I found the season opener disappointing. I’d been so excited for new Doctor Who, and this was such a letdown. Moffat seemed to obfuscate the plot in ways that tried to be clever, but were instead vague, confusing, and trying to be shocking. The twist on the Companions knowing something the Doctor can’t know is an amazing idea; the execution of that idea lacked here.
Okay, killing the Doctor. Killing the Doctor doesn’t work in a world where we know Matt Smith has signed up for more seasons. In a world where Doctor Who is so popular that the BBC would be nuts to cancel it.
My theory: River is the little girl in the space suit. Of course, she would’ve had to repress those memories or, better yet, be wiped of them by the Silent.
The episode had some good one liners, and Mark Sheppard was pretty entertaining. Though I’m so used to him playing a con-man of sorts that to be the honest one is kind of surprising.
I feel like Moffat likes American culture, but doesn’t really get it. I rather liked London as the center of the universe as a rule on Doctor Who. (Just like Cardiff in Torchwood and Ealing in The Sarah Jane Adventures.) Nixon wasn’t as bad as his Churchill.
The Silent are a little too X-Files for me.
I continue to love River Song and her shiny gun. Not feeling so great about the Doctor leaving Rory and Amy to breed and then Amy being pregnant. Blerg.
Sort and sweet: not enough clues and kind of boring.
Oh, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. I did not enjoy this episode at all. I’m still not convinced about Matt Smith as the Doctor, and the death seemed just shocking for the sake of it.
“The twist on the Companions knowing something the Doctor can’t know is an amazing idea; the execution of that idea lacked here.”
This sentence epitomises Doctor Who entirely for me. I want to love it, and I feel as a Brit and a sci-fi fan that I should, but the series tries too hard to be this clever, complex series, when it’s really this pulpy, kinda silly show that never outgrew its low-budget roots.
And I don’t believe for a second that Amy is pregnant. River’s starting to grow on me, though.
I’m actually quite okay with Matt Smith as the Doctor. I just greatly dislike him as a avoider of all things he should be curious about and wanting to solve. The death was completely for shock’s sake. It was like a Joss Whedon plot. Wait, did I type that?
I agree that it should embrace the pulpy roots. Which I think is one of the reasons why I love episodes like “Partners in Crime” and “The Unicorn and the Wasp” (not just because of Donna) because they are pulp stories.
Do you now take back what you said about Amy? 😉
I get the feeling that the character of the Doctor is just getting older, and thus more reluctant to actually stand and fight/answer questions. I think he knows his time is almost up.
You did just type that, yes 😛
I’m still not convinced about Amy’s pregnancy. Again, like the death, it seemed ambiguous for ambiguity’s sake.
Except is the writers/network want the show to keep on going, they’re going to need to do something that reinvigorates the Doctor. His time can’t be up with they’re still making money. 😉 I guess this is the problem when Nine had PTSD/manic depression and then Ten went to be the lonely god. And what is Eleven? The one that gave up and went on permanent vacation?