Matt Smith is the Doctor!

January 3rd 2009. I remember this day well because of one, we had a small family get together and two, it was the day that Matt Smith was announced as the Eleventh Doctor. They had scheduled a Doctor Who Confidential episode for that day but up until a few days before, it was being called "The Ten Doctors." When they finally announced that it was infact to be called "The Eleventh Doctor" and that we would finally learn the identity of Doctor number Eleven the internet went into meltdown. I remember the names floating around. Paterson Joseph, James Nesbitt and even Alan Davies. But of cause the part went to 26 year old Matt Smith.

The program started with a 15 minute segment looking back at the previous 10 doctors with input from Steven Moffat, David Tennant and Russell T Davies. The all of a sudden this flophaired young man appeared on the screens for the first but not the last time. I remember when he first came on the screen thinking "Oh I'm not that sure about him. He just doesn't seem right" but I changed my mind when I saw the photoshoot image that was released after the show was over. He just looked right standing there with the TARDIS. Though he did not turn out how I expected him to be. Because of the image being quite dark and blue, I expected him to be quite a serious and dark Doctor and I am so glad he wasn't. I just don't think that would have suited Matt at all but that may just be hindsight. When I re-watched the Confidential the next day, it just backed up for me that they had made the right choice. 

Now we are less than 24 hours away from finding out who has been cast for the Twelfth Doctor, it is going to be interesting to see how the reaction to him will be. I know there was a lot of "oh he is too young" with Matt which I never really got but its going to be interesting to see how people accept this new guy and whether it is any of the people that have been names or if they have gone with another new face once again. Personally, I just excited and a little bit nervous to find out who is the Twelfth Doctor!

What I want from The Twelfth Doctor

With tomorrow being the day when we finally find out who has been cast as the Twelfth Doctor, I have been thinking through what sort of person I want to be the Twelfth Doctor.

Older - I want 12 to be in his late 40s-mid 50s. As we have just had out youngest doctor yet, I really want to get an older guy in the role once more. I'd like the Doctor to slightly go back to the grandfather side to him and it would bring out a new side of the relationship between the Doctor and Clara.

More Serious - I love 11's eccentric edge he has to him as that is how I see the Doctor but I want 12 to be more of a serious Doctor. Something more like 1, 3 or 9. Yes, I do want some childishness to be kept as that should run though all the Doctors but I just want 12 to be really different to 11.

Male - Now I know there are some people who scream sexist when people say the Doctor should stay male but I just think this is a must! I'm sorry but the Doctor is a male character and should always stay this way. Yes, it could be interesting to run for a story but I would not want to see him changed to female for the long run. It would be like changing James Bond to female in my opinion. Just keep this how it has always been please!

Different - It is important to me that 12 has a completely different personality to 11. I wand as much of a jump as there was from 1 to 2 and 9 to 10. Yes, you need to keep the important aspects of the Doctors personality but I want him to be as different as you can make him. This can then give you new ways of taking the story and after all, this is what has kept Doctor Who fresh for the last 50 years.

So overall really the sort of people who would fit the role for me would be people like Ben Daniels, Sean Pertwee or Peter Capaldi. They are the sort of person I would love to see as Doctor number 12. Though, if Moffat does decide to go young again, I won't be disappointing as I trust the Moff. Afterall, he cast Matt and he turned out to be one of the best Doctors there has been in my opinion!

Doctor Who: Series 7 "Complete" Boxset

I have just seen the press release for the "Complete" Series 7 UK release of Doctor Who and I have to say I am really disappointed in what I have read. I have not really ever felt the need to have a moon about the boxsets before but this time I just felt it was needed.
Firstly, it seems that they are not going to be including the 2011 Christmas Special, The Doctor The Widow and the Wardrobe. Now, I am not the biggest fan of this story but I think it needs to be included on the boxset to make this set complete. Without it they might was well call it "The Incomplete Series 7."
Secondly, it is being released over in America a whole month before it is in the UK. I really think that this is just wrong! Since it is filmed and produced over here in the UK, I think it should either be released here first or even a same day release. It just feels like America are getting more and more things before us at the moment and its rather annoying me.
Thirdly, I am disappointed in the lack of Commentaries. Since Series 5 I have been disappointed that they keep declining. I think for the price we pay, I would have liked a bit more than 4 commentaries. I was really hoping that we would be getting a com each for Asylum of the Daleks, Angels Take Manhattan and The Name of the Doctor. I really do like listening to the insight of the audio commentaries and with Confidential now gone, I think they are even more important.
I feel sad that I have had to have had this rant and I hope that its either some miss-communication or these decisions get changed. At the moment I really do not think that what has been listed for release is worth the £50+ they are asking for.

