Ten Statements About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE ELEVEN: The God Complex (2011)

Nooooes!!!  Creepy Dummy Alert!  A roomful of them!

"Your civilization is one of the oldest in the galaxy. Now I see why. Cowardice isn't quaint, it's sly, aggressive. It's how that dune of gutlessness has survived while so many others have perished. Well not today. No one else dies today. Right?"

1) Hmmm....it seems, at least in part, that this episode is going to be taking the piss out of the Found Footage Film...either that or telling us how cool the Stanley Kubrick Shining was...

2) Okay, I think we can add Amara Karan's Rita to the list of One Off Reboot Who Characters Who Should Have Been Companions...and I'm not just basing that on the fact that she, like Carey Mulligan's Sally Sparrow, is Wicked Hot.

3) You know...this feels like another one of these episodes that should've been aired earlier in the season, before we got deep into the Demon Run stuff at the break. The fact that we've had three stand-alones with almost no nod towards the Big Epic Storyline the first half of the season built up is stealing a lot of momentum from the overarc. Hell, it's almost like we haven't returned to the overarc at all since the end of the first half, and that could prove fatal to the season flow as a whole.

Trust me...it's not what you think.

4) So that's how we got the Weeping Angels into this season...and since it's not Real Weeping Angel Stuffage, the power of those monsters stays intact.

5) This is--given that this is an entire episode obstentively set in a hotel--surprisingly stylish. Between the 'found footage' shots, the deep focus pulls, the tracking and the subliminal text messages, it gives this episode a look and feel quite apart from the other episodes we've seen this season.

6) I do not trust this Gibbis guy (this is being written at the 16:21 mark)--the way he reacts after Amy tries to comfort him, reminding her that there's a room out there waiting for her, then smiling gleefully...

7) I love the scene with The Doctor and Rory...and once again, Arthur Darvil drives home something that is supposed to be part of the overarc--reminding the Doctor that sometimes small victories matter as much as the larger ones, and not everything has to be about Saving The Universe.

8) I can sorta see why this episode is in this season, as it deals head on with the way the Doctor can potentially wreck the lives of his companions, and how to give the minotaur the release it asked for he has to destroy the faith Amy has in him. It all ties in with the motivations behind the Silence Conspiracy and yet...there's something hollow there.

Oh, if only there was room in the TARDIS for you, my
lovely Rita...

9) Ahhhh....yet another connection to old Who...although I have to wonder if, of all the monsters we encountered in the classic series, we really needed a shoutback to the Nimon.

10) I would perfectly accept this as the final goodbye to Amy and Rory...if the whole Silence Conspiracy/Demon's Run/New Mexico Death thing wasn't hanging out there in space. Hell, I have this sneaking suspicion that Moffat intended 'Let's Kill Hitler' to close off that thread for a while. If that's the truth, I worry that's the first major misstep Moffat has made.

In short...I can see the whys and wherefors of this episode--but the placing of it toward the end of the season when it should've be at the beginning, and the willful ignorance of the overarc except in setting up a sympathetic resonance inhibits it from being a great episode. Pity, because there are some great performances in here, especially Ms. Karan.

This has proven to be a very frustrating season.

Ten Statements About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE TEN: The Girl Who Waited (2011)

It's not the lackluster robot that's the center of this episode,
but the man it's laying its hand on...

"I got old, Rory. What did you think was going to happen?"

"HEY--I don't care that you got old. I care that we didn't grow old together."

1) You'll notice that at this point on their journey, Amy has consistently reached out to Rory...and it's Rory that she entreats to save her--and it makes sense here, since this story is about them (which is fortunate, given how I suspect this is the Second Unit episode).

2) As someone who really, really hates needles, the 'secondary delivery system' of the handbot is pure nightmare fuel.

Believe it or not, this leads to one of the most wonderful
moments of this episode.

3) Wow...the moment when we see how Red Waterfall works is wondrous--which is something we missed these last few episodes.

4) I know there are a lot of people who give Karen Gillen flack for her performance as Amy Pond, and I suspect many of them write her off as another actress who was hired for her looks and not her abilities. I hope that this episode shuts those people up, because I think we really see how deep those abilities are when we are exposed to Red Waterfall Amy.

