I was never a big fan of David Tennant (or the 10th Doctor for that matter, especially towards the end), so the 'Matt Smith having big shoes to fill' line means nothing to me, and after the first 10 minutes of Matt's Doctor I was sold. For me he's up there with Troughton and Baker - he's just perfect in the role.

Karen Gillan is brilliant as well, as is her character Amy. she's the first companion of the new series who I've warmed to - she seems more fully rounded and less one dimensional than the last three.

As for the series, well we're only three episodes in but the first two were pretty good, not Moffat's best but certainly better than a lot of new Who (especially those turgid specials). I'd say the last episode was a bit of a dud - the story felt less than original and didn't really go any where, also I didn't feel Gatiss knew how to write 11 or Amy (which Moffat should of addressed really). I thought it's worst crime was wasting Matt and Karen.

Any way, VotD aside I feel Matt, Karen and Moffat are like a breath of fresh air and I'm really liking the direction it's going in. Roll on the next few years.

In what way have you found her more fully rounded and less one dimensional? I'm not questioning your opinion, I'm just genuinely interested as I haven't felt that at all (if anything I feel very distant from her and have found her quite hard to relate to) and I'm just wondering what other people are seeing that I'm not - as I think most people feel the way you do.

I didn't really watch Doctor Who when I was younger, but I'm loving the new series. Matt Smith is doing a good job fitting into the character, as well as developing it into one that is fresh and new. I like the new companion too!

Personally, it seems to me that after she met her Raggedy Doctor she kind of lost her childhood as she was always waiting for him to return. After four therapists she abandoned her childhood and grew up.

Now with the Doctor back in her life she has the chance to relive her childhood. She comes across as young and in awe and excited and that comes across well.

At the same time however she is slightly suspicious that he will run off and leave her again (as he has already done twice).

Add in the mystery of her aunt (if indeed there is one), her non-Dalek memory, her snappy comebacks and her teasing and I think she is quite well rounded at the moment.

Of course all of this may just be a reaction against some previous companions who seemed to have a single personally trait which was that they were in luvvy-wuv with the Doctor.

I liked Donna because she wasn't and that probably accounts for Amy too.

As to the original question I have go far found the series Good - Good - Average and Excellent.

Whilst David started well I really disliked his gurning, shouty, smug, over the top Doctor by the end of his run (to be fair I also disliked the gurning, shouty, smug over the top Master too). So frankly any change from that was going to be a plus. And I think Matt makes an excellent Doctor, with most of his quirks being at the quirk level so far and not straying into the OTT characature.

So far so good.

Hmm... I do wonder if my own very high opinion of Matt Smith isn't partly based on the fact I'm just glad to see the back of Dr Gurn

Her experiences with the Doctor from her childhood has affected her personality in a number of ways.

She's still got the little girl inside her, the child that still dreams the dreams of time and space, despite her hopes being crushed time and time again. She's tried to grow up, but as the Doctor promised, he's fixed all that.

Perhaps this is also the reason she's never done anything with her apparent intelligence and perceptive skills?

What I like is that when she's not giddy with excitement, the steel shutter comes down - she's defensive and very emotionally controlled, keeping a lot to herself, but also brave and fiercely independent. A orphaned childhood spent in the psychologist's chair will do that to you.

I like the way they make it clear that the fearlessness and independence came before the Doctor's intervention - it just makes her ideal as a companion for him.

She's well-rounded in that she has a complex set of conflicting traits. She's not necessarily the warmest or the most easy to relate to, certainly - she comes across as the annoying little sister, but with flashes of the greatness that will come with a little maturity. And there are plenty of character hooks to develop on that journey.

I can't answer for Gillray but I wanted to answer this question because I think its quite an interesting one:

There are a couple of things are particularly like about this character. Firstly that the relationship started with the Doctor letting her down. This setup gives us a background we can easily imagine and creates a certain ambiguous nature to the compainion/Doctor relationship. Very clever Mr Moffat.

