The Eleventh Hour or, How I learned to love a Doctor that is not named Eccleston or Tennant

Alright enough procrastinating. People keep asking me "what did you think of the new Doctor?" and I kept saying, "oh, you know. I'll blog about it soon. What did you think?" And then of course "soon" came and went and here we are two weeks into the new Doctor's run on BBC America and I haven't made a peep. So here's what I think.

I think that the Doctor should not wear skinny jeans.

Matt Smith is the Doctor. Sure he's different than Tennant and different from Eccleston, but he was always going to be different. The highest praise I can think to give him as an actor is that in my mind, there is no doubt he is the Doctor. From the moment he started talking to Amelia Pond I was there; the Tenth Doctor had just regenerated into the Eleventh Doctor and he looked like Matt Smith. He was brilliant, mercurial, a complete and utter nutter, and of course, adorable. But he is, at the core, still the Doctor.

What, you want specifics? FINE. You people are so demanding. Obviously, right off the bat, the Doctor looks younger now. I think this will mean people will respond to his saying, "I'm the Doctor" with a kind of, "HAHA kid, you're funny." So perhaps he will have to work harder to get people to catch on to his genius. Which means we'll probably get a lot of the "I am brilliant and will tell you why" moments that can get kind of tiresome and can also get the Doctor into trouble (cough Midnight cough).

But I think it also means that the Doctor is going to be more immediately accepting of other people's potential for awesomeness. In the scene from the premiere when the Doctor recruits Jeff (the hot guy) to jump into a conversation with some of the greatest minds in the world, he just accepts that Jeff is capable of rising to the task. Sure, the moment came off as a bit overly sappy, but I still liked it. I feel like Ten (and definitely Nine) would make you work for it first, make you prove your usefulness. And if you didn't, then sorry, maybe you aren't cut out for this kind of work. From the brief time we've spent with Eleven (which for me is only the first episode), it seems that he just expects people to be great. I wonder what happens when someone lets him down?

As for Amy, I'm not convinced. I do feel really bad for her; after all, the Doctor has essentially effed up her life since the time she was a little girl. He's like the ultimate imaginary friend...who up and leaves you. Which is kind of the one thing that an imaginary friend is not supposed to do. And it only took 4 psychiatrists to break her down to the point where she would believe he didn't exist. And then whoops! One day he just shows up again AND saves the world AND then goes away again for two years. Also, besides being an adorable child, Amy hasn't really done anything too companion-worthy yet. Hopefully she'll soon be tasked with actually doing something in an episode.

I'm definitely intrigued by the whole "Silence will fall" thing and the Pandorica or whatever the heck Prisoner Zero was on about. Ladies and gentleman, we have a season arc! I trust Moffat for sure and can't wait to see where we go next. His episodes were always my favorite, and while I didn't feel The Eleventh Hour was on par with his past episodes, I'm ridiculously excited for the return of River Song, the Weeping Angels, and all matter of Moffat-goodness. I am hoping the future eps will feel more classic Moffat and a little less classic Davies.

Another good thing about the new Doctor: TWOP has brought Doctor Who out of hiatus and Jacob is back to recapping. Awesome. While he seems to love both Eleven and Amy, be warned; he has some definite criticisms for Moffat regarding the first couple episodes, and most of his points I think are completely valid. You can find his recap of the first episode here.

So what did you think of the new Doctor? Personally, I don't think bow ties are cool, but I'm all about the elbow patches.