Thoughts on The Impossible Astronaut (6x1)
Well, that was rollicking, eh?
I do not usually write these reaction post things, but I had some time and I'm still online, and none of my four friends are around to talk about this with - so here are collection of thoughts, chosen at random...
I still maintain that every season opener of New Who - including Torchwood and the SJA, incidentally - can be either a good introductory episode (Rose, Smith & Jones) or a really good episode (The Eleventh Hour), but not both. This one was even more a cavalcade of references than "Partners in Crime"... (Required watching for this episode: Series 5 + Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead + The Parting of the Ways or The End of Time or Utopia, for the regeneration context - normal people don't glow while they're dying.) Moffat definitely sat down at his writing desk and decided that anyone who couldn't keep up with him was going to be left in the dust.
I am still totally unsure as to how "A Christmas Carol" fits into this whole narrative of Amy and Rory being off on their own for around a year. Definitely jives with "Death of the Doctor," though, so I am cool with that. I have also seen the theory that this two-parter is chronologically the end of the season, and the next few episodes will fill in the missing year, but I am not sure what to make of that. I could genuinely believe that the awkward meeting in America was the first time the Doctor had seen the Ponds since their honeymoon.
For all the timey-wimey in this episode, and my increasing irritation with timey-wimey plots, I was pretty happy with the way it started. Having Eleven be the one in the dark, instead of smugly manipulating events, is satisfying for a change.
Also, thank you River for reminding us that time travel is not a superpower, and that trying to turn back time like that would likely just lead to, well, Children of Time Victorious territory.
A thing that would annoy me: If we spend the entirety of Series 6 (and maybe Series 6B/7) working up to this moment - as in, we get another five-plus episodes of timey-wimey before they "reverse" the Doctor's death there - I will be rather irritated. It was somewhat dramatic, but it's not going to be any more effective if it takes them ten episodes or ten minutes to save future!Doctor. Even if Amy keeps being sad.
Liked the hat-tip to RTD with the funeral pyre.
If these monsters that people keep forgetting are in fact "the Silence," which they never said, then it bothered me a bit that in their first proper scene, one is shown speaking. And it grows a mouth, which reminded me of the Dementors.
Rory finally doesn't feel like an afterthought or a punchline, which is snazzy. His interactions with the minor characters and his covering for the Doctor were good, and I liked that he got to talk to River Song at last. And I'm glad River has acknowledged that her relationship with the Doctor is pretty effed-up, on both sides - it took a moment for the full effect of "I know him more and more, he knows me less and less," to sink in. Basically that whole underground conversation was A+ , Steven Moffat.
As to Amy's pregnancy: I was surprised, but I can't say it was too shocking. Some people on the Internet has been predicting this for quite a while, and all the stuff about her putting on weight hinted at it, too. I do think she is telling the truth. (Some people on the Internet do not believe that.)
In conclusion: Don't really want to judge until I've gotten a chance to see Day of the Moon, but I think this series is getting off to a fantastic start. Looking forward to where this goes.
I do not usually write these reaction post things, but I had some time and I'm still online, and none of my four friends are around to talk about this with - so here are collection of thoughts, chosen at random...
I still maintain that every season opener of New Who - including Torchwood and the SJA, incidentally - can be either a good introductory episode (Rose, Smith & Jones) or a really good episode (The Eleventh Hour), but not both. This one was even more a cavalcade of references than "Partners in Crime"... (Required watching for this episode: Series 5 + Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead + The Parting of the Ways or The End of Time or Utopia, for the regeneration context - normal people don't glow while they're dying.) Moffat definitely sat down at his writing desk and decided that anyone who couldn't keep up with him was going to be left in the dust.
I am still totally unsure as to how "A Christmas Carol" fits into this whole narrative of Amy and Rory being off on their own for around a year. Definitely jives with "Death of the Doctor," though, so I am cool with that. I have also seen the theory that this two-parter is chronologically the end of the season, and the next few episodes will fill in the missing year, but I am not sure what to make of that. I could genuinely believe that the awkward meeting in America was the first time the Doctor had seen the Ponds since their honeymoon.
For all the timey-wimey in this episode, and my increasing irritation with timey-wimey plots, I was pretty happy with the way it started. Having Eleven be the one in the dark, instead of smugly manipulating events, is satisfying for a change.
Also, thank you River for reminding us that time travel is not a superpower, and that trying to turn back time like that would likely just lead to, well, Children of Time Victorious territory.
A thing that would annoy me: If we spend the entirety of Series 6 (and maybe Series 6B/7) working up to this moment - as in, we get another five-plus episodes of timey-wimey before they "reverse" the Doctor's death there - I will be rather irritated. It was somewhat dramatic, but it's not going to be any more effective if it takes them ten episodes or ten minutes to save future!Doctor. Even if Amy keeps being sad.
Liked the hat-tip to RTD with the funeral pyre.
If these monsters that people keep forgetting are in fact "the Silence," which they never said, then it bothered me a bit that in their first proper scene, one is shown speaking. And it grows a mouth, which reminded me of the Dementors.
Rory finally doesn't feel like an afterthought or a punchline, which is snazzy. His interactions with the minor characters and his covering for the Doctor were good, and I liked that he got to talk to River Song at last. And I'm glad River has acknowledged that her relationship with the Doctor is pretty effed-up, on both sides - it took a moment for the full effect of "I know him more and more, he knows me less and less," to sink in. Basically that whole underground conversation was A+ , Steven Moffat.
As to Amy's pregnancy: I was surprised, but I can't say it was too shocking. Some people on the Internet has been predicting this for quite a while, and all the stuff about her putting on weight hinted at it, too. I do think she is telling the truth. (Some people on the Internet do not believe that.)
In conclusion: Don't really want to judge until I've gotten a chance to see Day of the Moon, but I think this series is getting off to a fantastic start. Looking forward to where this goes.