Doctor Who Returns!

[Dave]

That's right, one of the biggest staples of British TV has returned to our screens tonight. Something I did notice tonight was that it was a co-production between BBC Wales and BBC America. So I am wondering if it was a simulcast between the UK and the US tonight? That’s one thing that I was wondering.

Nevertheless, Doctor Who has returned and was back in fine form. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan return to our screens after. What I would call, an extended absence from TV. It annoyed me that it was off our screens for so long and I must admit that their seemed to be an air of unfamiliarity about tonight's episode. It could be that I had not seen it in a long time but it just seemed awkward and strange for periods of time at the beginning of the episode. That being said, by the end, I was fully back on board with The Doctor and his travels around the world in his little blue box.

Tonight's episode annoyed me for one other reason, it was a two parter! Seriously, you come back from an extended leave and you hit us with a two part episode to lead off of the bat. Yes, it might mean a better use of suspense but these kind of things annoy me. It doesn't so much when it is coming to the end of the series but this just rubbed me the wrong way. That being said, it could mean that more people are going to get involved and come back for more. Might be a smart move on the part of the writers.

The plot for tonight was pretty good and I always like when River is included. Mainly due to the fact that overlap seems to happen and I always appreciate when those things make sense and come full circle. Still, there was a lot in tonight's episode including the stunning announcement from Amy and River's monologue. I don't want to spoilt it for anyone but this is definitely an episode you should be trying to catch.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I liked it. I've been behind Moffat as the head writer and I've enjoyed him for the most part. I'm not a huge fan of the River Song character. I like the concept of the character, but the way Moffat writes her seems to take the focus off of the story at hand (which in this case is exceptionally important) and it all goes onto her and the mystery surrounding her. That being said, from what I understand we find out a lot more about her this series which should help a great deal.

In terms of setting I liked the idea of going to the US and even going to the White House (or a set in Cardiff as it really is) in the story. We got some iconic features last series when they went to the Blitz and Stonehenge so it was cool to see something outside of Britain. The surprise at the start was...okay. The biggest problem I have with it is how obvious it is that this will be resolved in part two, which is also a problem with the idea of starting off with a two parter. The villains were freaking creepy. They added what I think was a Predator soundbite to them and it just added to the freakiness. Small children were no doubt hiding behind their sofas.

Overall I felt it was a solid start to the new series, but would've preferred something a little less heavy with more humour. 7/10.

 

[кαяℓ [zα¢к ρα¢к мємв]

I have been waiting AGES for Doctor Who to return and I was not disappointed by the episode. However, I think this would be better for the end of the series because what happened at the start may have been more of a believable storyline had it been at the end of the series.

The fact that River Song is back again is good because I always love her and The Doctor together. I think that it is going to be this Season that we finally found out who River Song is. The amount of hints that were dropped in the first episode made it quite obvious.

I like the new villain but they are a bit mysterious. With Doctor Who being for Children I do feel that they may lose those viewers. However, I found that the first episode of the new series was very enjoyable and the wait made it all the more better. I can't wait for the next episode and would give the show itself 8/10.

 

[Dave]

Here's the thing and I have no idea how prevalent an idea this was in the head of the writers of the show. This was a joint venture between BBC Wales and BBC America, as I pointed out. Now, I am not trying to say that BBC Wales were under any sort of pressure from the American cousins to start the series with an American familiarity to get the Ynaks on board with the show but that is what it seemed like. The only criticisms of last night's show that I have heard with any real merit is that it was a poor way to start off the series. When I was talking to my brother about the episode last night, I said the exact same thing. A cliffhanger ending is not good for the first episode and this one just seemed as though it should have been further along in the time-line.

With that being said, it was still a very enjoyable episode that managed to get me hooked within 20 minutes. Looking back on it now, it was engrossing from the start and it is good to see that we are actually making some progress towards a climax with the Doctor. We wont ever reach that climax but it is good to see that it is heading somewhere and the road will end at some point. I honestly wish I could say the same for How I Met Your Mother but alas, no such progress is being made.

The alien species, I should say, was really nice last night. Not only did I think it made a difference from Cybermen and Daleks, they were actually very creepy. I definitely see some influence from The Scream painting in their facial features and that is pretty horrifying to say the least. Honestly, I though it was a good episode but it will come under a little bit of scrutiny. The BBC is reporting that it was the least-viewed Doctor Who premier since the reboot in 2005. That doesn't damn Matt Smith because he is a fine doctor and they still had a 35% market share. Still, I think some criticism will come it's way and perhaps rightly so.

 

[кαяℓ [zα¢к ρα¢к мємв]

I'm not being bad but I didn't really see why the White House was used. It could have been anywhere and it was just thrown out there?

 

[Dave]

I'm not being bad but I didn't really see why the White House was used. It could have been anywhere and it was just thrown out there?

Well, to be fair, it will all start to come together in the next episode. I am trying hard not to judge this episode based on only it's own merit because there is still 40 minutes worth of TV to come before the story is finished. The White House aspect may be better utilized in the next episode and for that reason, it would be wrong of me to condemn it's use right now. However, that being said, it doesn't make an awful lot of sense right now. The Presidential aspect of it doesn't really add anything to it either.

However, it could come down to the pandering to the allusive American audience. I think Doctor Who is one of the shows that generally does have some crossover appeal to the American masses and it could be as simple as making them feel at home with the show. I hope that is not what it is because Doctor Who has always been a quality show that can stand on it's own two feet with just British viewership. I guess we will find out more next week.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Moffat said he wanted to start it off in the US because he was asked what was the one thing he thought he couldn't do and that was to start in the US in the 1960's, so I guess that was a decision of his along with the other two executive producers. I also thought there was a lot less of an attempt to promote this season of Dr. Who. I see the same advert for the show once a day, if that. Back in 2005 and last year even, there were adverts all over the TV, the radio etc... There just seemed to be a lack of that this time round.

