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hmmm...not a bad episode, but not a great one...a bit of a generic greatest hits of Moffatt.

of course the rest of the episode will be overshadowed by....

the ending, who is the girl? why is she regenerating? could she be Amy's child...seems a bit obvious, could she be River Song? I really have no idea at all

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I really liked the opening two-parter. It crams a LOT in and some things do get skimmed over, but I thought it was a suitably epic way to start a season. It introduces the Silence as a physical entity and you can see the bits that tie back into Season 5, whilst seeing what's being set up for this season. I liked the performances, thought there were some big moments and am suitably invested in the show for this season.

....so WHY are people trying to judge the opener's worth by comparing it to past episodes? ESPECIALLY if they haven't seen both parts?! I don't know what I'd call Moffat's worst single episode (The Beast Below maybe) but chances are it's better than some of the dreck out there in both Old & New Who - Planet of the Dead leaps to mind.

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hmmm...not a bad episode, but not a great one...a bit of a generic greatest hits of Moffatt.

of course the rest of the episode will be overshadowed by....

the ending, who is the girl? why is she regenerating? could she be Amy's child...seems a bit obvious, could she be River Song? I really have no idea at all

I'm not trying to pick on you, Jakob, given my last post, but repeating certain tropes in a story does not make it bad if it fits the context of the episode. Words like "hmmm", "generic" and "greatest hits" not only give off negative connotations but is kind of undermined by the obvious interest you have in the season given what's in your spoiler tags.

I'm going to leave it at that, lest I start looking like an apologist. Have fun, Yanks!

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Monopoly is about to have a Doctor Who makeover this summer, with Hasbro releasing a version of the long-lived board game dedicated to the Time Lord.

Listed by Forbidden Planet, the game is limited to 5000 copies, and will feature "all your favourite heroes, villains, monsters, planets and places."

It is due to be released on 1st August 2011.

monopoly.jpg

"You've landed on Amy Pond."

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hmmm...not a bad episode, but not a great one...a bit of a generic greatest hits of Moffatt.

of course the rest of the episode will be overshadowed by....

the ending, who is the girl? why is she regenerating? could she be Amy's child...seems a bit obvious, could she be River Song? I really have no idea at all

I'm not trying to pick on you, Jakob, given my last post, but repeating certain tropes in a story does not make it bad if it fits the context of the episode. Words like "hmmm", "generic" and "greatest hits" not only give off negative connotations but is kind of undermined by the obvious interest you have in the season given what's in your spoiler tags.

I'm going to leave it at that, lest I start looking like an apologist. Have fun, Yanks!

I've been a fan since the early 80's, and whatever happens, i'm going to watch the series. The negative connotations were intentional because i found a lot of the aspects of this two parter disappointing. It wasn't an awful story, and there have been far worse, but that's my reaction.

As to the "spoiler tags", well...without giving spoilers, the scene i'm talking about had very little to do with the rest of the story...it was a teaser for the rest of the series and my "interest" in it, doesn't have much to do with the rest of the story.

Regarding your first point that repeating certain tropes doesn't make it bad if it fits in the context of the episode...well, yes, you may be right, but too many repeating elements just seems....i don't want to say lazy, but it's like a magician doing the same trick over and over...it may still be impressive, but you're just thinking "show us something new".

incidently, did i miss something or

where in 1969 did they find the "dwarf star alloy" or whatever it was that they used to build the cell in the beginning

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hmmm...not a bad episode, but not a great one...a bit of a generic greatest hits of Moffatt.

of course the rest of the episode will be overshadowed by....

the ending, who is the girl? why is she regenerating? could she be Amy's child...seems a bit obvious, could she be River Song? I really have no idea at all

I'm not trying to pick on you, Jakob, given my last post, but repeating certain tropes in a story does not make it bad if it fits the context of the episode. Words like "hmmm", "generic" and "greatest hits" not only give off negative connotations but is kind of undermined by the obvious interest you have in the season given what's in your spoiler tags.

I'm going to leave it at that, lest I start looking like an apologist. Have fun, Yanks!

I've been a fan since the early 80's, and whatever happens, i'm going to watch the series. The negative connotations were intentional because i found a lot of the aspects of this two parter disappointing. It wasn't an awful story, and there have been far worse, but that's my reaction.

That's fair enough. It's just that you didn't say what irked you, as you left the spoiler tags for the season set-up. And I didn't see why the episode warranted a blanket "meh".

As to the "spoiler tags", well...without giving spoilers, the scene i'm talking about had very little to do with the rest of the story...it was a teaser for the rest of the series and my "interest" in it, doesn't have much to do with the rest of the story.

