Steven Moffat/Matt Smith Doctor Who

[Nexus6]

I could have sworn there was a Doctor Who thread here, but I'll be damned if I can find it.

Anyway, for the longest time I was not thrilled with where new head writer Steven Moffat was taking the show. In fact I never thought I would say that I miss the old head writer Russell T. Davies. I'm happy to say though that either the show's writing has gotten better, or I'm starting to warm up to it, or both. Just watched two Matt Smith episodes from Netflix, 'Night Terrors' and 'The Girl Who Waited', and much to my surprise found myself liking them both a lot. They were maybe a bit emotional and sentimental, but definitely in a good way. Night Terrors left me with a nice warm feeling, and I was truly bummed at the end of Girl Who Waited. I'm still not crazy about the Harry Potter feel of the Matt Smith series, what with the manic pace and overblown Murray Gold soundtrack, but I've gotten to the point where I'm willing to overlook this for the show's strong points. I imagine though that just when I start to really, really like Matt Smith and company, BBC Wales will replace him with someone else.

 

[Vinnie]

Matt Smith is not bad but his supporting cast are very, very good. They make his presence tolerable but in fairness David Tennant is an extremely good actor so he had big shoes to fill.

 

[Nexus6]

Matt Smith is not bad but his supporting cast are very, very good. They make his presence tolerable but in fairness David Tennant is an extremely good actor so he had big shoes to fill.

Right you are Vinnie. David Tennant was definitely a tough act to follow, in many ways just as hard as when Peter Davison replaced the omnipotent Tom Baker back in the day. Concerning the supporting cast, I still find Alex Kingston a bit obnoxious, though I would say that I hated Rory at first but he's since grown on me. Concerning Karen Gillan, apart from the nice eye candy, I think 'Girl Who Waited' was the first story where I found myself really liking her.

On a related note concerning Who, I loved Carey Mulligan in Blink; her and Lucy Gaskell pretty much carried the story. I've seen Carey in several things since then, however, and although it's nice to see her moving up in the world, to my eye she's lost her good looks and has been a bit overrated by the film critics. I also thought it interesting though how in an interview, Matt Smith made the rather cynical comment: "Yes, yes, everybody loves Blink."

 

[Chris Netherton]

That's a bit of miserable comment, unless he was joking of course.
I guess everyone loves it, because it was a great episode and introduced the only truly memorable villains since they rebooted the series (as far as I can recall).

If you're hankering after David Tennant then apparently he's back for the 50th anniversary later in the year.

 

[Vinnie]

Watched the first episode of the new series with the Kiss-Cass ( aged 10) last week. Not bad but hardly early shattering. It did explain part of how his new companion came to be so bright.

 

[Chris Netherton]

Yeah, I agree. It was alright, but nothing to get too excited about.

 

[trevpr1]

 

[Nexus6]

Great shot Trev, thanks for posting. Just finished the second Matt Smith season, and although overall I liked it more than I didn't, I still couldn't see fit to rate it more than three stars (of five) on Netflix. I think Girl Who Waited was the best episode from Season Two. Anyway, if I had to put my finger on a single thing that's keeping me from liking the Matt Smith series more, it's probably the overall manic Harry Potter-ish feel of it. Also, just when you think they're writing out the dreadful Alex Kingston for good, guess what? She's baaack!

Speaking of weeping angels, the part of military leader Octavian was played by none other than Iain Glen, who also plays Ser Jora Mormont, one of my fav Game of Thrones characters.

BTW, recently watched the Colin Baker episode from the 80's called the Two Doctors and loved it. The andrigum Shockeye and Patrick Troughton going in to town to eat dressed like a couple of bums was priceless. I also loved the statuesque Chesenne, she was sexy in a dark, older woman sort of way.