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The Eleventh Doctor was the eleventh incarnation of the renegade Time Lord known as the Doctor. Although he was very alien compared to his previous incarnation, he retained his vigour for defending the Universe. He had a more eccentric personality than his previous self. He eventually married River Song, making him the son-in-law ofcompanions Amy Pond and Rory Williams.
Psychological profile
Personality
The eleventh incarnation was highly energetic and very lively. He was brash, eccentric and very alien. He was resourceful and quick thinking, able to spin things to his point of view, and find positive outlooks in negative situations. (DW: The Eleventh Hour) When things looked bleakest, he liked to have those around him focus on the positives to come should they survive. (DW: A Christmas Carol)
When thinking about a problem, he blocked out all outside distractions. He told Amy "you're dying shut up" so he could concentrate on working out how to save her. (DW: Flesh and Stone)
Much like his second incarnation, he showed a childlike recklessness, but always had a grand scheme behind his actions. He was often smug, occasionally boastful about his feats, knowledge, and reputation. (DW: The Time of Angels) He thought aloud when he was panicking or stressed. (DW: The Pandorica Opens)
This incarnation was arrogant, telling Amy that "time is not the boss of me" (DW: The Time of Angels) and "you don't ever decide what I need to know". (DW: The Beast Below) Unlike the Tenth Doctor, the Eleventh was very hostile to the Daleks, stating they were the worst things in creation and attacking one to provoke it into revealing its true nature. This incarnation did not seem to retain his predecessor's belief that the Daleks could change. (DW: Victory of the Daleks) He still preferred to settle problems through negotiation rather than violence, but could be ruthless. (DW: A Christmas Carol, Day of the Moon)
He was not keen on hiding his emotions, usually making his anger obvious. Unlike his previous incarnation, he wasn't adept at handling romance and reacted awkwardly
when Amy Pond or River Song kissed him. (DW: Flesh and Stone, Day of the Moon) This Doctor was also quite uncomfortable with his TARDIS calling itself "Sexy", which he called it in private. (DW: The Doctor's Wife)
He seemed to have resolved much of the survivor's guilt of his ninth and tenth incarnations, referring to the Last Great Time War as a "bad day". (DW: The Beast Below) When he interrogated Alaya, the Eleventh implied some guilt remained with him, though not as much as in his previous two lives. (DW: The Hungry Earth) In a bubble universe, the Doctor was given a ray of hope that he wasn't the Last of the Time Lords. But, when it turned out that he was indeed the last, he began to cry. (DW: The Doctor's Wife)
This incarnation was selfless, willing to sacrifice himself for his friends or for the greater good. He closed the cracks in time although he knew he would end up on the wrong side and be erased from history. (DW: The Big Bang) Despite this he did not believe he was a good man. His arrogance was a facade to hide his insecurities. He felt guilty over ruining his companions' lives. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler, The God Complex)
While initially shocked by River's romantic advances, (DW: Day of the Moon) he enjoyed them. When the Doctor married her, he kissed her passionately, albeit whilst inside the Teselecta. (DW: The Wedding of River Song)
Habits and quirks
The eleventh Doctor had incredible eyesight and an eidetic memory. He could scan an entire scene and pick out tiny details. He demanded his companions do the same. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, A Christmas Carol) He was capable of Sherlock Holmes-like feats of extrapolation, reconstructing Kazran Sardick's childhood from the arrangement of his furniture. (DW: A Christmas Carol, Let's Kill Hitler)
He had a penchant for talking with his hands and calculated situations with hand gestures. (DW: Flesh and Stone) He spun in circles when walking if showing off or needing time to think. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, The Vampires of Venice, Night Terrors) Occasionally, he said something in the wrong manner. (DW: The Time of Angels, The Vampires of Venice) He rambled, making rapid amendments to his speech, sometimes sounding like he was talking nonsense. (DW: The Time of Angels, The Vampires of Venice, A Christmas Carol, The Almost People, A Good Man Goes to War, Night Terrors)
The Doctor liked fish custard (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
