4. The Eleventh Hour
The first episode with Matt Smith as The Doctor is an absolute corker. Any fears of Smith being too young, too immature and not fitting the look and feel of Doctor Who were immediately banished as he provided a breath of fresh enthusiasm and energy that was recognisably lacking at the end of David Tennants run. Smith had to establish a new Doctor, someone differing from Tennant but still containing the same virtues, traits and ideologies of the past. Here Smith brings a slight quirkiness to the role and his interaction with young Amelia gives the audience a visual representation of things to come. At a whopping 65 minutes, the episode could so easily have stagnated, dragged and felt unnecessarily long to give us more time to accommodate our new arrivals. However, the strength of the script by Moffat allows the episode to zip by with a combination of wit, tension and strong performances from Smith, Gillan and Darvill. Also I do feel that the admittedly underwhelming villain doesnt affect the plot at all here, purely due to the episodes real purpose of introducing us to our new protagonists. While that may feel like a cop out on my part, I can't emphasis the sigh of relief I had after the episode knowing The Doctor was in very capable hands. The Eleventh Hour was a brilliant way to eradicate any fears and reservations fans had following the departure of the much beloved David Tennant. While the Prisoner Zero plot thread never really inspired, it did provide a chance or all three characters to show their strengths as well as their personalities, setting it up nicely for the future trio. Silence will fall..