Eleven, bitches.
January 2009 - Doctor Who Confidential: The Eleventh Doctor
Matt’s casting is announced in this special episode. They seriously drag the reveal out until 20 minutes into a 35 minute episode, and then they suddenly just CUT to Matt talking. I remember just blinking and being very confused by this fellow appearing unbidden, having large hair and gesticulating hands and being very endearing, but most definitely NOT being Patterson Joseph, who I had been rooting for. I was underwhelmed and annoyed. HOWVER, verily did I realise later, that, “OMG it’s Victorian action man superstar Jim Taylor from The Ruby in the Smoke!”, who I absolutely loved, just so, so much. A few weeks later I purchased the DVD set with the second film The Shadow in the North in which Matt is even better - all charming, sarcastic and sharp-tongued, whilst also wearing a three piece suit, which is a highly important detail. So then I was okay, more than okay, I was ecstatic, because this boy is so brilliantly natural in the roles he’s played so far. Oh Jim you Cockney grifter, you.
2009 Official photos
There have been only a handful of photos released in the year since Matt was announced, none of Eleven actually properly in character as of yet. The first one is a shiny new BBC-fashioned wallpaper from the website. Ten's OMG I AM SO INTENSE expression is hilarious paried with Eleven's easy going smile. I absolutely love the one with him sitting with Karen on the trailer steps. In hindsight, it’s likely that it’s a completely posed shot, but they do look so natural and caught unawares.
Behind the scenes July 09 - November 09
Yay for those intrepid DW set reporters! If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have gotten the photos of Eleven in costume, and gotten at least a small impression of what the character is like and how Matt is doing on set. Plus, many of us squeed ourselves into catatonia at Amy virtually bitch slapping Eleven, getting all up in his grill and dragging him around by his tie, and also, the invasion of personal space is pretty damn awesome.
January 2010, Doctor Who - The End of Time, Part II
Eleven finally appears! Ten, oh I’ve loved you, but it was time to go. In hindsight, now seeing Ten’s story all rounded and complete, it was a wonderful, exciting and intense run, not without its faults, but overall, just fantastic. As weepy as I was when Ten died, the moment his face transformed into Eleven / Matt’s, he was forgotten. I’ll always look back on him fondly, but Matt is my focus now, and I have a great feeling that he’ll be ‘my’ Doctor. I immediately loved his semi-hysteria and his panicking, his little jumps and flinches when he was scared by the explosions going off, his frenzied body check, and his sheer joy at discovering the TARDIS was crashing. Not to detract from Tennant, just my opinion here, but his manic Doctor moments, the shouting and prancing and general loud voiceness, it often seemed forced or hollow, not all the time, just occasionally, especially in the beginning, but I didn’t feel that here at all, despite how very flamboyant and excitable this scene called for Eleven to be.
Doctor Who Confidential: Allons-Y
We get a few glimpses of Matt toward the end of the episode as they talk about him arriving to film the final regeneration scene. No Matt interviews, or very much focus on him, as it is a farewell episode for Ten / Tennant. Obviously we’ll get all the OH HEY ELEVEN’S HERE YOU GUYS! stuff in the Confidentials for series 5. But I did wish we’d gotten a few words from Matt and Moffat. I was sick of listening to the RTD production team members bemoan how wrong it was to see Matt in Ten’s suit etc etc. (I think he looks quite cute in Ten's suit, but that's besides the point.) But Matt’s little acknowledgments of the Confidential crew was cute, when he says hi to the camera on his way to the soundstage and when he smiles over while he’s waiting on the TARDIS set… a little creepily I might add. I thought RTD’s little story was funny - about the set being cleared out of respect for Matt, and then Matt having to walk through the crowd anyway on his way to set, because they were all waiting outside. LOL. Even James freaking Bond wanted to be on set to see the new Doctor. And how presh was he during that walk to the soundstage? Does anyone else think he just looked so nervous and bouncy and maybe feeling a little out of place? I understand why - first day on set, wearing his beloved predecessor's outfit, surrounded by the crew that worked with this predecessor. He just looks like the new kid at school. N'aaw. And young, my God, does he look YOUNG in those shots where he's walking past and grinning at the camera.
The series 5 trailer
OMG ELEVEN IN ACTION LIKE A PROPER DOCTOR!!! Because that is what he freaking is, every inch of him. He smashes a Dalek, he punches a scientist type, he gets snogged by Amy, River falls on him (and he seems to like it!), he wears RayBans, he blow shit up, he swaggers, he grins, he’s wide-eyed, he’s teary-eyed, he’s manic, loud, fast, and he’s endearing. As he bends to talk to the little girl at the end, his final line is quite fitting, “Trust me, I’m the Doctor”. OH YA THINK? I love him. I’m a fickle, fickle girl. Ten who? I my defence, I was already a Matt fan before he was cast as Eleven, so he sort of had a built in fanbase with me.
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