Doctor Who as a show is made or broken by its Doctor, on whose shoulders must rest the responsibility of selling its absurd premise, as well as bring enough charm to keep the viewers coming back week after week. David Tennant, aptly the Tenth Doctor, was pure charisma in the part, making the most absurd, rickety, melodramatic stories worth watching (it helps too that Tennant's stage acting lends him to melodrama). Not only this, but as an actor, he was already well-liked in Britain and had been in Harry Potter (along with basically everyone else who graduated acting school in Britain), but with a meatier than bit part. If Tennant could sell anything, he could sell murderous cat-nuns in a hospital, and do so with panache.
Even without the self-sabotage of Ten's demise, Eleven faced an uphill battle. Matt Smith is a relative unknown in the part, a decision made easier by the bigger names used previously to garner enough attention for the show's survival. The blessing of this is that no one could have preconceived notions about his take on the part (Nine, played by Christopher Eccelston, B-movie villain extrordinaire, surely put some potential viewers off), the curse of course is that no one had any notion at all who this guy was. The press photos showed an awkward and young kid who stood with a stoop disturbingly close to my (half-dead) middle school Latin teacher. Comments upon these pictures mostly ranged in the negative, calling him out on his extreme youth or his butternut-squash-shaped head. Debates over his casting bandied about well before anyone saw him in action, the more faithful called upon Stephen Moffat's wisdom to defend Matt Smith against his detractors.
I was very willing to accept Smith. As much as I loved Tennant's Doctor, RTD had pushed him over the edge. With the very first episode of Smith's run I was convinced, which is a faster turn around than from Nine to Ten. In terms of Eleven's character, The Eleventh Hour is pitch perfect, running the new Doctor through the paces. He's charming in a weirdly child-like way, his regeneration sickness manifesting in a mad run through a girl's kitchen to find food that doesn't taste terrible, his method of investigation is tactile and quiet, running long fingers across the mysterious crack in the wall, he's badass, friendly, or blunt when he needs to be. Smith's Doctor struck all the right chords with me.
Like with Ten's first season, Eleven's personality hasn't quite settled, so from the Eleventh Hour on there are some significant surprises as well as some crystallization of the bits that make up Eleven's Doctor. First and most shocking of all is that Eleven is very quick to anger. Where Ten could be at turns cruel, his was a cold anger that accompanied a shaded look and dastardly deeds. Eleven, however, doesn't stew. His emotions run closer to the surface, so when he's angry he blows up. Angry Eleven picks up large wrenches and starts beating on things in fury. Along with this, though, he is quicker to comfort, and is more tactile than Ten and certainly Nine, giving out hugs and touching his forehead lightly to his companion's. He approaches new things without Ten's loud outward appreciation but with a reserved, intense look and fingers dancing like antennae. He's saucy, leading on the Queen "Vampire"'s advances longer than Ten would have, returning Amy's kiss for a moment before pulling away. Though what best describes Eleven is simply, odd.
Matt Smith has a weird look, a face that's striking enough for editorial fashion shoots but on the far side of handsome for television, and an even more bizarre gait, bent over, head sticking out, gangling legs flicking about beneath him, like a giraffe. He's athletic in the way all of the runners were in Chariots of Fire. His body language often defies description, running in some universe between Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys and the stalk and stiff uprightness of my Latin teacher. More than Nine and Ten by a long shot, he makes a convincing alien.
With solid writing at his back, Matt Smith is poised to preside over a fantastic run of Doctor Who episodes. It will be a pleasure to see him grow and settle down as the new Doctor over the next few seasons. Of anyone who has played the Doctor since 2005, I wish the best for him because he has much to gain.
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