Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Adventures in Fandom: Doctor New, The Red Wedding and Teen Wolf Season 3



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.