Dinosaurs and Daleks

With series seven of Doctor Who nearly upon us in August, the cast have been doing the promotional rounds, including at this years San Diego Comic-Com where current Doctor, Matt Smith did various interviews. Here’s what he had to say about what we can expect from the new series, as well as his thoughts on being in the Doctor Who movie, and the departure of the Ponds.
 

What can fans expect from the new season?

Matt Smith:  Well, fans can expect a gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching time, saying goodbye to the Ponds.  But, we’ve also got dinosaurs, we’ve got daleks, we’ve got weeping angels and we’ve got New York.  It feel, in scale, as big and bold as ever it has.  That’s the thing with Who.  It’s got to get better, all the time.  Hopefully, that’s what we’re doing.  Steven Moffat’s in great form, Karen [Gillan] and Arthur [Darvill] are in great form, and there are great directors and great monsters.  That gives you a good chance.
 

You’ve long said that you wanted to see dinosaurs on the show.  Was that something you were excited about?

I’ve just always thought dinosaurs and the science of Who would be funny, and I love dinosaurs.  I’ve always loved dinosaurs.  What I’ve seen of it looks great and has a great sense of adventure.  As we near towards the end of Amy and Rory’s time, it becomes very sad, hopefully.
 

How hard was it to tell the story of Amy and Rory’s goodbye?

Rory has already died five times.  We have Steven [Moffat], who’s a total genius.  If you go back and revisit The 11^th Hour and study it closely, that’s all I will say. It’s been three years, and we really had to stick together throughout it.  Coming into the show, people were going, “Who’s this young kid?  What’s Steven Moffat going to do with it?  What are they all going to do together?”  We had to really stick together and come through a period of people going, “This isn’t going to work.”  Hopefully, we’ve reinvented it, in a way that has worked.  For me, personally, they are my favorite companions.  I just think they’ve been brilliant.  And I think the stories and the way it’s interwoven has been so clever.  Just the central idea of the Doctor visiting her, as a little girl, and screwing her up is just genius.
 

Did you get to spend time just hanging out together in New York?

It was difficult because we were shooting the majority of the time.  I love New York City, though, and me, Karen and Arthur have a great time, wherever we go. It’s very fortunate, and a bit of serendipity, that we got on really well.  We’re great friends.  That makes it all the more easy.  Likewise with Steven.  He’s a great pal of mine.  It’s good to work with people that you love.  And, New York always has something for you.  It’s been three years, and we really had to stick together throughout it.  Coming into the show.
 

What does Jenna-Louise Coleman add to the show and how is her relationship with the Doctor evolving?

Well, she’s doing really well.  As you can imagine, coming into a big juggernaut like this isn’t an easy thing to do.  But, she works terribly hard and I think everyone is going to love her.  She’s lovely.  She’s a lovely girl.  Obviously, I can’t say too much about her storylines, or I’d have to kill you.
 

Series 7 is the 50^th anniversary of Doctor Who, and people are speculating about past Doctors being brought back.  If there was one living Doctor you could have on the show, who would it be?

People are speculating.  Well, that’s difficult.  Just for the event of it, it would have to be David [Tennant] and Chris [Eccleston].  Could you imagine?  It would be brilliant, wouldn’t it?  But, I don’t know how easy it is to make that happen.  People have other careers.  You move on from the show.  So, I don’t know.  But, whatever we do for the 50^th, we will make it as big an event, and as wide and far-reaching an event, as possible.  No doubt, we will be back at Comic-Con again next year, promoting the ass out of it.
 

Will you ever do a big screen Doctor Who movie?

I don’t know.  There’s talk of it.  I think David Yates was attached to do something.  For my money, whoever is playing the Doctor should be in the movie.  I don’t think there should be two Doctors.  I think it would take four or five years to get something like that off the ground, and I don’t anticipate that I’ll be playing the Doctor then.  My skin and the aging process couldn’t take it.  But, I don’t see any reason why it couldn’t work.  I think they should get Steven to write it because he’s the best.

Source: Collider