TV Review: Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour

So, we've finally seen the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who. A new show-runner in Steven Moffat, a new Doctor in Matt Smith, a new companion in Karen Gillan's Amy Pond, and new title music, title sequence and a new Tardis. And it's a pleasure to report that episode one of this new series is a success.
While it's certainly not on the same level as Moffat's contributions to previous series, it was never going to be. The Eleventh Hour is a chapter one; setting up a new story-line and introducing these new faces to viewers who were either sceptical about Matt Smith's ability to step into David Tennant's converses, and viewers like me, whose expectations were really rather high.

We start from where the last series left the Doctor, getting used to his new body while the Tardis crashes. It comes to earth in the garden of young Amelia Pond, a little girl who's home alone and scared of the crack in her wall. As the Doctor points out, "You're not scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of the box, man eats fish custard, and look at you! Just sitting there! So you know what I think? Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall." They discover that the crack is dimensional, and "Prisoner Zero" has escaped through it. The Doctor realises that the Tardis is about to explode and runs out, promising to return in five minutes. When he gets back, he realises that more time has passed than he thought, and that Prisoner Zero is still very much a problem.

First of all, Matt Smith gives a very good performance. He's quirky and full of energy, but isn't just a collection of tics and mannerisms. He is "A mad man with a box", but he brings enough weight and seriousness to remind us that the Doctor isn't just a comic character. That said, this episode is fun. There's no mention of the last of the Time Lords, and while he is called lonely, it seems more of a friendly jibe than the maudlin refrain that it became towards the end of Tennant's run. Also impressive is Karen Gillan as the grown-up Amy Pond. She spends much of this episode angry at the Doctor for abandoning her as a child, and confusion over how exactly what she grew to believe was an imaginary friend has returned, but the chemistry between them is excellent, and she gives Smith a run for his money.

The monster plot, admittedly, isn't exactly classic stuff. It's set up to give us information about Amy Pond and the people in her life, including her boyfriend Rory, a friend called Jeff who needs to delete his internet history, and Annette Crosbie. It's fun enough, though, despite a dodgy CGI snake thing. The script has a good balance of gags to spookiness, and Patient Zero works well when using the form of real people, including Peep Show's Olivia Colman who does a good job handling the bulk of the evil exposition. There are a couple of sour notes, including a clumsy last minute revelation about Amy, but overall it's an excellent set-up that leaves us very excited for episode two.

The episode also ended with an extended preview of what we can look forward to in upcoming episodes, which includes Daleks and Cybermen, which I'm not thrilled about, and the return of Alex Kingston's River Song, the Weeping Angels, which I'm very excited about, and a guest appearance by Bill Nighy, which everyone should be excited about. Now that the introductions are out of the way, here's hoping that the ensuing series will be as good as the first chapter promises.