It's a curious thing, this continuation of The Time of Angels is. While it certainly provided the back half of this story, the pacing and segmentation of the story (Escape, Forest w/Dr, Forest w/o Dr, bridge, and coda) made it feel, at least in the minds of the THT Brain Trust, to be equally interested in setting up the season-long storyline as resolving the plot involving the Weeping Angels.  There's been a fair amount of discussion out there (you know… THERE) about the parallels between this season and the Eccleston season in 2005 in terms of story choice and underlying running story. But whereas the clues planted in 2005 were quite, quite subtle (for those who even knew to be looking for such things at the time) there's no subtlety this time around. 

It's a bit of a surprise to see the "crack" motif taken on head-on, though not unwelcome it has to be said…  But one wonders if this will begin to exclude casual viewers should it feature too prominently from here on out.  We suspect Moffat is too canny for that.  As for Amy, Moffat seems determined to put this character through the ringer, but it should also be noted that half of the Moffat scripted episodes are now out of the way.  Will other writers be as determined to put Amy through her paces? 

Paces and pulses also quickened at the end of the episode with the Smoochie, Smoochie Time (as described by Smith and Gillan).  At the risk of sounding die-hard traditionalist, we 're always a but discomfited by overt sexuality in Doctor Who.  Amy seems to switch into this mode in odd ways and odd times–but it also seems this ties back to the overall theme for the season.  As for timing–she's getting married during the World Cup!  But because June 26th, 2010 is also a Saturday, what will be the schedule implications for the rest of the Season?  Should the season run uninterrupted, June 26th would be when episode 13 airs.  Hmmm.

Images and caps for Flesh and Stone are now online

Ahem.  It's probably worth restating for those unfamiliar with the THT Brain Trust that we are not, nor have we ever been, ga-ga about our favorite little pepperpots from Skaro.  Nevertheless it must be daunting for any production team to do something inventive with the Daleks, and given their recent history on the program, and perhaps their overexposure, this hesitation to use them would be all the more daunting.  Still, especially after watching Confidential, it felt a little bit like it was filling in the checkboxes of a tight brief given by Moffat et.al.  Now sometimes this works, our favorite example of this being Planet of Fire, but this was also the second straight story which felt like it underran to a degree (was the coda for Bracewell really necessary?). 

Still despite it all, a re-watch went down better than the primary viewing, and once again the Doctor-Companion interaction shone throughout.  It's no longer a trend but a fact that this Doctor, despite his wisdom, makes mistakes, has time slippages, etc.  Why Amy couldn't remember the Daleks was superbly handled as a parallel mystery to run through the season.

Images and caps for Victory of the Daleks are now online.

If there was anything The Eleventh Hour affirmed, it was the enduring power of change in Doctor Who.  Whereas the remit of Rose was to update Doctor Who in terms of format, pacing, and storytelling style 15+ years after the fact for a general audience, there simply couldn't be a sense of regime change for anyone except the long-term fan.  The Christmas Invasion played against audience expectations by removing the physical presence of the Doctor for 2/3 of the story, but because the production team, save Tennant for Eccleston, remained significantly intact, it now seems in retrospect that the level of change overall was less than we all imagined at the time. 

Of course it remains to be seen what degree of change we'll be experiencing this time around, but if first impressions based on The Eleventh Hour are to be trusted, the tonal change may well be akin to Innes Lloyd's tenure in the 60's or Philip Hinchcliffe in the 70's.  Comparisons to Hinchcliffe are usually, and the THT Brain Trust is no exception in this regard, high praise.  And that can only heighten the anticipation all the more.

Some other impressions … while we were completely prepared to be wowed by Matt Smith, we honestly had no idea how good he was going to be, or by how lively his eyes are.  The wonder, joy, wit, and concern were all there in his eyes.  More please Mr. Moffat.

As for images, The Eleventh Hour marks a new record for initial image offering with over 800 images assembled, and we didn't skimp on the caps either.  Images and caps for The Eleventh Hour are now online.