Tennant Leaves Who

Well, I was having a bit of a rough day, and things just got a little bit darker.

David Tennant announced today that he's stepping down from the role of Doctor Who.

Tennant gives a multitude of reasons as to why he's stepping down, but the one that stuck with me is that he said it's best to give it up while it's still fun, and before it becomes a chore, which I think is good advice when it comes to any job.

Here's the BBC's official article, so you can read all the reasons for yourself.

Sadly, though, this comes as no surprise...it was already announced several months ago -- nay, almost a year ago -- that there would be no season 5 next year. Instead, to better accomodate Tennant's schedule, next year, instead of a whole season, they're just going to do 5 TV specials. (From what I gather, "TV specials" is British TV speak for "TV movies," lest you think the Doctor's going to be hosting some singing and dancing variety thing.) So when they finally come back for that fifth season in 2010, we'll have a new Doctor.

I think I've blogged several times before that Doctor Who was one of those aspects of geek culture that I always had difficulty getting into. I always found it low-budget and kind of cheezy, and that early-electronica theme song just weirded me out.





I guess you could say my "gateway Doctor" was the now-infamous American-made TV movie. For those who don't know the story, when the BBC put Doctor Who on hiatus back in 1989, rather than end it all together, they thought that they'd shop around the franchise to various other production companies, to see what fresh eyes could bring to the franchise. The Fox Network in the USA thought they'd give it a shot, and they produced a Doctor Who TV movie in 1996 in the hopes of starting an American-made series. The film didn't do well enough to go to series, but I watched it, and I liked it.





And then, when this new series debuted in the year 2005, I tried it again, and was once again hooked.





So, there we go. I'll probably stick with the show, because it's still one of the most unique sci-fi shows on right now, but Tennant will forever be my first.