DVD Reviews

Doctor Who: Series Six, Part One – Blu-ray Review

By Jeff Swindoll Jul 20, 2011, 15:41 GMT

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan make their triumphant return as the Doctor and his companion in an all-new series of "Doctor Who"! In Part 1, the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves in Sixties America, battling the invasion the world forgot, then journey on the high seas of 1696 aboard a pirate ship, to solve the mystery of the Siren. In a bubble universe at the very edge of reality, ...more

The good Doctor soldiers on, but this time he finds himself enmeshed in a mystery involving the origins of River Song and possibly his own demise – not that anyone is spoiling it for him. 

He also steps foot into a foreign land known as the United States as well as rubbing elbows with Richard Nixon, menacing astronauts, living flesh, and other menaces and mysteries.

Potential spoilers for previous seasons, so beware: The honeymooning companions Rory (Arthur Darvill) and Amy (Karen Gillian) have not heard from the Doctor (Matt Smith) for about two months.  However, all that changes with the arrival of a TARDIS blue invitation in the post. 

The imprisoned Prof. River Song (Alex Kingston) also gets the same.  All invitations tell to them to appear in one location on a certain date.  All parties dutifully comply and meet up with the Doctor.  They journey to a lake where they picnic, but then an astronaut appears and… something happens (talk about a spoiler if I mentioned THAT).

The shaken companions then meet up in a diner and bump into the other person that also received an invitation… the Doctor and they’ve witnessed a secret that they keep from him.  Spoilers, you know. 

The group then sets off to discover where that mysterious astronaut came from and what that has to do with agent Canton Delaware (Mark Sheppard) and President Richard M. Nixon (Stuart Milligan). 

Show runner Steven Moffat promised a game-changing twist, but I’m assuming that he wasn’t talking about that spoilerish thing that I’ve not mentioned from the two-parter that opens series six.  In fact, he was referring to events that close this series (aka season for we Yanks) and the origins of River Song which were teased to be reveled this time round.  He also introduces a new villain dubbed the Silence, who appear to wear suits leftover from Men in Black or from “Gentlemen” in that one episode of Buffy. 

However, they seemingly are dealt with in the second part of the series opener.  We then go on to a good episode about a pirate ship (captained by Hugh Bonneville).  I enjoyed it, but other fans have been less kind.  Then we get to, in my opinion, the sparkling jewel of this series – the Doctor’s Wife and no it is not about River Song.  The episode written by Neil Gaiman is fantastic and is my personal favorite. 

If I had only one niggle, it would be that when the characters have to go back to an old TARDIS control room that instead of going back to the Tennant era they had gone back to one from the original series – I would’ve joyfully melted down into a pool of geek protoplasm if that had happened. 

The two-parter “The Rebel Flesh” and the “Almost People” give Moffat perhaps too easy an out for the spoiler of the first episode, but the finale “A Good Man goes to War” hits all the right notes.  The horror might be is that we now have to wait through the summer to find out how it all pans out since the second part of series six airs in the fall. 

Doctor Who is presented in a 1080i high definition transfer (1.78:1).  Where the set may disappoint is that special features only consist of a pair of “Monster Files” (24 minutes total) that highlight the baddies of this series.  That’s all.  I guess part two will lay on a better selection, but you’ll have to wait for that eventual release. 

The new Doctor Who series continues to build on the foundation of the original series.  Whereas Doctor Who of old was short on time and money, the BBC now invests both in its (now) flagship series. 

Matt Smith only grows more delightful in the role and the companions solidify themselves into the current storyline (now that “is it now the Amy Pond show?” opener makes better sense).  Excellent sixth series but I’m off to watch the Doctor’s Wife again.  Cheers.

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