It was recently announced (here) that Peter Capaldi will be taking
over the helm of the TARDIS after Matt Smith’s departure in this year’s
Christmas special. I will be sad to see him go. Matt Smith himself was a
paradox. An old man in a young man’s body. Goofy and innocent, yet wise and
battle-hardened. He soon became my favorite Doctor. But as is inevitable in the
Doctor Who universe, change must come to pass. It’s normal that, after an
announcement like this, many people will expressed disappointment and doubt
concerning his casting. That’s a normal knee-jerk reaction to a big change like
this. I am sure however, that after seeing one or two episodes of the 12th
Doctor, these feelings will all prove to be unfounded. My initial impression is
that he will be a mixture of Eccleston (strong and sarcastic), and Tom Baker
(goofy and brilliant), with maybe a bit of curmudgeonly Hartnell thrown in for
good measure. This seems like an absolutely fantastic combination to me.
Some people are saying that he’s too old. I imagine that
these are mostly the fangirls who were expecting a young new heartthrob to follow
the young and dashing David Tennant and Matt Smith. True fans of the show,
however, will see that the age of the Doctor’s physical body can and has always
changed just as easily as everything else. It was an interesting phenomenon
though, having the oldest actor play the youngest doctor and the youngest actor
play the oldest doctor, but I agree with Steven Moffat (the showrunner) when he
says that Capaldi will be a good successor to Smith because the young/old Smith
and the old/young Capaldi will have a lot in common, but with interesting
differences. He is actually the same age as William Hartnell was when he first
took off in the TARDIS. Despite this, he still seems energetic and spry. I don’t
expect the Doctor to stop running anytime soon.
Also of note is that the Doctor’s regenerations appear to be
at least somewhat influenced by the circumstances in which it happens. Nine was
a bit more brutal and warrior-like as a result of having recently ending the
Time War. In the 50th anniversary episode, he will return to this
time, and it appears that whatever happens there will have a great impact on
him, and this will show in his subsequent regeneration.
Some people don’t like that he has been in Doctor Who before,
as well as Torchwood: Children of Earth (a spinoff). This has actually happened
several times before. Karen Gillan was in that same episode, and she later
returned as Amy Pond. In the classic series, Colin Baker made an appearance as
an army commander before becoming the Sixth Doctor. The Fourth Doctor’s
companion, the Time Lady Romana regenerated into a body that looked exactly
like someone that had recently spent an entire episode with them. True, it
seems like Time Ladies have more control over their appearance when regenerating
than the men, but it still seems that occasionally, a face from a Time Lord’s
past will stick in his subconscious for some reason and influence his
regeneration. In The Fires of Pompeii, Donna helped the Tenth Doctor remember a
valuable lesson about saving whoever he can. Maybe this is a lesson he subconsciously
wishes to remember as he enters his twelve incarnation.
It worries some that he is most famous for being a fast-talking,
creatively foul-mouthed character, Malcolm Tucker. Of course, with Doctor Who
being a family and child-friendly show, none of this will carry over. It was a
character he played, and now he’s playing a different one. Replace the swear
words with timey-wimey lingo, and suddenly you can understand why he was
chosen.
It was a huge relief to me to learn that Mr. Capaldi has
been a fervent Doctor Who fan for his whole life, even writing letters to the
magazines and fan clubs of the day. This must be a dream come true for him! He
knows the history, the character, and the mythology, and he’s going to work his
butt off to do it justice.
People are always quick to judge, and they worry about
things they love changing, but I think that in no time at all, Peter Capaldi
will prove to us all that he is a worthy successor to the Doctor Who throne.
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