Filed under: Doctor Who Series 6
Let’s be honest, the previous series of Doctor Who was rather patchy. And offering yet further comparisons with my underwear, the Christmas special was ropey too! In fact the last series was so hit and miss that a work friend actually stopped watching Doctor Who completely, after that god awful Dalek episode. Shame, because he didn’t see Amy’s Choice, which in my opinion was the best one of series 5. Yes Peter Huxley, I’m talking about you. So, there was good moments in Series 5, but far too many weak ones. Leading me to give 4/10 on easily over a third of the stories and only targeting 3 episodes worthy of 8/10 or more; Eleven, Beast Below and Amy’s Choice. But enough about the last series. Let’s get down to reviewing the first episode of the new series….series 6!
I’ve been feeling ill all day, so I was thinking a light hearted episode of Doctor Who would cheer me up. After all, the first episode of every new series is always very bouncy to get you in the mood. I assumed series 6 would start in the same manner as the others. How wrong I was this time!
Bugger me, this was one hell of a dark episode. And thankfully a bloody good one. I always know when I’m watching a good story, because I was intrigued right from the start. I really don’t want to give the plot away, but you’ll be shocked at how sombre this was for 6 o’clock on a Saturday evening. Mostly this was set in 1969, the year of the moon landing. Features a man playing Richard Nixon (not in a naff way). Stars not just one companion, but three. A trapped child calling out for help via a phone (this has been done before, new ideas please). Space suits becoming processed or taken over (er, this has been done before too). Aliens that you instantly forget the moment you look away. And…….oh yeah, the Doctor is dead!. Nearly forgot to mention that bit. Killed and not given the chance to regenerate fully ,killed once again. Yep, this time he really is dead. They’ve even burnt his body in a boat out at sea. But hang on, who’s this? A younger doctor, previously invited by his now dead self via an envelope to make sense of all this madness. So how did the Doctor know he was going to die? Guess we’ll have to tune in next week to find out.
Overall, I found this episode very well scripted and perfectly directed. My only criticism was the rehashing of old ideas, yet again. But at least this time they were used creatively, rather than in a lazy manner. A very good, yet creepy episode of Doctor Who. A solid start to the new series!
8/10
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