The Eleventh Hour
Apr. 8th, 2010 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
purplecatThe Eleventh Hour clearly had two related functions to play. Firstly it needed to introduce us to the characters of the new Doctor and Amy Pond and that constrained it to a certain style of story in which plot is backgrounded in favour of back-story and interaction. However it also needed to set out Stephen Moffat's stall and to demonstrate what would be different and what would be the same about his tenure at the helm. Given Moffat's reputation as an intricate plotter, those two functions would seem to be somewhat at odds with each other.
Actually, in many ways, they appeared to work together quite well, but only if you assume that part of Moffat's purpose here was to explicitly demonstrate that his work doesn't have to contain an intricate plot. In much of the pre-publicity he has spoken about Doctor Who as fairytale and that was quite clearly the atmosphere being aimed at. The early sections of the story and its closing moments, reinforced rather unsubtly by the incidental music, perfectly evoked a fairytale feel. Simultaneously the tale of a young girl's encounter with the 11th Doctor, allowed Moffat to very naturally introduce us to both of them. Caitlin Blackwood as the young Amelia was amazing to watch, managing to convey a child's eye view of the story while being neither saccarine nor brattish.
Smith was good but was coming across very much as Tennant-lite. Actually, that's a little unfair of me. I found I could view his performance either as someone finding his way into a part while seeking to reinforce the links to what had gone before or as someone simply playing a toned down version of his predecessor. I'm hoping a more distinctive interpretation will emerge in later episodes. Karen Gillan was also good as the older Amy, but she suffered from being outshone by her younger version who was given a more interesting role (let's face it there is little that has not previously been done with the companion, and most of it was happening in Blackwood's lines) in the more distinctive part of the story.
In fact, where the tension between introducing the new management and introducing the new Doctor and companion seemed most obvious was in the segments with the older Amy Pond. The runaround on the village green and in the hospital was traditional fare and notable mostly for the fact that it didn't really get anything wrong, nor leave plot loop-holes as so often happened with Davies' work. But it's purpose seemed to be much more about reinforcing continuity than with telling any kind of distinctive story. It had an emphasis on action and set-pieces which didn't give the older Amy's character a lot of time to breathe. I did like the touches of character we got though, in particular her tendency not to react as genre/show conventions tend to make us expect (e.g. when she forces the Doctor to explain himself by trapping his tie in the car door).
Given the pre-publicity, there was little to surprise me here. We were presented with a competently told and acted story, which was drawing heavily on the template for season openers introduced by Russell Davies while adding a distinctive fairytale element. The new Doctor and companion were both likable and watchable with hints of how they might become distinctive, but the desire to reassure audiences that they would be getting more of the same seems to have robbed the actors of the opportunity to let the characters be properly individual.
Actually, in many ways, they appeared to work together quite well, but only if you assume that part of Moffat's purpose here was to explicitly demonstrate that his work doesn't have to contain an intricate plot. In much of the pre-publicity he has spoken about Doctor Who as fairytale and that was quite clearly the atmosphere being aimed at. The early sections of the story and its closing moments, reinforced rather unsubtly by the incidental music, perfectly evoked a fairytale feel. Simultaneously the tale of a young girl's encounter with the 11th Doctor, allowed Moffat to very naturally introduce us to both of them. Caitlin Blackwood as the young Amelia was amazing to watch, managing to convey a child's eye view of the story while being neither saccarine nor brattish.
Smith was good but was coming across very much as Tennant-lite. Actually, that's a little unfair of me. I found I could view his performance either as someone finding his way into a part while seeking to reinforce the links to what had gone before or as someone simply playing a toned down version of his predecessor. I'm hoping a more distinctive interpretation will emerge in later episodes. Karen Gillan was also good as the older Amy, but she suffered from being outshone by her younger version who was given a more interesting role (let's face it there is little that has not previously been done with the companion, and most of it was happening in Blackwood's lines) in the more distinctive part of the story.
In fact, where the tension between introducing the new management and introducing the new Doctor and companion seemed most obvious was in the segments with the older Amy Pond. The runaround on the village green and in the hospital was traditional fare and notable mostly for the fact that it didn't really get anything wrong, nor leave plot loop-holes as so often happened with Davies' work. But it's purpose seemed to be much more about reinforcing continuity than with telling any kind of distinctive story. It had an emphasis on action and set-pieces which didn't give the older Amy's character a lot of time to breathe. I did like the touches of character we got though, in particular her tendency not to react as genre/show conventions tend to make us expect (e.g. when she forces the Doctor to explain himself by trapping his tie in the car door).
Given the pre-publicity, there was little to surprise me here. We were presented with a competently told and acted story, which was drawing heavily on the template for season openers introduced by Russell Davies while adding a distinctive fairytale element. The new Doctor and companion were both likable and watchable with hints of how they might become distinctive, but the desire to reassure audiences that they would be getting more of the same seems to have robbed the actors of the opportunity to let the characters be properly individual.