Doctor Who: An Open Letter To Peter Capaldi
Torchwood: Children of Earth, but like Colin Baker, Freema Agyeman, and Karen Gillan before you - you've been invited into a more permanent seat in the TARDIS. Namely, the Pilot's seat. As fun as it looks, it's a tough gig in all sorts of ways: mainly, you'll be doing little else besides working on Doctor Who for the extent of your tenure. Still, as a humble fan, I'd like to give you some notes on what I've been seeing on the Internet, and what I believe you can do to help fans acclimate to your presence. First off, ignore all of the fans who are complaining that you're "too old" or you're just "another lanky old, white man" playing the role. Until your formal announcement, everyone from Idris Elba to Helen Mirren was rumored. Even long before Matt Smith surprised everyone with the announcement of his departure, people were pushing for "more diverse" Doctors. So naturally, now that your appointment is fresh in everyone's minds, they're going to engage in the classic first stage of the "Regeneration Cycle"...they're going to complain. Eventually, one of two things will happen: you'll either make such a negative impression on fans that they'll disown you, or you'll make such a positive impression on fans that you'll end up being missed when you eventually hand off the Screwdriver. (If the rumors that the Sonic is going away aren't true, that is.) Second, even when/if the fans accept you, they're still going to grouse. Steven Moffat, a man whose name has become associated with sadness and murder from his years of employing those two devices in his storytelling, has made some enemies as well as some friends in his tenure at the helm. To a certain degree, this is going to be transferred to you. Some fans don't know how to separate the showrunner from the episode writer from the stars, and to a certain extent it's going to splash over to something about your Doctor they don't like. Your costume, your mannerisms, your catch phrase, even the way you walk in the role...all of that is going to be put under such a fine microscope that even when they seem to love you, they'll hate you just a little bit. Third, and most importantly, nostalgia is a seriously pervasive factor in the Whovian franchise, and you yourself could attest to this as you've been a fan since you were 9. People came in at different times, with different Doctors, and they've all latched on to certain portrayals that they're extremely fond of. Just going by the modern run, Eccleston fans like to lament that the show went all young and weird after he left, Tennant fans miss the serious/emotional bits that he had (especially the ones with Rose Tyler), and Smith fans are going to miss his awkward giraffe interactions with Amy, Rory, and (in some cases) River and Clara. Claiming a First Doctor is like claiming a Best Friend in Kindergarten, you're aiming to keep that friend for life, through all of the trials, tribulations, and obstacles that are going to be set up in your path. When we lose that friend, it's upsetting and it makes us feel like we can't continue the journey; but sometimes, if we're lucky, we find a new friend to lead us along the way.