C+Q - The Impossible Astronaut (2011)

I love how arc-heavy Series 6 is. It's a big change in rhythm from previous series that came at just the right moment, when things were starting to become formulaic. Steven Moffat had already done a full series as showrunner, but despite how new it felt it was also shaped like an RTD series. It had an opening trilogy of a present-day Britain episode, a weird futuristic episode, and an Earth historical episode made to introduce a new TARDIS team. It had a two-part finale with huge cosmic stakes. It reintroduced a Classic Who monster with a modern new design (Daleks in Series 1, Cybermen in Series 2, the Master in Series 3, Sontarans in Series 4, and Silurians in Series 5). Series 5 is wonderful, but it's also using the same (good, reliable) structure as series prior.

Series 6 completely blows that up, most obviously with a split in the middle of the run - the first seven episodes being Part 1 and the last six being Part 2. Both parts are their own arcs, with their own big scale openers and finales, and all 13 episodes are part of the same overall mystery. As these episodes aired it could sometimes be confusing to keep track of what was going to be explained and what was a loose thread the writers had forgotten about, but looking back on it now that it's all been tied up, I absolutely love this story.

The standard series structure is overturned right away with the opening episode, The Impossible Astronaut, which firstly is the start of a two-parter and secondly doesn't introduce a new TARDIS team. The Eleventh Doctor, Amy, Rory, and River are an amazing group, and they really do feel like a tightly-knit family unit. There's a warmth to them that's extremely casual and easy-going - you can tell the actors are comfortable in their roles and are good friends in real life. The scene in the TARDIS where Amy swears on fish custard works so well because there's real history between these four and we've seen their relationships bloom. The only pairing who don't seem to get a lot of time together (in general) is Rory and River, and this episode even manages to give them a decent moment in the Silence tunnels towards the end.

While I'm in this area, that scene in the TARDIS is gorgeously lit, I mean oh my GOD. This whole episode is stunning - the location filming was definitely worth it. This is another modern-day Earth adventure like so many Episode 1s, but unlike other openers Utah is beautiful and fresh and American rather than something a British viewer could easily see by looking out their window. I want a show that can explore all of time and space to show me amazing places, and The Impossible Astronaut does that. The White House is also a great iconic place for Doctor Who to go, and the scene of the Doctor taking notes behind Nixon's back in the Oval Office is brilliant ("Oh, this is the Oval Office. I was looking for the Oblong Room").

Canton makes for a fun fifth member of the TARDIS team, and I like his introduction with the envelopes. The whole Lake Silencio scene in general is very well done and makes the whole thing feel more like a finale than an opener (I know it gets revisited in the finale but still). It's well acted all around and when I first saw this episode in 2011 there was definitely a moment, no matter how brief, where I thought they might actually spring a surprise regeneration on us. I was so taken in by what was happening with no idea where it could be heading. Rewatching this episode knowing how the mystery resolves itself, the solution makes total sense with what this episode gives us.

There is one thing that doesn't quite work though, and that's the 200 years thing. Surely the same story could've been told with the Doctor on the beach being just one year older than the current Doctor? Or maybe it had to be at least ten years so Amy could have a reaction to the Doctor being significantly older. Still, there's no way 13 episodes can fully convey 200 years of time, especially because all 200 of those years apparently happen in the space between The God Complex and Closing Time rather than spread out across those 13 episodes. I dunno, I just don't buy it, and it doesn't make the drama any more or less impactful. There's no big Heaven Sent moment where the passage of time really hits me.

Although we don't get their name in this episode, here we finally meet the Silence. The alien greys/Slenderman design makes the Smith era's biggest monsters appropriately iconic, and their memory gimmick is genius. The demonstration of how it works is also genius, with Amy (and the audience) getting to see how they affect someone else. Amy's idea to take a picture of them on her phone is great. We have no idea how she's going to use that picture and chances are neither does she, but she's been travelling in the TARDIS long enough to have some initiative of her own when facing down alien threats. It's a small thing but it clearly shows this is her second series.

It's been said before, but the cliffhanger with Amy being pregnant is extremely soap opera. It's also kinda obvious in hindsight that the mysterious child who Amy potentially shoots at the very end is the result of the mystery pregnancy she just mentioned, but that could just be hindsight talking. Maybe I had no idea that was a Pond in that suit back in 2011. Either way, I think it basically works...if it weren't for the terrible slow motion. Slow motion dialogue will always be funny, no matter how serious I'm supposed to take it. "What are you doing?!" "Saving your life!" In slow-mo is way more comedic than the epic music wants me to think it is. Oh by the way, Murray Gold does good work here, but then again he does good work everywhere. The American arrangement of I am the Doctor is fun.

The Impossible Astronaut is a very strong opener for Series 6, and it's aged very well given all the retcons and big River/Silence/Trenzalore continuity stuff that's now attached to it. It really works and sets up this two-parter, this half of the series, and this series overall very neatly.