Rate and Review 6.1: The Impossible Astronaut

[Rob McCow]

What do you think of tonight's opening episode of the New Series?

[Rob McCow]

Well, that was a thoroughly enjoyable 45 minutes. At least it was in my book! Love the scary alien things that you forget if you look away from them. Very good make-up mixed with CGI.

It's very much half-a-story though, I've got no buggering clue what the alien space astronaut is going on!

[Alex]

Well, that's got to be the darkest season opener I've seen. I enjoyed it a lot, but something seemed slightly off about it - but I can't quite put my finger on what. Perhaps I'm more used to an upbeat fun episode, or that as the Doctor obviously isn't going to be killed off, it seems all slightly less dramatic than they're making it out to be. Still, there was a lot to enjoy in it, and I can't wait to see how it's all resolved.

[Paul Clement]

I really enjoyed that. Obviously, it's hard to really gauge a two partner story with only half having been seen, but there was a lot more to that story than you usually get in a season opener. I loved the whole idea of an alien threat that can only be remembered when looking at it, and the the creatures themselves had that great 1950's alien look to them. The episode ended with a lot of questions still to be answered and I'm looking for the resolution/answers next time.

[Larry]

first off it was nice to see the dedication to Liz, at the start of the episode and it was a really a lovely tribute to Liz,over on CBBC that got me feeling all emotional -

as for the episode a pretty solid 8/10, - as for the Doctor's death it all seemed a bit 7th Doctorish with him sending himself an invite but I guess having seen it now it all pretty obvious. The aliens looked great and Matt and Karen were again on top form. As for Amy's pregnancy there is I think more to it then we think.

[FlyingBeastie]

Finally! I can talk about it!

Well, the first part anyway

It's a great start, I really loved it- it was exciting and mysterious and funny in all the right places and River was great, not at all grating like she's been in the past.

The Silence had a great design, Badger (I still call him Badger from Firefly) is all badass and awesome-


AAAAAAAAND then the second part happened...




You'll see soon enough, it all collapses like a flan in a cupboard.

Also, there really was no reason for The Silence to have killed Joy. Really. None. I mean, I know everyone's been badgering Moffat that his run has been pretty bloodless, but at the same time you just can't have people get pecked off for no real reason. Amy had a point.

I'm also quite over that particular device Moffat has in his stories where you have an alien you have to stare at in order to not have something bad happen.

There's also no reason for The Silence to be wearing suits. None. Apart from "It looks cool" there's no reason related to the plot or anything for that matter for them to wear suits.

At first I thought it was going to be like Wes Craven's "They Live", where it turns out they're actually among people, disguised as humans, or something- but nope.


But, recalling how I felt at the premiere after the first part ended, I gave this episode a 9/10

ALSO

The opening shot for this episode was very, extremely out of character for Eleven- that scene would've been more suited for Ten.

[duncan]

8/10 from me. That was twenty times better than any episode from series 5.

[Larry]

just on the dedication to Liz, I'm a little dissapointed that it was not a dedication to Nick, aswell.

[J.R. Southall]

Amy/Karen - vast improvement. That was the good stuff.

But the bad stuff ...

Mind you, I don't really like to make up my mind until a second viewing and a Part Two, but what were we supposed to make of it? The usual form in setting up a mystery is to at least indicate that all the different constituents of the mystery are at least a part of the same mystery. But here ... Steven Moffat's spinning POTUS, that Astronaut, River's reappearance (and relevance), the Silents, that second "TARDIS", and most of all, the "future" Doctor's "death" - and none of them seem to be remotely from the same story as one another.

All the questions that you usually get halfway through a mystery seem irrelevant, in the face of more nagging questions like: why would a little girl be in an astronaut's suit in 1969? (Is it just because Steven Moffat thought it would look cool?) Why is it set in the USA at all? (Is it just because Steven Moffat thought it would look cool?) Why did they take the Yank in the TARDIS with them? How in the trail does the Doctor have time to grow a beard? Why does the little girl phone the President? Why does the Silent kill Joy? - And not Amy? How do the Silents function? Why do the Silents function? And so on and so forth ...

I'm not sure these are supposed to be the questions I'm asking...

[Rob McCow]

Basically, your main question JR appears to be - what happens next week?!?! Which might not be such a bad thing?

[J.R. Southall]

Basically, your main question JR appears to be - what happens next week?!?! Which might not be such a bad thing?

Yeah, except ... it doesn't look to me like a lot of the questions I posed will have answers. They just don't seem to fit together.

Like Jon just said - lots of "cool ideas" in search of a coherent reason to be in a story with one another.

[Andrew Curnow]

I agree with what Jon & JR have said, and with what Si said about Logopolis!!

I like a season opener to remind me why I love Doctor Who so much, which this one didn't - but I'm going to reserve judgement until we've seen part 2.

[Lissa]

It felt too much like "The Best of Steven Moffat" and not enough like a good story. Concept alien (check), spooky wandering thing with a something inside (check), wibbly (check), wobbly (check), timey (check), wimey (check), River being mysterious (check), promises about finding something out for real this time (check), sauciness (check), etc.

It wasn't that any of this was bad - because it wasn't - it's just that it didn't feel fresh. Had this been a 90 minute episode then it would've felt new and different because the elements would've been the same but the pacing would've been different.

And my entirely uninformed guess is that the thing that kills the Doctor is the Doctor himself from a better time line.