and Jammie Dodgers, (DW: Victory of the Daleks, The Impossible Astronaut) but disliked wine. (DW: The Lodger, The Impossible Astronaut) He also grew fond of hats, included a top hat (NSA: Paradox Lost), a fez (DW: The Big Bang, A Christmas Carol, The Impossible Astronaut, Death is the Only Answer), and a Stetson. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut, Closing Time) He wore bowties, often insisting "bowties are cool", usually when Amy recommended getting rid of it. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, Vincent and the Doctor, The Lodger, A Good Man Goes to War) He referred to things as "cool", usually generally unpopular things. Amongst them were his bow ties, fezzes (DW: The Big Bang), Stetsons (DW: The Impossible Astronaut), Apollo technology (DW: Day of the Moon), bunk beds (DW: The Doctor's Wife) and glasses. (DW: The Girl Who Waited)
Like his predecessor's repetition of the word "What" when confused, the Eleventh Doctor would repeat "No" if something went horribly wrong, or say it as a warning. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, Victory of the Daleks, Vincent and the Doctor, Night Terrors, The Wedding of River Song) He also displayed a liking for the word "Geronimo," often exclaiming it when diving into a new or unexpected situation, although he also used it on one occasion as a general word of approval. (DW: The End of Time, The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below, The Big Bang, The Wedding of River Song) {C
Occasionally, the Doctor would tease or flirt with River Song, much to the annoyance or pleasure of the other. (DW: The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone, The Big Bang, The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon, Let's Kill Hitler, The Wedding of River Song) This Doctor was interested in knitting. (DW: The Impossible Astronaut, The Wedding of River Song)
He had a habit of referring to his companions by surname, much as his first incarnation had with Ian Chesterton, though this was a sign of affection rather than annoyance. (DW: The Big Bang, A Christmas Carol, The Impossible Astronaut, SJA: Death of the Doctor)
When facing a personal problem, a sense of honour or when seeing a situation as too dangerous for his companions, the Doctor would demand they return to the TARDIS or leave them in the safest place possible. At times, he would trick them into doing so through a fool's errand or have someone else return them home. (DW: Victory of the Daleks, The Time of Angels, The Vampires of Venice, The Doctor's Wife, A Good Man Goes to War)
The Eleventh Doctor still could analyse objects by taste or smell. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, The Time of Angels, The Hungry Earth, Day of the Moon) Like his previous and Fourth incarnations, he took random objects from his pockets to assist him in a situation. (DW: Victory of the Daleks, The Vampires of Venice, The Hungry Earth, Cold Blood) He still relied on his psychic paper, though to a lesser extent than his previous incarnation.
He used his telepathic powers occasionally. (DW: The Eleventh Hour, The Lodger, The Big Bang) Much like his previous incarnation, he felt his age when it took him longer times to figure things out. (DW: Vincent and the Doctor)
Despite his dislike of looking back on his previ
ous lives, the eleventh was perfectly comfortable with mementos of his past. (DW: Vincent and the Doctor, SJA: Death of the Doctor, VG: TARDIS) Another jarring aspect of this Doctor was his blatant self-loathing. He claimed that no one else in the Universe hated him as much he hated himself, (DW: Amy's Choice) and that he did not believe he was a good man. (DW: A Good Man Goes to War) He would go on about how he could be vain and cause people harm. (DW: The God Complex, Closing Time)
The Doctor had a habit of using analogies of what higher technology or people could be compared to and then changing his mind. (DW: Flesh and Stone, The Vampires of Venice, Amy's Choice, The Hungry Earth, The Big Bang, Space, The Doctor's Wife, The Girl Who Waited)
Appearance
This incarnation had long, dark hair which initially made him believe himself female. He confirmed that he wasn't by his Adam’s apple, but was annoyed he was not ginger. He had a large chin and green eyes. His comment on his nose was that he'd had worse. (DW: The End of Time)
Clothes
The eleventh incarnation stole his clothing from the staff room of a hospital. The outfit consisted of a plain brown tweed jacket with elbow patches, a dress shirt, a bow tie, braces, a gold wrist watch, rolled up navy-blue trousers and black boots. He would change the colour of his shirt, bow tie and braces from burgundy to blue. (DW: The Eleventh Hour)
- Since he only stole this initial outfit from Royal Leadworth Hospital, he presumably had other similar clothes in the TARDIS wardrobe.
