TV Review: “Doctor Who” (Series 5, episode 1: “The Eleventh Hour,” BBC)

At long last, the wait is over. After a year containing five specials, the new season of “Doctor Who” is finally here, and as good as ever. For the uninitiated, “Doctor Who” is a British science-fiction series centering around the exploits of the Doctor, a very human-looking alien who travels through time and space in a spaceship called the TARDIS (which looks like a police box, but is bigger on the inside) with a usually female human sidekick, known among fans as the companion, and known in the show by her name. “Doctor Who” is one of the longest-running franchises ever, running more or less continuously from 1963 to the late 80s, and then rebooting in 2005 in the same continuity. This is made possible by the fact that the Doctor's timelord species can “regenerate,” which conveniently occurs any time the series needs to switch actors.

This is quite significant for this review, as this episode begins the run of the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor (and third since the reboot), as played by Matt Smith. But the Doctor's not the only thing that's new. The show now has a new head writer, Steven Moffatt. Although Moffatt has written a episode or two in each previous season (and usually the best episode of the season), he has never written any episodes that deal with a major story arc. Fortunately, “The Eleventh Hour,” written by Moffatt, shows no hesitation at all.

It begins with the Doctor hurtling towards earth, newly regenerated, his TARDIS in flames. He crashes into the garden of a young girl named Amelia Pond who is scared by a crack in the wall of her room. The Doctor discovers an alien convict somehow used the crack to escape from a space prison. The Doctor needs to use the TARDIS for something, and he tells Amelia he'll be back in five minutes, but accidentally overshoots by twelve years. Amelia is now grown up, and the rest of the episode continues with the alien authorities trying to find the convict and the Doctor making sure the earth isn't incinerated by the authorities.

There are really a lot of strengths in the writing of this episode, the basic plot is typical for the series, but there are already references to the major season arc, with the crack in the wall being somehow related to tears in the fabric of the universe. It's fast-paced and never boring, and so far seems to suggest a theme this season of the Doctor as a protector and rule-enforcer.

Matt Smith plays the Doctor a little wackier than the great David Tennant, the previous actor, but was overall endearing and had the right character attributes. The only critique would be that Smith is a bit too generic and too close to Tennant's character, but as this is his first episode he still has time to come into his own as the season progresses. Karen Gillan's Amy Pond seems to avoid the typical companion's penchant for whining and being generally irritating, so the season is really looking good as far as characters go (these two will probably be the only recurring ones).

“The Eleventh Hour” was a strong episode that didn't take a lot of risks with story or character development, but did manage to entertain and establish all new actors and a new story arc, giving a lot of hope for the new season and the future of the series.