A look at the first Matt Smith tenure by GF Willmetts. As a look at the latest ‘Doctor Who’ season, I’m going to be careful about giving too many story details. If you’ve been following my comments in the SFC forum, I’ve been doing that and being careful for the past thirteen weeks anyway.

There’s a fair bet that outside of SFC that there’s enough spoilers if you want to go that route but as SFCrowsnest is an international SF site with the biggest monthly hit quota then we’re trying to look after your best interests. If I’m writing obliquely, then it’ll make sense after you’ve seen the complete season. If I’ve said too much then it wasn’t done intentionally.



The start of Matt Smith’s tenure as the Doctor is also the first season with new show-runner Steven Moffat and any significant changes will come from him more than the actor. After all, like Russell T. Davies, he’s the one with the plan and actor Matt Smith develops the details in his own performance. In that regard, I can see a lot of Pat Troughton in what he does.

Unlike David Tennant’s Doctor, this regeneration is a lot more vulnerable and capable of making mistakes. New companion Amy Pond (actress Karen Gillian) has given alternative suggestions that he’s gone along with from the start being the biggest surprise. Compared to the earlier omnipresence I have to confess this is a healthier way to go. Even under imminent threat, no one can get on with a know-it-all all the time. There’s also indications that the Doctor is feeling his age a bit. It might be a Gallifreyan thing that the older you get, the younger the body you regenerate into but the old brain matter might not fare too well. After all, wouldn’t you prefer a body that hasn’t got too many downsides of old age?

At this point, it’s worth mentioning that actor Matt Smith has an indeterminate ageless look. I bet anything that he’ll look more or less the same in the next few decades as well. I described Tennant’s Doctor as being the tourist end of last year. This Doctor is more like an eccentric countryside doctor, complete with the bedside manner when he needs to use it and not sure if he can do some things until he tries to do them. I’m not sure if you should try his taste for frozen fishfingers in custard as a dietary treat, though. Let them thaw out a bit first or you’ll get indigestion. Even more incredible is the writers create a ball game especially for him based on Gaelic football, shame they couldn’t keep the sticks though. The fact that Smith slips into the role so effortless just goes to show what a dream part the Doctor role is and any doubts about his age quickly dematerialise. There’s also a lot less dependence on having either of them just running about to fill in time.

There’s still a bit of dependence on the use of his sonic screwdriver still but like the inside of the TARDIS, it’s something you must expect from this show. Having the TARDIS itself significantly change inside with a regeneration is a bit new. Yes, there were subtle changes with the early TARDIS when its master changed but not a complete make-over. I’d hold back at giving the old girl a voice though in case anyone is thinking of it in the future. The TARDIS isn’t truly sentient.

If ever there was an opportunity to have an episode showing what it’s like to be inside the TARDIS and a chance to explore, I hope it’s considered for the next season. It hasn’t been since Tom Baker’s regeneration that we’ve seen much other than the control room and would make an interesting bottle show. Showing just how big inside it is would give anyone some thought as to what to do with all that dimension in space.

New companion Amy Pond is yet another character that has a more significant place in the events to come and although the clues are laid out throughout the series, I have a feeling people are going to argue for a ‘normal’ (sic) companion some time. Having her boy-friend, Rory Williams (actor Arthur Darvill) on-board at least ensures a different sort of balance to life on-board the TARDIS. I can’t help feel that his presence is there to stop speculation as to what happens between adventures. Just because the Doctor likes humans, doesn’t make him likely to bed them. This isn’t ‘Torchwood’ after all.

Which brings us to someone who isn’t exactly a companion yet but on her way to being one. It won’t be a spoiler to say River Song is back, sweetie. Actress Alex Kingston is always a delight and it’s interesting seeing her time-line working in reverse to the Doctor’s. As we’ve yet to go back to when she first meets the Doctor, she should be around for a long while yet. I have given some thought in the SFC forum that as she becomes younger that she could turn into an on-going younger companion. If not the current one, then someone further down the line as she has an indeterminate age and could well out-last the current regeneration. Whether that works out that way is open to debate but I wouldn’t be surprised if River Song becomes a regular companion some season down the time-line and explain how she becomes a bride, let alone her knowledge of being able to pilot the TARDIS. That, in itself, is a bit of a mystery as it’s always assumed that only Time Lords can do that. Then again, she’s as good as the Doctor using a time bracelet which should raise some question marks with some of you.

