One Sentence Review

Out with the old and in with the new

Episode Synopsis

Read it here

Thoughts and Analysis

While on the whole I have enjoyed Doctor Who since its return to our screens, by the end of the third series I was getting frustrated by the use of Deus Ex Machina as a reset button to resolve plots. As such I was happy that Russell T Davies quit the show and handed the reigns over to Steven Moffat who was one of the better writers during his tenure. And while the eleventh hour did have a touch of Deus Ex Machina in its resolution it was at least of the Chekov’s Gun type opposed to the “Comes out of nowhere magic button” type commonplace in the RTD era.

The plot of the eleventh hour regarding Prisoner Zero and the end of the world is nothing particularly special but it does not need to be as its main purpose is to introduce the new Doctor, his new assistant, a redesigned TARDIS interior and what appears to be the new series arc regarding cracks in the universe and the Pandorica.

Starting with Matt Smith as the new Doctor, while it is still very early days it appears that despite my misgivings about his age, he may very well be a good choice for the role. After the initial manic portrayal of the Doctor which I put down to his recent regeneration, the Doctor soon calms down into a more traditional alien genius with a dark edge that we have come to know and love. The Doctor also seems to have a slightly darker edge to his character than the David Tenant version and it will be interesting to see if this trait continues through the season.

Likewise the character of Amy Pond is interesting and seems like a good foil for the current incarnation of the Doctor. My only gripes are relatively minor and have to do with her introduction. Firstly given that it was widely known in the press that the new companion was called Amy Pond it does not take a genius to work out that the child Amelia is a younger Amy, there could have been at least a little misdirection by having Amelia’s aunt being named Amy as well. The second is with the writing and having Amelia praying to Santa of all people at Easter, while I know we live in a fairly secular society I think it is still acceptable to have a child praying to God in a TV show.

Moving on to the introduction of the ongoing plot about the cracks in the universe, I wonder if the violent time vortex in the opening credit is an allusion to this in some way and if this explains why The Doctor kept on being late when trying to get back to Amy. While the Doctor missing the target is part of Doctor Who tradition I think it curious that it happens twice in one episode. This also raises the question of why does Amy believe the Doctor when he says he can get her back for the next morning since his record when visiting her is less than stellar (10 years instead of 5 minutes, and 2 years after his initial visit).

As for the cause of the cracks in the universe my initial guess is that it could be indirectly the Doctors fault and due to the events of the first 4 series where there has been quite a few events that could have damaged the fabric of his universe with the most recent being the Time Lords attempt to save themselves. As for the Pandorica going from its name there is a good chance it will be a Pandora’s box type Macguffin and may be a leftover weapon from the Time War. There also seemed to be a crack in one of the TARDIS monitors, and if this is the case then it is surprising given the nature of the TARDIS as it is not a fixed point in time or space.

Overall this was an excellent starting point for the new Doctor and if half of the potential shown in this episode then I will be more than happy.

Episode Rating

8/10