Well, here it is. With the “fast” approaching arrival of Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor and the next series of Doctor Who, new head writer Steven Moffat is clearly making the changes obvious, first came the yet to be revealed TARDIS set re-design (both internal and external), then the new Doctor, probably a new theme tune and now the new logo.

This reveal came out of the blue (much like the announcement of the new Doctor) with a suddenly appearing advert for the reveal the day before the reveal itself. As with the reveal of the new Doctor and later with his costume, I was initially horrified but it actually grew on me very quickly. On the Doctor Who website there’s a showcase of previous logos and, in comparison, Moffat has clearly harkened back to the Jon Pertwee days (judging by his age probably when he watched Who as a child) but given it a modern twist with a funky font but laid out in the classic way. The only thing I am curious about is the insignia, with the intials DW shaped to form the general shape of the ever-present Police Box TARDIS, which I feel is a bit of an odd addition. It probably occured to the designer, but seemed too obvious just to put in an image of the police box and instead opted for some gimmick, which seems to similar to the text directly next to it to escape my cynicism.

Nevertheless, Matt Smith is the third Doctor since the revival, has a rather Pertwee-esque manner about him judging from set photos (his costume lacking frills notwithstanding) and has a Pertwee-era logo. Developing Doctor Who for this, for all intents and purposes, reboot of the series with so many cast and crew members changing, means that changes are inevitable. Despite the critical reaction many have expressed to the new logo, however, my feeling is that the proof is in the dimensionally-transcendental pudding and I reserve judgement on these changes entirely until I see the new boys in action. My gut feeling, however, is that it’ll be fantastic.

Til 2010 then, Mr. Smith!