Eleventh Hour

Rate an episode game time! Score starts at zero, I award points for things I like, take away points for things I dislike. And yes, it is generally pointless and alienating-ly opinionated... Anyways, allons-y?

-1 for a hook that was cheesy, contrived, and altogether too reliant on CGI
+1 for the new green-red-blue color pallet as opposed to the old orangey-blue one
+1 for the stoic mini-Amelia who is a brilliant actress and could have been a companion in her own right.
-1 for the music which is always distracting on this show. Why did they keep Murray Gold on?
-1 for the distracting continuity blips in the food sequence
+1 for some interesting camera angle and cut choices in the food sequence
-1 for fish fingers and custard. Oh my god I can't think about it eewwwewww. Props to Matt Smith if they weren't substituted though...
-1 "We've got some cowboys in here" Tennent's line!
+1 for Smith's physicality, I love his swerv-iness and controlledly maniac gesticulations
-1 for god-awful CGI, but I love the bad effects really, it's what makes it Doctor Who
-1 "Geronimo!" Please please don't say that ever again. Please?
+1 "Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?! Again..."
-1 for the underwhelming monster threat.
-1 for Amy's ever present fish eyes.
+1 for the new, very singable background music: Duhn da! Da da da da da!
+1 The raggedy Doctor idea, could make way for some interesting character development later down the line.
+1 "I'm the Doctor! I'm worse than everybody's aunt!"
-1 for the throwaway character/fix that was Jeff and his laptop.
-1 for the duckpond exchange. Was that just to make him out as quirky? Confused me.
+1 for the Doctor's first plan being so neatly foiled. Unexpected and pleasantly different.
+1 "Who da man?"...*silence*
+1 "Hello, I'm the Doctor. Basically...run."
+1 "I am definitely a mad man with a box."

So that comes to a score of 1. Not too bad.

I think I've decided what I like so much about Smith's Doctor. He knows himself very well and innocently thinks he knows the world just as well, so he is simultaneously beyond mature and yet also at times only a child. He can whimsy with the best of them, never seeming to take things too seriously (like ten did) so when things do affect him it rings truer. As he says, he's a madman, but a madman who knows precisely what he's doing, which makes him all the more powerful.