BBC Blurb
Doctor Who
New series High Definition programme
Saturday 3 April
6.20-7.25pm BBC ONE

Matt Smith begins his first adventure as the Doctor

The Doctor has regenerated into a brand-new man, but danger strikes before he can even recover, as Doctor Who returns for a new series. With the Tardis wrecked and the sonic screwdriver destroyed, the new Doctor has just 20 minutes to save the whole world – and only Amy Pond to help him.

The Doctor is played by Matt Smith and Amy Pond by Karen Gillan.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy that Doctor Who is back and being overseen by one of my favourite writers but why does the opening title sequence look like it's been put together on someone's home computer?

8 year old (age?) Amelia Pond is praying for someone to arrive and help her with the problem of voices coming from a crack in the wall. She prays for a Police Man just as there is a wheezing groaning noise and a crashing sound. She comes running to investigate a large box that has crashed in her backyard, and the Doctor quickly enlists her help as... he is hungry.

Going through a number of different types of food in Amy's kitchen knowing he loves them and suddenly finding he hates them enough in his new body to spit them out, he settles on fish fingers and custard. Amy tells him about the crack in the wall and he finds that it is a crack in space time that leads to a prison cell on another planet. He opens the crack a bit and a giant eye informs him that Prisoner Zero has escaped. The doctor finds that Prisoner Zero has actually escaped into a room in the house that Amy lives in. Just as he is about to investigate something out of the corner of his eye, the cloister bell rings and he has to rush back to the TARDIS to stabilise the engines. Jumping in he says to Amy "I'll be five minutes" and any Doctor Who fan worth his salt knows that that is likely to be impossible so when Amelia rushes back to her room and packs her bag to go it is a bit heartwrenching, as we know it's not going to happen.

On her way to pack she doesn't notice that the door to a room the Doctor was going to investigate is now open. We know where Prisoner Zero has escaped to.

5 minutes later, in the Doctor's timeline, he appears in front of the house. It's daylight now so he guesses he's a few hours later and he rushes into the house with his faulty sonic screwdriver. He yells out to Amy to run away and that he's going to take care of prisoner zero. He rushes to the closed room and tries to open it with his sonic screwdriver but before he can he's knocked out by a cricket bat.

There is a sound of twittering birds and the Doctor wakes up handcuffed to a radiator in Amelia's house. An attractive girl with red hair wearing a particularly sexy looking police uniform is looking down at him.

The Doctor says he's looking for Amelia Pond and the police woman says Amelia doesn't live here anymore. She left 6 months ago.

The Doctor tells the police woman to tell him how many rooms are on that landing. She says 5 but he says 6. He directs her to see a room she hasn't been able to see due to it being disguised by a perception filter. The police woman opens the door, much to the consternation of the Doctor, and goes inside. The Doctor asks her for his sonic screwdriver which he believes must have rolled under the door. The police woman finds it in goo sitting on the table.

The multiform known as prisoner zero is a giant snake like creature with long teeth. It appears behind her and uses it personal perception filter to exist behind her without her knowing. She turns and faces it, screams and runs out. She gives the Doctor his sonic screwdriver and, still chained, he locks the door.

The Doctor questions the girl about backup and she tells him that she was pretending as she's not really a police officer, she's a kissogram.

The creature opens the door and appears as a man with his dog. The man is barking as the creature hasn't quite got the mouths right. The image has been taken through a psychic link with one of the coma patients. 

Just as the creature is about to attack, the Doctor and the girl hear a message saying something like prisoner zero must vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. The Doctor manages to use the rapidly decaying sonic screwdriver to uncuff himself and they rush to the TARDIS to escape. The TARDIS is still rebuilding and won't let him in. Then the Doctor realises that the shed that was destroyed when his TARDIS first arrived had been rebuilt and it looked old. He tasted it and realised it was at least 12 years old. He turned to the girl.

The Doctor realises that the young girl he left a few minutes ago is 12 years older and standing in front of him.

He and Amelia rush around the village listening to the recorded message regarding prisoner zero and burst into Amelia's aunt's place to see a big eye on the TV screen. Amelia's aunt seems to recognise him but the Doctor is sure it's not possible. The Doctor finds out that Amelia is now called Amy. 

The Doctor works out that they have 20 minutes until the planet is destroyed. Just as he does that, Amy's friend Jeff, also at her aunt's place, and her aunt, work out that the strange gentleman in their lounge room is the Doctor. In fact, everyone Amy ever knew knew about the Doctor, even 4 psychologists.

The Doctor rushes outside and sees everyone taking a photo of the sky and the sun being blocked by a forcefield, He realises he is missing something and we get to see what the Doctor sees. This is a great scene as Steven has decided to break the age old unspoken rule that we can never look inside the Doctor's mind, and we actually look at what the Doctor can see with his heightened perception. He pauses for a second and scans through everything that he has seen in the past few seconds including zooming through a window in a telephone box to focus on Rory and his nurse id. The Doctor sees Rory who is taking a photo of a supposed coma patient rather than the sun. The person he is taking a photo of is actually the multiform in disguise.

