The 12th Doctor

The 12th Doctor has been chosen - Peter Capaldi will step into the role of The Doctor on Doctor Who, beginning this December. I'm sure for anyone remotely interested in Doctor Who this is old news by now, but I decided I wanted to post about it anyway.

The BBC and Steven Moffat (Writer/Producer of the show) had been hinting at the announcement for a while and the decision was finally made public yesterday. It consequently caused a massive explosion on Facebook (and many other social & media outlets, I'm sure) and a multitude of postings with the exciting news essentially took over my newsfeed yesterday afternoon and evening.

The Doctor is able to regenerate, which allows for different actors to play the role over the years. There have been 11 Doctors so far (John Hurt being an as yet unexplained technicality that I'm going to let slide for now), with a 12th Doctor joining us during this year's Christmas special. I have been watching the show since the 9th Doctor (2005, played by Christopher Eccleston) and have enjoy the two subsequent incarnations, David Tennant as the 10th Doctor (my personal favorite; 2005-2010) and Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor (2010-2013).

For those unfamiliar with the show, it is a British program that began in 1963, making this year it's 50th anniversary, which is one of reasons for all the recent hoopla. The show revolves around a Time Lord called The Doctor, a time traveling alien (who looks human) who wanders throughout space and time in a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space), a sentient spaceship disguised as a blue police box that is "bigger on the inside." The Doctor picks up different companions along the way, who accompany him in his adventures and help save the day for victims great and small. That is a dreadful oversimplification of the show, but if I get any more detailed, it will become far too complicated.

I'm excited for the new Doctor. While I will definitely miss Matt Smith, I have high hopes for Peter Capaldi. He is a lifelong Doctor Who fan, which is definitely encouraging. His first appearance as the 12th Doctor was at his announcement, which can be viewed here and is definitely worth watching, if you're a Doctor Who fan. The BBC also put out a good article about him, his secret audition, etc., which you can check out here.

Some fun facts: Peter Capaldi has actually been in Doctor Who before, back in 2008. He was in an episode with the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) called " Fires of Pompeii," about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Karen Gillan, who played Amy Pond, the first companion of the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith), also appeared in that episode as a "soothsayer." Recycling actors seems to be a reoccurring theme in Doctor Who...Freema Agyeman first appeared on Doctor Who in the 2006 episode "Army of Ghosts" as Adeola, and then played Martha Jones, one of the 10th Doctor's companions beginning in 2007 - it's explained that "Adeola" was her cousin. Eve Myles appeared in an episode of Doctor Who ("The Unquiet Dead," 2005) as a maid named Gwyneth and then ended up with a starring role in the Doctor Who spin off, Torchwood as of Gwen Cooper (I dressed up as her for Halloween 2011)...which caused her to appear as Gwen on Doctor Who in 2008.

One last Peter Capaldi "fun fact": his recent role in "World War Z" was credited as W.H.O. Doctor. 

Coincidence? ;)

~ Katie