birdienl | Doctor Who-The Eleventh Hour: thoughts and five favourite moments

Yesterday, after over three months of waiting, we could finally watch the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who. Ofcourse that occassion deserves a post!

Well, first of all, a lot of new things: a new Doctor, a new companion, new title sequence, new TARDIS, new sonic screwdriver, new 'style' of the show ... gasp.... It was a lot to take in at once, and maybe that's the reason why I'm not 'into' the eleventh Doctor yet as I was into Christopher Eccleston after watching 'Rose' or into David Tennant after watching 'The Christmas Invasion'. I won't judge Matt Smith yet after watching this packed first episode. I think I will like him, I'm just not sure how much. I do already love Amy as the new companion. What immediately made me love her were the scenes of her as a little girl and the idea of her waiting for the Doctor, first for 12 years and then for another 2 years. I'm very, very curious how she and her relationship with the Doctor will develop, but I've got a lot of faith in that.

Here's my five favourite scenes of this first episode (screencaps fromThe Medusa Cascade):

'You're not scared of anything. Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of the box, man eats fish-custard and look at you!'

I wasn't too keen on the whole food scene in itself, but you've got to admit, little Amy is awesome! Just sitting there enjoying her midnight icecream with a rather strange ... eh.. stranger. Wonderful idea, wonderful acting of little Caitlin Blackwood.

'Just 20 minutes, just believe me for 20 minutes'

Nice touch with the apple, but especially very good acting of both Matt and Karen in this scene. And lovely music

'I think someone's going to notice, don't you?'

Very Doctor-ish, very 'madman in a box'

'I'm saving the world, I need a decent shirt'

I actually thought this was the best scene of the whole episode. And no, not because Matt took his clothes of (really, truly). I just thought is was a really fun way for the new Doctor to pick his new outfit.

'Is this world protected?'

I love these little touches of continuity, reminding us that even with all these changes, we're still watching the same old show!

And, oh I almost forgot!, a big fat honorary mention for the music. It was brilliant, I'm so glad with all the people leaving Doctor Who, Murray Gold has decided to stay on. I especially liked the music which is also played in one of the trailers, almost cinematic.

And then to what I didn't like (because being in the Doctor Who fandom is being a nitpick):
- The theme sequence, I loved the old one so much more (and I will NOT change the ringtone of my mobile phone!)
- The new TARDIS, maybe I just have to get used to it, but it was al so very shiny and I thought the blown glass bulbs in the time console were just boring
- The monster, Prisoner Zero. An example of bad CGI, and where was it attached to, dangling out from the ceiling? I did like it when it impersonated the persons in coma though, with the speaking through the wrong mouth and all.
- The Atraxi with their rather tiny spaceship and the big eyeball. Just ... weird and not convincing me they were dangerous at all.