User Reviews

Series Six of Doctor Who got off to a great start last week with 'The Impossible Astronaut'; the first of a two part story; that story concluded this week with an even better episode. Three months after last week's events things are not going well for The Doctor and his friends... The Doctor is the prisoner of FBI agent Canton Delaware; Amy and Rory get shot and River has jumps from high up in a skyscraper; and this is all before the opening credits! Of course nothing is quite what it looks like and we soon learn that they are all well and are preparing to fight back against the aliens known as 'The Silence'. In order to do this they must devise a way to record their encounters with the Silence before their memories are lost; they must also find the little girl in the space suit. The search for the girl takes Amy and Delaware to a particularly creepy orphanage where Amy meets the young girl again and is confronted by a large number of Silence.

This episode was a great conclusion to the story with some genuinely scary moments; in particular the events in the orphanage and when the Doctor and Rory can hear everything Amy says when she is captured but do nothing to help her. As well as the scares there are some nicely touching scenes as well as ending that sets things up nicely for a story that is bound to occur later in the series... I won't spoil that though! The final confrontation between our heroes and The Silence was done in a way that will please all but the most cynical of viewers; River clearly doesn't share The Doctor's aversion to firearms and proves it in spectacular fashion. Once again the acting is very good and Steven Moffat continues to come up with the best story lines of the Twenty-first Century 'Doctor Who'.

Amazing Story, Already watched the episode 1 three times. The day of the moon is just amazing..This is the best British drama ever. Thanks a lot for the creators of this show. May you all be well metta loving kindness to you all.You might pick holes in quite how easily Canton knew what to make the Silence say, and just when was the right moment to send the video file to the Doctor, who was waiting to hack into the feed of the moon landing. You might also question whether – when you already have the President on your side – faking imprisonment in Area 51 and sending your friends on the run for three months while the rogue FBI operative builds you a soundproof base made of Zero Balance Dwarfstar Alloy might be a touch over-precautious.

But if they hadn't done all that, you wouldn't have got that incredible sequence of all three companions "dying", the Canton reveal, an amazing swimming pool gag and that wonderful FX shot of Apollo 11. And those moments are what this show is really about.

The follow up to the season premiere, which essentially makes it a two-parter, delivers on a grand scale. Beginning with the Doctor in custody and his companions being hunted down one by one is confusing at first. But this setup really pays off a short time later. Exciting, intriguing, and creepy, the continued battle against the silence is both a fun adventure and a chilling sci-fi suspense tale. And the Silence really do feel like a major threat; you feel the danger the characters are in.

The episode crescendos in a terrific, hilarious and action packed climax (gotta love the flirting between River and the Doctor). And so wrapped up in the fun and suspense one barely notices the subtle threads laid to be developed as the season continues - - which makes it all the more fun to rewatch! 9/10

To Theo and any others who bad mouth Steven Moffat and his writing, I say, this is like reading the first act of a play and saying it stinks. Not true my friends. The Silence story line dates back to "Silence in the library." You say that Inception plot is the bases for this story line. Not really, it follows the past Dr Who story plots. Aliens who play God with us. Moving man behind the scenes for their own end. Having the Doctor, have US kill them, raises the issue, who is more guilty of playing God. Isn't he doing the same as the Silence? What you see on the surface of Dr Who, is just that, surface. Layers are there, look and watch closely and you'll see them. Example, Amy being pregnant, the Doctor scans her. The Tardis was confused, was she or wasn't she pregnant? The issue is, was she and now she not.

The Silence ship was first seen in the Lodger, the ships computer needed a pilot. What if the Silence never pilot their own ships. They need the Doctor. What if they used the Doctors DNA and Amy as a baby factory. Then transferring the baby to the space suit. In "Amy s Choice" the Doctor, Amy and Rory are asked to decide which place the rather be. On earth, living a boring life or in space facing death. Who was behind moving them between dreams. One, two, three possibles, the Doctor Evil side, the Doctor himself or the Tardis. Why? Because it was a warning that the Silence was using them. The reason for time jumping in the opening, confusion. Writers have used this before. You know, open with the hero almost dead. He can't remember how he got poisoned. He try's to think back in time. The writer then shows 6 days ago the hero was doing this or that. Moffat is a freaking genius, let him finish telling the story. Then judge if the travel was worth your time. The book isn't done, the story is epic. it is unfolding week by week.

We all knew that it would be a VERY tall order to create an episode that would be as great as the first part (which was amazing). This episode went in an entirely different direction, and while it wasn't bad, it couldn't quite stand up.