5) See, I'm wondering more where did Red Waterfall Amy get a samurai sword, and how did she learn how to use it. Sod the Sonic Probe.

6) The real brilliance of this is that it should have been titled 'Rory's Choice.' This episode represents the flip side of the usual situation this couple finds itself in--it's Amy who suffers the tragic fate, it's Amy who dies (metaphorically and, in one case, physically), and it's Rory who has to make the decisions that will map out Amy's fate.

7) This is what these Second Unit show should be about--taking a single character and illuminating them fully. Now the Davies Second Unit episodes tended to illuminate original characters (and this is not a knock at Davies, for the Second Unit Episodes did give us the awesomeness that is Sally Sparrow)...but I like how Moffat, in this episode and last season's 'The Lodger' has used them to create a depth for his main characters. I understand what makes Rory and Amy tick a lot more than I ever understood what makes Rose or Martha tick because I've walked inside their heads for forty-five minutes.

So what's scarier than Amy with a samurai sword?  Well....

8) Yeah, I'll admit...I wish I had a woman promise to tear apart time for me.

9) I sincerely hope this episode will finally shut up all the idjits who have accused Rory and Amy of being Mickey and Rose Light. I'm sorry, but Mickey was never anything more than a convenience to Rose, and there is a real, true and solid love between Rory and Amy, ably facilitated by the chemistry and the skill of Darvill and Gillen.

10) And now we've got another reason why Rory is simply one of the best companions in the history of the show--not only is it clear that Rory loves Amy unconditionally, whether she's Now-Time Amy or Red Waterfall Amy, not only does he always try to find the non-violent way out...he calls the Doctor on his own bullshit when he realizes what making the choice he's asked to make will do to him. I love this character, and I love how Arthur Darvill has brought him so vividly to life.

In short...easily my favorite episode of this season so far, and among my favorite episodes of the rebooted show thanks the the outstanding performances by Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillen.

Ten Statements About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE NINE: Night Terrors (2011)

When you try to make something ordinary into something
monstrous, sometimes you get the Weeping Angels, and
sometimes..sometimes you get The Paper Mache' Heads...

"I've come a long way to get here, Alex, a very long way. George sent a message, a distress call if you'd like. Whatever's inside that cupboard is so terrible, so powerful that it amplified the fears of an ordinary little boy across all the barriers of time and space...through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire, through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought and a whole terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities You see these eyes? They're old eyes...and one thing I can tell you, Alex. Monsters are real."

1) I'm three minutes in and I've got this real nagging feeling that Mark Gatiss is about to tell me how much he liked the Poltergeist movies for forty minutes.

2) That being said...I like how Gatiss has effectively split up the crew, so that we get the Doctor doing Doctor stuff, and some well-needed Ponds one-on-one time. It's the first time in a while we've gotten some extended interaction between Amy and Rory alone where they're not running and screaming, and this provides some essential reminders of why they're a couple.

3) Once again I marvel at Matt Smith as an actor. The way he's trying, really trying to reign in his impulses around little George to provide an example for him is wonderful. And unlike David Tennant, his physicality is natural and seems to come from his thought processes, not all twitches and tics and twinges and shouty voices like Tennant.

4) Jamie Oran is not great shakes as a young actor--his George is a bit on the whiny side and pretty expressionless, innit?--but there is a definite chemistry between him and Smith, which enables the story flow pretty handily.

"For the last time, Doctor, my name is not Alex!"

5) I do rather like Daniel Mays as Alex, even if he is cut from the same cloth as Craig from last season's 'The Lodger'...and like Craig, he becomes a defacto companion for this one, strange adventure, grounding us in reality.

6) ...and that might be at the core of why this episode never gets higher than okay. It's one of those entries in the series that seems composed of elements cobbled together and repurposed from other episodes--a little SF craziness in a blue collar setting from 'The Lodger,' a little child being plagued by strangeness from 'The Eleventh Hour' and/or 'The Girl In The Fireplace,' the old house that's occupied by Something That Shouldn't Be There from 'Day Of The Moon,' the creatures that seem to convert others into mockeries of themselves like 'An Empty Child,' the child that unwittingly releases horror on those around them like 'Fear Her,' etc. It's a bit of moving the deck chairs in an attempt to give us a breather between acts--and also to give Smith, Gillen and Darvill some time to reclaim center stage after being observers in Moffat's River Song story of the last few episodes.

