Grow Your Own Tenth Doctor, While You Warm Up To The Eleventh

 

Already missing Doctor Who's tenth Doctor? You can grow your own, thanks to this handy (ha) DIY kit. Meanwhile, overcome your doubts about the eleventh Doctor by watching him sleep with Rose Tyler.

The make-your-own-tenth-Doctor kit is something you can make yourself at home — all you need is the card, the little bottle full of some kind of green liquid, a hand (from an action figure), and a chain. Sadly, I can't find the original source of the image — all I found is this person on Etsy begging for someone to make it for them and send it to New Zealand for $5.

If you're the creator of the kit, or you know who is, please drop me a line and I'll credit her or him properly at once.

But don't panic! The new eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, got a ringing endorsement from the Moff himself (no, not our Moff), Steven Moffat. Says new executive producer Moffat:

The Doctor is a very special part, and it takes a very special actor to play him. You need to be old and young at the same time, a boffin and an action hero, a cheeky schoolboy and the wise old man of the universe.

As soon as Matt walked through the door, and blew us away with a bold and brand new take on the Time Lord, we knew we had our man.

Haters of his current hairstyle will be sad, though, to know that Moffat also cited Smith's touseled coiffure as one of the reasons he'll be a great Doctor. Also, says producer Piers Wenger:

There's a quirkiness to him, an unevenness to his face, a lot of stuff going on behind the eyes. He hasn't got an entirely modern face.

(Honestly the more I think about it, the more I agree with Tom Baker, who always said the role of the Doctor is "actor-proof.") But should you still entertain nagging doubts, here's a clip of the new Doctor hooking up with Rose Tyler, from episode six of "Diary Of A Call Girl

A Little information about matt smith

 

Matt Smith, 26, grew up with his family including one sister in Northampton. He was head boy at Northampton School For Boys where he excelled at sports, music and drama.

Initially, Matt wanted to be a professional footballer and played for Northampton Town Under 11 and 12s, Nottingham Forest Under 12,13,14s and Leicester City Under 15 and 16s before a back injury forced him out of the game.

Following his injury, and with the encouragement of one of his teachers, Jerry Hardingham, Matt decided to join the National Youth Theatre. It was during this time that Matt first gained attention at the Royal Court Theatre when he was cast in the play Fresh Kills, directed by Wilson Milam, whilst still at the University Of East Anglia where he was studying Drama and Creative Writing.

Already a stalwart of the National Youth Theatre, his performance at the Court led to a variety of theatrical experiences at the National Theatre: in the award winning History Boys (directed by Nick Hytner), On The Shore Of The Wide World (directed by Sarah Frankcom) and also in the acclaimed trio of plays Burn / Citizenship / Chatroom (directed by Anna Mackmin).

These roles led to Matt's first outings on the small screen, alongside Billie Piper in Phillip Pullman's period detective stories, The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, where he played Jim, right hand man to Billie's detective heroine Sally Lockhart. These pieces were followed by the lead role of Danny in the BBC Two series Party Animals, the brilliantly observed drama set in the world of young politicians.

In a dazzling return to the Royal Court in 2007, Matt played Henry in Polly Stenham's award winning first play That Face, opposite Lindsay Duncan. His performance gained Matt an Evening Standard Best Newcomer nomination and a year later the play had a second life in the West End at the Duke of York's Theatre. In between the two runs, Matt played Guy opposite Christian Slater's Buddy in Swimming With Sharks, Mike Leslie's searing West End adaptation of the 1994 Hollywood film. In this time he also played a lead role in the BAFTA winning BBC One series, The Street, opposite Gina McKee and Lorraine Ashbourne.

Matt has recently completed work on Moses Jones for BBC Two, directed by Michael Offer, in which he plays the lead role of Dan Twentyman, alongside Shaun Parkes in the title role.

matt smith the 11th doctor

The BBC today announced that Matt Smith has been cast in the role of the Doctor in the iconic BBC series Doctor Who. Smith will be the eleventh Time Lord and will take over from David Tennant who leaves the show at the end of 2009. He will be seen in the forthcoming fifth series that will be broadcast in 2010.



The fifth series will also have a new lead writer and Executive Producer in the form of the BAFTA award winning writer Steven Moffat who is taking over from Russell T Davies. Moffat will be joined by Piers Wenger who will be the new Executive Producer for BBC Wales making the show.



Following David Tennant's decision to step down at the end of 2009, the team behind the new series set about casting the new Doctor so that new adventures could be created and scripts written with Matt in mind.



The identity of the new Doctor was revealed on a special edition of Doctor Who Confidential that was broadcast on BBC One on January 3rd at 17.35hrs. In it Smith revealed his initial reaction at taking on such a legendary role and his thoughts on what direction the Doctor might now be going with him playing the part.



Matt Smith said of his new role "I'm just so excited about the journey that is in front of me. It's a wonderful privilege and challenge that I hope I will thrive on. I feel proud and honoured to have been given this opportunity to join a team of people that has worked so tirelessly to make the show so thrilling.



"David Tennant has made the role his own, brilliantly with grace, talent and persistent dedication. I hope to learn from the standards set by him. The challenge for me is to do justice to the show's illustrious past, my predecessors and most importantly to those who watch it. I really cannot wait."



