The Doctor Who Announcement: Some Thoughts…
Saturday evening, I reported the news that Matt Smith is stepping down as the Doctor after this year’s Christmas Special. That story, the last episode of Doctor Who in this 50th Anniversary year, will see the Eleventh Doctor regenerate into the Twelfth. Having had a day or so to think about the circumstances of the event, and to talk about it with my wife and kids (as you do all important news stories), I thought I would share with you, my long-suffering readers, some of my thoughts about the announcement, and what we might expect to see.
First, the news report itself, which came out late Saturday night in the UK. That strikes me as odd. Usually, announcements like this would come on a weekday, and during the day–at noon, for example–where it would reach the widest audience. David Tennant announced his own departure at a high-profile event (the BAFTAs, I think). This leads me to believe that either the BBC were planning to announce the news much closer to the time, or maybe not at all, making it the first surprise regeneration in the show’s history (which I think would have been wonderful). I suspect someone leaked the news to the papers, and one of them called the BBC to say they’d heard the news and were planning to run with it Sunday morning. If I’m right, the source was credible enough that the BBC rushed a press release out Saturday night to be sure the papers weren’t the first to break the news, since that would have been embarrassing. That’s my theory, anyway. And if I’m right, I’m annoyed with the press. Like I said, a surprise regeneration would have been the BEST way to close out the 50th anniversary year. Oh well.
Another point of interest that I noted in Saturday’s article, is the relatively brief amount of time between this announcement and the first appearance of the next Doctor. Matt Smith was announced at the beginning of 2009, but his first appearance as the Doctor was at the end of David Tennant’s last story on New Year’s Day, 2010. Right now, we are a little more than six month away from the Twelfth Doctor’s first appearance, and we’ve only just heard that Matt Smith’s stepping down! There’s been no word yet who will be replacing him. I think this lends fuel to my “press leak” theory. And also makes me wonder how long they’ve known Smith was leaving. Here’s my theory…
When Matt signed up for this year, he told Steven Moffat that it would be his last. They planned to keep this news tightly under wraps for as long as possible. The last time Matt was asked whether he was coming back, he said he’d signed on for another year. We now know that was a bold-faced lie, and told with such conviction, no-one suspected anything. Again, this makes me think they were going to surprise us with the regeneration. Now they’ve been forced to come clean. But if I’m correct about this, they would have known a regeneration is coming before the 50th Anniversary Special was filmed, or even written. That means, the Anniversary Special is not only a sequel to the last episode (“The Name of the Doctor”), but it’s also a pre-cursor to the regeneration story. Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are things that happen, or things that are said, in the Anniversary Special that tip us off to the fact a regeneration is imminent.
As I’ve said before, I expect there’ll be an announcement regarding the identity of the Twelfth Doctor sometime in the next few months. But I hope there isn’t. If they can’t surprise us with the regeneration, it would be nice if they could at least surprise us with who it is.
(PS: Check out this article at ScienceFiction.com, which speculates about the identity of the “John Hurt” Doctor–a forgotten Doctor between the Eighth and Ninth, making the Ninth the Tenth, the Tenth the Eleventh, and the Eleventh the Twelfth, and now the upcoming Twelfth the Thirteenth? They have what they believe is photographic evidence!)
What do you think? Share your thoughts, feelings, theories, state-of-denial in the comments! 🙂
I think I was so shocked by the news I never noticed anything odd about the report. In the past they’ve done alright with keeping secrets. Remember when David Tennant suddenly started to regenerate in the fourth season. A lot of people did have theories that this would led him to be split into two but I don’t think anything was ever confirmed or found out. It was a total surprise for me. In fact I think I nearly ended up hyperventilating when said he was regenerating.
Like I said in my comment on your other D.W post I think I’m happy to know he’s leaving in good time. A surprise may have been too much for me. ^^ I just hope they don’t make it all long and mopey like they did with David Tennant. Davies really ruined his regeneration for me which in a way I was really looking forward because I do like the change of actor. It’s an exciting yet sad moment but after 20 minutes of goodbyes and ‘I don’t want to go’ I was really getting impatient.
