The Eleventh Hour

A new Doctor, a new companion and a creepy, but otherwise uninteresting story.

It was a relief to find I enjoyed this new story and felt that I liked Matt Smith as Doctor.

The first thing I am going to comment on is my usual complaint about recent Doctor Who: Sexy stuff! This is a children's show. With children watching! Do we really need a kissogram in Doctor Who? And do we have to have her staring as Matt Smith takes his clothes off?

I like the way the Doctor is introduced. He is a dreamlike figure who appears to a child and instantly wins her trust. The recent series has tended to make the Doctor too human and realistic. Here we see the Doctor as a magical figure and I love that. The roots of Doctor Who as a children's show are restored (even if this is ruined by having a kissogram in the story).

I like Matt Smith's Doctor. He has consciously tried to echo Patrick Troughton and it shows. The way he dresses, the tenderness he shows towards Amy Pond and his frantic madman antics. Patrick Troughton was probably the best Doctor and its nice to see the immitation in Matt Smith's performance. My only complaint is the way he spits out lines too fast. Dialogue needs to be used more carefully and sparing than this.

Amy Pond is clearly a woman with a troubled past. She seems to be a much stronger character than Rose, Martha and Donna. Karen seems to be a talented actress and we will look forward to seeing more of her.

The story is pretty throw-away, though it has an effective creepiness. The plot seemed pretty unconvincing, so we are not likely to see any change from the kind of atrocious story-writing that has been characteristic of the Russell T Davies years.