With the season finale of the current season of Doctor Who now under our belt I thought it might be appropriate to take a look back at Matt Smith’s first season as the Doctor rather than just sing the praises of the finale.
I went on record a couple of weeks ago through my Twitter account that I’m enjoying Matt Smith’s tenure more than David Tennant’s. That’s not to say that Tennant was bad in any way, he was great, a really awesome Doctor but I’m enjoying Smith more.
Of course my statement was met with horror and disbelief which I knew it would. Frankly, and I’m going to be controversial again but I can do without the Tennant-come-lately’s who go on about how he was perfect and yet have never watched a pre-2005 Doctor Who and don’t know anything about the series before the reboot.
If you have only ever seriously watched the Tennant Doctor Who then he isn’t your favourite he is your default and certainly don’t consider yourself in a position to tell other fans that there is only ‘one’ Doctor!
This brings me though to one of the things I’ve possibly loved the most about this current series is that it references the pre-2005 Who series with some great subtle references throughout and the return of or at least mention of several alien races that came before such as the Silurians which were a race that was encountered by the third and fifth Doctors. Of course they’ve done this in previous seasons, I’ve just enjoyed the way that the previous incarnations have been showing up in this one.
So the season started off trying to crawl out from under the shadow of potentially the most popular Doctor since Tom Baker (if not THE most popular I will certainly grant). There were a couple of okay only episodes but there were also a couple of truly excellent ones. The dalek episode was not one of the strong ones unfortunately and even now after the finale didn’t really point to anything more than the introduction of different coloured daleks with some enhancements but no bigger picture stuff which was a shame.
A strong point was the return and continued appearances of River Song who is such a great character and one I guess by her cryptic farewell in the finale will be further featured as an important role.
I wasn’t completely convinced how much I was enjoying the series until they introduced Rory as a companion and finally put to rest the ridiculous companion in love with the Doctor theme that has plagued the 2005 onwards series. Not completely but enough that it doesn’t make me hate Amy Pond. And I don’t hate her at all in fact I like her more than Rose!
But Rory is a stand out for me, he brings an every-man angle to the show and I have to say that the end of the season finale makes me more than excited for the future of the Doctor’s companions.
Matt Smith though has been awesome as he slowly made the role his own. I must admit that I giggle out loud as he declares bow ties as cool (and the fez in the finale) and he brings a great maturity to the role despite being the youngest (though at 29 or something he’s hardly an old man!).
The series finale showcases everything I love about the new series. The humour and the relationship between the Doctor, River, Amy and Rory. Rory particularly is impressive in his devotion to Amy and the acknowledgement from the Doctor :
“Two thousand years. The boy who waited. Good on ya, mate.”
I also found it particularly strong when the Doctor is explaining how he ‘borrowed’ the TARDIS to a young Amy and then they tie it in to the old traditions on a bride’s wedding day. Can you go past River killing that Dalek on the scale of sheer bloody awesome 
I’ve always enjoyed Doctor Who but I’ve gone hot and cold on the show but this season has really impressed me. The most important thing about the finale too is that it makes me want to see the next season, well the Christmas special at the least.
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19 Responses to “Bow ties are cool – Matt Smith’s first season of Doctor Who – spoilers”
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Leechboy agrees with you.
I’m still not sold on Matt Smith. I think Christopher Eccleston was better.
I’ve not seen lots of old Dr Who. Just bits and pieces there when Leechboy is watching them.
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I don’t have a problem with people who aren’t devoted old school Dr Who fans I just dislike those who lay claim to the show without the history and then refuse to hear anything but David Tennant is the only Doctor!
But I do LOVE that you like Chris
I think he is completely underrated and people forget it was his Doctor that brought the series back!
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so..this was this season’s finale? Ok then I can try and watch the entire season just before I die on ‘The Walk’
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It actually didn’t seem like a particularly long season so you might be able to catch up.
I’m a very hot and cold Dr Who watcher. I always remember it being on as a kid, but I was never a huge fan – I watched it becuase it was there.
I started watching again when it came back, and really enjoyed Chris Eccleston in the role. I find it weird that he’s hardly ever mentioned.
I didn’t watch a single episode of Tennant, but have eagerly watched every episode of the current season. Agree with what you said about Smith – he plays the fun parts well, and the serious ‘worried Doctor’ parts too. Rory, I’m not completely sold on yet.
