To the unknown.
It's only been a couple of hours since Matt Smith was announced as the Eleventh Doctor so I'm rather unfashionably late, but I feel I must weigh in, as Doctor Who is Very Important.
I feel kind of ashamed that my first reaction was "I HAVE NO IDEA WHO HE IS". So the next few minutes were filled with frantic IMDB-ing (without much success, because there are a lot of people called Matt Smith) and discussing with parents, who bizarrely did know who he was. Once that was over I immediately thought that he looked perfect for the role and I still do. I know some people are complaining about another young, white Doctor and I can see their point. But at the same time I very much respect Steven Moffat and his lovely ideas of What the Doctor Is Supposed To Be. And I mean, The Moff is the man who's been advocating a much older actor for the Doctor for years (despite Davison being his favourite), so to ditch that for a 26 year-old must mean a great deal.
So. Yes. Seeing him talk on Doctor Who Confidential very much sold me. He seems intelligent and enthusiastic and he looks slightly strange (some people are calling him pretty - I'm not so sure at all, I think he looks pleasantly weird in an eye-catching sort of way) and "Doctorish". You know, that indefinable quality. I really can't wait to see what he does with the part. My only fear now is that he turns out to be a Tennant clone. I'd like Eleven to be as different as possible - less hyper, more thoughtful, eccentric in a different kind of way. Perhaps slightly Victorian and gothy? Something that's a total contrast to Tennant's converse and pinstripes.
And now the Doctor can legitimately call himself Smith! Isn't that cool or what?
Meanwhile, on Planet ITV...
This was a bit weird. It's sort of got a lot going for it actually, in that what it's got going for it is mainly nicked from Buffy, Smallville and Supernatural. But there's some cool stuff there: Zoe Tapper, a nifty urban fantasy feel, Zoe Tapper, some good if unoriginal ideas including lots of riffing on Dracula, Zoe Tapper and a humorously left-field title sequence. But it's got a spectacular case of the first episode jitters, so there's lots of exposition and some things that don't work including a very clunky script. Although after some thinking, Mackenzie Crook's Russell Brand/The Hitcher from The Mighty Boosh-hybrid bounty hunter demon definitely did work. As does what we've seen of the titular demons themselves, because they have a sort of British eccentricity to them. Hoodie hyena demons!
And did I mention Zoe Tapper is in it and that I have a massive crush on her?
But then there's Philip Glenister with an American accent (no, I'm not sure why either) saying lots of stuff about "smiting". And Christian Cooke as the Young Male Lead is just so pretty his face is incapable of changing expression or indeed producing emotion of any kind. There are some weirdly out of place sound effects and improbable bits like Young Male Lead being topless a lot. But there's also Zoe Tapper, and Richard Wilson is turning up next week along with something about demons pretending to be angels, so I'll be tentatively tuning in again. It wasn't anywhere near as good as I hoped it would be, but it wasn't totally terrible either, and I think there's a lot of potential there once it forges an identity of its own.
I feel kind of ashamed that my first reaction was "I HAVE NO IDEA WHO HE IS". So the next few minutes were filled with frantic IMDB-ing (without much success, because there are a lot of people called Matt Smith) and discussing with parents, who bizarrely did know who he was. Once that was over I immediately thought that he looked perfect for the role and I still do. I know some people are complaining about another young, white Doctor and I can see their point. But at the same time I very much respect Steven Moffat and his lovely ideas of What the Doctor Is Supposed To Be. And I mean, The Moff is the man who's been advocating a much older actor for the Doctor for years (despite Davison being his favourite), so to ditch that for a 26 year-old must mean a great deal.
So. Yes. Seeing him talk on Doctor Who Confidential very much sold me. He seems intelligent and enthusiastic and he looks slightly strange (some people are calling him pretty - I'm not so sure at all, I think he looks pleasantly weird in an eye-catching sort of way) and "Doctorish". You know, that indefinable quality. I really can't wait to see what he does with the part. My only fear now is that he turns out to be a Tennant clone. I'd like Eleven to be as different as possible - less hyper, more thoughtful, eccentric in a different kind of way. Perhaps slightly Victorian and gothy? Something that's a total contrast to Tennant's converse and pinstripes.
And now the Doctor can legitimately call himself Smith! Isn't that cool or what?
Meanwhile, on Planet ITV...
This was a bit weird. It's sort of got a lot going for it actually, in that what it's got going for it is mainly nicked from Buffy, Smallville and Supernatural. But there's some cool stuff there: Zoe Tapper, a nifty urban fantasy feel, Zoe Tapper, some good if unoriginal ideas including lots of riffing on Dracula, Zoe Tapper and a humorously left-field title sequence. But it's got a spectacular case of the first episode jitters, so there's lots of exposition and some things that don't work including a very clunky script. Although after some thinking, Mackenzie Crook's Russell Brand/The Hitcher from The Mighty Boosh-hybrid bounty hunter demon definitely did work. As does what we've seen of the titular demons themselves, because they have a sort of British eccentricity to them. Hoodie hyena demons!
And did I mention Zoe Tapper is in it and that I have a massive crush on her?
But then there's Philip Glenister with an American accent (no, I'm not sure why either) saying lots of stuff about "smiting". And Christian Cooke as the Young Male Lead is just so pretty his face is incapable of changing expression or indeed producing emotion of any kind. There are some weirdly out of place sound effects and improbable bits like Young Male Lead being topless a lot. But there's also Zoe Tapper, and Richard Wilson is turning up next week along with something about demons pretending to be angels, so I'll be tentatively tuning in again. It wasn't anywhere near as good as I hoped it would be, but it wasn't totally terrible either, and I think there's a lot of potential there once it forges an identity of its own.