'Doctor Who' is the best present

My favorite thing about Christmas is hands down new "Doctor Who" specials every year. This year marks Matt Smith's second outing and promises to be even more fun than last year's "A Christmas Carol."

These videos from BBC America offer a look at what Whovians can expect from "Doctor Who: The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe" which premieres on BBC America Christmas Day at 9 p.m.

Check out the alien tree which looks like the creepiest thing since "Blink" where we met the Weeping Angels.

A 'Doctor Who' movie without The Doctor

Today "Harry Potter" director David Yates announced that he was working with BBC Worldwide on a "Doctor Who" movie.

At first glance that sounds like the most exciting news ever. Imagine seeing Matt Smith or possibly David Tennant having an action-packed romp through time and space in the TARDIS joined by Amy, Rose, Martha or Capt. Jack.

Unfortunately, none of that will come true because Yates wants to reboot the story and start over.

Wait, what? Start over?

Why would you start over when you have access to 50 years of mythology and character development, along with actors who already understand the complex nature of bring The Doctor and his companions to life?

Yates said that everything would need to be redone from the ground up, meaning none of the current television timeline would be used.

So just so we're clear, you're going to take one of the most popular television franchises of all time, transfer to the big screen, but not use any of the story that made it so popular in the first place?

Wow that's sound decision making.

While it's nice that BBC is involved, it's extremely disingenuous of them to make this movie (a clear money grab) and not treat it like love letter to the fans that have made "Doctor Who" its most valuable property.

Yates says the film is three to four years away, since he has so much work and planning to do.

In the meantime, "Doctor Who" faithful can enjoy Steven Moffat and Matt Smith's fantastic work and hope that someone comes to their senses before this abomination hits theaters.

'Doctor Who' goes out in style

The fantastic thing about Steven Moffat's "Doctor Who" is that you never quite know where you stand.

That element of the show was on full display in the series six finale "The Wedding of River Song."

The episode began with all manner of time anomalies like pterodactyls, hot air balloon cars, steam trains and Winston Churchill as Caesar. When The Doctor is brought forth as a prisoner, he explains that a women has done something with time. Of course he means River as he begins to tell his story leading up to the events of "The Impossible Astronaut."

This all happens by about five minutes in, and instantly it's the most confusing episode of "Doctor Who" ever. That's saying something on a show about an immortal time traveler whose blue police box spaceship is bigger on the inside.

Once it is revealed that it's indeed River in the astronaut suit, she decides not to kill The Doctor and everything goes "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" and it's back to Churchill Caesar.

With all these crazy time problems the Silence aren't far behind and naturally mysterious marks begin to show up on The Doctor's arm. Fortunately, Amy and Rory show up as kickass commandos and save the day.

In the new timeline Amy remembers The Doctor and Rory but doesn't recognize the awesome Capt. Williams as her parents.

Let's take a moment and discuss the complete badass that Rory has become. When he stayed behind to fight off the escaping Silence he officially won the title of best companion ever. Arthur Darvill is so spectacular at simultaneously portraying Rory the heroic "last centurion" while also never losing site of the dorkiness that makes him so lovable.

In the end The Doctor had to convince River to let him die so that time could be reset. Before she agreed to do it, he married her and shared his plan to have a Tesselecta robot take his place.

He later explained that he had gotten too big and famous and it was time for his to go back into the shadows. This comment signaled a return to The Doctor's roots as a secret operator who doesn't like extra attention.

The best of the rest:

• The Doctor wasn't ready to say goodbye and said he could help Rose Tyler with her homework or go to all Jack's stag parties. I bet Jack has the best stags.


• It wasn't until he heard about the death of the Brigadier that The Doctor accepted his fate. This was a nice tribute to the late Nicholas Courtney.


• Amy's line before she killed evil eye patch lady was so satisfying. "River didn't get it all from you sweetie."


• It's nice to see that River visits Amy and Rory and calls them mom and dad.


• Steven Moffat cleverly hid the answer to everything in plain sight in regards to The Doctor's death.

Though the finale brilliantly tied up all the loose ends, there's still that little matter of "the question." What happens if it gets answered? Knowing Moffat, he may leave that one hanging for awhile and start a new mythology in series seven.

'Doctor Who' goes back to the beginning

After three weeks of scary dolls, creepy hotels and heartbreaking goodbyes, it was nice to have a good old fashioned romp with old friend Craig (James Corden), who was now a father to the endlessly adorable Alfie.