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I think Rory will come into his own next season and I doubt they’ll be able to dump his character so he should be around for a while – having a married couple on the show is really interesting.
I’m constantly disappointed that Chris doesn’t get more kudos.
Well, I just now finished watching the finale. Soooo much to say that I’m not sure I can actually get it all down, even in a full blog post. For now, I’ll just respond to yours. Matt Smith is doing an awesome job. David Tennant, though, is still a step above in my book. The writing, however, is much tighter this season than previous reboot seasons, which helps Smith. I think Smith has done a great job, as I said, and I’ve enjoyed seeing him own the character more as the season progressed, but I still think Tennant would have been a bit better had he continued in the role under Moffatt. Again, not knocking Smith at all… I’m happy to watch him.
For the record, I’ve seen almost every episode of Doctor Who. Certainly everything from the 3rd Doctor forward, except for a few McCoy episodes. And like you, I’m stoked on how we’re moving on with the companions. I think Moffatt has done an awesome job of moving from where RTD had put the Doctor-Companion relationships and built a whole season long story showing how he’s moving away from that, AND building what looks to be potentially one of the strongest Companion teams in the history of the show – I’m excited for what they’ll do next year.
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I was quite cross with what they did to Rory and moaned on about how it was so obvious and it’s so typical. More than happy to be proven wrong and they had a very neat season long story and I like how pretty much all the episodes tied into the finale.
I’m actually going back and watching the early seasons now with Hartnell and Troughton, not completely sure if I’ll press ahead from there though
Bow ties are cool – just look at Jimmy Olson…
Or maybe not.
But I have enjoyed this season of Doctor Who, with the darker writing by Moffat and all. The Weeping Angels scared the bejesus out of me, something that, in my profession as an interplanetary hero, is difficult to do, and especially at teatime.
Samuraifrog posted
(http://samuraifrog.blogspot.com/2010/06/doctor-who-and-fairy-tales.html)
about how the storyline for this season hit a lot of classic fairytale themes – I didn’t pick up on it at the time, great detective that I am, but on second viewing he’s spot-on…
Roll on the Christmas Special…
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Yes that was a really clever analysis from Samuraifrog, one which was evident to me until he pointed it out.
I can’t wait for the Christmas special and I hear they are changing the costume so i hope the bow tie is safe
I still haven’t been able to put into words my thoughts on the season as a whole. Heck I’m still trying to piece together the finale – though friends tell me I need to stop *thinking* and just enjoy it, just go with it. But that’s too hard for me to do.
I don’t know how objective I can be – I swore I’d never get over Tennant, my first reaction to Matt as Tennant regenerated into Smith was no! He has a weird face! Boo! He can’t do it!
But from fish fingers & custard – I was in. I was IN. I don’t know if its because of Moffatt (Blink being my first ever episode) and I don’t know if Karen and Matt are just so hilarious together off screen and on screen.. it all just worked BEAUTIFULLY.
I think it’s just a really great balance at this stage. The writing suits Smith and I think, especially now, that the companions are really strong characters.
Hopefully they’ll be able to continue for at least a few years
Just caught up. I don’t tend to watch a lot of TV and recently I’ve been watching a load of 80′s movies for some reason
Matt Smith is bloody awesome
Amy Pond is bloody awesome
Fez’s ARE cool.
But Rory, is bloody bloody super awesome.
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yeah he is
I also really got a kick out of the “borrowed”. I think it was John Pertwee who first insisted that the Tardis wasn’t stolen, it was “borrowed”, but the reference may pre-date that.
Matt Smith is a great doctor. I think some of the writing has been less than stellar, but the finale shows how could it could be. The best episode of the modern era must be “Blink”, and I think the Angels weren’t used so well. Amy Pond is irritating. Thank God Rory was brought in to keep her in check.
Not a huge fan of the new Daleks. I don’t mind the colour at all, but I find putting them on a plinth doesn’t leave them looking proportioned. I’m guessing part of it may be OH&S looking at how cramped the old ones were for the actors inside…
Amy Pond is irritating? Irritating??
Well, she is a bit it’s true. But very very nice to look at and Rory is a god.
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I think we should start a Rory appreciation society… or is that a bit weird?
I think Hartnell may actually have mentioned that he had ‘borrowed’ the TARDIS but I am very likely wrong on that (just imagining it) but Pertwee certainly established it.
I never even thought about OH&S for the Daleks!!! That’s awesome.