His Last Bow:
A Tribute To The
Eleventh Doctor The Most Alien Of Timelords
By Will Barber – Taylor
The
Doctor has had eleven (twelve if you count John Hurt, but let’s not get into
all that) faces, the most recent being Matt Smith. Smith will soon be replaced
by the twelfth Doctor, Peter Capaldi but before he departs The Eleventh Doctor
will have one final adventure, an adventure that will test his metal.
As
I write this piece it is raining outside, lashing it down in fact. The
Christmas decorations are up and most of the presents are wrapped. It is ten
days until Christmas Eve, the night before the first airing of The Time of The Doctor. The Eleventh
Doctor’s time is up. What an era it has been.
The
Eleventh Doctor is really the darkest of the modern Doctors. While Eccleston
was the guilt ridden survivor and Tennant the best hero you could ever imagine,
Smith’s Doctor is a darker more sinister figure. He lurks in the background,
wiping every trace of himself from existence yet still managing to boast about
his own legend. While many see him as the ultimate loveable Doctor, it is
really a facade. We see this particularly in The Day of The Doctor. When asked by Hurt’s Doctor if he can
remember how many children were on Gallifrey when he destroyed it Smith’s
Doctor replies that he has forgotten. Tennant’s Doctor rounds on him asking:
You forgot! Four hundred years, is
that all it takes?!
Smith
quips that he has “moved on”. Tennant’s Doctor, still angry, cries:
Where?! Where can you be now that you
can forget something like that?!
Smith
replies “Spoilers”. The whole scene shows quite clearly that Smith’s Doctor is
not only arrogant but dwells on his own self. Similarly in A Good Man Goes To War he seems utterly smug at his victory over
Madam Kovarian and her gang. His own smugness and arrogance proves to be his
downfall in the fact that while he is congratulating himself, Kovarian manages
to ultimately win. This all comes from the Eleventh Doctor, more than any other
incarnation being completely out of tune with humanity. He is the true modern
alien Doctor. And that is not a bad thing; though you have the dark alien side
of The Doctor, you also have breaking through at certain points, his childlike,
alien glee at things that are ordinary. Like Fezs, Bowties and Jammie Dodgers. The Eleventh Doctor may have a dark core but
he also has a brilliant whimsical side. Both may seem incredibly different but
they stem from the Eleventh Doctor’s sense of utter alieness.
The
stem of the alieness seems to spring from his lack of a human companion for
most of his life. This demonstrates to us that without the anchor of humanity
provided by the likes of Rose Tyler, Sarah Jane Smith, Ian Chesterton and many
others that The Doctor plays by his own rules and not those of us normal
humans. As such Smith truly does personify the same character that William
Hartnell did back in 1963: The Alien Traveller who needs not only our guidance
but our morals to make him seem like the human that we strive for and deserve.
As
I finish this article, the clock struck twelve and it is now the 15th
of December. Ten days until we lose the brilliance of Matt Smith and his true
alien timelord and gain Peter Capaldi playing the everlasting in a completely
new and brilliant way.
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