7) Okay, I stand corrected...this isn't Mark Gatiss telling us he loves the Poltergiest films; it's Mark Gatiss telling us how he loves the old Twlight Zone episode 'It's a Good Life,' with some Poltergeist love thrown in for flavoring.

8) I'm surprised, given how much stuff Rory and Amy have been through in their time with the Doctor, that they didn't notice that the thing they were using to block the door is a Big Honking Spool of Thread.

Prolly the funniest moment in the episode, ladies and
gentlemen...

9) Once again...the joys of watching Gillen and Darvill interact is how they can say with three words and a little body language what other actors would take a whole scene to say. And the joy of Moffat as a producer is how he allows them to do that without hitting us over the head with extra exposition (I'm looking at you, Davies).

10) While I've marveled in the past at Moffat's talent for plotting everything out to the ultimate degree, I wonder if we really needed that little sing song stinger at the end to remind us that we've got only four more episodes to deal with the whole Lake Silencio thread started in 'The Impossible Astronaut.'

In short...I understand why this episode exists, to give us a breather before we pick up the overarc (especially given how it looks like next episode, 'The Girl Who Waited,' is going to be this season's Second Unit Episode)...but much like similar place setters like Season Two's 'Fear Her' and 'Love and Monsters,' it's sorta inconsequential. Being a big ol' jambalaya of elements from previous episodes didn't help much, either.

Ten Statements About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE EIGHT: Let's Hill Hitler! (2011)

This isn't what it looks like..no, really...

"Okay, I am trapped inside a giant robot replica of my wife. I will try not to see that as a metaphor."

1) Okay, I know we're only four minutes in--but upon seeing Nina Toussaint-White literally bursting in on the episode proclaiming herself Mels, my first two thoughts were, 'it's teenage-to-young-adult Melody somehow insinuating herself into her parents' life without them knowing,' and 'God, please don't let this version of River Song become a companion next year.' Yes, there's a whole Leela/Ace/that cat burglar from the McCoy-Season-That-Wasn't vibe to her, but I can see her and her attempts to imitate Alex Kingston wearing on me quickly.

2) Young Amy Pond? Still seriously charming. Young Mels? Not so much. Even if I sort of liked how Moffat uses this to fill in some of the history of Amy and Rory, and shows us how Rory wasn't a fallback guy at any point, that there was an attraction there all along that wasn't acted on due to a misunderstanding.

3) And once again, I love how Rory may wield a weapon of death, but he never actually uses it. Confronted with Hitler (oh, comon'...it says it right on the tin), his tendencies to be a caregiver and not a destroyer take precedence. He may have been weaponized, but it doesn't matter if he never actually draws his weapon...and that's why he's so freakin' cool.

"Let's wrap this up quick--we're due to inhabit Eddie Murphy
in ten minutes."

4) I know Moffat is taking this spacecraft-in-human form in a different direction, but I just can't get visions of the Eddie Murphy flop-o-rama Meet Dave out of my head.

5) On one hand--and I've said this before--I really don't like how Regeneration always happens in this same 'look-there's-sparklies-now-my-extremities-are-explodey' sort of way in the new series. On the other, I took some delight in watching Matt Smith reacting to seeing another person regenerate...he seems shocked and ill-at-ease, as if he's wondering, 'Is this how other people see me?'

6) I should mention I've changed the opening quote for this entry several times so far. This really is one of the most quotable episodes of Moffat's rein, all chock full of fun lines that are as entertaining to hear as they are to say.

7) It's interesting how Moffat is utilizing some of the threads of Davies' era--using the whole 'hour-or-so-grace-period-after-a-regeneration' as a way out of a jam worked very well, and the shout backs to the Davies companions without letting them overpower the narrative also worked...although I wonder why he didn't go for a pre-reboot companion; surely there's a couple of people he didn't fuck with in those years, right? Right?

(and yeah, I can see the reason why he has guilt over Martha. He used her for an entire year without being sensitive to what she wanted or needed--or at least what Russell T. Davies forced her to want or need after episode three--which is a pretty good reason for being guilty, right?...)

