Doctor Who – The Eleventh Hour – Spoiler Free Review
Short review: Fantastic
Longer review:
there’s no denying that The Eleventh Hour was very light plotwise. But then the episode wasn’t about the story, it was about introducing the new Doctor, the new companion and the new Steven Moffat led era. In this the show succeeded superbly whilst also setting up the series five plot arc. Most importantly The Eleventh Hour gave us a feel for what Doctor Who will be like under Moffat’s leadership, and I for one liked what I saw.
Let’s start with the key question: was Matt Smith the right choice as Doctor? It’s still too early to tell, as The Doctor says himself he’s not quite done yet. But he certainly has the potential. A little too manic for my tastes perhaps but I can get used to that. The main thing is that he definitely is The Doctor, the final face-off proved that. There was that one line on the roof that sealed it for me and probably for many others as well.
Is Matt Smith the new David Tennant? Of course not, and he shouldn’t be. Will he be a great Doctor? It’s far too early to tell. Will he be a good Doctor? Yes, definitely.
The atmosphere of the story managed to combine both laugh out loud funny with pretty darned scary. And for the adults not only did we have sexily dressed Karen Gillan plus Matt Smith stripping but a number of lines that would (fortunately) have gone way over the heads of the kids (dressing up games anyone?). Given the pacing of the whole show there were probably more that I missed. I’m looking forward to watching the episode again to find them.
For old timers like myself the new arrangement of the theme tune was a delight, bringing back memories of the classic era whilst also having a contemporary feel. The vortex effect was good, although the Tardis CGI did look a little cheap. The new console room isn’t as radically different as I’d expected but will serve its purpose. Some of the “steampunk” is a bit silly – I actually had to check they weren’t using Susannah from Lancashire’s design!
Minor quibbles aside, The Eleventh Hour was thoroughly enjoyable and reassuring. I started watching with high hopes but also feeling very nervous. By the end of the episode I was extremely happy and feeling a lot more confident about the show’s future.
Roll on next week!
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Lines that go over the heads of kids: ‘Clear your Internet history’.
Maybe I’m underestimating the kids, though.
I shared your feeling about the episode. As for Matt Smith, well, I have to confess that by the end of his stretch I felt that David Tennant had succeeded in reaching the Tom-Baker-Horizon even faster than Tom Baker reached it, so not being David Tennant is actually a plus for me. And I did like the heavily trailed line he delivered to the young Amy Pond: ‘Trust me: I’m the Doctor!’
Comment by Paul Mason | April 4, 2010
The “clear your history” line was nicely ambiguous – it could have been referring to the trail left by hacking into the ongoing webconference. I actually preferred the slightly earlier line when the Doctor first looked at what the guy was viewing on his laptop and said something like “Get a girlfriend”
Comment by trevor | April 4, 2010