The Doctor suddenly realises that he can save everyone in 20 minutes but he needs Amy to help him. Amy says no, grabs his tie and traps him in a car door, unable to move.

Eventually the Doctor is able to convince Amy of his good intentions and she releases him.

He rushes over to the nurse who is still taking pictures and Rory says something like "Oh my god. It's him. It's the Doctor" The Doctor grabs Rory's phone and looks at it. He sees prisoner zero and uses his sonic screwdriver to attract the giant eye ship in the sky by causing lights and a telephone box to explode. Unfortunately, as the sonic screwdriver seems to be linked to the TARDIS, it finally gives up the ghost and breaks, the alien ship doesn't see and the multiform escapes, dissolves, and goes to the hospital via the sewers, drains and airducts.

Rory and Amy rush to the hospital while the Doctor rushes to Jeff's bedroom to grab his laptop.

The Doctor sees what is on Jeff's laptop and says "Blimey. Get a girlfriend, Jeff!" He rapidly connects with experts around the world who are discussing the changing sun and advises them that he's an expert too and he needs their help. (One of the characters on the expert chat forum is Patrick Moore, a famous British astronomer who's being doing this for so long he's also appeared on The Goodies!) The Doctor creates a virus with Rory's mobile that will broadcast a message worldwide.

The Doctor rushes out, grabs a fire truck and drives to the hospital.

Rory and Amy find that they can't get to the coma floor, even with Rory there, and they call the Doctor. He tells them to look in the mirror and they find the way up. (I watched this scene 3 times and really can't see the connection. Unless the alien was broadcasting a perception filter around the door, or the Doctor had been to this hospital before... How did the Doctor know?) They encounter a lady holding the hands of her two daughters. We know immediately that it is the multiform from the way they are standing as well as seeing this same lady lying in the bed at the beginning but it takes Amy and Rory a few seconds longer to work it out. Prisoner zero speaks out of the wrong mouth again. The multiform chases Amy and Rory down the corridors. They try to lock the doors but the multiform bursts through, just as the Doctor txts Amy and Rory 'duck'. He breaks a window with the firetruck ladder, rushes up it to the 1st floor and confronts the multiform.

While the Doctor is talking to prisoner zero, the mobile phone virus works its magic and all the clocks and signs change to zero. The Atraxi prison guards use Rory's mobile to home in on Prisoner Zero's location. 

The Doctor suggests to the prisoner if he wants to escape he just has to create another crack in space time but the alien tells the Doctor that it wasn't him and he's surprised to find that the Doctor doesn't know what caused the cracks in the skin of the universe. Prisoner Zero advises the Doctor that "silence will fall". (Hmm. It looks like the cybermen are wanting to break through again)

The Atraxi ship arrives and the Doctor thinks he has won but Prisoner Zero has another idea and creates a link with Amy to take on a copy of the Doctor. Now the Atraxi can't tell them apart and it looks like Prisoner Zero is going to escape and the Earth will be destroyed.

The Doctor realises that Amy is dreaming of the Doctor because she can hear him. He rushes over to her and helps her change her thoughts to that of what prisoner zero looked like when she first saw it. As prisoner zero is psychicly linked it has no choice but to turn into what Amy is thinking of and changes into a copy of itself! The Atraxi locate it immediately and restrain it, thereby no longer needing to destroy the Earth.

The Doctor, however, is not finished yet. He calls the Atraxi up on Rory's phone and advises them that, according to the Shadow proclamation, they should never have threatened to destroy a level 5 planet. He orders them back.

On his way to meet the Atraxi the doctor grabs some clothes from some lockers at the hospital (a homage to Spearheads from Space and the Doctor Who telemovie) and takes off his raggedy Doctor clothese while Rory has his back turned and Amy watches with interest! He meets the Atraxi on top of the hospital and asks them 3 questions.
1. Is the Earth a threat to the Atraxi?
2. Has anyone on Earth broken any laws of the Atraxi?
The Atraxi materialise a holographic globe showing the Earth and answer no to questions 1 and 2. 
3. Is the Earth protected?
As soon as the Doctor asks the third question I'm sure fans all around the world gripped their seats for the obvious whoalicious scene to come and I'm sure they weren't disappointed.

Probing further with pictures of sea devils and alternate dimension cybermen appearing in their hologlobe they find out that Earth has been attacked by aliens several times already. They also discover exactly who protected the Earth from the aliens as they show all 10 of the Doctor's faces before he steps through the image to face the eyeball closer and says. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. Basically...run!"

