POLL: What is your favourite Matt Smith story?

Chris_Hobbs · 21/02/14 - 04:54

I am running a number of polls to discover the favourite story for each Doctor. This one is for the Eleventh Doctor.

Please note: The poll can sometimes take a while to appear.

This poll will be open for 7 days.

Thamwet · 21/02/14 - 05:44

Day of the Doctor for me.

Abomination · 21/02/14 - 05:46

I thought about this over and over, and came to the unexpected conclusion that my favourite episode of Matt Smith's tenure was A Christmas Carol.

It seems a bit unorthodox to go for a Christmas special, but this was an absolute masterpiece in my eyes. It put The Doctor right at the heart of the story and gave him a real purpose throughout. It was fun and mad whilst also being incredibly heartfelt, touching and dramatic. The alien world was convincing and Kazran and Abigail were written with more emotion than had been granted to Amy and Rory across the whole of the then-recent Series 5. And to top it all off was the timey-wimey element that was so prominent throughout Smith's era... it was a major part of the story. The songs were decent too, and also a nice nod to the Silence who would be important in the Series 6 episodes ahead, it can be watched as a standalone story but has loads of references that make it a joy for the more dedicated viewer, it had a child actor who was actually not annoying, the guest cast were sublime and it managed to spin a brand new take on an infamous old story...timey-wimey indeed!

It wasn't by any means perfect, but for me it was an episode that sums up Doctor Who very well in a wide variety of ways, perhaps including that imperfection. Because of that I thought it was a very special episode that gave Matt Smith the chance to act his socks off in the funny, endearing and emotional departments that I'd been craving a healthy balance of since Series 5 gave him a bit of a shaky start

[Deleted User] · 21/02/14 - 05:57

I am one of those weirdos who like Victory so what do you care what I think anyway?

I love the fact that the Daleks are sneaky and coniving and intelligent again. They actually get the Doctor to prove that they are really Daleks. I love it. Not too keen on the Palitoy Daleks or the base model Saucer set.

For my fave it was between Wife, Day (the fez scene, just look at the expressions he pulls), Asylum and Hour. There are a few more in there, and others I love, but are flawed (Closing Time's ending - bleurgh!).

In the end I went for Wife as it was completely bonkers and the plot held together pretty well and it took us somewhere we had never gone before with the series, and managed to do it well.

I already miss Matt. It was a little bit like having Troughton back again

[Deleted User] · 21/02/14 - 07:51

I voted for "The Day of the Doctor" although I also really like "The Lodger", "Closing Time", "The Beast Below" and a number of others.

[Deleted User] · 21/02/14 - 14:01

Voted for Snowmen. But Pandorica two-parter, Amy' s Choice Neil Cross episodes and Name of the Doctor are all very close second.

[Deleted User] · 21/02/14 - 14:19

This will take long and serious thought. Some initial ones; Unlike the Eccleston and Tennant eras, there's a serious possibility it won't be a Moffat written episode. Not because I conform to the twaddle that 'he doesn't write great episodes any more' (The Eleventh Hour, The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, A Good Man Goes To War, Asylum of the Daleks, The Angels Take Manhattan and The Name of The Doctor are all contenders) but because other writers have really stepped 'up to the plate'. Amy's Choice, The Doctor's Wife, The Girl Who Waited to name a few, are all definitely possibles (one in particular). One thing I can say for certain - it won't be The Day of The Doctor, which I found too 'RTD-ish' in many aspects and is one of my least favourite Moffat episodes (*runs and hides!*). Right, enough waffle. Time to think about it and conclude it's impossible to decide. ;-)

Irma Bunt · 21/02/14 - 15:01

Difficult. I like Matt Smith but loathed Amy and became increasingly frustrated by Moff's writing. So found much of this era very hit and miss. Voted Vincent and the Doctor - the standout ep for me in the dungheap that was Season 5.

TardisSteve · 21/02/14 - 15:45

Vincent and the Doctor

[Deleted User] · 21/02/14 - 16:10

The Girl Who Waited. It is hard to believe that the same writer wrote Rise ofthe Cybermen. TGWW is a masterpiece and Karen Gillan is at her best.