Part 1: Amy shoots at the girl in the spacesuit. Part 2: It is revealed that ........ she missed. Come on, I understand that this is a realistic conclusion, but who is watching Doctor Who for "she missed".

The episode itself was very confusing, but I cannot say it was completely illogical until I ask somebody who better understands. The biggest logic error of the episode, in my opinion is how the crew knows that the marks mean that they have seen the Silence. Part 1 showed that after seeing the Silence, you have NO MEMORY of them. It's not that you can't remember how they looked. It's that you can't remember seeing them. In part 2, the doctor explains that "all information (about the Silence) is erased". This means that you cannot record a message saying "the marks mean that I have seen the Silence" because it is instantly erased! There is no way to inform the outside world while you are seeing the Silence because any information is ERASED! And you don't know that the Silence exist if you are not seeing them! If all information about the silence is forgotten when you are not seeing them, then YOU CANNOT KNOW THAT THE SILENCE EXIST WHEN YOU ARE NOT SEEING THEM. If you could, it would defeat the entire purpose of being unable to be remembered. There was much more confusion in this episode, but it could take hours to explain all of it. Still, if anybody has ever seen (insert ridiculous Doctor Who finale here), they know that Doctor Who doesn't always make perfect sense.

The episode was a bit annoying to watch because you can see Amy's face clear of marks at one point, then a second later she looks in the window and you see that there are marks all over her face. It is impossible to figure out what is going on when the camera skips around time without so much as a cut. When they are analyzing the hologram of the Silence in the TARDIS, you cannot figure out for the life of you whose perspective you are seeing because it is nobody's perspective. Nobody in the TARDIS would be able to see Delaware's hand beeping before seeing the hologram of the Silence, but this is the visual that we were given. These time skips seem like cheap tricks to keep viewers confused.

Despite the confusion and the trickery, the episode was very exciting, and very scary. There were some good cliffhangers in part 2, but many of the cliffhangers from the part 1 still need to be resolved. It was awkward to hide long-term mysteries in the first of a two-parter, as the act builds false hope for part 2. Adding insult to injury, the Doctor (for some reason) basically says, "Who cares about figuring out who this girl is, or finding the origin of the living space suit, or figuring out why the Silence needed it? Lets go to random places, probably until the finale!"

*May Contain Spoilers* Response to ebman07: I am fairly familiar with Doctor Who and perception filters. The reason I made the note regarding the crews awareness of the Silence was because I was fed contrary information in part 1. When Amy leaves the White House bathroom, she recalls that she "must tell the Doctor something". This recollection has only to do with the Silence's ability to plant thoughts in people's minds. Other than this memory, she has no recollection whatsoever. Unless the Silence implanted the idea that they exist into the minds of the crew, the crew would be unable to recall the Silence's existence.

Yes, many intermediary episodes will reference main story arcs, but usually only a small portion is revealed before the finale.

You are correct to question my statement about the Doctor explaining his disinterest with the current situation at the end of part 2. I didn't have any reliable information regarding the crew's next actions, but I personally didn't get the Doctor's sarcasm, so I assumed that his desire to go adventuring was simply a way to transition into episodes that don't very much relate to the introduced story arc. Now I must see the beginning of the next episode!

SPOILERS: About the only part I disagree with is that the Silence, which are a frightening image anyway, are scarier than the Weeping Angels. While the Silence can effectively be invisible by making you forget you saw them, there's just something about seeing something completely stone suddenly jump while you blink that would be completely unnerving. The Silence basically exist beyond consciousness, but the Angels....if any statue can be one, is there anywhere that's really safe? I have to hand it to Moffat, though. How could the Silence, only knowing technology up to 1969, know what a video phone is, and how could they have anticipated the moon landing being their downfall? They would have no knowledge of time travel, nor would they even begin to predict that a cell phone would have that capacity. Ever since the original series, there has been talk about the Doctor choosing young ladies as companions and the subtle implication of what that could mean. To have it even remotely suggested that The Doctor and Amy slept together is really, really interesting as, in the previous series, we already know exactly what he'd do if presented with that idea....go and get Rory. However, the question does arise.... How could the little girl have the ability to regenerate?

This could have been a 10/10 episode for me; It was scary (particularly the part in the orphanage), it was engaging and it was suspenseful. It also however didn't quite make sense. The writers seem to think if they make this episode really confusing then you won't notice that: a) Canton Everett Delaware III shoots Amy and Rory with blanks and yet everyone else he was with when tracking them down didn't notice that there were no bullet hole or that they were still breathing. b) How can they have been looking for the silence for the last 3 months when you can't even remember them. I get the markings help when looking for them but how did they know to look for them in the first place when they can't remember seeing them in the first place.

