Doctor Who: Series 8 Premiere Episode

It has been a year since the announcement that Matt Smith would be replaced by Peter Capaldi as the Doctor. It has been roughly 9 months since the 50th anniversary episode, where we got our first glance of Capaldi as the new Doctor. It has been 8 months since we "began" our goodbyes to Matt Smith's 11th Doctor (or 12th depending on how you count it). To me, he is and always will be the 11th Doctor simply because that is what he was before the season 7 finale.

Tonight started off quite amusing, though it was a bit sad. It would appear that the Doctor's regeneration has left him a bit "out of sorts". Referring to Vastra as "the green one", Jenny "not the green one", Strax "sleepy, dopey, bashful... grumpy?", and Clara "Thingy"/"the one with all the questions"... though hilarious in the delivery, in the actuality it becomes very sad, as these are people who in the post Amy/Rory time stream became extremely important to him. They should not, by all means of logic, have been forgotten.

This episode carries references to several past episodes, which I suspect might actually be to ease us into the transition, to relieve any anxiety we might feel over the change. The intro sequence was completely different, the TARDIS looks completely different (by the end of the episode), we have a new Doctor, and then there's the latest rumor that Jenna Coleman will be leaving the show at the end of the season. Everything about it feels different, and honestly, to me it feels very "off". Now that isn't to say that I won't keep watching, because I will. I'm too invested at this point, and I have reached the realization that every time the Doctor regenerates, there will be change. I have said this many times before, Doctor Who is about nothing if not about change. It's how the story keeps going, otherwise we'd still be watching reruns of William Hartnell and never accept any other Doctor as THE Doctor.

What really put it in place for me was the ending, when they return to modern day Earth, and the Doctor asks Clara, not verbatim, if she's in or she's out. She almost turns him away and then her phone begins ringing. She steps outside the TARDIS to answer it, and it turns out to be Matt Smith-Doctor calling her before his regeneration phase. He asks her a few questions about the "new" him, and asks her to help him. He's there to remind her that it's still him, that he hasn't left her. I think that it's vital that scene happened, not just for the storyline, to put Clara's mind at ease, but for us too as fans. We never got that sort of closure with Christopher Eccleston or David Tennant.

This is my very first time experiencing a transition like this in real time, being late to the party as usual with the previous regenerations. I'm still very much looking forward to learning who this Doctor is, and all the naysayers who seem to think that an "old" Doctor is a bad idea can learn to shut the hell up as far as I'm concerned. While I did rather enjoy the romance aspect between 10 and Rose, and then the Rory and Amy Love Saga, one of the main things that Capaldi insisted upon was no "hanky panky" in the TARDIS. This has been a longstanding complaint of mine, that it's a science fiction tv show, not a love story. It doesn't -HAVE- to have a romance factor to be a good show, it isn't necessary or required. It's a time-travelling Doctor and his TARDIS and his companions. Companions, and not the kind you find on Firefly. So we'll see how this all plays out. All in all? I'd say Moffat finally did something good for us all with this one. (And thanks for making me go all teary-eyed when Matt Smith showed up at the end, really appreciated that one... feast well, Evil One).