Doctor Who's 12th Actor Revealed

[Cognimancer]

Doctor Who's 12th Actor Revealed

Doctor Who is passing the sonic screwdriver to a new actor: Peter Capaldi.

Fans of Doctor Who are familiar with the regeneration process: the Doctor's appearance changes every now and then as the reins are passed to a new leading actor. The 2005 reboot of the show has seen three incarnations of the Doctor: Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith playing the 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctors respectively. Now, it's time for the 12th Doctor to take the stage: Smith is on his way out with the 2013 Christmas special episode, to be replaced by the one and only Peter Capaldi.

Show producer Steven Moffat had considered Capaldi for the role of the 11th Doctor, but decided the time wasn't quite right. Capaldi previously made a brief appearance on the show during the 10th Doctor's run, playing Lucius Caecilius in The Fires of Pompeii. More recently, he's played a different variety of doctor in World War Z and is possibly best known from The Thick of It.

"It's so wonderful not to keep this secret any longer," Capaldi said during the reveal broadcast on BBC. "I haven't played Doctor Who since I was 9 on the playground." The 55 year old actor is a notable change from Smith, who was the youngest Doctor in the show's history. Smith wished his successor good luck in the role, saying, "There are no parts like this. I loved it, I'll miss it, but when you gotta go, you gotta go."

Doctor Who will resume this Christmas with Smith's final episode before Capaldi steps into the TARDIS.

Source: BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/articles/Peter-Capaldi-exclusively-revealed-to-the-nation-as-the-Twelfth-Doctor]

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[GothmogII]

Nice to see an older actor getting the opportunity. I realise it isn't at all true that the Doctor's have only gotten younger, but it's good that someone 50+ years can get a go again. (Though Eccleston was in his late forties I guess...) Capaldi looks awesome in that pic. :3

 

[Seventh Actuality]

Rule No. 1: The Doctor lies.

Rule No. 2:

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

I was holding out for Idris Elba.

Oh well, hopefully this won't be as crap as most of Matt Smith's episodes(that's a bit unfair, I feel that Stephen Moffatt is more responsible for the new "new" series of Dr. Who sucking rather than Smith himself).

Actually, yeah! BOO, YOU SUCK STEPHEN MOFFATT!

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Nice to see an older actor getting the opportunity. I realise it isn't at all true that the Doctor's have only gotten younger, but it's good that someone 50+ years can get a go again. (Though Eccleston was in his late forties I guess...) Capaldi looks awesome in that pic. :3

It's nice and all, but from eat I've seen the show will get a drop in ratings because of the legions of Tumblr and Twitter fan girls who are complaining he isn't pretty like the last few. Which is quite sexist, but who cares as long as we get a cool new Doctor.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Does this mean that the new Doctor is going to turn around and call someone a f###ing c###?

I would watch that, I would watch that over and over and over. I am looking forward to this, at the risk of sounding mean I've found Matt Smith almost completely unbearable to watch. Not sure what specifically, but something about him leaves me chewing lumps of board after about ten minutes of him on screen. It's not an objective thing, I just don't like watching him as the Doctor.

Although, hopefully this isn't the last we've seen of Matt Smith, I think he could do creepy English bad guys extremely well (Marvel? Please?).

 

[Riobux]

And ladies and gents, this is what you're dealing with.

Edit: TL;DR version:


I'm hoping they keep something very similar with the 12th doctor.

 

[Stevepinto3]

Nice to see an older actor getting the opportunity. I realise it isn't at all true that the Doctor's have only gotten younger, but it's good that someone 50+ years can get a go again. (Though Eccleston was in his late forties I guess...) Capaldi looks awesome in that pic. :3

It's nice and all, but from eat I've seen the show will get a drop in ratings because of the legions of Tumblr and Twitter fan girls who are complaining he isn't pretty like the last few. Which is quite sexist, but who cares as long as we get a cool new Doctor.

They'll stop whining when he shows up in his first episode, says a bunch of witty funny lines, and proves he can be The Doctor. Then all the doctor who fan girls will suddenly realize they're strangely attracted to older men.

 

[DrRockor]

I like that the new doctor is this guy


This makes me hopeful for the future

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Nice to see an older actor getting the opportunity. I realise it isn't at all true that the Doctor's have only gotten younger, but it's good that someone 50+ years can get a go again. (Though Eccleston was in his late forties I guess...) Capaldi looks awesome in that pic. :3

It's nice and all, but from eat I've seen the show will get a drop in ratings because of the legions of Tumblr and Twitter fan girls who are complaining he isn't pretty like the last few. Which is quite sexist, but who cares as long as we get a cool new Doctor.

They'll stop whining when he shows up in his first episode, says a bunch of witty funny lines, and proves he can be The Doctor. Then all the doctor who fan girls will suddenly realize they're strangely attracted to older men.

Oh I'm so hoping he doesn't start his run off being a meme-maker like Matt Smith did. Fezzes are cool and fish finger custard were not funny the first time, and they weren't funny the fiftieth.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Holy fuckin' shit it's Malcolm Tucker! Peter Capaldi is an amazing actor. I thought that rumor was just a ruse. I'm glad it's not.

