The Eleventh Hour review [Steven Moffat]

"Basically, run." - The Doctor

After his most violent regeneration yet, the Doctor lands in the back garden of a Scottish girl with a crack in the fabric of reality in her bedroom wall.

Matt Smith is the Doctor.
The Doctor's Case:

• Christopher Eccleston is awkward at times in Rose when asked to be quirky. David Tennant fails to give the Tenth Doctor a real identity until almost halfway into series 2. Almost every leading man has needed at least their first story to come to grips with who their Doctor is and how they're going to play it. Peter Davison admitted he had no idea what he was doing and just walked around smiling in Four to Doomsday. Wisely, The Eleventh Hour was held off until The Beast Below through The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone had been filmed, meaning that Matt Smith is marvellous from the off, slipping into the shoes of the Doctor so easily that it's easy to forget that those Converse had another man in them just an episode ago. Matt Smith isn't one of my favourite Doctors but his performance in this story is sterling and quite possibly his best in the role, later becoming almost caricatured by the time of his departure. We'll discuss that later.

• The up-and-down regenerative trauma set the Sixth Doctor off on the wrong foot as a schizophrenic coward in The Twin Dilemma, made the Seventh Doctor look ridiculous in Time and the Rani and made it difficult to get a feel for Twelfth in Deep Breath. Moffat chooses to largely forego the Eleventh Doctor's regeneration sickness after the food sequence. This was a clever choice, letting us get a feel for who this new Doctor is, which was an issue with having the Tenth Doctor bed-bound for most of The Christmas Invasion. 
• The Doctor meeting a girl only to come back to find her a woman happened in The Girl in the Fireplace but it's explored more here with Amy Pond, the first primary companion to hail from somewhere other than London since Grace Holloway. This is a refreshing change as London had become far too prevalent in the show. Unfortunately we'll be returning there when Amy and Rory move and then again with Clara in The Bells of St John. Let's enjoy the small-town vibe of Leadworth while we can, the only place in the UK that isn't London or Cardiff.

The Valeyard's Case:

• Opening with the zoom-in on Earth again? It had a purpose in Rose, but it doesn't here. It's much too quick and, by this point, unimpressive.
• Amy pretends to be an English policewoman for no other reason than to throw off the audience.
• The CGI of Prisoner Zero isn't very good at all, particularly in the scene where it hides over Amy's shoulder. How does it get around, anyway? It seems to be permanently attached to the ceiling when not in human form.
• The "what did I see?" sequence is unnecessary and ridiculous and eats up both money and time.
• It wouldn't have taken a moment for Rory to show the pictures of the coma patients to Dr Ramsden. Why not do it before his dismissal? Any reasonable person would have.

A Good Quotation: "So, all of time and space, everything that's ever happened or ever will. Where do you want to start?" (The Doctor)

When Are We?: The majority of the episode takes place in 2008, with the Doctor meeting Amelia Pond in 1996 and Amy joining him in 2010. This episode takes place almost immediately after The End of Time and just before The Beast Below.

This Reminds Me...:

• The Doctor previously stole clothes from a hospital after regenerating in Spearhead from Space and The Movie.

His Constant Companion: Dr Ramsden and the nurses are presumed to have been killed by Prisoner Zero.

I'll Explain Later:

• Amy doesn't have a car and she lives in a tiny village where everyone knows one another. How does she have a career as a kissogram?
• Why did the coma patients all say "Doctor"?

The Inquisitor's Judgement: It's rare for a new Doctor to get a great first story but this one is really very good. It's a little thin on plot but getting to see the new Doctor in action rather than suffering regeneration sickness, being unlikeable or being bedbound. Young Amelia Pond is a good character and the older Amy is good too, perhaps at her best here (having a bit more to her than sexuality and sarcasm), and her fairytale relationship with the Doctor is well-done. The Eleventh Doctor had the potential to be one of my favourite Doctors after I first watched this episode and, whilst that didn't come to be the case, it's still a fantastic performance in a decent story. I'd rank this episode at an A.

Doctor Who (Series 5)

The End of Time  |  The Eleventh Hour  |  The Beast Below