I wanted to feel the same way I felt after the Eleventh Hour but instead I feel like I did after the Christmas one - that was a clever piece of television that is probably very good but it didn't excite me. And I know you can excite me.

[Dino]

Despite being annoyed by the Amy/Rory/River family in the last series, it was an unexpected and more dramatic plot line for them.
I voted 10. Better alien than Gasmasks and nanos. Great opening sequence.
I was on a course of meds last series, and despite catching up and seeing the last series didn't really do much for me, I'm back in the game with this one.
Loved the cliffhanger. It wasn't The Doctor getting strangled, dangling from his umbrella, being drowned or even being shot by UNIT, but it was one of the bigger pieces of the jigsaw. It reminded me a lot of the cliffhangers you saw for Heroes or even the odd ending of Law & Order I caught.
And at least it wasn't a ST:TNG reveal and DA DA DA DAAA music!

I know... I know... wait until episode two! But I don't care. Didn't the advert say he'd fall further than he'd ever fallen? This episode was a good peak.
It isn't the episode to bring the show back in '05, but as BBC cut stuff despite paying outrageous salaries to board members and advisers, they should keep making this show.

Suddenly, I have the greatest ever feeling for Doctor Who!
This episode has made me born again!

[Darren]

9 out of 10

Probably one of the darkest most gripping episodes of New Who so far. And thoroughly enjoyable. Matt Smith is well and truly ensconsed in the role leaving me breathless just watching him. Amy and River are far less annoying and developing well.
The Silents (Silence?) are extremely effective and genuinely one of the scariest monsters I've seen (very X Files) and their defence mechanism is good.
I adored the scenes in the Oval Office where the Doctor met the President.


People are asking a lot of questiions about events in the episode and how there are a lot of threads which don't make sense or seem connected. I think this is down to the writing and the new production team in place since last year. We have been given a multi- layered story by SM writing with (no offence to RTD) a greater intelligence or if you like depth. A greater emphasis on story rather than spectacle maybe. More Spielberg than Lucas. I know some people will disagree as they aren't as keen on Moffat. It is just the different style they have as producers.
I am flummoxed by the Doctor's apparant death and the various strands and if viewers don't know or guess whats coming that's all good. I find it all the more challenging and intriguing.

Flying Beastie says it all falls flat next week. I do hope not.

[SiHart]

Very intriguing- i have lots of questions that need answers now...

For the moment I just want to point out that I noticed that the Doctor's body language just before he was shot by the astronaut was EXACTLY the same as when the Doctor met the Watcher on Albert Bridge in Logopolis.

[Jon Masters]

Not going to say too much now in the hope that it goes somewhere in the second half, but at the moment its a pretty big Meh in that we seem to have had 45 minutes of cool things to look at, rather than any real signs of a story.....

[The456]

I liked this a lot, much better than prisoner zero and the awful Christmas episode. Infact I'll erase the last series and say this is where Matt Smith becomes Dr Who, I think the Song/Dr relationship is more edgier/sexier than with Tennant. Haven't got a clue who or what the astronaut is but seeing young girls trapped reminds me of Silence In The Library, that was a brilliant story but I don't think it needs doing again ? Amy is pregnant, her daughter is Professor Song and Song is the person in the spacesuit that kills the doctor. If 2 out of those 3 things are correct, "you lot bloody owe me"

[The456]

Just something else, as Song was firing her fake bullets at the astronaut (obviously coming from another planet where despite being incarcerated you can come and go as you please, so you'd go out of your way to acquire a revolver) She did mouth something like "of course not" on giving up shooting, like she "knew" something !!

[The456]

And of course the Dr did ask her "why was she in prison" and "WHO did she kill" ?!?!?!

[FlyingBeastie]

Apart from the review of Eleventh Hour, The456 is on to something :-)

Unfortunately, much of what Moffat's up to is pretty... predictable.

At least with RTD I always felt he was one step ahead of us or hid the best away. I mean, who would've thunk that Wilf would be the one knocking away four times? I mean, as it was happening, I totally forgot about Wilf and when the realization came over me I was like, "Ooooohhh... RTD you brilliant sunnavah gun!"

With Moffat last season, I already knew the Pandorica was gonna be a prison either holding a future doctor or in which all of the monsters would throw him in.

The only thing I wasn't expecting was that we wouldn't have a big bad- I was sincerely hoping everything was gonna get explained and we'd have someone to answer for the exploding TARDIS and all that hullabaloo.

But no.

That's the only surprise I got last season.


BY THE WAY:

Is it just me, or is The Doctor's bowtie color a bit off?

In the diner, it's a sort of sky blue, but when they're outside it's a deep mauve along with his braces...

[J.R. Southall]

Here's one question: who sent the invitations?

[J.R. Southall]

... and okay, Amy's feeling sick because she's pregnant. Is River therefore pregnant too?

[Larry]

oh by the way I don't like the Doctor's new jacket.

[Rob McCow]

Didn't they make it clear that the future Doctor had sent the invitations?

Also, I think the 'sickness' was more to do with the grey aliens in suits.

One thing I really liked was the portrayal of Richard Nixon and the Oval Office. I thought it was far better than the exaggerated Winston Churchill of last year. It seemed a lot easier to believe in the character in last night's episode, whereas with Churchill it was a good performance and an engaging character, but it wasn't quite right.

And Nixon was a sensible, restrained performance too, where it would have been all too easy to go over the top.