Matt Smith may leave Doctor Who.

[The Romulan Republic]

http://www.vancouversun.com/Actor+step+ ... story.html

The latest "time lord" is calling time on his Doctor Who career - just in time for Christmas.

Quoting insiders, U.K. newspaper The Sun says Matt Smith will make his exit with a festive special after four triumphant years in the lead role of the long-running sci-fi series.

The actor has made it clear he would like to spread his talents to Hollywood, where he recently filmed How to Catch a Monster with Ryan Gosling.

Sources quoted by the paper say Doctor Who producers have a replacement in mind for Smith, whose contract is understood to expire in November.

Filming on the 50th anniversary episode of the show will begin next month.

On British talk show Jonathan Ross recently, Smith was non-committal about his Doctor future.

"I am very happy doing it," he said. "I do the anniversary special, then the Christmas special. At the moment it's 2013 and we will see what 2014 holds."

But an insider said: "Matt has told bosses he wants to bow out at Christmas."

Smith was a little-known actor when he signed up for the role in 2009. He now earns an estimated $2 million a year, the same as his Time Lord predecessor, David Tennant, at the time of his exit.

In a statement, show producers at the BBC refused to be drawn: "Sorry folks but even we don't know what's going to happen at Christmas. It's not been written yet! But Matt loves the show and is to start filming the unmissable 50th anniversary, and the new series starting on Easter Saturday."

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

I wouldn't mind. But I'd be happier if it said Moffat might leave.

[Gandalf]

Not quite.

[The Romulan Republic]

There seems to be some uncertainty about it, but it sounds like he's staying. I'd have kind of liked it if he left now, but I can live with more of the Eleventh Doctor. Smith can act pretty well.

[Darth Klingon]

Dr. Who can still be an awesome show even without Matt Smith. They can get somebody else to play a Time Lord. While I think he's a good actor, the show can function with or without him.

[The Romulan Republic]

Of course it can. They've replaced the Doctor ten times already and its still popular. The show has even benefitted from these changes. That's how its survived for so long, and its probably helped keep the show interesting for so long.

[darth_timon]

Cue a lot of speculation as to who will be the next Doctor- I would love to see a really dark Doctor (someone like John Hannah, who can do funny but also do nasty).

[The Romulan Republic]

The Eleventh Doctor is already too dark. He is extremely ruthless sometimes (like in Day of the Moon). Also, he hates himself and is often depressed (though he has reasons to be depressed).

I might like a more serious Doctor (serious is not the same as dark). Both the Tenth Doctor and the Eleventh Doctor are sometimes ruthless but they are also really goofy (At this rate the Doctor's going to have his skin turn white, get a permanent creepy grin, and try to kill Batman).

I'm open to the idea of a female Doctor as well.

[Parallax]

I'd love to see a Doctor more like the 7th; uses his intelligence for a set purpose and stops just bumming about randomly bumping into evil - instead, he hunts it down and makes it his bitch.
Which would kind of make sense for the Doctor - he realises he's nearing his final end and wants to take out as much as evil as he can before he can't regenerate anymore.

[The Xeelee]

It will be good riddance.

[Hillary]

I'd love to see a Doctor more like the 7th.

Your avatar kind of gives that away

It will be good riddance.

It will indeed; mind the door doesn't hit your backside on the way out :deadmanwalking:

On topic, I rather like Matt Smith in the role and think he has a good couple of years left in it. Unlike Romulan Republic, I like the dark stuff quite a bit and think that Smith is very adept at mixing this with the humourous stuff. He also has a great face - it goes from excited schoolboy to old man with the world on his shoulders and gives the feel for what the Doctor is.

I don't disagree with him that it would be nice to have a "serious" Doctor next - maybe a McCoy type as Parallax said.

[The Romulan Republic]

I don't necessarily object to it being dark (although I don't want it to be cynical). But there is a fine line between being an anti-hero and being a villain, and the Doctor has crossed that line on a number of ocsassions in my opinion.

And the Doctor seems like such an emotionally and mentally damaged person (granted that there are good reasons for this) that its depressing.

