Emotional Discourse

Magnet #317 - Funny Faces

Into each generation, a Slayer Doctor is born.

The Beeb gave us notice, and surprised the heck out of us with the identity of Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith. And, despite people vouching for him left and right (No, I haven't yet watched the two Billie Piper telefilms he was in), all I know is that he's a bit of a finger waggler.

Ah. But will he make funny faces and have funny hair?

You can check out more serious reactions to the new kid on the block here on Televisionary and Stuff on TV.

I'm still gathering my thoughts, and I'm thinking the jury's out until I actually see his work. We may have our answer, but for me, it's only posed more questions.

First and foremost, am I a Doctor Who fan, or just a David Tennant fan. Mind you, I really did enjoy Chris Eccleston's Nine, and after Parting of the Ways, I was completely convinced that this David Tennant guy wouldn't be able to be the Doctor. So maybe I'm a (new series) DW fan.

Second, is the world ready for a Gen Y Doctor. Will they dress him in ratty jeans and turtlenecks or trendy pullovers? Will he an Abercrombie & Fitch Doctor? To be fair, for the most part that seems to be David Tennant in real life, dressing out of his demo with the number of hoodies and graphic Ts he sports.

Third, are we gonna get a young companion as well? Will we have a Michelle from Skins? Or, someone older? But, as my sister says, we can't have him traveling through all of time and space with a cougar. Or could we?

I will say that I've been loving the worldwide reactions. Articles and blogposts of varying degrees of delight and sheer terror. My favorite thus far...a commenter from the Den of Geek article: "A frakkin EMO?!"

Oh, it won't be so bad. Cautiously optimistic isn't on this magnet, but I'm actually quite looking forward to what Eleven brings to the screen. Just from what little I've now seen on the DWC, I would have to agree that there's something pretty self-possessed about this guy.

Finally, I have to hand it to the BBC Publicity Team. Doctor Who seems to be an easy product to sell, but those PR folks sure know how to generate media impressions and overall buzz, the likes and mileage of which I've never seen. And I'm Stateside, just getting the overflow of that PR.

Wow. All this fuss over a guy we won't see for almost a year.

Once again, well played BBC, well played.

eta:
I'll bet that Matt Smith's Starmeter chart on imdb has just gone through the roof. I can't wait to see the update on his ranking after this week. His rank on Dec 30 was 24,418. Bet money this week, he'll at least be in the top 5,000. Oooh. Hello, rising star.