User Reviews

The Doctor writes to and rounds up his friends, Amy and Rory, Professor River Song to meet up in The USA. An Astronaut comes out of the water and shoots the Doctor dead, but soon later, a younger version of the Doctor meets the three companions. They travel back to 1969 to meet up with the forth person the Doctor wrote to Canton Everett Delaware 3rd, a former FBI agent drafted in by President Nixon. Nixon is receiving calls from a young girl in trouble. The Doctor, Amy, Rory, River and Canton go in search of the little girl. On the site where she had been River and Rory discover a control room, the same as we last saw in 'The Lodger,' underground are monsters with massive powers and the perfect defence mechanism, once seen they are instantly forgotten.

It looks great, the setting is so different, it feels very fresh and new. Series 5 looked a little dull in parts, on this offering Moffat really upped his game.

Fans of the Edvard Munch will love the Silence, clear influence for the wonderful monsters, great concept that you see them and then forget.

I liked how River talked about her timeline and how it worked in opposite directions to the Doctor's, she said 'the day is coming when i'll look into that man's eye and he won't have the faintest idea who I am,' does she mean the library?

Series 6 opens up in a big way, this was an excellent opening episode, big scale, interesting series arc beginning, some big shocks and lots of clues to get you interested. It is seriously cleverly written and a huge cliffhanger is left.

Fantastic 10/10

Just watched The Impossible Astronaut twice back to back. The second time I was looking for clues.

This is the best thing that has been on TV in months. Yes Moffat likes putting the bad guys in space suites. Before it was skeletons this time not skeletons.....but maybe he is repeating the motif for a purpose. Yes it is a child's voice on the phone, and yes he does like disembodied voices, but somehow on a second viewing I find myself trusting Moffat is being very deliberate.

The show was clever, witty and loaded with meaning. Utah was stunning and casting real life father and son as Canton Deleware III young and old added depth.

I'm 46 my son is 20 and we have very different viewing habits and tastes but we about half way through we turned to each other and agreed "this is very good". If Part II is as good then this will go down as a classic.

Hey, I started watching doctor who since the Christmas carol. Today, wow , what an episode. very very creative and great to watch. Thanks a lot mr steven moffart. you are a very creative person. Metta Loving kindness to you and your crew. I hope this season is gonna be awesome.Well, Now i am going to cut and paste from somewhere.Awesome Drama.Thanks again for the great episode. In just the first five minutes of this two-part story, we had seen the Doctor rampaging through history in an effort to contact faithful companions Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill), had a brief glimpse of their life of beautifully decorated domesticity, been reunited with mysterious space archaeologist River Song (Alex Kingston) and gone on location to Utah. And then, after briefly admiring the Doctor's new stetson, we'd seen him killed – really, truly dead-as-a-doornail killed – by what looked like one of the Apollo 11 astronauts.

I guess this season we will find everything about River Song and I love that. The episode itself is dark and intriguing. The astronaut and the alien both are spooky. And I am looking forward to second part. In great hopes this season will be better then the fifth.

I loved series 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Doctor Who and this episode has returned to those days with this episode.

In my opinion, series 5 was very weak, with ridiculous stories, Matt Smith trying to copy David Tennant's brilliance and a finale that was confusing and unrealistic beyond comprehension, using bad excuses to wrap up plot holes. For me, when they brought back the Weeping Angels they completely ruined them, taking away the fear and originality behind them and from that point onward it felt like a downwards spiral.

But finally, it seems that Matt Smith is finding himself and becoming his own doctor. He is now much more unique as I felt that before he was copying Tennant to try to be popular.

It's still too early to say whether or not the story is good but it is intriguing and they have invented good monsters. They also have a lot of suspense building up and I want to know what happens next.

In conclusion, Doctor Who is finally back to its roots and we can only help it stays that way throughout the series.

Anticipation is high as a new season has begun, where will the Time Lord take us on this 13 episode run. Our travels begin in Utah under hot and arid skies, where there's an incident that delivers one hell of an almighty surprise. Then it's off to see the President back in 1969, he has a few more years before the time comes to resign. There's an intro to the Silence, kind of men in black surveillance, but none of it makes perfect sense, there are things that will take time to condense, leaving us in a limbo suspense, alas not really that intense, and anticipation is fading, rapidly evaporating, lessening our expectation, being spent.

The plot seems just fine, and we know we're being set up for another season-long story arc. I'm excited to go along for the ride. My commentary is more about the BBC/BBCA joint venture. The scenery was, as you would expect from Utah at that time of day/year, beautiful.

What bothers me generally as an American, is we know when someone is faking the accent. Whether it's Charlie Hunnam on Sons of Anarchy, or Mr. Delaware here, we know it's put on - thick. I think if we're willing to suspend disbelief for the plot in the name of entertainment, we could do so for FBI agents with accents. Who knows, they could be part of some foreign-exchange program(me?).

Also, that diner they went to. A giant American flag and a Chevy poster montage? While I have no doubt that there are diners that look like this (in AmericaTowns all across the globe) I guess I was hoping that the Doctor's first extended foray into US culture would have been more representative of it's true nature. Our dining establishments are not furnished solely with red vinyl seats and chrome plating. That would be like assuming British folks only eat fish & chips - their version of our burger and fries, I suppose. But Morgan Spurlock showed us what happens if one tries to live on fish & chips alone...