Fortunately these are minor plot holes and are practically unnoticeable unless you are looking for them so this still get's a 9/10

Day of the Moon was a brilliant ending to this two-parter I love the way the Doctor deals with getting rid of the Silence, it's even cleverer every time I think about it. Well done to the writers for coming up with that!

Matt Smith has been doing great episode after great episode. I hope, and am sure it will continue.

John, if you notice in the first episode of series 6 everyone knew they saw something they just couldn't describe it. As we have learned before in previous series about perception filters, a filter to where you know you have seen something, but you just can't seem to remember it. The Silence seem to have that ability as part of their DNA or is psychic defense. It is not that the complete memory is erased just the ability to describe them or remember where you saw them. So the marks were to make note of how many they saw and that they saw them as a way of "counting" how many there were. I know what cliffhangers you are referring to, however if you know how this show works more and more will be revealed along the way until the finale. As for the Doctors final remarks about the Silence and the girl. He was being sarcastic and that is how the Doctor is, well for as long as I have been watching (since Christopher Eccleston) So he was really saying lets go and find out the who, what, where, why, and when.

Day of the Moon is a very well rounded episode. It has a good, although slightly convoluted, plot and further explores all of the characters. Firstly with Amy's pregnancy and her not telling Rory which sort of ends up resolving his insecurity in his relationship with Amy. I'm very glad they are finishing up the plotline with Amy and the Doctor being all flirty, I was not a huge fan of it. Also River and the Doctor. I love their relationship and, in my opinion, she just gets better throughout the series. This is where she starts really being likeable and becomes a real "companion". It's somewhat bittersweet though since we already know how her story ends. Overall, a pretty interesting way to start of the 6th series.

There's something about writer Steven Moffat's place in fandom . He can hypnotise fans in to thinking there's more profound and intriguing going on in a DOCTOR WHO script than there actually is . Instead of writing a linear resolution to a cliff hanger he starts the episode three months after the end of the previous episode . Actually this shouldn't be a complaint since it involves a great hook where the Doctor is a prisoner and Amy and Rory are dead . Unfortunately this leads to a cop out where it's revealed they aren't dead and Canton Delaware is in league with The Doctor . It might have a dramatic impact but ask yourself how this intricate plan could possibly work in reality ? It's the dramatic impact of " The Doctor woke up and it was all a dream "

As to the plot proper I'm guessing Moffat has seen INCEPTION ? It's obvious you know . Have characters rushing around in a mind bending mess of a story trying to kid on to the audience that there's something more complex than bad writing going on . This is done by having character A ask a question and character B giving away all the plot mechanics by saying they're doing ABC because of XYZ which will lead to ... well you get the idea . Or rather the concept . Or maybe not . Did someone mention the emperors new clothes by any chance ? And just to prove how simplistic the storytelling is how does the Doctor save the day . He gets humanity to shoot all The Silence ! How radically complex is that ?

Just in case anyone might be asking questions about the problematic nature of the storytelling Moffat - just like The Silence - tries to make the audience forget what they've just seen . He does this by the most manipulative plot turn in the history of the show by suggesting very heavily that The Doctor and Amy have had sex but thankfully a pregnancy scare is merely a scare . If we're talking about scares may I suggest fans be more scared by the falling viweing figures and the need to praise plots that they don't understand . Or indeed anyone having a different opinion from themselves

The funny thing about the criticisms of the multi-episode NuWho stories is that they're the closest thing we'll come to a "serial". Unfortunately, since we're in newer times with more refined and sophisticated tastes, it's not really possible to get away with them because most to the young audience would get bored stiff, and the writing is more complex. So it's in that regard that I mention that if this "serial" is the first multi-part NuWho story that feels like an older story. Back then, the show left a lot to the imagination, and this relies on that, a lot.

I mention this because right in the very beginning we're smacked across the face with The Doctor being killed. And I don't mean, killed as in "can regenerate", but he is dead for good. And right there, we're thinking, "Alright, Moffat, you've won. What now??". Then it's revealed later that he's still alive, and he sent a future version of himself into the fray. And for most of the story, we're thrust head-first into a mish-mash of multiple story lines including aliens that you forget upon looking at them, some space stuff, etc. Oh, and an astronaut, some creepy kid, in other words, formula upon formula. And by this point, all the stuff that Moffat has lumped upon us has worn thin.

