223 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
223 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
culture
|
|
tvandradio
|
|
8465668
|
|
-----
|
|
# Doctor Who, episode 1: The Impossible Astronaut, review
|
|
|
|
## Doctor Who expert Gavin Fuller reviews the first episode in the new series
|
|
of Doctor Who, BBC One.
|
|
|
|
![Alex Kingston as River Song in Doctor Who. Photo: BBC/James Stenson][1]
|
|
|
|
Alex Kingston as River Song in Doctor Who. Photo: BBC/James Stenson
|
|
|
|
By Gavin Fuller 7:39PM BST 23 Apr 2011
|
|
|
|
[Comments][2]
|
|
|
|
After a slightly silly pre-credits sequence,** [Doctor Who][3]**'s 32nd season
|
|
started with a bang - an Apollo astronaut emerging from a lake and killing The
|
|
Doctor was an unusual although startling way to open a new series to say the
|
|
least.
|
|
|
|
Having thought it a bit odd that the Doctor appeared to have aged about 200
|
|
years overnight (although there is the mystery of how he managed to shed 50
|
|
years between his seventh and tenth incarnations) the fact this was a future
|
|
Doctor who was meeting his maker made sense. But writer and producer Steven
|
|
Moffat is tempting fate assuming a 200-year lifespan for an incarnation given
|
|
the apparent length of The Doctor's previous ones if the ages given in
|
|
previous episodes make any sense!
|
|
|
|
Anyway, on to the episode itself, and again Moffat seems to have created a
|
|
great concept for a monster with his latest effort, the Silence, a monster who
|
|
as soon as you look away from them you forget about.
|
|
|
|
A very useful asset for a species with no doubt unpleasant designs, given
|
|
their casual slaughter of a member of the White House staff, and one which
|
|
added a layer of chillingness to the scenes in which they appeared.
|
|
|
|
Yet they were almost an aside to this episode, with the concentration on how
|
|
Amy, Rory and River cope with the foreknowledge of The Doctor's death and the
|
|
fact they cannot tell him about it leading to some great moments of character
|
|
drama between them. These are topped by the scene with River dreading the day,
|
|
which we have already seen in _Silence in the Library,_ where she meets the
|
|
Doctor but he had no idea who she is; Alex Kingston shone in this episode.
|
|
|
|
## Related Articles
|
|
|
|
* [Doctor Who risks alienating casual viewers][4]
|
|
|
|
23 Apr 2011
|
|
|
|
* [Doctor Who, episode 2: Day of the Moon, review][5]
|
|
|
|
30 Apr 2011
|
|
|
|
* [Can Matt Smith's Doctor Who conquer America?][6]
|
|
|
|
21 Apr 2011
|
|
|
|
* [Doctor Who - the top ten best Doctors][7]
|
|
|
|
21 Apr 2011
|
|
|
|
* [Karen Gillan: Who's that girl?][8]
|
|
|
|
16 Apr 2011
|
|
|
|
* [Doctor Who's Matt Smith: I'm not handsome enough to play Bond][9]
|
|
|
|
17 Mar 2011
|
|
|
|
Moffat clearly loves the way Doctor who can play around with concepts of time,
|
|
and this episode was one which dealt in a mature manner with this, aided by
|
|
some fizzing dialogue as the episode progressed; this was quite a wordy
|
|
episode which concentrated more on atmosphere than pace and visual thrills.
|
|
|
|
Giving a prominent role to Richard Nixon, given his reputation post-Watergate,
|
|
was also a brave move.
|
|
|
|
Matt Smith still arguably needs to find the right balance between serious and
|
|
humour. The latter occasionally jarred in such a deeply layered episode as
|
|
this. I don't quite see why Amy had an urgent need in the middle of a
|
|
warehouse to tell him about her pregnancy, unless the Silence's instructions
|
|
to her previously in the episode were responsible in some way (tricky though
|
|
as she'd surely forgotten them after leaving the rest room?).
