Another week down and what a week it was. First was the announcement
that Matt Smith would retire from his role as the Doctor after this years
Christmas special. This is terribly sad news of course, it’s never nice to
watch the Doctor die and it’s shame to lose Matt Smith but it also means that
serious speculation about who will taker over the role can begin… it’s
exciting. Then Game of Thrones
invited us to the wedding of the season and it was a celebration to die for.
Also, there’s this little MTV show that you may or may not have heard of,
called Teen Wolf that is finally back
in our lives after the Season 3 premiere on Monday night.
Doctor New!
There have been rumors for a while but its finally official, Matt
Smith is leaving Doctor Who. On
Saturday 1st June the BBC sent out a
press release announcing Smith’s departure and the Internet wept. Some wept
for the loss of another Doctor but for a large majority this is something more.
It’s a big deal considering Smith’s reign brought in so many new viewers –
especially from the US – so for many people they will be losing their first
Doctor. Those of you that have been a Whovian for a while try to remember what
it was like when you lost your Doctor… it’s certainly an upsetting experience
so I am interested to see how the general populous react to Smith’s
regeneration now that Doctor Who has
achieved somewhat mainstream popularity.
The thing about the Doctor’s regeneration is that while it’s very
very sad, it’s also extremely exciting because by saying goodbye to Matt Smith
we get to say hello to someone new. Speculation
has been running rampant since Saturday. Pretty much every reasonably
well-known English actor (and some actresses) have been suggested as possible
replacements for Smith.
It’s relatively unlikely that they will cast an established Actor in
the role (so those of you yelling for Tom Hiddleston should probably quiet
down). It’s also rather unlikely that the role will go to a woman
or a POC (because people are sexist and racist), despite the fact that it’s
canon that a Time Lord can switch genders and that Melody Pond proved that race
clearly isn’t a factor. Although it’s slightly more likely that the Doctor
could be a male POC than a woman (especially considering Moffat’s treatment of
female characters) there is a horrific amount of negative commentary on both
ideas that is making me not want to live on this planet again.
Popular suggestions within fandom include Merlin’s Colin Morgan (I wrote Colin Bradley first… lol) and
Richard Ayode from The IT Crowd.
Honestly I’m not even going to begin to speculate because last time Matt Smith
came out of nowhere so the chances are the role will go to someone that is
relatively unknown. While the conversations about race and gender have upset me
I can’t help but smile because as Moffat said: “Somewhere out there right now - all unknowing, just going about their
business - is someone who's about to become the Doctor. A life is going to
change, and Doctor Who will be born all over again!” (x)
The Red Wedding!
It happened… finally. As a fan of George R.R. Martin’s novels I have
been waiting for this event since Season 2 ended and it did not disappoint. I
didn’t watch the episode live because I was too busy watching everyone’s
reactions to this traumatic event. Like the death of Ned Stark, The Red Wedding
is something that comes out of nowhere. Robb Stark is the hero, Robb Stark is
the hope that honor will prevail but the thing about Westros is that honor
doesn’t prevail… in the game of thrones honor gets your ass killed (are you
listening Jon Snow… oh right).
While I enjoyed watched the world collective scream in horror (and
it was pretty horrific to watch, thanks HBO) it was actually more interesting
watching the book fans point at laugh at those that were experiencing it for
the first time. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry because it was pretty
funny but then I remember how upset I was when I first read it so I can’t
really judge anyone. While I would suggest reading the novels (they are
seriously amazing) I don’t think it makes you any less of a fan if you only
watch the show. Game of Thrones is
fantastic enough to stand on it’s own and I’m aware that Martin’s books can be
rather daunting.
Let’s stop being elitist assholes and remember that none of us saw
Robb Stark’s death coming. If you made it through the red wedding without
serious psychological wounds then there’s something wrong with you (if you’ve
not read the books I do suggest you read Martin’s description of this event
because it is phenomenal). We’re all in the same position so let’s mourn
together, book and TV show fans united in emotional trauma and fear that our favourite
character will be next (the answer is yes).
Guess what’s back… Teen
Wolf’s back!
I’ll talk about this more when I write up Talking Teen Wolf tomorrow
(and I have already written a very long recap and a review of the premiere) but
I can’t talk about this week in fandom without mention Teen Wolf… it was awesome but I’m aware I’m kind of biased. In all
seriousness, although not without it’s problems, it was a pretty decent start
to the series but no matter what you thought about the episode it certainly
breathed new life into the fandom.
There’s meta and gifsets and graphic’s galore. The Sterek fandom is
reeling over the fact that Stiles said “to mark something” then winked at Derek,
a lot of people are already in love with Felisha Terrell’s Kali and everyone
wants the Sheriff to find out about werewolves before he gives himself an
aneurism. Oh Teen Wolf fandom, it’s
good to have you back.
Quote of the week:
It’s got to be Matt Smith this week – this is what he had to say
about leaving Doctor Who…
It's
been an honour to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and
helm the TARDIS for a spell with 'the ginger, the nose and the impossible one'.
But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls. Thank you guys. (x)
I couldn’t have said it better myself, you will be missed Matt but I
wish you success in all your future endeavors.
And we’re done here.