But that's not to say it doesn't work. In fact, despite how formula the story is, it is satisfying, at least. There's a satisfying payoff at the end of Day of the Moon and there is a conclusion. Some scenes are just downright scary. There's classic Who scares that include an encounter with the Silence in the washroom of The Whitehouse. Oh, and the classic scene of The Doctor at the desk in the Oval Office. What's not to love? I mean really, sometimes formula isn't a bad thing, and here it's not always a bad thing. But it sometimes is nice to get some new ideas, every now and then... you hear that, Moff? I hope that's your 2014 New Years Resolution, especially now since we have a new Doctor.

In this second part of the 2 parter, I was very confused from the word go. The first half was OK not the best (since they had over 5 months to work on this) but this second half was just poorly thought out. Maybe if this was a 3 parter with time to explain things better this might have been better. But here are some things I notice 1) is it just me or did "The Silence" seem like a more evolve form of the Weeping Angels? 2) This whole thing between Doctor...Song...Amy.....no offense, I understand if they are trying to sell to a new crowd by making a new love interest, but sometimes one needs to remember there are old viewers as well who will never agree to this. 3) Anybody else beside me think the kid at the end could just simply be Jenny?........ Now this is just rantings of a viewer but these are my thoughts I just hope the rest of the season gets better as we go along. Last season was OK, and I could somewhat understand where it was coming from and where it was heading, but so far this season all I am is confused

The aliens were actually used in some cool scenes here but the entire story was complicated for no reason. It could have been such a great story but so many elements were added for no reason with little emotional pay off. It's over the top. It's just too much style and I don't care. Too much effort is put into making it seem clever but it's no interesting. I will say the conclusion was kind of cool but things just happen. Nothing is built up well. Better than part 1 but still, eh.

I was stunned to hear this week that Matt Smith had been nominated for a 'Best Actor' B.A.F.T.A. for his appalling 'performance' as the Doctor. It is an insult to the actors who previously played the role, particularly the marvellous Tom Baker. Why Smith? His 'acting' mainly consists of him waving his arms in the air and going "Ha ha!" every two minutes. If 'Dr.Who' were a movie he would get a Razzie for 'Worst Actor' and nothing more.

'Day Of The Moon' is the second episode of the 'story' begun in 'The Impossible Astronaut'. It made no sense whatsoever, and neither did this. Here goes: the Doctor is shot dead in 2011 in Utah by a mysterious figure in a space-suit, and given a Viking funeral. Amy, Rory and River then go back to 1969 where they meet...the Doctor ( an earlier version of number eleven ). President Nixon ( Stuart Milligan ) asks him to investigate reports of strange distress calls from a little girl. She is found lumbering about in a space-suit. Aliens called 'The Silence' ( sounds like a 1990's rock band ) are in evidence. They have been on Earth for years. The Doctor defeats them using footage of the first Apollo Moon landing. The Silence runs away. Amy may or not be up the duff. The little girl we saw in the space-suit is seen to regenerate.

If you understood all that, congratulations. No-one else I have spoken to ( and I know many intelligent people ) got so much as a whiff of understanding of this 'plot'. When I think of Russell Davies' time on the show, I think of wonderful heart-stopping moments, such as the Doctor telling Rose to "Run!" from the Autons, the Dalek opening up like a chrysalis prior to killing itself in 'Dalek', the Cybermen marching in 'Rise Of The Cybermen', the Daleks pouring out of the black sphere in 'Army Of Ghosts', the opening of the Genesis Ark in 'Doomsday', Professor Yana becoming the Master in 'Utopia', and the Doctor finding 'Bad Wolf' everywhere at the end of 'Turn Left'. Though he did not write all of these, Davies' influence was unmistakable. Moffat, on the other hand, has not come up with a single moment of note. He is content to have the Doctor, Amy and co. cavort through a series of clunky, charmless adventures totally devoid of any excitement whatever. Its all every well for fanboys to say "wait and see! The story's not finished yet!". Viewers these days do not have the patience to wait as the plot unfolds over a period of months ( there being a mid-season break in Season 6 ). Will the show survive or will it fall to pieces? I came away from this feeling...nothing. Forty-five minutes of the old B.B.C. potters wheel would probably have provided more excitement. If Moffat cannot get this show right, he needs to go now, before it vanishes into oblivion forever.

I believed that "The Impossible Astronaut" / "The Day Of The Moon" was a two-parter, and that any questions posed by the first part would be answered in the second. I was mistaken. Apparently Steven Moffat intended nearly all of the mysteries introduced in "The Impossible Astronaut" to keep running throughout Season 6. So "Day Of The Moon" doesn't resolve almost anything, and actually adds more mysteries, the biggest of which comes at the end! We do finally get a good look (no pun intended) at The Silence, but, and I hope this doesn't sound too silly a complaint, I thought they would be more....silent. It's still not a bad episode (in fact, some scenes are brilliant, like the FBI agent and the hologram inside the Tardis), if you adjust your expectations correctly. *** out of 4.

