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Sci-Fi Television United Kingdom Entertainment

Matt Smith Leaving Doctor Who Already? 423

Posted by CmdrTaco from the well-that's-not-so-great dept.
bowman9991 sent in a disappointing rumor saying "Ironically Matt Smith, the youngest Doctor Who ever, apparently wants to retire early. An unconfirmed report suggests Smith would like to try his hand at Hollywood films after the end of his second season as the Doctor. Smith is currently filming this year's Doctor Who Christmas special with Karen Gillan, who plays his companion Amy Pond, and opera star Katherine Jenkins. After the Christmas special he goes straight into production on a new Doctor Who series set to air next year." I've tremendously enjoyed the Smith/Gillan combo, personally.
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Matt Smith Leaving Doctor Who Already? More

Matt Smith Leaving Doctor Who Already?

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  • Time to add a little crazy into that character (Score:4, Funny)

    by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:07AM (#32951228)
    I hear Mel Gibson is available.

  • Christmas special? (Score:5, Funny)

    by jeffmeden ( 135043 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:08AM (#32951234) Homepage Journal

    I remember the last time a sci-fi franchise I enjoyed made a Christmas Special...

    *barfs*

    Farewell, Matt Smith!

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Doctor Who has had Christmas special every year since it came back

    • Re:Christmas special? (Score:5, Funny)

      by elrous0 ( 869638 ) * on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:25AM (#32951482)
      That wasn't Christmas, it was Wookie Life Day--a day when we celebrate horrid musical performances and godawful comedy bits.

    • Re:Christmas special? (Score:5, Informative)

      by nine-times ( 778537 ) <nine.times@gmail.com> on Monday July 19, 2010 @12:17PM (#32953028) Homepage

      Doctor who always has Christmas specials... or at least for the past several years. You just might not have realized it if you're in the US, because they tend to get played as season premieres. If you remember...

      • "The Christmas Invasion" - First David Tennant episode, aliens invade on Christmas
      • "The Runaway Bride" - Introduction to Donna Noble
      • "Voyage of the Damned" - Spaceship Titanic, Kylie Minogue appears
      • "The Next Doctor" - The Doctor runs into what appears to be a future version of himself, fights the Cybermen in the past
      • "The End of Time" - Last David Tennant episode

      All of these were Christmas specials. Many of them explicitly took place on Christmas, though I don't remember if they all do.

  • I did enjoy Tennant, but Eccleston and Smith are on a whole different level for me. To be fair, Smith has the benefits of a better showrunner.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Zeros ( 1016135 )
      I feel Tennant was a god among the doctors, this kid is second.

      • I agree. Tennant was awesome. Smith however did an excellent stepping in and take over and I've very much enjoyed his performance. Would be sad to see him go so quickly. It was a perfect bit of casting really to pick him up after Tennant.

        Looking forward to catching the season finale next week on BBC America. It's been a bit torturous to watch it as it airs here knowing you could easily get it online.

        • I totally agree that he was awesome and it will be so sad if he goes. Can't they offer more money or something?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by h4rm0ny ( 722443 )

          David Tennant was really, really good. He sometimes suffered from dubious plotting or overly-sentimental writing, but he himself was brilliant. But so is Matt Smith. I couldn't ask for a better replacement for David Tennant. I really hope this isn't true that he's leaving. He's been absolutely great.
    • I completely agree, at first I was hesitant of Matt Smith because he was so young for a doctor but within the the 10 minutes of his first episode I knew he would be great and that I would enjoy the series, which I thoroughly did.

      I also enjoyed watching Eccleston as the doctor too and was quite pissed he left so soon because he didn't want to get 'pidgenholed' as the doctor. Honestly can't remember what film I last saw him in and don't know what his last film he made was. I guess he wants obscurity, shame

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eln ( 21727 )
      Smith took a little getting used to, but I have learned to like him. Eccleston and Tennant were very good as well. Honestly, since the show came back there hasn't been a bad or even mediocre doctor. I'm really not sold on Amy Pond yet though. She's pretty to look at, but I'm not sure I like the character. Also, the way they got rid of her fiancee seemed unnecessarily random and sudden like they've been trying to get rid of him the moment he was introduced (which they probably were). Maybe I was just s

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by dancingmilk ( 1005461 )

        Maybe after doing it for awhile they have realized its not the dream they thought it was. Not an uncommon occurrence in the world.

      • Umm... not to be a spoiler, but you might want to catch up on the series if you think they killed her fiancee. Just sayin'.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by eln ( 21727 )
          I actually started watching the series during the last season of Tennant, so have been spending the last several weeks catching up on Eccleston and the parts of Tennant that I missed, so I've fallen behind a bit on the Smith series. Oops.
      • I agree with this entirely. I didn't like Smith or the new season really until around the finale. It seemed a bit kiddy, like Fisher Price: my first doctor. And

        (spoiler alert)

        they brought the fiance back. He's going to be a character for at least the start of the next season. Though I didn't like how he was basically just a white Mickey.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Omestes ( 471991 )

      Eccleston was kind of boring. He was very nice upon first watching, in the context of "wow, new Doctor", but after Tennant and Smith he shrunk a bit. He was kind of mopey, overly serious, and lacked the quirks that make most of the previous and subsequent doctors interesting.

