Doctor Who 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Eleventh Doctor
The Eleventh Doctor's bow ties are hiding a secret, but did you spot what it is?
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00:00 He's the doctor who thought bowties, fezzes and Stetsons were cool.
00:03 He's the doctor who married River Song, visited his own grave and journeyed to the centre of the TARDIS.
00:08 He is the 11th Doctor.
00:10 Matt Smith took the show to new international heights and became an instant fan favourite back in 2010.
00:16 This year marks a decade since he regenerated,
00:18 so it's a good time to reflect on the many cool details of the Raggedy Man's era.
00:23 I'm Crispy with Hoo Culture and welcome to 10 Things You Didn't Know About The 11th Doctor.
00:28 Number 10 - His hair was very problematic.
00:30 The 11th Doctor's quiff is almost as iconic as his bow tie,
00:34 but it was also something of a continuity nightmare.
00:37 This was a particular problem in The Time of Angels, the first story Matt Smith filmed,
00:41 with the actor's wild hair magically changing lengths between scenes.
00:44 For the beach scenes at the start of the episode,
00:46 Smith had a much messier hairstyle, with his fringe hanging over his eyes.
00:50 Coupled with windy conditions, this had the unfortunate effect of obscuring his face,
00:54 with showrunner Stephen Moffat likening him to the Dulux Dog.
00:58 The earliest scene in the museum was filmed months later,
01:00 by which point the crew had established what they wanted to do with Smith's hair.
01:04 The overall silhouette remained, but the fringe was cut shorter,
01:07 and in a much more continuity-friendly way.
01:09 This also explains why The 11th Doctor's hair gets progressively neater
01:13 and less chaotic over the course of his next two series.
01:16 Number 9 - He was inspired by Indiana Jones.
01:18 What inspired The 11th Doctor?
01:20 The second Doctor Patrick Troughton?
01:22 Albert Einstein?
01:23 Discussing his costume on Doctor Who Confidential,
01:25 Smith identified another unlikely reference point in the form of Hollywood's greatest archaeologist.
01:30 He said,
01:31 "I think my costume sort of manages a bit of, god do I say this,
01:34 a bit of Indiana Jones, and a bit of Professor, and a bit of an Explorer."
01:37 Stephen Moffat described The 11th Doctor as,
01:39 "a cross between Indiana Jones and Stan Laurel."
01:42 So this was clearly more than just a passing thought.
01:44 Although the comparison might seem strange at first,
01:46 there's definitely something indie about Smith's outfit,
01:49 particularly with its tan colour scheme.
01:50 Its resemblance to the bow tie/tweed suit worn by indie in Temple of Doom is uncanny,
01:55 and nowhere are the comparisons more on the nose than in Series 6,
01:59 when the Doctor dons the Stetson hat.
02:01 And hey, if Smith still wants to play the Doctor at the same age Harrison Ford just played indie,
02:05 that means he can appear in Doctor Who's 100th anniversary in 2063.
02:09 I mean, just imagine!
02:10 Number 8 - He encountered a record number of duplicates.
02:14 Most Doctors have to contend with duplicates of some sort,
02:16 be it evil look-alikes or literal splinters of themselves.
02:20 And The 11th Doctor was no exception.
02:22 He came face to fleshy face with a double ganger in The Rebel Flesh/Almost People,
02:26 but the Flesh wasn't the only entity to steal this Doctor's likeness.
02:30 Prisoner Zero did the same thing in The 11th Hour,
02:32 as did the Tesser Lacta in The Wedding of River Song.
02:34 Then there's the Spoonhead that impersonates the Doctor in The Bells of St. John,
02:38 and Mr Clever in Nightmare in Silver.
02:39 And that's without even mentioning all the cases where timey-wimey shenanigans
02:43 resulted in two Mets misappearing on screen.
02:45 There's the dead Future Doctor in The Big Bang,
02:48 the wibbly-leather Doctor in the comic relief Minnesota Time,
02:51 the Deryllium Doctor in the DVD Minnesota Last Night,
02:54 and the big friendly button Doctor in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS.
02:57 The 11th Doctor also encounters another copy of himself in Let's Kill Hitler,
03:01 when the TARDIS's voice interface briefly assumes his form.
03:04 This is surely some kind of record.