 

[Sabrestar]

Good luck Peter! I hope you have a wonderful time.

 

[Kyber]

In IMDB it says he played W.H.O Doctor in World War Z. Coincidence?

 

[Jandau]

While I don't watch the show, I do posses a modicum of knowledge about the character (mostly thanks to SF Debris), so I gotta ask - Shouldn't the Doctor be running out of reincarnations by this point? I mean, each actor is supposed to be a different incarnation of the Doctor, after he dies/gets killed. And he's got a finite number of them. Doesn't he have like one left? Is this the last one?

 

[elvor0]

Nice to see an older actor getting the opportunity. I realise it isn't at all true that the Doctor's have only gotten younger, but it's good that someone 50+ years can get a go again. (Though Eccleston was in his late forties I guess...) Capaldi looks awesome in that pic. :3

It's nice and all, but from eat I've seen the show will get a drop in ratings because of the legions of Tumblr and Twitter fan girls who are complaining he isn't pretty like the last few. Which is quite sexist, but who cares as long as we get a cool new Doctor.

They'll stop whining when he shows up in his first episode, says a bunch of witty funny lines, and proves he can be The Doctor. Then all the doctor who fan girls will suddenly realize they're strangely attracted to older men.

Ehh, I'm hoping for a more "straight" doctor so to speak, a stern one, he needs to be juxtaposed to Matt Smith, Eccleston had the grumpy doctor motif, but in a flippant and sarcastic way, Tennant was whimsical but could be quite dark and was serious /more/ of the time, while Smith is very "childish", but can still be dark, but again in a sort of childish way.

Personally I can't see Capaldi being a whimsical doctor in any form, in my eyes, he'll be this hardline guy with Clara being the lighter side of the duo.

While I don't watch the show, I do posses a modicum of knowledge about the character (mostly thanks to SF Debris), so I gotta ask - Shouldn't the Doctor be running out of reincarnations by this point? I mean, each actor is supposed to be a different incarnation of the Doctor, after he dies/gets killed. And he's got a finite number of them. Doesn't he have like one left? Is this the last one?

It's not entirely certain at this point. It's either:

A: No regens at this point, having used regenerations up for "other" reasons at 2 points in at least the new series, so this would be the last form.

B: No, because it's been retconned out that he has a finite number/he has more than 13.

C: No, because it's possible for time lords to be given another cycle, which is likely given the time war having happened and it would be a tactical superiority for the time lords to be given a new set of regenerations.

Mind you, the 50th anniversary is going to be dealing with the Time War so anything could happen at this point. Either way, the BBC ain't gonna cancel Dr Who, and Steven Moffat has NOT got the chops to write the final final episode. Normal episodes tend to leave a bit to be desired these days, let alone the finale of something like this.

 

[Shinsei-J]

While I'm happy about the actor I'm also sad that it's still not Stephen Fry.

Spoiler: Give the man a chance!

Give the man a chance!

We could have had the most philosophical, information hungry doctor yet.
...
Anyway, YAY this guy is awesome!

 

[Mumorpuger]

I was holding out for Idris Elba.

Absolutely. As I was reading this I was thinking that they really need to get a black actor to really shake things up. The Time Lords are a race that can travel to any place or time, and have encountered countless races, yet every time there's a regeneration the Doctor ends up as a Caucasian male. What are the odds of that?

 

[TimeLord]

Ehh, I'm hoping for a more "straight" doctor so to speak, a stern one, he needs to be juxtaposed to Matt Smith, Eccleston had the grumpy doctor motif, but in a flippant and sarcastic way, Tennant was whimsical but could be quite dark and was serious /more/ of the time, while Smith is very "childish", but can still be dark, but again in a sort of childish way.

Personally I can't see Capaldi being a whimsical doctor in any form, in my eyes, he'll be this hardline guy with Clara being the lighter side of the duo.

Moffat said he wanted a new Doctor who is "not Matt Smith" so I'm hoping he's not hyped up on sugar 90% of his time as the Doctor and is a bit darker and more serious.

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

While I don't watch the show, I do posses a modicum of knowledge about the character (mostly thanks to SF Debris), so I gotta ask - Shouldn't the Doctor be running out of reincarnations by this point? I mean, each actor is supposed to be a different incarnation of the Doctor, after he dies/gets killed. And he's got a finite number of them. Doesn't he have like one left? Is this the last one?

You're right, this should be the Doctor's final regeneration. Of course, the writers have complete narrative control, and there are theories abounding that could easily circumvent this limitation. Eccleston not being the "9th" for example, but in fact, an imposter Doctor.

Though the way it's been recently, I wouldn't be surprised if the way they write themselves out of this regeneration limit is by canonising what could barely pass for fan fiction. Just throw together an, intentionally obtuse, string of "explanations", save it for a disappointing finale you've been "alluding" to all season, and there you have it. Infinite regenerations because the Doctor is in fact a Möbius fucking bow-tie.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

this looks to be interesting. I can't wait to see how he contrasts against his forebears