibly have predicted – a 26-year-old almost unknown actor to take on the title role in Doctor Who, writes Dan Wainwright.
What on Gallifrey was Steven Moffat thinking? Somewhere a distant cloister bell is ringing, warning of a cataclysm not felt since Tom Baker fell off a radio telescope and turned into Peter Davison.
There are so many reasons to hate Matt Smith, who will take over from David Tennant at the end of the year. And like the spiteful, angry geek I am I shall list them.
The first is that haircut. When the legendary Tom Baker played the Doctor in the 1970s he had a mad hairstyle, an absurd number of curls, but it looked like the wild do of a true eccentric. Smith’s looks like a whole team of stylists would need a room to themselves somewhere in the TARDIS.
Next is his odd face. True, the Doctor has always had an odd look about him. Sometimes he has been handsome in a quirky way and Smith is, admittedly, those things. But he almost looks like someone has taken Gordon Ramsay, bleached his skin and held a steam iron to all his wrinkles before flattening him out with a rolling pin covered in flour.
Thirdly he has landed the dream job of pretty much every sci-fi nerd under the age of 50 at a time when scores of people are losing their employment in the face of inevitable recession.
Finally, and most importantly, he is a year younger than me. How dare he? It is completely unfair to do this to me. I can’t watch my favourite TV program in the same way anymore. The lead characters in my favourite shows have always been older than me, giving me some childish comfort that I still have all that saving the universe ahead of me. I came to terms years ago with being older than the cast of Hollyoaks, mainly because I can’t stand the sight of Hollyoaks and threaten to throw a shoe through the TV screen if the remote is not immediately found whenever it’s on.
I can live with the knowledge that some of my favourite bands are fronted by people who were still in school last week – The Enemy, The Hoosiers and so on. But The Doctor? That’s just tragic. When the announcement was made on Saturday I felt all 904 years of the Doctor’s life come flowing through me, burning me up inside and destroying every single cell the same as when Christopher Eccleston had to absorb the time vortex out of Billie Piper and was forced to regenerate.
It would be easy to point accusing fingers at new chief writer Steven Moffat, slating him for toeing the line and casting someone who will be a safe bet for keeping young fans and swooning girls watching and buying the merchandise rather than taking the series in a bold new direction that would keep it fresh for years to come.
Grudgingly though I have to accept Smith’s appointment. He was brilliant in Ruby In The Smoke and Party Animals. He is not yet a household name which means he will hopefully stay a few years, something we need as we are now on the 11th of only 13 Doctors.
Now I have been forced to stare into the Eye of Harmony and realise that I am evidently too old to save the universe and I shall never play the Doc. I know in my heart of hearts (and no I’m not claiming to have two) that the Beeb were never going to come calling, but at least there was the fantasy.
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IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A WOMAN — possibly me
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:0 how dare you say bad things about Matt Smith,
dude i don’t know whether to love or hate you.
seeing as you like the hoosiers (the best band ever :p ) and the hoosiers are 26 and 28 so they aren’t that young as there are a lot of bands which are much younger than them.
but matt smith you cant judge him because of his looks he can’t help it, infact i think he is rather goood looking.
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i completly agree with you! david tennat great doctor. matt smith is just a wannabe :@
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For crying out loud boy, make your mind up! On the one hand, you say Matt Smith has an “odd face” and a hairstyle worthy of your criticism but on the other you say Moffat has hired him to keep “swooning girls happy”!!!! Either he is weird looking or a heart throb…
And, as he is a relative unknown, I’d hardly say Moffat was toeing the line and picking a safe bet. People are forgetting that, to the majority of Who fans like myself who didn’t watch Casanova, David Tennant was a relative unknown when he was cast. And he didn’t do too badly in the end did he?
Moffat is by far the best writer of new Who so I trust him. And let’s give Matt Smith a chance before sticking the knife in…
PS: If The Enemy and Hoosiers are among your favourite bands, then you sir need help…!!!