(Oh, and since I haven't said it in a while...fuck y'all Russell T. Davies.)

Shut up, she's...no, on second thought this is nightmare
fuel....

8) What interesting to me about the revelations about The Silence in this episode is how there's now an implied relationship with those Headless Monk dudes from last episode...I'm thinking they're an order within the religion that is The Silence...because how can you speak without heads, right?.

9) So am I correct in assuming that by saving the Doctor that way, Moffat has set up a more logical way to sidestep the twelve regeneration limit for a Time Lord than Davies' simply declaring him immortal? 'Cause by my count, River still had nine regenerations (lives?) left.

Because if that's true, I like it.

10) Maybe it's me, but the ending seemed a little....well, off. Granted, I guess it's Moffat setting up the 'we're in for a ride this final half,' and I realize that this episode was more about River than anything else...but I expected a little more from Moffat.

In short....Well, it's more about River than anything else, innit? And while it answers some questions, I do have this slightly empty feeling that there are a whole bunch of loose ends left dangling in the aether. Of course, my impression might change as we move forward, but right now it's lots of fun bits surrounded by a pool of meh.

Ten Statements About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE SEVEN: A Good Man Goes To War(2011)

The baddest man in the TARDIS...and he's a nurse!  Hell,
so is the Sontaran!

"What you are going to be, Melody, is very, very brave."

"Two minutes."

"But not as brave as they'll have to be. Because there's someone coming. I don't know where he is, or what he's doing, but trust me. He's on his way."

1) Somehow, I just knew that the speech Amy gives to open the show was about Rory...and it sets up Rory's return to his 'Last Centurion' mode exceptionally. And Arthur Darvill proves beyond a shadow of a doubt why he's the best companion on the TARDIS this season....

2) I like how Madame Vastra is played by Neve McIntosh, who played Ayala in the Silurian two-parter (and I like even more how there's a story that I'm sure is going to be told about how a Silurian warrior ended up as a Sherlock Holmes manque in love with her wicked hot Watson analogue.). And that David Starkey, Skorr in the Sontaran two-parter, plays the Sontaran nurse Strax. It's a way of introducing new character while giving us connections to the older episodes.

3) I don't care what the context is...spaceborn Spitfires having a dogfight are just wicked cool.

4) So we're, like, what? Not even two seasons into Moffat's run and we've got two seasons built primarily around 'let's lead the Doctor into a big ol' Trap.' This may be one of the few things about the Reign of Moffat that I really dislike.

For those of you wondering who River Song was...well, The
Doctor just found out.

5) That being said, I rather like how Moffat is carrying on some of the themes of Davies' run--i.e. the Doctor's way of 'weaponizing' his companions--and is turning those themes on their head. Thus we have the enemies of the Doctor waging a war against him by trying to turn his companions--and their issue--into weapons against him.

6) Okay, Henry Avery? Him I did not expect to see again. Which just goes to show that during the Reign of Moffat, there is never, ever anything remotely close to a throwaway episode.

7) Back to Rory for a moment...you know why I love this character so much? He is a total and thorough bad-ass without using violence. In a way, he's the ultimate proof of the adage 'A true warrior is judged not by when he draws his sword, but when he doesn't.' And Arthur Darvill gives us this bad ass without once losing sight of the things that made Rory unique waaaay back in 'The Eleventh Hour.' I always knew Rory would be interesting, but if you told me he'd grow to be one of my favorite companions ever...I'd prolly have laughed.

8) Oh, shit...so it seems you were right after all, Jason.

(I realize this statement makes no sense to anyone but Jason Cleaver.  Cheers, Jason!)

A hot brunette in Victorian wear weilding
a samurai sword?  I'm in love...

9) I have to say that I'm still not thrilled with the villain set. Frances Barber's Madame Kovarian continues to have too much scenery in her teeth for me to take seriously (although admittedly the moment when she reveals what she pulled is pretty good) and the Headless Monks....eh A creepy visual, some neat flashy-sparky swordy things, but when all is said and done they pretty much don't do much.

10) This really puts Matt Smith through the wringer--he goes through a lot of emotions as he hits each of the plot points and it's wonderful that his anguish is as palatable as his joy when River Song's big reveal hits him.  And it looks like, at least for a bit, we'll be getting The Doctor soloing around the universe....

