NuWho Review: Series 5 Episode 1 "The Eleventh Hour"

By: Steven Moffat

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet seen this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

             David Tennant had left the show. Russell T. Davies had left the show. We had a new Doctor, a new head writer, and an almost entirely new production team. People were by turns scared, concerned, resentful, and mutinous. They were angry that Tennant had left. They said that Steven Moffat would be the ruin of the show. They didn't like Matt Smith with his goofy hair and youngish appearance. (And they do realize that in that complaint they just described the favorite who had just left, right?) They said he was too young. They said he wasn't hot enough. Grumble, grumble, complain, complain, hate, hate, moan, moan, whine, whine, whine, boo-hoo. 

          In short, the Whovian community at large was not in a good place. Internally the producers of the show weren't even certain if it could go on with the departure of Tennant and externally the fans were all set to riot, boycott, and spam message boards across the world with their complaints.

       Personally, I had never bought into the Tennant hype (or the RTD hype...especially in his later years of writing season finales), so I was excited to see Steven Moffat - the writer of some of my all-time favorite episodes - take over the helm. I was also ready for a change from Tennant. Not that he didn't do a great job. Because he did. He brought something very special to the role and I love him in it. But Doctor Who is a show that thrives on change and it was about time we had one.

      

          Needless to say, however hard it may be to look back and believe it now, fans HATED Matt Smith whenever it was announced on Doctor Who Confidential that he would be the new incarnation of the Time Lord. Maybe not all fans felt this way, but most of the more vocal ones threatened to leave the show once he took up the TARDIS keys. It didn't matter that he hadn't even had one scene as the character yet...they were all set to hate him. Poor Matt!

Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- I love the opening sequence of this episode with the TARDIS hurtling through the skies of London with The Doctor desperately clinging to the doorstep. Not only did it make the episode start with a bang, but it also gave us one last farewell to the London scene that Davies had favored before we switch over to Moffat's era.

- It's also a chance for Matt to show off some of his visual acting props and win over the still-reluctant fans.

- And gives us an excuse for a whole new TARDIS overhaul.

- So after that VERY exciting beginning, the new credits roll and we cut to the peace and quiet of a country garden and a little girl praying to Santa. Why she would be praying to Santa and not the traditional 'now I lay me down to sleep...' is a question I don't think we'll ever have answered, but it's still an absolutely adorable scene and a fine introduction to Miss Amelia Pond.

- The girl's prayer is interrupted, however, whenever The Doctor's ailing TARDIS crashes into her garden shed. I just love this introduction to the new companion. To my certain knowledge, we had never had The Doctor meet up with a child in this way before. And the fact that he will become Amy's childhood imaginary friend gives an interesting depth to their relationship and allows it to develop in a whole new way.

- Rather like him meeting up with Donna once long before she became the companion, we are able to feel a deep connection between The Doctor and Amy because they have known each other and known of each other for so long.

- This also gives us that laugh-out-loud hilarious food sequence. It rather reminds me of Tigger from The House on Pooh Corner. I wonder if that was intentional...

- In that other story, Tigger is hungry and needs something to eat for breakfast. After trying out honey, acorns, condensed milk, porridge, and even thistles, he finally settles on Extract of Malt of all things. At least The Doctor went for fish fingers and custard.

- The bits with Amelia and The Doctor cooking dinner and examining the crack in her wall are some of my favorite Doctor Who moments period. I love the way he's acting like a kindly old uncle, protective older brother, and fun-loving cousin all rolled into one. "You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying?" "Yeah?" "Everything's going to be fine." He doesn't talk down to her, but he's very gentle.

- The Doctor, as usual, takes a while to get used to his new body. As he puts it, he's still cooking. Kinda makes you wonder if that theory that he literally imprints on the first face his new face sees is true. It would make sense as to why Eleven was so childish then, seeing as how the first person he saw was a child.


- I feel like the mystery with the coma patients was a bit underplayed. The doctor Rory talks to was far too irritable, given the situation (if it were me, I'd be worried about reports of coma patients walking around with puppy dogs), and she sort of disappeared from the story by the end.

- But, in the end, that's okay because the focus of this story wasn't the alien. No, in this story the focus was the relationship between Companion and Doctor - introducing and establishing the characters as people. And that part is done perfectly.

- I really want to know how Amy held her hair up so neatly with just that hat. Maybe it's because there's so much of it, but when I tried that it fell down the minute I breathed.

- "You broke into my house...it was either this or the French Maid!"


- I find it very funny how the entire village of Leadworth knows all about Amy's obsession with her Raggedy Doctor (including the cartoons she drew as a child). In a small town like that, you don't sneeze but that everybody knows about it.

- One of the things I LOVE about this episode (aside from the witty banter that I could actually enjoy without poking at plot-holes) is the fact that The Doctor is totally earthbound, left without a screwdriver, and has to use only his wits and his companions to solve his problem. No fancy technobabble nonsense about meta crisis'. No screaming civilians to create the tension that we're not feeling. No bippity-boppity-boo sonic screwdrivers moves. It's just all about the characters.

- Another thing I like about this episode is that it retconned the MANY Dalek invasions of London and Earth. I always found those episodes to be rather repetitive and silly...so naturally I get a bit of (probably vindictive) pleasure out of an episode that takes place earlier in the timeline than those monstrosities and with companions who don't know about them.

- It's also refreshing to see humans react in a more realistic way to a spaceship in the sky - i.e. taking a picture with their phones.

- The Doctor stealing Jeff's laptop to write up a computer virus that he will send to all the governments of the world (Where was UNIT in all of this?) made me laugh. As did the Getting Crap Past The Radar comments about Internet history...another staple of Moffat's.

- I really want to know what became of Jeff in the end. He seemed like a decent kid. Did he get that high-profile job?

- Rory Williams...I seriously think I'm in love. I've always said that Rory is what Mickey Smith should have been. The comparisons are inevitable...but Amy is much more likable than Rose and Rory gets a better rap character-development-wise than poor Mickey was allotted. The Doctor is nicer to him too.

- Prisoner Zero is an appropriately creepy exposition machine. "The Pandorica Will Open. Silence Will Fall." And there's our season arcs for the next few years. Moffat played a long, LONG game...setting things up all the way back in The Girl in the Fireplace with Reinette's observations about The Doctor's name. I'm just amazed by that. He always had a plan in mind.

- This season had a higher SFX budget than the ones before. It was also shot in high definition. And it really shows. Everything looks crisp and clean and the effects on Prisoner Zero, while not perfect, definitely look amazing for this show.

- "You just summoned aliens back to earth. Actual aliens. Deadly aliens. And now you're...taking your clothes off. Amy, he's taking his clothes off." Believe it or not this scene actually caused quite a bit of controversy. Funny. People didn't seem to mind so much whenever it was the Tennant meta crisis wandering around naked...

- There's probably something symbolic about Matt stepping through 10's face and saying "Hello, I'm The Doctor." I dunno. What do you all think?

           In case you haven't noticed, I LOVE this episode. It was a fantastic start to both Matt and Moffat's runs on the show and remains one of my favorites to re-watch just for fun to this day. I've always said that Season 5 of the revived show was its zenith, and it definitely got the right start here. The Eleventh Hour is a solid 5/5!

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?