Saturday, April 10, 2010

Matt Smith: The Eleventh Doctor

BEDA: April 10, 2010

I told myself I wasn't going to talk about the new series of Doctor Who until I watched a few more episodes but since I'm halfway through episode 2 while typing this, I figure now is as good a time as any.

Matt Smith is The Doctor.

I don't mean that as a painfully obvious statement of fact; I mean it as he actually carries the role quite well. I mean, he's no David Tennant, but I digress.

There are a lot of pros and cons with any regeneration of The Doctor. People are going to love it, hate it, or judge the actor before they even give him a fair watch. I have no idea how the series will continue to progress but I will say that I'm starting to notice some heavy similarities and differences with the Matt Smith version than, say, the David Tennant version.

The Eleventh Doctor acts much more brash than his previous incarnations and he's not afraid to show a bit of an eccentric side, not hiding the fact that he has a very alien way about him. He seems to let emotions get the better of him sometimes, getting annoyed when things don't go as planned, which happens rather a lot. The Eleventh Doctor doesn't seem to ever have a master plan and it's more of a minute by minute, figuring it out as he goes, kind of solution. In a preview clip, it even shows Smith's Doctor firing a gun; something that Tennant's Doctor was adamantly against (usually. I mean, there was that tiny situation in his last episode...)

Apart from his overall youthful nature, the Eleventh Doctor seems to have a firm grasp on social media, citing Twitter and Facebook. He has an eidetic memory (I learned of that ability on The Big Bang Theory) and is able to scan a mental image for clues.

There are also many similarities he holds with previous incarnations including the fact that he can taste something to be able to tell the age. He also sometimes arrives incredibly late, mistakingly piloting the TARDIS years from where he intended. But most importantly, like his preprocessors, he has incredible leadership skills.

Matt Smith, you are The Doctor.

2 comments:

  1. There is only ONE thing that I don't get about this Doctor, and that is the whole scene in The Eleventh Hour where the perspectives of people are changing, and eventually it turns to the nurse with the cell phone. It's like he goes crazy for a couple of minutes (smacking himself in the head?) and he's seeing through other people's vision?

    Other than that, this doctor is AMAZING. He's everything that The Doctor should be. He's wild, yet careful. Angry, yet calm. Harsh, yet caring, and all at the same time. He never stops thinking about the greater good of things. It's what comes with the centuries of exposure to universal problems that hardens him, the choices of life & death in his hands.

    But that's also why he needs a companion. He goes off, and he cares so much, but sometimes he thinks too hard. Yes, this technological knowledge gets him extremely far, but as we see, especially with Donna after absorbing the Time Lord DNA and Amy with the Star Whale, it's the human intuition and heart above all that is able to save the day.

    Wow, I got really off topic :P

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  2. Ok, so let me preface this by saying that I was so upset when David Tennant left Doctor Who...I actually cried about it. But then again, David was my first Doctor, and we all know that you can never forget your first Doctor. Being 1000% sincere, Doctor Who changed my life in so many ways.

    But that's all besides the point. The point is going into this I felt very iffy, and knew that Matt Smith had some very LARGE shoes to fill. So when I finally sat down to watch the first episode, I made sure I was alone, hidden, and in a place where I could yell obscenities at the screen should the need arise...and it didn't.

    Let me start with the bad...because this list is surprisingly short.
    1. New Intro/Logo...The music will take quite some time to grow on me, but the new logo? No thanks. I want the other one back...but that's just personal preference.
    /end list.

    Now I'm not going to say that that was the only thing that irked me the first time I watched the show, but it was the only thing that irked me the second time through. At first the new TARDIS and the new screwdriver bugged me, since it was like they were erasing all of David out of the show, but then on second viewing, I realized that it was indeed time to let go.

    The three people whom I've always held responsible for how good or bad the episode will be has always been: the doctor, the companion, and the writer.

    Lets start with Karen Gillian (aka Amy Pond)...I love her. Absolutely adore her. To me she is a younger, more brash version of Donna, and Donna is my favorite companion thus far. Amy and Donna both remind me a lot of myself, and I found the character easily connect-able and entertaining. After the second episode I realized that she has her wits about her...from time to time, and is everything the new Doctor needs in a companion.

    Next: Moffat. Moffat, plain and simple, is a genius. I've always loved his episodes more than others, and the way the gears turn in his brain...I can't wait to see where the show is going to go. This makes me excited and happy.

    Finally, Matt Smith.
    Congratulations, you are finally the Doctor...Good luck and don't mess this up.
    I felt that he portrayed his confusion, his loneliness, his loss, of losing the Master, the one chance to bring back Gallifrey, the painful memories of the truth behind the Time Lords, everything, all the varied emotions that are flowing through head, with a certain finesse. I did especially like him at the end of the first episode when talking with the Atraxi. It was like watching him remember, and decide, what kind of Doctor he wanted to be. Very well done.
    So to Matt Smith...Congrats, and you deserve it the role.

    Right so now that this itself is it's own little blog, I should end it...by saying that I can't WAIT for Saturday's episode.
    p.s. we should be friends.

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