Doctor Who S32E1, "The Impossible Astronaut"

[NecronLord]

So, folks, what'd you think? I see the Silence constructed that pseudo-TARDIS.

[Interlord1]

Spacesuits are bulletproof arn't they? So if anything happens because of her shooting it I will be annoyed.

[DaveJB]

Pretty good, but one of those episodes that's impossible to judge on its own accord. Still, that's not such a bad thing, since it shows Moffat is moving firmly away from RTD's "stick all the exposition and setup in the first episode and all the action in the second" approach to two-parters.

Spacesuits are bulletproof arn't they? So if anything happens because of here shooting it I will be annoyed.

Spoiler

Judging by the "Next Time" trailer, it looks as if the shot didn't do anything except annoy the Astronaut

[Revy]

Well River shot at the astronaut the first time it appeared and didn't do didly to it. Unless her aim really sucks.

Okay episode, though I liked Eleventh Hour more, probably because it was a complete story rather than one half of a two parter. And points to Amy for snapping a picture of a Silent with her phone! That's something I would have done and I'm amazed one of the characters thought to do it as well.

... I still cannot stand River. She just bugs the crap outta me in a way I find hard to put into words. I don't care how tragic her true nature/history turns out to be, I will never ever like that character.

So Time Lords don't actually age? Huh? The first Doctor they met was apparently more than a hundred years older than the Doctor we know, yet he didn't look a day older? Is that how it works with Time Lords, or is there something else going on there?

[Iroscato]

Well River shot at the astronaut the first time it appeared and didn't do didly to it. Unless her aim really sucks.

I think she said something like 'of course not' after her gun did nothing to the astronaut. This would suggest the astronaut is indeed bulletproof.

Okay episode, though I liked Eleventh Hour more, probably because it was a complete story rather than one half of a two parter. And points to Amy for snapping a picture of a Silent with her phone! That's something I would have done and I'm amazed one of the characters thought to do it as well.

She's got to remember she took the photo in the first place

... I still cannot stand River. She just bugs the crap outta me in a way I find hard to put into words. I don't care how tragic her true nature/history turns out to be, I will never ever like that character.

Nah, she's brilliant.

So Time Lords don't actually age? Huh? The first Doctor they met was apparently more than a hundred years older than the Doctor we know, yet he didn't look a day older? Is that how it works with Time Lords, or is there something else going on there?

Well, in Last of the Time Lords, the Master made the Doctor age 100 years without regenerating, so that is a bit confusing...

I was left with a massive amount of questions for this episode, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Obviously, I know the Doctor will be ok, but there was a horrible 'oh shit he's regenerating...oh SHIT no he's not!' moment there I like it when the show breaks its own rules. Steven Moffat is a MASSIVELY superior director than RTD, and the new aliens were a nice original idea. Even if they had mouths like anuses.

As ever, I squirm in anticipation for next week. I give it 5.

[Revy]

She's got to remember she took the photo in the first place

Well I'm sure it'll come up again, unless they intend to make it an unfired Chekhov's Gun.

Nah, she's brilliant.

YMMV on that one.

There seems to be a new running gag with the Doctor and funny hats. I wonder if we can guess what kind of silly hats we'll see the Doctor wearing over the course of this season.

And why the hell can't they just tell him? What's with all this "trust us" nonsense? I mean it seems pretty obvious the future Doctor knew full well what was going to happen, or at least planned to avert it somehow. What exactly is the danger of telling him what will happen? If averting those events really will blow up the universe or some paradox silliness, then surely the Doctor will know better than to try and mess with things. And if he does decide to try something, it'll be something that he feels sure won't destroy reality in the process. Give him some credit guys.

[Bedlam]

I'm actually wondering if the figure in the spacesuit at the beginning was the Doctor, the child was in the suit later on in the episode but that doesn't mean they cant switch at some later point.

I wonder if the Doctors death will be cleared up at the end of the second part or if it will remain for the whole of the series (confidential seems to suggest the latter).

[El Moose Monstero]

Found the start very sluggish - I think some of it was the fact that we see Amy and Rory clearly having lived for a while without the doctor. Not that I'm averse to that, it just seems like quite a big thing - there must have been a goodbye, a parting etc - seems a shame to do that off screen. Especially as this is the fairly fundamental contrivance which the series begins with. Also, everyone felt a bit off in terms of acting, having recently watched the last series again - Rory was ok, largely because he doesn't have much to do, but Amy wasn't convincing for me. And I found the 'look, look, I've read the timetraveller's wife too' stuff a bit heavy - but then I don't care for River much either.

