Personally, I find Matt Smith to be the most interesting Doctor of the New Who, due to my comparison to the New Who doctors as grades in high school.
Nine (Christopher Eccleston) represents the freshman year, as he is obviously a little off, not entirely in touch with everything that happens around him, and is unnaturally susceptible to falling head over heels for someone. Ten (David Tennant), who is my favorite and my personal first Doctor, represents the sophomore year- he’s more matured, knows exactly what he wants in the world, but breaks like a Sherlockian when bad things happen. Eleven (Matt Smith), the current Doctor, and possibly will be the longest running Doctor of the New Who, represents the 11th grade, far more comfortable in his own skin and much more free-willing and fun to be around, but when push comes to shove has horror stories from his previous days that will darken his face like a raincloud.
This makes him the most mature and the most proud of the Doctors, living his life with either the purpose to bring joy or to win solemnly, Eleven is a true hero of a character.
And it’s not difficult to see why. If there was any doubt, here are his 10 greatest moments…
10. Vincent And The Doctor – Museum Scene
Very possibly the most dramatic and emotional moment that Doctor Who has ever encountered, the season 5 episode ‘Vincent and the Doctor’, which has Eleven and his companion Amelia Pond running around 19th Century Europe with the famous and troubled painter Vincent Van Gogh. The episode crescendos not with the monster of the episode being defeated, but after that, when the two bring Van Gogh with them to an art museum in the modern day, where, barely able to contain his excitement for his new friend, Eleven asks the curator (Bill Nighy) to explain what he thinks of Van Gogh’s art.
The next minute, as Van Gogh overhears the curator’s explanation to the Doctor of how he believes this man to be the finest painter in history, is a flood of emotions that is hard to match. The entire time, the shots show snippets of the Doctor’s face during this, and his joy and pride at making a sad man feel so unbearable happy is infectious if not a plague.
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9 Comments
My favourite Matt Smith scene is when he says Goodbye to little Amelia at her bedside in “The Big Bang”. He completely transforms into a caring granddad there.
My second favourite is probably his “Colonel Runaway” speech from “A Good Man Goes To War”.
I am a big fan of ‘A Good Man Goes to War’, but that entire episode is so…difficult to understand after less than 10 viewings, I couldn’t justifiably put it there.
I think that #1 should’ve been from “The Eleventh Hour” when Eleven warns the Atraxi that if they mess with Earth and threaten to blow it up the next time a prisoner escapes and is hiding there, he won’t be so nice to them as he was at that scene. But whatever you think is the greatest in Matt’s career as the Doctor I’m fine with.
I mean Matt has a ton of brilliant moments, and I wanted to only put one per episode, and that’s a brilliant moment as well. Also you have the greatest screen name ever.
OMGLES. YOU ARE OK AT REVIEWS. DO YOU EVEN LIFT BRO?
Good choices. I would add the confrontation with the Silence near the end of “Day of the Moon” (the flirting with River was epic).
Would also be hard not to include the scene from “The Doctor’s Wife” where he talked with Idris/Tardis … where she came back to say “hello”. I was bawling like a baby at that.
Being a Classic Who fan, my favs are 4 and 11. 11 is the closest we’ve had to a proper, Classic Doctor in New Who.
I agree that the scene at the end of the Atraxi episode should be on this list. I use that episode as an introduction to the entire show, and mainly for this scene. To me, when the Doctor calls BACK the ‘enemy’ of the episode to effectively stare them down, it shows a level of bravado and confidence that the previous Doctors didn’t show. The fact that he does it AS HE’S GETTING DRESSED is so quixotically the Doctor that it reminds me of the classic Doctor’s personality. Also, the quick flash of all the previous incarnations allows me to describe that process and concept to the newbs. Combine all of those with a good storyline, and viola, one of my favorite episodes.
Matt Smith is so great in the role. I hope that David Tenant does reappear for the 50th anniversary, because both of them together would create an interesting dynamic.
Great article! Looking forward to seeing how many more brilliant moments we will see from Matt Smith as The Doctor especially with a new companion in Clara Oswald played by Jenna-Louise Coleman and the dynamic between them will be no doubt different from the Ponds. I too am a Classic Who fan and am enjoying Matt’s performance. He brought a lot of Classic Doctor elements to his incarnation. I hope he sticks around for a while.