Matt Smith Is Leaving Doctor Who
The BBC is in the market for a new Doctor. After a few years as the eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who. The news was revealed on the network's Doctor Who blog.
Smith's final turns as the famed traveler of space and time will happen in the 50th anniversary special that's scheduled for November and in this year's Christmas special, after which the Doctor will be regenerated by some new lucky chap.
"Doctor Who has been the most brilliant experience for me as an actor and a bloke, and that largely is down to the cast, crew, and fans of the show," Smith said in a statement. "I'm incredibly grateful to all the cast and crew who work tirelessly every day, to realise all the elements of the show and deliver Doctor Who to the audience. Many of them have become good friends and I'm incredibly proud of what we have achieved over the last four years."
And please, none of those "The Doctor is OUT!" jokes!
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Since there is a lot of talk about it on the internet I also doubt that they would simply ignore the issue on the show. With the soon-to-be-12th-Doctor being the 13th and thus final regeneration (counting this John Hurt character who obviously was an incarnation but not "The Doctor") there would be an interesting storyline for the 12th. It would also raise the stakes until the issue is resolved. If the Doctor can't regenerate anything that kills him kills him. Game Over.
So my guess is 12 is going to remind us from time to time that he is out of regenerations but if Moffat stays at the helm this will only be resolved in the very last episode of 12. ;-)
Similar to when the 10th Doctor re-grew his hand because his regeneration energy was still working. Apparently they can use their energy during that time to re-grow limbs or just pass it on to save a life. It doesn't mean her regenerations were limitless, nor does it mean they weren't.
and yeah what you said
To make sure the adventures played out as we remember them from the show.
Like he might have done something to make the Doctor take a different TARDIS and Clara undid that. Or nudged him to make some wrong choices with The Dalek Asylum, with Clara helping un-do that by opening doors and such.
Of course, the paradox leaves it as a chicken-and-the-egg thing. Since cause -> effect -> cause, was he successful all of these centuries because of her? Or did she just help prevent someone from screwing him up?
Don't get me wrong: I like all 3 for their own reasons. But I enjoyed him the most.
But I don't think replacing the entire cast at once is a good way to go. The Eleventh Hour kind of rebooted the whole thing but it felt VERY disconnected from the previous stories. Then again it also provides a fresh start for new viewers. We'll see how it turns out, but the fall of the Eleventh better be connected to Trenzalore.
But... IF they knew Matt was leaving soon then it might have been worth sticking around just for that. It would make the season finale all-the-more epic if all 3 went out at the same time.
maybe it was a sudden decision?
I wouldn't mind a slightly older Doctor than Smith for the next series, Eccleston was a greatly inderused Doctor for the physical sequences but clearly he could have handled it. So having a Doctor who was older, or slightly older than that wouldn't be a reach. A Doctor in his 60s, other than Patrick Stewart, would be too much though I think.
Chris Barrie as a truly intellectual Doctor would be amazing!
Until the trend says cool means young and sexy (esp. in the US), they need a young actor.
Clearly, it's time to bring back Tom Baker, a brilliant Doctor who won't leave me after just 3 seasons.
As for the 12th Doctor, I'd kind of prefer it be a younger Doctor (at least in his 20's or 30's) if for no other reason than it just looks weird for a girl Clara's age and a Doctor looking 40+ to be a "not quite couple." (a shame too, she and 11th were pretty cute together).
I'm not really feeling this Rory Kinnear fellow they've rumored to be in the lineup for the new Doctor. If age wasn't a factor, my personal choices would be Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, Michael Shanks (probably the only American I could see playing the part), Benedict Cumberbatch (although we'd probably never get another season of Sherlock if this happened), Robert Carlyle, or Patrick Stewart (Just give me one season with him as the Doctor, I'd love more than that, but I just want to see him play the Doctor at least once).
Now if i recall correctly, which i may not since i am no expert of the original series' of Doctor Who, but didn't the Timelord council or whoever have the ability to give more incarnations? If so the only way i see the series continuing is if the Doctor somehow discovers how to add more incarnations, however the only problem i see with this is that it would give the writers too much power to just replace a Doctor whenever they want, since they would no longer have that limit in place.
Oh well, it always hurts but it's always awesome too. Roll on the next awesome doctor!
