Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor is the eleventh incarnation of the Time Lord known as the Doctor. He was sporadic and very alien compared to his previous incarnation, yet retained his youthful vigor for defending the Earth.
Biography
Regeneration
The Doctor's tenth incarnation regenerated after absorbing a vast amount of radiation.
After this, he released a massive amount of energy during regeneration, causing severe damage to his TARDIS.
Despite the destruction going on around him inside the TARDIS, the new incarnation's first priority was to do a personal inventory of his body to make sure all the proper parts were in place; in fact, his first words were "Legs! I've still got legs! Good!" after which he kissed one of his knees in relief. He next counted his fingers. The new incarnation was momentarily worried that he had regenerated as female due to having longer hair, until he confirmed the presence of an Adam's apple. He then mentioned "I've had worse" when it came to his nose, seemed unsettled by his chin, and again bemoaned the fact that he was still not ginger; something his previous incarnation had also wanted to be. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)
Slightly addled by the regeneration, the new Doctor did not immediately realize the TARDIS was on fire and about to crash. Once he did, he actually seemed to enjoy the thrill of the moment, gleefully calling out "Geronimo!" as his TARDIS plummeted to Earth. (DW: The End of Time)
Unlike most of his recent regenerations, the Doctor was not rendered unconscious or otherwise greatly incapacitated after the change. Aside from developing an odd taste in food (see below), the only apparent ill effects included a temporary "steering problem" with his body (he walked into a tree at one point), and the occasional spasm. He also endured being knocked unconscious by a cricket bat. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Meeting Amy and saving the world
While the TARDIS is falling and blowing up, the Doctor holds onto the edge of the TARDIS and tries to get back in. When he does, another explosion causes the TARDIS to crash in Amelia Pond's garden and the Doctor falls all the way down into the library, along with the pool. The Doctor emerges and asks for an apple. After drying off, the Doctor discovers most of the foods he likes he hates now due to his regeneration changing his taste. The only food he likes is fish fingers dipped in custard. After discovering that the crack in Amelia's bedroom wall is a crack in time and a prison and also noticing a perception filtered door, the Doctor hears the Cloister Bell and runs to the TARDIS to stabilize its engines by making a quick jump into the future. He promises young Amelia that he'll return in five minutes. 12 years later,
the Doctor materilises the TARDIS and enters Amelia's house and knows where Prisoner Zero is. When he calls for Amelia he gets hit with a cricket bat and is cuffed to a radiator. He wakes and discovers a police officer (Amy) and she enters the perception filtered room and retrieves the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver and encounters Prisoner Zero. After escaping the house, the Doctor discovers the police officer is Amelia (now called Amy) and that the Atraxi will incinerate Earth in 20 minutes. With sonic screwdriver destroyed, the Doctor figures out a new strategy to save Earth. He uses Jeff's laptop to communicate with Patrick Moore, NASA and many other people and creates a computer virus from Rory's Blackberry Storm which he uses to attract the Atraxi to the hospital where Prisoner Zero is. After calling back the Atraxi and convincing them never to return, the TARDIS key glows and the Doctor races to the TARDIS to check out what it looks like. He then makes a quick trip to the moon to "run in" the TARDIS, and comes back for Amy, two years later, and (unbeknownst to him) the night before her wedding. He offers to take her anytime and anywhere in the universe and they set off. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
Adventures with Amy Pond
For their first trip, the Doctor takes Amy Pond to the late 32nd century, a time when all the humans have evacuated Earth due to solar flares roasting the planet in the 29th century. They land on Starship UK, which houses the entirity of the UK like the name suggests. There, the Doctor discovers the ship is running without an engine and is baffled by this. He and Amy discover that the whole ship is transported by the last Star Whale which is driven through torture methods. The Doctor is then faced with an impossible choice: let the Star Whale continue being tortured or release it thus killing everyone aboard the ship. In the end the Doctor decides to lobotize the Star Whale, thus killing it as painlessly as possible and allowing the ship to still be intact. Amy soon notices the similarities between The Doctor and the Star Whale (the kindness and being the last of their kind) and realises that the whale is there of its own accord and frees it from the pain. As they leave the ship, Amy was about to tell the Doctor her wedding was to be tomorrow before being interrupted by a phone call from Winston Churchill, who informs the Doctor that he's in need of his help. The Doctor tells them they're on their way and the two head off for World War II London. (DW: The Beast Below).