The Doctor shows up to say goodbye to Craig, but is of course drawn into a mystery at a local department store. It turns out a long dormant Cybermen ship has been awakened and is capturing people to rebuild its fleet.

Craig and Alfie help The Doctor investigate and are put in harm's way, but Craig very quickly lets The Doctor know he still loves him because "you can't pick your mates."

The Doctor is reeling since his death is imminent and he's feeling guilty about all the people who have died or suffered around him. Turns out visiting Craig is what spurred him into spending his last day with Amy, Rory and River. He borrowed the blue envelopes from Craig.

What catapulted "Closing Time" into brilliant territory was the last five minutes.

Before he leaves, The Doctor takes a moment to talk to some children, which segues into River reading their accounts in a library. Suddenly the woman with the eye patch shows up with two Silence aliens and they kidnap River and force her into the astronaut suit and seemingly brainwash her to kill The Doctor. Thus, bringing the season full circle and back where it started.

Steven Moffat is so fantastic at unraveling a story at the perfect pace. He gives enough answers to keep fans happy, while adding more questions to build suspense. It's something Russell T. Davies could never get quite right.

The best of the rest:

• In a very quick scene we find out Amy is now a model. You know that drives Rory crazy.


• The Doctor speaking baby to Alfie was so sweet. Matt Smith is at his most adorable when he has scenes with children.


• As usual, The Doctor trying to be normal was hilarious.


• Turns out Craig gave The Doctor his Stetson.


• The store cashier who misunderstood companion and thought The Doctor and Craig were a couple was cute.

Next week's finale "The Wedding of River Song" should be a doozy, since hopefully we'll finally find out what the "one question" is and why these people want to kill The Doctor so badly. And of course how will The Doctor get out of dying since it's his show and well, he can't die.

'Doctor Who:' The ballad of Amy and Rory

After a scary episode like last week's "Night Terrors," most shows would take the week off and throw on a fun filler episode.

Not "Doctor Who."

"The Girl Who Waited" was the most emotionally charged episode of "Doctor Who" since "The Impossible Astronaut."

Amy, Rory and The Doctor are travelling to the second most popular planet among discerning space travelers (because everyone goes to the first) when Amy is separated and trapped in a quarantine facility that uses multiple time streams.

The Doctor tells Amy to wait, then sends Rory to rescue her. Unfortunately he gets the time streams mixed up and Rory discovers a Amy who waited 36 years for them to come back.

This Amy is jaded and bitter that they left her, and doesn't want to have anything to do with The Doctor.

However, when push comes to shove, she still loves Rory and wants to be with him.

This hour was all about Am and Rory's love affair and how it can span all of time and space. It is thoughts of Rory that help young Amy convince old Amy to help. And when the time streams must be merged, it's their first kiss (during the "Macarena") that's the most powerful thought in the universe.

Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan gave magnificent performances in this episode, solidifying themselves as two of The Doctor's best companions ever.

Rory has completely come into his own as a hero, saving the day and making the hard choice to leave old Amy behind to save young Amy. He even yelled at The Doctor for how old Amy turned out. Darvill has given Rory real depth, while holding onto the everyman charm that makes Rory so likable.

Meanwhile, Gillan was spot on in her portrayal of Amy's need to survive, while also letting viewers in on the heartbreak behind the bitterness. Amy becoming a kickass action hero is no surprise, but her hating The Doctor, that was shocking.

Gillan expertly had Amy go from scrappy companion to bitter cynic to a woman resigned to her fate. It was her best performance since she began on the show.

As good as the first half of season six was, "Doctor Who" has really been clicking on all cylinders in the second half. It's at a point now, where every week is better than the previous one, which is a real treat for fans.

'Doctor Who:' 32 minutes to live, someone get the top hat and tails

After waiting through the entire summer and a 24 hour marathon, "Doctor Who" fans can rejoice at the return of their favorite timelord.

When we last saw the swash-buckling timelord he was off to find Rory and Amy's kidnapped daughter Melody, who we now know grows up to be future companion River Song.

The hour began with Rory and Amy forgoing a telephone and calling The Doctor via crop circle. He hadn't found Melody yet, but wasn't worried because they now she becomes a kickass action hero.

The out of nowhere, we met the Ponds life long juvenile delinquent mate Mels. A little weird since she'd never been mentioned or shown before, but Steven Moffat has a reason for everything, and her name is Mels so she's probably important.

