Shortly before last Saturday’s New York City screening of Doctor Who’s fantastic seventh season premiere, Asylum of the Daleks, I was among the lucky select group invited to have an audience with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan for round table interviews at the headquarters of BBC America.
Since the Doctor makes few house calls in NYC, it was without question an incredibly exciting opportunity for a Who fan who also happens to run a website like this. In a round table interview, journalists are grouped at a table and take turns asking questions. My group was polite and cordial, and we each managed to get in a question or two in both the time slots we had with Smith and Gillan, who were extremely down to earth and forthcoming.
As a native New Yorker, I was very interested to know what Matt’s impressions were of finally getting to shoot Britain’s iconic Doctor Who in the Big Apple last April, which was the first time the show did so in its near 50 year history. So appropriately, that was the first question I asked him. “First and foremost, I want to shoot every episode of Doctor Who in New York,’ he said altogether with sincerity, enthusiasm, and a big smile.
Shooting the episode. The Angels Take Manhattan, left a lasting impression on the actor.
“I love this city. I love filming here. Everywhere you point the camera there is something brilliant to look at. I love this city, I just love it.” He also agreed when it was brought up that NYC can be considered a universe unto itself, “It really is.” Smith’s answer on Saturday was a satisfying two years in the making response.
I attended the event held at the Paley Center For Media in April of 2010, where Matt’s debut episode as the Doctor, The Eleventh Hour, was screened. Taking the stage in front of press and fans alike in a Q&A following that screening, he was at the time in awe of his very first NYC experience.
“I could live here. I love it here. What a city! You’ve got everything here man. So cool.” Of course that response lead to the follow up of whether he would want to ever shoot across the pond. “I would love to do an episode here,” he hoped.
It should be noted that Executive Producer and Who showrunner Steven Moffat (on stage seated next to Smith and Gillan), had a simple more economic solution that night. “It’s very easy to set us in New York. You know what will happen, you’ll be standing in front of a green cloth,” he responded.
Thankfully the phenomenal success of Matt’s run as the Doctor allowed them to finally do it, sans dreaded green cloth and all. It was quite exciting to hear the rumors earlier this year (on the internet of course, where else do people like me get my hot geek gossip from?) that Doctor Who might be bringing production to New York City.
Sure they have already been to the States, having filmed some of the sixth season premiere in Utah’s Monument Valley, but The Doctor in NYC? That was a whole ‘nother thing altogether. I heard my first real solid confirmation of this at an event in April ‘that Alex Kingston’s double had arrived in town,’ so all the rumors seemed to be coming together.
Sure enough, behind-the-scenes pictures surfaced online of the cast and crew shooting in Central Park and Times Square. In this day and age, it’s impossible to shoot on location in New York City, or any exterior location for that matter, and not have pics turn up online.
But to see the Doctor actually standing in Times Square was quite exciting. Many additional images of Amy (Gillan), Rory (Arthur Darvill), and the Doctor in Central Park turned up online fairly quickly as well. They revealed very little conveying anything to do with the plot, but it didn’t take long before the Weeping Angels had already been rumored/and or leaked as a the villains for the episode.
What also sets the NYC episode apart, scheduled to air in a few weeks, is that it marks the final appearance of the Ponds, the extremely popular husband and wife companions of the Doctor played by Gillan and Darvill. Their departure, from all accounts promises to be a true tear jerker of an episode, will make room for a new companion played by Jenna Louise Coleman, and introduced on the Doctor Who Christmas Special.
And after wishing us a good time at the screening at the Ziegfeld, Matt’s thoughts on the season premiere set to air on Saturday at 9pm on BBC America? “I think its a belter, I really do,” he said. Having seen it, don’t miss it.
And to complete my Whovian experience, I was thrilled to shake the Doctor’s hand on the way out of the room.
Check back here for what Matt had to say when I asked him what the Doctor would do on an ideal night of fun in New York City, in addition to Karen Gillan’s Big Apple memories. Plus I asked her to take us back to her final moments on the set of Doctor Who, shooting the last ever scene with the Doctor, Amy, and Rory in the TARDIS…
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