The Atraxi legbail pretty quickly just as there is a wheezing groaning noise and the Doctor's TARDIS key burns in his pocket. He grabs it and runs off to his newly rebuilt TARDIS.
"What have you got for me this time?"
The TARDIS disappears just as Amy and Rory arrive and Amy closes her eyes to fight of the inevitable disappointment, again.

The Doctor materialises as Amy is dreaming of herself as a little girl waiting for the Doctor to appear. She wakes up and rushes down to his box which has materialised in her backyard again. The Doctor explains he had to take the TARDIS for a quick trip to the moon and back to run her in. She tells him that Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi situation happened "TWO YEARS AGO!" Amy wants to come but she's got something to do in the morning and the Doctor has to promise that he will return her before then. He promises but Amy doesn't tell him why she has to return.

There is a new control console complete with hot and cold taps, a typewriter, and several other day to day items disguising their real use. The Doctor activates the TARDIS and they're off.

Cue camera panning Amy's dolls, drawings and toys of the Doctor leading over to a wedding dress hanging in her closet, ready for tomorrow!

Ends with a longer montage of scenes from future episodes and Amy saying the Doctor took her away a day before her wedding.

1. This is for fans. It's written and promoted for the general public but there is so much fan stuff in here that it's definitely one for long time viewers. It's definitely not one you would use to introduce the series to your girlfriend for example. (I'd recommend the Tennant/Piper Cybermen two parter for that, though don't take my word on it as cybermen and daleks are unlikely to help!) Definitely DO NOT show this one to your girlfriend (or boyfriend) if they've never seen Doctor Who before.

2. This is for children. This is SO for children. Why does Prisoner Zero stand still? Why doesn't it attack faster? Why don't we see it attack the staff in the hospital? Why does the console room look like a child designed it? NB: A child DID design it but you could still make it look, I don't know, more realistic?! I'm pretty sure that Doctor Who went back to its roots with this story and it looks very much like something from the Hartnell or Troughton years. 

3. The Doctor bursting into Jeff's room and he meekly, with only a mild scuffle, hands over his laptop. Come on. He should have punched him out. If you had a crazed stranger run into your bedroom and try to take your laptop, what would you do? (Though perhaps all those stories of the Doctor from Amy has left Jeff in awe and powerless?)

4. OH MY GOD. What has happened to the theme music? And the opening credits? It's always been a time vortex or stars or both. Rings of smoke? Soft music with less of a theme? A stronger beat and some more stars would be great. And since when does the TARDIS get shocked by lightening? It looks so kiddie or something from Totally Doctor Who. (NB: I love the TARDIS in a ball from the McCoy theme so I'm sure some kids will love seeing the TARDIS being knocked by lightning)

5. Rushed editing. Obvious continuity problems included:
a. Matt wiping the yoghurt off his mouth and leaving some on his chin, then it not being there half a second later
b. Matt having a red forehead before slapping it.
c. Matt reaching into his pocket as the Atraxi flew off then reaching into his pocket again from another angle.
I'm sure these wouldn't have been spotted by most people on first view though!
6. Those poor actors in the park. On first viewing it looked extremely staged. People don't suddenly appear individually in a quiet village where everyone knows each other and take pictures of the sun. You would get groups of people, not individuals. I quickly realised they'd been standing in those exact positions all day for a reason when the scene through the Doctor's eye appeared. That would have taken ages to do.

Basically, even if you couldn't resist reading this synopsis, I still left out quite a lot. There are a lot of wonderful one-liners that really only work when you hear them so I've only included a few here. "I've put a lot of work into it" is a great line spoken by Hugh Grant in The Curse of Fatal Death by Steven Moffat and it's great to hear it being reused in a real Doctor Who adventure. 

With almost 50 years of history behind Doctor Who, there's bound to be some conflicts and the scene where the Doctor is first saying that he loves something and then saying, equally convincingly that he hates it is a great way to explain likes and dislikes through the ages.

(Maybe we'll have an explanation sometime during Steven Moffat's reign as to why the Doctor knew what 'framed' meant in Deadly Assassin but he had no idea what it meant in 'Two Doctors'! As Steven once said, he knows every line ever written in Doctor Who)

I also liked the visual suggestion throughout that the sonic screwdriver is actually connected to the TARDIS. That's a great little touch that will probably result in something akin to the Doctor in Scream of the Shalka saving himself by turning the TARDIS phone he was carrying into a door to the TARDIS.

I loved Matt's manic Doctor. He is definitely the Doctor and I look forward to seeing more Matt Smith episodes. Matt has a great presence, delivers lines with aplomb and carries the madness and confidence that River Song hinted at in Silence in the Library/Forest of Fear the Doctor would have when she first met him. And the 11th Doctor opened the TARDIS with a click of his fingers!

All in all I enjoyed the story and am looking forward to The Beast Below.

7/11 (where 11 means better than any episode of Doctor Who ever!)