So the Doctor's been back for six weeks now and yet he hasn't graced this blog yet. Apologies, the truth is I've been very busy. So busy in fact I haven't had a chance to watch any of the first four episodes of the new season live. As usual, if you don't like spoilers, avert your eyes now and just know this - that the new Doctor is brilliant.
Anyhoo. New series, new Doctor, new feel, new everything. It feels, from the first three episodes, that Steven Moffat wanted to redesign the show entirely: there's new opening credits (and I love them!), a new Tardis (we've not seen much of the interior to judge), new Daleks, new Doctor too, new tone... Some of those changes feel superfluous. Moffat had promised that there would be explanations behind the changes, that it wasn't simply change for the sake of it. However, it feels as though, in both instances, the plot was worked around the change rather than the other way around. I don't miss the old Tardis, I liked the old Daleks better (what's with their front?). I guess you can't please everyone.
In terms of plot, this season has yet to deliver to the level of awesome that the Moff had treated us to in previous years. The running theme is far from being as subtle as "Bad Wolf": rather, it is hammered at the end of each episode. The gay agenda from the RTD years has been cheekily changed to the Scottish agenda, and it's fun to think about it. Production values are down from previous years (especially the CGI feels cheap) but this is only to be expected with budget cuts.
The cheapness is one of the elements that give the show its new feel. Doctor Who is now very much more the stuff of dreams, nightmares and fairy tales. The monsters aren't very well defined, which gives them an extra edge - the exception being, of course, the Daleks. This appears both in the plot (what are the Smilers exactly?) and in the look of the monsters.
It all, oddly enough, comes together at the same time darker, grittier and child-like. These contradictions seem to be a running theme for the New New Who (judging from three episodes), which plays with our expectations throughout. In episode one, Amy's profession comes as a surprise but the element of surprise is worked into the plot (a door you don't see, etc.). In the second episode, which is wonderfully bonkers, the Doctor's prevented from misbehaving by his companion. While this was already touched upon in Fires of Pompeii, The Beast Below is different. In the former, Donna encouraged the Doctor to do something extra; in the latter, the Doctor nearly did something very un-Doctorey and was saved from it by Amy. In the third episode, you get Daleks serving you tea followed by Power Daleks. Finally, the Angels two-parter also brings changes and surprises: the crack in the wall, which was expected to be the season arc, is picked up on and explained in episode 5, but will probably still play a role up to episode 7 at least. The Angels have evolved, River Song is very surprising - but the biggest shake-up comes in the final 5 minutes of the episode. While some will argue that the companion-fancying-the-doctor theme is hardly new, there is a directness and openness to it (with innuendo included) that makes it probably the most surprising moment of the new series.
Working against expectations and fears too, is Matt Smith. He does not emulate David Tennant and has made the Doctor his role from episode one. I expected to be won over by him at some point during the series, like I was won over by Tennant by The Satan Pit, but I certainly did not expect this to happen so soon. Matt Smith's Doctor is a combination of all existing Doctors to date - yes, there's even some trace of Colin Baker in him - with some added edge. He is superior and we feel he is and he knows he is, but it is not in-your-face. Rather, he's a friendly Doctor like a mix of Troughton and Davison (something Tennant was doing in an OTT way), with the darkness from both McCoy and Eccleston.
Matt Smith alone makes Doctor Who worth watching - it is every time an explosion of skill. I never felt that strongly that I could watch an episode of Doctor Who regardless of the plot because it would display an actor's talents, I now do.
The 2010 season is definitely shaping up to be one of the best ever, with The Beast Below an instant classic and all the other episodes following closely in its wake.