Doctor Who's new season kicks off with a nightmarish new villain as the show delves into darker territory. Will you be watching on Saturday?
It will not have escaped your attention that a little show called Doctor Who is back this weekend. And neither will the big hype line that everyone's using: that this is the darkest series of Who in the history of time and space.
It's not so terrifying that you should consider not letting your kids watch the show, but that description is not without warrant ? as you can see from fabled new enemies The Silence, who look to be Munch's The Scream by way of that iconic hollow-eyed grey-face that is US shorthand for alien invaders. They're disgusting to look at, and, while it would give the whole thing away to tell you what it is that they do, it truly is the stuff of nightmares.
There's also the well-hyped revelation that one of the four leads will die. Again, it doesn't spoil much to reveal that this isn't a trick or a lie: somebody dies, there's no sci-fi get-out clause, and that harrowing sequence looks as if it will shape the rest of the series. Then there's the sheer psychological and emotional paranoia that lurches all over the opening two-part story. Oh it's still wildly funny, and it its heart is proper, bonkers Doctor Who. But compared to the little fat monsters running around in the series opener a few years ago, it's barely recognisable.
This has happened before of course. Early in Tom Baker's epic era, producer Phillip Hinchliffe and writer Robert Holmes steered the series in a gothic, Hammer Horror inspired direction ? winning excellent ratings and throwing up fan-favourites such as Pyramids Of Mars, The Hand Of Fear and The Talons Of Weng Chiang. But the move also provoked a full-force Mary Whitehouse onslaught, in the face of which the BBC caved in and retooled the show into colourful whimsy once more ? which is how we ended up with that ridiculous robotic dog; a blip on Who lore that still refuses to properly die.
Steven Moffat has said that the first episode, The Impossible Astronaut, should be regarded as dark only in terms of a series opener; they've flipped things so the climactic terror of a finale is served up first. Moffat understands better than most people working in television that children like to be frightened ? he's a father of two himself. But the policy is also undeniably risky; for one thing, the lunchbox business is too valuable to the BBC to risk alienating any kids.
Also slightly risky is the BBC's decision to really push this new series of Doctor Who in America with media blitzes in New York, simulcast timeslots with BBC America, and the very fact that this opening story is set and partially filmed out there. I was fretting that it might all be too much, America wouldn't get it and the series would end up looking silly. But when you see the episode, it really does all makes sense.
There is only one other thing I can tell you about The Impossible Astronaut: it is shockingly good. Seriously, it floors you from the off and doesn't let you go. The relentless pacing, the intricate serialised story arc, the established presence of a good-looking ensemble cast (all, by the way, having massively upped their games after last year).
It's still as daft and British and Doctor Who as ever, it has just donned some of the clothes of great American TV drama, and it wears them well. Since the revival, as fans there's always been a tiny little bit of nervous apprehension about revealing to people quite how deeply you are into Doctor Who. With this, it looks like those days are over. Doctor Who might now be one of the coolest, sexiest, smartest most stylish things on television. Honestly. On Saturday night you'll know what I mean.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/apr/21/doctor-who-back-darker
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