Matt Smith " slightly annoying" in Xmas WHO

[sunshineboyuk]

Good god. The Guardiian review of the Xmas WHO outing has praised it heavily and muchly ( is that a word?) , however they go on to say that Matt Smith was slightly annoying in it. Which he was. Which makes me wonder if he is slightly annoying generally? He's briilliant in the role but is he... slightly annoying?

I would say yes.


My Dad watched WHO with me this year and said at the end. " That was really crap" . His verdict, as a non Who fan or even casual watcher since Tom Baker, was that the Doctor didn't actually do much nor did he save the day and the kid playing Doctor Who is... annoying. I found it hard to disgree with him but muttered soomething about it being an xmas special and they are usually not the same as ...blah blah.


I wish The Guardian hadn't said he was slightly annoying because ...... well because he is. And I've blocked that out , i've been in denial about it. He's not ALWAYS annoying but its when he starts going into high pitched tones annd waving his arms around he gets more annoying than Tenant ever was when he did it, it seemed to work when he did it.

p.s Tom Baker was never annoying , except when he didn't look at Leela and Romana 2 because he was annoyed with them in real life, that got a bit annoying. Who knew watching WHO could be so bothersome!

[Garrison]

It's possible to be simultaneously annoying and endearing... I think that's what both Smith and the writers are aiming for with the character.

Going back and watching some Tenant eps, I find his god like posturing far more annoying than anything Smith being manic.

[sunshineboyuk]

Yeah agreed , i do love the Tenant eps , mostly brilliant single story eps... how amazing is MIDNIGHT?!!! I recently redeiscovered it, first time round it passed me by but its a masterpiece.

[Garrison]

Midnight is pretty great, was totally underrated at the time

[Pamela Barnes]

I don't find him annoying, just a little dull. More than anything I feel sorry for him, it's like he is always in Tennants shadow and thats not a great thing for any actor. But at the end of the day his career will comprise of Doctor Who and period dramas.

But I do find that bloody Amelia whatsherface Pond REALLY annoying.

Anyway I can't wait for them both to be gone to be honest. I miss looking forward to Doctor Who, it's soul seems to be missing. All shows have a honeymoon period and Who has had it's one. Now I think we are at the difficult part of the relationship. Matt Smith is a nice enough guy it seems, quirky but boring with it and I think that comes across on screen. I never get the sense that he is enjoying the role.

[sunshineboyuk]

I thought Amy Pond ( my least favourite companion of New Who, save Martha of course) had gone but then she was in the xmas oone so who knows?

The new series should be interesting. The show is taking a long break and wont be back until the end of next year so I'm hoping it will be alll re tooled with a new companion. Having said that, there are so many story threads left over from the first series of Smith's that i sort of wonder about the sense of having all these long drawn out storylines. It's a very big ask to expect us all to remember all the story details from season 1, i do find all of that very annoying, its getting a bit like LOST. Wiil we have to take a degree in it to get it when these things are revisited?

I used to be soo so excited on a WHO day during the RTD era too. I think this era will be defined, already has been, not by Smith but by Alex Kingston's River Song. Its all about her really. She's so good and the show only seems to come alive when she's in it now. But that was always going to be the danger of making it a deliberately continuing storyline. RTD did it very light touch so it didn't ever make or break a story but Moffatt has really gone for it ( which I applaud, new things should be full on) and the result has been a great River Song era but not so great for the show as a whole... so far.

[Garrison]

It's so funny that the show's reception critically has never been higher and yet here it's so disliked in it's current incarnation. Just more proof that about different strokes and that.

[sunshineboyuk]

Yeah, I was tallking to one of my friends about that. She said that the PR is hhigh but when you actually speak to casual viewers and regular viewers its a big phat thumbs down for all the reasons we've mentioned. People watch it but are they enjoying it like they used to ? The evidence away from the figures suggests not really. I've yet to meet anyone who says they are enjoying this era and I do ask around. And yet... you read alll the pr and the newspaper reviews etc and they're hysterically screaming about how amazing it is.