[Srelex]

I don't disagree with him that it would be nice to have a "serious" Doctor next - maybe a McCoy type as Parallax said.

I've heard Chiwetel Ejiofor fancies taking on the role, and he might make a good choice for that.

[Hillary]

I don't disagree with him that it would be nice to have a "serious" Doctor next - maybe a McCoy type as Parallax said.

I've heard Chiwetel Ejiofor fancies taking on the role, and he might make a good choice for that.

A black Doctor - that'd set the cat amongst the pigeons

[DaveJB]

Maybe among the general viewing audience, but I doubt Doctor Who fandom would care that much. In fact, back in 2009 I recall a lot of fans initially being upset that Smith got the role over Patterson Joseph.

Now, a female Doctor... that'd cause a shitstorm of the highest order!

[The Romulan Republic]

I think there will be a female Doctor eventually. Its been said on the show that Time Lords can change from male to female when they regenerate. And in a way its already happened (the Doctor has a female clone).

Of course some fans will complain. But then, some fans always complain.

[Captain Seafort]

Now, a female Doctor... that'd cause a shitstorm of the highest order!

Unless they get Joanna Lumley.

[jwl]

Casting a non-male doctor (outside spoofs, and I'm saying non-male rather than female because, well, this is doctor who) would be a terrible idea. Being male is a major character trait for the doctor throughout the show's history, just like wearing the same clothes every episode is. Also, it usually works best when there's a new doctor to just continue as if nothing hapened, and not all the time drawing attention to the fact he's regenerated. This will be extremely difficult to do with a female doctor.
If you want a doctor-who type show with a female protagonist, they could just do a spinoff with jenny or river as the protagonist. We had that with SJA and it can happen again. You could even make a series with maria as the protagonist in america, continuing the SJA tradition. For me making the doctor female would be the equivalent of ditching the tardis and making the doctor run around with a vortex manipulator: theoretically possible, might work for a separate show, but a bad idea for main doctor who.
Oh, and before you ask, there are some other castings of the doctor I'm opposed to:
An non-british doctor: Hearing the doctor with an american accent would be just annoying and despite not being an alien from the planet gallifrey, being British is part of his character. He's also iconic British figure and turning american or australian would take away from that.
A kid doctor (in the mainstream show, a spinoff of the doctor as a kid in Gallifrey would be OK). Again, being an adult is part of his character.
A master-style mutated doctor: good for a few episodes, just wouldn't work long-term.
A disabled doctor: dunno why, I just dislike the idea of the doctor saving the universe going around in a wheelchair. If matt smith suddenly breaks both his legs, they shouldn't get rid of him, but they shouldn't actually hire a disabled doctor either.

The companions, though, can be any of these, I don't mind about that. And I'd be fine with a black doctor too, so long as they are British and not Jamaican or whatever, and they just continue as normal and don't lampshade it all the time.

[Stark]

Has any regeneration ever been continuing as if nothing happened?

The first one had the crew believing an imposter was around.
The second was a punishment from god.
The third was radiation poisoning and near-madness.
The fourth was a reverse ghost and universe of pure maths.
The fifth was a personal sacrifice and actual madness.
The sixth was a complete transformation and apparent top-to-bottom replacement of memory
The seventh was catastrophically retarded.
The eighth was in a novel and thus catastrophically retarded.
The ninth was actual god.
The tenth was ... what? Radiation again? Who'd watch the show honestly it's dogshit.

But none of them were OH YEAH LOL NO BIGGIE BRO.

The Doctor being a woman, as someone who's watched the show their entire life, doesn't seem to pose any narrative problems whatever.

[Eternal_Freedom]

A disabled doctor: dunno why, I just dislike the idea of the doctor saving the universe going around in a wheelchair. If matt smith suddenly breaks both his legs, they shouldn't get rid of him, but they shouldn't actually hire a disabled doctor either.

Dude, "disabled" does not equate to "in a wheelchair," being disabled myself I really hate that stereotype. The role should go to whoever manages to impress the producers enough with their talents. If that person happens to be black, brown, chinese, female, in a wheelchair or half-blind then it's up to the writers to make it work.

