Matt Smith at Fan Expo Canada 2014

Fan Expo launched on Friday morning with a bang and an ooo eee ooo as former Doctor Who, Matt Smith took to the stage of a packed house to answer questions from fans and moderator Teddy Wilson from Inner Space.

Matt was in good spirits, coming off as incredibly charming and fun, which was almost enough to make up for Karen Gillan cancelling her appearance at the last minute, though he sent everyone her apologies that she couldn’t make it.

Matt listed The Eleventh Hour, the first episode for him and his two companions Amy and Rory as one of his favorite episodes. When pushed to list a top three Matt said The Eleventh Hour, The Pandorica Opens and Vincent and the Doctor. He then thought he should pick one not from season five so added The Impossible Astronaut.

If anyone was curious what the Doctor saw behind the door in the episode God Complex, well, Matt doesn’t have an official answer from the show, but for himself he saw what he thought might be too gruesome for kids, but “all 11 Doctors hanging and an empty spot for me”.

When asked if he took inspiration for his Doctor from the generations before him Matt said that Troughton was his favorite Doctor but he wasn’t really inspired by him and said the role “is a bit like Hamlet” wherein many actors have portrayed him but you’re not inspired by others, you bring yourself to it.

He followed this up with the scathing admission that “when I got this job I’d never seen a whole episode of Doctor Who”.

A fan who asked for a selfie with Matt but also had a TARDIS tattoo led to a hilarious story about Matt meeting a woman with a giant tattoo of his face on her shoulder, and how he felt bad for the woman’s husband who has to roll over every morning and see his face.

Another fan asked what Matt’s favorite speech or line by his Doctor was. He muttered through a few options before deciding on “Geronimo” which he liked because “Geronimo was never meant to be a catchphrase. It was just in that one episode and I started popping it onto the end of scenes”. He said Stephen Moffatt noticed and started writing it in on purpose.

Though no one asked Matt directly how he felt about the new Doctor, a fan did ask about working with Alex Kingston (River Song), to whom Matt seemed very protective, describing her as “motherly, maternal and sexy” but also noting that “If [River] appears with Capaldi I will bang the tables with my fists!”

The panel ended with some quick and easy questions. When asked what his favorite villain was Matt said the Weeping Angels, he found them creepy on-screen and off, as when they were working with them on set it wasn’t actually statues used but “the angels are dancers who are painted”.

The panel wound down with a rather sombre question regarding working with Elisabeth Sladen, who played Sarah Jane and passed away in 2011.

“She was a little like Alex, they have a spirit of youth about them,” Matt said about Sladen. “We lost not only a friend but also a great part of the Doctor Who community.”

The very last question of the day however wasn’t for Matt, as the final fan took the microphone to ask his girlfriend if she would marry him. Matt might have been more excited than anyone when it became obvious what was happening, jumping up and down and even hauling out his own phone to film the couple’s proposal.

She said yes, the crowd cheered and Matt signed their TARDIS engagement ring box, which was a perfect end to a charming and delightful panel.