Her introduction included flashbacks of a young Amy and Rory, which were so endlessly adorable they could have lasted the whole episode. Unfortunately, Mels ended up shot by Hitler and regenerated into, wait for it, River Song. However, she's still Melody and doesn't know who River is. And oh yeah, she's programmed to kill The Doctor.

After some clever flirting between the two, she succeeded in giving The Doctor a poisonous kiss before escaping into 1930s Berlin. By the way, did I mention the time traveling justice robot operated by miniature humans. They're the Teselecta and it's important later.

With only 32 minutes to live The Doctor does what anyone would do, he tracks down his assassin and tries to save her, while dressed in top hat and tails with a sonic cane.

After finding Melody, Amy and Rory were taken by the Teselecta, which took on Amy's form. Karen Gillan was fantastic as robot Amy, as was Rory's reaction to being stuck inside a giant robot replica of his wife.

It turns out Melody is the greatest war criminal of all time, because she killed The Doctor in Utah in 2011. However, The Doctor knows who she becomes so he gets Amy to save her, then gets Melody to save her parents and him.

Sadly, Amy and Rory must leave their daughter in the best hospital in the universe since they have too much fore-knowledge of her life.

This episode was a fun time travelling adventure and also full of heart-breaking decisions. It was a great way to welcome the audience back into The Doctor's confusing, emotionally draining, action-packed, never boring world.

The extra pieces:

• The momentary glimpse of Rose, Martha and Donna showed that The Doctor still carries around guilt about screwing them up. Although I'm sure they don't see it that way.


• The Doctor downloaded the Teselecta's files, so now he knows about his death. Though he doesn't know Amy and Rory know.


• Despite being titled "Let's Kill Hitler," the Nazi leader only showed up for a few minutes, then was put in a cupboard.


• Rory is really becoming a badass; punching Hitler, riding motorcycles, staring down death.


• Moffat answered questions about the Silence, Melody/River, the regenerating little girl from the premiere, but...


• Moffat created all new questions about how Melody becomes River and what is the question that the Silence fears will be answered.

Just when you think you're starting to figure things out, Moffat creates all new problems that blow your theories out of the water.

Next week the trio helps a young boy overcome his fears in what looks like a cary episode. I'll have to watch with the lights on.

New 'Doctor Who' teaser video

BBC America has released a short prequel teaser video to the upcoming midseason premiere "Let's Kill Hitler."

In the clip Amy has left a message on The Doctor's answering machine asking for news about her kidnapped baby. The look on his face as he listens is heartbreaking.

"Doctor Who" returns to BBC America on Aug. 27 at 9 p.m.

'Doctor Who:' The best of Matt Smith

The best of The Doctor continues with "The best of Matt Smith."

Following David Tennant was a near impossible feat, however Smith managed to charm fans instantly with a young fresh take on The Doctor. In one and a half seasons he's already established himself as more than capable of carrying on tradition of "the mad man in a box."

It was extremely difficult to narrow his best moments down to five, so feel free to let me know what I missed in the comments.

1. "Hello, I'm The Doctor" in "The Eleventh Hour"
With a nod to history, Smith faces his first alien nemesis, saves the world in 20 minutes with no TARDIS or sonic screwdriver and made fans immediately fall in love with him.



2. Defeating the Silence in "Day of the Moon"
Only The Doctor could trick an enemy into inciting its own demise for decades and flirt at the same time. Smith brings a charm and sexiness to the character that wasn't there before.



3. Confronting all his enemies in "The Pandorica Opens"
No one competes with The Doctor in a crisis. This was never more true than when he is outnumbered and has nothing to lose. This moment is on par with battle speeches from "Henry V" and "Braveheart."



4. The Star Whale in "The Beast Below"
As much as The Doctor loves Humans, he sort of hates them at the same time. Here he has to decide between a beautiful, extinct creature and a ship full of people. In his second episode, Smith displayed the contempt the Eleventh Doctor sometimes has for Humans.



5. The Doctor and his TARDIS in "The Doctor's Wife"
As much as The Doctor loves his companions, at the end of the day, he's a boy and his box. "The Doctor's Wife," written by the awesome Neil Gaiman, finally gave him a chance to talk to the TARDIS, his best friend and lifetime companion.

'Doctor Who:' The best of David Tennant

We continue our best of The Doctor series with "The best of David Tennant."

