Friday, June 25, 2010

Doctor Who: It's on the mend


When Matt Smith took over as Doctor Who back in April, it didn't take long for the controversy to start.
Geeky, with a liking for tweed jackets and bow ties, he looked more like a science teacher than a 907-year-old Time Lord.
And then there was the scene where his sidekick Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) got him into a clinch and made it clear that she was looking for a bit of intergalactic rumpy pumpy.
That prompted 40 complaints to the BBC and criticism from Mediawatch-UK.
Tomorrow, Smith and Gillan's first series together draws to a close. So how have they handled stepping into the revered shoes of predecessors David Tennant and Billie Piper?
'I'd just hoped to survive really,' said 27-year-old Smith.
Smith is the 11th Doctor in television's longest-running science- fiction drama.
'I tried not to think about it too much and be my own Doctor - whatever that is. I still don't know.
'I rang my dad in the first week of filming and said: "Dad, I'm in trouble - there's a lot of stuff to learn." I talked to him a lot and just tried to be brave.
'It's anyone's guess what will happen in the next series.'
Co-star Gillan, 22, deliberately made the role of the Doctor's assistant even more raunchy than Billie Piper's Rose Tyler.
She's dressed as a policewoman, nun and nurse and worn daring mini-skirts.
'We just thought those were things that Amy would wear. Most 21-year-old girls wear clothes like that,' she said.
As for her rebuffed attempt to seduce the Doctor: 'Sometimes they're like brother and sister, winding each other up,' said Gillan at a Bafta screening of the series finale.
'But Amy is attracted to the Doctor, just not in a romantic way. That's what separates her from the other companions.
'She's not in love with the Doctor. She wants something else.
'Amy's a lot cooler than me. She has a different walk from me. She struts. She's bad.
'I read the complaints, but I don't see that it's bad at all. The Doctor turned her down, so it's not inappropriate. We're not sending out bad messages.'



I think this series  is definitely sassier, but I don't think it is too sassier. What do you think?

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