7. The Shades Of Light And Dark In His Performance
With the foundation of a millennia-old, alien, eleventh incarnation of the Doctor nailed from the word go, what I feel Matt Smith has continued to contribute to his role in Doctor Who is his ability to move between light and heavy depending on whatever script he is given. There have been some outstanding moments in his tenure as the Eleventh Doctor (I still consider his first series as the strongest overall) but even in the later, somewhat directionless seventh series, Matt Smith has raised the bar by making every performance outstanding. Whatever is demanded of Matt Smith as an actor, he achieves it. Take his recent turn as a cyberman-controlled alter ego in Nightmare In Silver. Matt Smith shone through a surprisingly middling episode (I, like many, had really high hopes for Neil Gaimans follow up and perhaps our expectations couldnt ever be met). Sure, the kids were annoying and other characters a little forgettable but alongside Warrick Davies emperor, Smith rose to the challenge. His Valeyardian dark doctor was the perfect menace, showing that he could be both the hero and the villain without hamming it up as other doctors may have. And it was a distinct difference to the Doctors lighter, more desperate stance. Smith is capable of light, witty banter (his relationship with the Tardis in The Doctors Wife) rage, (his fury and murder against Solomon in Dinosaurs On A Spaceship), anguish (the moment he realises he is about to lose Amy in The Angels Take Manhattan) and coldness (Closing the door on the future Amy in The Girl Who Waited). His speech against the sun god in The Rings of Akhaten is one of his finest. I could go on for hours about the complexity of Matt Smiths performance. (I also appreciate that Tennant comes very close to this in his performance too). However there is one element, where I feel, alongside Troughton and possibly Tom Baker, that Matt Smith has really nailed his role as the Doctor and that leads me to my next point