the m0vie blog

“Rory, would you mind going with her?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

“Then I appreciate it all the more.”

- The Doctor and Rory

Funny. I actually said back last year as we prepared for Steven Moffat’s first season of Doctor Who that we shouldn’t take the format of the series for granted. While Russell T. Davies firmly established the layout of a series, with an opening salvo of standalone episodes, an entertaining two parter, a mid-season bridge, a second two-parter, a stand-alone episode or two and a big finale. Moffat’s first season running the show followed the format, but it seems that his second won’t be so confined.

Cowboys and aliens...

So, instead of being one thirteen-episode chunk, it’s being split into two blocks to broadcast over the year. And instead of opening with a stand-alone episode introducing a new Doctor or companion (or both), the series opens with an epic two-part adventure filmed on location in “some planet called America”, this time bringing the whole cast and crew over to the country (as opposed to the earlier Daleks in Manhattan, which just saw the second unit doing some work in New York).

Truth be told, I love the idea of shaking things up. Structure is something that it’s always fun to see a work a play with (whether film or television, play or novel) – as falling into a regular pattern allows a show to become safe or familiar or comfortable to its audience. So shaking things up is a good idea, one that helps keep things fresh. That said, I will concede I’d hate to see end-of-season cliffhangers introduced – I like that the seasons of the show stand alone as part of their own arcs or stories without bleeding too much into one another (plus it would ruin the Christmas Special).

It's the perfect fit... both Nixon and the Doctor have missing tapes...

However, I’m not too mad about the location work. Location work has been something that the show has flirted with in the past (with the superb City of Death and the… less superb Arc of Infinity) – and here a large part of the appeal seems to be taking the cast and crew over to America, a country that seems to have embraced the relaunch. Don’t get me wrong, it looks lovely – but it seems intent to continually remind the audience how lovely it looks. It seems that more time is spent appreciating the on-location filming than is building up the plot. Wide shots in broad daylight are the order of the day. Indeed, it’s very hard for a show like Doctor Who to build suspense with the episode filmed in broad daylight and it’s only as we enter the last fifteen minutes (at night in a seemingly abandoned building) that things begin to really build momentum.

I’m not necessary glad to see Moffat playing with the concept of time again. I know time travel is a huge part of the show, but – given how straight-forward and linear the adventures have (generally) been for the past forty-eight years – it seems strange for Moffat to break out the “things happening out of sequence… again” plot device. I loved The Girl in the Fireplace or the backwards courtship of the Doctor and River Song, and I adored last year’s wonderful “time can be rewritten” theme, but I think I’m reaching my limit, at least in the short term. This isn’t me wanting a “back to basics” approach or a “safe” season, I just want Moffat to give me something new and exciting.

So we see the Doctor get shot and… as he’s trying to regenerate, shot again. And then burnt. In the middle of a lake. It seems that Moffat is going to great lengths to convince us that yes, the character is actually really and truly dead. For realz. Of course, we know it’s a sting – it’s a hook that Moffat will wriggle us off, and I don’t doubt he’ll do it in some fiendishly clever way. In fact, I suspect, given how the Doctor jokingly models the astronaut’s helmet here, that he somehow shoots himself through some “timey wimey” antics. I’m kinda hoping that this mystery gets resolved within the two-parter, rather than driving the season. On the other hand, if Moffat can do something with the setup that feels distinct from what came before, I may just eat my words. I wouldn’t be surprised to tune in next week and have my mind blown (after all, I was only mildly impressed with The Pandorica Opens last year before The Big Bang blew me away). Moffat is perhaps the finest writer working on British television at the moment, so if anyone can do it…

Hot shots...

To be fair, there’s a lot to like. I enjoyed the period set-up, and the call back to last year’s episode The Lodger. The suggestion seems to be that these creatures are “The Silence” that we heard about last year. There are some nice character moments – for example, the fact that the person in the whole universe that the Doctor trusts the most is… himself. Or the opening sequence (which seems a little too much like the opening to last year’s finale for my tastes, but still works) which sees the Doctor take part in The Great Escape or star alongside Laurel and Hardy (“do you think he’s back there, trying to wave at us out of history books?” Rory asks).

“You were my second choice for this mission.”

“That’s all right. You were my second choice for president.”

- Richard Nixon and Canton Everett Delaware III share their opinions of each other

The period setting is nice. I love little touches like Nixon’s paranoia (worrying the Feds might be involved in what’s going on, or taping his conversation), and the fact that not only to the aliens resemble both the typical “Roswell greys” we’ve seen make their mark on popular culture and the mysterious men in black (complete with power to wipe the memories of those they come in contact with). I dug the affectionate references to popular culture, much of which actually postdates (and might have been influenced by) Doctor Who – including Star Trek and The X-Files, both of which seemed to receive a fair few nods and winks. Setting it during the Nixon administration, with all the shady stuff going on, is a perfect fit – especially since it’s much less obvious than the Kennedy administration.

It’s also nice to see W. Morgan Sheppard involved, especially playing the older iteration of his son’s character. Mark Sheppard is one of those actors that it’s always a joy to see, and it’s good to see him here in what (initially at least) doesn’t appear to be the role of a villain. There are some choice lines in there. The monsters are intriguing (seriously, things you forget about as soon as you look away? brilliant!) and there’s a genuinely nice period vibe generated by proceedings.

The Doctor trusts himself...

However, what I’m most happy about is the fact that the TARDIS feels like a big family, perhaps for the first time since the Davison era (one I have an inexplicable fondness for, as, I believe, does Moffat). The four characters – the Doctor, Amy, River and Rory – all work and play well off each other, to the point I’m sad River isn’t a regular. Hopefully Rory will stick around this time, as a group dynamic like that presents quite a nice change from “the Doctor and female companion” pattern we’ve seen in the past number of years. I have no problem with that, but change isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

So, it’s a cliffhanger. And, to be frank, a fairly interesting one (as opposed to a generic “Doctor and companion surrounded” one) We’ll have to wait until next week to get a full idea of what is going on, but it’s not a bad start. It’s not an especially strong start though, especially when there’s only six more episodes between now and September – each one seems more important. I have faith in Moffat, but I do hope this part was slowly building momentum that we’ll see pay off in the next part.

Check out our reviews of the current season of Doctor Who:

• The Impossible Astronaut
• Day of the Moon
• The Curse of the Black Spot
• The Doctor’s Wife
• The Rebel Flesh
• The Almost People
• A Good Man Goes to War
• Let’s Kill Hitler
• Night Terrors
• The Girl Who Waited
• The God Complex
• Closing Time
• The Wedding of River Song

Filed under: Television Tagged: | doctor, doctor who, Mark Sheppard, review, River Song, rory williams, russell t. davies, star trek, stephen moffat, steven moffat, Television, the impossible astronaut, United States