I believe he's also been settled in here in the US and may be a little too Americanized. Maybe not, not sure, but he does seem to have, or developed, an acting style that could be a little too broad or over the top for the Doctor. Then again, he could be perfect, if given a chance. I would really like to see the producers give him a shot, if he were interested, and if they have not already someone else to take over the role.
I just hope the Doctor doesn't get any younger than Smith - at the rate the BBC are going he's going to need a sonic dummy soon rather than a screwdriver.
In his mid 40's, he may be too old as well, but not sure if the British care as much about that as we do, as Eccleston is just a bit older than Valentine.
While I like Matt Smiths version I do hope that the next one will be somewhat less ADHD.
Also, since Billie Piper (Rose) started with Eccleston (and is it me, or did she sound funny when she returned from the alternate dimension to help save the world? It sounded like she had marbles or too many teeth in her mouth), and was with Tennant for awhile, they continued to talk about her. But Smith (and don't get me wrong, I loved Amy AND Rory) never once made a single reference to her, or for that matter, to any of the previous companions that I recall. Being oh so bad at time change, along with math of any kind, I could never quite figure out exactly what River knows in contrast to The Doctor. But she DID
meet Donna, and yet not a single reference from her either. I think that has alot to do with how some of us who loved the first 2 "new" Doctors feel about Matt Smith's version.
Smith: Yeah, ok.
Snith has been one of my favorite Doctors and it's sad to see him go. He had the youthful look but the older type of personality to him which really worked well. I actually was hoping he would be the one to challenge Tom Baker's run as an on screen Doctor (Mcgann had about 10 years if you count the audio adventures and novels), Smith's tenure has given some really great episodes to go on though.
I am assuming that Clara will be sticking around and travel with the new Doctor for a while after the regeneration. She's probably the first companion I can think of other than Romana who doesn't need an explaination of how it works either since she has been in his timeline. Though this seems like the shortest time an official companion (not counting Jack) has spent with a particular incarnation of The Doctor. Even if you count her timeline splinters in Asylum of the Daleks and The Snowmen, the 50th anniversary, and the Christmas special, Clara will have only spent about 12 episodes with Smith's Doctor.
As for the regeneration limit, I am sure there is a way around it. River Song used her regeneration energy to revive The Doctor in Let's Kill Hitler so maybe that gave The Doctor more lives allowing him to surpass the 12 regeneration limit.
Plus, there is no telling what happened during the Time War. We saw that the Time Lords resurrected the Master and granted him regenerations, maybe they granted further regenerations to the other timelords fighting in the war including the Doctor who was likely one of their greatest warriors. Also, who knows what effect "The Moment" the thing the Doctor used to timelock the war and destroy Gallifrey, had on him.
There's been so many different explainations for regeneration over the years that it is hard to tell which one is in force now.
There was the theory Vastra put forth that it was because of timelords being exposed to the vortex over millions of years meaning that a timelord could possibly have infinite regenerations without intervention.
Some say that Rassilon put the limit in when he founded the timelords because each successive regeneration after 12 brought an increased risk of mental and physical instability. Given how desperate he was during the war it is likely that he removed the limit.
However, we know that there is a limit regardless of timelord intervention. River wasted all of her remaining lives to revive the Doctor so there has to be some sort of built in max, whether that max is 12 or not is the question.
Moffat stories in the RTD era: Amazing
Moffat stories in the Moffat era: Wheel of chance
River had, what, 10 regenerations left? Can't recall if that was stated or just assumed. Even that is enough to kick the can down the road a bit.
And whats wrong with an older actress?
In terms of his replacement, Steven Moffat is hinting that there are again looking for a new face for the next Doctor. However, I think it's about time that in choosing the next actor to play the Doctor they have to look at the future of the show. I think the series needs to evolve into the next stage which is being able to move into the big screen every 2-3 years. Not just the big screen but a big budget summer movie of epic proportions. I don't think they can do that in 2015 if they get a relative unknown since it will take them another 4 years to get there.
Given this, I would consider Daniel Radcliff for the next Doctor.This would be in keeping with the idea of having a young-looking Doctor but easily having the potential of going to the big screen as early as 2015. At the very least they should consider Rupert Grint also of Harry Potter fame and Ben Whishaw, the new Q of James Bond.