"Doctor Who" (Season 5, episode 1: "The Eleventh Hour," BBC America)

The Doctor is the last of the Time Lords, an immortal alien race from the planet Gallifrey. He and a human companion travel around the universe in a time machine shaped like a police box, called the TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space). He's about 905 years old, and currently, he's on the eleventh incarnation of himself, because every time he dies, he regenerates. All this might be difficult to take in, but 2010's fifth season premiere of this legendary British sci-fi adventure gamely introduces the audience to the 48-year-old series with the successful presentation of a brand new Doctor for fans to admire.

When the episode opens, the eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith) pops out of the crashed TARDIS in tattered clothes last seen on the tenth Doctor when he died: a button-down, relaxed trousers, a tie, and high-top Converse sneakers. (This outfit is important, as each Doctor has one signature look, and Smith will soon claim the role as his own.) From the moment Smith appears, he bears the matter-of-fact attitude and eccentricities that make the Doctor's character charming, confusing and hilarious. In the home of the little Scottish girl who finds him, Amy Pond (Caitlin Blackwood), he asks repeatedly for food, but spits out everything she gives him because it "tastes wrong," only explaining his actions in a single phrase: "New mouth, new rules." The Doctor speaks to Amelia the same way he speaks to all humans, with the knowledge that she will never fully understand anything he does, and confidence in her ability to trust him and follow along. It would be all too easy to play the Doctor as a condescending genius, since he's seen most of the universe in the past, present and future, but Smith hits the Doctor's tone perfectly. He plays all the character's angles, from silly to serious. The darkest aspects of the Doctor are to come in later episodes, but Smith's portrayal instills faith that he can handle what is to come with no problem.

The official "passing of the torch" occurs when the Doctor faces down this episode's alien invaders, a police force called the Atraxi, who have threatened to blow up Earth in order to destroy an escaped alien prisoner. Smith delivers a rousing speech as he changes clothes, shedding the tenth Doctor's outfit and creating his own. The transition from fan-favorite David Tennant to Smith is executed beautifully, with a tribute that efficiently recaps the Doctor's most infamous enemies and settles the hearts of those of us who are still clutching onto Tennant for dear life.



To take on a role that has existed on television since 1963, with a built-in fanbase that adores the last man who played him is no easy task, but Smith easily rises to the occasion. The Doctor has a new body, a new human companion (the grown-up Amy Pond), and a new bowtie, but he is still our Doctor. Now, we can start fresh... again.