Rate "The Impossible Astronaut"

I'm giving it a 4, but I have this sneaking suspicion that this episode will be one that, in the fullness of time, as series 6 plays itself out, may actually have the potential to get better in hindsight.

We have, for the first time I can recall in Doctor Who, all the companions appearing to possess a 200-year step advantage on the Doctor, and they've apparently decided to keep that secret to themselves. The Doctor appears (emphasis intentional) to be the only one in the dark on this. I'm not fully convinced of that.

I do have to comment, going off the narrative analysis for a moment, that I think Rory stole the show- which completely surprised me. Yes, the dialogue between Amy and River was interesting, but a couple of Rory's moments were quite deftly underplayed- like the scene where River describes to him how she first met the Doctor, and asked him to imagine what does to a little girl. Rory's line, "I don't have to," and the look that crossed his face, were very well handled.

Dave Webb wrote:

The Browncoat Cat wrote:You get the feeling that Mr. Moffatt has told us all to "Pay attention Class, there will be questions after Episodes 7 and 13."

To be fair, the number of folks on Twitter who are saying things like "I don't understand what's happening" makes me think he may have overshot slightly.

On the other hand, this is the first chapter in a ten chapter story and you have to wonder about the attention span of folks who compare the first episode of the new season to the last episode in the final season of Lost.

The fact there are so many people claiming they don't understand what's happening isn't necessarily a bad thing- it all depends on how well all the plot points get connected, and not just in episode 2, but all the way through episode 13.

The main mystery we have presented is the Silence. Forget for a moment that they can kill- what monster in Doctor Who can't? The question is: what do they want? The motivation is always what makes the monster scary, and we haven't had that revelation yet.

One final thought- I don't think that stuff in the pre-titles sequence was as random or irrelevant as we're led to believe. The Moff is very purposeful about his foreshadowing. Am I alone in thinking that the two-month gap the Doctor was absent from Amy and Rory is a bit more important than we've been led to believe?

Patrick wrote:I do have to comment, going off the narrative analysis for a moment, that I think Rory stole the show- which completely surprised me. Yes, the dialogue between Amy and River was interesting, but a couple of Rory's moments were quite deftly underplayed- like the scene where River describes to him how she first met the Doctor, and asked him to imagine what does to a little girl. Rory's line, "I don't have to," and the look that crossed his face, were very well handled.

I'm a fan of Rory and Arthur's acting, so I wasn't surprised. Merely happy to see him get some great scenes to play.

Patrick wrote:One final thought- I don't think that stuff in the pre-titles sequence was as random or irrelevant as we're led to believe. The Moff is very purposeful about his foreshadowing. Am I alone in thinking that the two-month gap the Doctor was absent from Amy and Rory is a bit more important than we've been led to believe?

YANA. I'm curious about it myself, and I've seen others speculate about it as well.

I missed the very beginning and couldn't focus fully on the rest owing to where I was watching it: therefore an iplayer rewatch is needed (forgot to set the DVDR - doh!)

However, my initial impression is that too mnay layers are being thrown on and that's there an element of self-indulgence appearing. But I'll review that with more thoughts (and a rating) in due course.

According to a report of the Gallifrey Base forum, noted Doctor Who fan and former record company boss Ian Levine wrote on Twitter on Saturday that he'd spent all day 'praying for rain' (so that the audience for Doctor Who would be maximised). Then, ten minutes into the episode, his TV signal was knocked out by a lightning storm that hit London. See, there is a God after all. And, he or she has a wicked sense of irony, it would appear. 'Must be careful what you wish for' noted Ian.

Must not laugh...

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

I thought it absolutely zipped by. A brilliant spectacle, that was alternately funny and scary. I don't think I can evaluate the plot just yet - these puzzlebox plotlines can only be fully judged by the quality of the answers to the questions they have asked.

barnaby morbius wrote:According to a report of the Gallifrey Base forum, noted Doctor Who fan and former record company boss Ian Levine wrote on Twitter on Saturday that he'd spent all day 'praying for rain' (so that the audience for Doctor Who would be maximised).

His dedication is admirable.

barnaby morbius wrote:Then, ten minutes into the episode, his TV signal was knocked out by a lightning storm that hit London. See, there is a God after all. And, he or she has a wicked sense of irony, it would appear. 'Must be careful what you wish for' noted Ian.

"Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes".

That's ironic.

