Why Matt Smith is the Best Doctor Who Ever.

Unless you’ve been living in the North Pole for the past few months, and let’s face it, in this unusually warm British summer it’s feasible you may have moved there to cool off, you can’t fail to have heard that Matt Smith is leaving his role as The Doctor in Doctor Who to be replaced by someone as yet unnamed.  Worry not though at 7.00pm on Sunday the BBC are hosting a live, yes that’s a live broadcast fronted by Zoe Ball, with actors who have been previous Doctors, Matt Smith and the Moff (that’s Steven Moffat, series Show-runner to the un-initiated) all in attendance. Although I am a huge fan of Doctor Who, and have been since Tom Baker and his unusually long scarf I find this a somewhat odd occurrence.  Yes, I am aware it’s the fiftieth anniversary, and that the changing of the Doctor is a huge event to both fans and press alike, I am just not sure it warrants a show all of its own.  As a fan, I’d much rather have half an hour of some Classic Who on my screen, or a nice little Documentary, or indeed anythingother than a programme about an announcement, as I do feel we have been somewhat short changed on this most auspicious of years.  However this won’t stop me being glued to my television at 7.00pm. Neither will it stop me gaffataping my kids mouths so they won’t talk over the main announcement of who is going to play the twelfth Doctor.

As I’ve already mentioned I’ve been a fan for quite a number of years, I can remember  Jon Pertwee but  Tom Baker is ‘my Doctor’ I watched religiously for years, ignoring wobbly sets, and bad make-up, right up until the eighties, when boys and  weekend jaunts to The Hacienda became somewhat more appealing.  I survived the wilderness years with no Doctor Who, mostly unscathed.   Then, much to my trepidation in 2005 Doctor Who returned to TV with an episode called Rose, and Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor.  I was nervous for this new Who, this was going to have to be something very special to win back the press and fans. Doctor Who had become something of a joke before it was cancelled. I wasn’t really convinced about this new Doctor Who when watching Rose, the Autons have never been my favourite monster; I did however love Eccleston as an actor.  I have always liked his earnest face and of course he’s Northern, always a bonus in my book, being Northern lass myself. The End of The World was better and then by the time Dalek aired, a brilliantly written and acted episode I was hooked again, merchandise began to creep back into my home, conventions were attended. Eccleston stayed for one series and then came Tennant.  I loved David Tennant’s Doctor, I loved everything about him and am not ashamed to say I fancied him a little....ok, I fancied him a lot. I was absolutely and completely devastated when it was announced Tenant was to leave, and when they declared Matt Smith as number eleven I knew for certain I wasn’t going to like him.  I discussed this at length to the amusement of family and friends.   He’s too weird, he’s too young, he is NOT the Doctor, who is he? And then came The Eleventh Hour, a wonderfully comedic and touching episode that introduced us to Matt Smith’s Doctor and instantly in his first few minutes on screen I knew he was The Doctor.  The writing is so perfect, so attuned to the nuances of the actor’s personality that within minutes I had quite forgotten the previous regeneration, so consumed was I by the story.  Within minutes I loved the new regeneration just as much if not more than the last.  

One of my main concerns about Matt Smith was his young age, the youngest actor ever to take on the role of The Doctor.  I wasn’t sure one so young could play the space and time travelled Doctor, this Time Lord who had seen and suffered so much, however, I really shouldn’t have worried about this.  You see although The Doctor is 900 years old, the age of his current face is inconsequential, as long as you believe in his experience and the story is good.  After all what is Doctor Who if not a good old fashioned Fairy Tale, and who is The Doctor if not a good old fashioned hero, a good witch, a knight in shining armour, come to slay the dragon, the Dalek or the Weeping Angel.  So if the age of the face is insignificant therefore is not the actual face insignificant, and do we really need a live show to herald the next actor to take on the role? Personally I don’t think so, but of course, I will be watching, will you?

Bitey

In the episode 'Closing Time' the Doctor revists his friend Craig.  This is another episode with some great comic moments.  Craig is played by James Cordon. This episode's monsters are Cybermen and Bitey is the nickname that the Doctor gave to the Cybermat that he re-programmed to cripple the Cyberman.

Apples

 "Can I have an apple? All I can think about. Apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new. Never had cravings before"

One of our families most watched episode of Doctor Who is the 'The Eleventh Hour' this is the introductory episode for the Eleventh Doctor played by Matt Smith. The Doctor has just regenerated and finds himself very hungry with new taste buds.  The first person our newly regenerated Doctor meets is a seven year old Amelia Pond and for the first fifteen minutes of the episode they try to find something that the Doctor likes the taste of, much spitting and throwing of food ensues...much to the delight of my 9 year old son.  I have to be honest I was quite disappointed when this scene finished, it is so perfectly written with brilliant comedic moments and a perfect introduction to this new Doctor who appears to be all flailing arms and legs.  

With regards to the apple, he doesn't like it, Amelia tells him that she didn't like apples either until her mum put a smiley face on for her, she does this for the Doctor and he puts it in his pocket and promises to eat it later...

