When Doctor Who was brought back from the dead many years ago, and the role was handed off to Christopher Eccleston, everyone was thrilled and the show was great. Then Eccleston said to hell with this nonsense after one season and there was a great gnashing of teeth and ripping of hair.
But then there was a miracle, real actor and actual good looking fellow David Tennant landed the role. David set the tone for the modern Doctors, a man who is both a lot of fun and a cold blooded murder bent on righting wrongs and possibly destroying the universe. There was laughter and tears and love and loss and damn, those were good shows.
Then David decided he didn’t want to be the Doctor for the rest of his life and left. Cue more gnashing of teeth and ripping of hair.
Then came Matt Smith. A fairly silly Doctor who wore bow ties and fezes and often had a goofy expression on his face. It took a few episodes to warm up to him, but he was a likable guy. He suffered from having a number of lackluster stories and pointless plot lines and endless hints that something big was going on. But it never seemed all that big. Even the end of his run with a guest appearance by Tennant and fourth Doctor Tom Baker wasn’t all that great. I did like Matt Smith, but he was no David Tennant.
Then came Peter Capaldi. He’s an older, more bitter, and totally humorless Doctor. He’s a tool who often makes fun of the other Doctors. He’s a jerk that hates helping anyone do anything. Unlike the other Doctors, he hints that he actually has had a love life and might have had sex once or twice, but he’s snarky about it. He’s snarky about everything. He’s not a likable guy, he’s the first Doctor that I want to see killed by a Dalek.
Maybe it’s just a matter of time. Maybe this has to do with an odd little subplot about God and Heaven. Maybe the people at the BBC decided they didn’t like everyone being in love with the Doctor. I’ll keep watching, hoping it gets better and starts to make a bit more sense soon.
