Doctor Who Series 6: The Impossible Astronaut Review

And so, Doctor Who returned to our screens two weeks ago in a rather action packed episode full of shocks, twists and catchphrases we've come to expect from Steve Moffat's vision of the time travelling alien drama. The episode started in familiar farcical fashion with a montage of Matt Smith's Doctor going through and making his own history while married couple Amy and Rory "follow" him in text books. We also get our first "Doctor Who?" joke in the episode. After being reminded of Matt Smith's oddball antics the story begins with the main characters and River Song meeting up in America where they encounter an astronaut. Said astronaut shoots Doctor with a laser, and once more before he can regenerate. The Doctor's death is confirmed when an old man stops by and says so. Everyone's sad.
But wait.
Because the Doctor is a time traveller, it's revealed that the dead doctor is from the future, and the er, present doctor arrives soon after, not knowing who invited him to the rendezvous. And thus, begins Series 6 of Doctor Who. There are encounters with historical figures, real world events, ludicrously scary monsters and social awkwardness that will satisfy fans of the new Who. Indeed, it's a good start and I wish Moffat would write all the episodes since his are the strongest. This being the second Matt Smith series, the characters are firmly established and thus we jump straight into the action. The plot is relatively simple enough to engage the viewer first time and there are lots of turns to keep the action riveting and the audience guessing.
This series has taken a risk by starting with such a dark episode in which  the hero dies in the first five minutes and a new enemy, the Silent, is introduced. The Silent are aliens (or are they?) that erase peoples' memory of having seen them, so there's a lot of wondering about in the dark, turning of heads and hiding behind the sofa. Poor Amy, who has a history of bumping into monsters in the dark, is the first (or is she?) to encounter one, and witnesses first hand one of them kill someone. It seems Moffat is a big fan of the concept of death and the loss of memory, as they were both recurring themes in the last series with the story arc of the cracks in time (I think). The Silent monsters follow the pattern of loud, grotesque creatures who live underground and kill anything, another staple of Moffat's. They're suitably sinister and seemingly unstoppable, a perfect Saturday evening prime time foil for Matt Smith. The plot is that they seem to be holding a little girl hostage. The girl calls for President Nixon's help and Doctor and Co go to investigate.
Smith himself is almost perfect. He's very much an otherworldly alien with a penchant for foreign hats. He's likeable  mad and believable in the role. Amy the companion is cute and capable, and Rory is good comic relief. The dialogue sparkles with witty one-liners. A particular favourite which probably went over the heads of the kids is when Doctor gives his companions code names, calling River Song "Mrs Robinson". We are drip fed more clues about River Song's back story this week and maybe possibly a clue that she and someone else have something in common with each other. It's all intriguing, it must be said.