Doctor Who: 5 Defining Moments Of Matt Smith's 11th Doctor
2. The Big Bang: The Doctor Reboots The Universe
If the Davies-run WHO was known for his constant game of Lets see how apocalyptic I can make this apocalypse-one-upmanship, the Eleventh Doctors tenure has been marked by Moffats love of skull-crushingly complex season-long narratives that fold in on themselves in a shower of paradoxes, dopplegangers and call-backs. So, while the fifth season finale, The Big Bang, didnt feature armies of androids or aliens decimating various metropolises, it did feature the universe blinking out into non-existence, only for Doctor Who to fly into the time vortex and reboot the entirety of existence and resurrect himself through a psychic link to a ginger Scottish girl. This sort of self-devouring narrative is a hallmark of Moffats writing. The guy couldnt even write a sex comedy sitcom without imploding the basic structures of narrative and language. And he found the perfect agent in Matt Smith. With his ability to speak at roughly ten million words a minute and enough manic energy to choke a Pixie stick, Smith was able to sell the audience on the overload of information. Even when the story flew off the rails and became borderline nonsensical, it seemed like it still made sense, thanks to Smiths unflagging commitment to each new idea. More, Smith was able to find the human beats under-lying each bit of cosmic tomfoolery. As a dying Doctor says good-bye to Amy, awaiting the moment when he is blinked out of having ever been born, Smith shows you the aching sense of love and compassion that drives this alien to give so wholly of himself for the human race. Cleverness is all well and good, but it doesnt count for much if the audience doesnt care. Smith made damn sure you cared.