Friday, January 31, 2014

New Doctor

So Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor.  Earlier this week they unveiled his outfit.  Doctor Who fans were eagerly anticipating it, which is odd because I don't remember anyone being as excited about what Tennant or Smith were going to wear.  And no one had any idea what to expect with Eccleston because it was so new.  (To be honest, recent fans didn't know much about Doctor who until Tennant anyway, or even Matt Smith.)

I just find it weird that we were all looking forward to what his outfit was going to look like.  I think because of the bow tie of Matt Smith, we all wanted something iconic.  If you look back at past Doctors Who, each had something remarkable about their outfit.  Most notably of course was Tom Baker's scarf.

So Capaldi's duds have been revealed and they're just fine.  I mean, it's not anywhere near as loud as Colin Baker's suit, but it'll do.  Here's some Whovian math for you.  Capaldi's outfit seems to be a mix of John Pertwee and Chris Eccleston, Doctors 3 and 9.  Capaldi is the 12th doctor. 3 + 9 = 12.  Pretty cool, huh?  (Okay, I'm nerding out a little, sorry.)

But what this means for me is I can finally draw Robot Capaldi!  Now, he doesn't have a background yet but I can fill that in whenever the show starts, which may not be for a while.  So for now it's just white, much like the photo of him with his new clothes.

This also means that I've got the full set (so far) done.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with them other than occasionally spread them out like this and giggle a little.  It's like having self made nerd baseball cards.

It was also helpful to illustrate to my 12 year old daughter that Smith was technically the last Doctor but that all changed. *spoiler ahead*  She asked why and I gave her a small lesson in Time Lord biology, as it was handed down to us over the years.  The Time Lords we were to understand could make a limited number of regenerations, 12 to be exact, and so become 13 different people.  (That works, you have to start with 1 person.)  However, this is more of an apparently guideline than a rule because there are ways to both skip an official regeneration but also ways to use them up.  At the end of the last season, Matt Smith's Doctor, who was technically #11, should have had enough energy to change into a 12th Doctor.  But we'd been previously introduced to John Hurt as the War Doctor, meaning Smith should have been the 12th, making his regeneration the last one.

But!  The show seemed to ignore The War Doctor in it's timeline, making Smith officially the 11th doctor, so only changing 10 times.  His next would be to 12 and then 13 giving us 12 total Doctors, or the amount we were told was official.  Then at the end of the series, Matt Smith's Doctor used up all his remaining life cycles (so the energy from 2 more regenerations) to stop the Dalek's and bring Gallifrey out of timelock.  (Don't ask unless you really want to know.)  So, what, no more Doctors?  He was sure he was it and was going to die.  But the Time Lords granted him not only a new life, but a completely new regeneration cycle.  So now we have at least another 13 people that will be Doctors, starting with Capaldi.

That all make sense now?  Enjoy the drawings.

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