Eleven times in the past we’ve adjusted to a new Doctor, we’ve slowly learned a little about who The Doctors is and now it’s time for number 12: Peter Capaldi to take center stage.
I’ve been watching The Doctor since John Pertwee (#3), admittedly that was mostly peering out from behind the sofa. The first bars of the theme tune sent me scurrying there like a whole generation of British kids.
The first Doctor I watched while proudly sitting on the sofa was Tom Baker, the person I consider my first Doctor. A somewhat disheveled man with a questionable taste in scarves (mentioned in the first Capaldi episode with a great throwaway line) and slightly strange eyes. However we had one thing in common, a love of Jelly babies.
The David Tennant to Matt Smith transition was pretty seamless, both younger doctors with similar personalities. So we’ve had close to a decade with similar Doctors, and then Peter Capaldi shows up. He’s a big departure, when he was announced my first thought was “Malcolm Tucker is going to be the Doctor? Should be interesting”.
If you don’t know who Malcolm Tucker is, watch the video, but I warn it’s very NSFW, but it’s worth 2 minutes 43 seconds of your time
Michele and I talked about this last week and we come to The Doctor from very different places. She knows very little of The Doctor before the Christopher Eccleston reboot. Michele wonders not only can Capaldi play The Doctor well, but her expectation is that he plays a good Matt Smith type Doctor. But, I want more than a simple continuation of what’s we’ve had for the last decade, I want to keep looking at the dark side that David Tennant first gave us a glimpse into.
We’re four shows in, and I like what I see. This is a different Doctor, his humour is darker, much like his outlook. He’s an older, angrier Doctor who is learning about who he is, the world around him and dealing with his personal demons.
Will Steven Moffat keep peeling back the curtain and let us see who The Doctor really is?
My geek-dar is hoping so, and if it’s half as good as the War Doctor we are in for a treat.