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Matt Smith was outstanding in Ruby in the Smoke as well as the quirky drama Party Animals on BBC2. He can be moulded accordingly by the great writers….a similar thing happened to a certain Mr Tennant. I think he will be superb in the role and a worthy successor to the great David Tennant who as Michael so rightly points out was an unknown himself!
In order for it to work it needs to be someone who is not typecast by previous star roles…I for one can’t wait for the transition in 2010!
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Oh give him a chance you nerd! oh and for your info, the doctor is 903, not 904 :P
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I beg to differ sir. He was 903 in the 2007 Christmas special and now that it’s 2009 we can presume he is at least 904. Of course he doesn’t exactly live his life like us mortals – “timey wimey, wibbly wobbly” so to speak.
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i dont like him david tennant should be carryin on because he looks to young and i dnt think hed do a very gurd job
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Wednesbury Wolf: I hardly think that David Tennant was unknown before he played Doctor Who. Where have you been?
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Not a Motorhead Fan: DT was not a household name to many. I know a lot of Who fans like me who hadn’t heard of him. His face was vaguely familiar but apart from that – not a clue!
I had never heard of Matt Smith either but others who have seen him in TV or at the theatre (where he is apparently highly rated) seem to think he is good enough.
My point is he deserves a chance like DT got from those of us who weren’t aware of his talents atthe time. Let’s reserve judgement after we’ve seen him in a few episodes, eh?
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JENNY first things first the new doctor will never be you or a girl so :P
and secondly i love him so!!!
plus his hair is great
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no he is 904
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oh yea and if david tennant leaves the new guy will be the last doctor so the new guy cant leave or doctor who is finished…
mind you it has been on tv for ages and ages!!!
i wish things never came to an end.:(
x X x
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Not a Motorhead Fan I hardly call the casanova series a pedastal to being a household name….please enlighten me with his other appearances that warranted his ‘household name’ status? admittedly he is worthy now due to the success of his stint in Doctor Who and i think he will go onto other great things.
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Michael – I quite agree with you as to giving MS a chance. I am a huge DT fan but hope that Matt goes on to keep Doctor Who No.1
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Wednesbury Wolf – the list is too long and quite honestly, if you didn’t know him before Doctor Who, you can hardly be a fan.
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Hannah: Matt Smith would be the 11th Doctor so he would have two more regenerations left, I believe so he wouldn’t be the last. Anyway, this is science fiction so when the time comes, they’ll “fix it”. After all, his old hand in the jar saved him from regenerating at the end of the last series.
As for whether DT was famous before Who, I suppose we should just be grateful that he took on the role and hope Matt Smith does as great a job!!!!
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You can see this Doctor but not a real one–Get my drift–Never heard of him and in any case “I am the real DOCTOR–I WEAR THE SCARFE and make food va————– nnish–Crazey Dave
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How sad you all are – It’s a Telly Programme
Not real Life – There are more Importnat things to
be concerned about – Grow UP !!!!
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Dan – the fact that you have even taken the time to have written this article is beyond me.
review him AFTER you have seen his work in Dr Who. then if he’s rubbish, fair enough, your opinion is then founded. but don’t judge his appearance before you’ve seen his work. if we judged peoples appearance instead of their acting merit, we wouldn’t have half of the actors we have today.
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Roger – how sad YOU are for lowering yourself to writing on this blog if you feel like that.
Peter – I couldn’t agree more – give the chap a chance and then judge his acting (and not him personally).
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Not being a Dr Who fan, it scared me when I was a child and now I can’t bear to watch it, however, leave this new fella alone, how can you diss him if you have not even seen him in it yet, give him a chance!!!
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Give the guy a break. I for one think he’s great. He has a unique look and is a good actor from what I’ve seen. Let’s see him in action before we critise eh?
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Got to love the irony of Roger calling us sad to be on here writing about Dr Who and then writing about it homself…
And Peter, I agree (as I’ve written already) that Matt deserves a chance before he is judged. But I think all our reactions have justified Mr Wainwright’s decision to write this blog. He has got a reaction – probably bigger than on any of his other blogs. So job done!
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