Doctor Who: Ranking All 12 Doctors From Worst To Best
1. The Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith)
STORIES: 12
ALIENNESS: 10
HEROISM: 12
LIKABILITY: 12
LEGACY: 5
OVERALL SCORE: 51
Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor was first unveiled with a rather misleading publicity still of Smith standing in front of the TARDIS. It looked very much as if his Doctor would be in the mould of Robert Pattinson’s vampire, Edward Cullen, from the Twilight saga.
The Eleventh Hour introduced us instead to a Doctor who ran around with the childlike enthusiasm of an oversized Patrick Troughton, a Doctor who enjoyed the thrill of the adventure more than the satisfaction of righting wrongs, and a Doctor who would be a reckless hero, taking more risks than any of his predecessors in order to save lives.
The Doctor’s heroism reached new heights with successive series finales from flying the Pandorica straight into the heart of his exploding TARDIS (The Big Bang), to his final stand on Trenzalore, where he battled for 300 years as its protector (The Time of the Doctor). In his middle series, the Doctor goes on the hero’s journey, in the most brilliantly crafted arc that sees him almost stripped of his Messiah complex (The God Complex) and ready to accept his final death along the way.
If the Twelfth Doctor’s first series was an exploration into whether or not he was a good man, then Matt Smith’s era was an exploration into whether or not he was a hero. It is a role he temporarily relinquished (The Snowmen) but the mystery of the impossible girl (Clara) pulled him back into the frontline, securing his heroic status.
The Eleventh Doctor had the likability factor in droves, appealing especially to the younger viewers through his charming relationship with Amelia Pond and other children he encountered. He encapsulated Russell T Davies' idea that the Doctor should be your best friend. And yet, he was also so very alien, as he tried to fit in and repeatedly failed so spectacularly.
Legacy wise, the Eleventh Doctor moved the character beyond the rut of the post Time War Ninth and Tenth Doctors, and with the saving of Gallifrey in The Day of the Doctor, brought about a major change in direction, from running away from his home to looking for it again.
But in all likelihood his most lasting legacy in the minds of many will be fish fingers and custard, and for that alone the Eleventh Doctor loses a couple of points.
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