Doctor Who: 11 Reasons To Love The 11th Doctor

2. His TARDIS

His TARDIS The colours, the gizmos, and the various textures of the 11th Doctor's TARDIS (until, of course, the shift post-Ponds€”but I'll get into why I love this shift later) simply screamed (read: children playing; not frightened children) the 11th Doctor. It fit his personality perfectly€”it was his playground. How apt a metaphor, that: a playground. The various levels; bright, varied colours; and fascinatingly bizarre devices on the console certainly suggested the idea of a children's playground, and what better of a place to be at the core of the 11th Doctor's adventures. A playground often serves as many different locations to children€”an imagination can make it Captain Hook's fearsome pirate ship, an ancient Mayan ruin deep in the jungle, or a run-down prison; and in these various settings, children will play many roles. Likewise, the 11th Doctor, centered in this colourful and imaginative TARDIS, steps into a number of different roles. He is the scientist, the madman, the warlord, the imaginary friend, and more. Too, the TARDIS itself transforms€”its hallways become the dimly lit passages from horror movies, scrawled over with terrifying graffiti ("The Doctor's Wife"); or its console room glows with a calm golden aura, fading colours into pastels and backed by a gentle humming (most of the "Night and the Doctor" mini-episodes from Series 6); or its colours are sucked away, leaving only a green glow in their place (again, "The Doctor's Wife"); or its colour palate fades as the temperature drops ("Amy's Choice"). The TARDIS has as many personalities as the Doctor, and its appearance allowed it to become a fantastic character€”which, of course, manifested literally in "The Doctor's Wife." The design of the 11th Doctor's TARDIS gave it life and character at a level not seen before. Then, of course, we have the TARDIS revealed at the end of "The Snowmen." Sinister, many-shadowed, dimly lit with moody blue lights, with alien script rotating slowly above the console. Suddenly, the 11th Doctor was through with his playground. His friends had left, and he had retreated from his play place. We see him reading a book, bent, aged with glasses and a new, subdued, outfit. How splendidly melancholic! Not only was this new design moody and subdued, but it was sleek€”opening the show up to new sort of adventures with a new companion. All these paragraphs with only a brief mention of Sexy€”clearly, I loved the 11th Doctor's TARDIS(es)!
Contributor

Adriel Brandt is a less-than-prolific artist who writes, reads, looks, watches, paints, runs, breathes, sings, strums, talks, and wishes he lived in The Shire.