Best of the Monsters

Best of the Monsters
Subject:	Opinions about the significant monsters from the Matt Smith era of Doctor Who
Broadcast on:	BBC America
Release date:	20 August 2011
Runtime:	approx. 44'
Key crew
Interviewees:	Scott Adsit, Hugh Douglas, Chris Hardwick, Danielle Harris, Alison Haislip, Scott Ian, Natalie Morales, Eugene Mirman, Amanda Palmer, Adam Rogers, Mark Sheppard, Paul F. Tompkins, Reggie Watts
Series producer:	David Tuohy
Producers:	Craig Jenest, Ben Gruber
Executive producer:	Michael Davies
BBC America Documentaries
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Best of the Monsters was an Embassy Row production that aired as one of a trio of "punditry segments" on BBC America in August 2011. It aired in the run-up to the premiere of Let's Kill Hitler, ostensibly to offer North American viewers a "memory jog" prior to recommencement of series 6.

Like all episodes of this series, it was notable for featuring exclusively North American celebrities opining on aspects of the Matt Smith era of Doctor Who.

The show was also aired on Space in Canada during the same week as the US broadcast.

Subject

Celebrities from North America discussed most episodes of Doctor Who, from The Eleventh Hour to A Good Man Goes to War, laying special emphasis on what those episodes told audiences about the monsters encountered by the Eleventh Doctor (the Silence, the Silurians, Prisoner Zero, the New Daleks, etc.).

Since this episode was broadcast prior to Let's Kill Hitler, it maintained the deliberate misdirection in The Impossible Astronaut that the Silence was a species.

People interviewed

Unusually, the only person even remotely connected to the production of Doctor Who was Mark Sheppard, BBCA's continuity announcer for Doctor Who. The "hook" of this documentary, like the others in this series, was that the interviewees were all Doctor Who fans who were professional entertainers with some success in the American market.

However, unlike other segments, this episode contained slivers of opinion from ordinary American viewers. Some attendees of the San Diego Comic Con were canvassed for their thoughts on the programme's scariest monsters. These thoughts were sprinkled throughout the episode.

Home video releases

Best of the Monsters was included on the Doctor Who: The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe DVD & Blu-ray.

It was also included on the Doctor Who: The Best of the Doctor 2005-2011, The Documentaries DVD (Region 4 only).