‘Doctor Who’ Review: ‘The Eleventh Hour’

Saturday saw the much-anticipated return of Doctor Who to BBCA, this time with Matt Smith at the TARDIS console and Steven Moffat at the helm.

I myself had been on tenterhooks since David Tennant’s rather heart-wrenching “I don’t want to go.” (My roommate and I may have boosted Kleenex’s profits to a level not seen since the big screen premiere of Beaches. Just saying…) No Rose Tyler, no pinstripes… I honestly wasn’t sure that Moffat and his new-new-new Doctor were going to be able to hold my interest.

I’m happy to say I was wrong. “The Eleventh Hour” was a fascinating episode and a great way to introduce Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. Bless him and the writers for putting in just enough references to episodes gone by. Smith channels both Eccleston’s and Tennant’s characterizations of the Doctor more than once, while still managing to bring his very own style to the fore.

The Doctor’s new companion Amy Pond, played in this episode by both Karen Gillan and her young cousin Caitlyn Blackwood, is a surprising and fiery delight. It’s apparent from the get-go that she’s more than willing to challenge the Doctor, despite her childhood attachment to him.

I look forward to watching the arc of this season’s storyline unfold. There’s a crack in Amy’s wall, a crack displayed on the monitor of the TARDIS, and (I hear) cracks elsewhere in the universe, largely unmentioned by the characters but made painfully obvious to the audience. I can only assume that we’ll find out their meaning near the end of the season when that same crack tells Amy that she can open the TARDIS and get back to the Doct-… no wait, wrong plotline.

All in all, well done to Moffat, Smith, and Gillan. The first episode of season five has kept me interested in the “mad man with a box.” Here’s hoping they continue as strong as they’ve started.

Official Doctor Who Site: byronpaul.com/doctorwho

Review By: Jennifer Steele

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