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I mentioned earlier that The Eleventh Hour was the final straw, making me love Doctor Who again.
(No spoilers until the embed at the bottom. Which is awesome)
I’m sure you’ve read the reviews, watched it on TV or downloaded the torrent (what torrent? who said there was a torrent?), tried to get into/actually got into/been jealous of people who got into one of the Steven Moffat/Matt Smith/Karen Gillan events that have been held in NYC this week, read the Bleeding Cool bit about a possible season long mystery, and, you know, generally got your geek on over the new Doctor and his scrumptious new assistant.
Yes, I just called Karen Gillan ‘scrumptious’. I’m bringing scrumptious back. And I have a weakness for Scottish redheads, what with me being married to one and all.
In any case, I won’t go into two much detail, but it feels more like Doctor Who than any other Doctor Who I’ve seen since the relaunch with the possible exception of Blink, which barely even featured the eponymous hero.
An English country village.
Something in the corner of your eye.
A new Doctor who fits into the role perfectly and looks, as one reviewer put it, like a Target novelization description of Jon Pertwee – an old face on a young man.
Requisite creepy alien being.
A Doctor capable of being silly, worldly and a little bit terrifying.
A companion introduced in a clever way and not being completely useless. Instead she’s resourceful, strong willed and funny.
Doctor Who – The Eleventh Hour is on BBC America on Saturday, April 17th and I highly recommend you watch it.
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That slight spoiler bit I mentioned starts here.
The best damn bit about the episode for me was the climactic scene on the hospital roof, and Matt Smith’s delivery of two simple lines.
“Hello. I’m the Doctor.”
“Basically, run.”
Original Video- More videos at TinyPic
With the scenes of old villains (Sea Devils!) and all of the Doctor’s previous incarnations, my mouth literally dropped open. My wife, who was very amused already that of all the things I was going to break my no-torrenting rule for it was Doctor Who, laughed as I looked at her, open mouthed. I felt like I was a kid again, and like Doctor Who was the most important show on television.
So even though I’ve yet to finish David Tennant’s run, I’m officially on board with the new Doctor and Amy – and you should be too.
Watched on BBC America Sat night. As an American growing up in the misnamed “heartland” (more like “spleenland”), I didn’t get to see any Dr. Who until late in high school. I can only imagine how much fun it must have been as a young kid to watch daily! I thought this was a very strong showing, even measured against the demanding benchmark of new season/new companion introductions that the revived show has set (endings and beginnings always seem the best, don’t they?). Karen Gillan IS indeed scrumptious, and if I think about it any more I’m into illegal territory (FYI, I married a Scots/Irish American redhead). I LOVE that she has a compelling reason to be with the Doctor (and I’m sure there is more to learn there about her history), and that she is so useful. I rather liked Martha Jones’ intro, too, since she stood out as the one useful person in a hospital full of hystical people. This episode managed to blend things I like about Brit shows (small English town, local color, eccentric locals) without being too precious. In fact, I think it blended Brit quirky with hipness rather deftly (Oh, and erase your internet history!) It’s a nice twist that the whole town “knows” the Doctor from Amy’s strongwilled defense of her unlikely childhood experience.