I was all set to just come back from my talk up in Durham and maybe tell you how well that went. Very, by the way. I had a pretty strong turnout and despite some early technical issues hopefully sent folk away with a couple of things to ponder. And memories of some images I had fun looking up.
Then I got home, unable to escape the fact that my feeds were being jammed with one piece of news: ‘Matt Smith announces he is quitting Dr Who’. So then I had a plan to jump on the big piece of news within the sci-fi community. I even got about halfway through writing a post, but hit a point where I thought everyone had said all the useful stuff already. So I’m going to give you a link to this D.A. Lascelles post instead, as he’s pretty much got me covered. Though I’d now add Zawe Ashton to that shortlist having read around and got to the Guardian’s post. Also, one thing *I’d* like to see is the show managing to keep the identity of the next Doctor hush-hush until the episode actually airs, for a proper ‘OMG’ moment. Now I realise this is damn-near impossible in this day and age, but you know – it’s kinda nice to have something genuinely surprising happen on screen these days.
Anyway, enough of that. Another reason this isn’t a full-blown post on that, or the recent Game of Thrones episode for that matter, is that something important came up on my side again. I have another interview through – this time, from my old university and one of the places this whole crazy idea to start writing began. You may find the link to the post here.
I really like the background painting for this picture. Works very well, I think! We actually spoke for a pretty long time, so I’m really impressed Jason managed to compress so much of what we ended up discussing into this space. Anyway, I’ll be taking questions on almost all of the above by way of comment of course. Except on the GoT thing 🙂
The Order of Winter 
According to this article:
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-06-03/doctor-who-matt-smith-replacement-could-be-announced-next-month
They may be announcing next month… which is cool.
And yes, we do seem to think the same way a lot of the time 🙂
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I hold by my opinion that it would be far cooler to just tune in knowing you’re watching the last episode of a particular Doctor, waiting on their regeneration and not having a clue who it is until they actually turn up. I would love that, but the impracticalities of so many cameras about make it an impossible dream *sigh*.
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So, is it just my silly Yankiness, or does anyone else wish they would stick to the same Doctor for more than three seasons? I get the whole three-year contract thing, but wasn’t Tom Baker the Doctor for a lot longer? I mean, you just get your brain to quit wishing for the last guy, and they switch it up again. ‘Sup with that?
And, good luck on the job interview!
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It’s been a trend, definitely with the more recent run of Doctors, that the role is very much a stepping stone into bigger things. Christopher Eccleston didn’t exactly need a boost at the time; he quit because I think he was already exceptionally busy as it was, turning up in Heroes and the like. Which is probably why he only lasted the season. David Tennant has been pretty constant in TV and theatre since and did four years in the role. Matt Smith is also bowing out on year four, having not been a household name and I think known for one or two earlier roles (The Ruby In The Smoke on BBC TV springs to mind). I suspect he’ll be leaving with his stock firmly raised for future prospects. So basically, it’s only changed when the lead actor has wanted to go. Who we get next remains to be seen.
As for the job interview, I’m a little short on those at the moment, otherwise thanks! 🙂
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I am not sure it has ever been a three year contract. It has always (since way back in the 60s) been a ‘until the actor gets bored of it’ style of contract. At least most of the time (Colin Baker’s departure was under a cloud of antipathy which I am not sure has ever been fully explored and Sylvester McCoy suffered from the cancellation of the series just as it was getting interesting…). I suspect they renew contracts on a series by series basis. This is why some early episodes with a new Doctor often seem weird because they may have been written with the old actor in mind.
It just seems to be the case that they leave after a shorter period than they used to. It may be (as Russ says) because they want to start exploiting other opportunities. it may also be because the job has a lot more stress and committment than they are willing to give. Interviews with past actors who have done the role have always hinted that you tend to end up having to be ‘in role’ whenever you are in public and can end up typecast really easily.
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