S5 Episode 1: The Eleventh Hour

From the minute that Matt Smith was announced as the Eleventh Doctor, I didn't like him.  My husband says that I don't like him solely because he's not David Tennant, but that's not true:  when the episode The Next Doctor aired, and everyone thought that David Morrissey might be #11, I was really excited.  I thought he was fantastic, and though we knew from the beginning of the episode that he couldn't be the next Doctor, I would have been so pleased with him in that role.

When Ten regenerated into Eleven at the end of The End of Time, the first thought that popped into my head was that Matt Smith looked like Lurch. However, my favorite episodes have all been Steven Moffat episodes, so while I went in thinking/knowing I wouldn't like Smith, I thought I'd still enjoy the writing.  So, with the assumption that you, dear readers, have watched all of these episodes, let's examine Series 5, Episode 1:  The Eleventh Hour.

We start out with little Amelia Pond praying to Santa Claus, which I thought was brilliant.  The TARDIS crash-lands in her backyard, and a newly-regenerated Doctor climbs out.  So far, so good.

He then proceeds to demand food, but everything that Amelia gives him, he spits out, throws out, or does something equally ridiculous.  At this point, I think my husband fell in love with him, but I thought the performance was way over the top.  I felt like Smith was trying to emulate Tennant, (which would make sense, since he's still regenerating), but that he went too far.

I'll pause for a moment to say that I think Amelia is amazing in every way.  Not only does Caitlin Blackwood do a fantastic job, the character is intriguing and extremely likable.

So then the Doctor rushes back to his TARDIS, promising to return in five minutes, yells "Geronimo!" (yes, you just heard the sound of my teeth grinding) and disappears.  He does return - twelve years later - and meets a grown-up Amelia Pond, who now goes by the name of Amy.  She's very headstrong, very independent, and she doesn't listen to him.  That last trait is eerily similar to Donna, and that was what I disliked most about that character.  But still, Amy seems to be a worthy companion.  Of course, she's dressed inappropriately, but that's only because she's a "kiss-o-gram", right?

By the way, she dresses up as a sexy cop/sexy French maid, goes to parties and kisses guys.  This is her job.  The first time I saw the episode I thought the "kiss-o-gram" idea was funny, but now I'm a bit disturbed by it.  I don't know how things are like in England, but to me that seems like a very short step away from being a prostitute.

Amy finds Prisoner Zero, which is pretty scary, as he can take different forms and has a hard time "getting the mouths right".

So we meet Prisoner Zero, go to the village, and come to the next really annoying thing:  what the Doctor sees.  We see the scene in the way that the Doctor sees it - fast motion, 360°, close-ups, etc.  I should mention that I would find this a really fantastic device, except that Steven Moffat has already used it - in his Sherlock series!  He often shows us in this same manner how Sherlock analyzes a crime scene.  I think we can classify this POV device as Moffat's first "repeat" idea of the series, which itself becomes a dominant theme in the Eleventh Doctor episodes.

Actually, I take that back.  The first repeat of Moffat's is the Amelia/Amy storyline.  He meets Amelia as a young girl and says he'll return in five minutes, but when he returns, she's an adult.  In The Girl in the Fireplace, he also first meets Reinette as a young girl, then disappears and returns when she's a young woman.  When he tells Amelia he'll be back, she immediately packs so she can travel with him, even though he doesn't invite her along.  However, he does invite Madam de Pompadour, says he'll be back in five minutes, then returns in time to see her funeral carriage leaving the palace.  In addition, when the Doctor looks at the crack in Amy's wall, he says that she's "got some cowboys in here", which is what he says when he reads Reinette's mind.  Oh, Steven.

By this time we've met Rory, and I immediately liked him;  he has an air of innocence and, while he seems a bit daft, I think he's smarter than people give him credit for.

After saving the world from both Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi, the Doctor runs back to his repaired TARDIS, leaves, and then accidentally comes back two years later.  He takes Amy off for an adventure, and we close on a shot of her wedding dress hanging in the wardrobe ... and here we go again, another girl in love with the Doctor.

When Rose was in love with the Doctor, it was okay.  She didn't moon over him, and she never made a big deal about it.  The only time she was obvious was in Doomsday, when she confessed her love.  But, pouting about how the Doctor didn't return her affection was all that Desperate Martha ever did.  It was a dominant theme, and extremely tiresome.  I really cannot face another character pining after the Doctor.

At the end of The Eleventh Hour, I had mixed feelings.  While I loved Amelia and liked Amy, I felt like the Doctor was over-the-top.

Here's a little palette-cleanser: