Well Doctor Who’s back then huh! After a sad week we ended it on a brighter note with the first two-parter to open a series since the show return in 2005, its also the first time that the show has filmed in America. I don’t count the TV Movie as it was filmed in Canada. The story sees the Doctor meet up with Amy, Rory and River in America in 1969 where soon after arriving the Doctor gets killed mid-regeneration. We were promised that someone would die within 20 minutes and we weren’t disappointed with the Doctor being the one that kops it. There was a certain amount of shock and when I watched this with my friends one was particularly delighted but that delight was short lived when he came out into the diner totally oblivious of what River, Amy and Rory have just witnessed. I did enjoy how he was totally dumbfounded as to why they were shocked and River calling him ‘cold’.
The story then moves on to the White House which after watching Doctor Who Confidential afterwards and it was a set that they built from scratch and it totally fooled me because its one that I thought had been used by another TV show. We meet President Richard Nixon who I cant see without thinking of his Head in a Jar bit in Futurama. I don’t think that they got the look exactly right but the voice was just about there and it was enough to believe that this was Nixon that we were seeing. Milligan (previously seen in Jonathan Creek) played the President as someone terrorised by a young girl. His role was a lot less involved than I was expecting but it may be addressed in part two. Mark Sheppard was arguably the best of the supporting cast as Canton Everett Delaware III, the 1969 version. Having seen him previously in the Battlestar: Galattica series. His reaction to being in the TARDIS and coming out of it was played brilliantly.
The Silence are possibly the best monsters that have been created since 2005. The Weaping Angels are good but they are beaten by the Silence in terms of terror. There were moments when things were dark and you then see them that it adds to the scary factor. The look of them is scary and also the fact that they are in a suit does something. It was very clever to give them the option and wiping someone’s memory the moment they turn away.
All the main cast are on fine form. Especially Karen Gillan who put in a superb performance in the moments when the Doctor had been killed. Yet again she is the one that the story seems to float around. She announced that she’s pregnant and this must have some importance in either this story or series. I thought that Matt Smith was on fine form again and has really got a handle on the role. Alex Kingston is also very good and River is a interesting character who’s story needs to be resolved soon. One of the things I don’t understand is how River ended back in the prison and more importantly, how was she able to get out of prison so quickly. Arthur Darvill performance is just like it usually is and that is understated. I quite like Rory and think that it was an unexpected bonus of the first season.
As a cliffhanger it was typically Moffat because it seemed to lack a certain bit of drama but ended with a question. Such as who was the girl in the astronaut. It’s always difficult to give a proper review of a story when we haven’t seen the other half but this story bodes well for the next episode. As for the theory about River Song, I wont mention it to until its revealed but it’s a clever one. As season openers, The Impossible Astronaut is the better than The Eleventh Hour and its also the best opener since it returned. I just hope the rest of this half of the season will match it.
The story then moves on to the White House which after watching Doctor Who Confidential afterwards and it was a set that they built from scratch and it totally fooled me because its one that I thought had been used by another TV show. We meet President Richard Nixon who I cant see without thinking of his Head in a Jar bit in Futurama. I don’t think that they got the look exactly right but the voice was just about there and it was enough to believe that this was Nixon that we were seeing. Milligan (previously seen in Jonathan Creek) played the President as someone terrorised by a young girl. His role was a lot less involved than I was expecting but it may be addressed in part two. Mark Sheppard was arguably the best of the supporting cast as Canton Everett Delaware III, the 1969 version. Having seen him previously in the Battlestar: Galattica series. His reaction to being in the TARDIS and coming out of it was played brilliantly.
The Silence are possibly the best monsters that have been created since 2005. The Weaping Angels are good but they are beaten by the Silence in terms of terror. There were moments when things were dark and you then see them that it adds to the scary factor. The look of them is scary and also the fact that they are in a suit does something. It was very clever to give them the option and wiping someone’s memory the moment they turn away.
All the main cast are on fine form. Especially Karen Gillan who put in a superb performance in the moments when the Doctor had been killed. Yet again she is the one that the story seems to float around. She announced that she’s pregnant and this must have some importance in either this story or series. I thought that Matt Smith was on fine form again and has really got a handle on the role. Alex Kingston is also very good and River is a interesting character who’s story needs to be resolved soon. One of the things I don’t understand is how River ended back in the prison and more importantly, how was she able to get out of prison so quickly. Arthur Darvill performance is just like it usually is and that is understated. I quite like Rory and think that it was an unexpected bonus of the first season.
As a cliffhanger it was typically Moffat because it seemed to lack a certain bit of drama but ended with a question. Such as who was the girl in the astronaut. It’s always difficult to give a proper review of a story when we haven’t seen the other half but this story bodes well for the next episode. As for the theory about River Song, I wont mention it to until its revealed but it’s a clever one. As season openers, The Impossible Astronaut is the better than The Eleventh Hour and its also the best opener since it returned. I just hope the rest of this half of the season will match it.
No comments:
Post a Comment