Tennant is arguably, the most popular Doctor ever, so picking his five best moments was very difficult. Seriously, where do you start, all his episodes were so memorable. Feel free to let me know what moments you think I left out in the comments.

1. The Doctor saves Wilf in "The End of Time"

Tennant's death was going to be emotional no matter what, but having him rage against it instead of going out gracefully was inspired. It gave the actor one last chance to show the full exxtent of his talent. This is Tennant at his absolutely best.

Note: This clip features a score not in the originally aired version, but the rest of the scene is as it should be.



2. The Doctor says goodbye in "The End of Time"

Before his regeneration, the Tenth Doctor takes one last stroll down memoy lane and visits all his companions. Though he has no lines in this scene, Tennant tells viewers everything they need to know with just facial expressions. It offered a nice bit of closure for the characters.



3. "I'm a timelord" in "Voyage of the Damned"

The Doctor is at his best in a world ending crisis. He takes over and lets any aliens involved know he's in charge. In this scene from the Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned" the ship has just been hit by meteors and is threatening Earth. It one of Tennant's most swoon worthy moments.



4. Cassandra takes over in "New Earth"

One of Tennant's best qualities as The Doctor was his comedic skill. It's on full display here, as Cassandra transfers her consciousness into The Doctor and Tennant is brilliant.



5. The fury of the timelord in "The Family of Blood"

The Doctor doesn't like it, but sometimes he has to do bad things for good reasons. He carries the weight of that with him throughout the universe. He tries alternatives but sometimes the aliens don't give him a choice. That's what happened to the Family of Blood.



Honorable Mention: The Tenth and Fifth Doctors meet up.

It's no secret that Tennant is a serious "Doctor Who" fanboy, so he must have been over the moon to do a special with Fifth Doctor and (future father-in-law) Peter Davidson. Towards the end you get the sense that he's not really acting and means every word.

'Doctor Who:' The best of Christopher Eccleston

To celebrate the return of "Doctor Who" on Aug. 27, BBC America is showing a number of specials featuring the best of the Eleventh Doctor, the companions and the monsters.

Before that happens let's take a look back at the best moments of Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. His Doctor was still feeling the effects of the time war and was very angry. It's a sharp contrast to David Tennant and Matt Smith's more tempered, fun Ten and Eleven.



In the first series' fifth episode "Dalek," fans get their first glimpse at the true amount of pain The Doctor carries around from the time war. He meets up with the last Dalek in existence and all the emotions he's been suppressing come out. Eccleston was great at showing the angry warrior side of The Doctor.



The Doctor's regenerations are always extremely emotional, but this was the first one of the new show, so it had to explain to new fans exactly what it means when The Doctor regenerates. Eccleston beautifully portrays The Doctor's sadness at leaving Rose and all the adventures he thought they would have.



Once again Eccleston pulls out all the stops playing The Doctor's fury at having to face an enemy he sacrificed everything to defeat. What stands out here is his conviction as he defies an obviously superior force. It's a nice set up for what we'll see from his successor.



The Ninth Doctor doesn't display a lot of emotion, but when he has to send Rose away, the true depth of his feelings for her are shown.



The Doctor and Rose don't get in a lot of arguments, actually this may have been the only one, but it's a doozy. Like most longtime couples, all the pent up feelings come out and it is revealed what The Ninth Doctor really thinks about humans at this point in his life.

These scenes represent just a fraction of Eccleston's work in the first series. He is often overshadowed by his counterparts, but when you think about he is responsible for the success of the relaunch. He had to portray The Doctor in a way that would satisfy old school fans, while simultaneously bringing something new to the series. By the way, he did it brilliantly.

'Doctor Who' cliffhanger leaves fans in shock

When Steven Moffat announced that he would split the season in two parts and the cliffhanger would be good, he wasn't lying. The season six, mid-season finale was "Doctor Who" at its best. It answered questions while asking so many more. Warning, in the words of River Song, "spoilers."

"A Good Man Goes to War" starts with Rory back in his Last Centurion gear, going all Liam Neeson in "Taken" on a Cyberman fleet. From there it becomes clear that an Army is being raised against The Doctor. At the same time The Doctor is gathering his allies to help he and Rory find Amy.

This sequence is fun as it features a lot of fun callbacks from seasons five and six. The Doctor's army includes the space pirates, an army of Silurians, a disgraced Sontaran and WWII spitfires.

