Re: Doctor Who – The 11th Hour (5x01) - (Discuss – Grade | SPOILERS) U
Well, that was... a bit of a rollercoaster in terms of veering from "oh shit, it's CBBC Who" through to "Yay, this is the good stuff!" Thankfully it ended up more toward the latter end of the scale than the former.
Story- pretty decent, but didn't really deserve the extra running time (the embarrassing food-tryout could disappear without losing a beat). It's kind of creepy, though, because the Doctor's interactions with the child guest star... I mean, maybe it's just me or maybe it's just the way Britain has been turned by the media into a state where catching a glimpse of a child other than your own makes you in the eyes of authority a paedophile waiting to be sentenced, but it was damn weird seeing the Doctor chatting to the kid like that. And it's wrong that it should seem weird...
Anyhow, I was trying to talk about the story, which was pretty straightforward stuff (especially if you remember Smith And Jones). Moff mines his past episodes to distraction, but Moff mining his own ideas isn't new- Silence/Forest from season 4 is pretty much a "greatest hits" compilation of his previous three entries, and seeing as this is a new jumping-on point it's actually not such a bad idea to give the audience a taste of the new showrunner's general tone and style. There were some bits that came over as SJA-level but not as good (on account of there being no Clyde or SJS) but mostly it was amusing and fast-paced fun. The direction was a bit meh, and the incidental music was decent (unlike the theme) - it was interesting to hear what I'm sure are going to be major leitmotifs for upcoming episodes. Inevitably we have a new arc for the season, which is sledghammered into the episode in a manner that couldn't be less subtle if the Doctor had actually said "oh, I guess I'll find out what you wee on about in episode 13." Though there were a couple of probably-arc-related things that were more subtle, namely the "MYTH" label on the laptop, where the Y was a Greek psi letter, and the TARDIS scanner showing a line exactly matching the crack in Amy's wall at the end.
The other thing that really threatened to bring the episode down to CBBC level, though were the effects - the CG of the creatures was bloody awful, and really badly integrated into the location footage. In fact I'm pretty sure it's the worst seen since Nu Who began in 2005.
But really we're all watching this for the new Doctor and companion. So...
Karen Gillan is a bit of a mixture, very good in some scenes, but very stiff and rubbish when asking the actual "what is it, Doctor?" kind of things. Overall I think she might grow on me - and I suspect she'll be an instant hit with Lesley, who apparently, when a little girl, did the same kind of packing to leave thing.
Matt Smith came over as a bit Tennant-lite, but otherwise had no problems whatsoever taking over as the Doctor. He's the new Doctor, he is the Doctor, he's perfectly fine - it just remains to be seen what new elements he'll bring to the role. So far, he's giving me more a Davison vibe than the much-vaunted Troughton vibe, but I like PeteDoc, so it's a good thing. And strangely appropriate, since TenDoc was the maddest and most popular since Tom, that his successor should be Pete-like...
As I said earlier, I like the new titles and logo, and I can now say I like the new TARDIS.
But, there are the downers. The biggest downsides. Oh yeah. Worse than the CBBC-like scenes, worse than the rubbish CG aliens...
1) The theme tune. What the sodding fuck? Worst version ever, except for the new Confidential theme. I mean, Bill Bailey's "Docteur Qui" mix sounds more mysterious and exciting than this.
2) Rory. Jesus suffering fuck, who's playing this guy? I'm suspecting the actor is more a stage actor because he keeps fucking mugging and gaping so that the people in the cheap seats at the back can see what his expression is. Which on TV, he doesn't have to. I'm sure he's a good actor on stage but the director (with whos work I wasn't that impressed either) should have reined him and told him the camera will pick up what he does.
Anyway... overall, it turned out nice despite some stumbles, so... what? 6.5/10? maybe 7. Yeah, 7, cos it had good comedy (Matt handles the one-liners well, and gives it a *good* Williams-era feel) and an immediately-commanding Doctor. All to the good!
At least I don't have to worry about getting into GallifreyDebased to post this, through the inevitable meltdown...