Doctor WTF?

I'm going to talk a little about The Impossible Astronaut now. How could I not? And whilst I normally like to review things in an elliptical and obtuse fashion to avoid discussing important plot details, in this case I think there is little choice. The following ramble WILL contain SPOILERS. Massive hairy spoilers from space that will destroy you and everything you ever loved with their nasty spoileranium axes. If you haven't already watched the episode then stop reading this and GO AND WATCH IT. Don't look at the internet until you're done.

In order to provide a suitable break between the introduction and the meat of the article is an adorable baby sloth.

There's a metaphor here if you think about it.

Now, where were we?


Dark, complicated, mature and above all else audacious. And this is a childrens show? Doctor Who has NEVER been "just" a childrens show. It's a FAMILY show. It's funny and scary and brilliant and for the parents just as much as the kids and the sad act obsessive fanboys who sit there with a giant metaphorical boner as soon as the theme music starts up. What else did you think we used to fanwank?

That said, this can't have been the easiest episode to watch with a younger fan. I think you know why. We start off with some fun zany madcap shenanigans and it seems we're off on another adventure. But it isn't that simple is it? We'd all seen the hype about one of the leads getting killed, but I didn't quite believe who it would actually be until the BBC released those pictures of the Doctor regenerating the day before. Bastards. Even so, it's a shocking moment. Matt Smith somehow manages to pack in the entire run time of Logopolis into about 30 seconds. That terrible feeling off DOOM that hung over the fourth Doctors final adventure suddenly comes crashing in from nowhere. It's a fantastic bit of acting. And then a spaceman walks out of a lake in the middle of the desert and BAM. He's fucking dead.

Killing the title character of a much loved 44 year old show in the first 10 minutes is, it has to be said, a bold move. Bringing him back a minute later as a past version of his dead future self is also pretty interesting. Now, I doubt anyone thinks that the Doctor will actually STAY dead. The question at the moment is simply HOW he's going to get out of it. I'm not really sure how that might happen, but then I'm not really sure of much at the moment. And that's part of the brilliance of this episode, at the climax we still have NO IDEA what's actually going on. And the cliffhanger itself, if anything, makes us have even less idea. I mean a man sized astronaut with a little girls head? Whats going on there? Is she on stilts? As alien plots go this is certainly one of the more esoteric. But the fact is that as ridiculous as it sounds, for those final few seconds it's as creepy as hell.

Also creepy as hell are the aliens. The titles refer to "The Silent". The interviews refer to the Silence as being in this episode. So we the viewer are pretty safe in assuming that's what they're called. Exactly who they are, what they're up to, what they're goal is and why they dress in suits is thus far unrevealed. The only thing we really know about them is that, yes, they're as creepy as hell. The look of them is pretty grotesque, in a good way. They look creepy and nasty. And then you get in close and see that they have actual eyes and it just gets worse. Brilliant design. The gimmick of only being able to remember them when looking directly at them is pretty interesting as well. Evidently Moffat has a thing for perception in his monster design. The Weeping Angels only exist when you're not looking at them, the Silence only exist to you when you are. Quite what they're doing when you're not is up for debate at this point. But there's certainly something to be said for any monster who comes in, blows someone to shreds, and then refers to them BY NAME. That's creepy.

So, what DO we actually know? The Doctor will die at the hands of a Spaceman. There's alien tech in a warehouse that looks suspiciously like an operating table, leading into a massive network of ancient tunnels permeating the entire earth that just happens to contain the control room of that pseudo-TARDIS from The Lodger. There's a little girl dressed as a Spaceman and hideous creepy aliens lurking around up to no good. Oh, and Amy's pregnant. That part at least I saw coming. Might also be something up with River, we don't know yet. How all this ties together is a mystery. There's something of a paradox involved somewhere I feel, since the Doctor is apparently killed at the hands of enemies he only meets due events propelled forward by his death, so I guess that MIGHT be part of the get out of death free card. Of course, the real question is whether or not the whole death part is actually resolved in part 2 at all. It could be left for the mid season cliffhanger. Hell, they could leave it for the series finale for all we know. ANYTHING could happen. Everything is up in the air right now, and Doctor Who is actually feeling pretty dangerous right now.

And that's a pretty great place to be.