Danny Stewart

Well, I’ve certainly had some astonishing luck this weekend.

Since Friday, I’ve been in California to attend my great-grandmother’s 100th birthday. (She is, by the way, in amazing shape for being 100.) On Saturday morning, I received an email from a friend of mine telling me that he was going to attend something called WonderCon in San Francisco, where they were going to be showing the exclusive US premiere of The Eleventh Hour, weeks ahead of its debut on BBC America. My interest piqued, as totally by coincidence, I happened to be within driving range of San Francisco this weekend (and I’ve never even been here before). I got the details from him and decided that it was worth making the trip.

I made the two-hour trip down to San Francisco and attended the episode’s premiere at WonderCon. It was a fantastic experience. Hundreds Doctor Who fans gathered together (some dressed up as Sylvester McCoy, Tom Baker, and David Tennant), and we all got to watch the premiere on a big screen with a personal video introduction from Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. It was an experience I was thrilled to be a part of.

Regarding the episode itself—I adored it. I was genuinely surprised at just how good it was. Steven Moffat has a delicate balancing act on his hands here, trying to keep the viewers from RTD’s era while still bringing the show more in line with his vision, and I was frankly shocked at how much he managed to turn things around in just a single episode. It was like he was trying to follow RTD’s style, but doing so in such a way where everything was explained and just made sense! The dialogue was universally sharp and snappy as well. It was so refreshing to see, and if the premiere was already that good, I think that means we’re in for a fantastic series. I cannot wait.

I also adored Matt Smith’s Doctor… he has captured the role in a way we haven’t had in quite a long time. Eccleston and Tennant would occasionally be in that “Doctor zone” but Matt Smith seems like he’s in it all the time. The measure of a truly exceptional Doctor is not how they perform the big scenes, but how they perform the regular, ordinary scenes. Delivery of dialogue and things like that. And that’s something where Matt Smith clearly excels. Very exciting. Karen Gillan was great, too, and it looks like she’s going to be a very strong companion. The TARDIS interior was gorgeous as well. Everything just looked so slick and sharp—more like a film than a TV show. The whole visual style is an enormous step up.

Regarding the theme—I’m not really sure where I stand. I actually think it’s one of Murray’s better themes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I like it. On the plus side, it is heavily electronic, and I also like that he’s dropped or heavily altered many of his signature elements (the string arpeggios, the brass countermelodies, etc.). He’s also dropped the Derbyshire melodies, which I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but the melodies he’s replaced them with are a bit hollow and weak by comparison, which I do think is bad. All in all, I suppose it could be worse, but I definitely think we deserved better. Murray has never taken the theme as seriously as he should (except perhaps in the very beginning), and it really hurts all the more when we get a subpar theme for a stellar era. (Though I will say that I think Murray did a good job overall with the music, except for a few pieces that felt recycled from years past.)

Regardless, though, it’s once again a very exciting time to be a Doctor Who fan.