I Like Your Old Who Better Than Your New Who
So, Impossible Astronaut. I was disappointed.
There were lines I liked. The Easter Island thing. The Doctor demanding everyone recognise his brilliance was very him. (River saying that companions are there to do what they're told was the antithesis of this shoooww you guys what evennn?) It was nice to see the console from The Lodger so early on. The American agent ended up being interesting although I didn't like him at first.
Everyone was so grumpy. The whole episode. There was no joy.
I think having a two-parter to start off with was a mistake, especially when they were being so careful to have all that exposition snuck in to make sure we were all up to to speed. The episode was mostly a rehash of old material, either unacknowledged ripoffs/reuses of old ideas/images (often Moffat's own) or deliberate tips of the hat. Which didn't work because those shine best/are amusing when slid into new material whereas here it became difficult to tell what was on purpose and what was unintended. It felt choppy and disconnected. It felt tired.
Rory: I loved his face when River was commiserating with Amy, pained and frustrated all at once. I liked when he talked with River, he's the most human of the four and I love his acknowledgement of how nuts she and the Doctor are (and his unhappy awareness that Amy is a bit the same way.) River bouncing jokes off him that make Eleven squirm with secret delight make Rory just go 'no'. He seems to have lost his anger/resentment from S5 though, which is nice.
Amy: She was ... interesting? I feel like they're trying to graft a different personality again onto her with hearkbacks to various points from last season, but frankly she doesn't have strong enough foundations to bear it. It would be nice to see her having some consistency though, so I hope if they decide to stick with this they write it solid from here on in.
Riverrrrrrr: I feel nothing but regret re River atm. Oh and tiredness, are they reaaallly going to make us put up with her all season? But whilst I still dislike her, this is how they should have introed her. (Or if they wanted to do it the way they did they should have either compressed the storyline (THREE SEASONS!?!!?) or unveiled her slowly, making her not so prominent first off.) She's still smug and insufferable here but instead of just trying to shout at the audience how WONDERFUL she is and how YOU SHOULD ALL BE IMPRESSED NOW we get to see a touch more of her vulnerability. We're invited to sympathise with her position. When she says 'spoilers' we know why she does it and get an idea of how difficult it is. On the other side of the spoiler barrier she just seems smug. Again she's at her most human engaging with characters not the Doctor, and if it hadn't been so heavy-handed I might actually have sympathised with her when she was talking to Rory. Even the following the Doctor around fixing up things on the console he was doing wrong as he was doing them was better than last time. Rather than overthrowing an iconic noise for no reason at all (except the poorest example of attempting to show not tell your Mary-Sue ever) she was actually being helpful, and then we got that nice twist where the Doctor was counting on it all along (he had a few Sevenish moments this ep.)
The Silence: I'd probably find them way more interesting/scary if it weren't for the Angels. On the other hand my brother finds them horrifying, so whatevs.
So while I'll keep watching, do better Eleven. Please. I want the magic back.
There were lines I liked. The Easter Island thing. The Doctor demanding everyone recognise his brilliance was very him. (River saying that companions are there to do what they're told was the antithesis of this shoooww you guys what evennn?) It was nice to see the console from The Lodger so early on. The American agent ended up being interesting although I didn't like him at first.
Everyone was so grumpy. The whole episode. There was no joy.
I think having a two-parter to start off with was a mistake, especially when they were being so careful to have all that exposition snuck in to make sure we were all up to to speed. The episode was mostly a rehash of old material, either unacknowledged ripoffs/reuses of old ideas/images (often Moffat's own) or deliberate tips of the hat. Which didn't work because those shine best/are amusing when slid into new material whereas here it became difficult to tell what was on purpose and what was unintended. It felt choppy and disconnected. It felt tired.
Rory: I loved his face when River was commiserating with Amy, pained and frustrated all at once. I liked when he talked with River, he's the most human of the four and I love his acknowledgement of how nuts she and the Doctor are (and his unhappy awareness that Amy is a bit the same way.) River bouncing jokes off him that make Eleven squirm with secret delight make Rory just go 'no'. He seems to have lost his anger/resentment from S5 though, which is nice.
Amy: She was ... interesting? I feel like they're trying to graft a different personality again onto her with hearkbacks to various points from last season, but frankly she doesn't have strong enough foundations to bear it. It would be nice to see her having some consistency though, so I hope if they decide to stick with this they write it solid from here on in.
Riverrrrrrr: I feel nothing but regret re River atm. Oh and tiredness, are they reaaallly going to make us put up with her all season? But whilst I still dislike her, this is how they should have introed her. (Or if they wanted to do it the way they did they should have either compressed the storyline (THREE SEASONS!?!!?) or unveiled her slowly, making her not so prominent first off.) She's still smug and insufferable here but instead of just trying to shout at the audience how WONDERFUL she is and how YOU SHOULD ALL BE IMPRESSED NOW we get to see a touch more of her vulnerability. We're invited to sympathise with her position. When she says 'spoilers' we know why she does it and get an idea of how difficult it is. On the other side of the spoiler barrier she just seems smug. Again she's at her most human engaging with characters not the Doctor, and if it hadn't been so heavy-handed I might actually have sympathised with her when she was talking to Rory. Even the following the Doctor around fixing up things on the console he was doing wrong as he was doing them was better than last time. Rather than overthrowing an iconic noise for no reason at all (except the poorest example of attempting to show not tell your Mary-Sue ever) she was actually being helpful, and then we got that nice twist where the Doctor was counting on it all along (he had a few Sevenish moments this ep.)
The Silence: I'd probably find them way more interesting/scary if it weren't for the Angels. On the other hand my brother finds them horrifying, so whatevs.
So while I'll keep watching, do better Eleven. Please. I want the magic back.