I liked Eccleston. It’s a shame he spat the dummy over the whole thing.
For me, the Doctor has to have both eccentricity and gravitas. One or the other is trivial, finding both is a bigger ask. It’s why Tom Baker was so very good, he was mad as a box of frogs but if he tells you to run you’d bloody well run. Capaldi nails this as well, he can channel his inner Malcolm Tucker when he puts his mind to it.
It’s also why I never really clicked with Matt Smith; he’d got the eccentricity nailed, but for instance watching the Pandorica scene where he’s shouting down the universe I expected the universe to shout back “who the hell are you, you’re 12, jog on mate.” I didn’t dislike him exactly, rather he just felt like a poor man’s Tennant. In Day of the Doctor where they’re side by side, Tennant acts Smith off the screen (and John Hurt demolishes both of them).
After the first couple of episodes, I would have agreed with you.
He looked lost and confused.
I think he was supposed to look lost and confused. Post-regeneration and all that.