The Written Podcast: When the Doctor Became the Doctor – Matt Smith’s Moment: The Eleventh Hour

Matt Smith had some big shoes to fill. David Tennent’s tenue as the Doctor wowed almost everyone, highlighting him as one of the best Doctors of all time, alongside Tom Baker from the classic era. It was a sad moment at the end of The End of Time – Part 2, when the Doctor stumbled into his TARDIS, knowing he must succumb to this regeneration after successfully deflecting the energy away, preventing him from changing his face. But this time, he must go. David Tennent would leave the TARDIS.

It was also a big moment for the production team, as Russell T. Davis was also putting down his pen, allowing Stephen Moffatt to pick it up. Stephen had written on the show numerous times. In fact, he wrote Blink, my very first ever episode of Doctor Who, so I was extremely excited when he was announced as head writer from series 5 onwards. He had big shoes to fill as well. Doctor Who would undergo the biggest change since returning in 2005, and it needed to impress from the very start.

Matt Smith was a relatively unknown actor, and the youngest ever person to be cast as the Doctor, which did trigger a few people into stating that he would be too young, but others defended that decision by explaining how regeneration worked. The Doctor changes when he regenerates, into anyone.

When series 5 rolled around with its feature length episode to hit the ground running, and boy, did it knock it out of the park. By the time Matt Smith took over, I had watched every episode of the show from Rose until David Tennent’s last, so I knew who the Doctor was as a character. Stephen Moffatt knew who the Doctor was as well, because he’s been a life-long fan of the show, and even wrote the hilarious Red Nose day special episode, Doctor Who and the Curse of the Fatal Death. Being head writer for the show was certainly a dream come true for him, and so he wanted to make it clear he knew what he was doing, and I’d say he showed me he knew exactly what he was doing.

Matt Smith’s moment when he became the Doctor was near the end of the Eleventh Hour, the first episode of series 5. After he had successfully deterred an alien ship from destroying Earth, he called them back just so he could tell them off. The Doctor wanted to make sure they knew exactly who he was and why they shouldn’t return to Earth, ever again. The enemy was the Atraxi, and we don’t see them ever again after this episode; the Doctor made sure of that, by having him scan him and look him up. Every incarnation of the Doctor flashed before ours and the Atraxi’s eyes, and that scared the hell out of the alien. Then Matt Smith’s incarnation of the Doctor stepped through the hologram and uttered the words, “hello, I’m the Doctor,” just to make it clear that he’s officially taken over from David Tennent.

Matt Smith’s tenue as the Doctor was superb. He had many wonderful moments, most notably when he made one of his epic speeches. Matt Smith’s ability to carry a speech made more writers want to write one for him, and he delivered each one awesomely. His first big speech was at the end of series 5, The Pandorica Opens, when every enemy he’d ever fought has gathered around Earth to see what’s inside the Pandorica, only to discover the Doctor had gotten there first, and he wanted them to back away to give him the chance to try and crack it open. With each word he said, it wasn’t as if he knew he had complete control over the situation, but instead making it up as he went along, but believed what he was saying would undoubtedly work. That belief carried over to us, the audience, too, because there have been many completion videos of Matt Smith’s speeches, each one just as good as the last.

Another epic moment came in series 7, The Rings of Akhaten, when he offered his memories to the parasite that looked like a gigantic sun. The heavy words in that speech detailing just how long the Doctor has lived for, and the things he’s done and seen, Matt Smith wowed me; practically taking my breath away. The Rings of Akhaten is one of my favourite episodes, and I would say does count as one of the moments when the Doctor became the Doctor, but it wasn’t the first for Matt Smith. That came way back at the beginning with the Eleventh Hour, when the Atraxi made the mistake of messing with the wrong person.

When it was time for Matt Smith to bow out of the TARDIS, he didn’t go out with a speech, but via the same energy he had at the beginning. Stephen took Matt’s age into account when creating his incarnation of the Doctor, making him incredibly energetic and hyper, zany and goofy, but serious and dark when either required to be or forced to be. Matt Smith’s performance saw an old man trapped in a young man’s body. When people saw a young man walk up to them and looked into his eyes, they saw multiple life-times worth of experience behind those eyes, contradicting his age entirely. That contradiction was displayed perfectly within his first episode, when the Atraxi realised just who this young, immature-acting, and innocent man called him back.

When David Tennent was scheduled to go, there were strong rumours that Doctor Who would end, because his performance was so good, no one would want to watch another actor play the role. That opinion and rumour was quickly quenched when Matt Smith absolutely blew everyone’s expectations out of the water, and when it was time for him to say goodbye, we wondered just who could follow that spectacular performance.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)