After all the hype and waiting. We finally get a Doctor Who series and also our first proper look at the Eleventh Doctor. A lot has been made of Matt Smith’s age, outfit, hair and everything else but now we get to see what his version of the Doctor is like compared to previous Doctors’. We also get to finally meet Amy Pond and also perhaps just as importantly what the TARDIS interior will be like. Never before has Doctor Who undergone such as radical revamp since the show started in 2005, perhaps this revamp is comparable to the 1980 revamp under the John Nathan Turner era. Hopefully this new revamp will be more successful. The story takes place almost immediately after the End of Time which saw the TARDIS get wrecked.
The scene between the Doctor and young Amy was very funny with him trying different types of food and not liking any of them. Best bits were when the Doctor said “Your Scottish, Fry Something”. Don’t know how that will endear him to Scottish viewers. Another funny bit was when the Doctor flung the plate of toast out of the house. His final choice of food would have made chef Heston Blumenthal proud, Fish Fingers and Custard. I’m a fan of both but not together Matt! But this summarises what we can expect from the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat era is a mix of humour and drama with the balance tipped in drama’s favour.
The ‘B-Plot’ of the story is that the Doctor crash lands at a young Amy’s house (where her granny is away). He finds that there is a crack in Amy’s room and on the other side of the wall is a prison and it announces that Prisoner Zero has escaped. Prisoner Zero has escaped into Amy’s house that can only be seen in the corner of the eye. When the Doctor arrives back at the same house its 12 years later and Amy is now a Kiss-o-gram who in this story is dressed as a policewoman and for a while thinks the Doctor to be a burglar and pretends to be a policewoman. It does beg the question “How come if she had done all the drawings, does she not recognise the Doctor when he is wearing exactly the same clothes?”
The thing that surprised me was how good Matt Smith was like. I instantly liked him and found his Doctor to be a toned down version of Tennant’s Doctor which is a compliment. I think that the Doctor is someone who can do comedy and drama in a way which is believable and Smith does this brilliantly. The comedy wasn’t over the top but was needed at times. I also found Karen Gillan to be very good as well as Amy. She is like Martha in terms that she doesn’t go gooey eyed over the Doctor and does stand up to him at moments, not many companions would hit the Doctor with a cricket bat (despite Tegan maybe wanting to). I think that as the series goes on she will be a brilliant companion as possibly the best of the new series. There was a surprising moment when Patrick Moore makes a guest appearance. That wasn’t expected and instantly made that scene seem different. There was also Nina Wadia (Eastenders) and also Annette Crosbie (One Foot in the Grave) who both give very understated but equally enjoyable performances.
I thought the best moment in the entire episode was when the Atraxi was looking at flashbacks of all the monsters that the Doctors have faced and then for only the second time since the show returned in 2005 we had all the Doctors appear and then Smith walks through the screen and proclaims “I’m the Doctor!”. I don’t know whether they will be making a return to the show after that brief glimpse on the screen in the TARDIS where there was a line that seemed to match the crack in Amy’s room.
There were things that I didn’t like so much. I don’t like the theme tune, it may grow on me but on first listen I couldn’t really believe it was a Doctor Who theme. In every version of the theme tune the essence of the tune is always there. Not in this one however but as I say it may grow on me in a few more listens and a few more stories. Another thing was the Atraxi’s spaceship. It just looked cheap and I instantly disliked it. As much as I try not to compare Doctors’. I find myself thinking that his Doctor is good. You can’t really make a proper judgement based on one appearance. But on first impressions we have a Doctor who is very different to Tennant’s Doctor and fresh.
We might have to warm up the phrase ‘David Who?’
The scene between the Doctor and young Amy was very funny with him trying different types of food and not liking any of them. Best bits were when the Doctor said “Your Scottish, Fry Something”. Don’t know how that will endear him to Scottish viewers. Another funny bit was when the Doctor flung the plate of toast out of the house. His final choice of food would have made chef Heston Blumenthal proud, Fish Fingers and Custard. I’m a fan of both but not together Matt! But this summarises what we can expect from the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat era is a mix of humour and drama with the balance tipped in drama’s favour.
The ‘B-Plot’ of the story is that the Doctor crash lands at a young Amy’s house (where her granny is away). He finds that there is a crack in Amy’s room and on the other side of the wall is a prison and it announces that Prisoner Zero has escaped. Prisoner Zero has escaped into Amy’s house that can only be seen in the corner of the eye. When the Doctor arrives back at the same house its 12 years later and Amy is now a Kiss-o-gram who in this story is dressed as a policewoman and for a while thinks the Doctor to be a burglar and pretends to be a policewoman. It does beg the question “How come if she had done all the drawings, does she not recognise the Doctor when he is wearing exactly the same clothes?”
The thing that surprised me was how good Matt Smith was like. I instantly liked him and found his Doctor to be a toned down version of Tennant’s Doctor which is a compliment. I think that the Doctor is someone who can do comedy and drama in a way which is believable and Smith does this brilliantly. The comedy wasn’t over the top but was needed at times. I also found Karen Gillan to be very good as well as Amy. She is like Martha in terms that she doesn’t go gooey eyed over the Doctor and does stand up to him at moments, not many companions would hit the Doctor with a cricket bat (despite Tegan maybe wanting to). I think that as the series goes on she will be a brilliant companion as possibly the best of the new series. There was a surprising moment when Patrick Moore makes a guest appearance. That wasn’t expected and instantly made that scene seem different. There was also Nina Wadia (Eastenders) and also Annette Crosbie (One Foot in the Grave) who both give very understated but equally enjoyable performances.
I thought the best moment in the entire episode was when the Atraxi was looking at flashbacks of all the monsters that the Doctors have faced and then for only the second time since the show returned in 2005 we had all the Doctors appear and then Smith walks through the screen and proclaims “I’m the Doctor!”. I don’t know whether they will be making a return to the show after that brief glimpse on the screen in the TARDIS where there was a line that seemed to match the crack in Amy’s room.
There were things that I didn’t like so much. I don’t like the theme tune, it may grow on me but on first listen I couldn’t really believe it was a Doctor Who theme. In every version of the theme tune the essence of the tune is always there. Not in this one however but as I say it may grow on me in a few more listens and a few more stories. Another thing was the Atraxi’s spaceship. It just looked cheap and I instantly disliked it. As much as I try not to compare Doctors’. I find myself thinking that his Doctor is good. You can’t really make a proper judgement based on one appearance. But on first impressions we have a Doctor who is very different to Tennant’s Doctor and fresh.
We might have to warm up the phrase ‘David Who?’
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