I’ve waited till now to post about the latest incarnation of everyone’s favourite Timelord, the idea being to give Matt Smith time to find his feet and get going before passing comment. I always knew I was going to enjoy the writing on the new series of Doctor Who. Steven Moffat’s episodes were easily the best episodes of the Russell T. Davis era so his taking over as lead writer when Davis left was always going to be a good thing.
So here we are, four episodes into a new regeneration of the show, hanging by our fingertips from last week’s cliffhanger, and there’s lots to like. Here’s a list of my favourite bits of New Who:
- Top of the list has to be the art direction of the show seeming to be not a little influenced by the classic Doctor who movies of the Sixties starring Peter Cushing as The Doctor. The new series, from the redesign of the Tardis interior, to the Doctor’s new dress code and the general atmosphere of the first two episodes, particularly The Beast Below with the retro-technology of the Starship UK, felt tonally like a modern extension of the classic (though non-canon) movies. The Dalek’s own regeneration in Victory of the Daleks was the moment when the impact of the Cushing/Dalek movies became overt and the story here made more sense than a couple of the Dalek stories under Russel T Davis’ reign. Looking forward to seeing the new, more colourful Daleks back later in the series.
- Matt Smith is slowly proving to be an intriguing Doctor. Less cock-sure than David Tennant’s excellent portrayal, what’s interesting about the Eleventh Doctor, both from a performance and a writing perspective, is that he has already, in the space of less than a handful of episodes made a number of mistakes which have led to his being ‘saved’ from them by Amy or, in the case of the Daleks, giving his greatest enemy a victory when they needed it most. This level of weakness in the Doctor makes for an interesting premise. Whether this is a carry over from the trauma of his recent regeneration or linked to the events just prior with the Timelords remains to be seen. I’m intrigued enough to be hooked.
- The Tardis redesign. I want my writing office to look like that. That would be very cool, but not sure how much writing would get done with all of time and space to explore.
- The return of River Song. First off I want a note book like River’s, that looks like the Doctor’s Tardis. Second, the interweaving of the Doctor and River’s timeline is very interesting and something that could run and run. I do hope they don’t rush to a pay off with this element. Definitely a case of the journey being more important here than the final destination.
- The return of the Weeping Angels. On this point I need not say anymore, but instead direct you to the advice above.
The only element that has left me cold so far is the character of Amy Pond. Unlike most corners of the internet, I have thus far found Amy a little dull. Admittedly her ‘origin’ story was well written and the idea of a girl who grew up with the Doctor as a mythic figure in her life is pretty smart, but so far her performances have been, in my opinion, unimpressive. I kind of get the feeling that Moffat wished he hadn’t wasted Sally Sparrow in the Davis era. Or perhaps that Amy Pond is really an attempt to reboot the Sally Sparrow concept from ‘Blink.’ That said, it is still early days, and there was a time I thought Catherine Tate as the Doctor’s companion was an absurd choice but she was easily the best companion of the series revival so far. Apart from Sally Sparrow of course. Who really wasn’t a companion at all. Except I say she was.
What about you? Any thoughts on the New Who?
image from cafepress.co.uk
4 Responses to The Eleventh Doctor
We’ve just finished with Episode Three – with the colourful Daleks and have to say I’m feeling a bit cold about the entire thing.
We missed the opening episode which seemed to Premier here in Australia with few bells and whistles, or any build up.
We also missed the start of last week’s episode despite my best efforts to give the car a Tardis-like performance to get home on time.
I too – want to give Matt Smith a chance to find his feet as the Dr. So I haven’t been willing to write too much about.
Things I dislike so far:
1. the remaking of the theme song – what the hell is going on with that?
2. The rebranding of the Dr Who title to incorporate the Tardis.
3. I’m not so keen on the remade interior of the Tardis. I was a big fan of the pared down, minimalistic interior. It seemed to me the inside had be rebuilt to capture the imagine of a younger generation of viewer – complete with the old type writer, in which the Dr typed a destination into in Episode Two – which left me yelling at the screen – ‘it’s not the bloody internet’.
4. The colourful Daleks do nothing for me – its like the Dalek’s called in Apple for a collaboration on Dalek 2.0. They look more like iDaleks, in their popsicles colours.
The jury is still out on Amy Pond (we missed her introduction and the origin story) though a girl who has grown up with Dr Who sounds a little like the Madam de Pompadour Episode crossed The Time Travellers Wife. Yes – it is interesting to see her save the Dr a number of times from a blunder.
It is interesting to note this it the first time in the revived series that the writers have gone for a new companion and a new Dr. When we crossed from the 9th to the 10th Time Lord the bridge was the wonderful Rose Tyler. There is no such bridge this time.
Like you – I thought Catherine Tate was the most absurd choice for a companion but she same out as my favourite – as her character got to have the greatest character development, when compared with Martha and Rose.
I’m excited to see River Song back… it was one of the more intriguing episodes – the ones in the library and yes, the Steven Moffat episodes during Russel T Davies reign were my favourites and I expected a little more from the episodes with him at the helm of the new series.
Next week will be the test – as Blink is one of my favourite episodes – along with those in the Library and from series 2 in the Satan Pit. I think Moffat is an extremely brave man to revist the Weeping Angels (given the consensus seems The Weeping Angels factors as most fans top five episodes – despite the fact the Dr hardly appears in it!) – though with River Song in it… it is entirely possibly to be mind blowing.
The jury is still out here, but we’ll see in a few weeks time I guess.
Just watched the new Dr Who for first time – I missed the first two so I am willing to give it more time to warm up…I have to say I was very very disappointed. Whats with the theme music? Who threw up in the tardis? Did they actually employ a script writer? Did Ikea sponsor the darleks?
Again – I can’t comment re Amy as her back story is not clear to me having only watched one episode.. but I have to agree with Jodi – the Madam de Pompadour character had more go about her than this Amy does.
I hated Catherine Tate to begin with but cried buckets when she had to go.
I’ll watch next weeks episode ONLY because River is in it and my all time fav monsters – the Blink angels…..
And although I guess its very PC, I am resisting the trend for the Doctor to make so many mistakes, appear to need help from his companions more and more.. though perhaps this is a sign of ‘aging’… we all need more help as we grow older…
I can see why people might not like the new Daleks, but as a longtime fan of the show – since the Tom Baker days, and having watched a lot of the previous Doctors before him on DVD and repeat TV, the colours seem old school to me, a nice reference to previous eras of Who, such as the Cushing movies I mentioned.
Intriguing stuff with the Angels two-parter. I won’t give spoilers, but River says a couple of things that have me thinking things are going to get interesting before the end of this series.
I’d forgotten the Madame de Pompadour episode, but wasn’t that a Moffat story too. He certainly seems to be reusing the trope of a female who interacts with the Doctor over an extended time period.
Did I mention I still wish Sally Sparrow had become a companion?
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