Our long Doctor-less fallow period is about to end. Since Matt Smith retired the role back in December, The BBC has been tight-lipped about what's in store for Peter Capaldi's initial season as the Twelfth Doctor. Steven Moffat and the other big brass have hinted at a darker, more mature Doctor with a focus on pure sci-fi stories as opposed to Smith's more whimsical fairytale tone. And if true, the first official trailer for the new season seems to bear it out.
It certainly does seem darker with voiceover by a Dalek of all things. And the emphasis on explosions, shadows, and rapid cuts of action seem to indicate a more violent show, if not a more violent Doctor, than we've seen since the '05 revival. The effects also looked to have stepped up as well, the few new aliens featured here being more naturalistic and harder sci-fi than those of the Smith era. That brief shot of a T-Rex in particular is probably the most accurate depiction of the dinosaur I've seen since Jurassic Park, perhaps indicating that the rumors of moving to a less fantastical sensibility are true. Of course, this is still Doctor Who so the humor and fun we expect will still be there.
The biggest idea at play in this trailer, and the one I find most interesting, is the mystery around the new Doctor. It's kind of clever how they're using our main question as the focus of the marketing. The Doctor was left in a strange place when Smith left; he'd been on the defensive for most of that regeneration and thinking it was his last made him feel the weight of his entire life. Not to mention this vast cross-time conspiracy that aimed to erase him from history. It was because of being in that situation that forced him to reconcile his guilt over the Time War, to stop running and put away the child he felt he needed to be to forgive himself.
So Twelve is starting out differently than any of the other post-war Doctors, with the Time War finally done hanging over him he can move forward again. He can be an adult again. And that's where the mystery angle of this trailer comes in, the Doctor is an adult again but is that a good thing? From his line about mistakes, it sounds like the Doctor is going on the offensive for the first time in a while. He's actively going to solve the universe's problems. But that's where the darkness comes from. Is being an adult again going to take the Doctor down some dubious roads, will his morality be compromised? Will moving past the War Doctor make Twelve more willing to use his methods? Is he still a good man?
We'll find out August 23rd.
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