Secondly the way Amy has solved problems the Doctor could not has again been believable and done in a way that does not belittle the Doctor. The BB is the obvious example. She saw something the Doctor didn't because she had the Doctor as an example. Nice. She can provide a different perspective and that works because the character has been well written. Often times you have other characters providing solutions and it seems forced, you wonder why the Doctor wouldn't have done it. Not in this case.

Thirdly, I am glad they have (so far at least) decided not to repeat the somewhat fawning relationships of Rose and Martha.

Agreed. She's amazed by who he is and what he does, but is not in awe of him, much more in the Donna mould. It helps that this Doctor is less bombastic.


Yes, I would much rather have a companion that's useful, rather than just being someone for the Doctor to talk to while he solves everything. Especially in this case where the Doctor was blinded by his own dismissive rage at humans. Maybe I like fallible heroes more than most.

I think this series is shaping up just fine so far, tho' I'm trying very, very hard not to draw conclusions about Moffat and his vision of 'Doctor Who' until the end of the season. I just don't think 4 episodes is enough for that.

I'm certainly liking Matt Smith's 'Doctor Who'. He seems to have that natural, quirky flair which we associate with the Doctor - so a top casting choice there!

On the downside, he does seem to mutter a lot of his lines (with the occasional mis-delivery in 'Victory Of The Daleks'), and sometimes I can't make out what he's saying without a re-wind, followed by heaps of concentration. I suppose that's something I'll need to get used to. It's not the music drowning him out (in fact, I don't really notice that), it's just his intonation.

I also like the overall creepier feel of the stories, tho' that might have something to do with 'fear factor' Moffat penning three quarters of them thus far, which will ramp up to 4/5 come this Saturday. I found 'The Time Of Angels' and the first half of 'The Eleventh Hour' very atmospheric - not chilling - but suitably moody. It will be interesting to see the impact of Moffat's stewardship on the scripts from other writers as we move into the latter part of the season.

Oh, and as I said in my review of 'The Time Of Angels', I'm totally loving 'River Song' at the moment - if she's going to be a recurring character, then that's another thumbs up from me.

I'm not going to dwell on what I perceive as the series's weaknesses so far, as it's still early days, but I'd cite some of the dialogue, and the post-Eleventh Hour characterisation of Amy Pond as being areas which need work. We've got an episode called 'Amy's Choice' coming up in a few weeks, so there's plenty of time of address these things.

Regards,

Cypher

RUBBISH!

I am little disappointed we are four pages in and no-one has seen fit to do this "joke". Has Eric and Ernie died in vain?

On a more serious note I have enjoyed 3 out of the 4. The Dalek episode seemed a bit silly for me. Matt Smith is doing well and is a lot quietet than DT - or in other words he is his own Doctor.

I like Karen Gillan and like her legs a lot more.

How can you moan at a show that has a villian like the Weeping Angels in it. Even I jumped at one point.

You mean "Ruggish"!

I remember Eric and Ernie.

They... died for that joke? I've heard of sacrifice for your art, but...

It's fine at the moment in four episodes they've manged to produce one exellent (TEH), one good (VOTD.II) and two adverge episodes (TBB & TTOA) at best, which isn't bad for four episodes.

I think that some people's problem is that they wrongly expected classic's every single week where I on the other hand fully expected it to be rubbish form the get go, so have been more pleased than disapointed so far.

I must admit there was a span of around two hours where I was baying for Moffat's blood after watching last weeks episode but I think I've got over it. I do agree with comments that Karen Gillian is more the Doctor than Matt Smith is at the moment aswell. Oh budget cuts have left us with awful CGI but thats hardly the production teams fault. Matt was great in TEH but at the moment he really is just a adverge run off the mill Doctor, maybe that's because these epsidoe were all filmed before TEH or maybe it's because of the scripts.

I love Matt Smith, I think he's great in the part. I agree with Gillray. So far this series is free of the over sentimental stuff which we had at the end of DTs tenure and free of assistants being in love with the Doctor which certainly meets with my approval. I like Amy's feistyness too.

I've enjoyed every episode so far. In every series there are always some stories you like more than others, and for me the dalek one was the weakest so far in this series. Still fun though.