I found myself pondering what makes Matt Smith such a good doctor, and I think I've got it sussed. It's because Matt Smith is the first doctor I've seen who I can actually believe is a genius (by human standards, at any rate). The Doctor usually does clever things as part of the story, but Doc 11 is the first one who comes across as clever even when he isn't being clever. They've been heroic and all that before, but for me Matt Smith is the Doctor of cleverness.

Yes, he's great at being a genius, but then he's also brilliant at being completely stupid.

and fantastic at being brilliantly stupid!

I watched the 3 episode Sherlock last night and I could have so easily seen Matt Smith in that role. The brilliance of the character and the inability he has to socially connect with people on a day-to-day basis both reminded me of Smith's Doctor.

Doc 11 is an alien Sherlock Holmes.

and both shows written by Moffat

There's a bit of retroness in his character that makes you believe that the Doctor is indeed 900 years old. He comes across as an old man in a young mans body.

He's the bast all-round Doc we have had sine Tom Baker.

It might sound daft but for me, like many others, I wondered if Matt would be a good doctor... then I saw his eyebrows

He came across as the most alien looking like Doctor I have ever seen and then you add his ability to play so young but so old and his general utter craziness

I think Matt is playing a brilliant role. He's got the eccentric quirkiness of The Doctor off to a tee!
I am just not enjoying the deep, weird storylines that inter-link with this annoying 'arc' of a major story. Arrrgh! Bring back the self-contained episodes like we used to have.
It's all getting too monotonous for me, and after being a serious fan for 44 years - I'm really losing interest!
(I did it once before - I stopped watching the McCoy series half-way through....but that was for different reasons!)

I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing today - how weird that someone has started a thread about it .

Anyway, for me, Matt is definitely an old soul in a young body. He plays the Doctor this way. I can completely understand why, when they were auditioning for Doctor 11, they were going to go with someone older until Matt entered the room. Not only is he both old and young but he has an unworldliness about him. Or is that an 'other worldliness'? Am not sure.

As for his portrayal, not only does he bring the above to the role (all excellent attributes in my book) but also gives coherence and definition to our knowledge of this time traveller who looked into the time vortex as a young child and saw all of time and space before him.

You can 'see' that he sees the universe this way. He can see ALL of it, past, present and future all the time. Can you imagine the chaos in his mind? Matt's portrayal certainly gives me the feeling that he's trying to carry on being a 'normal' person, having conversations, travelling, attending weddings and dancing but has to do that whilst trying to overcome or overpower or subdue, the 'chatter' in his head. His scattergun speech and his slightly ADHD approach to things, for me, is his way of getting on with what needs to be done, and saying what needs to be said whilst battling against a tide of sound and vision in his brain.

I know some people have said he's too manic or he speaks too quickly etc but for me, this is what makes him the Doctor. He IS this unworldly/other worldly person trying desperately to be something approximating human.

I think Matt's portrayal is spot on.

As is your description of him!

That is a brilliant and completely true way, to me and I am sure, many others, of describing Matt's Doctor!

Thank You

Fabulous post...pretty much sums up why Smith is so utterly perfect in the role!

I think the scripts have done a lot towards creating the new character - Matt apparently follows the script closely or suggests tweaks before starting - he doesn't ad-lib or paraphrase - so credit where credit's due. I think a good part of the reason Matt is more even more The Doctor this year is that they are now writing for him rather than some unknown with no idea of how he'd deliver lines or even move around.

There's no denying that Matt Smith owns the role - he's got the makings of becoming the definitive Doctor and I really hope he stays for a long run. He's certainly at the top of my list of Doctors.

If interviews and DW Confidential are anything to go by, he's also a good bloke in real life - always an asset for such a role where so many fans will be kids.

Fabulous post.

When he's good then he's brilliant. Like most Doctors, he's had his ups and downs. I thought he was at his very best in The Eleventh Hour, Vincent and the Doctor, The Pandorica Opens, The Big Bang and, recently, The Rebel Flesh. Last week's episode was his strongest performance so far this series. For me he's the equal of Pertwee, Troughton and Davison. Only the great Tom Baker exceeds him as being 'The Doctor'.

You are too kind .