Deep Breath premiered on the ABC at 4.55am yesterday (AU time), followed by cinema screenings Australia wide, and capped off with a second 7.30pm screening on the ABC. Around 250,000 set their alarms for the morning session, and over 1,000,000 caught the evening session, whilst cinemas - if they were all like the one I attended - were packed!
Capaldi's premiere story was an absolutely delight to this old school Doctor Who fan. Whilst the Scottish accent tended to occasionally make me feel like I was watching his old school/band buddy, Craig Ferguson, the man who would be Doctor #12 really delivered both on zane and darkness. Indeed, I counted no less than 3 occasions when the show went to places previously rarely visited...
1) Killing a sad lonely dinosaur in a massive fireball...
2) Mugging a homeless man...
3) Leaving Clara in the hands of the enemy...
Yes, nothing was in fact that clear cut... He did ultimately give the homeless man his gold watch as payment for the jacket... And he didn't actually leave Clara, so much as just allow her to be bait for his "trap"... And the dinosaur was - just a dinosaur - but these elements all added to the tone of the story, very much going places Smith rarely could.
The Doctor is dead. Long live the Doctor.
