I could do with an Eleven icon since I'll be probably be episode-talking every week.

[clo_again]

To start with, the bad:

> The new theme music and credits were terrible and I DISAPPROVE. The 'Who music is classic and spine-tingling; they've made it forgettable and boring. Fail. CHANGE IT BACK.

> The CGI was as terrible - more terrible? - as ever, shiny and plastic-looking and utterly fake. I'd love to beat them over the head with some of Farscape's puppets or the way Merlin often uses CGI only when needed and utilises tricks like darkness to hide the flaws. If you can't do the CGI well enough for everyone to believe that the actors aren't talking to a bluescreen, don't do it. They could've done Prisoner Zero with a model and I would've been a lot more invested in the confrontation scenes. Why this show continues to place so much importance on CGI when they can't make it even slightly believable, baffles me. I had great hopes that Stephen Moffet - considering he did Girl in the Fireplace with the beautiful automatons and Blink with the statues - would cut down on the fake-looking CGI aliens. Apparently not. Thankfully the majority of the coming-soon-on-Who clips seemed to focus on prosthetics and CGI-as-background which is something that 'Who does do well so hopefully it won't continue to be A Thing.


And... that's it for bad things, I think? THAT'S IT. I can't believe the first episode of 'Who which I and what seems like most of the internet has been fretting about for so long...and my only two complaints are the change in credits and CGI which frankly, has been one of my complaints about 'Who forever so no big deal there. I like Eleven. A lot. WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN. WHAT.

I did roll my eyes at the montage of Doctors with Eleven stepping through at the end because it seemed cheesy and contrived but then I reconsidered; this is a New Doctor. This is a Big Thing; there's only been eleven actors allowed to play that part in decades. Decades. It deserved to be heralded and it was a nice way of doing that, so 'eyeroll of bad' became 'actually okay, that was a nice touch'.


The Good (the important things rather than listing them all):

> I liked Matt Smith. A lot. The food thing was entertaining - even though I groaned at 'Bad bad beans' because I could see the internet catchphrase it could become - and I loved the fishfingers in custard; it was just the right kind of weird. I suspect it may be weird enough that internet opinion will be divided but I liked it. It was decidedly unTennant (in my opinion; he was quirky but not weird). I liked his energy and the way he chose his new clothes and his dealing with the aliens.

Yes, he has Tennant mannerisms. The frenetic explaining of his plans. Once he said hello in exactly Tennant's inflection and I twitched. But he's more different than I expected and I think it's a difference that'll get more marked as the series progresses, enough that I can understand why they cast him. If he'd been cast as Ten then I think he'd have been brilliant and unusual and completely Doctorish; it's only the question of if he's too close to Tennant that made me really question the casting (and the youth but I'm not worried about that after this ep at all).

But it occured to me earlier, Ten didn't want to regenerate. It makes sense that he'd hang on to as much of himself as he could. If I thought they'd considered that as an explanation I'd have no problems with the Tennant!similarities at all but for now it's enough for me not to twitch too much.

This episode made me excited about Matt Smith being Eleven. Well done Moffet; I didn't think it could be done. Take a cookie of win.

> Amy Pond was fun and I loved that she had her own personal mythology around the Doctor (for all that I worry about future romantic implications arising from that. Martha was handled so badly that I can't face another unrequited-love plotline). I winced a bit at the awkwardness of the final conversation outside the TARDIS (it felt manhandled into shape and not quite natural) but her 'I'm in my nightie' reaction to the TARDIS was perfect. Plus? No family for massive on-Earth plotlines, aside from the obvious wedding-plot which I suspect they'll hold off a while to make the inevitable Massive Disaster more exciting. I have to say, her "Can you get me back by tomorrow morning?" made the wedding thing really obvious so the final pan up the wedding dress was more a "Yeah, we get it, whatever." Even my mother, the first person to ask "What just happened?" when watching anything, said "She's getting married!" after the tomorrow-morning request.

I'm interested that she took his yes-of-course answer as a given after having his complete lack of time-keeping skills proven twice, especially since Nurse-Boy had both irritating and also detail-noticing companion-worthy qualities and I'm assuming that he's the one she's marrying (or in an entertaining twist, Jeff). She's already chosing the Doctor over the important people in her life. Interesting.

> I argued with my parents about whether or not the ep was filmed in or near Cardiff; they said nowhere in south Wales was that pretty, I said they hadn't seen everywhere and it was unlikely that they'd go to the Cotswolds just to film a pretty village. According to Twitter it was filmed in Llandaff, Cardiff. I WIN. AND SO DOES WALES. :D (Up yours Cotswolds! ;) )

It was extremely pretty and I'm happy that Llandaff was trending on British Twitter even two hours afterward because people talking about Wales looking pretty makes me proud. And Cardiff can look damn pretty. <3 Yay!

> One more thing I liked in particular was the feel of this ep. Even if the CGI didn't live up to it, it felt creepy. It felt well-thought out. It felt real and new and very Doctor Who.

It felt like the start of a great series. I really hope it is.

Comments

[mayakittenreads]

*whines* I wants it precious! I can't even find out an air date for here. *pouts*

ETA: THANK YOU GOOGLE! April 18

[scoobydumblonde.livejournal.com]

I am now getting excited about new new new Who. I shouldn't get excited about it. But I'm going on your positives and reminding myself that you never let me down with your recs. :-)

IT AIRS ON THE 17TH HERE!!!! I thought it was the 27th, but it's the 17th. ARGH!