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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think Matt Smith was a terrible a Doctor?

112 replies

HangingBasketCase · 24/08/2014 17:47

I felt like I'd woken up in a parallel universe this morning and saw all the comments from people bemoaning how much they missed him last night. Seriously, I never liked him as the doctor. I adored David Tennant and watched every single one of his episodes, but I although I gave Smith a chance I just didn't connect or gel with him. I didn't get it and don't know why he was ever cast in the past. Also don't get me started on Amy Pond, I bloody loathed her with a passion!

I drifted away from the series completely during the Smith era, but now Capaldi has taken over I'm coming back. He's already a vast improvement on Smith, I could tell you that after one episode.

Where the fuck has all this Smith love come from?!

OP posts:

PedantMarina · 24/08/2014 21:44

I was actually a little relieved when Matt Smith came on the scene - Finally, I was able to focus on the plotlines and not drown in a pool of my own drool [over David Tennant].

Frankly if you want to hate anybody, hate Ecclestone [and whomever granted him the "never bother me for any anniversary show" contract] - he is ridiculously, idiotically conspicuous in his absence in any subsequent work (Day of the Doctor I'm thinking about). Seriously, where the fuck do people get off saying "Oh, that's OK, by all means do this iconic part for a year and then never feel you have to do another thing for the rest of your life" when there's a whole legion of actors who would have been happy with both the specific work and the "Role in History".

Aaaannnnnd breathe...

MrsMook · 24/08/2014 21:57

I liked Matt Smith but he was let down by poor plot lines and bad programming with a break in the middle just as you were getting into the season.

Peter Capacity looks promising. Let's hope the plots do him justice.

susiedaisy · 24/08/2014 22:00

Didn't like David tennant
Liked matt smith
Like the new one

Whiskwarrior · 24/08/2014 22:03

I've loved all of them so far and think I'm going to love PC too, going on last night's episode.

Why does it have to be an either/or situation?

I love the fact that each new incarnation of the Doctor brings something new to the role. I've been sad to see each one go so far but also excited to see where the next actor will take it.

DurhamDurham · 24/08/2014 22:08

I loved Christopher Eccleston and thought David Tennant was a Clare second. I could not stand Matt Smith, he was just far too manic the whole time. I found it exhausting watching him.

I have high hopes for Peter Capaldi

Bunbaker · 24/08/2014 22:09

I didn't care for Matt smith. He used to gabble his lines so quickly that I couldn't follow the plot .half the time, so I lost interest.
I forgot to record yesterday's episode so will watch it on iPlayer. DD went to see it at the cinema and loved it.

DioneTheDiabolist · 24/08/2014 22:10

YANBU OP. I am so glad he's gone and am looking forward to PC making the Doctor real for me again.

cardibach · 24/08/2014 22:19

I don't think that's quite fair, Pedant. It's a part. A job. I wouldn't want to be called back by any of my old jobs for an anniversary, inconveniencing me and pulling me out of any current work (or holiday) so why should he? He recreated the role after a long gap - if he hadn't been so good there would have been no Tennant , Smith or Capaldi Doctors and no 'Day of the Doctor'. The series would have been cancelled again.
I loved CE and DT, grew to like MS and think OC will be fab, if he gets good scripts. Nobody can be good with crap writing, and towards the end of MS it did get a bit...weak.

nooka · 24/08/2014 22:49

I think that Christopher Eccelston took a big risk playing the doctor. He was an established mainstream actor and Dr Who was I suspect quite a hot potato given the way it fizzled out so sadly many years previously (dh, dd and I just watched the last episode, Survival and it was frankly terrible). His energy and charisma is among other things what made the relaunch successful.

My understanding is that he left the show partly because he fell out with the production team.

PedantMarina · 25/08/2014 00:00

Cardibach, I don't think your comparison is fair. I don't think there's a job I've ever had, or ever will, that would compare.

Unless your job is vastly different from mine (more to the point, the Doctors...').

There are mere acting jobs, and then there is being such an icon that it is naivety to the point of disbelief that one wouldn't possibly probably be called back. Just look at the interviews of the likes of [now] Sir Patrick Stewart (and pretty much everybody else in a much&loved, esp ongoing role). Nobody walks into that sort of part thinking they can just do the job, walk off the set, go home and never think about it for the rest of your life.

I'm sorry, but you just don't sign up to that without some idea that you'll have to extend a bit of courtesy later on.

Nobody's expecting Ecclestone to drop everything for days/weeks, or spend the rest of his life doing grip&grin at every convention that asks, but a talking head here, a day or two shooting there, esp for that Very Big Thing last year?!?...

WeHateAmy · 25/08/2014 00:04

The potato man is brilliant, I love him.

He's so cheerfully off his rocker. Calling Clara "boy", hitting her in the face with a newspaper, talking about how they have rescued the TARDIS so the Doctor has to come back to them and when he does they will kill him with acid…um…we won't kill him with acid. Do you think the Doctor is alright? Yes, I'm sure he will have frozen to death by now! Genius.

