Is anyone else not entirely convinced by the new Doctor?

[jacey]

OK, I admit to being a fan of new Doctor Who (having watched Old Who since the beginning, though I'd drifted away in the dreadful Colin Baker years). I loved Chris Eccleston's interpretation of the tough-but-fragile, war-damaged Doctor. You just knew there was a lot going on under the surface and the wild swings from brooding to brittle-brightness were crazily addictive.

It took me a while to warm to David Tennant. I wasn't too keen on the 'Christmas Invasion' and the pyjama clad swordfight until the 'no second chances' moment, but it only took me three or four episodes to be convinced that here was a Doctor who was probably a bit mad, but was also filled with both passion and compassion fuelled with just a touch of desperation to hold the edges of his frayed life together.

But Matt Smith? Just not loving him so far. Oh, it's still a great programme with many reasons to continue watching, but now a bit flattened by having a Doctor who - frankly - seems to be trying too hard to be quirky, though without substance. I don't see that 'old soul' in him that both Eccleston and Tennant had in spades. He also seems to be without a funny bone in his body. He tries for goofy and fails. Both Eccleston and Tennant delivered the comedy moments with unconscious ease as well as excelling at the drama and emotional content. is it because Smith is too young? I don't know. I thought his odd face might offset that, but I'm not sure it has.

It's not the writing. Steven Moffatt wrote some of my favourite episodes for both Eccleston and Tennant (Empty Child/Doctor Dances; Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead; Blink etc.) It's not the assistant/s. Amy Pond and Rory are fine. I look forward to more of their character development and applaud Moffat's decision to include Rory to make sure that the Doctor and Amy weren't set up for another Rose/Doctor (or even Martha/Doctor) relationship. (I loved the Rose/Doctor thing, but you just can't repeat something like that - at least not too soon.)

No, I'm afraid I just haven't warmed to Matt Smith yet. Can we have a twelfth doctor soon please?

I'm still a Doctor Who fan, but a slightly disappointed one. I really wanted Steven Moffatt to deliver on his promise of a great new Doctor.

And while I'm on with the grumbling... the new version of the theme tune is not a patch on the last one.

Comments

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

It's a good job there are enough varieties of Who to go around. We seem to like completely different aspects of it. I liked Hartnell (and Ian and Barbara) in that detatched, complacent, accepting kind of way because at that point in time we didn't know that there would ever be alternatives (and I was only a child, so didn't ever stop to analyse).

I was never quite comfortable with Troughton. The only Doctor I can agree with you on was Davidson, though by that time it had moved to a Monday night and I had two small children, so I found it a difficult time to watch on a regular basis.

I can barely remember Ace, but I hated Turlough.

The Colin Baker years drove me away screaming. Unfortunately I didn't realise there had been a change to McCoy for the longest time, so I missed a lot of those, too.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

It didn't help that Baker got stuck with a couple of the worse companions evah.

Watching Who is rather like reading American superhero comics - if you don't like what's going on now, just wait around a few years, keep a watching brief, and sooner or later you may start buying it because they've changed everything back to where it used to be or made it better.

Of course, no-one ever really dies in comic books, so...