[jwl]

Has any regeneration ever been continuing as if nothing happened?

The first one had the crew believing an imposter was around.
The second was a punishment from god.
The third was radiation poisoning and near-madness.
The fourth was a reverse ghost and universe of pure maths.
The fifth was a personal sacrifice and actual madness.
The sixth was a complete transformation and apparent top-to-bottom replacement of memory
The seventh was catastrophically retarded.
The eighth was in a novel and thus catastrophically retarded.
The ninth was actual god.
The tenth was ... what? Radiation again? Who'd watch the show honestly it's dogshit.

But none of them were OH YEAH LOL NO BIGGIE BRO.

The Doctor being a woman, as someone who's watched the show their entire life, doesn't seem to pose any narrative problems whatever.

Yeah, but they didn't keep constantly referencing and lampshading it. In spearhead in space the UNIT is like: who are you. The doctor: I'm the doctor. UNIT: no you're not. The doctor: yes I am, now lets get back to stopping those autons. In the christmas invasion the jackie is like: who is this? Rose is like: it's the doctor. Big invasion. Afterwards the doctor is like: where next? The show continues as normal. I'm not saying it would be impossible to do without continually referencing his regeneration cycle, but it would be much harder, just by the fact that the docotr visually stands out way more than any of the other doctors.

A disabled doctor: dunno why, I just dislike the idea of the doctor saving the universe going around in a wheelchair. If matt smith suddenly breaks both his legs, they shouldn't get rid of him, but they shouldn't actually hire a disabled doctor either.

Dude, "disabled" does not equate to "in a wheelchair," being disabled myself I really hate that stereotype. The role should go to whoever manages to impress the producers enough with their talents. If that person happens to be black, brown, chinese, female, in a wheelchair or half-blind then it's up to the writers to make it work.

Yeah, sorry about that. I just couldn't think of any other way to put it (although I'm not sure I'd like, say, a mute doctor either). Is there a general word for someone in a wheelchair I can use from now on?

By the way, I can't get the float tags to work on my sig. Any advice in using them?

[Stark]

So in what way is the character suddenly being a woman more difficult narratively than the character suddenly being thirty years younger and a foot taller and INSANE?

I'M THE DOCTOR
OMG U A WOMAN!
NO DERP DERPFACE HAHA LETS GO STOP ALIENS

Indeed the Doctor NOT CARING would be a great way to sell gender role issues, transgender themes, social construction of gender etc. It'd have great potential because the Doctor as a person WOULDN'T CARE because ITS THE FUTURE AND NOBODY CARES.

[Eternal_Freedom]

"It's the future and nobody cares." That's how they sold Jack being gay, sorry, "omnisexual" I think was the term, since everyone in the 51st century was.

Whilst the idea of a female Doctor is interesting, I think it would put an awful lot of pressure on the actress and the writers to sell it well enough. Sure, proper fans of the show will understand that Time Lords can change genders, but the casual viewr woudl be much harder to convince I suspect, which probably explains why the BBC has not used the idea before.

[Stark]

Well that and the show being a little sump hole full of dogshit festering corpses, yeah. There's plenty of reasons why not (most of which sound a lot like the word 'money') but internal narrative issues are not one of them.

Just tell the BBC it'd let them replace teenage girl exploitation with teenage girl lesbian exploitation and they'd jump at it. I mean, responsibly weigh up the pros and cons of this fundamental narrative shift.

[the atom]

The Eleventh Doctor is already too dark. He is extremely ruthless sometimes (like in Day of the Moon). Also, he hates himself and is often depressed (though he has reasons to be depressed).

Hrm? How do you come by that? Nine was a miserable, cynical asshole about everything (which is partially why to this day Christopher Eccleston is still my favourite), and Ten was a neurotic wreck by the time he 'died'.

[jwl]

Indeed the Doctor NOT CARING would be a great way to sell gender role issues, transgender themes, social construction of gender etc.

Which is another reason why I dislike the idea. It stinks of "hey guys, lets address gender role issues". It's alright doing it for one storyline, but it isn't something you should use as part of the doctor's identity.