6x01 The Impossible Astronaut (Grading/Discussion) (SPOILERS!!)

[Jaster]

Perhaps we don't want the Silents to fall.

I had similar thoughts. Perhaps the Silence are not the enemy, or at least not as evil as we are being setup to believe. The Silent in the White House toilet seemed to be warning Amy, or making sure she told the Doctor something. Yes, it killed that woman, so maybe amoral, but not evil?

"Silence will fall" sounds like a bad thing, so perhaps them not falling is the preferred outcome?

 

[Starkers]

I took Amy's urgency to mean that she knew she needed to tell the Doctor something really important (about the Silent), but she forgot what it was, and this ended up seeming like the next most important thing to her.

Fair point, that could be it.

It was just a bit annoying and was too much like the series 5 Amy where it always felt she thought the universe revolved around her.

River felt sick as well - does that mean she's pregnant too?

Yeah I think Amy thinks she's pregnant because of the stomach pains and nausea, maybe she and Rory had been trying, but River's reaction to the Silents seems to suggest this is a knock on effect of seeing them.

I'll reserve judegment on the Silents, but as others have said there is more than a hint of the Weeping angels about them.

 

[Phily B]

i got the impression the silents are trying to prevent the doktars death

 

[Cutter John]

Did anyone else find it odd that there wasn't a monster in this episode?

 

[Takeru]

I don't like the Silents very much, as many people have said, they are very similar to the Weeping Angels. Moffat created another alien species that could technically exist in our world and we wouldn't know, because as soon as we look at a Weeping Angel it's just a statue and as soon as we don't look at a Silent we forget its existence ... it's basically the same trick to try to scare the audience, I'm not impressed.
The death of the older Doctor was pointless, we know it's not gonna stick, so why should anyone care? If you want to scare the audience kill a companion, it has been done before and we can't be sure if he/she will stay dead or not, but the Doctor? Come on.

It's only the first part of a two part episode, so I'm not voting yet, but so far I don't think it's brilliant.

 

[Jaster]

I don't like the Silents very much, as many people have said, they are very similar to the Weeping Angels. Moffat created another alien species that could technically exist in our world and we wouldn't know, because as soon as we look at a Weeping Angel it's just a statue and as soon as we don't look at a Silent we forget its existence ... it's basically the same trick to try to scare the audience, I'm not impressed.
The death of the older Doctor was pointless, we know it's not gonna stick, so why should anyone care? If you want to scare the audience kill a companion, it has been done before and we can't be sure if he/she will stay dead or not, but the Doctor? Come on.

It's only the first part of a two part episode, so I'm not voting yet, but so far I don't think it's brilliant.

Is killing the Doctor really a pointless trick? Remember, this is a Doctor 200 years older than "our" Doctor - its possible there is no reset button at the end of this, and that we have witnessed the Doctor's last incarnation - albeit with 200 years of fun left to had.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I don't like the Silents very much, as many people have said, they are very similar to the Weeping Angels. Moffat created another alien species that could technically exist in our world and we wouldn't know, because as soon as we look at a Weeping Angel it's just a statue and as soon as we don't look at a Silent we forget its existence ... it's basically the same trick to try to scare the audience, I'm not impressed.
The death of the older Doctor was pointless, we know it's not gonna stick, so why should anyone care? If you want to scare the audience kill a companion, it has been done before and we can't be sure if he/she will stay dead or not, but the Doctor? Come on.

It's only the first part of a two part episode, so I'm not voting yet, but so far I don't think it's brilliant.

Is killing the Doctor really a pointless trick? Remember, this is a Doctor 200 years older than "our" Doctor - its possible there is no reset button at the end of this, and that we have witnessed the Doctor's last incarnation - albeit with 200 years of fun left to had.

Nope, Beeb won't kill this cash cow. The man is coming back one way or another.

 

[Gepard]

What the hell was that? The entire episode felt...off. There was exactly one scene, the one with River talking to Rory about her life with the Doctor, that felt like the Doctor Who I fell in love with in the RTD years. I'm really dissatisfied with how more of the shows seems to be about twisting us into ontological knots instead of telling larger-than-life character-driven stories. This didn't feel like an episode; it felt like a gimmick. Bah.

 

[wamdue]

Is killing the Doctor really a pointless trick? Remember, this is a Doctor 200 years older than "our" Doctor - its possible there is no reset button at the end of this, and that we have witnessed the Doctor's last incarnation - albeit with 200 years of fun left to had.

well its possible this is the 11th Doctors proper regeneration, however they will need to stop the second shot.

 

[Jaster]

I don't like the Silents very much, as many people have said, they are very similar to the Weeping Angels. Moffat created another alien species that could technically exist in our world and we wouldn't know, because as soon as we look at a Weeping Angel it's just a statue and as soon as we don't look at a Silent we forget its existence ... it's basically the same trick to try to scare the audience, I'm not impressed.
The death of the older Doctor was pointless, we know it's not gonna stick, so why should anyone care? If you want to scare the audience kill a companion, it has been done before and we can't be sure if he/she will stay dead or not, but the Doctor? Come on.

