I'm sure that by now you've all heard the news that Matt Smith will be leaving Doctor Who around the time of the 50th anniversary special.
I wrote a slight variation of the following over in
boji's journal, and I'm sharing it here.
I gave the show up about five or six episodes after Nine's run, and went almost to the end of Ten without watching it. Insistence from friends that I give it another shot caused me to cave, so I caught up just before Eleven arrived on the scene.
I still wasn't crazy about it, and would've gladly put it down were it not the lingua franca of almost every single one of my friends. So I tolerated it for them, though I remained pretty confident that this young actor wouldn't be able to touch Christopher Eccleston.
And then, an odd thing happened: I never liked Amy (the character - I've no problem with Gillan), and I would rant regularly over the incoherence of Moffat's show direction, but Matt Smith? I stayed for him. Year after year -- his beautiful weariness kept me when nothing else about the show would've. Mister Smith, I apologize for my ageist assumptions.
I don't have a "my Doctor," but Matt Smith has demonstrated tremendous range in this role, and I'm going to truly miss him. He has moved me in otherwise mediocre episodes: The Rings of Akhaten comes to mind.
Thank you so much, Matt Smith. I've been ready to leave so many times before, and yet, I just couldn't leave without you. I look forward to seeing where your talents take you.
I wrote a slight variation of the following over in
boji's journal, and I'm sharing it here.I gave the show up about five or six episodes after Nine's run, and went almost to the end of Ten without watching it. Insistence from friends that I give it another shot caused me to cave, so I caught up just before Eleven arrived on the scene.
I still wasn't crazy about it, and would've gladly put it down were it not the lingua franca of almost every single one of my friends. So I tolerated it for them, though I remained pretty confident that this young actor wouldn't be able to touch Christopher Eccleston.
And then, an odd thing happened: I never liked Amy (the character - I've no problem with Gillan), and I would rant regularly over the incoherence of Moffat's show direction, but Matt Smith? I stayed for him. Year after year -- his beautiful weariness kept me when nothing else about the show would've. Mister Smith, I apologize for my ageist assumptions.
I don't have a "my Doctor," but Matt Smith has demonstrated tremendous range in this role, and I'm going to truly miss him. He has moved me in otherwise mediocre episodes: The Rings of Akhaten comes to mind.
Thank you so much, Matt Smith. I've been ready to leave so many times before, and yet, I just couldn't leave without you. I look forward to seeing where your talents take you.
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To be honest, I kind of wish we got another year of him and a new show runner. While I think Moffat is a fantastic writer, I think his tenure as showrunner, especially after his first year in season 5, has been a bit hit or miss. I'd love to see Smith under someone else's vision and either fleshing out Clara as a person and not as a plot device or getting some other companion on board (while Amy was a far from perfect companion, the dynamic between Amy, Rory & the Doctor was the best we've seen on the Tardis since it's relaunch) to balance things out. Moffat might be capable of doing that, but the last season has kind of left me a bit cold as to his direction (though possibly the Anniversary special might change that for me).
I wholly agree with you that I'd love to see what Smith would be like as the Doctor with someone other than Moffat at the helm.
I'm really wondering about the anniversary special at this point. I've read some things that lead me to believe we'll have far fewer former Doctors present than I imagined there would be, but then again, what I've read could be red herrings. We shall see. :)