03:06 BBC bosses clearly realise you can never have too much Matt Smith.
03:10 Number 7 - He increased bowtie sales by over 90%
03:13 Few Doctor Who costumes can be regarded as genuinely fashionable,
03:17 and few Doctor Who costume designers can be described as genuine trendsetters.
03:20 But the bowtie and tweed ensemble devised by Ray Holman for Matt Smith's Doctor
03:25 made waves in a way that nobody could have predicted.
03:27 Matt Smith's debut series began at the start of April 2010,
03:30 with 'Bowties are Cool' quickly becoming one of his trademark lines.
03:34 Plenty of people agree with him too.
03:36 By the end of the month, The Telegraph was reporting that the bowtie
03:39 had enjoyed a surge in popularity thanks to the 11th Doctor,
03:42 with UK retailer Topman citing an insane 94% increase in sales.
03:47 It's an even more impressive feat when you consider by this point,
03:50 only 4 episodes of series 5 had aired.
03:52 We can only imagine how many bowties were sold over the following weeks and beyond.
03:56 It also makes you wonder what the Doctor's next viral fashion accessory might be.
04:00 Will the fedora hat experience a resurgence following
04:02 Shuddy Gatwa's debut this Christmas?
04:04 Only time will tell.
04:05 Number 6 - He almost wasn't played by Matt Smith
04:09 Every actor who plays the Doctor ends up becoming synonymous with the character,
04:12 and there's always a rigorous audition process to find the show's new lead.
04:16 Stephen Moffat has since stated that he was initially looking for an older Doctor for
04:20 number 11, and although Matt Smith emerged as the favourite,
04:23 lots of other actors were seen for the role.
04:25 One potential candidate was Chewie Tell Edgyofor,
04:28 wildly believed to be the actor who was offered the part but turned it down.
04:31 Him aside, the rumour mill had its own ideas, with Patterson Joseph,
04:35 Sean Pertwee and even Billy Piper speculated to be in the running.
04:39 Meanwhile, outgoing showrunner Russell T Davies, who had of course stoked the fire himself by
04:43 including a fake-out regeneration in the Stolen Earth, and titling the 2008 Christmas special
04:48 The Next Doctor, wanted to see Alonzo actor Russell Tovey in the role.
04:52 These are all exciting suggestions in their own right,
04:54 but no one can deny that Smith was born to play the 11th Doctor.
04:58 Number 5 - He has history with the Master
05:01 Although the 10th, 12th and 13th Doctors all got their own Masters, the 11th Doctor did not.
05:06 But he has more connections with his Time Lord foe than you might think.
05:10 For one thing, the first and last episodes to feature Matt Smith both included incarnations
05:14 of the Master, John Simmons in The End of Time and Michelle Gomez in Deep Breath.
05:18 Sure, they didn't actually meet, but it's still something.
05:20 Where the 11th Doctor did come face to face with the Master was in the Expanded Universe,
05:25 in the IDW comic book story Prisoners of Time.
05:28 Then, Titan Comics introduced a brand new incarnation of the Master,
05:31 resembling a young boy, in their second year of The 11th Doctor Adventures.
05:35 This Master never actually crossed paths with Smith Doctor,
05:37 but caused plenty of trouble for him behind the scenes.
05:40 All things considered, the 11th Doctor has been adjacent to all the main Masters,
05:44 save for Delgado and Dwan.
05:45 Not bad for a Doctor who never met the character on TV.
05:48 Number 4 - His trademark dance was completely improvised
05:52 The 11th Doctor was something of a trailblazer, inventing the quadricycle,
05:56 Yorkshire puddings, fish custard, pasta and more.
05:59 However, one of his most enduring innovations,
06:01 if not the most enduring, was devised by Matt Smith himself.
06:04 Upon arriving at Amy and Rory's wedding, the Doctor declares that he only came for the dancing,
06:08 before breaking into a routine of the iconic drunk giraffe.
06:11 As Karen Gillam recalled in Doctor Who Confidential,
06:14 this iconic arm shaking action was ad-libbed by Smith on the day.
06:17 She said "Matt had to do this dance. It was written, obviously, that he's a terrible dancer.
06:22 But Matt made up this whole routine."
06:24 Arthur Darvill-Concordan said "That's just how he dances",
06:26 with Steven Moffat adding "He's incredibly athletic and graceful in his own way."
