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Sunday 24 April 2011

Doctor Who: The Impossible Astronaut Review (4.5/5)

Blimey- if there's one thing you can call The Impossible Astronaut, Steven Moffat's jam-packed season opener, it's ambitious: over the course of forty five minutes, we saw the Doctor shot, burnt, naked, 1103 years and 908 years old, and that was just for starters! Fans have been asking for a story that demanded theirs and everyone else's attention, and we certainly got just that this week, although I can't help but wonder whether we got a little more than we bargained for...hear me out, I loved the episode, from the stunning performances by the four leads to the totally unexpected twists layered throughout, however the pacing was quite slow, as if one half was setting up the overall plot arc of Series Six (how long will we have to wait to see the nature of the Doc's death, one week, one month?) and the other showing the mystery and fear the Silence can install- so far, they don't top the Weeping Angels, but to be fair we only got a few glimpses of them- as well as throwing in the whole shebang of Amy being pregnant (Who will the child be...the astronaut? River? Those are some fan theories, but I have a feeling there's more to it than that). Yes, there were a lot of big events and series-spanning threads established, but I'd appreciate it next week if the story plays out more like the second half of this one. Overall, although it remains merely equal to The Eleventh Hour as opposed to besting it completely, The Impossible Astronaut was a very strong start to Season Six of Doctor Who, and the one week wait between episodes has never felt so long!

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