Doctor Who - The Impossible Astronaut

It was an exciting night. The Doctor returned in the first episode of series six, "The Impossible Astronaut".

But before that, this week Doctor Who fans were sad to learn the news that Elisabeth Sladen, Sarah Jane Smith, died. She was 63 years old and had apparently been battling cancer. I'm sure many of us had no idea. It seems that many that knew here also had no idea. Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, wrote that he "... had no idea she was ill; she was so private, never wanted any fuss, and now, gone." For more of his tribute go to Tom Baker official website. They gave a nice "In Memory Of" credit at the beginning of the episode for Elisabeth. So sad.

The new episode was a two parter, so it is hard to have a final judgement on whether it was good or not until we know how it ultimately ends, but it started out like gangbusters.
Warning, there will be spoilers from this point on.
It starts with the Doctor having ridiculous fun with history, like he was trying to get the attention of Amy and Rory, who have apparently been home for a while. They receive some sort of invitation in a Tardis blue envelope that tells them the time and place to meet. River Song also gets an invitation. The time and place they are to meet is now somewhere in the desert in America. When they all get there they find the Doctor waiting for them. After a picnic at which we find out that the Doctor is some 200 years older than when we last met him, a strange astronaut appears out of a lake and kills the Doctor. Really kills him. Dead!
Amy sees a strange alien creature, then forgets about it. We meet an old Canton Delaware who also received an invitation. His was numbered 4, Amy and Rory's was 3 and River's was 2. So who had number 1? they find out in a diner when the Doctor walks out of the restroom. He had received invitation number 1.

So we have a very complicated twisting plot with possible paradoxes and all sorts of good things. Fortunately Steven Moffat is good at these sort of things, but I am still a little nervous that all the strings will come together in the end. I really hope there are no holes. I really don't like holes in a plot.

There are a lot of good things to say about the episode. The new aliens, although they have seemingly been here a long time, are really cool. Very scary. The kind of thing that you really would have in your nightmares. And it is doubly creepy that as soon as a character looks away they forget them. This makes you really feel the peril they are in. Even though the aliens are coming to get them and they have seen them coming they turn around and are suddenly oblivious to the danger. These aliens are apparently the Silence. I will assume that is the Silence that we have been hearing about all last series.

The arrival in the oval office was well done. I really like Canton Delaware. He is played by Mark Sheppard who also played a really cool character, Romo Lampkin, in Battlestar Galactica.

River, is River. I think you either like her or hate (well, maybe not hate, but tolerate) her. I tolerate her. Obviously Steven Moffat really loves her. I liked her the first time we saw her, but like her less every time that she comes back. I worry that Steven Moffat could write himself into a corner with her and that there could be gaping holes in the series continuity because of her. That being said, I did like her talk about fearing that one day she would meet the Doctor and he wouldn't know her at all and that that would kill her. We know that is exactly what happened.

I am really liking Amy Pond. She was great in this episode. You can feel her struggling with this one. She is confused, conflicted and sad but at the same time incredibly loyal to the Doctor. She is even willing to kill to save him. If I had to put my trust in someone like the Doctor had to, it would be Amy Pond.

And it is good to see Rory as a full companion and he is needed to give us some of the lighter moments.

It will be very interesting to see how it all works out. What is the control room in the tunnels? It looks identical to the control room of the Tardis like machine in "The Lodger" We will have to wait until next week to find out.