It's all change for Doctor Who, with new show runner Steven Moffat, new companion Karen Gillan and new doctor Matt Smith!
I remember watching the special Doctor Who Confidential that was broadcast some time in 2009 where the identity of the man (or woman!) who was going to play the eleventh Doctor was revealed. When the big moment arrived the general consensus was "Who the hell is that??"
If anything this made his debut as the Doctor all the more exciting, I had no idea how he was going to play the part. After reading in an article that Matt had recently watched Tomb Of The Cybermen and had instantly phoned up Steven Moffat raving about how good Patrick Troughton was then I at least knew he was a man with impeccable taste!
It's funny as well that quite a few people seemed unwilling to let Tennant go. That's what of the ideas of the show people!! Change is necessary. Without it the show would not still be here after 50 years. I loved Tennant but as soon as his departure was announced I was excited to see the next Doctor. Strangely I was more unwilling to see Tennant depart this time round as it seems I all that much closer to the end.
New companion, Amy Pond is also introduced here in a pretty cool way with the Doctor first meeting her as a little girl and then, after promising to return in 5 minutes, ends up being 12 years to late when Amy has grown up into a rather fetching young lady (so I'm reliably informed).
This idea of the Doctor "imprinting" himself on a child who he then meets in later life is not exactly a new idea. It happened way back in The Girl In The Fireplace, which was also written by Steven Moffat. However, having this also happen to Amy who goes on to become a full time companion we get to see the interesting ways that that first fleeting moment with the Doctor has impacted her life. Speaking of which, we also meet Rory Williams in this story, Amy's long suffering boyfriend. Apparently as children the "raggedy Doctor" became a game and Amy even made Rory dress up as him.
It's in this first episode of season five that we also first get a glimpse of Amy's crack (steady!). Young Amelia has grown up with a crack running through her bedroom wall. She knows it's no ordinary crack when she begins to hear voices from it and the Doctor confirms that the crack is not in the wall itself but in the fabric of reality. This crack will go on to feature heavily in the upcoming episodes.
As Doctor debut stories go this one is pretty hectic. The Doctor has no time for all the lying around that his tenth persona had to do. Instead, after a hilarious scene of him trying to find the right food for his new body (finally settling on fish fingers in custard), it's all go when a prisoner escapes through the crack in reality and alien race known as the Atraxi turn up to destroy the planet unless the prisoner hands himself over. It's straight to work for Doctor number 11!
As if all this wasn't enough, we also have a brand new TARDIS! After pretty much destroying the interior with his explosive regeneration, the Doctor steps back in to discover the TARDIS has fixed itself up nicely with a brand new steam punk type control room. It looks marvellous.
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