Review – Doctor Who – “The Eleventh Hour”

So I have seen the first episode of Matt Smith’s tenure as the 11th Doctor. I have seen it, and I have, thankfully, enjoyed it. It appears to junk most, if not quite all, of the crap that was picked up during the Davies era while keeping what was good about the old show and the new.

The story is fairly mediocre, but that’s to be expected of new Doctor stories. This one isn’t as good as my personal favorites (“Spearhead from Space” and “Castrovalva” as well as the Doctor attacking Peri in “The Twin Dilemma”), but is better than the worst of the bunch (“Robot” and “Time and the Rani”).

Said story focuses on the Doctor running into a little girl who has a crack in her bedroom. Said crack appears to be in the universe as opposed to her bedroom, and through it someone named Prisoner Zero has escaped. He seals the crack, tells the girl he’ll be back for her in five minutes, and then disappears only to show up twelve years later. The girl is grown, the prisoner is out, and Earth is being menaced. Again.

Smith brings a delightful energy to the role. He has said he based his performance of Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor. It shows, both in his mannerisms and in the outfit he picked. Darken the jacket slightly and it’s be quite a bit like the 2nd Doctor’s.

New companion Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), seems well-suited to be the Doctor’s side kick and, thankfully, appears to have a love interest, so perhaps we’ll go an entire series without someone falling in love with the Doctor. It also helps that the apparent love-interest, one Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), is set to become the first real male companion since Turlough’s days with the 5th Doctor.

There’s a lot of potential with this Doctor and with Amy and Rory. I look very forward to the rest of the series and seeing things like the Daleks, the Vampires, the Cybermen and the Silurians, as well as whatever newness the shows throws at us. I could do without what’s likely to be a series-long arc centering around something that could Doom the Universe (again), but otherwise I feel some confidence about this series and this Doctor. Let’s see what happens next!

“The Eleventh Hour” has its American premier on BBC America on April the 17th