Doctor Who Saturday: Down Time

What to do? What to do? 

Welcome to Doctor Who Saturday. I'm Dave-El and I'm in a quandry.

No, not a quarry! A quandry! 





The quandry is...what to do? 

It's been a little more than 2 months since The Time of the Doctor and the departure of Matt Smith and we have at least 6 more months before we see Peter Capaldi in his first proper outing as the 12th Doctor. 

"Film faster, Mr. Capaldi! FASTER!

So naturally I'm on the look out for something, anything new about the forthcoming series and our new Doctor. There's always some trepidation on the arrival of a new Doctor in the TARDIS and so it's normal to seek out any scrap of information to let us know the next guy's going to be OK. 


Well, there was this encounter between Peter Capaldi and a young fan who's missing Matt Smith. Click on the link and see the video of Peter as he reassures this little girl about Doctor Who.  


If that is any indication, the Doctor is in good hands. 

But still, the show itself is still so frustratingly far away. So the El family has taken to catching up on some classic episodes as well looping around our DVDs of the new series.


We just finished the first season and every time I watch those episodes, I'm more impressed than before with Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. And more depressed that Chris seems determined to burn that bridge behind him. 13 episodes was too short a time for this fantastic interpretation of the Doctor.

I wish Chris can come to terms with his role in this iconic series and make a return appearance. Perhaps in a special celebrating the 10th anniversary of the show's revival? 

This weekend we come back around to David Tennant. It was a real kick watching him back in action as the Doctor in The Day of the Doctor last November. While I admired Eccleston's take on the character, there is no denying the sheer enthusiasm that Tennant brought to the role, the energy of the fan boy made good. 

Then we'll cycle around back to Matt Smith and boy, that's gonna be hard.  This will be the first time running through the 11th Doctor episodes from the beginning since Time of the Doctor. Matt's gonzo embrace of the Doctor's quirky alien nature was a wonder to behold and it's really going to be hard to imagine the Doctor not being him. 

The funny thing is letting go of any Doctor can be hard, even decades removed from the fact. When I watched the 3rd Doctor stories, I really got into Jon Pertwee as the Doctor. When I got to Planet of the Spiders, I'm thinking I don't want Jon to go. And this from a guy who thought Tom Baker was THE Doctor for the longest time. Of course, by the time I was watching this, Jon Pertwee had been gone from the show for over 8 years so it was a little late to be pleading for him not to go. 

Over the span of mere minutes, Paul McGann owns the screen as the 8th Doctor in the Night of the Doctor mini-episode and I don't want HIM to go either, even though I know the whole point of this is for him to pass the baton on the next guys who have already come and gone. But in those short slivers of time, Paul McGann was the Doctor. 


Steven Moffat noted recently in Doctor Who Magazine that whoever plays the Doctor IS the Doctor. During his time, Matt Smith was not the 11th Doctor, he was THE Doctor. When those episodes FINALLY come around, Peter Capaldi will not be the next Doctor or the 12th Doctor, he will be THE Doctor. 

I'm going to miss Matt Smith. But I can't wait to give Peter Capaldi his chance. And if she was moved by Peter's show of kindness and tenderness, that little girl, missing Matt so terribly, may be ready to give Peter his chance as well. 
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Coming up next time on Doctor Who Saturday:

I go back to the well that is The Nemesis Who Stole Time. What? Really? Again?

Well, yes. For the Dalek God of Time has a special interest in one particular face of the Doctor, even if the Time Lord behind that face didn't think of himself as the Doctor.