Top 10 Matt Smith Stories
Now that the Matt Smith era is
over we can do a top ten list of his best stories. There were a lot to choose from and I’m sure
some of your favorites did not make the list but hey somebodies favorite is
someone’s lest favorite. So here are the
stories that I thought were best stories of the three Series of the Matt Smith
era.
10. Closing Time
Written By Gareth Roberts
Directed By Steve Hughes
Why It’s In The Top 10:
A light hearted story that is
really fun to watch. Closing Time sees
The Doctor visiting Craig and his newborn baby Stormageddon Dark Lord of All
and is curious over the power surges going on.
I love this madcap story of watching The Doctor and Craig stumble around
the shop looking for the cause of the missing people and power surges. Closing Time is a touching story and if you
are a parent you will understand those moments.
Oh by the way the Cybemen are in Closing Time also and we also get the
return of their weapon the Cybermats.
9. Cold War
Written By Mark Gatiss
Directed By Douglas Mackinnon
Why It’s In The Top 10:
The Ice Warriors return in a
classic base under siege story. Not seen
since the 1974 story The Monster of Peladon the Ice Warriors make their
triumphant return. Well one of them
anyway. What makes this story
fascinating is that it takes place in a submarine under water in the
artic. The Ice Warrior is lurking in the
shadiws of the sub as Cold War shows us what an Ice Warrior looks like outside
of its armor. Had the feel of the
classic horror movie The Thing and was scary and a fun story to watch. Plus
David Warner sings a Duran Duran song.
8. Asylum of the Daleks
Written By Steven Moffat
Directed By Nick Hurran
Why It’s In The Top 10:
The best Matt Smith Dalek story
and it had a big surprise in it. We get
to see the Asylum of the Daleks and all the different types of Daleks from the
Doctor’s past including the fan favorite Special Weapons Dalek. Asylum of the Daleks had a big surprise in
it as Jenna Coleman makes an appearance as Oswin who as it turns out is
actually a Dalek. Of course we know the
answer to this mystery but at the time it sent the fans into brain meltdown
trying to come up with a theory for this.
The story was really good also as we see the Daleks asking for The
Doctor’s help for once but then stick him in the asylum was just cold. A really good Dalek story that gives some
classic Who fans a sense of nostalgia.
7. The Angels Take Manhattan
Written By Steven Moffat
Directed By Nick Hurran
Why It’s In The Top 10:
The Weeping Angels return and
unfortunately for Amy and Rory they spell the end to their travels with The
Doctor. One of the most emotional and
sad farewell for a companion in the series as Amy must choose traveling with
The Doctor or be sent back in time to be with the man she loves Rory. Despite the pleading from The Doctor she
picks Rory leaving The Doctor heartbroken.
We get a story that takes place in New York City and was actually filmed
near Grand Central Station and in Central Park. The Angels Take Manhattan is a scary and
spooky story that the show needs from time to time and the Weeping Angels are
at their scariest in this story.
6. The Time of The Doctor
Written By Steven Moffat
Directed By Jamie Payne
Why It’s In The Top 10:
We find out how The Doctor can
regenerate again after using up his life cycle.
The Time Lords give him a new life cycle not really as a thank you to
him or to honor Clara’s request but to satisfy their own purposes so they can
selfishly return to our universe. We see
the final adventure of The Doctor as he lives out his life protecting the
inhabitants of the town of Christmas on the planet Trenzalore. We see all his
enemies trying to get him to not say his name the key for the Time Lords return
as the Time War would start anew. It is
an emotional goodbye and a touching regeneration scene for Matt Smith who
leaves as the 11th Doctor and a scene that also gives us our first
glimpse of Peter Capaldi as The Doctor.
5. The Doctor’s Wife
Written By Neil Gaiman
Directed By Richard Clark
Why It’s In The Top 10:
It is a heartfelt story between
The Doctor and his TARDIS whose soul is trapped in the body of Idris. We also get to see Amy and Rory go through
hell inside the TARDIS corridors by House who has taken over the TARDIS and is
messing with time torturing Amy by aging Rory and yet again killing him. Matt Smith gives us one of his great
performances and none was better than when he was able to talk to his TARDIS in
Idris body before she died. That scene
was so powerful and emotional and is one of the best in Doctor Who ever. Just seeing him getting so emotional talking
to her before she left Idris body was so heartfelt. The Doctor’s Wife is just a
brilliant story that helped a season that was lacking in emotion
4. The Name of The Doctor
Written By Steven Moffat
Directed By Saul Metzstein
Why It’s In The Top 10:
The big finale that caused quite
a stir before it aired. First fans were
worried we would finally know the Doctor’s real name. Most fans err scratch that most fans did not
want to know The Doctor’s name at all.
