Doctor Who Series 6 Episode 1: The Impossible Astronaut

The biggest problem with the new era of DW, since Moffat took the reins, is that it is annoyingly good. The quality of the stories have gone up tremendously, but with one caveat; we are tortured episode after episode with burning questions, with answers only to be revealed in the future. It's a stark difference compared to RTD's era, where seasons were lightly arc-based, but everything was largely standalone. I prefer Moffat's style, of course, but his stories are so compelling and intriguing, I hate that we only get 13 episodes a year.

And here we are again, with a new series of DW! Last season, we left off with the foreboding "silence will fall," and a promise from River Song that things are going to change very soon. And just like last series, where Moffat started off in the first few minutes with the premise for the entire series (the crack in the wall), we have the big question that will likely run through this series. Who killed the doctor? What is the silence, and are they those aliens? I think the death of the doctor, which we saw within the first few minutes, is the running theme of the series. And of course, we have the larger question of who River Song is, which Moffat said will be answered this series.

So, this time, we begin with the doctor parading through various times, sending a message to Amy and Rory, happily married, through history. Then they find an invitation, telling them to come to the US. River Song gets the same invite, in prison. As soon as we saw River get the invite, I thought something was wrong. Thus far, River summons the doctor, not the other way around. Once River, Rory, and Amy see the doctor, and River and himself have been through a lot more than we've ever seen, I was even more suspicious. I was hoping that something was up, and not that adventures happened with the two of them that we never got to see. And then, during the picnic, the doctor mentions that he's over 1000 years old, 200 years older than we last saw him. Now, I knew that was odd, but maybe he went on some solo adventures for two millennia before reconvening with Rory and Amy. Overall, I had a very odd feeling about this whole situation, as if I accidentally missed a whole series and was trying to catch up. And then, the astronaut came out of the water and killed the doctor. And then I figured, Moffat had something interesting up his sleeve.

From that point on, the episode was excellent, but just led to more questions. Who killed the doctor? And what are those aliens? I read something that Karen Gillan said during an interview, about the silence being the best monsters in DW since the weeping angels. Are these creepy aliens the silence? They seem to silence any memory of them after you've seen them. And their voice, when they spoke to Amy.... sounded just like "silence will fall" from "The Big Bang" last series. Or am I just imagining a voice saying that? Anyway, the voice sounded the same as whoever said "Fear me, I killed hundreds of time lords" in the trailer for this series. And in the DW confidential, Moffat indicated that we'll find out more about them throughout this series. Which means, don't expect any answers in the next episode, "Day of the Moon." Why is the little girl in the astronaut uniform? And does she kill the doctor? Or is it as simple as River Song in the astronaut uniform, killing the best man she ever knew? And will time be rewritten this time, reversing the doctor's death? See, annoyingly good. And I trust Moffat won't go the way of "Lost," ending his rein on DW without a single satisfying answer.

I love that they're doing prequels to episodes now. We got the Nixon prequel, and there's a prequel to the third episode, the one with pirates. I hate, however, that they split the season in two. I'll probably be happy in September or whenever it returns, but it'll be so annoying to end this half-series after only seven episodes.

Next time: will we get any answers at all?