Arriving in 1941, the Doctor and Amy find Churchill, who has previously met the Doctor (PDA: Players, The Shadow in the Glass). The TARDIS has arrived a month after the Doctor recieved Winston's call. The reason he called in the first place, was to show him one of his 'Ironsides', which are, in fact, subservient Daleks. They arrived in World War II because after the War in the Medusa Cascade, one of the flagships fell through time, nearly destroyed; only three Daleks survived. They then create an android, who claims to have created the Daleks. From there, they try to find the Doctor, so his testimony can activate the Progenitor. Once the Doctor is on the ship, the current leader of the Daleks, a standard bronze Dalek, manages to use the machine to create a league of five new Daleks. They are the Supreme (White), the Strategist (Blue), the Eternal (Yellow), the Scientist (Orange), and the Drone (Red). The new five Daleks destroy the 'inferior' Daleks, and begin to destroy Earth using the android as a bomb. The Doctor manages to deactivate the bomb, and the Daleks escape, planning their next strategem (DW: Victory of the Daleks).
After arriving in the Delirium Archive in the 171st century, he finds a Home Box with the message, "Hello Sweetie" inscribed on it in Old High Gallifreyan, he realizes someone on a spaceship 12,000 years ago is trying to attract his attention so he steals the Home Box. Watching the video recorded on the Home Box he finds River Song was the one trying to contact him, she tells him the coordinates and that she needs an air corridor. After picking her up in space they chase the Starliner Byzantium to the planet it crashed on, Alfalfa Matraxi the seventh planet of the Dundra system. River Song reveals that on board that ship was a Weeping Angel, the deadliest most powerful most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced. Inside the Aplans Temple catacombs the Doctor discovers that this maze of the dead is filled with what seems to be statues and dead bodies in the walls. After they travel much farther inside up toward the crashed Byzantium the Doctor and River Song notice the perception filter on the statues, weak and starving Weeping Angels all around them. (DW: The Time of Angels)
Personality
At first glance, the Eleventh Doctor is highly energetic and very lively, although if this is just a result of his recent regeneration is currently unknown. He is extremely brash and unafraid to show his eccentricities, appearing to act alien. He is also easily agitated when people or objects do not do as he wishes them to, and will resort to physical confrontation and somewhat reckless behavior to achieve his goals. He has, like a number of his other incarnations, fantastic leadership qualities. Much like his ninth and tenth incarnations, he also has a large amount of knowledge of Earth slang and colloquialism as he is aware of Facebook, Twitter and Bebo. He appears to have remembered a few of his predecessor's catchphrases, such as "Fantastic!", "There's been some cowboys in here", and repetition of the word "What!". He is extremely resourceful and quick thinking, able to spin things to his point of view, and can find positive outlooks in negative situations. He is somewhat more melodramatic in his brilliance, going so far as to prove Fermat's last theorem, faster-than-light travel and why electrons have mass just to prove he could be trusted. (DW:The Eleventh Hour).
He also can tell how old something is by taste which was a trademark of the Fifth and Tenth Doctors. He is often late, arriving twelve years later than he intended, like his fifth, ninth and tenth incarnations. He also appears to have incredibly good eyesight as well as an eidetic memory, and is able to scan an entire scene and pick up little details. He implores others to observe every detail in an area and make brilliant deductions from doing so.
Much like the Second Doctor, this Doctor shows a childlike recklessness but always has a grander scheme behind his actions. Also similar to his second incarnation, the Eleventh has a knack for acting smug, occasionally boasting about his feats, knowledge, and reputation.
This Doctor also has a more serious side to his character. He shows little tolerance for dire mistakes and being belittled by others; he likely does not give second chances. He even threatened to leave Amy back at her home after one mistake. (DW: The Beast Below) The Eleventh is also aware of the flaws humans have and reminds them of those flaws, a trait his ninth incarnation had. The solemn nature of this Doctor when not being taken seriously and the belittling of humans is similar (but milder) to the traits of the Sixth Doctor. Also reminiscent of the Sixth Doctor, this Doctor seems to be less interested in his companions than his previous incarnation was, even ignoring them when busy with his work. Unlike his previous incarnation, this Doctor seems slightly annoyed with River Song instead of enjoying her company.
Much like his fourth, sixth, and ninth incarnation, this Doctor was much more outwardly alien and wasn't as in touch with humanity as his fifth, eighth and previous incarnation were. The Eleventh believes that a human's ability to feel pain and suffering defines their humanity. (DW: Victory of the Daleks) This Doctor is more prone to violent actions and sometimes uses them as his first option to achieve his goals: he repeatedly attacked a Dalek with a spanner in order to provoke it into showing its true nature and immediately struck Dr. Bracewell in order to incapacitate his detonation. (DW: Victory of the Daleks)
The Eleventh Doctor appears to be less skilled with his sonic screwdriver than his predecessors were, or perhaps he is merely unfamiliar with his newly acquired upgraded version. Thus far he has only attempted to use it when it wasn't actually necessary at all and he appears at times to be mildly confused when utilizing it.
