New New Doctor Who

[davidn]

Goodness gracious me, a Doctor Who episode that was actually good. The whole concept of such a phenomenon existing had fallen so far into unbelievability recently that it's a huge surprise to see it happen again.

It contained:

- A 1408ish crack in the wall with a giant twitching eye on the other side
- A disused room that hides in the corner of your eye...
- ...that housed a Synx-fish-tentacle thing
- Twin girls with needle teeth
- In a deserted hospital
- Victor Meldrew's wife/Manny Bianco's mum
- Sort of airborne Aletheia-snowflakes
- A post office (and it's shut)
- A mini
- Patrick Moore

Clearly, Steven Moffat is starting as he means to go on. If it had also involved driving that fire engine through the wall instead of stopping disappointingly short at poking the ladder through a window, then that would have completely crowned it.

Even though this is the first time in the post-2000 run where there's been a change of all the main characters, it still felt more like a complete reset than I had expected. The titles, logo and music have all been replaced to form a darker-themed, synth-choired opening, but it's not a complete move into Darker And Edgier territory - the new Doctor keeps a lot of the eccentric tone, there were a couple of funny moments, and the new design of the Tardis interior looks somewhat like a cross between the ocean zone of the Crystal Maze and Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. There was a bit of bluescreening at the start, but apart from that it all somehow even looks better, now - and that can't be just due to a change of writers, but the whole thing just feels like it's been refreshed.

I got the feeling that the new President of Hiding Behind the Sofa was holding himself back for a slightly gentle introduction to the series - this wouldn't have required the usual "Warning, this episode was written by Steven Moffat" note for family viewing - but it's nice to know that he has the potential to fulfill the programme's intention of making its younger and more nervous viewers lose a bit of sleep.

I think that even after the specials over the last year which hovered at some level below diabolical that I'd possibly label "really stupid", you can consider me reconvinced once more. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to this new direction with Matt Smith.

Ace.

Comments

[stubbleupdate.livejournal.com]

I only watched a few of Nine's episoes, but the theme for that sounded like the TARDIS was going to war an I heartily approved of that.

[stubbleupdate.livejournal.com]

My d key is crap

[davidn]

There was a fortnight-long period where my co-worker's N key was entirely broken, and deciphering his IMs was like reading Chaucer at times.

Part of why I was so surprised that the theme music had been replaced was that they had been building up the epicness of Christopher Eccleston's theme over time and had just reached a point where I thought they'd really got it to an amazing level - but I'm definitely warming to this one as well.

[tamakun.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen any of the new Doctor Who series since the beginning of "Season Two". That being the case, I'm a bit behind, and I kinda glossed over what you said -- but that Synx pciture is gonna give me nightmares D:

[davidn]

I enjoyed it when it started out (and I always thought Christopher Eccleston should have stayed on for longer, because I liked his more... serious Doctor) but it always had a faint to strong air of, well, stupidity about it. Not that I'm saying that it should start trying to take itself seriously at all, but especially over the specials during the last year it had just descended into embarrassment. (And it had Catherine Tate in it, as noted below.)

And yes, it's... a disturbing picture, and one of the more 'innocent' ones of the Synx! Never mind Steven Moffat - the people on FA have come up with some truly horrifying stuff.

[kibet.livejournal.com]

The lack of annoying Catherine Tate was what made me watch it. I thought the doctor was a bit creepy to begin with but did not think that he seemed noticeably younger in it than was expected. Also, praises to the fact he never said Geronimo again and it becoming his catchphrase!

[davidn]

It was... horrific when Catherine Tate was announced as the fourth series companion, but a couple of episodes in I realized that she was nowhere near as annoying as I had feared she would be. (You'll notice, however, the complete lack of demented marshmallow-children in this series opener compared to the last).

[starfishchris.livejournal.com]

I would just like to say mega ♥ for the new companion