Posted 12 April 2010 - 10:33 PM
Tennant's "Aren't I so cute and quirky?" schtick did get a little old, from time to time, for those of us (male and female) who weren't gazing at him in misty, doe-eyed adoration, though.
Smith seems to inhabit the role of the Doctor a bit differently. Although I do expect there are some fangirls (and -boys) who are doing the whole doe-eyed thing at him as well, as there's no accounting for taste, and I hazard there are for Karen Gillen too (who, in a way, does seem to epitomise the whole "Something for the Dads" ethos that brought us Leela in her way-too-short skirts and Peri's unfeasable cleavage, way back when). Smith appears to have assumed the mannerisms, and occasionally speech patterns, of an old man (and a fairly mercurial one at that) in what would appear to be a barely pubescent body; which is a welcome and different approach to Tennant's portrayal of the Doctor as alpha-geek.
I'm liking where Moffat is taking the characters and the series and he does seem to have brought the focus back to it being more of a children's series, but with enough flashes of adult wit and intelligence to keep older viewers happy. His "dark fairy tale" style is welcome too; I saw an interview with him where he said that fairy tales were the old way of breaking the news to children that there actually are people and things out there that want to eat you. I think children appreciate the honesty of that approach.
I do want to see where he's going with the whole "Crack in Space and Time" story arc that he's building too... Is it the Doctor? Is it Amy? Is it even the TARDIS? Or is it something else entirely different? We'll just have to keep watching.
If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. … So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants. Bertrand Russell