Michael_Eve · 21/02/14 - 16:21

Perusing that list has brought into focus yet again how much I've loved this era. Very tough.

The Eleventh Hour, The Lodger, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, The Doctor's Wife, The Girl Who Waited, The God Complex and others catching my eye. The '...of the Doctor' trilogy too. Ummmmmmmmmmmm....

Okay. It's The Doctor's Wife. Today. ;-)

daveyboy7472 · 21/02/14 - 17:47

I found this a lot more difficult than I was expecting. As I dislike so much of the 11th Doctor's Era(Though not the Eleventh Doctor himself) I thought it would be easy to pick a fave but from the ones I did like, it was hard to choose between them.

It's mainly the Series openers I like the best, but away from them Amy's Choice, The Series 5 finale which has grown on me a lot since it was first shown and The Doctor's Wife, Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS ;All good episodes but it really did come down to which of the Series openers I liked best(including the first episodes of the second half of a run)

The Bells Of St John I enjoyed as I did Asylum of The Daleks. I think it then came down to Let's Kill Hitler and The Eleventh Hour and then it did become easy as I think The Eleventh Hour has more in it I enjoy and unusually for a 11th Doctor episode it was quite fast paced and action packed so for me that's why I chose it.

Had the 50th Anniversary not been such a letdown I may very well have voted for that but it was and I didn't, so there you go!

Thrombin · 21/02/14 - 18:15

Lots of great stories!

I voted for the Doctor's Wife but I also loved the Girl Who Waited, Day of the Doctor and, controversially I know, The Rings of Akhaten.

Actually, I loved almost all of them but I have to be a bit selective I suppose

[Deleted User] · 21/02/14 - 18:37

It's a toughie all right. A lot of the stories are kinda mehhh, but there are so many truly magical little moments all over the place. It's a very tough choice indeed.

CAMERA OBSCURA · 21/02/14 - 18:41

The Lodger.

Love it.

Tom Tit · 21/02/14 - 18:49

I will have to choose 'Name of the Doctor' personally. The explanation is rather long-winded:

For personal fondness it is difficult to beat the 'Time of Angels' two-parter, 'Eleventh Hour' and 'Amy's Choice', because those are the episodes (watched in that order) that inspired me to begin watching and following Doctor Who for the first time since I was a child. I watched Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy back in my youth and knew all of the others through videos and later repeats on UK Gold (and can remember the Davison regeneration from the time, although I was very young)and so forth (plus comics etc)but never got into the rebooted series. My curiosity was piqued and I made an effort to check out the first few Ecclestone episodes but whilst it was fine (I didn't feel any fan outrage or anything) it just didn't keep my interest. I watch very little TV anyway. I'd see the occasional episode on and off after that; sometimes it would be on in the background or I'd watch it whilst baby sitting or something and again, it was fine (in particular I remember catching 'Gridlock' and thinking 'yeah cool, they're doing it like a comic; nice'), but it just never caught my attention enough to compel me to make the effort to put the TV on especially for it.

Then I happened to be in the room when 'Time of Angels' was on (I hadn't even known there was a new Doctor)... and suddenly I thought 'Wow. This has gotten good.' This from someone who doesn't even particularly care for television. Wonderfully, it was being watched on Sky plus so I found out the second part was already available on iplayer. After that I had to check out what was going on and so watched series 5 up to that point, in a couple of nights. I was hooked. Eleventh Hour was astonishingly good. I was surprised such a good writer would be working on Doctor Who. I did a bit of research on this Moffat guy and found he was generally accredited with writing the best episodes, so then I checked those out. 'Damn, does this guy ever drop the ball?'

Before long, being the kind of person who devours my interests, I had begun the process of watching every single episode of Doctor Who from the beginning (not in order though), plus sundry audio and pretty much the entirety of Doctor Who.

So, the purpose of my long story is that it would be very difficult for any other episodes to match my fondness and respect for those ones as they genuinely impressed me at a time I wasn't necessarily so open to being impressed, and started me on a process of dedicating A LOT of hours to this programme. But one of the great things about watching 'Name of the Doctor' was that I got a similar feeling watching it as those earlier episodes. That feeling of 'actually, this isn't just an episode, this is something really exceptional'. I knew I'd just watched an all-time classic as soon as it had finished, without any need for deliberation. It was the first time I'd felt that about a new episode, at the time of broadcast. Plenty of great episodes in the intervening space but that was the first one I didn't have to think: 'is this as good as the Eleventh Hour'?