I love the idea that The Doctor's exploits have been told as war stories across the galaxy. It goes back to the season four finale where The Doctor realizes the true consequences of some of his adventures.

The Doctor has always been a man who doesn't look back, because he's afraid of seeing all the lives lost or ruined because of him.

When The Doctor's team finally confronts Amy's kidnappers and takes down the Army without spilling a single drop of blood, it's one of his greatest moments.

This episode also provides some nice scenes for Rory. He's always a bit of an outsider to Amy and The Doctor, but here he takes center stage and becomes a hero again.

I loved that he wore his Roman gear the whole time and didn't hesitate to fight to the death to protect his wife and child. Rory is an example of what it really means to travel with The Doctor. Though it's dangerous and life threatening, the experience always brings out the best in his companions.

I know other fans may feel differently, but I like Rory better than Amy and think he and The Doctor have a stronger rapport. I kind of enjoyed the TARDIS more when Amy was kidnapped.


Unfortunately for everyone this was a very clever trap set by the people who kidnapped Amy. It turns they wanted Amy and Rory's baby Melody, who has Timelord DNA. It seems Amy and Rory's wedding night was a little more special than anyone thought and the time vortex got involved.

After a vicious battle with the headless monks, it was revealed that Melody was yet another flesh clone, and the real Melody was still missing. This was a heartbreaking moment, as River's prediction that "The Doctor would fall lower than ever before" came true.

However, this was also the moment die hard fans had been waiting for, because River Song's identity was finally revealed. River is another word for Pond and she is really Amy and Rory's daughter all grown up. This sheds a hilarious new light on River and The Doctor's relationship. Imagine the scene where The Doctor has to ask Rory if he can take out his daughter.

Knowing this, everyone should go back and watch the scene between River and Rory where he asks for her help. Since River is a time traveler, she meets people in the wrong order. In that scene she looked at Rory as if she hadn't seen him in a long time and was going to cry.

River has become one of my favorite characters of Moffat's "Doctor Who" and now we know that she gets her badass superhero fighting skills from her parents. That was a really nice reveal.

Wow, that episode was full of story advancement and character development and yet it was still full of "Doctor Who" treasures. I don't know how I'm going to make it to late summer, to see how this all plays out.

Frightening 'Doctor Who' teaser

Though "Doctor Who" has one more episode to air in the U.S. before its mid-season summer finale, it has already gone on hiatus in the U.K.

The BBC has just released a frightening new teaser trailer for the second half of the season and my jaw is still on the floor.

Keep in mind this is slightly spoilery.

'Doctor Who' gets the Gaiman treatment

"The Doctor's Wife" gave fans exactly what to expect from a Neil Gaiman episode, a crazy head spinning, steampunk fantasy. But somehow it still worked as an episode of "Doctor Who."

It all began with the Doctor receiving a knock on the TARDIS door, followed by a glowing box he referred to as mail. This sent the intrepid team outside the universe to a junkyard, sentient asteroid known as the Host. The production design on this set was a spectacular steampunk dream.

Of course, it turned out this was just a ploy to lure a timelord to the asteroid, kill him and strip him for parts. When the Doctor figures this out, his wrath is undercut by the sadness of his lost hope. Giving the Doctor hope and then taking it away is a dangerous situation.

The comedy of this episode came when the conscious of the TARDIS was ripped out of the blue police box and placed into Idris, one of the asteroid's inhabitants. Everyone knows how much the Doctor loves his TARDIS, so seeing her personified by actress Suranne Jones, was like watching an old married couple rehashing all their previous fights.

The subplot of this episode revolved around Rory and Amy being locked in the TARDIS with the Host and him messing with their heads. In a particularly haunting moment Amy was confronted by an aged Rory, who seemingly had to wait another 2000 years. She then returned to find him dead below hateful messages carved out for Amy. This turned out to be another trick, thankfully and ultimately the team reclaimed the TARDIS.

While this episode felt slightly off kilter from Gaiman's stylistic choices, it still offered fans some long awaited revelations and dropped a few tidbits about the ongoing story.

The best of the rest:

• Not only did the Doctor steal the TARDIS, she chose the Doctor


• Rory and Amy have bunk beds


• The TARDIS thinks Rory's the pretty one


• The TARDIS doors open outward, thus the Doctor's been opening them wrong all these years

Steven Moffat keeps me up at night

Nobody creates scarier monsters than Steven Moffat and tonight's "Doctor Who" was no exception. His newest creatures are a cross between the Ood and the Gentlemen from "Buffy." However, the most unsettling thing about them is that as soon as you turn away from them, you forget them.