In short.....is it as great as 'The Pandorica' Opens'? Not quite--but there are loads of surprises, one big reveal, and some great moments that elaborate and confront some of the themes of the RTD era. And how can you resist the promise that the second leg of the season supposedly begins with an episode called 'Let's Kill Hitler'

Ten Statements--No Wait, Eleven!--About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE SIX: The Almost People (2011)

Look at me!  No, don't look at me!

"It's the eyes. The eyes are the last to go."

"What are you talking about?"

"When they destroy us, the eyes are the last things to melt, and there's one question in those eyes: Why?"

1) Okay...seeing Matt Smith do every single doctor in between primal screams was cool. And having him essentially playing straight man for himself instead of dull old 'Good Doctor/Evil Doctor works out quite nicely.

2) It's interesting how in this script we see not just the humans Fuck It Up For Themselves--Jenny, with her vision of revolution and revolt in India mucks things up for the Gangers in this episode just as badly as Cleaves gets the human in shit with her regulations and bylaws in the previous episode.

3) I wonder if the little exchange between Amy and the Doctors where she addresses the differences between them is another case of Moffat looking askance at Russell T. Davies, this time for the way he handled Rose's final fate.

4) After this episode, I'm even more impressed with Raquel Cassidy's Cleaves. Much like Smith, she chooses to take the challenge of portraying both the human and Ganger versions of her character and make something more nuanced and complex than most actors would.

5) God, I hope the eyepatch lady plot thread is resolved next episode. I don't think I could stand seeing this carry over into part two of the season.

6) Another interesting thing--even though Rory has been weaponized in the past, becoming an Auton last season, he seems to be the one companion since the new series began who believes what the Doctor claims he believes--i.e. that people, whether human or non-human, are geniunely good. It's that fact that he refuses to become another tool of violence that may be his most intriguing feature.

7) The eye wall is a cute effect...but is it really necessary? All I could think as I saw it was 'how did the Gangers get all the time to place living eyes in all those holes?'

Thankfully Ganger-Jenny is not the crux of this two-parter...
because, quite frankly, she's a crap villian.

8) How did Ganger-Jenny get these special stretchy-girl abilities? None of the other Gangers display them, and it actually detracts from her menace....

9) The way The Doctor gets the Gangers to turn on Ganger-Jenn is much more typical of how I'd expect him to resolve things than the whole kill order from 'The Day of The Moon.' It makes me wonder if this iteration of The Doctor is beginning to come to grips with the boiling rage he's been struggle to contain since last season.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have gotten so
attached to Pond...

10) Is it just me, or has the Doctor's, ummmm, relationship with the TARDIS changed a bit since 'The Doctor's Wife.' I mean, he's always anthropomorphised her, but still.....

11) Wait a minute, the episode isn't--OH MY LORD!!!!

In short.....much stronger than the first part, this episode raises a lot of questions, gives us new insights...and slams us with an ending no one expected because, you know, we thought we already ruled that possibility out.....

Ten Statements About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE FIVE: The Rebel Flesh (2011)

Beware our gooey, ill-formed countenances!

"There are people coming. Well, almost."

"Almost coming?"

"Almost people."

1) Nice pre-credit teaser....the demise of the co-worker being treated with such casualness is creepy, setting up the mini-reveal that leads us to understand what's going on here. The lack of dramatics truly sells it.

2) Going back to something I've said in an earlier 10S, I adore how Smith has found certain ways to do shoutbacks to other Doctors--like, in this case, using a snowglobe to check gravitational force similar to how Tom Baker used a yoyo--in a way that's a great deal more subtle than Tennant could.

3) There's a rather cool mix of high-tech equipment and low-tech setting going on here than manages to give the whole episode an extra-level of creep. I can just imagine how this would've taken place in a cookie-cutter white lab in a Nathan-Turner or Letts era episode, which would have made things not as effective. Another clue that Moffatt is very much trying to get his Philip Hinchcliffe on. Plus if gives the Frankenstein simile a lil' more punch.

Find me a corridor, and I'll be compelled to wander down it...

4) It's to Raquel Cassidy's credit that she manages to breathe some life into her Foreman Cleaves, what is essentially a rather drab, unimaginative role. Pity that, after a brief period where we think Cleaves is going to be something other than The Regulation Authority Figure Who Gets Us In Deep, she ends up being exactly that.

