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Possibly somewhat belatedly, 2MTL evaluates whether Matt Smith was the Eleventh or Thirteenth Doctor.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Possibly somewhat belatedly, 2MTL evaluates whether Matt Smith was the Eleventh or Thirteenth Doctor.
I agree with your statement here, although I was struck by the fact that Smith's Doctor called Tennant's "Number Ten" in the Christmas episode dialogue, even though Moffat says they "never call themselves by number."
I agree 100% Chip. I've had this discussion with a few people, and in my view it boils down to the classic Doylian vs. Watsonian argument. In a purely Watsonian sense–inside the Doctor's head–Peter Capaldi is the 13th new body, and it took 13 uses of regeneration energy to get there, so technically 14th incarnation. But, also from a Watsonian viewpoint, Capaldi's is only the 12th face to refer to himself as "the Doctor". From a Doylian perspective, Peter Capaldi is twelfth because he is the twelfth person to be the leading actor in the BBC's Doctor Who.
Personally, I think anyone who argues for a renumbering of Doctors is just being unnecessarily complex, possibly intentionally contrary, and probably overly pedantic. Number the actors however you want, of course, but if you want to be understood, then don't renumber anything, and Capaldi is Doctor XII.
Matt Smith represents The Doctor's 13th body. A result of his 12th regeneration. One man (timelord) regardless of name (John Hurt being the 9th body). Peter Capaldi may be the 12th Doctor, but his 14th body. Yup. That's it. Sorry, a different name doesn't suggest a different Timelord. The David Tennant second body is a device to get Matt to #13. Moffat clearly wanted to handle that regeneration limit story-wise and cheated a bit to do it. Sobeit.