"...and Introducing Matt Smith as the Doctor"

I'm just thinking back to Matt's first scene as the Doctor in the final moments of The End of Time in 2009. I imagine it had to be horrible to watch for most hardcore fans of the tenth Doctor when it first aired.

I didn't start watching Doctor Who until after the 2010 Christmas special had aired, so I was spared from the worst of the "shock" of losing David Tennant. I didn't have to endure the long wait between this and series 5. But I can imagine what it must have been like to the hardcore Ten-fans. I can sort of picture why so many were so geared up to hate the eleventh Doctor as well. Because Matt's first scene is kiiind of like a kick in the face after Tennant's sad departure.

It's just that the mood shifts so abruptly it's almost painful. Especially since I was literally in tears over losing Ten. You go straight from this very sad death scene, to the new Doctor's almost... insane glee at being alive, and just going bonkers trying to figure out if all his body parts are still intact. I can imagine a lot of fans going "WTF?" while wiping their tears away here. I know I did, a little bit. And I was also recovering from the disappointment over Ten's last words, so the mood shift didn't sit quite well with me.

But my point is: Now I realize that everything about this scene was so completely fitting for the eleventh Doctor! First off, he's not quite right in the head after the regeneration, that's why he's behaving so strangely. We've seen it happen before. Eleven really is a very eccentric Doctor, and it's just so him to react the way he does after he is, well, generated.