5) you know, the way the Doctor susses out Cleaves problem is a lot more effective than Jennifer-Snake.....

6) Sarah Smart really does a good job hitting the emotional beats of the Jennifer Ganger. You really feel for her frustration as she copes with her identity..although the biggest flaw in the episode is how there doesn't seem to be any clear rationale as to why her Ganger is different, why she becomes the main agitator toward the end of this part of the story.

7) And on a related note...that scene contains one of the strongest moments for Arthur Darvill, who is allowed to do all the acting in it with his face and still manages to let us know everything about his own feelings and his overwhelming desire to Set Things Right for this creature.

This prolly should be the standard 'uniforms' for this
present iterations of the TARDIS Crew (the black-jeans and
matching leather jacket  look really works for Amy)..

8) And, of course, just as in Frankenstein, the problem is caused not by the 'Monsters'--in fact, we see in the interactions of Mark Bonner's Jimmy and his Ganger some evidence that the two beings can exist side by side--but by the Narrow Minded Human fucking it up for herself.

9) Once the shit hits the fan, I rather like the 'martial theme' for The Gangers, which seems to incorporate certain musical cues reversed to give the whole thing a weird, off-kilter, disturbing tone.

10) Okay, eyepatch lady is officially bugging the Hell out of me. Moffat's forcing her into each episode is closer to the ham-fisted way RTD would throw references to Torchwood into season two whether they made sense or not.

In short....it's hard to make a clear decision on these first-part-of-a-two-parter things, but I have to admit to having some reservations about this one. There's a definite sense that this might turn out to be Nothing Special--especially after the cliffhanger (as longtime Who Watchers will tell you, there's never Anything Good that comes out of the kind of story hook the cliffhanger reveals...just ask Tom Baker about 'Meglos').

Ten Statements About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE FOUR: The Doctor's Wife (2011)

When it's Ood...the episode's got to be Good!

"You gave me hope and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me. Basically...RUN!"

1) Right from the start, Neil Gaiman starts pulling stuff out of the old toybox--not just the Time Lord EMS, but the idea of the TARDIS doing a little trip outside of space...I almost expected Matt Smith to utter the phrase I have been hoping for for a bit--i.e. 'We're entering E-Space.'

2) I see Gaiman liked Jekyll as well.....

3) I love the fact that Gaiman is willing to show us a Doctor Who, quite frankly, feels like he's out of his depth. I've been so used to the new version of The Doctor as some sort of all-knowing super-hero with all the right answers that having a Doctor who feels like he's beaten, who admits he doesn't know what to do before literally slapping himself, is wonderful.

4) The real gimmick of this show--and the thing from which the episode takes its name from--is a magnificent conceit that I'm surprised no one figured out. It's something that's been obvious ever since Russell T. Davies came up with his way of super-charging his Mary Sue character in "The Parting of The Ways"...and yet it took six seasons to explore it. It opens up a whole new bit of wonder, and it's a credit to Suranne Jones that she's able to embody this mad concept so well. And speaking of Ms. Jones....

"Don't be alarmed..but WE'RE IN YOUR HEAD!"

5) God, I love the way she interacts with Smith. The sparkage just flies between them like some insane emotional arc reactor, and I love how they bicker like the proverbial old married couple. They go through the equivalent of a full relationship without missing a blink....

6) I have said it before--I am a sucker for anything that happens, even partially, in real time.

7) Leave it to Neil Gaiman to find a way to write a Doctor Who script where running through corridors is an integral part of the script..and make it truly scary again.

8) I know you're all prolly tired of hearing me say it...but Arthur Darvill's Rory is the coolest. It's he who weathers House's assault, he who pulls Amy through, and he who continues to be the glue that keeps this show together.

She's cute...but she's gotta stop screaming ever episode...

9) Sadly, as much as I adore Karen Gillan...I'm beginning to worry that she's sliding into that most hated of Doctor Companion archetypes, The Girl School Screamer. This is the second time her primary role has been to be menaced in the last three episodes.

10) I am somewhat saddened that the older TARDIS console wasn't one of the Classic consoles...like the one from the final Hinchcliffe earlier.

