HADS (HOSTILE ACTION DISPLACEMENT SYSTEM) WARNING: While great care has been taken to avoid huge plot points and major spoilers there are still story details that are discussed below. If you have not seen this event yet and wish to remain spoiler-free, then this article may not be your cup of tea. You have been warned, proceed at your own risk, tip your waitress, free TARDIS valet parking.
TARDIS SCANNER – What Happened?
Rory and Amy have been living a happily married life on present day Earth for two months while the Doctor has been off being, as Amy says, deliberately silly in various moments in history in order to attract their attention. They receive a card in a TARDIS blue envelope containing a summons to a particular place at a specific date. The couple arrive in Utah to find the Doctor…and River Song, who was similarly summoned. The Doctor explains that he’s called them together for a specific purpose: a picnic. An old man interrupts the quartet and then…well, then something extraordinary happens that creates a certain urgency in the rest of the episode. Eventually, the quartet find themselves in the Oval Office of the White House in 1969 and embroiled in a quest to find a little girl who has been calling President Nixon, asking him for help.
Then, of course, there are these monsters that show up, just barely seen, that are lurking…I’m sorry, what was I talking about? Oh yes, there’s a little girl being menaced by a man in a spacesuit. There is a secret revealed, another secret that some of our main characters choose to keep, an impending death for a good man, two diaries, a gap of 195 years and the curious case of an ex-FBI agent that turns out to have a more pivotal role to play than initially thought. What about the monsters, you say? I don’t remember any monsters, and the rest of the episode really needs to be seen without me saying anymore.
PERCEPTION FILTER – Analysis
This is an excellent start to the new season. I don’t think there has ever been this big of an event to open a season of Doctor Who in a long while. I don’t see any way of positively resolving it without blatantly changing history, which we are repeatedly told can’t happen. Although, if that is true, why were the four letters sent to the persons they were sent to? Interestingly, this one event almost makes it so that the Doctor’s companions are now the central characters, rather than the Doctor himself.
Speaking of the companions, all three of them get to shine this episode. Rory, in particular, shows a huge range, but most importantly he has really come into his own with adventuring through time and space. Perhaps the most poignant moment is a conversation between River and Rory wherein the former confesses a fear of her future that we have already seen come to pass. One also wonders after the events of this episode why River would choose to leave the Doctor’s side. Despite the ending leading directly into next week’s episode, I don’t see everything necessarily being completely resolved and, if not, it’s a hell of thing to propel us through the subsequent eleven episodes.
Matt Smith is moving ever further towards the top of my list of favorite Doctors. He is amazing at projecting the wisdom of a centuries old Time Lord who has been knocking about time and space. It is easy to forget the age of the actor when all you can see is the character in his every performance. And then he breaks into a moment of divine silliness that reminds me why I love this show so much. He still reminds me the most of Patrick Troughton, but it would be a dishonor to pigeonhole his performance into that of any previous Doctor. Smith has resolutely made the role his own and I hope he will be on the show for several more years, if not 195.
“The Impossible Astronaut” is a decidedly darker episode than we’ve seen in a long time and it is quite possibly the creepiest ever. Moffat has a knack for inventing very unsettling baddies and the Silence make the Weeping Angels look not so bad now. I have some high hopes for what the ultimate purpose is revealed for these monsters, but I’m sure it will be much cooler than what I imagine. If only I had a TARDIS so that I could skip the interminable wait for next Saturday!
TARDIS INDEX FILE – Things of Significance
First and foremost, the episode starts with this:
At about seven and a half minutes into the episode, something of huge significance happens, followed a few seconds later by something even more profound.
The statues on Easter Island get an offhanded explanation.
River confesses an intuitive certainty about her future that will make you want to rewatch “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead” again.
CHAMELEON CIRCUIT – Unanswered Questions
Can time really be changed and how significantly?
Who is River Song?
If the Doctor isn’t completely sure on how to operate the TARDIS, how did he teach River to run the ship with such intricate detail?
Is the Doctor not aware of the risk to his timeline by what he does at the beginning of the episode?
What happened during the 195 year gap?
What does Amy’s revelation at the end mean for her and Rory’s longevity in the TARDIS?
Is the person in the space suit at the end of the episode the same person who was in it at the beginning?
How does Canton Delaware III know what to bring with him to Utah?
How long has the Silence been in the background and what are…I’m sorry, what was I saying again?
Shouldn’t there be a TARDIS unaccounted for?
Will we ever see Jim the fish?
TRANSLATION CIRCUIT – Answered Questions
The time that the tenth Doctor spent traveling between parting ways with Donna and regenerating was not more than a year in his personal timeline.
The fez was perhaps not just of passing interest to the Doctor.
The Doctor once again has/will keep a diary.
TIME-SPACE VISUALIZER
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The Doctor is locked in the perfect prison. Amy, Rory and River Song are being hunted down across America by the FBI. With the help of new friend and FBI-insider, Canton Everett Delaware the Third, our heroes are reunited to share their discoveries, if not their memories. For the world is occupied by an alien force who control humanity through post-hypnotic suggestion and no one can be trusted. Aided by President Nixon and Neil Armstrong’s foot, the Doctor must mount a revolution to drive out the enemy and rescue the missing little girl. No-one knows why they took her. Or why they have kidnapped Amy Pond… “Day of the Moon” Airs Saturday, April 30 at 6:00 PM BST on BBC One and 9:00 PM EDT/PDT on BBC America.