Karen Gillan (Left) and Matt Smith (Right) photo courtesy of the BBC
I haven’t seen any episodes of the old “Doctor Who” series except for a few clicks here and there on YouTube and only started with the revival of the series that starred Christopher Eccleston as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor.
While Eccleston portrayal of the Doctor was great – and sadly short – I view David Tennant’s portrayal as the tenth incarnation as the definitive Doctor to me.
When I heard that Matt Smith will be replacing Tennant as the eleventh doctor, I couldn’t believe.
After four years of Tennant brilliantly playing the Doctor he’s now going to be played by this young little upstart – Smith, 27, is the youngest actor to portray the Doctor.
He didn’t look the part – he looked like something that came out of the “Twilight” movies. He was pale, gangly and his hair was incredibly silly looking.
But, after seeing his first full outing in “The Eleventh Hour,” I can safely say that Matt Smith is the Doctor.
The basic gist of the story is that the world is going to end in 20 minutes and it’s up to the Doctor to save it.
Although it’s pretty on par with a “Doctor Who” story, but thanks to the script – written by newly appointed show runner Steven Moffat – and the actors, it makes for a great hour of television.
Smith’s portrayal of the Doctor is a sight to watch, the scenes where the Doctor trying out a variety of food shortly after his regeneration was fun to watch.
It was like something out of slapstick comedy bit with Smith’s Doctor commenting that the bacon he’s eating is poisoned or saying that the “beans are evil” in the most dry manner possible.
He brings a nice physicality to his role similar to what Tennant did, except his version of the Doctor is on some kind of amphetamine and drank 12 cups of coffee.
Karen Gillan is also great as Amy Pond, the Doctor’s newest companion.
While the circumstances of her meeting the Doctor is similar to an earlier Who story, “The Girl in the Fireplace,” the encounter helps shape Amy Pond’s character as an assertive, sassy – and may I add cute – modern woman who’s still slightly wary of the Doctor after disappearing from her life for 12 years causing her to go through 4 different therapists – she bit them.
I’m confident that Smith and Gillan will work well as a pair and that Smith is going to be great as the Doctor and be held in the same regard like past actors who previously portrayed the Time Lord like Tennant and Tom Baker.
Hopefully the next episode can keep up with the momentum set up the premiere.
Episode Grade: 5/5
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