I’ve got time to mourn and prepare. Then get all excited for the new Doctor. That’s fine with me. =D
I think that 10th Doctor ending was a one-off. It wasn’t just David’s goodbye, it was also Davies’ farewell, saying goodbye to all the characters he’d created. Steven Moffat wrote the post-regeneration sequence–Davies had nothing to do with it. The first lines that Davies ever wrote for the Eleventh Doctor were in the Sarah Jane Adventures story in which he appears (along with Jo Grant). Since Moffat and Jenna-Louise Coleman are staying on, I think we’re going to get something more like the Ninth-to-Tenth regeneration in terms of length. Though who knows–this is the 50th Anniversary year. They may not play up the sentiment, but there might be heapings of nostalgia. It’ll be interesting to see what they do. 🙂
I honestly don’t know how I feel about any of this. Matt Smith is MY Doctor, which puts a whole emotional spin on it for me because I’ve never gone through the “Who is the new Doctor going to be? What if we don’t like him?” cycle. That being said, if it’s true that they were plotting a surprise regeneration, I’m glad that someone spilled the beans. As annoying as some of the Twelfth Doctor speculation is (Billie Piper, really?), I think I’d rather know that Matt is leaving than be thrown off by it. Otherwise, I’d probably make the whole building think I was being murdered when I started screaming over his regeneration.
As for John Hurt, I’m reserving judgment but severely pessimistic about how I’m going to feel about his introduction. Personally, if he does turn out to be the ninth incarnation of the Doctor, then I’ll be calling him 8.5. It just doesn’t feel right. Nine is Nine, Ten is Ten, and Eleven is Eleven and that’s the way it should be.
I went through all this for the first time (at least the first time that counts–I vaguely remember the Third-to-Fourth regeneration, but I was too young to care) with the Fourth Doctor. Tom Baker had himself become a national institution. He’d been playing the Doctor for so long (7 years), that it seemed as if no-one could or would replace him. Especially not that young whipper-snapper Peter Davison! Yet it all worked out wonderfully, and Davison ended up being perfect for the part despite my initial misgivings.
I understand where you’re coming from with regard to a “surprise regeneration.” Thinking about it from your perspective, with this being your first, it’s probably good that you have at least some forewarning about it.
I would like to see the John Hurt Doctor as a pre-First Doctor, or as The Valeyard (see the classic series “Trial of a Time Lord”). It would be a bit of a wrench to have to re-number them all. But I have to say, when Clara told the Doctor she’d seen all his faces, and said, “You’re the Eleventh Doctor,” I did a double-take. I don’t think the Doctor has ever been referred to as “the nth Doctor” in all 50 years of the show. This might be significant, and might add weight to the idea that perhaps he’s NOT the 11th Doctor, and he knows it… and that’s his secret!
We’ll see…
I think he’s the Doctor before he became The Doctor. The arrogant Time Lord before he made the promise.
Press leak theory is correct. The Telegraph released the news early.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/doctor-who/10093520/Matt-Smith-to-quit-Doctor-Who-after-Christmas-special.html
(Compare to BBC News article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22741493)
Also: http://www.kasterborous.com/2013/06/big-announcement-to-come-we-cant-say-what/?utm_source=whonews&utm_medium=whonewsapp
I think the embargo was only until midnight, though, so the Telegraph only released it a few hours early. It’s still odd timing.
Thanks, Emma! I suppose it’s possible The Telegraph released the story early by accident (note the recent accidental release of Series 7 DVDs prior to the broadcast of the final episode)… but we know how competitive news is. 🙂
I look forward to seeing if any of my other theories are correct… 😀
I’m feeling quite emotionless about the whole thing, which is sad in a way because I used to love Doctor Who. It was unmissable TV. Now? Whatever. Don’t care. I think I may have gone through the whole five stages of grief during Eleven’s era, although it took me a while to move past rage.
But I shan’t pollute your blog with my lack of emotion 😛 That being said, should Mr Moffat take his leave as well, I’ll be throwing a party.
I don’t know if you caught this past series–especially this year’s episodes, but I thought they were among the best since Moffat took the helm. But to each their own. 🙂