Doctor Who: 4 Best (Forgotten) Matt Smith Speeches

2. €œI owned the stage.€

12 €œYou€™ve got a lot to look forward to, you know. A normal human life on Earth. Mortgage payments, nine to five, a persistent nagging sense of spiritual emptiness. Save the tears for later, boyo. Oh, that was crabby. No that was old. But I am old, Stormy. I am so old. So near the end. 15 You, Alfie Owens, you are so young, aren€™t you? And you know right now, everything€™s ahead of you. You could be anything. Yes, I know. You could walk among the stars. 17 They don€™t actually look like that, you know, they are rather more impressive. 18 You know when I was little like you I dreamt of the stars. I think it€™s fair to say in the language of your age that I lived my dream. 19 I owned the stage. Gave it a hundred and ten percent. I hope you have as much fun as I did. This scene is nothing if not understated. There€™s no shouting, no ranting or raving. There€™s no motive behind it. It€™s a meditation on the Doctor€™s place in the universe. He€™s an old, old man facing his mortality. And when you think you€™re approaching the end, you begin to think about the beginning. There€™s nothing specific in this speech, no details. It€™s about potential, and the long life the Doctor has lived. He sounds old and crabby, but he really shouldn€™t because he got to live a long and fantastic life. The gravitas of the thing is somewhat undermined by the fact that the Doctor did not, in fact, die in the next episode (which was a big shock, really, a twist no one could have imagined). But Smith sold it beautifully, and it€™s a truly touching piece of work.
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Rebecca Kulik lives in Iowa, reads an obsence amount, watches way too much television, and occasionally studies for her BA in History. Come by her personal pop culture blog at tyrannyofthepetticoat.wordpress.com and her reading blog at journalofimaginarypeople.wordpress.com.