Aside from the beginnings and endings of seasons, The Doctor's Wife by Neil Gaiman comes as close to a signature event as many of us are likely to see in Doctor Who-dom.  With anticipation and the accompanying stakes running high, there was much to deliver on.  What most came across, both in the story itself, and especially in the "Confidential" that followed, was how very much of a fanboy Gaiman is. 

The reappearance of the 9/10 Console room was just one of the so many reveals and/or callbacks to elements both nu-and-classic that populated the script.  If you boil it down, it's a pretty spare script for plotting and characters.  House (wouldn't Hugh Laurie's voice have been a surreal treat here) is quite a bit like Omega from The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors in his motivation to cross over to the "real" universe.  But Auntie, Uncle, Nephew, and Idris (wouldn't Astrid have worked better had it not been taken already) all worked wonderfully.

Having said all that, this is not a story for relatively inexperienced Doctor Who fans.  This fans first viewing left us somewhat muddled, having the intellect satisfied but without the emotional punch other stories have been able to deliver.  And that's OK… more than that actually.  A second viewing left the THT Brain Trust feeling more fully satisfied.  How 'bout you?

Images and caps for The Doctor's Wife are now online.

Also with four stories down we resuscitate the 2011 Dynamic Ratings Table. 

Day of the Moon puts the young executroids here at THT Worldwide in a bit of a quandary.  Just to be clear, we liked the story, quite a bit as it happens.  But we're a little worried that the Moffat-ization of the storytelling is going to become impenetrable to casual audiences.  As fans we follow, even obsess over this kind of thing, that's why you're here.

Having just finished with six season of Lost last year, there was no reason during that last year for anyone to watch that show who hadn't a thorough acquaintanceship with a very knotty backstory.  The latent fear is we're heading into the same weeds here, although we suspect that moving to a run of stories from other writers will see a deemphasis on the overall arc for awhile.

As for Day of the Moon itself, what's not to like?.  This was a visually dense story, as our caps demonstrate.  Some questions were answered, but of course it will be the open strands which will draw the most interest.

• How will Amy usher in the Silents?
• How can Amy be both preggers and not?
• What is the relationship between River, Amy, and the little girl?
• We're the Silents really raising that girl, and does that mean that although they be manipulative, they may not necessarily be evil?
• Although Amy said she missed shooting the girl, doesn't the clearly cracked visor mean that she compromised the suit and inadvertently killed her anyway.
• Will the Doctor know her as a Time Lord when he sees her again?

A couple of other last thoughts… River is the new Captain Jack (The Moff introduced him after all) and Mark Sheppard is consistently awesome.

Images and caps for Day of the Moon are now online.

Nothing like a jaw-dropping trailer for whipping fans into a froth, 

Mission accomplished.  Now the countdown to the new season begins in earnest.  Of course we have a gallery of caps which cherry pick the best images from the trailer. 

The money shot appears to be Amy and Rory taking shelter behind one of the Tennant/Eccleston Tardis columns, presumably while the last regeneration is taking place.  There's also an exact mirroring shot of Matt Smith's eyes from The Eleventh Hour,  and yet they're not.

As for The Tour, we're getting ready to drop a house-cleaning site wide update during the weekend of the 16th-17th to prepare us to plunge headlong into the the first half of this split season.  After that we'll be in-season mode for a while.