Doctor Who

I love Doctor Who. Love it, and know far more than any one person ought to about it. In fact, my study of all things Who went a long way to teaching me about television, the way it's written and made, and got me thinking about the possibility for expansion in television. I'm glad I was dropped into the serious business end of the fandom, more interested in analysing the themes of Paul Cornell's writing than the finer aspects of how hawt David Tenant is.

In the first four series of the relaunch, a few things became very clear, and the clearest was that Steven Moffat is a brilliant writer. He wrote the best two episodes of season 1 (The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances), one of the best of season 2 (The Girl in the Fireplace), the best of season 3 and one of the scariest of all time (Blink) and while his contribution to season 4 didn't wow me especially (The Library) that is only in comparison to his other work, as a part of the whole season it was very strong.

He writes brilliant, lovable characters: Captain Jack, Sally Sparrow, Madame de Pompadour, River Song.

He uses the inherent premise of the show - timetravel - in interesting ways, and incorporates imaginative technology: microscopic robots which create clones of one person, a ship trying repair itself using organic components cannibalised from the crew, meeting someone at various points in their life while for you it's only been minutes, creatures which can only ever move when you don't look at them, leaving messages in the past for people in the future.

And most of all, his stories are scary as hell. Who can forget the armies of gas-masked clones, or the smell of "barbecue" in the Madame de Pompadour? I know that for weeks after Blink all my sister had to do was freeze making a grimace and I would be sent into a panic.

So imagine my glee when I heard that the replacement for Russel T Davies would be none other than Steven Moffat. Whole seasons guided by his brilliance. Oh my.

From here on in, it's gets SPOILERY, so beware ye who enter.

I was actually rather anxious to watch The Eleventh Hour because I had such high hopes for it. What if it didn't live up to my expectations? What if I hated Matt Smith, what if Amy Pond turned out to be a cold kipper? Added to which, I couldn't watch it during broadcast, being too busy driving tractors and fending off feral ponies with nothing more than a sharpened stick.

My fears were in vain, however, since it was magnificent. This is perhaps not the level a film student should be speaking in, but I loved it, every bit of it: I love Matt Smith, I love the Eleventh Doctor, I love Amy Pond, I love the plot, the timetravel cleverness, I loved the fish custard, the giant toothy eel thing, the stop motion effect they used, the new costume, the new TARDIS, the long term arc they seem to be on, the dialogue. Everything then. Especially the bit with all the Doctors, yay geek moment!

Its success rested a lot on Matt Smith and I'm very glad I got to see his episode of The Street, because it showed that he is a very good actor. I like his character: sometimes unpleasant, sometimes charming, and usually oblivious to wordly conventions. Thank goodness, he manages to appear older than he looks - I was rather put off by how young he is.

The second episode, The Beast Below, while it was still doing some introduction had more freedom to go do something plotty and it did not disappoint. The idea is the kind of thing which I adore: it's dark, relevant and manages to be depressing and still have an uplifting message. SPOILERS, again, you have been warned! The people of Britain, all bundled into a starship to escape Earth, are secretly powering their vessel by exploiting and torturing a giant alien creature. They live in something akin to a police state, with so called worthless citizens going missing. Every five years they have a choice: to vote to object to this state of affairs, or to have their memory wiped. Almost everyone chooses to forget and live happily, and those who don't are killed.

This is a kid's show. And it's saying that democracy is a joke, we live off the backs of others' suffering, humans are self-interested jerks, and most of them are fascists.

Absolutely fantastic.

And tomorrow, it's Daleks. I can't wait.