The Eleventh Doctor has also shown a tendency to refer to Amy by her surname, much as his first incarnation did with companion Ian Chesterton. Also similar to his first incarnation, this Doctor wasn't keen on hiding his emotions, usually making his anger obvious through violent actions and tone of speech.
Clothes
For most of his first adventure, the Doctor wore the tattered clothes of his previous incarnation from just before he regenerated. Like his third and eighth incarnations, (DW: Spearhead from Space, Doctor Who) he stole his clothing from the staff room of a hospital. Unlike the previous occasions, however, this particular theft, however, was at least meekly protested by one of that hospital's staff.
The Doctor's primary outfit consisted of a brown tweed jacket with elbow patches, a fashionable shirt, a bow tie, red braces rolled up trousers and black boots. (DW: The Eleventh Hour) He would later vary the colour of the shirt and the bow tie.
- Matt Smith has made several public statements — as on The Jonathan Ross Show and in the question-and-answer session following the New York theatrical premiere of The Eleventh Hour — taking credit for the tweed jacket, braces and bow tie that his Doctor eventually wore. He has also relayed that there was some reluctance from Steven Moffat and other top executives to the bow tie in particular, but that it nevertheless "sat right" with his performance. Smith's influence — according to Doctor Who Confidential and a mid-April 2010 appearance on Fox Broadcasting Company's Strategy Room — was the character of Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr., as he was most often clothed on the campus of Barnett College.
- When queried about the exact nature of the bow tie, Karen Gillan told the audience of the 2nd April 2010 edition of the CBBC programme, Laugh Out Loud, that Smith's bow tie wasn't a "proper" bow tie, but instead a pre-tied dicky bow. This can be confirmed by carefully watching him put on the tie The Eleventh Hour, although the action is somewhat obscured by the Atraxi projection.
TARDIS
As a result of the damage caused by his tenth regeneration, the Doctor's TARDIS underwent a metamorphosis. While its interior radically changed, the exterior was also slightly affected. Most noticably, the right exterior door was again emblazoned with a St. John Ambulance symbol, as it had been on his initial incarnation's TARDIS. The light is now different, the blue is a bit lighter and the windows have changed to include white bordering around the glass panels. The exterior configuration is similar to the TARDIS the First Doctor used.
Key Life Events
- The Doctor regenerates. (DW: The End of Time)
- The TARDIS' destruction makes the Doctor crash on Earth in 1996, where he meets a young Amy Pond. (DW: The End of Time / The Eleventh Hour)
- Meets Amy Pond, along with her boyfriend Rory Williams, 12 years later, and saves the world from Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- The TARDIS regenerates on the inside and outside. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- Travels 2 years to the future, and invites an older Amy to travel with him in the TARDIS (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- Travels to the Starship UK with Amy where he helps Liz Ten to discover the truth about the ship (DW: The Beast Below)
- Re-encounters Winston Churchill and the Daleks in World War II and witnesses their resurrection. (DW: Victory of the Daleks).
- Re-encounters River Song and the Weeping Angels (DW: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone)
Behind the Scenes
- The comic strip The Crimson Hand, being published in Doctor Who Magazine from issue 416 in December 2009, was the last strip to feature the Tenth Doctor. Similarly, the American comic book publisher, IDW Publishing, announced at the New York Comic Con in February 2009 that it will begin publishing original comic book adventures featuring the Eleventh Doctor as of issue 18 of Doctor Who Ongoing, scheduled for publication in December 2010.
- BBC Books has announced that the first novels featuring the Eleventh Doctor in the New Series Adventures line are scheduled for release in April 2010. That month will also see the first BBC Audio adventure for the Eleventh Doctor.
- This Doctor uses the catchphrase "Geronimo!" Much like the Ninth Doctor's "Fantastic!" and the Tenth's "Allons-y!"
- The BBC's initial trailer issued in January 2010 includes brief scenes showing future adventures. These include - though the context of these scenes remains at present unknown:
- Exchanging a kiss with Amy.
- Wearing sunglasses in the dark.
- The third trailer and preview of The Eleventh Hour from BBC confirms the Doctor doing the following:
- Using his new Sonic Screwdriver at Stonehenge.
- On 19th April, it was announced that Matt Smith would be appearing in the 4th series of The Sarah Jane Adventures as the Eleventh Doctor, alongside Katy Manning as former companion Jo Grant.
Footnotes
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