That said, I enjoyed the episode once it got its premise out of the way - I felt the same about the finale from last series. Getting the premise set up seemed to be clunky, but once that was done, it was fairly steady going.

Was quite pleased to see a semi-return to the idea of a cliffhanger ending and a continuous story, especially with a two part split between the series, does seem like a return to the original Who format. No bad thing, in my book.

[HMS Sophia]

Did they have to repeat the hat gag?
Did anyone find it funny?

[El Moose Monstero]

A thought occurs... possible spoilage...
Spoiler

River says that she met the doctor when she was younger, when he knew everything about her and she knew nothing, River has been in a stormcage for a long time for killing a man, the greatest man she ever knew. Could it be River's younger self killing the doctor? Easier for he to kill him when she doesn't know him, that's the big secret he has to find out about her, and it gives a curious parallel, since she dies when they reach the opposite end of the timeline too. As to the who, what, when and why, no idea, but it seems a good bet.

EDIT: Mind you, then she'd know what was going on... unless it ends up blanked from her memory for some reason. Hm. Maybe it's a crap idea after all.

[Drooling Iguana]

So Time Lords don't actually age? Huh? The first Doctor they met was apparently more than a hundred years older than the Doctor we know, yet he didn't look a day older? Is that how it works with Time Lords, or is there something else going on there?

Well, in Last of the Time Lords, the Master made the Doctor age 100 years without regenerating, so that is a bit confusing...

In The Leisure Hive the Doctor is aged 500 years and ends up as an old man. Time Lords age between regenerations, it just happens more slowly than it does with humans.

I interpret the Master's line in The Sound of Drums as him converting the numbers to their human equivalence so that things would make more sense for his mostly human audience.

Not sure if I like the changes to the opening titles. The extra lens flare on the TARDIS-light in the logo is annoying, and its odd that Smith and Gillian have lightning strikes accompanying their names but Darvill doesn't.

[mr friendly guy]

I liked it, but its one of those episodes where you need to watch the finale to get a feel for how well the story turned out. Some of NuWho first parters looked nice only to be let down by the second episode. So I will just have to see how it goes.

[Big Orange]

I see the Silence constructed that pseudo-TARDIS.

I had strong feeling that wasn't the last we've seen of that sort of non-Gallifreyian TARDIS and it bore a lot of asthetical similarities to the Pandorica, the feeling of vindication is wonderful. But I doubt it's the same counterfeit TARDIS from last time, the Silence's more sinister, somewhat cruder TARDISes might be around in huge numbers if there's already a huge army of the Silence lurking beneath the surface of our planet, with their timeships presumably used as power/control hubs for their endless underground warrens and tunnels.

A Silent drone is a cross between a Roswell Grey and the Slender Man, their mind wiping ability is an unnerving and practical trait. Are you thinking what I thinking about their possible origin?
Spoiler

I'm guessing the Silence are future evil offshoots or direct descendents of the Ood civilization that we saw from "The End of Time", where the 10th Doctor was remarking with some concern on how fast and far the Ood were advancing as a species, with sprawling cities and immense psychic powers already developed within a relatively short space of time. The Silence do have more similarities than differences to the original Ood, with their bulbous skulls, killing through electricity, and psychic powers...

[xerex]

well..........I find Greys and the slender man and distorted humanoid shapes to be creepy in general.

so I was approprately freaked out.........and the bathroom scene was scarier than the tunnel scene.

[Revy]

I missed Doctor Who Confidential, but at the end of the new episode the TV voice over said something about writing your own mini episode of Doctor Who? Does anyone know anything about that, or did I misshear?

[2000AD]

A solid ..... meh for me. Not bad, but not good just plain middle of the road. Though I am a big fan of Mark Sheppard so I'm looking forward to more FBI Man the 3rd.

Also Moose I made that prediction last season so I got first dibs on the "I knew it!" if it comes through.

[Iroscato]

A Silent drone is a cross between a Roswell Grey and the Slender Man, their mind wiping ability is an unnerving and practical trait. Are you thinking what I thinking about their possible origin?
Spoiler

I'm guessing the Silence are future evil offshoots or direct descendents of the Ood civilization that we saw from "The End of Time", where the 10th Doctor was remarking with some concern on how fast and far the Ood were advancing as a species, with sprawling cities and immense psychic powers already developed within a relatively short space of time. The Silence do have more similarities than differences to the original Ood, with their bulbous skulls, killing through electricity, and psychic powers...

Spoiler

Interesting thought, but personally I think the Silence are a completely different species. Moffat keeps saying they're completely new, not anything to do with old enemies.