In short....after the disappointment of last week, this is so far the highlight of the season--an example of what Who should be. Namely, mad ideas, crazy characters and lots of running around.  And it's so refreshingly free of the overarc stuff that's been bugging me this season.

Ten Statements About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE THREE: CURSE OF THE BLACK SPOT (2011)

Shut Up!  She's cute... (And yes, I would shiver her
timbers...why'd you ask?)

"The Ship is cursed!"

"Yeah, right. Cursed. Is big with humans. Means bad things are happening but you can't be bothered to find an explanation."

1) PIRATE AMY! I'm totally in agreement with Rory here--Karen Gillen should dress as a pirate more often, and her kinda, sorta swashbucking is thoroughly coo'

(Incidentally....does Rory's comment put more fuel to the 'Amy and Rory Have A Cosplay Fetish' thing?)

2) One of the reasons I love Matt Smith as The Doctor is that he's managed to take many of the aspects of previous Doctors and blend them very subtlely. Many of his interactions in this episode have a very David Tennant feel to them...and yet, he reins in the Tennant manic-panic delivery so it doesn't grate on me as Tennant did after a while.

3) I love how quickly Hugh Bonneville's Avery is able to suss out the TARDIS after getting over the initial shock because, well...'a ship's a ship.' Thompson's script plays this character very, very smart--which he'd have to be, to survive as a ship's captain at that time...and I think the Doctor senses this, which is why he begins to defer to Avery after a bit. In that sense, Avery reminds me of Richard Mace, from one of my favorite Davison stories, The Visitation.

(Doesn't mean I am excited at the implied prospect I'll be seeing Avery and his crew again...)

"Can we hurry this up?  I'm due on the set of SPEED RACER II."

4) The twist at roughly the twenty minute mark regarding the method of travel for the Siren is pretty clever. Although they miss a potential prime scare moment about four minutes later.

5) The intrusion of the element from the overarc is just that...an intrusion. It's unnecessary, and the story would've flowed better without it.

6) I'm sorry...I tried. I really, really tried. But I just can't be scared of The Singing Green Christina Ricci....

7) Ahhhhhhh....so that throwaway line about a distress signal in the first act wasn't a throwaway line.

The search for the perfect Time Lord Hat continues...

8) So it turns out we're once more in the realm of what has become a New Who--the antagonistic thing that was not intended to be antagonistic. One that has been used at least twice by Moffat himself.

9) Rory IS THE MAN, and pretty much my favorite character on the TARDIS right now. That is all.

10) I am becoming more and more convinced that the 'Alternate Dimension Amy' theory I once developed to explain some of the discrepancies of last season (you know, before we learned that the bulk of it was all part of The Silent's Trap) is very much in play this season.

In short...a very, very minor episode. There are elements I like, but it's obvious to me that this is another walk in all-too-familiar territory, and the overarc stuff just disrupts the story flow. This has the potential of being the "Vampires of Venice" of this season...and if it is, then the season might still be on good footing. But on it's on...a big treasure sack of 'meh'.

Ten Statements About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE TWO: DAY OF THE MOON (2011)

"I also do balloon animals and impressions."

"How long do you think?"

"As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye or creaking in your house or breathing or breathing under your bed or voices through a wall. They've been running your lives for a very long time now so keep this straight in your head--we are not fighting an alien invasion. We're leading a revolution." And today the battle begin."

1) Just as Canton is a mega-cool good guy, he's a mega-cool bad-guy....which makes the switch in the pre-credit sequence work so. Amazingly. Well. It's prolly why we needed an actor like Mark Shepherd to play him.

2) I don't think I've ever seen a bearded Doctor before...and I have to admit, I kinda like it. Sort of emphasizes his man-out-of-timedness and explorer sensibilities.

3) Okay...I'm seriously crushing on Amy getting her Scully on....

4) It wasn't the window dressing of that orphanage that creeped me out...it was the performance of Kerry Shale, who really conveys the sense of lost time...lots of lost time.

5) All these little fiddly bits--the nano-recorders, the marks (which I have to think are a subtle call-back/homage to "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit") all contribute to building the suspense for the sequences involving The Silent.  Hell, every little fiddly bit has a purpose, whether plotwise or, as in the case of Rory's mini-arc in this episode, character-wise.

