The Twelfth Doctor

Should I talk about how I skipped church again today or how Matt Smith is resigning as the Doctor?  I was feeling serious earlier, but I don't feel like being introspective anymore, so Doctor Who discussions ahead!

The thing is, I don't care.  I'd read several months ago that Matt Smith was probably on his way out, so the news that this year's Christmas Special will be his last episode wasn't a surprise.  Also, I just...never connected with Eleven the way I did with Nine and especially Ten.  I never got a hold of whatever he was.

Nine was angry, and during his season, he got less angry by loving a human and re-learning how fun and exciting it is to travel around and have adventures.

Ten was a happy puppy dog who had everything he wanted, until he lost Rose.  And then Martha.  And then Donna.  He became progressively angsty and every-once-in-a-while-terrifying until he remembered his love for humanity and died in place of a "nobody."

Eleven was...a manchild.  He flailed and twirled and acted surprised that his married friends liked to kiss each other, but then he frequently got sexy with people and occasionally threatened genocide.  I could rarely trace what was actually happening with his character development, maybe because his three seasons stretched over 200 years of the Doctor's life and one of the most important people in his narrative popped in and out, sometimes from his future, sometimes from his past.  Eleven seemed to change depending on what plot he was in the middle of, and the fact that I've taken a full paragraph to explain his character when Nine and Ten took only a few lines says a lot, I think.

So goodbye Eleven. 

Who will be Twelve?  I'm hoping for someone who isn't a young handsome white guy.  I mean, I'll be honest, I like young handsome white guys.  But we've done that several times now, and it just leads to more of the same--namely, romantic subplots.  I want someone older, like Ian McKellan.  Or, be still my heart, Dame Judi Dench.  She has just the right amount of sass to be the Doctor.  I'm very intrigued by the idea of the Doctor regenerating as a woman (we know it's possible because of the Master, I think?), but I don't want a young hot woman, because I don't trust Moffat to write a young hot woman without turning her into another Amy/River/Clara. 

I would also be down with a person of color, because that could be interesting (we know it's possible from when River was Melanie).  I've heard Idris Elba thrown around, but I want him to be the next Bond, and I think he's too ripped to be the Doctor.

I guess really I just want someone old.  Please, Sir Ian McKellan or Dame Judi Dench!  YOU WOULD BE SO GREAT.