Doctor Who - Series 6

[rogartheranger]

Episode 6.1 The Impossible Astronaut

(No Spoilers)

Wow, I thought that was a very impressive start to the new series. Previous season openers have tended to provide viewers with a self-contained, easily digestible, light-hearted romp, that has usually been saddled with having to introduce a new Doctor/Companion team. If there have been any plot-arc material included then its usually just a small drip-feed of hints of things to come. Not this time however - Right from the outset of The Impossible Astronaut we have an established TARDIS team who are plunged headfirst into the first instalment of an ambitious two-part narrative that felt like it was the opening salvo of a season-finale rather then a season-opener, and was choc-full of Steven Moffat’s trademark ingenious wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey paradoxes, and continuity-links that demanded complete viewer concentration.

Although there were welcome doses of humour peppered throughout, this was also much darker in tone then I am used to seeing in Doctor Who season-openers (which I really appreciated), with lots of scares supplied courtesy of an impressive new alien adversary with their unique modus operandi that I found to be very creepy and potentially on par with the Weeping Angels, (with special note to that scene in the Whitehouse toilet). Without wishing to spoil anything for those who have yet to watch this episode, there were some considerable shocks to draw the viewer-in and hook them for the season-arc which I can’t wait to find more about, especially a death-scene that left me gaping, “WTF - I can’t believe they just did that – no way!”.

There was also a lot of good character work on display here especially from the enigmatic River Song who always threatens to steal every scene she’s in, and of course Matt Smith who was on fine form again. The location work and cinematography in Utah were great, as were the Whitehouse sets and alien-SFX. I also loved of all the great quotable lines too some of my favourites of which I have re-produced below:-

The Doctor: “I wear Stetson’s now, Stetsons are cool”

The Doctor: “Im being extremely clever up here and there’s none to stand around looking impressed. What’s the point of having you all?”, River: “I could just slap him sometimes”

The Doctor: “These are my top operatives, The Legs, The Nose and Mrs Robinson.”

The Doctor: “Im going to need a SWAT team ready to mobilise, street level maps covering all of Florida, a pot of coffee, twelve jammy dodgers and a Fez.”

Overall, I would conclude that this episode has exceeded my expectations, and provided a very high benchmark for the rest of the season. Definitely the best season-opener for Doctor Who that I have seen since Remembrance of the Daleks in 1988. 10/10.
Hope you all enjoyed it too!!!