Doctor Who Christmas Casting Spoiler
Jun. 3rd, 2013 02:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rabid1stYes, it is the one everyone but me has talked about already. But, since it is a spoiler, behind a cut we go...
I had definite mixed feelings about the news that Matt Smith is leaving at Christmas. While I have been very hard on Matt over the past few years, I don't lay the show's issues at his feet. I am not completely convinced that he is the actor others claim him to be, but I am more convinced now than at any other time in his tenure. And while I am more than ready to see Eleven go, that alone doesn't do much for me. If Moff stays on as showrunner, the show will continue to suck. Moff is the real issue at the core of what is wrong with Doctor Who these days. And heaven knows where his ego will lead us next. Will he make River the next Doctor? Who knows? I could just about tolerate Jenna, if he went that way. But, they always talk about female Doctors at regeneration and about regenerations not working. I would hope that the BBC is able to put the brakes on Moff carrying through on anything too radical. But I doubt they will be able to stop him giving us another child-figure Doctor to act on his behalf. Few head writers have been so insistant on using their characters as mouthpieces to vent their own psychological baggage as Moff has done during his run on Doctor Who.
If the rumors of his dictatorial behavior are true, I do sympathize with the BBC and feel that the best move they could make is simply sending the show on extended hiatus, until Moff can be shifted. I don't really believe he has given the show superior ratings. They now rate the show with the concurrent broadcast online and on BBC America. This gives them exaggerated numbers. And I feel the international appeal of the show was really down to David Tennant's run...where they clocked the highest rating figures to date. David had an international appeal...evident in how excited everyone is about his returning appearance in the Anniversary Special. You can bet those numbers will go up. My worry is that Moff will write something so self-serving and obscure that he will put the final nail in the show's international appeal. People will, in other words, get worked up for something special and be cast down to depression by the tripe they are asked to swallow. And the word will spread that Doctor Who is a waste of time...played out...pretty much over for now. Of course, as I said, that could give the BBC an easy way to shift Moff and still keep him working on Sherlock.
I had definite mixed feelings about the news that Matt Smith is leaving at Christmas. While I have been very hard on Matt over the past few years, I don't lay the show's issues at his feet. I am not completely convinced that he is the actor others claim him to be, but I am more convinced now than at any other time in his tenure. And while I am more than ready to see Eleven go, that alone doesn't do much for me. If Moff stays on as showrunner, the show will continue to suck. Moff is the real issue at the core of what is wrong with Doctor Who these days. And heaven knows where his ego will lead us next. Will he make River the next Doctor? Who knows? I could just about tolerate Jenna, if he went that way. But, they always talk about female Doctors at regeneration and about regenerations not working. I would hope that the BBC is able to put the brakes on Moff carrying through on anything too radical. But I doubt they will be able to stop him giving us another child-figure Doctor to act on his behalf. Few head writers have been so insistant on using their characters as mouthpieces to vent their own psychological baggage as Moff has done during his run on Doctor Who.
If the rumors of his dictatorial behavior are true, I do sympathize with the BBC and feel that the best move they could make is simply sending the show on extended hiatus, until Moff can be shifted. I don't really believe he has given the show superior ratings. They now rate the show with the concurrent broadcast online and on BBC America. This gives them exaggerated numbers. And I feel the international appeal of the show was really down to David Tennant's run...where they clocked the highest rating figures to date. David had an international appeal...evident in how excited everyone is about his returning appearance in the Anniversary Special. You can bet those numbers will go up. My worry is that Moff will write something so self-serving and obscure that he will put the final nail in the show's international appeal. People will, in other words, get worked up for something special and be cast down to depression by the tripe they are asked to swallow. And the word will spread that Doctor Who is a waste of time...played out...pretty much over for now. Of course, as I said, that could give the BBC an easy way to shift Moff and still keep him working on Sherlock.
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Date: 2013-06-08 01:38 am (UTC)Anyway, as we have both noted, Matt is not the issue. Even if, like me, you don't credit Matt with great acting ability, he's still been quite a trooper with the tripe, as you mention. So, I feel no sense of relief about this news, only dread about what Moff is going to do next to my beloved Doctor.
Rae
(no subject)
Date: 2013-06-08 02:20 am (UTC)Anyway, If I remember correctly, they offered DT the job when they were only about half way through filming on season 1, so I doubt very much they've gotten as close as they are now to the start of filming the Christmas ep without having already cast Matt's replacement.
Even Moffat isn't that stupid that he'd chance leaving himself without a leading man (or having to settle at the last minute) when he knows he needs him for those final scenes. Like you I'm sure they've known for far longer than anyone is admitting that Matt wasn't staying beyond the end of the year.
I've only seen Matt in a couple of things outside DW, and I'm not that impressed with him in general really, I certainly don't think he's the "awesome" actor some seem to think he is, but I was starting to warm to him as Eleven, finally.
I dunno, I'm still more worried about what crap Moff's going to pull with the 50th to get too worked up about Christmas I think