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First Impressions of the 11th Doctor Who

Mirk writes "The first episode of Doctor Who's new series 5 has just aired on BBC1 in the UK. This is an important episode for the show because so much has changed: Matt Smith plays the new Doctor, replacing David Tennant, and Karen Gillan portrays a new companion, Amy Pond. Maybe most important, Russell T. Davies is replaced as showrunner by Stephen Moffat, who is known for acclaimed Doctor Who scripts including The Empty Child and Blink. Here is an early review of the new Doctor, companion, showrunner, and series."

23 of 379 comments (clear)

  1. The Companion by OverlordQ · · Score: 5, Informative

    is hot.

    --
    Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
    1. Re:The Companion by isorox · · Score: 4, Informative

      is hot.

      Just a note to our cousins across the pond, British police officers *do not* look like that :(

    2. Re:The Companion by digitig · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's a very long time since they looked like that on the outside, either. Or like anything, actually, as we no longer have them as far as I am aware.

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
    3. Re:The Companion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
  2. Re:Watched it, impressed! by Goffee71 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Love the humour, love the pace but still a bit too much random running around. Cast and chrs are just the change of pace needed, quirky but loveable and with decent chemistry. Wonder who was responsible for the cracks in the universe?

    --
    If he's the Walrus then can I be a penguin please?
  3. PICs by leuk_he · · Score: 4, Informative

    Pic 1
    She is not really a police officer or a nun nor a nurse. ;)

  4. Re:Watched it, impressed! by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's off to a good start, I agree. As for the cracks - the Doctor mentioned that the prisoner opened them, but I guess that might not be all behind it. Those cracks will be with us for a while, I suppose.

    --
    Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
  5. Re:Watched it, impressed! by click2005 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The prisoner said it didn't create them. It teased the doctor because he didn't know who had.

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  6. Re:post title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Always liked Christopher Eccleston more, he was much cooler. Tennant was also darn good though. Matt Smith got off to a decent start but as far as I'm concerned the jury is still out on him, after all we've only seen one episode so far. Didn't like the new intro music at all, a time vortex doesn't have smoke, for one, and the music was a lot worse - it didn't quite have that Doctor Who feel to it. The episode also seemed more low-budget than episodes from previous seasons, but that could be because it was the first time I've watched it in FullHD. My impression is that the acting performance was strong but almost everything else was a bit lacking, including the script. It was a still good, but I hope it gets better because I've come to expect a lot more from the show.

  7. Gawd by vague+disclaimer · · Score: 3, Informative
    It is surprisingly difficult to take seriously a review from someone who described The Girl in The Fireplace as 'whimsical'. That big a "whoosh" should be a warning to everyone.

    Here is a rather more intelligent take: http://iainjclark.livejournal.com/222121.html#cutid1

    (for me: someone shoot Murray Gold and put a call into to Christophe Beck to write decent music)

  8. Re:post title by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    The episode also seemed more low-budget than episodes from previous seasons, but that could be because it was the first time I've watched it in FullHD.

    No, my reaction also was that the effects in this one were a bit naff. I thought that of the very first episode, too, though. Remember Mickey wrestling with the Dumpster? And the Nestene Consciousness wasn't very impressive. I figure they're just saving their budget for the best bits to come.

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    Breakfast served all day!
  9. Re:The New Tardis by PCM2 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Plus the sonic screwdriver is no longer blue? Huh? Lore, people, lore?

    Lore? The sonic screwdriver only had a light on it for the new series. It wasn't any color at all in the originals.

    --
    Breakfast served all day!
  10. Re:Introduction to Dr. Who (Off-topic) by EdgeyEdgey · · Score: 4, Informative

    Blink
    That's the one that got the current writer promoted so is a good prelude to the current series.
    Unfortunately they aren't all as good as that.

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    [Intentionally left blank]
  11. Re:Watched it, impressed! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    What I'm most curious about is the English-flag-stamped Dalek

    Me too but that's a Union glag, not an English flag. The English flag is a St George's cross, red on white. That's only a part of the Union flag.

  12. Re:The New Tardis by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Informative

    the new tardis appears to be a labout of love for a guy who posts on livejournal

    his name is douglas442 and he appears to have started work on the tardis around 18 months ago.

    "The steampunk console project"

    all kudos to him and it fucking shows how much hard dedicated work he has put in
    tremendous job :)

    http://douglas442.livejournal.com/

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    liqbase :: faster than paper
  13. Re:Introduction to Dr. Who (Off-topic) by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 3, Informative

    "The Girl in the Fireplace", which was also his, was so good, it was almost too good to be a Doctor Who episode.

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  14. Misidenttified by Gonoff · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Dalek was not showing an English flag. It was in fact the British flag. England is no more the whole of this country than Texas is the whole of the USA. I agree that there are many Texans and English who may not fully appreciate the differences but people on /. are generally less parochial...

    --
    I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
    1. Re:Misidenttified by Ricwot · · Score: 2, Informative

      There are two countries in Britain. Scotland and England. You may also be interested in the principality of Wales. Or the territory of Northern Ireland (from which we get the diagonal red cross on the flag).

    2. Re:Misidenttified by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 2, Informative

      Having recently had dinner in LA with a lovely Welshman, don't tell him Wales isn't the third country in Britain.

      For that matter, don't tell the UK Government: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/uk_countries.asp

  15. Re:Seriously? by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Doctor Who monsters from that era were priceless. My favorite was Alpha_Centauri from the Jon Pertwee "Peladon" episodes; a painted beach-ball head, a shower curtain for a costume, and six arms, the lower two sets hanging from strings below the actor's real arms. Cheesy defined!

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  16. Re:The New Tardis by spartus · · Score: 2, Informative

    In Silence in the Library (also written by Moffat), River Song tells him to put it on the "Red" setting. This is just setting that shift up.

  17. Re:McGann's T.A.R.D.I.S. was the best by KiltedKnight · · Score: 2, Informative

    You are aware that the McGann TARDIS is based on the one from Tom Baker's season that began with "The Masque of Mandragora"... the season that saw the end of Sarah Jane Smith's tenure and the start of Leela's. It was based on that wooden set (that warped in the off-season) along with what you saw in "The Deadly Assassin."

    All that aside, I found the new Doctor and companion to be well done and the opening story quite entertaining. Could I pick it apart? Sure. Doesn't change that it was fun and well done. Many thanks to Russell T. Davies for regenerating the series and to Stephen Moffat for continuing it.

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    OCO is Loco
  18. Re:First time watcher by itsdapead · · Score: 2, Informative

    Essentially it felt as if Douglas Adams had written it, which is never a bad thing.

    Of course, Adams used to work as a writer and script editor on Doctor Who, and several of his books (particularly "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" and "Life, the Universe and Eveything") contain material originally intended for Doctor Who.

    Stephen Moffat certainly returned the favour with "The Girl in the Fireplace" which I felt was particularly Adams-esque (and possibly lifted a couple of ideas from Adams - the amnesiac spaceship computer from "Mostly Harmless" and the incongruous horse from "Dirk Gently"). You should check out that episode if you like Adams.

    (In fact, the new episode featured something almost, but not quite entirely the same as a Somebody Else's Problem field).

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