The seven episodes that comprise Series Six, Part One set the bar high. Steven Moffat’s sophomore effort as showrunner finds him taking a surprisingly bold approach to storylines. The opening two parter–“The Impossible Astronaut” and “Day of the Moon”—represents some of the best television sci-fi in recent memory. Without revealing any specific details, the opener has everything a Doctor Who fan has come to expect: children in space suits, alien parasites, time travel, Richard Nixon and more. It’s through these two episodes that the source of the “silence” that was alluded to over the course of Series Five, and the meaning of the warning “silence will fall,” are revealed.
While threads of “Astronaut” and “Moon” can be found throughout, “The Curse of the Black Spot” works as a standalone episode. Set aboard a pirate ship, a Siren-like creature (Lily Cole) is determined to devour every sick or injured man, woman or child aboard. The crew has been decimated. Among those left are the ship’s captain (Hugh Bonneville) and his young son (Oscar Lloyd), and it’s up to the Doctor and his companions to figure out just what this creature is, before she devours everyone. This would be the lightweight episode of this set. While it’s not a bad one, it’s just fairly whimsical when compared to those that surround it. Episode four, “The Doctor’s Wife,” is an excellent TARDIS-centric episode. Having followed a a distress signal through a rift in time and space, the Doctor expects to find another living Time Lord. It’s never that easy. What he does find, ends up putting Amy and her husband Rory, danger. The entity tries to escape into the known universe, and unintentionally gives the Doctor an opportunity to learn a lot about the TARDIS.
We get another two parter with “The Rebel Flesh” and “The Almost People,” which is rather twisted, but boasts plenty of action. The Doctor, Amy and Rory come across an island factory in which the workers use disposable clones of themselves—in a never-ending supply—to harvest acid for the mainland. Inevitably, a solar tsunami strikes the factory and chaos reigns. The clones gain awareness and object to everything their human controllers have been forcing them to endure. In truth, “Rebel Flesh” and “Almost People” probably could have been truncated into one episode. However, doing that would have meant excising a lot of well crafted scenes featuring the Doctor and his companions. If nothing else, “Almost People” makes it clear that this two parter is really about the Doctor and his companions, not the clones.
The last episode in Part One, “A Good Man Goes to War,” ends this set on a high note. Amy and Rory are no longer simple companions for the Doctor; they’ve become main cogs in the narrative. The Doctor and Rory have discovered that Amy has been abducted and an avatar has taken her place. Moffat and his writers have created the perfect cliffhanger; the next episode, “Let’s Kill Hitler,” due this September, and it can’t come quickly enough.
Presented in widescreen, this DVD looks as good as standard definition material can. Colors are accurate, and there are no digital anomalies. The soundtrack, presented in 5.1 Surround Sound, provides clear dialogue and solid use of effects.
The special features are limited to a pair of “Monster Files” featurettes (24 minutes) that provide an overview of some of the aliens, monsters and creatures that appear in Series Six.
