The Whovianitis Files

Geronimo! Why I Won't Be Sobbing About Eleven Regenerating (Yet)

Twas a few days before Christmas

And all through the web

All the Whovians were stirring

Soon our Eleven would be dead.

But sitting at the side, against the wall

Was a girl named Rain who didn't quite agree with it all. 

As you can see by this title, my emotions towards the Eleventh Doctor regenerating this Christmas Day have been rather...muted. While all my friends have been in an absolute panic over the dear Matt Smith leaving, I've just kind of been standing there. 

Upon watching the first trailer for the Christmas trailer, I had no reaction. No, seriously. My face didn't change at all. No tears. No laughs. Just standing there blankly. I scrolled down into the comments to see people sobbing like maniacs...and I just couldn't relate with them.  Here's why this is the case.

Matt Smith was the one who chose to leave. 

I feel like everyone is trying to put blame on Matt leaving on someone. But here's the thing. Moffat didn't choose for him to leave. Gatiss didn't choose for him to leave. Peter Capaldi, nor Alex Kingston, nor Jenna Coleman, nor his fans, nor his foes choose for him to leave.

Matt Smith made the decision himself. 

We need to respect what Matt is doing. It's no one's "fault" that he's leaving. Yes, there were probably people who influenced him into doing it, but not in a bad way. He made the decision to leave, and frankly...

I understand the decision.

One of the main reasons Matt Smith is moving on is the problem of typecasting. Typecasting is  *insert cuss word/phrase of choice here.* I mean, it is a career ruiner for many people who are unable to branch out and show their skills. It's a good thing Matt had roles lined up-and not "Doctor" sort of roles either. He's Paul Bateman in American Psycho. A mad killer. And it's also a musical so yeah. 

I wish Matt the best of luck in the rest of his career, frankly. Without letting go of Doctor Who, he would have dug himself into a ditch. Previous members of the Doctor Who cast have talked about the issue of typecasting, and no one would be exempt from that...especially not the young Matt Smith.

Matt's had his time to shine.

The Eleventh Doctor has had quite a long run. I mean, he had 44 total episodes. David Tennant had 47. (That is assuming that I did the math correctly, which may not be the case.) The Ponds were his companions for far longer than any other New Who companion was. The thing is, Matt's been given plenty of time to show off his skills...and boy, has he. 

This actor who few had heard of soon became enormously famous for good reason-Matt Smith is an incredible actor. Even someone who doesn't care for Doctor Who or his personal interpretation can appreciate his skills. I mean, remember Nightmare in Silver with the whole dual personality thing? He was snapping back between characters in a rapidfire fashion-it's hard enough to get into one character, what about two?

If there's anything that I think shows up quite a bit in Matt's reign, it's the enormous speeches. Yes, they have appeared in the past. But goodness gracious. He just loves his speeches. And he kills them.

Matt was a very unique Doctor that no one will ever be able to forget. That would just be insane. But we've seen him at his best, and it's time for someone new to step in.

I feel like Peter Capaldi is going to be stunning.

Anyone who knows me well (well, I assume) will know that I absolutely adore Peter Capaldi.  Capital A adore. Let me tell you a quick story of why I fell in love with him so quickly.

Once upon a time, I was watching a show called Torchwood. I made it to Torchwood: Children of Earth, which was a special for the show. I have named it as one of my most favorite things I have ever seen on a screen, simply because it was phenomenal. Despite it focusing around aliens, it was very human. RTD blew me away with this. I feel that there was one character in particular who stuck out to me, who personified everything that made Children of Earth amazing.

John Frobisher was his name. I won't spoil anything for you, but I can say this: he has some extremely difficult choices to make during the course of the show. There's one choice that he made that stuck with me.

Weeks later, the Twelfth Doctor was announced. I was pleased to see it was an older man for a variety of reasons, and I thought he seemed quite right for the part. But then I found out I had seen this Peter Capaldi acting before. He had been John Frobisher. I had no clue until that point in time, and I was shocked. I knew this man could act. Really act.

Then I found out that Peter has been a Whovian for his entire life, writing fan letters and creating fan art. He was fandom before fandom was fandom. I mean, really. 

In essence, they had put everything together the way I would have wanted the Twelfth Doctor to be. I continued learning about him, and by this point I can't lie. I'm more excited to see Peter as the Doctor in the Christmas special than pretty much anything else about it. I guess I've just kind of come to terms with it, being that...

I saw it coming. 

I remember the day we found out Matt had shaved his hair. We had just been hearing that the Eleventh Doctor was going to be carrying on to series 8, what was he doing?

Well, I had already been thinking well before that point that he seemed to be having quite a long run as the Doctor. I couldn't help but wonder if he was going to be heading off sometime soon. The announcement he was staying convinced me for a while...but as soon as I saw his shaved head, I knew.

I knew they could use a wig. I mourned the loss of his hair along with everyone else, but I still kept that thought nestled in the back of my mind. Soon enough, Matt announced that he was going to be leaving Doctor Who. The Whovians just went rather ballistic...but then I retreated to my corner. I haven't left since.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure I will be crying buckets of tears come December 25th. But for now, I'm fine in my own little corner.

-Rain

(P.S. I included a picture of Matt as Paul Bateman...you know. Just because I can.)