06:31 It's hardly the most stylish dance ever, but it was a hit with the kids at the Ponds wedding,
06:35 and a whole generation of young fans watching at home.
06:38 Maybe don't go doing it at weddings though, I don't know.
06:41 Number 3 - He has more stories than any new Who Doctor
06:44 Which Doctor has the most stories? It's always a contentious topic,
06:48 not least because there are so many different ways to count.
06:50 Is Flux one story, or six?
06:52 Are Two-Parters one story or two?
06:54 And is Utopia, The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords really a three-parter?
06:58 Well, whichever way you square it,
07:00 The 11th Doctor comes out on top compared to every other new series Doctor.
07:04 Counting Two-Parters as one story, and Utopia as a standalone,
07:07 each series of RTD contains 10 stories.
07:09 Accounting for special leaves the 9th Doctor with 10 stories in total,
07:13 and the 10th Doctor with 37.
07:14 In contrast, The 11th Doctor had a more inconsistent series structure,
07:18 with more standalone episodes and fewer two-parters.
07:20 Series 5 was 10 stories long, while series 6 had 11.
07:23 Meanwhile, series 7 was entirely comprised of single-part adventures,
07:27 and a whopping 13 of them.
07:28 With specials added into the mix,
07:30 The 11th Doctor's story total stands at an impressive 39,
07:33 which is more than the 12th and 13th Doctors too.
07:36 So yes, we're all stories in the end, but The 11th Doctor more than most.
07:40 Number 2 - His bowties were colour-coded
07:43 The 11th Doctor certainly had good dress sense,
07:45 but was there more to his outfits than meets the eye?
07:47 It's not an exact science, but some fans have noticed that the colour scheme
07:51 of The Doctor's bowtie in series 5,
07:53 corresponds to the time period he's visiting.
07:55 Red for future and present, and blue for the past.
07:58 Just as the 13th Doctor's magenta t-shirt tended to appear more in historical stories,
08:02 so did The 11th Doctor's blue bowtie.
08:04 Featuring in all three series 5 historicals,
08:06 Victory of the Daleks, The Vampires of Venice, and Vincent and the Doctor.
08:10 On the other hand, most of the contemporary and future set stories of series 5
08:14 feature the red bowtie.
08:15 The only exceptions to this rule are The Lodger,
08:17 which he uses the blue outfit,
08:18 The Pandorica Open/Big Bang, which uses the red one,
08:21 and Amy's Choice, which uses both.
08:23 The bowtie rule also continues into series 6,
08:26 though again there are a few exceptions.
08:28 We knew bowties were cool, but this takes things to a whole new level.
08:31 Number 1 - His most iconic moment almost didn't happen
08:34 The 11th Doctor had countless memorable moments,
08:37 from his speeches in The Pandorica Opens and The Rings of Akhaten,
08:40 to intimidating Colonel Runaway and riding up the Shard.
08:43 But one of his defining scenes wasn't conceived of until...
08:47 The 11th Hour.
08:48 Towards the end of the series 5 opener,
08:50 the Doctor unmasks Prisoner Zero and hands him over to the Atraxi.
08:54 The all-seeing aliens swiftly depart,
08:56 only to be called back by the Doctor for a scolding.
08:58 If this scene seems a little tacked on, that's because it was,
09:01 as Steven Moffat admitted during the 11th Hour's Lockdown Tweedalong.
09:04 The episode originally didn't include this moment,
09:07 but BBC executive Jane Tranter,
09:09 who would go on to co-fund Bad Wolf, the company now producing Doctor Who,
09:12 had other ideas,
09:13 arguing that the episode needed a big swaggering hero moment for Matt Smith.
09:17 And thank goodness she did.
09:19 Not only does this scene cement Smith as the Doctor,
09:21 it's easily one of the 11th's most iconic moments to boot.
09:24 Not bad for something so last minute.
09:26 And that is our list, let us know your thoughts in the comments below,
09:29 and if I missed anything, don't forget to like, share and subscribe.
09:32 You can follow us on Twitter and Instagram @whoculture,
09:35 and you can follow myself by looking up @crisppro on YouTube.
09:38 I've been Crispy with Who Culture, and in the words of the 11th Doctor, Geronimo.
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