A to Z Blogging Challenge Reveal

It’s nearly that time again for the April A to Z blogging challenge.  For those who don’t know what this is let me explain.  Every year in April thousands of bloggers sign up to the challenge of producing a blog post every day in April, working through the alphabet starting obviously at A.  Bloggers can do this in many ways, some use photography, some poetry, some a single word. 

Last year was my first year at attempting this feat.  I set up a Doctor Who blog specifically for the purpose, intending to carry on with it after, see here  to find out why my blog petered out.  I had prepared only five articles in advance, this was a major downfall.  I really should have prepared more, I spent the entire month looking like a feral cat, trying to juggle work, renovating, my kids social lives, and writing.  Writing doesn’t come easily to me, I make many edits no matter how small my article, I spend hours with a thesaurus trying to find new appropriate words.  I told myself that I would be more prepared for this year.....I’m not.  I’m going to try not to be as hard on myself, maybe do shorter articles and use some photography (I’m doing a photography course it seems a shame not to combine the two)  My blog will still be Doctor Who themed because apart from my kids there is nothing I will enjoy writing about more....and I’m sure you don’t want to hear too much about my kids (be warned they will make an appearance) Also my hope and wish is that people stopping by from A to Z Challenge from all over the world who haven’t watched or even heard of Doctor Who may have their interest piqued enough looking at my blog that they will go away and watch an episode of my favourite show. 

With the challenge it is also customary to read at least five of the other blogs participating daily. I found many interesting blogs last year and it was great way to see and learn about things I had little knowledge of prior. This also eats time, but in a most enjoyable way. 

To any interested you can still sign up to the challenge here A to Z Challenge Sign Up List and you will also find the list of all the bloggers participating, there are many themes so even if you don’t fancy the challenge yourself you may find a blog that interests you, that you would like to follow. All the bloggers participating put lots of work in and would appreciate comments of support. It’s nice to know what your reader thinks. 

Right then bloggers, good luck and I will see you on the other side...slightly bedraggled but with a wonderful sense of achievement.

One flew over the cuckoo's nest...

So I haven’t blogged for almost a year...I was scared off  by a Rogue Cyberman. Sounds like a joke doesn’t it? I wish it was dear reader but alas no, this man, and I use the word man in the loosest sense of the word (a better analogy would be worm) has had me running scared for quite some time.  It’s not just me he has wounded, there are many of us who have experienced his insanity and this has been going on for a long, long time....shame it wasn’t in a galaxy far, far away.  Although to be honest he is so far removed from the real world I think he probably does live in that far away galaxy, if of course that galaxy is called Psychosis.

He has been suspended from twitter many times over, he has tried many lines to get the traffic to his little blog empire, for empire read tiny little bedroom in mummy’s house (by the way I am loving all these Star Wars references) he has many accounts, his newest being a lady, because you know there aren’t any female Doctor Who fans and of course the ones that do exist like to take their clothes off on their blogs...blogs by the way that are linked to their Doctor Who (a children’s show) Twitter accounts on which they have followed many under 18 Twitter users who are Doctor Who fans. That’s nice isn’t it?  Such an upstanding pillar of society, gosh mummy must be so proud.

Over recent weeks, many twitter users have opened their eyes to his ways, many adults abhorred by the use of a children's show to get traffic to his sites which hold pictures of half clothed women.  He will be loving the attention of course, I dread to think what he is sitting there doing when the users begin bating him (I do hope he has a lock on his bedroom door and plenty of tissues, the filthy little boy) He loves to threaten and use our real names on Twitter, that’s fine, none of us have anything to hide, we are all genuine Doctor Who fans, it get’s slightly threatening though when he posts google maps of peoples home address or states he has found your facebook page and you should be careful what you do with your family.  It is really easy to threaten and harass people from behind a keyboard, I’d like one minute with this little worm, I wouldn’t be awful, I never am, I would just like to sit with him for one minute with my kids in the room too, we wouldn’t say a word, I’d just like him to see my wonderful family and the people he has actually been making veiled threats about.  My nine year old son dressed as the Doctor and my 15 year old daughter hiding behind her hair. I’d just look into his eyes for that minute and maybe spit on him as we left. 

Anyway carry on Mr Rogue Cyberman you have to live with yourself in your little world, you have far more time than us it would seem, talking to yourself as you do with your many accounts.  We don’t really care what your name is, we simply care that you are sullying our favourite show with lets face it, some not very scintillating , old fashioned pictures of some not very attractive women.  If you want to see gorgeous female Doctor Who fans just go to any convention, we are there in droves dressed as a companion, the TARDIS or even the Doctor.

So there you have it, I am back in the world of the blog.  Preparing once more for the April A-Z Challenge.  Of course there hasn’t been much Doctor Who on TV over the past year for me to write about but I’m sure I will think of something. 

His name is - Rogue Cyberman

His name is - Time Girl Katie

His name is - Poppy Flintlock