His second jacket was checked (DW: Victory of the Daleks, The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone) though he lost it while escaping from Weeping Angels aboard the Byzantium. (DW: Flesh and Stone) After that he resumed wearing his first jacket. (DW: The Vampires of Venice)
This Doctor has a fondness for hats. While in the National Museum, the Doctor found a fez he liked a lot. It was later removed by Amy and destroyed by River Song. He looked for another. (DW: The Big Bang, DW: The Impossible Astronaut) He acquired a Stetson hat from Craig Owens in Closing Time. He was last seen wearing it inside the Teselecta. (DW: The Wedding of River Song). He wore a top hat at least twice, once at Amy and Rory's wedding, (DW: The Big Bang) once after having been poisoned by River. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler).
While attending Amy and Rory's wedding, the Doctor wore a formal tailcoat with a white bow tie, white scarf, and a black top hat. (DW: The Big Bang)
While travelling with the married couple, the Doctor wore a new tweed jacket with a faint striped pattern, a checked shirt with a burgundy bowtie and braces, new black trousers and new boots. He would vary the design of his shirt and bow tie. While visting Abigail Pettigrew every Christmas Eve, he wore a multitude of different outfits, including a long multicoloured scarf similar to ones worn by his fourth incarnation, a white tuxedo and black tie while visting California in 1952 and a fez on a trip to Egypt. (DW: A Christmas Carol)
During his search for Melody Pond and often afterward, he exchanged his tweed jacket for a dark-green greatcoat. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler, The Girl Who Waited, Closing Time, The Wedding of River Song)
This incarnation wore size 10 shoes, and claimed they were quite wide. (DW: The Rebel Flesh)
While he was poisoned by River, he exchanged his Sonic screwdriver for a Sonic cane. (DW: Let's Kill Hitler)
Trivia
- The Eleventh Doctor is the first incarnation of the Doctor since the First to travel with family members in his TARDIS. Though he was long unaware of it, Amy and Rory were his in-laws and River his wife.
Behind the scenes
- The Matt Smith era has more Doctor Who video games than any other Doctor, a total of ten (counting the five Adventure Games).
- Benedict Cumberbatch (star of Sherlock, another show by Steven Moffat) was rumoured to have been offered the role of the eleventh incarnation and to have turned down the role.[1] However, he denied this.[2] Coincidentally Matt Smith auditioned for Sherlock for the role of John Watson but was rejected for being "more of a Sherlock Holmes."[3] That audition ended up causing Smith to be a prime candidate for the eleventh incarnation.
- While the Eleventh Doctor is the second Doctor to speak in an estuary accent, Matt Smith is the first actor to play the Doctor who actually has a natural estuary accent, as David Tennant's natural accent is Scottish and he faked an estuary accent to play the Doctor.
- 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 incarnation 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 CON: Call Me the Doctor 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 2 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 in The Eleventh Hour, although the action is somewhat obscured by the Atraxi projection.
- One clothing retailer reported that in the month following the airing of DW: The Eleventh Hour, in which the Doctor declared that "bow ties are cool," its bow tie sales increased by 94%. [4]
Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1298040/New-Sherlock-Holmes-Benedict-Cumberbatch-turns-Doctor-Who-role.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
- ↑ http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/08/20/sherlock-star-benedict-cumberbatch-wouldn-t-fancy-being-doctor-who-115875-22500295/
- ↑ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/doctor-who/news/a201372/matt-smith-rejected-for-bbcs-sherlock.html
- ↑ Doctor Who prompts surge in popularity of bow ties