      I would say Tennant (in my completely irrelevant opinion) is tied with Tom Baker, and Smith might be the most likable of the lot.

      • Re:Why do the best ones always leave early? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Brave Guy ( 457657 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @12:21PM (#32953076)

        Smith might be the most likable of the lot.

        This is my biggest reservation about Smith, and the reason that I think the jury is still out on his Doctor.

        David Tennant had a remarkable ability to flip personality in a heartbeat. One second, he's the happy, adventurous Doctor. Next, he's the awesomely powerful Time Lord with the weight of the whole universe resting on his shoulders. Next, he's somehow the saddest character in the universe, profoundly alone even when surrounded by life. Sometimes, the character traits showed up in a big storyline with a tragic fate for one of his companions, but more telling were the simple acts scattered throughout the series. Compare the eleventh Doctor (Smith) in the big speech at the end of his first episode with just a typical tenth Doctor (Tennant) moment in mid-series:

        Doctor #11: Okay, one more, just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first one to attack it. Oh, there have been so many. And what you've got to ask is, what happened to them? [Cue montage.] Hello! I'm the Doctor. Basically, run.

        Doctor #10: Don't play games with me. You just killed someone I like, and that is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up.

        Somehow, for all the build-up in the first scene, the second one was far more powerful. Whether that was due to the actors, the writing, the direction or something else, I'm not sure.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by cgenman ( 325138 )

          The writing Tennant had to work with was also much sharper. Comparing the two lines above. Tennant had 4 sentences to work with. Matt had make it work in 8. Tennant's lines implied so much. Matt had to physically say everything, and even has a redundancy to get around. In short, Tennant was working with better material, while Matt's writers are just getting a sense for the new feel of the updated series.

          As another comparison, Tennant had a climactic battle against the nightmare scenario of Daleks and

  • It will be surprisingly okay (Score:4, Insightful)

    by DoofusOfDeath ( 636671 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:13AM (#32951302)

    In the revived series, each time the actor playing the Doctor has changed, I expected that the new one couldn't be as great as the one retiring. But I've been pleasantly surprised each time.

    So while I'm sad to see the current one go, I'm meta-okay with it.

    • So while I'm sad to see the current one go, I'm meta-okay with it.

      You're Okay with being Okay with it?

      What a cool way to put it.

      "Meta-stuff" sounds like it'd be the leading cause of redundant statements but I haven't come across any use of the prefix ending up in anything less than awesome.

    • I'm expecting Matt Smith to be replaced by Alex Kingston...

    • They usually leave to "try their hand in the US" or "move on to newer bigger roles" ... and find that without the attention that being the Doctor brings you, their careers take a dive. Eccleston had a brief role in Heroes but is now back in the UK doing mostly theatre. Tennant's US show didn't get picked up. Tom Baker, the most popular of the Doctors in his time, pretty much vanished for ten years after he left. Even Peter Davison (who has had the most successful post-Who career) found himself without a

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by raddan ( 519638 ) *
      Huh, well, I've been in mourning since the Tom Baker era. He was uniquely quirky. The Doctor who followed him was terrible.

      That said, I haven't really given any of the more modern Doctors a fair shake, so they may be great. I watched one episode that featured an angry Tennant basically just running from zombies. Kind of boring. I should probably watch from the beginning.

  • PLEASE!!!! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Vinegar Joe ( 998110 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:16AM (#32951350)

    Bring back Tom Baker!

  • Multi-year contracts (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CommieLib ( 468883 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:18AM (#32951370) Homepage
    For the love of God, can you lock these actors into three year contracts, please? Tennant did right by the role, but Eccleston and Smith have burned up their regenerations wastefully...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Speare ( 84249 )
      Rabid fandom aside, maybe the role is just not very interesting for the actors themselves. Write something punchier that doesn't involve completely confusing and self-contradictory. Alternative theory: they are just stressing the 'who!?' part of 'Dr Who' these days.
  • In Acting role for an Iconic Hero, which will likely run continuously for years, but he thinks (vainly) that hollywood is crying out for actor, Leaving early would wreck his career not advance it.

    ---

    Cult TV [feeddistiller.com] Feed @ Feed Distiller [feeddistiller.com]

  • "Smith would like to try his hand at Hollywood films"

    He wants easy bucks and hot chicks!

    • Actually, I think in the tradition of Dr. Who, he wants to beat some other old concepts to death through tedious remake after remake. Each of them getting a little worse and a bit more tired. Hollywood seems to do this well as did Dr. Who. I wonder if he's going to go for one of the roles in the next Trek film?