 

[Dave]

Moffat said he wanted to start it off in the US because he was asked what was the one thing he thought he couldn't do and that was to start in the US in the 1960's, so I guess that was a decision of his along with the other two executive producers. I also thought there was a lot less of an attempt to promote this season of Dr. Who. I see the same advert for the show once a day, if that. Back in 2005 and last year even, there were adverts all over the TV, the radio etc... There just seemed to be a lack of that this time round.

Oh really? He said that? The problem solved.

As for the advertising, I think you have it absolutely right. The fact of the matter is that most advertising it has received is because of the death of Elisabeth Sladen and that cannot be allowed to stand. Honestly, I barely heard anything about the new series and as a fan, I am generally more invested than the causal viewer. I had to actually seek out the start date and that cannot be good for business, surely?

I think that there was definitely a lack of advertising. What is interesting though, is that Matt Smith's debut as the Doctor was the highest rated premier in the shows rebooted history. I know this might be a strange point to make but let us also remember that is was firstly a beautiful day in the UK yesterday. I didn't watch it live because I was out at the pub enjoying a cold pint in the beer garden as the sun shone down on us. Secondly, it is Easter weekend and a lot of people have pretty big plans over this weekend. To me, there is definite reasons for why it perhaps didn't do as well as expected.

 

[кαяℓ [zα¢к ρα¢к мємв]

Thanks for clearing the whole White House thing up. I have also felt that Doctor Who has been the best British based show but I guess it could make it better for it to be set in America and Britain this season. I guess we won't know until we try it.

 

[Phoenix]

Well Classic Doctor Who has jumped to different countries, not just the UK, but there was more emphasis for re-launch to have UK focus and the audience has heavily picked up in America, seriously, I have a lot of American friends who love Doctor Who and this episode did show in the US, just 8 hours later, so there was an awareness, even in the US about two/three weeks ago they had a première in New York which screened both episodes of the two parter and a lot came out of it. Just to clear that matter.

Now onto to the episode itself, it has truly got me back into the series, filling the void of the gap, now where criticism of it being a two-parter occurs, don't forget that again Classic Who had story arcs that took place over 4-6 parts, so this is a throwback to that style, but the story really does work as opener. Fact is, it already takes the show to dark place and shows that no-one is safe for this serious, if they were willing to do what they did in first 20 minutes, you know that no character is safe from now to the end of the season, and that's what I love about Moffat, he takes the Old Who approach of that anyone could get hurt which RTD didn't keep so it was more family friendly.

The setting of the episode was great and the intensity was up to the max, the antagonist (called The Silence) are a great new villain and a nice concept about them really works wonders as it is a villain that provides something new. I think the cliffhanger has set the tone for how this series is going to be, it's going to be dark and I can't wait to see things in full gear. My biggest criticism of the plan is that they're splitting the season into two halves for the year, but come the mid-season cliffhanger, I bet I will be saying different, plus it helps lessen the gap between series.

So far, this episode really has put the question of, how do you handle a situation knowing the inevitable? Not many Who episodes have done this, especially not in this context, part two will give the answer.

As for the issue of the lack of advertisements, it's hard to say why there has been a lack of them, I think given they announced the return after the Christmas Special, Who fans kept it in their diary and waited. My guess is either because of the Royal Wedding looming near or we haven't been watching the BBC regularly as we like to and have missed the ads. I really don't know. Must be a heavy reliance on word of mouth.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

So part two of the opener occurred yesterday and I have to say I thought it was solid overall. It was quite creepy and a slight improvement on part one I felt. The start was very...odd I felt. We didn't really get a resolution as such to the child in the suit, but I guess Moffat has his own super spunky cool plans for her at a later date, especially with all the clues he dropped later on. The Amy pregnancy shtick is pretty intriguing and adds a more adult layer to the show.

River Song is something that really needs to be resolved soon as I'm finding the constant teasing of her killing the Doctor or mortally wounding him or another important male character(s), rather irritating. I don't really know if she needed to be here for this one, but I guess it was useful to have someone who knows alien technology.

Again this story suffers from the same problem I brought up in part one, you know that something's going to survive. Now we all know that the Doctor might not, but the Silence are going to be back before season's end, mainly because there hasn't really been any major resolution to the cracks in time or really to why they're on Earth. I'll give it the same as last week: 7/10.

 

[Dave]

After watching the episode yesterday, I must say that any doubts I had about the series from the first episode are now gone. This episode was a perfect mix of humour and drama and I really appreciated it. All the building blocks for this episode were put in place by the end of the first one and I feel as though this one had a lot more action because of that work. There was less time for character development in this one and I liked that they just looked for a satisfactory end to this saga, rather than pushing a lot of the character stuff down our throats.

That being said, when character development came along, there was definitely a lot of intrigue that added to the episode. The angle with Amy and her pregnancy is a little bit odd, to be honest. I have a feeling that this is the way that they are going to write her out of the show come the mid-season break. I am also pretty sure that the child that was haunting them before is her baby (as if it wasn't obvious). What I would ask of them is to be careful about what they are doing with this story. There is a lot of scope for potential paradoxes and nothing bugs me more in an episode of Doctor Who than that. Still, the dialogue between River Song and The Doctor seems to be getting stranger and stranger. I do get the feeling that we are heading towards something though. I am a patient enough person to let it play out and see how appealing it is when it finally comes to a conclusion.

All in all, I though the episode was pretty damn good last night. The villains were pretty interesting and I enjoyed seeing them more than I like seeing The Cybermen, that's for sure. I just hope that the momentum they have built up with “The Silence” and the plot lines that will run throughout the series pay off. It is Doctor Who, so I am sure that they will.