Lead writer and Executive Producer Steven Moffat said "The Doctor is a very special part, and it takes a very special actor to play him. You need to be old and young at the same time, a boffin and an action hero, a cheeky schoolboy and the wise old man of the universe. As soon as Matt walked through the door and blew us away with a bold and brand new take on the Time Lord, we knew we had our man. 2010 is a long time away but rest assured the Eleventh Doctor is coming - and the universe has never been so safe."



Piers Wenger, Head Of Drama, BBC Wales added "With two hearts, a ferocious mind and over 900 years of experience behind him, it's not every 26 year old actor who can take on a role like the Doctor but within moments of meeting Matt he showed the skill and imagination needed to create a Doctor all of his own.



It's just the beginning of the journey for Matt but with Steven Moffat's scripts and the expertise of the production team in Cardiff behind him, there is no one more perfect than him to be taking the TARDIS to exciting new futures when the series returns in 2010."



Ben Stephenson, Controller BBC Drama added "I am delighted to see Matt take on this iconic role. It will see him continuing his relationship with the BBC following his performances in Ruby In The Smoke and Party Animals, and his upcoming role in Moses Jones. The combination of Matt, Steven and Piers will, I know, take Doctor Who onto new and even dizzier heights."



Jay Hunt, Controller. BBC ONE said "Matt Smith will be a mesmerising eleventh Time Lord, true to the spirit of the show. He is a worthy successor to David Tennant who has been utterly remarkable in the role and promises to continue to be in next year's four special episodes."

doctor who - The Doctor and Rose

this is one weird video with one weird soundtrack sounds a bit french comment on the video or here and let me know what you think

Matt Smith Why He Will Disappoint

Now that the dust has started to settle on the news that Matt Smith will be the new Doctor Who, I have to ask: Am I the only one who feels a little... well, cheated?

It's not an age thing, I should point out. Although, yes, 26 seems a little young to me to be a Doctor, that's entirely a thought probably based more in my own bitterness at realizing that I'm eight years older than a timelord and feeling as if all of my life's achievements pale in comparison to singlehandedly saving the universe on a weekly basis or traveling around all time and space in a blue police box; Peter Davison was only three years older when he got the role back in 1981, and I didn't have any problem with his age, after all. It's also not a comment on whether or not Smith will be any good in the role; I can't think of that many things he's done that I've seen, so I don't have any real opinion one way or another.

No, my problem with the choice is this: He's a white male.

I shouldn't be surprised, of course; the Doctor has, since his creation, always been a white male. Ten actors have played him previously "in canon" (Peter Cushing and the all the stars of the Children In Need special being ignored), and each one of them has been distinctly caucasian and possessing of a penis (Well, to the best of my knowledge). But this was the regeneration where we were led to believe that anything was possible and that things could change. This was the regeneration where names like Patterson Joseph and Chiwetel Ejiofor were not only raised as possibilities but named by the BBC themselves as frontrunners for the role, with the Corporation also happily teasing that it was also very possible that a woman might be taking over the Tardis this time around.

Put it down, perhaps, to naivety and post-Obama optimism, but there was a buzz and excitement about the idea of the new Doctor being something other than the establishment figure that we'd been used to all these years. For my part, it wasn't any kind of affirmative action or "political correctness gone wild" (Hello to our Daily Mail readers) that made me eager to see Joseph in the role; it was the statement that such a choice would have represented. The Doctor is everyone, it would have said, and for everyone, and this particular Doctor is something you've not necessarily seen before. Even if he was a man, he wouldn't necessarily have been The Man, if you know what I mean.

Instead, we have Matt Smith, whose age is apparently controversial, but about whom, everything else seems... well, pretty conventional. And perhaps that's the point. Maybe the BBC didn't want to bring too much upset to their flagship family program, especially with the change in producers and showrunners, and worried that moving too far away from the familiar would make viewers leave the show in concern that it's not the same show they've loved for the last X number of years. If so, it's a shame, and - I think - a miscalculation; I really doubt that audiences would have had any problem with a black Doctor, or a female Doctor (or, for that matter, a black female Doctor, for anyone who wants to write fanfic that Martha Jones is actually a future Doctor herself); despite a stereotype and tradition for stuffiness, Britain is a strongly multicultural environment, and even if it wasn't, characters like Martha, or the admittedly-annoying Mickey, or even Captain Jack Harkness, had been quietly pushing the envelope on Who since its revival. Even if the BBC wasn't ready for a different kind of Doctor, the audience, I believe, was.

I'm almost left wondering, does this choice send the opposite message? Is there an accidental, implied "It's okay to be a companion if you're not white and male, but you'll never be the star of the show?" in selecting Smith over Joseph or someone else? The BBC was ready to tease the potential for a bold new era for the Doctor, after all, so they must have been aware of the messages that such a choice would have been sending. Does shying away from a non-white male lead after raising such hopes make the BBC look worse than just being a PR cocktease? Does it make them look racist, or afraid?

None of this is meant to suggest that Smith won't be a great Doctor. He certainly has a great team of people behind him, and I highly doubt that his selection was made without a lot of thought, auditions and back-and-forth; it's just that it feels like we were offered something more, for a brief second, and I'm still hung up on what might have been.