Doctor Who is
back, and it’s good!
Peter Capaldi is the Doctor! After two seasons of doubting
him I finally feel like Capaldi has become the Doctor that he should have been
from the start. I won’t go into detail this time about all my problems with the
12th Doctor, I already talked about that in my Return of Doctor Mysterio review and my pre-Series 10 post. However
I felt like in The Pilot we got to
see the full range of who the Doctor can and should be instead of just some
grumpy guy moping around which is what he has been for the past couple of
series. This is finally the 12th Doctor as he should be, someone who
is strange but funny and also compassionate. I particularly liked the little
touch of having a picture of River Song and Susan on his desk, it helped to make
the Doctor feel like he was still a part of what has come before him.
Setting the episode in a university was a brilliant idea. It
just makes so much sense to see the Doctor in that environment. The scene were
the Doctor was lecturing at the university was great, that speech felt
reminiscent of some of the epic speeches that Matt Smith used to give. I think
I agree with the Doctor’s summation that being a student is about texting,
snogging and vegan wraps! (Even though I’m not out snogging!)
I liked how this episode was setting up some of the later
series. The Doctor was at the university because he is protecting something
that is hidden in a vault, it wasn’t specified what was lurking in the vault
but I bet that whatever it is will become relevant later on in this series. The
brief appearance from a Dalek was good. I hope that was it for the Daleks in
this series. I don’t want them to be a big bad in yet another series but it was
good to see the Daleks briefly appear as a reminder that they are still lurking
out there.
Let’s talk about Bill Potts now. This was the first episode
for her she shone as the new companion, I’m looking forward to getting to know
her more over the coming weeks. To me it feels like there is something about
Bill that is reminisicent of both Rose Tyler and Donna Nobel. I think Bill is
going to be a welcome addition to the TARDIS. Bill is particularly notable as
the first LGBT companion, I thought her sexuality was well handled in this
episode as part of the plot revolved around her having a crush on a woman. Bill
is definitely a lesbian, it is part of who she is however – at this point -
it’s neither being ignored or defining her. Also she got even cooler when it
turned out that she’s into sci-fi!
Tonally I think The
Pilot was closest to 2008’s series opener Partners In Crime. In some ways it was a fairly standard new
companion episode. We had the glimpse into her life, then the weird thing
happening, the meeting with the Doctor and of course the ‘it’s bigger on the
inside moment’. But most importantly this episode was about the Doctor meeting
his new best friend.
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