This is the second part of a two-part story following on from The Impossible Astronaut.

The fun previous episode is followed by this dark, mysterious and rather grim episode which jumps around in its own timeline and throws too many needless ideas into the mix in my opinion. If it all came together really well in the end it would be fine but a lot of things are left to be resolved later and I am not a fan of how those threads finally turn out in subsequent episodes.

For my tastes, this episode started to show that instead of clever complexity the story arc veers into being rather messy and overblown. I still enjoy it up to a point but considering all the great elements this has it had the potential to get a 9 or 10/10 from me which I think it falls well short of. I recognise a lot of fans LOVE this style of story but it doesn't satisfy me personally.

I do recognise the positives: Acting, effects, cinematography etc are all excellent, there is some smart dialogue, bits of good humour and a load of great creepy thrills with the scary monsters 'the Silence'. It is also very dark and complex which are things I normally love.

The problem is that this does not satisfy the suspense built up in the previous episode for me, it instead throws numerous new items into the mix which I don't enjoy very much.

I love River Song but I don't like the back story and character choices which lead from this episode and are made clear later in the series. This is where I felt things started to go wrong.

Various other things within the episode do not work for me either such as when people mark a tally of times they've seen the silence why would anyone mark them on their face where you cannot see it? How can they add to a tally on their face without a mirror? If they have used mirrors a lot doesn't that defy the idea you have to mark the tally immediately wherever you are?

The idea that the Silence have been on Earth influencing humanity "since fire and the wheel" and are all around us is also odd. It is another of Moffatt's cool sounding ideas that he takes too far and just seems wrong when you analyse it: A relatively small number of such creatures living mostly in hiding over all that time makes sense and I would have loved that idea on its own. But the idea that such numerous aliens are ever present in everyone's ordinary lives (they are shown in crowded rooms, bars etc as if they are everywhere) just seems very odd. Yes they are forgotten when you look away but in crowded rooms they would be in sight by various people all the time and would cause reactions such as screaming from one person after another all the time. It just does not ring true for me.

The concept of disappearing from your memory when you are not looking is a twist on Moffatt's other invention the Weeping Angels who only move when you are not looking so he is trying to recapture the same dread of sinister things around you in ordinary life. He manages to make the Silence frightening and unsettling but stretching it to say they have are all around us all the time was not a good idea in my opinion. Moffatt always wants ideas and villains to be of epic proportions when a bit of understatement would sometimes be better I think.

The Silence's motives and push of landing man on the moon seem very vague. The orphanage setup doesn't make much sense and neither does the way the child who appears to be captive also appears to be free to roam around before finally escaping.

The aspect of the space suit is very odd too. What is meant to be the point of using a child in a space-suit? It is just a gimmick that has no relevance to their plan to kill the Doctor when we learn what is really going on.

The opening sequence with the apparent deaths of River, Amy and Rory annoys me. This brings the number of apparent deaths of companions and the Doctor in the first 16 episodes of the Moffatt era to an extraordinary 10 (if you count the Doctor apparently dying twice in The Big Bang)! That is easily more than Russell T. Davies had in his entire 60 episodes as Showrunner. Incredibly Moffatt features yet another apparent death for Rory (his 4th 'death' in 17 episodes!) in the very next episode after this and continued this trend through his time in charge. It makes it all seem very fake and diminishes the power and emotion each time as all death scenes and grieving turn out to be for nothing. To me it is a cheap trick. (Moffatt ends up reversing deaths of companions and Doctors a ridiculous 34 times in his time as Showrunner which is crazy!) The scenes also do not fit together with the ending of the previous episode (what happened after that cliffhanger?) and are a bit nonsensical. If Canton watches River jump off the roof and looks down why does he not see the TARDIS catch her? Why do the FBI/CIA think she is dead if she never hit the floor?

Some of the added confusion and convoluted content is over the top and gimmicky and some of the quickfire dialogue is a bit daft for me too. Sometimes less is more in my opinion whereas for Moffatt and his biggest fans it seems that more and more and more extreme stuff getting thrown at a story is always seen as being a great thing

The Doctor and River flirting in this episode goes too far for me and the Nixon stuff gets a bit cheesy too I think.

The qualities of this episodes production values, acting and its scary villains make this episode avoid falling really low in my ratings but this should have been safely 9/10 and instead I rate it 6/10 due to its aspects I do not like.

I do give credit for the good bits but it isn't really to my taste sorry.

My Ratings: The Impossible Astronaut - 9/10 Day of the Moon - 6/10 Overall 2-part story average - 7.5/10.