"The Eleventh Hour" reaction
I have now seen the first episode of Doctor Who with Matt Smith as the lead and Steven Moffat as head writer. Spoilers under the cut.
SQUEEEEEEE!!!!
Welcome back, Doctor. Nice to see you again. :D
I really enjoyed this episode. It's just a lot of fun to watch, and it seems like it's been ages since an episode was just fun. It's a welcome change in tone after the darkness of the specials (which is not to say that I don't like the darker episodes). This episode has a good helping of nonsensical whimsy mixed in with the sci-fi, and it's wonderful. I like the new companion, Amy Pond (and mini!Amy is adorable). She and and the Doctor are quite amusing together. I also like Rory, at least what little was seen of him, and his commentary on the situation.
Of course, the biggest thing about this episode is that it introduces a new Doctor. How is Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor? This best sums up my opinion: He's definitely the Doctor. 8D Eleven is different than previous Doctors, but there are still bits that he has in common; not surprisingly, as he is the same man at the basic level. From the start there seemed to be a sense of familiarity about him, a sort of oddness that I could recognize as the Doctor. I could believe that Smith was playing the same character as his predecessors. I was very happy with his performance, and I am very excited about seeing more of him in the future.
New TARDIS is new and shiny. And gorgeous. The music was good. I'm not sure about the new opening chord progression for the theme tune, but the rest of the opening sequence is good. The new logo looks a lot better in the credits than it does on a plain background. I'm pretty sure I recognized some variations on themes from the specials in the score, which was nice. I really hope another soundtrack is released at some point.
In regards to writing, I think it's a solid start, story-wise. It's not the most original or exciting plot, but it's fun, and honestly, it didn't need to be a very demanding story. This episode is all about introducing a new Doctor, a new companion, and a whole lot of other new things; those elements are more than enough to make a comparatively simple story interesting, and they do. There were lots of good lines and good scenes, such as the rooftop scene (squee!). Here are some of my favorite lines:
Doctor: "'Course you're not! You're not scared of anything. Box falls out the sky, man falls out of the box, man eats fish custard, and look at you! Just sittin' there."
Doctor: "Why does no one ever listen to me, do I just have a face that nobody listens to?! ...again."
Rory: "Um, did he just bring them back? Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?!"
Doctor: "Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically...run."
Doctor: "Been knocking around on my own for awhile. My choice, but I've started talking to myself, all the time. It's givin' me earache."
Congrats to everyone who worked on it for a solid start to a new season. Here's hoping it's fantastic. ;)
SQUEEEEEEE!!!!
Welcome back, Doctor. Nice to see you again. :D
I really enjoyed this episode. It's just a lot of fun to watch, and it seems like it's been ages since an episode was just fun. It's a welcome change in tone after the darkness of the specials (which is not to say that I don't like the darker episodes). This episode has a good helping of nonsensical whimsy mixed in with the sci-fi, and it's wonderful. I like the new companion, Amy Pond (and mini!Amy is adorable). She and and the Doctor are quite amusing together. I also like Rory, at least what little was seen of him, and his commentary on the situation.
Of course, the biggest thing about this episode is that it introduces a new Doctor. How is Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor? This best sums up my opinion: He's definitely the Doctor. 8D Eleven is different than previous Doctors, but there are still bits that he has in common; not surprisingly, as he is the same man at the basic level. From the start there seemed to be a sense of familiarity about him, a sort of oddness that I could recognize as the Doctor. I could believe that Smith was playing the same character as his predecessors. I was very happy with his performance, and I am very excited about seeing more of him in the future.
New TARDIS is new and shiny. And gorgeous. The music was good. I'm not sure about the new opening chord progression for the theme tune, but the rest of the opening sequence is good. The new logo looks a lot better in the credits than it does on a plain background. I'm pretty sure I recognized some variations on themes from the specials in the score, which was nice. I really hope another soundtrack is released at some point.
In regards to writing, I think it's a solid start, story-wise. It's not the most original or exciting plot, but it's fun, and honestly, it didn't need to be a very demanding story. This episode is all about introducing a new Doctor, a new companion, and a whole lot of other new things; those elements are more than enough to make a comparatively simple story interesting, and they do. There were lots of good lines and good scenes, such as the rooftop scene (squee!). Here are some of my favorite lines:
Doctor: "'Course you're not! You're not scared of anything. Box falls out the sky, man falls out of the box, man eats fish custard, and look at you! Just sittin' there."
Doctor: "Why does no one ever listen to me, do I just have a face that nobody listens to?! ...again."
Rory: "Um, did he just bring them back? Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?!"
Doctor: "Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically...run."
Doctor: "Been knocking around on my own for awhile. My choice, but I've started talking to myself, all the time. It's givin' me earache."
Congrats to everyone who worked on it for a solid start to a new season. Here's hoping it's fantastic. ;)