So, next time, let's see the doctor choking down some Waffle House and driving around in a 75 Lincoln. He's got two hearts, it'd take a lot longer to clog his arteries or feel the effects of the smog his rolling TARDIS would create.

Otherwise, I'm really looking forward to the new season ("series"? no, you're in America now!) and all of the twists and turns that we've come to expect from this wonderfully produced series.

Season five helmed by Steven Moffat was a massive disappointment to me and there was a feeling Moff had done nothing to change the show . Instead he produced several Russell T Davies scripts that he found in the office . Certainly I was intrigued that season six was going to open with a two part episode which indicated he was about to stamp his own signature on the show . Could Steven Moffat finally break free of RTD's shadow ? Yes is the answer but he still has a major problem that I think that he's incapable of escaping . I'll come to that in a moment

First of all it's good to see a story set in America that was actually filmed in America and director Toby Haynes makes the best of the gorgeous Utah landscape . . In fact the photography used is beautiful as the early evening shade casts shadows upon the actors bodies . The sunset actually does resemble a sunset

Matt Smith also feels like he's stepping out of Tennant's shadow . . As much as I still miss Eccleston's brooding Byronic Doctor I do conceded that Smith has firmly nailing the part to a tee . Yes he's eccentric but he's convincingly eccentric , endearingly eccentric and you can believe he's an alien from another planet . The only downside to this is he show's up the rest of the cast which means Karen Gillan comes across as being a dreadful actress

The major problem with the episode is the writing . Moffat shows that he's a one trick pony and is relying too much on a formula . A timey wimey paradox , a child with a catchphrase " Are you my mummy , er I mean astronaut " we've all seen this before and one can't help thinking a dead horse has been well and truly flagellated . The great thing about DOCTOR WHO is the flexibility of the format , a format that isn't being used to its advantage under the Moff

Of course it's difficult to judge a two part story after seeing one episode but one can't help noticing there's a lack of ideas to Moffat's writing . In fact I shouldn't be writing " ideas " because the word should be " idea " singular since he keeps rewriting The Empty Child from season one . However I'll continually watch the show and praise it where praise is deserved

After the hype surrounding the commencement of the sixth series of NuWho, I like so many other waited with baited breath for the first episode to hit our screens which would herald the first two part story to actually open the series. "The Impossible Astronaut" written by current executive producer Steven Moffat, a gifted writer with a formidable imagination has had the odd story which to be fair I have found a bit underwhelming and sadly although not a bad opening episode I felt a bit cheated overall. 

It's premise is intriguing with current Doctor Matt Smith leaving messages for companions Amy and Rory as well as River Song to meet him in the Utah Dessert for some unbeknown reason. After they all meet something unexpected occurs involving what appears to be an Apollo mission Astronaut which further leads to the Doctor, Amy Rory and River Song to travel to the Whitehouse in 1969 where they meet Richard Nixon who is being plagued by mysterious phone calls from what sounds like a little girl. I can't give any more away than that as to say more would be to reveal too much and for considering this is a story that is is about It's surprises there are several of those. 

I'll start with saying that there are some things to credit the TIA with in that the production values as with the series in the past several years is very high with excellent recreations of the oval office and 1969 USA to the interior of as run-down alien spacecraft. The stories premise is interesting given what unfolds as events play out and for the most part the performances by all are first rate, with only Karen Gillan as Amy failing to convince slightly in one early scene. There is some great interplay with the characters and some of the usual banter before things shift in to darker territory. The problem however is that Moffat reveals too much too soon which means as the story progresses the pace is forced to wind down too soon leading to too many padded out scenes. Everything has been stretched out a little too thinly. One particular scene in the oval office involving one of President Nixon's Bodyguards itself feels a bit stilted. Add to this the whole conceit of the Doctor leaving his past self and his companions messages and messing around with the whole non-chronological nature of time travel, a all too convenient and over used plot device that was utilised back in 1989's "Battlefield" and further exploited by Moffat at first with fabulous ingenuity has now become a bit laboured and tiresome. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing and It's beginning to show.

The alien menace without giving too much away are genuinely menacing and although much has been left unanswered so for I am fascinated with what they are and what there purpose within the context of the story will revealed to be. While there powers when displayed hint at a ominous and imposing threat everything culminates in a cliffhanger ended which while appropriately baffling seems a bit anti-climatic.

All in all TIA is a case of being filled with promising ideas but so-so execution but with a wonderfully played scene with Rory and River Song where the latter tells how every time she meets the Doctor he gradually knows her less and less due to their unusual non-chronological relationship to help bolster what is another wise mediocre script It just feels like something that could have been so much more than it actually is.

I quite like the opening episode to series 6 even though it has its fair share of flaws. It's a very visually appealing episode in terms of cinematography and the design of the monster. The opening segment in the desert is emotionally crushing - it feels like one of the biggest challenges the Doctor has had to deal with in a long time. The mysteries of River and the astronauts keep the story interesting and the Silence have a pretty unique mechanic as well. Unfortunately the first scene in which the audience were introduced to the Silence (set in the bathrooms of the white house) was the episode's biggest flaw as the scene was silly and could have been executed better. But this episode is still very enjoyable overall.