The time has come for Matt Smith to leave the TARDIS for a final time. Most fans are already aware that the Doctor will now be regenerating into Mr. Peter Capaldi. Personally I am not troubled with the choice, even though I was hoping they might do something more surprising, like when the Watcher became the 5th Doctor. Sadly my idea of River Song becoming the 12th are over, for now. Some are also saying Capaldi is a ruse, which I don't think is the case at all. Why? Well he is a respected actor and I don't think the BBC is into pulling peoples chains. Personally, I wish they had left it under their hats until the actual reveal in November for the 50th Anniversary special (Look at my face. Do I look bothered? Yes, a little), but my guess is that it is that between the rapid growth of the brand, especially in the USA (the land where spoilers and reveals abound), and the summer Who drought, they wanted to keep people engaged. The rapid growth of Doctor Who might not be the best thing though (It feels like a nerdy pre-crash housing market but, so instead of houses it's Time Lords, Super Heroes, and Internet Memes).
It has taken a long time for the Doctor to sink it's claws into the greater American pop culture, unless everyone was screwing with me when I talked about Doctor Who during Tom Baker years as a kid.
Those years were great though. Crazy adventures, crazy aliens, crazy robot dog, crazy scarf. Watching that show was a blast. Mostly on account of the very refined story and fabulous high end effects, I kid, really the titular Doctor Who was truly the keystone to the series for me (I guess that's why he got top billing). At that point the only Doctor I knew was Tom Baker but, since then I have come to enjoy several of the others. All for their unique creations that embody the doctor. So I look forward to the new.