|
|
|
|
This minor quibble aside, this was a cracking start to the first part of the
|
|
2011 series, with the shocking ending of Amy seemingly shooting a girl making
|
|
one keen wait for the conclusion next week to see how it all resolves itself.
|
|
|
|
_- Gavin Fuller is a Doctor Who expert and lifelong fan. In 1993 he became the
|
|
youngest ever champion of Mastermind, with Doctor Who as his specialist
|
|
subject._
|
|
|
|
[X][10] Share & bookmark
|
|
|
|
Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
|
|
|
|
Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
|
|
|
|
[What are these?][11]
|
|
|
|
* Share: [Share][10] [ ][12] [ ][13]
|
|
|
|
[Tweet][14]
|
|
|
|
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8465668/Doctor-Who-episode-1
|
|
-The-Impossible-Astronaut-review.html
|
|
|
|
Telegraph
|
|
|
|
## [TV and Radio][15]
|
|
|
|
* ### [Culture »][16]
|
|
|
|
* ### [Doctor Who »][3]
|
|
|
|
* ### [BBC »][17]
|
|
|
|
[![TV Guide][18]][19]
|
|
|
|
### [TV Guide UK: searchable TV listings][19]
|
|
|
|
[![Paul Merton presents the Birth of Hollywood][20] ][21]
|
|
|
|
### [Today's TV highlights][21]
|
|
|
|
[![][22] ][23]
|
|
|
|
### [Britain's Got Talent: where are they now?][23]
|
|
|
|
[![][24] ][7]
|
|
|
|
### [Doctor Who - the top ten best Doctors][7]
|
|
|
|
[X][10] Share & bookmark
|
|
|
|
Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
|
|
|
|
Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
|
|
|
|
[What are these?][11]
|
|
|
|
Share:
|
|
|
|
* [ ][10]
|
|
|
|
* [ ][12]
|
|
|
|
* [ ][13]
|
|
|
|
* [Tweet][14]
|
|
|
|
* Advertisement
|
|
|
|
![][25]
|
|
|
|
telegraphuk
|
|
|
|
Please enable JavaScript to view the [comments powered by Disqus.][26] [blog
|
|
comments powered by Disqus][27]
|
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
sponsored features
|
|
|
|
Loading
|
|
|
|
Culture Most Viewed
|
|
|
|
* TODAY
|
|
|
|
* PAST WEEK
|
|
|
|
* PAST MONTH
|
|
|
|
1. [Gil Scott-Heron, the 'Godfather of Rap' behind The Revolution Will Not
|
|
Be Televised, dies][28]
|
|
|
|
2. [Cheryl Cole in talks with over return to UK X Factor][29]
|
|
|
|
3. [Grease actor Jeff Conaway dies][30]
|
|
|
|
4. [How I fell back in love with Television][31]
|
|
|
|
5. ['Margaret Thatcher' actress Janet Brown dies][32]
|
|
|
|
1. [Cannes 2011: Peter Fonda calls Obama a 'traitor'][33]
|
|
|
|
2. [Joely Richardson breaks silence over family scandal claims][34]
|
|
|
|
3. [Cheryl Cole out of American X Factor 'over accent fears'][35]
|
|
|
|
4. [Kate Middleton shows that this Sloane obsession with fake tan has got to
|
|
stop][36]
|
|
|
|
5. [Cheryl Cole 'replaced' as judge on US X Factor][37]
|
|
|
|
1. [Cannes 2011: Peter Fonda calls Obama a 'traitor'][33]
|
|
|
|
2. [Eurovision Song Contest 2011: review][38]
|
|
|
|
3. [Joely Richardson breaks silence over family scandal claims][34]
|
|
|
|
4. [Horoscopes: Catherine Tennant looks at the week ahead][39]
|
|
|
|
5. [Why I miss that old meanie Simon Cowell][40]
|
|
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
Classified Advertising
|
|
|
|
* [RHS Chelsea][41]
|
|
|
|
* [Culture][42]
|
|
|
|
* [Fine Arts][43]
|
|
|
|
Loading
|
|
|
|
var puffs_8120641 = new Array();
|
|
|