Tom Tit · 21/02/14 - 19:03

As a coda to my last post: http://images.doctorwhonews.net/image.php?pid=13025

God. Imagine if they;d looked like that in the show. What a state.

GiarcYekrub · 21/02/14 - 20:46

So many great episodes, if I had to choose, I'm going for Pandorica/Big Bang.

doctor blue box · 21/02/14 - 21:41

Voted for a christmas carol. Feel a bit strange voting for a christmas special but it really was the perfect matt smith episode for me. It was lighthearted, yet had a serious undertone, it took a classic story and reworked it in a clever way. It was completely standalone, and yet used the element of timey wimey in a way that perfectly made sense and was easy to follow. It was the kind of episode you could show someone who had only a limited knowledge of who and say 'look, this is who at it's best'. Truly great stuff and a showpiece example of the show for me.

Sufyaan_Kazi · 22/02/14 - 08:13

Tom Tit wrote: »

I will have to choose 'Name of the Doctor' personally. The explanation is rather long-winded:

For personal fondness it is difficult to beat the 'Time of Angels' two-parter, 'Eleventh Hour' and 'Amy's Choice', because those are the episodes (watched in that order) that inspired me to begin watching and following Doctor Who for the first time since I was a child. I watched Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy back in my youth and knew all of the others through videos and later repeats on UK Gold (and can remember the Davison regeneration from the time, although I was very young)and so forth (plus comics etc)but never got into the rebooted series. My curiosity was piqued and I made an effort to check out the first few Ecclestone episodes but whilst it was fine (I didn't feel any fan outrage or anything) it just didn't keep my interest. I watch very little TV anyway. I'd see the occasional episode on and off after that; sometimes it would be on in the background or I'd watch it whilst baby sitting or something and again, it was fine (in particular I remember catching 'Gridlock' and thinking 'yeah cool, they're doing it like a comic; nice'), but it just never caught my attention enough to compel me to make the effort to put the TV on especially for it.

Then I happened to be in the room when 'Time of Angels' was on (I hadn't even known there was a new Doctor)... and suddenly I thought 'Wow. This has gotten good.' This from someone who doesn't even particularly care for television. Wonderfully, it was being watched on Sky plus so I found out the second part was already available on iplayer. After that I had to check out what was going on and so watched series 5 up to that point, in a couple of nights. I was hooked. Eleventh Hour was astonishingly good. I was surprised such a good writer would be working on Doctor Who. I did a bit of research on this Moffat guy and found he was generally accredited with writing the best episodes, so then I checked those out. 'Damn, does this guy ever drop the ball?'

Before long, being the kind of person who devours my interests, I had begun the process of watching every single episode of Doctor Who from the beginning (not in order though), plus sundry audio and pretty much the entirety of Doctor Who.

So, the purpose of my long story is that it would be very difficult for any other episodes to match my fondness and respect for those ones as they genuinely impressed me at a time I wasn't necessarily so open to being impressed, and started me on a process of dedicating A LOT of hours to this programme. But one of the great things about watching 'Name of the Doctor' was that I got a similar feeling watching it as those earlier episodes. That feeling of 'actually, this isn't just an episode, this is something really exceptional'. I knew I'd just watched an all-time classic as soon as it had finished, without any need for deliberation. It was the first time I'd felt that about a new episode, at the time of broadcast. Plenty of great episodes in the intervening space but that was the first one I didn't have to think: 'is this as good as the Eleventh Hour'?

amazing story

doublefour · 22/02/14 - 14:54

The Day of the Doctor, I thought The Name of the Doctor would be hard to top but it is my favourite story since the programme came back in 2005.

tiggerpooh · 22/02/14 - 17:28

I voted Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. Very good story. Well thought out. I think Matt Smith acts well as the Doctor in this.

http://wallpaperswa.com/thumbnails/detail/20121020/matt%20smith%20karen%20gillan%20amy%20pond%20eleventh%20doctor%20doctor%20who%20river%20song%20alex%20kingston%20weeping%20angel_wallpaperswa.com_93.jpg

My top 3 would also contain Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, plus The Impossible Astranaut/Day of the Moon. I like the stories River Song is in.

