Thursday, December 26, 2013

Doctor Who - Farewell Matt: The Top 10 Matt Smith Stories




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.




2 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. The 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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