The Eleventh Hour

"I am definitely a madman with a box."

Writer: Steven Moffat

Format: TV

Broadcast: 3 April 2010

Series: 5.01

Featuring: Eleventh Doctor, Amy

Synopsis

The newly regenerated Doctor has twenty minutes to save the world – and only Amy Pond can help him. But she's been waiting a very long time...

Verdict

The Eleventh Hour is a fine introduction to Matt Smith’s tenure as the Eleventh Doctor! It really does feel like a new era as we essentially have a hard reset of the look of the show. Sure, this new Doctor is still wearing the raggedy remains of his previous incarnation’s clothes and that actually plays a big part in the story, but we also have brand new opening titles, a new theme arrangement and of course the brand new TARDIS interior and exterior. I’m really enjoying watching this era of the show with Gemma, as I have done for all of the latest rewatch blog entries in the last couple of years, because we’ve both said during our six year plus relationship that Matt Smith is our favourite Doctor but we’ve actually only watched a couple of episodes together! So to fully delve into the era together is really exciting. Just seeing the coming soon trailer of the rest of Series 5 was brilliant and it brought back a lot of memories. It’s been not far off a decade since I last watched the episodes in this series so I can’t wait to explore them again now with company. The introduction of Amy as companion is tremendous and at the time I just didn’t expect to first meet her as a little girl. And then when we meet the grown up article I didn’t expect her to be in a kissogram policewoman outfit. I wonder how the Doctor would have reacted if she did go with the French maid alternative. Their relationship starts off with great humour and as we slowly explore Leadworth we learn just what impact the Doctor’s fleeting visit to young Amelia had on her. She’d seen four psychiatrists telling her that the raggedy Doctor didn’t exist and it seemed everyone local knew about it as well! It was good fun. There’s no time wasted in setting up the story arcs with the crack in the wall, the Pandorica will open, and Silence will fall. That’s very nicely done and leaves us wanting more for the series to come almost immediately! I really loved how throughout the Doctor wants to fix the fact that Amy grew up and his playful nature was matched with the right amount of seriousness. I’m not a huge fan of Prisoner Zero as the enemy, but the moment it reveals it didn’t create the crack was terrific. I also loved how accepting Amelia was of the mad man with a box eating fish fingers and custard in her kitchen so that meant it must be one hell of a scary crack in her bedroom wall. For me, the highlight of the episode is the moment where the Doctor calls back the Atraxi to Earth to give them a stern warning for their threat of incinerating the entire planet. Not only is Rory’s reaction to that a delight, but the moment where we see the history of Earth being defended and all previous ten incarnations before the new Eleventh Doctor steps through. He firmly is the Doctor. It’s magnificent. The Doctor’s comments about keeping the clothes were fun and whilst I’m not a massive fan of the browser history comments and pornography indications, as a whole this is a fine episode! Who da man? Not for this Doctor. The fact he was late again to pick Amy up as companion is good humour and it’s a shame he’s equally as interested in the crack in her wall as he is in her. The fact she runs away on the eve of her wedding day is rather fun too! Overall, a brilliant episode. 

Rating: 9/10