Sorry I didn't get a chance to respond sooner. It's interesting reading everyone's thoughts. When I watched the episode I totally agreed with Ed. I was completely jazzed! I loved it! While I'm not a fan of the actress playing River Song, I like the character. Now that I read Pat's comments, I find myself scratching my head agreeing with many of his comments.
Addressing each of Pat's points:
1) Good observation. While as a die-hard Whovian I loved all the time-twists and subplots, I see what you mean about new viewers. Last season's opener was specifically designed to grab new viewers. This opener seems designed to do the opposite. I think viewers would have been fine with the time-twists involved with the future-Doctor murder, but the River Song stuff plus aliens was probably a little too much.
2) I had similar thoughts about the aliens at first. I thought, "Geez Moffat, you really are hung up on the action of people looking at your monsters." However, the excellent performances by the actors helped me get over this concern. By the way, in the Doctor Who Confidential they named these new monsters. Since we're doing SPOILERS.... The name of the aliens: The Silence. That's right, we've now met the much-mentioned, never-seen "Silence".
3) I agree the first episode of the season probably shouldn't have been two parts. One solid story would have been better. But I gotta say the murder of the future Doctor early on was AMAZING! When he started to regenerate I found myself yelling, "No F-ing Way!" Great hook for the season. So who do you think killed the future Doctor? Who was the astronaut coming out of the lake? The little girl? I don't think so. My guess would be it was actually River, but that might just be them leading the viewer down that path.
I liked the Christmas episode for 2010. Absolutely loved the fairy tale aspect.
Marc Sheppard was great! Not sure how many episodes he's in, but I'd love to see him become a regular or semi-regular companion. He has the potential to become one of my favorite companions!
Until I read your comment about Cape Kennedy basements, I didn't even think of that **slapping own forehead**. Great observation! I'm cracking up over that!
I LOVED the White House scenes! Seriously funny and enjoyable!
The Irredeemable Shag
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---------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [The Unique Geek] Dr. Who season 6 opener
From: Patrick Pence <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, April 25, 2011 4:29 pm
To: <[email protected]>
Hmmm. Well, I'm reserving my *full* judgement until part 2, but so far this playing out to be my least favorite Moffat storyline. Here are some of my initial thoughts:1. Part 1 is just all over the place. If its meant to draw new viewers in (as all the build-up and retrospectives on BBC America were meant to do), it has probably alienated (see what I did there?) half of those newbies who finally have decided to take the plunge after nearly 50 years of avoiding. I'm talking to you, Serv. The plot is just ALL OVER THE PLACE. I do like a little bit of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff in my episodes, but good grief! It was layered on pretty heavily between the main storyline, the River Song timeline, and the new aliens in 1969 stuff. Pick a sub-plot and run with it.2. New aliens that make you turn into a Late Stage Alzheimer's patient WHEN YOU STOP LOOKING at them. So, are we to surmise that these aliens are in league with, or perhaps some other form of Weeping Angel, or does Steven Moffat just like that plot device when writing horror. "Don't look away..."3. The pacing was a little slapdash. Lots of misdirection (which is fine), but for a season opener he should have just written a solid Moffat-ish story line that would tee up for the rest of the season. What we got was a "Stay-tuned-folks, next week is totally going to be worth it. Promise!"I may be bagging on it a little harshly, which I don't mean to. But I think I've just been disappointed by one too many of the Chrsitmas Episodes that have left me a little cold. Perhaps I'm just suffering from Event Fatigue in Doctor Who, and I like the standalone stories- moreso than a hamfisted effort to queue up the upcoming season's story arc.But, hey, I could be wrong... we'll see Saturday. Marc Sheppard was pretty cool, though.Oh- and note to British writers: The basement of a building near Cape Kennedy is completely under water.Patrick--______________________________[email protected] "You can be the captain, and I will draw the chart..."
> Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:08:16 -0400
> Subject: [The Unique Geek] Dr. Who season 6 opener
> From: [email protected]
> To: [email protected]
>
> Are we going to talk about this? I prefer with SPOILERS. So, if you
> haven't seen it yet I recommend turning away.
>
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