I have a friend who worked on Doctor Who when CE was on it and he has nothing but praise for CE. He said it was always the intention for CE to leave after one series. He also talks about knowing DT before he was famous, when he was just a skinny bloke worried he wouldn't get an acting part or a girlfriend. Bet those days seem far away now

WeHateAmy · 25/08/2014 00:09

While we are talking about it though, isn't John Simm meant to be quite rude to people who go up to him talking about The Master?

I think he was quoted as saying he would be happy when Doctor Who was gone from his life, it's just a TV show and he wishes people would leave him alone.

Now he has no excuse for not knowing how big the show was. At least CE was bringing back a show that had ended ages ago with no real idea about how well received it might be. It could have gone either way at that point. But by the time JS was in it as The Master it was massive and everyone taking part now must realise that they are going to be swamped by fans if they have a role as big as JS did.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 25/08/2014 00:26

I didn't know that about Christopher E. I thought he was excellent. I've loved them all except "I'm mad, me" Smith.
Gosh, who will Graham Norton have on the Christmas eve sofa now he can't have MS to offset Cumberbatch' s ugly mug?

NinjaLeprechaun · 25/08/2014 00:48

Matt Smith is not on my list of Top Five Doctors. He had a few very good moments, but I don't think either he or the writers ever really got a handle on his 'Doctor-ness'. I frankly found myself being disappointed to see him in the episode yesterday.
I dislike Amy, and loath River, so that didn't help at all.

Morloth · 25/08/2014 02:21

I liked Christopher Eccelstone.

Now his doctor and Amy would have been awesome.

nooka · 25/08/2014 02:44

River was just an awful idea all round. The idea that the Doctor, a life long committed pacifist would find a gun toting psychopath attractive was just all finds of wrong. Even if it wasn't her fault she was like that.

steff13 · 25/08/2014 02:58

The potato man is brilliant, I love him.

He is one of my favorite characters. I really like the lizard lady and her wife, too.

nocoolnamesleft · 25/08/2014 03:15

I'm still waiting to see how the plotline will work around to why he regenerated with the face of Lucius Caecilius Iucundus from the Fires of Pompeii. (Surely a bit more to it than just a)act your age and b)regret at his actions triggering the eruption in order to save the world).

silveroldie2 · 25/08/2014 03:22

I liked David Tennant as Dr Who, not so keen on Matt Smith but what really made me stop watching was Pond - so pleased she's no longer in it. I think Peter Capaldi will be good, hopefully.

GarlicAugustus · 25/08/2014 04:03

I quite liked Amy Pond, and loved Martha! I wanted Freema to be the new Doctor. Capaldi's looking promising, though. Why the hell is bloody Clara still all over it? She's so done everything she had to offer - some pretty chick going all emotional every ten minutes is a massive step backwards imo.

Hadn't realised it was Lucius Caecilius, nocool, thanks. I'll have to revisit that episode now, looking for clues! (Or maybe not, I leave being a Whovian to those with the dedication )

I preferred Matt Smith to David Tennant. The ubiquitous Scots prancer gets on my nerves. A lot. I think he had better scripts, though, on the whole.

deakymom · 25/08/2014 08:45

loved matt smith even though he was let down by his writers im afraid capaldi is going to go the same way great actor terrible writing = total let down david tennant spent his first season looking like he had an identity crisis as he looked like he was playing a part written for someone else

martha jones was the worst companion looking lovesick at the doctor all the time followed by donna noble really didnt rate her at all

BecauseIsaidS0 · 25/08/2014 08:49

But the question is: (see what I did there? ) when is someone going to fire Moffat???

RussTDaviesBear · 25/08/2014 09:14

" The Doctor, a life long committed pacifist " - who in the very first story we saw attempted to kill in cold blood a badly-wounded man who was hampering their escape and was only prevented by Ian...

effinandjeffin · 25/08/2014 09:24

I loved Matt Smith as the Doctor and I loved his first episode. It all kind og went downhill from there really, some great potential wasted in a mish mash of story arcs that never lived up to their promise. And I blame Moffat for that. I absolutely loathed everything about River Song. (But then I hated Rose too, so what do I know?)

Still, I think Peter Capaldi was superb on Saturday, I just hope the writing doesn't let him down. I think he'll make an amazing Doctor.

Also deaky you're quite wrong, Donna Noble was the best companion

TortoiseUpATreeAgain · 25/08/2014 09:32

PedantMarina, it's clear reading between the lines of CE's interviews that there was some really bad falling out with the programme makers at the heart of his not doing a second season, so I suspect that's why he won't come back for any special events either. He may get over it in time -- remember that Colin Baker had fallen out with the producers so completely that he refused to film the regeneration-into-Sylvester-McCoy scene, and now he's all over the place.

I liked MS. I liked DT's performance too but I disliked the way that RTD was writing him by the end; it seemed to be turning into a parody of itself. And while I have notes on SM's writing and series arcs I hated most of RTD's season closers with a burning passion. He's an immensely talented writer but he doesn't seem to be able to end things without getting overblown and silly (see also: Miracle Day).

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