11.15: The Impossible Astronaut
In which Doctor Who goes to America.
Broadcast: April 2011
Watched: December 2021
“You think you can just shoot me?” “They’re Americans!”
Moffat said, a few years later, that the first idea he had for season 9 was “start with a finale”. I’m not sure it was a new idea as that’s basically what he does here. This is *huge*. The confidence in the writing and production is absolutely imperial – and, given how the season pans out, arguably hubristic.
The whole season arc/Doctor’s death thing is, let’s be clear, bullshit. The publicity campaign kept saying “one of them will die”, and we know it can’t be Amy as it’s too traumatic and it won’t be Rory or River as we’ve already seen them both die (a lot, in Rory’s case) which means it’s not traumatic enough, and that only leaves one candidate. Only, we know the Doctor isn’t going to actually die as it’s his show.
But none of that matters here. We get the Doctor hiding in Nell Gwynne’s skirts, a cameo by Charles II, a Great Escape bit, a load of very expensive location shooting and the Doctor appearing in a Laurel and Hardy film, *before the credits even roll*. A few minutes later, we get the Doctor’s “death” and Moffat’s first fake regeneration, then the younger Doctor shows up.
And, about halfway through the run time, we’re ready to start the story, as opposed to the season.
Then we get Richard Nixon being a surprisingly nice bloke, trying to help a scared little girl, which is a far more interesting take than the usual celebrity historical (and allows for some excellent in-jokes about his obsession with tapes). We get greater father/son performances of the same character from W. Morgan and Mark Shepphard, and we know Canton’s alright because he snarks at Nixon (“That’s okay. you were my second choice for president”) and listens to the good guys.
And we get Moffat’s second properly amazing headf*ck monster, and the only reasons they never come back in anyone else’s stuff I suspect is because a) their story is contained and b) it’s not quite clear what else you can actually do with them.
Best of all, we get a regular cast who actually, unlike certain later versions, interact. The Chibnall casts never argue or splinter. These guys do. Amy tells the others to shut up; Rory speaks up for the Doctor, after he’s dead. They’re clearly dealing with stuff in different ways, we see different combinations react.
Or to put it another way, Moffat is actually quite a good writer.
And then, the cliffhanger is Amy Pond shooting a child, in the face.
I think, because this story goes wrong, this season has sort of fallen out of fashion. But minute by minute, blimey it’s a good watch.
Other thoughts.
I wonder if Moffat’s whole “the Doctor and the companions take time off from each other” thing is entirely an accident of the fact he needs the Doctor to be 200 years older at the end of this season than at the beginning for it to work.
Lots of great Rory in this episode. Poking the Doctor in the chest to check he’s real, in a direct reversal of Pandorica. Burning his body then breaking down. “Why is it always my turn?” “Cos you’re the newest.” (Another sign they’re trying to break America: Rory says “gasoline” for no in-universe reason.)
Oh! That’s at least partly why Canton is in this isn’t it? So that Rory can not be the idiot who asks the questions.
Lots of great dialogue, too. The Easter Island joke. “Jim the fish! How is he?”
River’s speech about how much she loves the Doctor is presumably there to head off the “she’s obviously secretly the baddie” theories. Although “Of course not...” after she tries to shoot her child self rather gives it away. As does the fact that this is a murder mystery with one f**king suspect. The “who are you?” conversation, which gets remixed in Good Man Goes To War, is good, though.
References: the idea other races would rip the universe apart for one cell of a Time Lord is Lawrence Miles’ insanely influential Eighth Doctor book, Alien Bodies. The idea the Silence have been with humanity forever without us knowing is later inverted in the Monks. Apparently the spaceship in The Lodger is Silence-related somehow? Never explained, mind.
Do the Silence stop people screaming or what? Because otherwise this whole schtick won’t work. Although doesn’t the woman they randomly kill for no obvious reason in the bathroom scream?
The next time bit a) makes great use of original audio from the Apollo programme, and b) feels a lot like a finale.