Alex and I went to the British Museum during New Year’s Eve. Whilst geeking out around the Ancient Greek marble statues and busts (or should I say, GREEKING out?!), Alex – in what I can only assume was an unbridled moment of pure, malicious schaudenfreude – pointed out their almost uncanny resemblance to the Weeping Angels. Never before has a museum instantaneously become such a terrifying place to me. I’m a classicist, for god’s sake; that’s not supposed to happen to my kind. It’s the equivalent of a lion shitting itself in the middle of a savannah.
Speaking of Doctor Who, I want to have a bit of rant. Those of you who have not yet had a chance to see both parts of ‘The End Of Time’, SCROLL DOWN TO AVOID THE SPOILRAWRZ.
*SPOILERS BEGIN*
Last night, I watched ‘The End Of Time: Part 2′ and David Tennant’s consequent, inevitable farewell. I’m not going to lie, I got a little teary. It was the “I don’t want to go … ” that really did it for me. Like many of my Doctor Who-watching nerdy peers, I do feel attached to Tennant’s Doctor. Having only watched the revived series (though I plan to change this in the future), he was the Doctor I ‘grew up’ with. Christopher Eccleston was fantastic in his portrayal, but since he was only in the show for one series, it’s natural for people to feel more of a connection with the actor who was around for longer and made a larger impact. I felt nostalgic as he visited previous companions and watched longingly from afar. I felt a pang of sadness as he went all gold and glowy. Make no mistake, I will miss Tennant as the Doctor.
However, it does bother me that so many people seem to have instantly written off Matt Smith based solely on the fact that he isn’t David Tennant. To be more specific, I’m not referring to the people who dislike him because they dislike his acting in previous roles, or those who don’t find him attractive enough to watch (the former is a matter of personal opinion – albeit, based videos I’ve seen of him, one that I do not share – and the latter, though superficial and infuriating to me, is just unavoidable for some). I’m talking about those who say things to the effect of, ‘Matt Smith will NEVER be as good as David Tennant!’ ‘Matt Smith sucks! BRING BACK TENNANT!’ and so on, so forth.
Like I said earlier, I empathise with feeling attached to Tennant’s Doctor and not wanting him to leave. But I find it totally unfair to subsequently write Smith off straight away. ‘He’ll never be as good as David!’ – well, of course he won’t be to you if you go in with that mindset, because you’re not giving him the chance to prove himself. ‘It won’t be the same!’ – no, it won’t. And I personally think that’s a GOOD thing. People who dislike change to such an extent probably shouldn’t watch Doctor Who at all, considering one of the plot elements that has helped ensure the longevity of the show is the Doctor’s ability to regenerate. I love regeneration as a concept, as it keeps things fresh and exciting. Removing such an intrinsic element of the Doctor Who mythos for the sake of keeping on a popular actor, although making a lot of people initially happy, would ultimately be detrimental. I feel it would cause the show to stagnate.
Some dislike the way Smith acted in the half-a-minute after the regeneration. I can see how it wouldn’t be to everybody’s tastes, but I think we should be fair to him on this one; thirty seconds of screen time involving disorientation from regeneration and a free-falling TARDIS is hardly ample opportunity for one to really show and flex one’s acting muscles. As previously stated, I haven’t yet watched the original series so I cannot comment on those, but in the revival it seems to be that the Doctor is always a little ‘wacky’ immediately after his regeneration. As I recall, I wasn’t especially blown away by Tennant’s first moments on screen, and boy howdy, did my perception quickly change.
On a related note, quite a few people seem to have conveniently forgotten how Tennant initially suffered the exact same treatment when he replaced Eccleston as the Doctor, and look what happened there. Is it so hard to believe that Smith could achieve the same?
*SPOILERS END*
I have confidence that Matt Smith will make an excellent Doctor. I have faith in Steven Moffat’s abilities: lest we forget, this was the man who gave us Blink, Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead, Girl In The Fireplace and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (I realise that writing a few episodes is an entirely different ball game to producing an entire series, but I’m just as excited to see how he handles this. Based on the cited episodes, I don’t think I’ll be disappointed). He’s proven himself to be very competent at what he does, and I’d be surprised if he was to cast someone who he felt was unable to fill shoes as big as Tennant’s. There’s always a chance that the team behind the show have got it completely wrong and Series 5 will go down in history as a monumental fuck-up, but given how fantastic the team have been so far (and, let’s face it, how big of a cash cow the series is for the BBC right now), that chance seems pretty damn slim.
To summarise: yes, the show will be different. Yes, we will have a shiny new Doctor who says ‘Geronimo!’ instead of ‘Allon-sy!’ Yes, I would like it if the naysayers could please open their minds to the possibility of the show being great without Tennant there. Yes, I could end up being completely wrong about all of this – but optimism has always been my default. I’ll graciously admit defeat, or something.
Hope your New Year celebrations were fun. <33