Update from the 30th July 2013
Today there has been an update on the omission of The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe from the Complete Series 7 set. BBC Worldwide have stated today that,

Originally the decision was taken not to include this release on the box set as it had previously been released as a standalone product. However after listening to feedback from our fans we have decided to include the episode and its prequel on the set. The price of the set will not be altered as a result of the change of contents

So thanks to the fans sending in the complaints, we have a victory on one of the points I made in my last blog post. I now hope that they will reconsider the release date and put the UK and US release in line with each other.

Series 7b Episode 8 - The Name of the Doctor - Review

[Sorry for the lateness of this review. Had a busy 2 weeks]

On Sunday 19th May, there was a panic around the internet. It was found out that the Blu-Rays containing this episode had arrived to some households in the US. Thanks to the good people in the US, the episode managed to stay offline and most people didn't leak much information about the episodes. I just wanted to start my review by thanking these people as the episode had much more of an impact getting to see it live on BBC One.
Anyway, onto my review. The episode started off with a stellar pre-titles sequence. Ever since I watched the DS9 episode, Trials and Tribble-ations, I have hoped that Doctor Who would do something like that and I was so happy to see it done here. There were bits where it looked a bit ropey but thats mainly down to putting 2012 footage into the quality footage they did. It worked brilliantly and it was especially nice to see The Doctor and Susan stealing the TARDIS from Gallifrey

This episode deals with 2 main things. The Doctors secret and the mystery of who is Clara Oswald. The majority of people presumed that the Doctors secret would be his name but at the end of the episode it was revealed not to be the case. The Name did play a part in the episode of course though as that was the password to open the tomb of the Doctor. I was happy that the Moffat did not reveal the Doctors name as I think that this would take away some of the remaining mystery around the show. I'd rather this never be revealed.
I remember a few months back, Moffat saying that if you think you have guessed who Clara is, you are wrong but this was not the case with most fans. Alot of us had thought that Clara would be splintered across time and this was nearly the case with the solution. That said though, I was still happy with the resolution but that could be down to the joy of seeing Clara with past Doctors.

This episode saw the return of the Paternoster Gang and River Song. River this time around was placed after the library episodes. I was rather dreading this when I heard in DWM that this was going to be the placement as I had hoped that Steven would stay away from setting any episode after them but I think that it worked. It made the scene in the Tomb even more emotional with the "I thought it would hurt me" speech. Part of me thinks that it would be nice to see River back again but this episode would be the perfect final episode for her.
I had been looking forward to the cliffhanger ending for a while. I'd heard loads of rumblings about things it could be from David Tennant to multiple TARDIS's arriving. Since I had heard that John would be the Doctor on the Gallifrey Base spoiler thread, I thought that he would be involved but I was not disappointed with the ending. It was a great introduction to this new Doctor and it has left us with more questions than ever. They better be answered in the 50th

This story was definitely the best episode of the second half of Series 7 and it was a great way to end Matt's final full series. 10/10

Series 7b Episode 7 - Nightmare in Silver - Review

Nightmare in Silver marks the return of Neil Gaiman to Doctor Who. After he wrote the popular episode "The Doctors Wife" in 2011, fans have been wanting to see a return from him. It also marks a return of the Cybermen who were last scene in 2011's "Closing Time." Personally, I don't think this episode was as good as Gaimans first outing but it was still an very good action packed episode. One of the things I disliked about the episode was the kids. I don't think any responsible person would allow kids to go travelling with the Doctor considering how much danger he gets into most of the time.

