New Who Review for The 11th Hour
Posted By Kathleen David on April 21, 2010
They say that the proof is in the pudding. In this case the proof was in the custard and fishsticks.
Since this is my first NWR I thought I would lay down the rules. There are spoilers behind the cut. There are, probably, going to be spoilers in the comments. I will try to keep anything spoilerish out of the page that you can see if you wandered across this blog. However spoilers are only for this episode and any before it. If you are in the UK or use other means to see DW, you are two episodes ahead of the Americans. So limit spoilers to the 11th hour and all that has gone before it.
The Doctor’s first voyage in a new body is always interesting. They have to win over the fans of the previous Doctor and see if they can interest new viewers in the program. Think of it as a renumbering of a comic book series. And there was a lot of resistance (which everyone knows is useless) to Mr. Smith stepping into the trainers of David Tennant. Also this is no longer RTD’s show but Mr. Moffat’s. So how did the team do?
Personally, I think Matt Smith acquitted himself well. I always remember that the first episode of a new Doctor tends to be a little loopy because the Doctor tends to be a little loopy until the body settles down. Or the Doctor goes into a coma for most of the episode and we get to watch the companions deal with the problem at hand with the Doctor off the playing field. It was manic and fast and loopy but it was also good TV to watch. It kept my interest and I wanted to know what happened next.
Karen Gillian as Amy Pond was a real find by the casting director. I like her a lot. She is the right kind of companion for this Doctor. I foresee a lot more work in Ms. Gillian’s future once she is done with DW. Those who have met her have described her as delightful.
Overall I enjoyed this episode and came back for the next one. It is a good episode to start someone out with if they have no idea what Doctor Who is. And it is a good episode for people who started out with Hartnell or Troughton or (well you know the rest).
Spoilers are Ahead. Geronimo!
I don’t mind the new look of the TARDIS because it looks more like the older version (Mask of Mandragora version) than the previous one. The weird shapes of the objects on the console don’t bother me. Nor how new it looks on the outside.
The crack in the wall and the other dimension was an interesting way of starting up this series. Prisoner Zero was interesting.
What is it with the Doctor and handcuffs? I think Moffat has put him in them before.
“Back in 5 minutes” has become my new favorite who phrase.
And Matt Smith was cute as the Doctor. He really was. Reminded me of Troughton the most out of all the previous Doctors and not just because of the bow tie. I half expected him to pull out a recorder or penny whistle at some point.
Next time on NWR we have the mystery of The Beast Below
I am grateful for New Who to Review.
I liked that (according to at least one source) the girl who played young Amy was, in fact, Karen Gillian’s cousin and was cast at her suggestion … even though they had never met.
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Talk about a sneaky way to get someone else to pay for you meeting previously-unseen family members.
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Not sure how this season’s Big Bad is gonna play out, but it’s an interesting one.
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Did you catch the “Time Bandits” reference(s)?
or use other means to see DW
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And what is that supposed to mean, he asked, looking Extremely Innocent.
Well, since MY source for the info about Amelia being Gillan’s never-before-met cousin was the “Doctor Who Confidential” for the ep, I’m gonna take it as true. That’s a great way to get some family resemblance there. You can really believe that Amelia grows up into Amy.
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Once he stopped manically spitting out food and ordering around the little girl like a slave-driver (so, basically, went to the future… or the present… or whatever), I started liking the new Doctor. The forehead’s gonna take some getting used to, though. And Karen Gillan is fantastic as Amy (though part of me is kinda sad she won’t be running around in her Bobby uni…). I’m amused that even though the new Doctor isn’t ginger, his first Companion is. Talk about rubbing it in his face *g* I loved him asking the guard-ship-thingie its opinion on a tie. And I’m totally getting a Professor Henry Jones, Jr. vibe from his outfit.
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Any bets on how late she gets returned to her life? Given their history, I can’t believe Amy took him at his word that he can get her back by morning…
I don’t think she particularly wants to get back to her life in the morning. She seemed pretty ambivalent about her “boyfriend” during the adventure. The guy even mentioned that she had made him dress up as the Doctor when they were kids. I think that even if Amy moved on to a different guy, she’s just been using them as substitutes for the man she’s really been waiting for all her life. The Doctor.
Which makes her a little messed up in the head. Just like the Doctor. So it all works out.
Remember when he dropped Sarah Jane off? – he promised to drop her exactly where and when they first met.
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So he drops her, the TARDIS disappears, and she looks around … and … “Oy! This isn’t South Croydon! And I bet it’s not {whatever year they met}, either!”
“What is it with the Doctor and handcuffs? I think Moffat has put him in them before.”
Yes he has. He did in Forest of the Dead which was the second part of Silence in the Library. River Song locked him up so he couldn’t stop her from heroically sacrificing herself. Here’s hoping that Moffat brings back Song/Kingston. I have high hopes as she’s one of his creations.
I forgot that River Song put the Doctor in cuffs.
ROTFLMAO!
(You’ll see…)
Well, I’m almost entirely convinced I saw River Song in the “This year on Who…” previews.
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And even more convinced that I’m gonna keep on staring at angel statues as I pass by them, just in case.
I still don’t get the whole “Still not ginger” comment. What exactly does that mean? I haven’t seen much prior to the Eccleson (9) Doctor, but if it is from 9 one, I don’t remember it.
Jim “Spooon” Henry said, “I still don’t get the whole ‘still not ginger’ comment.”
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Jim,
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In “The Christmas Invasion”, the 10th Doctor asked Rose if he was ginger (i.e. had red hair). He was disappointed to find out he wasn’t. And it seems that desire to have red hair continued into the Doctor’s 11th incarnation.
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As to “The Eleventh Hour”, it’s the only episode I’ve seen so far, but I liked it. I thought Matt Smith got off to a good start.
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Kath, with regard to Smith reminding you of Troughton, as related in recent articles in Doctor Who Magazine, Smith, who wasn’t previously all that familiar with earlier Doctors, watched “Tomb of the Cybermen” and raved about it (and Troughton) to Steven Moffat and/or others on the production team. I believe Smith’s decision to wear a bow tie was also influenced in part by Troughton. I don’t have the magazine in front of me, so I’m going by memory.
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If I remember correctly, an interview with Moffat contains the “Tomb of the Cybermen” anecdote; and that Moffat (I think, it could have been Davies or someone else) also made comparisons between Troughton and Tennant, in that he could see the Troughton episode “The Invasion” as a 10th Doctor story. That is, the lines given to the second Doctor would have fit just as easily with the 10th.
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Doctor Who Magazine also ran profiles of each of the first 10 Doctors in the months leading up to Smith’s debut. The Troughton profile either stated or implied that many of the personality traits that all Doctors share (and many of the things we associate with Doctor Who as a TV series) really began with Troughton.
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Who knows? Maybe given that Smith enjoyed Troughton’s performance so much, his Doctor will play the recorder on occasion.
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Rick
Following up.
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The statements about Smith enjoying Troughton’s performance, and the second Doctor’s dialogue in “The Invasion” fitting the 10th Doctor came from an interview with Steven Moffat in Doctor Who Magazine #418 (page 21). Moffat said Smith raved about “how fantastic” the episode was, and how much he loved Troughton, for 20 minutes.
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Moffat also said that Troughton’s version of the Doctor “seems to be the bedrock.”
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Rick