6) Moffat may very well be the one of only two producers--the other one was Philip Hinchcliffe--who understands that Who works best when it has one foot in the realm of horror and exploits that realization to its fullest. After four years of Davies' goulash of smuttiness, low comedy and Buffy worship, it's a relief.

Rory's gone all Republican...and he ain't taking your shit

7) I will say this again--and I believe it even more after his 'I'm always coming for her' speech...Arthur Darvill is this show's secret weapon.

8) Okay, now I understand why they cast Stuart Milligan as Richard Nixon...he actually managed to capture that weird anti-charisma charisma that president had, and puts it too good use in his scenes.

9) I like how we're seeing The Doctor's romantic feelings for River slowly growing...the actual flirting we're seeing comes off as genuine, and it works to remind us that Moffat has a much, much larger tapestry he's weaving here.

And it's not the only thing that drives home how massive the story is Moffat ultimately wants to tell.

"Wait a minute....Mulder?"
(Shut up....even here, she's cute!)

10) there's something very pulpy in the way The Doctor resolves the Silent mystery....Hell, it's the sort of solution I can easily see Doc Savage pulling off.

In short...this more than makes up for the somewhat shaky start of this story...and the plot threads that are being laid down are very tasty. Granted, not as tasty as prospect of Pirate Amy next week, but....

Ten Statements--No, Eleven--About....DOCTOR WHO SEASON SIX, EPISODE ONE: THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT (2011)

"Time isn't a straight line. It's all bumpy-wumpy. There's loads of boring stuff like Mondays and Tuesdays and" Thursday Afternoons. But now and then there are Saturdays, big temporal tipping points where anything's possible."

1) Matt Smith dancing with Laurel and Hardy? Win. Naked Matt Smith hiding under a woman's skirts...not so much...

2) There's something really, really wicked cool about the whole 'Getting The Band Back Together' feel of the pre-title teaser....and there's something even cooler about how the music sort of builds when everyone gets their invites...

3) YES! Arthur Darvill gets his just rewards by being top billed along with Matt and Karen...

The Doctor and Company welcome aboard that guy
from THE MATRIX, as played by Michael Ironside

4) ...and as proof that Arthur deserves above-the-title credit, look at how masterfully he handles the big shock at the ten minute mark...His Rory is obviously breaking up inside, but he is able to pull it all together in a snap and makes sure what The Doctor wanted done gets done. This is a fine actor, and may be the show's secret weapon this season.

5) Once again, we are asked to share Steven Moffat's love of twisting and contorting time lines...and once again, it's very clear that all this fooling around has a purpose, that he has a story to tell with a very clear end point somewhere down the line.

6) This version of The Matt Smith Doctor is a lot less bombastic...but it's clear that the anger that drove him throughout Season Five is still there, just transformed into something subtler--and scarier. And speaking of subtle...



"NO....YOU SUCK!"



7) Is it just me, or has Karen Gillen stepped up her game? The character is still recognizably Amy, but also recognizably more mature....it's obvious that Gillen is using the knowledge of her character's new status to give us a more nuanced, sober version of Amy.

8) The Silent...creepy little mouthed energy sucking things that you can only remember when you look at it straight on? In suits, no less? I'm sold.



Shut up...she's cute...

9) I like the younger Canton. It's like they decided that the perfect partner for this iteration of The Doctor was Michael Ironside--and much props for letting us in on something about Canton with the kind of subtlety Russell T. Davies wishes he could have pulled off. On the other hand, every time I looked at this episode's Nixon, I thought 'when did we elect John Cusack president?'

10) This may very well be my favorite River Song appearance to date...she's a lot more nuanced, and the true bond that seems to have grown between her an Amy (prolly growing out of a similar bonding between Alex Kingston and Karen Gillen) is natural and warm. And on top of that, we get the scene between her and Rory which suddenly throws a lot of her behavior into a sharp, cold light...and it's at turns both sad and terrifying.

11) Is that the same control module as we saw in "The Lodger" last season?

In short...this isn't as great a season opener as last year's in terms of spectacle--but it's a better in terms of character. The strengths of last season look to not have been abandoned, and The Silent may prove to be another in a long line of great Moffat monsters.