What did you think of this episode?
Sonic!
Good!
Bumpy-wumpy!
Exterminate!
The end is just the beginning!!
This is when I really started to religiously watch the show, and it has been lovely to see it getting some love on Twitter recently, so in the spirit of jeje's thread, this is what I think of this episode - ijjnvfejvnjovwnojwvnojwdmmedomedmkmemoneneojmne.
As introductions to a new Doctor go, this is by far my favourite episode. I've watched this a fair few times over the years but I was still grinning to myself all the way through this. I've just realised this was over 14 years ago!! FML!!
This was an absolute triumph, the pressure must have been enormous on Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat. This wasn't just a new Doctor, we had a new show runner, a new companion, a new TARDIS and a new feel to the show.
Let's start with the new (not so new now) Doctor shall we. He had a few stand out moments in this, but the ones that really left their mark on me were mainly scenes from the hospital. Two moments made me laugh out loud, when he asked who the bloody hell Prisoner Zero has turned into (it's himself) and “who da man”.
Then of course we get THE moment, a moment that still gives me joy to this day.
“Hello, I'm the Doctor. Basically, run.”
Murray Gold must have been on something after series 4, the music is absolute fire! Every single piece is a work of art, none more so than I am the Doctor. Then we have Amy in the TARDIS which is unreal, but I'm jumping ahead of myself, I'll get to that.
From the moment Matt Smith crashes onto the screen - literally - the episode radiates a fairy tale like charm that keeps growing as the episode continues. Eleven is instantly brilliant, more quirky than the previous modern Doctors, childlike, eccentric, but still cooking so not fully formed.
Bonus point alert - we have a child actor who is bloody brilliant here. This doesn't always happen, but Caitlin Blackwood is an absolute delight. The opening exchanges between the Doctor and Amelia are heartwarming and set the tone for a bond which will grow over time and space, taking in Rory as it goes. Which brings us to Amy Pond and Karen Gillan.
I know it's a family show, but it would have been great to delve deeper into Amy's past, I mean let's face it, she was a stripper not a kissogram wasn't she? The Doctor formed her life, but what else happened in between his appearances in her garden? I might make a blog about this one day, but why are female companions so nasty to their boyfriends? They snog other men, they flirt with other men, they lie to them, they belittle them in front of other people…! Rose was awful to Mickey, Clara spent half her time telling porky pies to Danny and Amy was nasty to Rory, certainly in the first half of this series. Poor guy's eh?
"I kept biting them."
It was fun to see the way Moffat puts his timey-wimey spin on a new companion. I think we all knew Amelia was going to end up being Amy, but it was fascinating to watch anyway. For a show that is about an alien with a time travelling machine there wasn’t much like this up until this point. The TARDIS was basically used to get to a point in time to have an adventure in. There was no back and forth in an episode.
It was also a pleasant change to not be in London. Moffat’s scripts always seem to be honed in on a smaller area, I know the whole planet was in danger but Ledworth and its closed Post Office was the star of the show location wise.
It is amazing that such a banger episode has some pretty basic villains. The episode is obviously chucking new things at us, so the Atraxi and Prisoner Zero aren’t all that important other than making the new Doctor spring into action.
"The cracks in the skin of the Universe. Don’t you know where they came from? You don’t, do you? The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn’t know. Doesn’t know, doesn’t know! The Universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open, silence will fall."
The episode really shines in the last ten minutes or so though. We get the Doctor announcing his arrival and then we get the most magical scene. One of my favourite moments in the whole show. The Doctor telling Amy not to grow up, clicking his fingers to open the TARDIS door, the TARDIS interior revealed to Amy and us for the first time, and then an iconic line about being a mad man with a box.
Utter, utter joy!! Magical! Amazing!! Brilliant!! Love it!! All those words!!
GERONIMO!!
RATING: Sonic!
BEST LINE: "Amy Pond, there’s something you better understand about me ’cause it’s important. And one day your life may depend on it. I am definitely a mad man with a box."
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