There has been a good variety of aliens this time even if some of the new ones aren’t that big a threat. The weeping angels are back obviously but don’t blink and I’d love to know if they have a real agenda other than killing aliens. Another Silurian tribe, the Eonians, got some publicity but they seem positively good compared to the other two tribes in the past. I can understand the argument to have species not necessarily likely to kill off those pesky humans but there should be some more thought given to agendas beyond being conquerors. After all, why don’t these beings take on each other as the opposition first before the more moderate species but that makes sense to any of the alien races the Doctor encounters.

The Doctor definitely needs a new enemy that is dangerous and intelligent but not in a world or galactic conquering way. There are hints that something is a foot and a definite hint that the Eonians will make a future appearance. Actress Merra Syal would definitely be an interesting companion for a couple stories. Is it just me or do the older actresses seem to show added vitality with this show?

I’m less keen on the new Daleks, mostly because their new colour scheme and shape adjustment makes them look too plasticky and something you might fill with bath foam – maybe it’s a merchandise thing. It gets rid of the menace aspect of them. You feel like you can get rid of them with a squeeze than dodging their disintegrator beams.

With the final episode and this isn’t a spoiler, don’t you find it odd that so many of the Doctor’s significant foe species have access to time travel technology? It’s no longer just Time Lord territory ability. Unlike the Doctor, they aren’t likely to have any compunction about not changing history, so why don’t they do something major with it? I’m a little puzzled why the Draconians are considered as villains, unless we’re missing some adventure somewhere, but having them mentioned but not really seen does tend to suggest they’ll be in the next season which is something long overdue. Even in the earlier regenerations, the Draconians really did look spectacular and it’s a shame they haven’t come up at all yet.

From a story profile, the obvious influence is Steven Moffat’s liking for employing time travel in the stories showing causes and later effects. He also knows what he’s doing and that has rubbed off on the various scriptwriters as well. ‘Doctor Who’ is the ultimate time travel series and it’s a good step to jump beyond just using it as a medium to get to the adventure setting. Having said that, it needs to be balanced out. The Doctor might not be able to mess with his own time-line but it would be possible for him to arrive earlier in a planet’s history to change something to undo a future event that went wrong, even by something he’s done. Hopefully, Moffat might do something as to why that wouldn’t be a good option.

It’s almost become a requisite to meet some historical Earth person each season now. This really risks becoming too much of a formula though. If it has to stay in, considering the Doctor has travelled the entire length of Earth history, why not meet a historical figure that none of us have never read about yet and not just one of the future astronauts who went to Mars. Hell, he could even meet an alien historical figure. It needs either variation, like setting over people, or shown not to be needed for a season or two.

Which brings up another problem. Why would the Doctor leave the likes of Winston Churchill with a phone capable of contacting him? Although I can appreciate that we might not see every appearance in time the Doctor makes and conceivably there are gaps to ensure some of the novel tie-ins can become canon should they choose to do so, but this is a significant move. Where else has he left phones and what happens if he doesn’t answer them as witnessed in one particular story? It brings a doctor on call into a different light. Things like this need to be established rather than brought in as a fate accompli. What will they do next? Turn the Doctor into a kleptomaniac who picks up a souvenir from wherever he goes?

Collectively, despite my criticisms, this is a great way into a new Doctor’s tenure and if anyone had any doubts about Steven Moffat’s reign they needn’t have. He made the show his own from the start. He’s also a good enough observer of his own work to know the areas that need to be improved upon without me telling him so the next few years can only grow from this start.

If you’re hungry for more, don’t forget the Doctor will be appearing in the next series of ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’ out this autumn.

(c) GF Willmetts 2010

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