I'm really starting to like the Silence as a new enemy. It would be nice if they took their place among the Daleks, Cybermen, and Weeping Angels and made more than one appearance.

[Serafina]

Given that they were massively set up in the last season, i would be very surprised if they turned out to be an one-shot villain.
I think i'll love this episode, but i'll keep my judgment until the second part.

[2000AD]

I just realised that all the stuff at the start of the episode could be setting up stuff for later in the season. So IIRC there was:
- Those guys in the mansion finding The Doctor in the ladies room. (What period were they? Looked like either English Civil War cavaliers or French Muskateers to me (based on their appearences in pop culture not actual historical stuff))
- Another thing that Rory was reading in a book.
- The Doctor in a Laurel and Hardy film.
- The thing River mentioned with [Name] the Fish, was the name Jim? (I'm putting good odds on this since in her previous episodes she name dropped the Crash of The Byzantium and The Pandorica, both of which came through.)
And quite possibly the most important one, possibly the biggest groundbreaking thing in Doctor Who ever ....
- The Doctor for some reason will start to prefer a Stetson over a Fez.

Anyone else thinking that given what happened part way through the episode that those are foreshadowing? Or just me?

[lordofchange13]

I missed Doctor Who Confidential, but at the end of the new episode the TV voice over said something about writing your own mini episode of Doctor Who? Does anyone know anything about that, or did I misshear?

I BELIEVE IT WAS SOME KIND OF CONTEST IN honor for the death of Sahara Jane smith's actress.

[Revy]

I BELIEVE IT WAS SOME KIND OF CONTEST IN honor for the death of Sahara Jane smith's actress.

I finally tracked it down online. It was a challenge to write a 3 minute script, and the winner would have their script filmed. Sounds exactly the kind of thing I'd love to try, except ... it's for kids aged 9-11.

Damn. I wish I was a kid again. Stupid linear progression of time

[DaveJB]

Eh, don't worry about that one. Opportunities for Doctor Who-related stuff sometimes come up here. In fact, there was actually a Big Finish competition that I was thinking about entering a few months ago, but I stopped short of submitting my script when I realised it didn't really fit the brief they'd put up. I've still got the script on file, just in case.

[Big Orange]

Spoiler

Interesting thought, but personally I think the Silence are a completely different species. Moffat keeps saying they're completely new, not anything to do with old enemies.

I'm really starting to like the Silence as a new enemy. It would be nice if they took their place among the Daleks, Cybermen, and Weeping Angels and made more than one appearance.

They most certainly will, it's pretty obvious.
Spoiler

The Ood are a relatively recent DW species who were first introduced in "The Impossible Planet" and the original Ood are going turn up again later this year, so they have staying power and I wouldn't be surprised if they were ancestors to the Silence, a sinister new species that seems to have similar resources to the Time Lords and Daleks. The mysterious faux TARDIS may likely belong to them and looks scary enough, but we'll have to see next week's episode to find out for sure, also the voice of a Silent sounds different to the booming voice heard inside the TARDIS before it blew up. Here's a list of possible Silent sightings.

The Sheppards are well recognisable veterans of sci-fi/cult television, they both played elderly and youngish versions of the same character before in an episode of NCIS, Mark Sheppards' dad turned up in goofy episode of Voyager and played an ill fated Narn admiral in Babylon 5, I liked their inclusions.

The only thing I genuinely dislike about this story so-far is the death of the 1100 year old 11th Doctor; self-indulgent and emotionally flaccid (and this is from a apologist of the 10th Doctor's regeneration), but I liked the first confirmed sighting of the Silence, the introduction to Canton Everett Delaware III, the use of letters again to arrange meetings across time-space, and the location shooting in a North American desert (looks great, but a bit disposable like the location shooting at the UAE).

[Broomstick]

For those of you wondering what I'm doing here after stating I haven't a means to see the show.... well, I'm taking the Fifth. Either that, or this is my 2012 self posting this.

Spacesuits are bulletproof arn't they?

Ha-ha-ha-ha Good one.

Spoiler

Judging by the "Next Time" trailer, it looks as if the shot didn't do anything except annoy the Astronaut

Spoiler

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shoot you”? Oh, really? The gun just leapt into your hand and started firing on its own accord? And you just know The Doctor will 1) not approve on general “I don't like guns/violence” principals and 2) Amy has some explaining to do in regards to motive.

Well River shot at the astronaut the first time it appeared and didn't do didly to it. Unless her aim really sucks.

Given prior shooting dispalys, we know her skill does not suck, therefore something else is going on. Given that the astronaut used some form of energy weapon on The Doctor it might be reasonable to conclude that there is some technology involved that goes beyond 1969 NASA capabilities.

