I liked it. A lot.

I liked Matt Smith like I like oxygen. That dude walked INTO being The Doctor. To me, it was "Action!" and he was suddenly a Time Lord. Very much a strange mix of Colin and McGann! He nailed it coming out of the gate, and I look forward to seeing this motherfucker stride forward.

LOVED Amy Pond! Man, not only is she sexy as hell, but she has all the right nerves of steel and loud mouth that a really good companion should have. And she's not fucking GOO-GOO over The Doc, either! That's important. Fuck you RTD.

As for the story, here's my take: Moffat did his best to bring back the eeriness and strange aura of the old days. And in many respects, he succeeded! The first time that giant eyeball looked through the crack in the universe, I got a chill up my spine. That shit is just WEIRD. And don't even get me started on the lady/two girls form Prisoner Zero took at the end. C-r-e-e-p-y.

The new TARDIS is pretty, but I expect to see more of it. Did anyone else catch that it has Hartnell's light-set above the console? Also, nice lava-lamp-inspired central column and viewscreen (viewscreen!). Can't wait to see where the stairs go.

I liked the nod to the past with the old Doctor shots. However, RTD just did that in "The Next Doctor" last Christmas. It was a little too "on the nose" to go through all the Docs, and have Smith walk through the hologram as "Number 11". Trying too hard.

Overall, it felt like "Rose", but with about a brillion more pounds shoved into the budget. Also, it felt more confident than RTD's beginning. As well it should, I guess. Moffat's riding his wave still.

The bad:

-That theme tune, and opening "lighting tunnel", is fucking gay. Bad. BAD! The worst the franchise has EVER produced. Worse than Sylvester's purple Commodore-64 vortex, with Colin's techno-harpsichord "Trial of a Time Lord" season theme. The fire-tunnel at the end of it is the only redeeming quality of that "tunnel of spooky" cheese.

The tune itself? Bad. Fuck you, Murray Gold. Fuck you, you garish, one-note orchestral hack.

Bad.


All in all, I give this an 8-out-of-10...