Rate and Review 6.1: The Impossible Astronaut

[Dr Judson]

An episode with plenty of humour (too many examples to mention) and chills (particularly the toilet scene) and some rather dark turns (the Future Doctor's death scene and the cliffhanger being the most shocking in my mind). Several questions came to my mind after watching this episode such as: why are the Silence and the Lodger TARDIS there, why was the little girl inside the space suit, who was inside the space suit at the lake and why did the astronaut kill the Future Doctor? I'm looking forward to finding out next week (and in future episodes of this series if need be). Excellent performances from all the main players (especially the 'my life in your hands, Amelia Pond' scene) and Canton and Nixon as well. This was a very different and interesting take on a Doctor Who series opener, and given the quality of this episode, I am immensely looking forward to the conclusion of this story as well as all the other episodes in this series (though I'm not sure how I'm going to be when the mid-series gap comes around). Matt Smith's era is going from strength to strength for me. 10/10 from me!

[Perry Vale]

...and why did the astronaut kill the Future Doctor?

I'm guessing this will be the easiest question to answer....because the future Doctor told it to. To fulfill what he'd been told happens by Amy/Rory/River after they'd seen it. Wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey, Moffat's done that one before.

Or maybe not.

why are the Silence and the Lodger TARDIS there

I was really excited to see the ship from the Lodger, I'd guessed it would be back this year, but like you was surprised to see it so soon - and in this story.

I can't recall too much discussion about the Lodger ship at the time, but one thing which I've been pondering since the weekend is just how significant it might be that it has four control banks/panels.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Amy shoots at the astronaut, which is not threatening to shoot her at the time she does. That is "cold blood". And a lot of children will have missed the next time trailer as they'll have been busy tuning into the CBBC channel at the time. And if, as you contend, five and six-year-olds are quite capable of keeping up with all the ins and outs of the plot as it appeared on screen (and I know I wouldn't have been at that age), then we have the even worse image of an apparent seven/eight-year-old shooting an adult dead earlier in the story - and worse than that, that adult then appears alive and well five minutes later, showing that there's no consequence to such an action.

Small children generally watch television in terms of the images presented rather than the subtleties of meticulous plotting (read the report on Image of the Fendahl, and DWM's own feature on Terror of the Zygons), and the image presented at the very end of the episode was of a pregnant woman shooting a child. That really is what we saw (or appeared to see) right at the very end there.

You're being a bit self-contradictory here. On the one hand you're saying children take things in on an image-based basis rather than a plot-based basis. But the two exapmples you give (a child chooting a man dead, and a pregnant woman shooting a child) are both ones that you need to be following the plot for to even "see". Amy isn't obviously physically pregnant any more than the space suit obviously contained a child when it shot the Doctor. And in any case, I don't really see how being pregnant makes the fact that Amy shot at a child any more shocking or less "appropriate" (whatever that means in this context).

[J.R. Southall]

Hence "If, as you contend"...

And no, it doesn't really make a lot of difference that she's pregnant. How about: "an adult, shooting a child"?

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I don't really like the whole argument to be honest, because if you start ranking different sorts of people shooting other sorts of people into order of appropriateness then you end up implying that some forms of shooting aren't all that bad. It's a fictitious drama, so looked at in that light I think anyone shooting anyone else is fair game in terms of taste, as it's more about why they do it, what the consequences are etc (and whether you see the intestines spilling out pre-watershed of course).

[Rob McCow]

The production team are generally very good with guns. It's so rare in Doctor Who for the companions or the Doctor to shoot anyone. It's made out to be a big thing in The End of Time when the Doctor is about to shoot the Master, or Rassilon, or whatever.

I don't think the scene at the end of The Impossible Astronaut was casual, or misplayed, in the way that guns on TV often are.

[Terry Leptil]

I agree abut the dedication also - they should have included Nick too. (When Only Fools and Horses came back in 2001 for Sleepless in Peckham, they dedicated the episode to Buster Merryfield and Kenneth MacDonald. Surely, The Impossible Astronaut could have been dedicated to Sladen and Courtney.)

[Antony Cox]

I really enjoyed this episode.

New Series season openers are usually light-hearted fun but this got straight on with dishing out the drama.

I thought the alien thingy was bloody scary even to me, it must have frightened all the kids watching out of their skins!

Matt Smith is just sublime as the Doctor. I think I've got over my 'he's too young' issue now beceuse he's so amazing in the role, just brilliant.

Roll on Saturday.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

I thought the alien thingy was bloody scary even to me, it must have frightened all the kids watching out of their skins!

Me too. I think the way they kind of moved and peered at people was creepy too!

I also really enjoyed this episode. I've said it before but I so much prefer the two parters. I love the cliffhanger - for what seems like a long time, you actually got a good cliffhanger and you could hear the scream of the end titles crashing in like in the old days. Too many of the new series ones either have strange cliff-hangers or the title music kind of whimpers in.
Bravo for 'new who' that reminds me of 'old who'.

Also as always, top marks for Matt Smith who is simply brilliant!

"It's a Police Box; can't you read?"

[debz1941]

dark dark dark,,, brilliant

[Darren]

This has been posted on DS. Who is standing next to the hut?


http://api.viglink.com/api/click?for...0119h42m24.png

[Si Hunt]

A props man?

Si.

[J.R. Southall]

Perhaps it's not a person, but a "thing" (something to do with the hut itself), or maybe it's just a member of the production personnel hiding unsuccessfully (like the guy behind the car in the beach scene in Doomsday). Either way, I really don't think it's anything important!

[Leah Betts]

American politician names are weird. "I have to consult Senator Goldwater" sounds like something Nixon would say when he needs to take a pee.

[Stuart Wallis]

And when the Bible warned us of the Last Trump, we never thought to take him so literally, or so soon!