The only one I don't is Let's Kill Hitler. It's not as good.

tiggerpooh · 22/02/14 - 17:36

doublefour wrote: »

The Day of the Doctor, I thought The Name of the Doctor would be hard to top but it is my favourite story since the programme came back in 2005.

My favourite story since DW came back in 2005 is Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead.

http://www.bbcshop.com/content/ebiz/bbc/invt/bbcdvd2607/drwhoS4Vol3DVD_LRG.jpg

I really like Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways too. Especially the regeneration. That would be second on my list of the best 'Nu-Who" stories.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QfkWiQnfb0Y/hqdefault.jpg

[Deleted User] · 23/02/14 - 02:19

"The Doctor's Wife" easily. It's also been obvious how important the TARDIS is to the Doctor, but this episode really stepped that up all sorts of levels. Despite all the change he may go through, the Doctor will always have that beautiful blue box.

After that however, "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang". It's probably the most perfect finale the show had during it's revival, it's just wonderful in every single way.

lordo350 · 23/02/14 - 21:53

Looking at that list it's bloody hard, because there's been so many brilliant episodes during this era. When the 11th Doctor era hit, it bloody hit good.

I can just never tire of watching the Eleventh Hour; it remains, for me, the perfect way to introduce a new Doctor (and era) seamlessly. Everything just works, from the writing to the performances... Matt had me sold on his Doctor pretty much from day 1, after thinking his intro in the End of Time seemed very Tennant with an added "geronimo."

I also really enjoy the Angels two parter; it's interesting watching those, remembering they were the first episodes Matt filmed as the Doctor, and seeing just how much he nails it. I will always have a special place for the series 5 final; I just love the personal nature of it all; no matter how serious and massive things get, at the end of the day it's all about the Doctor's relationship with Amy, and what he's prepared to do for her.

In fact, I think as a whole series 5 is the strongest series of the show, but 6 and 7 have some stronger episodes.

Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon was a revelation; I could barley believe this was the same show that it had been under RTD (no disrespect intended, as I love RTD). It was just so grand in its scale, had an immensely shocking opener; I think this is probably where the 11th Doctor era really peaked for me.

Well, obviously, it goes without saying the Doctor's Wife is sublime.

I'm a massive fan of AGMGTW, mainly because I always like the episodes that show the Doctor in a new light. Here, the Doctor is showing just how dangerous he can be; easily summoning an army of people to help him decimate the Silence. Then there's Lets Kill Hitler, which I think is a fun episode and finally provides pay off about River Song. TWORS, I thought at the time, was such an awesome way of paying off the Doctor's "death" from the start of the series; when I watched it (in a crowded pub, long story) I had a massive smile on my face and was proper hyped for what was to come.

Series 7 was such a step down that very few episodes in there contend for my favourite. Bells of St John and Name of the Doctor are probably the two best, but special mention to Nightmare in Silver. I wouldn't say any of these are my favourites, but they easily stand out in series 7.

The Day of the Doctor is, imho, superb. It's the best possible anniversary special I think they could have given us without trying to bring back everyone who's ever been in Doctor Who and making it a mess. It was a tightly constructed story entirely focused on the Doctor, with more than enough nods to the show's long history.

The Time of the Doctor I enjoyed, but enjoy less every time I see it. It's OK, but the Silence pay off throws up a few big questions that lead me to believe this was not Moff's original intention (if he ever even had one!), and I think Matt deserved better really.

In all... I think I have to go with the Day of the Doctor. But it's a very difficult decision.

Face Of Jack · 24/02/14 - 17:28

Not a Matt Smith fan TBH! So I voted for Day of the Doctor!!

I loved Matt when he first started in the Eleventh Hour....but he became a parody of himself as the years went on. The waving arms, that f*****g sonic screwdriver and his dancing around just got on my nerves!
Matt Smith - 10/10 for acting
Doctor 11 - 1/10 (sorry)

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