  • Karen Gillan says Matt is staying (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:22AM (#32951442)

    Doctor Who star Matt Smith is staying put, says Karen Gillan
    Karen Gillan, who plays Doctor Who's assistant, says Matt Smith isn't going to Los Angeles
    Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond, the assistant to Matt Smith's Doctor Who, has reassuring news for his fans. The actor isn't about to decamp to Los Angeles.

    "Matt will be sticking around," she told me at the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup Final at Cowdray Park Polo Club yesterday. "I think those rumours were made up."

    Karen, left, added that she and Smith have started filming the Doctor Who Christmas special, and adds that the atmosphere on the set is "great."

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mandrake/7897262/Doctor-Who-star-Matt-Smith-is-staying-put-says-Karen-Gillan.html

  • But Wait! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RivenAleem ( 1590553 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:24AM (#32951470)

    Does this mean there'll be no Fez? Fez + Bow-tie combo was going to be so badass

  • Or... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Spad ( 470073 ) <slashdot.spad@co@uk> on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:25AM (#32951484) Homepage

    Shitty tabloid with history of claiming every Doctor Who star is quitting at the end of the next season claims current Doctor Who star is quitting at the end of the next season.

  • I've seen this rumour flying around all weekend and it all comes from an article published in The Sun, not exactly the epitome of journalistic integrity.

  • It's a salary negotiation ploy (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Dzimas ( 547818 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:30AM (#32951546)
    Matt Smith's contract gives him a salary of only £200,000 per year - far lower than the estimated £1,000,000 earned by Tennant. He just happened to sign on at exactly the wrong time - the global economic crisis was in full swing, and the BBC (as a public broadcaster) had come under attack for its seemingly extravagant on-air talent salaries. If he can raise his profile enough over the next couple of years to attract serious attention from Hollywood, he can easily earn more than £200,000 from a single film. Let's hope that a reasonable compromise can be met before the second season is up, because the revolving door of doctors is getting tiring.

    • Poor guy, only £200,000 a year! Why, he might only be able to afford hookers and blow on the weekends! Oh the humanity!

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Kagato ( 116051 )

      Tennant had a much longer history as a leading actor. The salary was inline with his stature in the acting community. Smith is younger and didn't have the same chops. He simply couldn't command as much as Tennant.

      As far as Hollywood? No way. He's too goofy looking for the shallow producers he'd have to deal with.

      • Precisely. Tennant had done significant work with multiple TV production companies prior to Who, whereas Smith had done a couple of minor things. Tennant would have been been a reasonable casting for the RSC Hamlet even without the Doctor Who role. After all, he'd done multiple, successful seasons at Stratford (Lysander, Romeo, Touchstone: significant, career-building roles). To do Touchstone in the RST at 25 means you're pretty hot stuff (Patrick Stewart was 28 when he did the same thing: it worked ou

  • In nearly every episode River Song has appeared in, she comments on how young The Doctor appears. It doesn't surprise me that this rumor is making the rounds, and I'd bet Matt was told from the beginning he wouldn't be around too long.

    Too bad though 'cause bow ties are cool!

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by easterberry ( 1826250 )
      Well she said the same about Tennant. I think it's more a reference to her knowing the doctor from like... decades/centuries into his future.

  • It's time for a non-white Doctor (Score:5, Interesting)

    by lseltzer ( 311306 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:33AM (#32951594)

    Of course the Doctor will remain a British alien, but there's no reason he has to be white. How about a Indian? Are there any such actors who would do well in this role?

    • Chiwetel Ejiofor... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Picass0 ( 147474 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:50AM (#32951808) Homepage Journal

      ... was rumored to be on the short list of candidates to follow Tennant. Ejiofor was great in Serenity and Children of Men. He would have been a really great Doctor.

    • HIgh on the heels of his Airbender role, he could.... could... um...

    • This is not funny but a valid question.

      That said, why Indian?

      How about Chinese, Polinesian, Eskimo, African, Amerindian?

      I'd vote for Polinesian myself.

  • Who, M.D. (Score:4, Funny)

    by raguirre ( 986049 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @10:36AM (#32951634)
    If this rumour happens to be true, I think it's a good time to nominate Hugh Laurie for the next doctor...

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      If this rumour happens to be true, I think it's a good time to nominate Hugh Laurie for the next doctor...

      I'm not sure if he'd be able to pull off a British accent though.

  • " I've tremendously enjoyed the Smith/Gillan combo personally."

    The Doctor rarely gets so involved with fans. His sidekicks I dunno, though Billie Piper seemed to be a lot of fun UNTIL she met the Doctor. He spoils them all, you know. Something about the Sonic Screwdriver probably. Just a common old screwdriver doesn't seem to make the same impression.

    I wish.

  • I hear Ricky Gervais is looking for work.

  • i love the current doctor (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mldi ( 1598123 ) on Monday July 19, 2010 @11:01AM (#32951950)
    In my opinion, he's the best the show has seen. That's a shame that he feels it's beneath him to stay beyond 2 seasons.

  • Have a watch of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do-wDPoC6GM [youtube.com]

    If you can sit through this without laughing, you should seek professional help.

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