The Impossible Astronaut

The Impossible Astronaut aired in America on April 23rd, 2011. CAUTION::: SPOILERS 

I waited so impatiently for this episode to come on. For any doctor who fan, the wait from the Christmas episode to the new season feels like an eternity. It feels like that night will never ever arrive, and then for me, when it did arrive, it happened to land on my best friend’s 30th birthday party. Being the awesome friend that I am, I postponed my chance to see the season premiere of Doctor Who. 

I read some tough reviews for this show, and part of me is wondering if people are just looking for problems. And I have to tell you, if you are looking too hard, you’ll definitely find something, but that takes all the enjoyment out of life. I hate being too negative. I never go looking for what’s wrong, I only tell it when it’s so in your face that you can’t see past it. I think it’s the right thing to do, especially with such an iconic show as doctor who. They have come a long way since the long drawn-out episodes of William Hartnell, and the shakey sets of Tom Baker, or of course the Cybermen that had shaving cream coming out of their chest when they died.

No, I am not as cynical as you will find most of the unhappy critics out there.

I was very happy with the Impossible Astronaut. When they open we see Amy and Rory as a happy Surburban couple. It’s kind of cute, but then I realized…why are they at home? The doctor never dropped them off at the end of the Christmas episode this year. It’s a little odd, and I wish that would be explained, rather than bypassed. We’ll see. The doctor wearing the Stetson is classic…maybe not as classic as him wearing a fez, but it will have to do. 

THEN BOOM. He dies. CRAZY. I mean, we all knew it wasn’t going to last. We knew Matt Smith didn’t just film five minutes of series 6 and then pop off, but that was a little unexpected!

It is at this point that I start to love Rory. He always kind of annoyed me last season. He was cute and funny in parts, but he still sometimes got on my nerves. This episode, he was great. He was sure of himself, and I loved that. He had more faith in the doctor which was great. When the doctor died, he was the one who insisted on getting rid of the body in the “right” way. When they went to the diner, it was Rory and River who insisted they had to follow the rest of the doctor’s plan, because that’s what they were set up to do. He showed strength, and I loved it. 

Of course then an earlier version of the doctor comes back and…it was a little expected, but cool. Rory is then the one to finally manage to calm Amy down in the TARDIS and deal with the situation.

Then they end up in the Oval Office. How cool! Could you imagine. Just…popping up in the middle of a meeting, in the middle of the Oval Office floor. I loved Canton Everett Delaware III. He was a bit funny. He played the part perfectly. No matter how many people I see go into that TARDIS for the first time, I love it every time. It’s magical.

Then The Silence! Although their outsides almost seem a little cheesy, which I love by the way, because it’s classic doctor who, it’s the idea behind it! They are unlike any other enemy. If YOU were a bad guy, what would be one of your ultimate defense? No one remembers you when they don’t see you anymore! Awesome! And the cast did a GREAT job with that. They were SCREAMING one second, turned around and were calm, tranquil and said…oh…it’s all clear. Ah! BRILLIANT!

So finally River opens up a little bit more about herself. The Doctor definitely meets her as a child, and everytime she sees him she’s getting younger, I guess, and he’s getting older, but they are going in opposite directions. I went back and watched Silence of the Library again, when the doctor first meets her. 

I think I have come to this conclusion about River Song:

River Song is……….River Song. I used to try to come up with who she could be from the Classic series. I don’t think any of it fits anymore. I think she is just River. 

She either is A. Married to the Doctor at some point, B. Just in Love with the Doctor, C. Related to the Doctor in some way, D. or he’s just someone she’s dreamed of since childhood, since she met him then. And he was kind of like her “imaginary friend” or….

One theory I got after watching this episode….maybe she’s Amy and Rory’s future daughter? Interesting thought. Except neither of them have the last name Song. 

Then there’s the idea I’ve heard two people say, that she is in fact, Amy Pond. I don’t know how that’s possible ,and I don’t think it’s the truth, however I am not willing to completely negate that one yet. She could very well be Amy Pond. Stephen Moffatt could find a way to make that work, I’m sure.

So Amy’s pregnant. I think that’s either A…Not true, but something made her say that instead of what she really needed to tell him, because that was just a really weird place in the story to HAVE to tell him she’s pregnant or B….some weird plot line. Is Karen leaving the show before the end of this season? Otherwise I just don’t know how they are going to make that work…weird.

Then the ending was killer. How many people could point a gun at a poor crying little child, because you believe that they will someday kill your friend. I don’t know if I could do it. I just don’t know. That would take something out of you. Although we all know whatever she shot probably wasn’t really a kid, but still, that would have been insane.

I can’t wait till Saturday. It’s going to be AWESOME. ”  Day of the Moon! NEXT!

Love Always, 

Lily Jaymes