It was a pretty good gimmick to get people to watch the series
finale. The other controversy was that
it was released on DVD and Blu Ray early by a computer error at BBC America
Shop. Luckily the story was not spoiled
on Social Network at all. It was clearly
a minor miracle in itself. The Name of The Doctor wrapped up the series with
the Great Intelligence trying to rewrite The Doctor’s timeline. Everything he ever did every win against the
most foul villains erased from happening.
We also find out the answer to who is Clara and why she was a Dalek in
Asylum and in the 1800’s and in 2013.
What got me really jazzed about this story is that we got to see the 1st
Doctor leave Gallifrey for the first time and also we had every Doctor in it
also as Clara went back in his timeline.
But more importantly it gave is a cliffhanger that leads into the 50th
Anniversary with John Hurt being introduced as The Doctor.
3. The Girl Who Waited
Written By Tom MacRae
Directed By Nick Hurran
Why It’s In The Top 10:
Here is a really good story that
deals more with Amy and Rory than The Doctor which is a rarity in itself in the
new series. We have the dilemma of old
Amy and young Amy and what to do with both of them. Rory is torn because he wants his Amy back but
wants to keep old Amy also but The Doctor knows what can happen if both are in
the TARDIS together. The Doctor makes
the decision to lock old Amy out of the TARDIS despite the threats from Rory. An unpopular choice he makes but it is the
best decision and the right one. Rory
actually stands up to The Doctor in this story and actually shows some back
bone. The Girl Who Waited is a strong
story with a sad ending and yet again the writer and producer have decided to
do something different and go outside the box and came up with a story that was
clever and excellent. It worked out
perfectly and is one of the best stories in the Matt Smith era.
2. Vincent and The Doctor
Written By Richard Curtis
Directed By Jonny Campbell
Why It’s In The Top 10:
This story is just a wonderful
but sad story that makes you think and take notice of the way things are. Dealing with the mental illness theme The
Doctor and Amy meet up with van Gogh at one of his more troubling times. Amy takes a shine to him as he is her favorite
painter and she tries to help him. They
even go as far as bringing him to present day to see how famous he will
become. What is sad is that Amy so
wanted to help him and make him feel better but she fails as van Gogh still
takes his life because of his illness.
Vincent and The Doctor is a very touching story one of the few stories
like this in Doctor Who’s history. Matt
Smith gives a good performance and the speech he gives Amy at the end is one of
the best in his era. Plus there is a
monster in it even if it is invisible most of the time.
1. The Day of The Doctor
Written By Steven Moffat
Directed By Nick Hurran
Why It’s In The Top 10:
For one it is the 50th
Anniversary story and we get to see some old friends. The Day of The Doctor sees former Doctor
David Tennant team up with current Doctor Matt Smith to stop the Zygons among
other things. They are joined by the
Doctor no one knew about the one who fought in the Time War. John Hurt plays The War Doctor and gives us a
new dimension to The Doctor’s history.
We find out what happens during the final days of The Time War and how
it affected The Doctor’s life afterwords.
You see the Three Doctors come up with a different plan to save
Gallifrey and change their timeline. In
fact you see all 13 Doctors come to the aid of Gallifrey in a moment of pure
celebration of all The Doctors and we get a glimpse of the new Doctor Peter
Capaldi. The Day of The Doctor also has
one of the best scenes in Doctor who as we see Tom Baker return to the show as
The Curator and has a nice chat with Matt Smith’s Doctor. It was a great scene
that made the 50th Anniversary special a lot more special.
Its odd that for me, I either liked Smith's episodes or hated them. The above list includes 8 of the better ones and 2 of the worst. There are not that many in the middle.
ReplyDeleteThe Name of the Doctor disappointed me, and Cold War was forgettable...I don't even remember it. Matt was good, but sometimes too good for the weak plots. I would remove Cold War and The Name of the Doctor from the list and add The Snowmen and The God Complex. The rest of the episodes listed were gold. There will never be another "Vincent and the Doctor"...that ending was beautiful.
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