It's only the first part of a two part episode, so I'm not voting yet, but so far I don't think it's brilliant.

Is killing the Doctor really a pointless trick? Remember, this is a Doctor 200 years older than "our" Doctor - its possible there is no reset button at the end of this, and that we have witnessed the Doctor's last incarnation - albeit with 200 years of fun left to had.

Nope, Beeb won't kill this cash cow. The man is coming back one way or another.

Doesn't stop them milking the Matt Smith incarnation for the time being, with the premise that we have seen him die for the last time.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Is killing the Doctor really a pointless trick? Remember, this is a Doctor 200 years older than "our" Doctor - its possible there is no reset button at the end of this, and that we have witnessed the Doctor's last incarnation - albeit with 200 years of fun left to had.

Nope, Beeb won't kill this cash cow. The man is coming back one way or another.

Doesn't stop them milking the Matt Smith incarnation for the time being, with the premise that we have seen him die for the last time.

But the point here is that the regeneration is interrupted and there will be no further regenerations. That just isn't gonna happen. The show won't end with Matt so long as it brings in the money.

 

[The Badger]

- I too didn't understand Amy's urgency in telling the Doctor about her pregnancy -- it's not like there's any chance he's the father.

"You will tell the Doctor what he must know..." or words to that effect. Perhaps seeing the astronaut triggered this post hypnotic suggestion, or whatever you want to call it.

I enjoyed this episode, lot's of great dialogue, good jokes and excellent performances. There's also a hell of a lot of unanswered questions, but as the first of a two parter that's to be expected.

My two grotzits: The little girl in the space suit is Amy and Rory's daughter.

 

[Gepard]

Here ya go DAK

Oh YUM!!! Thank you!

And now you can own your own copy. Seriously.

 

[Rosalind]

Wow, that episode creeped me out. A proper 'behind the sofa' one. I also laugh out loud at a lot the places. Can't wait for episode 2.

 

[jbny67]

Why was it so important for Amy, right at the end there, to tell the Doctor that she was pregnant? I didn't get why the urgency to divulge that info.

Moffat had said that she had lines, in the first episode, that would seem like throwaway lines, but turn out to be very important later in the series. Perhaps this was the scene he was referring to. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Jaster]

Why was it so important for Amy, right at the end there, to tell the Doctor that she was pregnant? I didn't get why the urgency to divulge that info.

Moffat had said that she had lines, in the first episode, that would seem like throwaway lines, but turn out to be very important later in the series. Perhaps this was the scene he was referring to. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Or perhaps stating twice in the diner about the Doctor being dead - seemingly stating the obvious, but in a very deliberate way...

 

[EyalM]

I think the problem (for me) with this episode is that I have no idea what the hell is at stake here. Are we trying to save the Doctor? Are we fighting the Silent? What the hell is the Silent's plan? The episode is all set-up, yet not enough set-up.
A good first parter sets up the stakes, and this one failed on that front.

I did like the dialog, especially River's.

 

[Sindatur]

I enjoyed it, I enjoy the mystery, providing you do eventually get answers.

I kinda got the vibe, that the regeneration was deliberately triggered in order to share/steal the Doctor's Regeneration Essence by the Astronaut, for some reason.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Can't believe I didn't realise his father played his older self until Confidential, but then they don't really look that alike do they?

Cool, I didn't know that. The accent and delivery were the same, so I thought they did a good job mirroring that. His beard made it difficult to judge appearance anyway.

Oh, and although I don't think there has been anyone with the name "Delaware" in the United States since Lord De la Warr, as a Delawarian, I'm counting that as a shout out

At first I thought that the astronaut was River, and then towards the end I was thinking it was Amy's child and now I think I'm of the opinion that just maybe they're one and the same.... but then, they couldn't be, could they....?

I'm considering Amy's child, but it could just be a normal child. The only thing to keep in mind regarding River Song is, if she killed the Doctor on the beach like that, she would remember it. She clearly knows why she's in prison.

Anyway, I found it to be excellent. Creepy as fuck might be more accurate, but either way. Yes, they were going out of their way to explain to an American audience what was going on, but that's not that big of a deal. Doctor Who doesn't have to be a secret club Americans can't enter. I think this episode qualifies as a good intro to Doctor Who for someone who hasn't seen it. The previous one on my list was Blink and that's a Doctor-lite episode so it's less than ideal.

 

[Sindatur]

Oh, yea, meant to mention I had no idea Romo was a Son of a Soul Hunter, how cool to finally discover that. I like both W. Morgan Sheppard and Marc Sheppard