And points to Amy for snapping a picture of a Silent with her phone! That's something I would have done and I'm amazed one of the characters thought to do it as well.

One of the things I like about this show, and that's been improving over the years, is that The Doctor's companions aren't complete blithering idiots, do display some intelligence occasionally amongst the screaming for help and running about, and sometimes their competence is integral to the plot.

So Time Lords don't actually age? Huh? The first Doctor they met was apparently more than a hundred years older than the Doctor we know, yet he didn't look a day older? Is that how it works with Time Lords, or is there something else going on there?

I'm suspecting something else – how likely is it that The Doctor would go 200 years with regenerating, given how many bodies he's gone through already? He's averaging a new face every 82 years based on his reported age of 909, and we know that since he started gallivanting around the universe there have been times he's gotten a new body much quicker than that. A perception filter perhaps? He would, of course, want them to recognize him, how better than taking on the appearance of one of his prior faces?

Time Lords aren't human, and I'd explain it by saying they don't react to physical stress as we do – with each regeneration The Doctor tends to get younger looking (with Eleven as an extreme) whereas the Gallifreyans that stayed home all tended to look middle-aged to elderly no matter how old, as best I recollect. Perhaps what we look at and say “Oh, he's so young and fresh!” they look at and say “Great balls of fire! He's been through the ringer, look how wrecked he is!”
Spoiler

Nice Viking funeral, by the way

I'm actually wondering if the figure in the spacesuit at the beginning was the Doctor, the child was in the suit later on in the episode but that doesn't mean they cant switch at some later point.

I was wondering if the figure in the space suit was River Song, given the repeated hints that she kills The Doctor, though it wouldn't work for the timeline.

I am completely baffled by the “Rory the Roman” reference – but DON'T explain it to me, I'm assuming it's explained in the second half of the Series Five I haven't seen yet. (Apparently, like River Song, I'm not always meeting The Doctor in the proper order either. I haven't done “Roman Rory” yet).

Did they have to repeat the hat gag?
Did anyone find it funny?

I am finding it mildly amusing, I just don't want to see it every episode. It's no more annoying than the Third's Jelly Baby thing.
Spoiler

One thing I found annoying was the “You wouldn't just shoot me?” bit where River and the others spill out the TARDIS with River shouting “They're Americans!” Oh, that was funny... oh, wait. And hey, WHO has been doing most of the shooting lately? River... Pot, kettle. Yes, I know, fun with stereotypes.

I just realised that all the stuff at the start of the episode could be setting up stuff for later in the season. So IIRC there was:
- Those guys in the mansion finding The Doctor in the ladies room. (What period were they? Looked like either English Civil War cavaliers or French Muskateers to me (based on their appearences in pop culture not actual historical stuff))
- Another thing that Rory was reading in a book.

I thought the incident we saw was the one Rory was reading about in the book

- The Doctor for some reason will start to prefer a Stetson over a Fez.

Oh, please no! Do NOT Americanize The Doctor! Let him get Stetsons while he's in the States, but don't make it a permanent feature. Part of the appeal to me about the show is that it is NOT American.

Anyone else thinking that given what happened part way through the episode that those are foreshadowing? Or just me?

I think there is a CRAPLOAD of foreshadowing going on, and some of it we won't pick up on until further in the season.

... and the location shooting in a North American desert (looks great, but a bit disposable like the location shooting at the UAE).

I believe that was Monument Valley in Utah.

Other tidbits I like was the exchange between River and The Doctor regarding Nixon where she calls him a hippie (oh, so 60's!) and he calls her an archeologist.

I'm wondering if Canton is gay and that's why he referred to wanting to get married as a crime and why he was kicked out of the FBI.

In regards to spoilers next time – clearly, The Doctor spends some time as a prisoner, what with the chains and beard and all – I'm assuming he's held by the Americans. Which is puzzling, because in 1969 America how could the US keep The Doctor confined against his will? This is a guy who saves the universe barehanded, no plan, no backup, no TARDIS, not even his screwdriver sometimes. Unless he lets himself be held? Or maybe the Americans don't rely on fancy tech and just has guys with guns stand around him for a long time? The other thing – if they do hold him that long they have to figure out at some point he's not human in which case where's the guys in the white lab coats who want to do a dissection?

Alright, I'm probably overthinking this....

[NecronLord]

Incidentally, people complaining about the materialisation effect - I forget if it was here or elsewhere - in the trailers have nothing to worry about.

The Invisible thing is kinda cool, too, the last time that was done was back in Pat Troughton's reign as Doctor Who albeit accidentally. The scanner worked back then too.