Regarding your first point that repeating certain tropes doesn't make it bad if it fits in the context of the episode...well, yes, you may be right, but too many repeating elements just seems....i don't want to say lazy, but it's like a magician doing the same trick over and over...it may still be impressive, but you're just thinking "show us something new".

I'd argue that there were easily twice as many new ideas in the opening two-parter than there were repeated tropes.

incidently, did i miss something or

where in 1969 did they find the "dwarf star alloy" or whatever it was that they used to build the cell in the beginning

I'm guessing that The Doctor was being held in Area 51 (I can't fully remember where half of the American locations were, but Rory's capture being on the Hoover dam suggests he wasn't too far away) and so there was potential alien tech within that location. The fact that it wasn't definitively asserted actually helps future writers in terms of the continuity they have to play with. I like to imagine that that ends up being/inspiring the Pandorica.

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Having seen the second half, I think I can honestly say my response to the opening two-parter is: OHMYFUCKINGGODTHATWASFUCKINGAMAZING!!!! Umm, right, onto actual thoughts:

-I did not like The Silence in the last episode but I got to say, they became truly creepy and the scenes of Amy in the orphanage just scared the fuck out of me.

-So glad that Mark Sheppard got more to do this week. Also, I loved his last scene. I don't think this is the last we've seen of him. If they bring back Captain Jack, some flirting maybe?

-Okay, the Doctor's plan for getting rid of the Silence. Brilliant but, he's kinda proving Davros's point again. He has basically turned the human race into a weapon against the Silence. He's weaponized them. I kinda hope this gets brought up again.

-Onto the end of the episode. The little girl has to be at least part time lord. There's a lot of mystery to this like who's the woman with the eyepatch from the orphanage? Is she associated with the Silence? How did the Silence's console room get above the residence in The Lodger? What the fuck is up with Amy's womb?

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It was better than last week's, but I still had issues with it.

The bypassing of how they remember The Silents exist so they can fight them was one, but my main problem was The Doctor turning the human race into weapons. First "time can be rewritten," now it's okay for the human race to be murderers? Is Moffat ever going to have The Doctor stop and look at what he's become?

There were certainly things that I liked. The orphanage was creepy and the ending was quite the intriguing cliffhanger. Mark Sheppard got a lot more to do, hopefully they bring Canton back. I even liked the flirting between The Doctor and River. But hands down, my favorite parts were the emotional moments with Rory. Arthur Darvill was fantastic and Rory is now my favorite modern companion after Donna. So it's not a bad episode by any stretch, but my main problem with it is a major one to get past.

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I don't get how the Doctor kept looking away and never forgot about the Silence. When he pulled the tv out he wasn't looking at any of them. The alloy can be explained because they might have encountered aliens before. Also, they were influenced by the Silence who might have given it to them to hold him prisoner. The girl at the end is definitely a holy shit moment. Is it River? Is it Amy and the Doctor's love child? Is it the Doctor himself? Anything is possible at this point. The lady that said Amy was dreaming is very intriguing since it looked like she was looking at her in a cell like a mental institution.

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It occurs to me that River only had her sonic screwdriver in her first appearance. Meaning that a future Doctor has to give it to a future River. You'd think that this would be a red flag to River since their relationship seems to be going in the opposite direction timewise.

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According to TV By the Numbers, "The Impossible Astronaut", the first episode of the new season, was BBC America's highest-rated, most-watched telecast ever in the Live + Same Day category, reaching almost 1.3 million viewers, which was up by 71,000 viewers from the network's previous best, which was LAST season's opening episode of Doctor Who.

The news from the other side of the pond wasn't as positive, however. According to the BBC, the first episode in the UK was "watched by an average audience of 6.5 million viewers," which sounds pretty good until you realize that this "was down from the eight million recorded by overnight figures on Matt Smith's show debut in April 2010."

In fact:

While final consolidated viewing figures—which include playback on recording devices—will push ratings higher, "The Impossible Astronaut" is likely to be the least watched series opener since Doctor Who was relaunched in 2005.

http://blastr.com/2011/04/doctor-who-season-premier.php

Weird

I think that shows that a lot more people are watching shows online/via playback nowadays if there's a 2 million rise from the average viewing auidence. I know I streamed it live on my computer reather than going downstairs and watching it - and in that my house doesn't have a ratings box, there's every possibility that streaming/playback figures are more representative than traditional ratings methods.

Either way, I'm glad the show isn't a ratings failure!

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