As I mentioned in my review of the first episode, I am new to Dr Who. I’ve now watched the first 3 episodes with the new Dr. and am truly enjoying it (and wondering why I didn’t get into it sooner). The 3 episodes have been standalone (for the most part) and don’t require a lot of history to follow, but the longer term storylines have been popping up (and a couple references that I don’t understand since I haven’t seen previous seasons).
Both the second and the third episodes not only have a lot of action and interaction between the Dr and Amy, but some great ethical quandaries. The Dr is being forced into making decisions that he doesn’t want to have to make and Amy is helping him out by bringing human feelings and knowledge into the mix. The Space Whale and the Daleks were wonderfully written and are more than just simple bland science fictiony storylines. The Dr is forced to think and to act and is up against forces that are good matches for him. And I love that Amy is not just a sounding board for the Dr. She is helping him fix the problems and doing more than a woman in distress that some shows find themselves doing.
Their are some longer term ideas starting to percolate around (with the cracks in the universe showing , Amy’s impending nuptials and Amy not remembering something the Dr. thinks she should). I anticipate a few more standalone episodes before the longer storylines start really taking over. And I’ll be following along. It’s the best science fiction show on TV today (not that it has a lot of competition) and has presented interesting ideas and stories that are more intelligent than most other shows.
The quality of the Dr Who seasons varies greatly depending on who is in charge of the show at any given point in time.
I really like Matt Smith the current Dr.
David Tennant the Dr for the last 3-4 years bored me to tears but a lot of it was the head writer/showrunner Russell T. Davies.
I didn’t really like the way he told stories for the Dr.
I reall like his other show Torchwood (Dr. Who spinoff) much better. His storytelling style worked better on a show of his own creation.
If you decide to become a Dr Who fan be aware that you probably won’t like all Drs equally and that every 3-4 years new people take over the show and sometimes it isn’t very good.
Matt Smith is the 11th Dr over about 50 years so don’t decide it all stinks because some of the incarnations of Dr. Who arent to your liking. If you like the current one you will probably like a few of the others as well.