*sniggers at a certain "super fan's" highly ironic encounter with the powers of nature*

Zoltar wrote:

barnaby morbius wrote:According to a report of the Gallifrey Base forum, noted Doctor Who fan and former record company boss Ian Levine wrote on Twitter on Saturday that he'd spent all day 'praying for rain' (so that the audience for Doctor Who would be maximised).

His dedication is admirable.

barnaby morbius wrote:Then, ten minutes into the episode, his TV signal was knocked out by a lightning storm that hit London. See, there is a God after all. And, he or she has a wicked sense of irony, it would appear. 'Must be careful what you wish for' noted Ian.

"Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes".

it's like a black fly in your chardonnay

I hope what transpired hammered the point home to the person in question.

No, the person in question had no capacity for self awareness. And is a tw*t!

Fair point, Rich. Ah well, I'll simply continue giggling at the delicious irony of it all then.

Keith "Telly" Topping's Blog has a report today that Saturday's transmission of "The Impossible Astronaut" on BBC-America broke a ratings record for the cable network. It achieved an audience of 1.27 million, which might not seem like much until you consider BBC-A is up against something like 400 cable networks.

Sid Seadevil wrote:*sniggers at a certain "super fan's" highly ironic encounter with the powers of nature*

You may recall, Mr. Q, posting this in the Good Morning Thread while I was enduring my countdown wait:

Sid Seadevil wrote: Indeed. And let's hope there's no sudden power cuts either.

I submit you may have had something to do with said "super fan's" brush with bad karma.

That thought had actually crossed my mind too, old fellow. I promise not to lose any sleep over the ultimate result of my wayward hex though.

Patrick wrote:Keith "Telly" Topping's Blog has a report today that Saturday's transmission of "The Impossible Astronaut" on BBC-America broke a ratings record for the cable network. It achieved an audience of 1.27 million, which might not seem like much until you consider BBC-A is up against something like 400 cable networks.

It's a great result for them. How the numbers compare to US show's ratings doesn't matter much, the important thing is BBC-A got an excellent return on their investment in the show.

Right, well I've finished rewatching this and remain unconvinced. There are some very enjoyable pieces, but the whole 'death of The Doctor' stuff early on and then the TARDIS cards invite to an earlier version of 11 doesn't work for me, for now at least.

Timey Wimey needs to be reindy inney. I'll score this 3/5.

Hmm. I wonder if fans were unhappy about the Doctor exploiting timey wimeyto send himself explanatory notes in Battlefield?

Battlefield was a heap of s*hit.

The Co=Ordinator wrote:Right, well I've finished rewatching this and remain unconvinced. There are some very enjoyable pieces, but the whole 'death of The Doctor' stuff early on and then the TARDIS cards invite to an earlier version of 11 doesn't work for me, for now at least.

Timey Wimey needs to be reindy inney. I'll score this 3/5.

I actually do agree that we need less of the timey wimey. It has its place but not in every Moffat penned story. However I still really enjoyed this. I think perhaps because it seemed somewhat slower paced than they often were and so I could follow what was going on better!

Used carefully (and sparingly) timey wimey has its place. But agreed not in every Moff written story. And definitely not as a perpetual magic get out of jail free card.

Sid Seadevil wrote:Used carefully (and sparingly) timey wimey has its place. But agreed not in every Moff written story. And definitely not as a perpetual magic get out of jail free card.

I love time travel, love a good paradox, but I do hope The Moff doesn't use them to the degree that they start to become overly familiar and lose their charm.

Zoltar wrote:I love time travel, love a good paradox, but I do hope The Moff doesn't use them to the degree that they start to become overly familiar and lose their charm.

Depending on its eventual outcome, I'm firmly of the mind that this should be The Moff's last substantial bite of the timey wimey cherry. As you so rightly state, overuse of it is the single biggest story-telling danger the series faces.

Whilst I think that it is the biggest danger that Moffat faces - and I think we've had this discussion for the last three aired episode over the last eight months - I think there is a danger of getting into the old Dr Who fan trap of seeing something reoccur for a few consecutive stories and then assuming that it's always going to be like that. It won't be, though, I guess this whole year is going to be time-wimey-heavy. The next showrunner will want to do their own thing and, as they realize that an TV audience's attention span is a few hours max, they'll do something different. The sudden appearance and disappearance of timey-wimey plots will be jarring to Doctor Who's internal continuity, but when have the Wrinklies ever given a pig's bladder about that?

I bet in a few years time, we'll be looking at our DVD* collection and sticking on something from the Moffat Timey-wimey era and wondering what all the fuss is about.

*or whatever device is used to beam television stories directly into your mind