C2E2: First Two Doctor Who Episodes of Series 5

Friday night and yesterday, I attended the Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo (or C2E2). My postings for this event will be short, closer to the expected writing style of the Internet.

On Friday, I only saw the first two unaired in America episodes of the new Doctor Who season on two "big screens" (full screens similar to what public schools used to show old films for educational films before VCRs came around, except these big screens were digital flat screens) and not so good sound.

The "big screens" didn't disappoint me as much as the bad sound. The wife and I actually want to see the second episode again. The sound mastering of the episodes and the sound system being used were obviously not compatible. We missed a fair amount of the dialogue. Just from seeing the "re-cap" show that BBC America did for the show as an introduction to the Doctor, we caught a lot of dialogue we missed in the new episodes.

Love the two episodes on their own merits, even though I had a bitter sweet feeling that the second one went by way too fast.

The new Doctor (played by Matt Smith) and his new companion, Amy Pond (Karen Gilan) both act satisfactory on their own, but when they come together, their chemistry collides to create a hyperactive spastic joyride that hits an occasional bump of appropriate seriousness (that we expect from the show).

On an odd note, though, I would’ve loved to see Karen Gilan as the first female Doctor. Amy (and when I’ve seen Gilan and Smith in interviews) seems to have the natural energy and intelligence of our personable Doctor without him coaxing it out of her. Maybe he has met his human match. . .Donna Noble doesn’t count, since she became Doctor Donna in the end.

I almost regret seeing the second episode, which won’t be shown in the United States until next week. Now I have to wait two weeks for the next one! And of all things, it includes Daleks making an alliance with Winston Churchill? Seriously? That’s an unexpected twist, completely opposite of what I would have expected!


Links of note: Chicago Comics & Entertainment Expo (or C2E2), Doctor Who, Doctor, Matt Smith, Amy Pond (Karen Gilan),Donna Noble, BBC America