Review

On the 1st of January man Who fans mourned the loss of the Tenth Doctor (Mr Dacid Tennant) and were saddened by the leaving of Russell T. Davis, most of us belived that no one would ever be able to fill their shoes, and on April 3rd... We were proven right, because on that day 2 new men ( an old hand and a fresh face) walked into town, wearing their own set of shoes, while the old shoes were left behind (... I don't think this analogy is working to well any more), and one thing is for certain, nothing will ever be the same

THE OLD HAND

Using all the brilliant episodes of DW written by Mr Moffat that have come before, I still didn't know what to expect. Could he make an episode that was quick witted and interesting, and still maintain that slightly dark adult edge he'd always given us before? Well the doctor has just regenerated, the TARDIS is rebuilding its self, the Sonic Screwdriver is broken and there is a shape-shifting alien prisoner on the loose... Oh and the world is going to be incinerated in 20 minutes, did I mention that the companion has gone through 12 years of therapy because of the doctor? I loved this episode it had the perfect mix of introdution and story, while we still learnt so much about this new doctor and who all our new characters are, but at the same time we got an interesting story with real enemies and pace. If we can consider this a view as to what is to come, I must say that I'm quite happy.

THE FRESH FACE

Now I know I may have rambled on the teeniest tinyest bit about shoes before, but now I'll explain what I mean, DT left a large shadow that many people though (yes, your reverant blogger included) Matt Smith would only get lost in. But we never even looked at him as the guiy who is replacing David, he was very much his own man, while he's still the mad brilliant Doctor we know and love, he brings just brings an energy to the doctor that gives it a new and different life (I particularilly enjoyed the Custrad fish fingers and how Amy bested him quite a few times). I look forward to seeing what else we learn about this new (Nothing like DT) doctor.


Kiss'O'Gram

So what about miss Pond? Looking at the most reccent set of comanions, everyone has been reliant on the Doctor, and while he may let them down for a moment, he is always quickly back to make things right. But for Amelia Pond, he has always let her down; because of him she was subjected to 12 years of therapy and a futher 2 years of anxiety when he skipped off again. So why did she go with him? He can't really be trusted and you're getting married tomorrow. But he is the man she has dreamed of/ imagined for most of her life. So while I remain unsure of how this thing will develop, I'm sure it'll be interesting to watch.




So How was...

           The Story

Cosidering the standard set by RD in the way season openers, this exceeded what I expected, I will admit that it didn't quite have the enemy element of 'Rose" or 'The Christmas Invasion', but it did come across as a mush smarter episode. I also liked the character intorductions, we learnt about the doctor and amy, through their interactions which were generally quite interesting. Another aspect which I did enjoy, and can see becoming a staple of this doctor, was the back-track view, where we searched Rory and Prisoner 0's human form. It was this use of new technology along side the nods to clasic Who that really sold me.

The Sceondary Characters

The secondary character development in this was quite good, while I would say we didn't see the usual range of colourful characters that Moffat's Who episodes have given us, this story had to be more focused on the Doctor and Amy, so it would be hard to introduce more characters. That being said, I did like his introduction of Rory, I found Rory to be very real, noticing the world around him before the doctor even arrives, he isn't like some characters (first season Micky for example) who only seem to do things in relation to what either the doctor has told them to do, or that the doctor is doing.

Alien of the week

Prisoner 0, during the first half an hour I was not impressed by this snarly growly creature, he just seemed to run around anc hase things, no thought at all. However when at the end he started talking and practically taunting the doctor, as thought he knows him, or is part of something bigger, like say... I don't know... THE  PANDORICA!!! More on this to come 

The other aliens were the Atraxi... I wasn't a big fan of these guys either, they were necessarilly big eyes in snowflake style ships, that look an awful lot like the ones piloted by the empress of the Raknos. For me I would ahve been just as happy if the Judoon had been used, but then again I guess we would have lost the bit at the end where Matt Smith steps through the images of the doctor, which was quite awsome

NEXT TIME...

So what are we up to next week and what could be coming back? Well to address the later question, Prisoner 0 alluded to the Pandorica and silence, now there have been rumours that the Pandorica would be in the finale, so lets assume those confimred, but how does 0 know about it?? I'm not too sure wether this is the last we'll see of 0 (remeber because it took the doctor 2 years to come back with the Tarids 0 could have escaped, been shot, had kids settled down, we just have to remember that stuff could have happened). Now to the next episode, well we have London in space and wierd Smilers in some sort of red room. So thus far it looks good :).

Rating: 7/10