I'm just delighted to have WHO on at all, that we can be discussing how it may have gotten too tricksy and self indulgent etc is .... incredible in its self!

[James from London]

I'm very liking it.

[sunshineboyuk]

Ah, there's One ! I'm liking it too just not loving it .So there's two...

[Garrison]

Stateside reception from most fans I know has veered between "batshit insanely loving it" and "loving it"

[Mike]

Just for the record, I'm still LOVING it more than ever

[J. R.'s Piece]

I thought Amy Pond ( my least favourite companion of New Who, save Martha of course) had gone

Karen Gillan was filming her scenes for the Xmas one on the same day (of transmission) that the Doctor left Amy and Rory at the house.

so who knows?

Well....there have been announcements....

[sunshineboyuk]

Have there? What announcements?



I'm now determined to love it like batshit , so I'll be buying the complete boz set oof last series and watching it until I love love love it instead of just "quite like it !"

[sunshineboyuk]

p.s re announcements -

Oh yeah , more heartbreak , sounds cool.

[Pamela Barnes]

The post Tennant era has been brilliant, not all of RTD was great, at times I felt it was lacking but in someways it portrayed how I feel about Coronation Street. The plots may at times be weak but the characters keep me interested. I really think that the Doctor and Amy are at the heart of the problem. It's odd because some of Amy's stories have been brilliant and I have really felt for her, but oddly I have felt for her in those episodes not as an ongoing character. The Doctor doesn't fill the screen for me in the same way previous Doctors have, that could be Tennant or Tom Baker. The Doctor felt like the force behind the show but I don't get that with Matt Smith.

The episodes as stand alone pieces work incredibly well, they are epic and cinematic but the soap opera context of RTD's era is missing. We had this soulful angry Doctor and the assistants all had an earthy feel to them, we knew their backstory, we met their family.

Alex Kingston is the only thing I look forward to. I would make a point of watching her episodes, perhaps because she held all the pathos, she really grabbed my imagination in a way that perhaps was always a constant feature in the RTD era.

[Emma'sfan]

I feel like maybe it's Amy that's making me not quite feel the new doctor. I can't wait for her to be gone. Oddly, i never really felt that way about a companion. the only other companion i disliked was Peri.

[J. R.'s Piece]

The Doctor doesn't fill the screen for me in the same way previous Doctors have, that could be Tennant or Tom Baker. That Doctor felt like the force behind the show but I don't get that with Matt Smith.

That reminds me of an interview that Moffat did for DWM two years ago when he mentioned that Tom Baker's performance was a "look at me!" sort and David gave a bravura performance but described Matt's performance as being closer to Patrick Troughton's (which he mentions as being almost as though Troughton is saying "don't look at me"...which automatically draws your attention to him the attention...and Troughton is named favourite Doctor by several of the other Doctors), where they don't have to be front and centre to attract your attention and use more quiet moments or stand at the back until it is time to take charge.

[Pamela Barnes]

That reminds me of an interview that Moffat did for DWM two years ago when he mentioned that Tom Baker's performance was a "look at me!" sort and David gave a bravura performance but described Matt's performance as being closer to Patrick Troughton's (which he mentions as being almost as though Troughton is saying "don't look at me"...which automatically draws your attention to him the attention...and Troughton is named favourite Doctor by several of the other Doctors), where they don't have to be front and centre to attract your attention and use more quiet moments or stand at the back until it is time to take charge.

Yep I can see that but with Troughton's era there was a clautrophobic feel in my opinion , mostly based on the technology of the time but Matt Smith feels somewhat lost within the cinemamatic feel and larger than life characters like River Song.

[Ome]

I feel like maybe it's Amy that's making me not quite feel the new doctor. I can't wait for her to be gone. Oddly, i never really felt that way about a companion. the only other companion i disliked was Peri.

I've struggled with both Amy & Rory. I can't remember ever feeling this way with any of the other companions, even Martha had some sparks about her.