I really do like the new look cybermen. They have kept quite a bit of what was good about the previous design and then made them a bit slimmer. There is something about the head that is reminiscent of the Wheel in Space Cybermen. I have seen comments that they have ripped off the Iron Man design which I can sort of agree with but I think its more that they took some inspiration from it that ripped it off. The chest piece does look quite Iron Man. I was a bit disappointed with the voice. After hearing that Nick Briggs had recorded a version more like The Tenth Planet ones, I was hoping that he would go with that as I think there is quite a charm to that voice. Something like the voice they used in Big Finish's The Silver Turk would have been nice.
The look of the Cybermen are not the only thing that has been changed. They are more powerful this time. With lots of new abilities, the Cybermen seem more of a threat this time around. They can move at super speeds, seeming to freeze time around them. Now while I like that they can move faster than last time, I am not sure about this super speed thing they have going on. They have also ditched the Cybermats and have got the much sleeker Cybermites.

The episode sees Matt get to play a split personality of the Doctor and the Cyberplaner. Matt managed to flow between characters very seamlessly which made it very easy to follow. What I liked most during them scenes was the direction. I really liked that they showed the clean half of the face when it was the Doctor talking and the Cyberised side when it was the Cyberplaner. Now, I do think there were times that the Cyberplanner was a bit over the top and a bit cringy. I did enjoy that part of the episode but I think Matt could have toned it down a bit.
I feel Tamzin Outhwaite was rather wasted really. She didn't really seem to do much. I don't get why her character just gave in and obeyed what Clara told her to do since she was supposed to be in charge. Warwick Davis was fantastic in role of Porridge. I did like the twist of him ending up being the emperor but if he could activate the bomb and teleport them out, then why didn't he just do that at the beginning. Not sure I agreed with that aspect of the plot.
Overall I think this episode was good with some fantastic ideas but it definitely had quite a few flaws. Maybe it could have been better if it had 10-15 minutes more time to breath. As a result, I would give it a 8/10.

Series 7b Episode 6 - The Crimson Horror - Review

The Crimson Horror started out like it was a pilot for a Paternoster Gang spinoff and then rounded up as a fantastic traditional Doctor Who story. Now I have seen some people saying that they did not like the fact it took the Doctor around 15 minutes to turn up but I liked that and it gave them the chance to do that brilliant recap. That was a stroke of genius. Now I wouldn't want it every week but as a one off it worked really well. This is Paternoster Gang's third story now, and I think they are working well together. Strax has to be my favourite of the gang with his wonderful one liners. "Horse, you have failed in your mission!" I think they would really work well in their own series. Jenny, Strax and Vastra, saving good old Victorian London town!

The series continues to get some fantastic guest stars, with this week's Dame Diana Rigg and daughter Rachael Stirling. They both played a blinder in this episode. Diana's character was a villain who just wanted to kill because she was just not a very nice person which is something Doctor Who has been missing for a while. The fact that she had used her own daughter to test on was a big shock to me. I wonder if her character had always been bad or if it was only since Mr Sweet had come along when she went bad.
Mr Sweet while being a good idea for a villain felt a let down for me. He didn't seem to do much except feed off Rigg's character. His death was good though. I have to admit, I did look away when she was whacking him one.

I was a little disappointed that they rather glossed over the whole Clara being alive storyline really. I was hoping for a short scene between the Doctor and the Paternoster Gang discussing Clara. I know it was mentioned a few times but not much was really said. I supposed Moffat wants to do that himself.
I would give this episode an 8/10 as it felt like a classic Doctor Who story. Plenty of horror moments with some humour thrown in. Both Marks stories this year have been very strong after the last few being a bit weak.

The Two Doctors Mark II

As you may or may not know, DWM have confirmed today that David Tennant will be the only returning Doctor in the 50th Anniversary Episode. Now this really bugs me. Since this is supposed to be the 50th Anniversary Celebration Episode, it would be nice to have the others back for a celebration. Steven keeps saying that he wants to look forward and not back as an excuse for not bringing them back but if that is so, why has he brought back 10 and Rose? It doesn't make sense really. It looks more like he has only approached the Doctors he has worked with to be in it, AKA 9 and 10, and isn't looking back at the other 8 doctors. This is the 50th Anniversary, not the 7th!!
I really hope this is one big lie and in fact they are in it and Steven is just keeping it a big secret to make it a surprise but with each passing day, I am losing hope. This news has just added more fuel for the people who think "Moffat Must Go" and I hate to say it, but I am slowly leaning towards that opinion now. As much as I love his writing, he doesn't seem to be doing a very good job at running the show. So please surprise us and do this correct and celebrate the 50 years of Who.