"Day of the Moon" was the second part of the two part season finale, which of course began with The Doctor's death. This week's episode began with The Doctor's companions, Amy, Rory and River being chased down by FBI agent Canton Everett Delaware III, an ally in the first episode.

The Doctor is held in an inescapable prison as his closest friends are shot down, but of course we discover it was all part of The Doctor's plan. Moffat is brilliant at telling unpredictable stories and this one had plenty of creepy twists and turns.

A particularly creepy scene involved Amy and Canton looking for clues at an abandoned children's hospital. With the Silence lurking around every corner and the weirdest caretaker ever, it was reminiscent of a classic thriller. I also want to thank Moffat for describing the Silence in such a disturbing manner that I will be up all night. But, it was worth it.

The Doctor figures out how to beat his foes relatively easy, it's the rest of the story that provided the scream out loud moments.

First of all, does the Silence's defeat negate The Doctor's death? I think it does since the mysterious spaceman was stopped, but the little girl is still out there. About that little girl, is she a timelord, because she totally regenerated? And is Amy her mother? So many questions, so little time.

I can't decide if I want to know everything or nothing.

I also want to take a moment and talk about how great River Song is. That scene where she and The Doctor flirt while confronting The Silence and then she shoots them all was ridiculously awesome.

I reiterate, I want to be River Song when I grow up.

As badass as she was against the Silence, she was equally heartbreaking when she realized that The Doctor was on the path to not knowing her and that day she's regretting is coming closer.

River is too good a character to waste, she needs her own show, like Captain Jack and Sarah Jane.

Next week, it's pirates and an alien mermaid.

'Doctor Who' premiere is an emotional roller coaster

The day the all "Doctor Who" fans have been waiting for, finally came when the longest running sci-fi show in history began season six or 47, depending on who you ask.

The show opened with Rory and Amy living an ideal family life, while keeping tabs on The Doctor's increasingly outrageous historical exploits. As a matter of fact, the first scene featured a naked Doctor hiding under a woman's giant Elizabethan skirt.

Fast forard to The Doctor, Amy, Rory and River Song meeting up in the middle of nowhere, enjoying a nice reunion and a fun picnic. It was revealed that The Doctor and River had been on more of their future/past adventures and that he was 1103, 200 years older than when we last saw him.

Knowing how Steven Moffat likes to immediately launch into the story, this couldn't last long. In the most jaw-dropping opening ever, The Doctor was killed.

That's right, The Doctor is dead.

Of course, since the show is called "Doctor Who" and it revolves around time travel, a younger version of The Doctor popped up a short time later.

This all led to a hilarious trip to the White House circa 1969 and the team being joined by the always awesome Mark Sheppard as an ex-FBI agent working for President Nixon.

New enemies The Silence were introduced and I haven't been this creeped out since meeting the Weeping Angels. They're like a bigger, scarier version of Buffy's gentlemen, but as soon as anyone turns away from them they forget they saw them.

So, the question for next week is how do you fight an enemy you can't remember?

This episode also advanced the mysterious relationship between The Doctor and River. There was a touching scene where River describes to Rory how she and The Doctor are moving in opposite timelines and her worst day is coming when The Doctor will have no idea who she is.

It was a beautifully emotional scene as she painted exactly what happened in "The Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead," which in the timeline hasn't happened for her yet. River is a strong character who doesn't get vulnerable very often, so it was nice to see her reveal a bit of herself. Alex Kinston hit every note perfectly and is a spectacular heroine.

Another highlight was how mature Rory has become, his take charge attitude in the wake of The Doctor's death was surprising and appreciated. At the same time, the comically normal Rory was still ther when he questioned why River would unlock a creppy door and decided she and The Doctor were perfect for each other.

Sheppard is never dull and he jumped right in like a series vet, fitting in with the right amount of wonder, cyncism and acceptance. Though episode two hasn't yet aired, they have to figure out a way to bring him back because his rapport with The Doctor was great.

Overall, this was a fantastic start to the season, it was a nice blend of heart-breakingly sad and comic madness. Emotionally exhaausting roller coasters seems to be Steven Moffat's calling card.