matt smith

I just finished watching the newest episode of Doctor Who for the second time, with a third viewing coming soon. The episode, named "The Eleventh Hour," introduces Steven Moffat as head writer for the series and Matt Smith as the new Doctor - the 11th thus far.

The episode was beyond expectation. My greatest fear towards this major change in the series has been that its creators would try to carry on the patterns of the previous seasons, and that Matt Smith would try to be David Tennant. And hey, guess what? They didn't do that! Everything from the past 4 seasons was wrapped up in a neat little package in the last David Tennant episode, and it stayed as such. The history of the show is not forgotten, of course, as references are made to past events (quite epicly, in fact). But Matt Smith doesn't let that history overtly affect his performance, as he's really established his own new personality that fits Steven Moffat's writing style so very well. The quirk is there, but without that brooding sense of "WAR CHANGED ME," leaving just this really goofy hero whose excitement carries over to the audience quite wonderfully.

Steven Moffat has opened his tenure with a bang, introducing less of what's to come than his predecessor might have, but still giving us a great insight into this new world of Doctor Who. Some of the last 4 seasons' most memorable episodes were written by Moffat, from Captain Jack Harkness' debut in "The Doctor Dances," and "The Empty Child," to "Blink," where creepy statues did terrible things. "The Eleventh Hour," shows comparable quality as it introduces a myriad of new characters - notably Amy Pond, the new companion. So far, she's not annoying at all!

If you've been on the fence about a David Tennant-less Doctor Who, at least give it a shot.

On January 2, the final part of David Tennant and Russell T Davies' last episodes of Doctor Who aired on BBC America, and a day earlier in the UK. It was pretty good. I won't go into the plot much at all, but you know as soon as you turn on the episode that John Simm is in it, whether that means anything to you or not depends on your level of Doctor Who appreciation, I suppose.

And, John Simm sure was in it. He was in it like a fox. A few random quirks about his performance really enlivened the character, bringing him to a unique emotional realm that is just flat out uncommon for a villain. There were several moments when you could almost relate to his completely insane delusions as he stepped out of the realm of unrepentant evil. It was great.

The defining points of the Doctor Who revival in the past four years have been Russell T Davies' "dark, brooding doctor" push, as the "lonely god," survives more than explores and the exuberance that David Tennant brought to that writing. Davies has always been a fan of grand displays of universal importance when it comes to finales, constantly escalating the "threat levels," in each subsequent season. There is some level of campiness in the way he puts everyone's life on the line, waiting for the Doctor to save the day in some messianic manner. I love it, personally. It doesn't float the boats of everyone, but mine is quite buoyant, it seems (that's the kind of awesome writing Davies would be proud of, I think). Hah.

That said, the show sans Davies, sans Tennant will be a different beast altogether. The revived Doctor Who has ended, for all intents and purposes, and now we have a new series with the same name and similar characters coming to us in March. There's a lot of pessimism about whether or not the show can succeed without David Tennant's lovable face to smirk away the camp, but I'm hopeful. There's a trailer after the break that shows some of the characteristics this new Matt Smith Doctor will have. Seems to be a bit more direct when it comes to problem-solving, as you can see when he whacks a Dalek with a wrench, and punches out a scientist. It's clear that Matt Smith has been studying David Tennant's performance a bit, but if he can manage to bring enough of his own unique quirk to the table, that might not be a problem. What's apparent from his appearance at the end of the the last special and this trailer is that the guy is more easily surprised... or at least he has a perpetual look of shock on his face. It looks promising, at least. I'll let you know what I think when it comes out.

Check out the Matt Smith trailer after the break.