By T. Mack

I am a staunch Whovian. You guys know this about me. I (usually) love me some Doctor Who. So naturally, I tuned in last night for the season 9 premiere on BBC America. Ummm…

That 60 minutes of Doctor Who was a well-made, well-acted and well-executed hour of television. Too bad it was basically a crap-tastic hour of Doctor Who. While the episode was put together well enough and included some nice bits of intrigue, the show failed to feel in any way like Doctor Who. There was none of the fun for which the show is known and loved. There was no humor, no running, no camaraderie and no fight left in the character of the Doctor. Instead, there was a lot of the visual and auditory reminders to the previous glory of the show without actually returning to it. The Doctor was somber and whiny, Clara was irritating and unhelpful and Missy–who killed 2 people without remorse–was the most interesting and entertaining part of the whole thing. That should NOT be the case. The less villainous of two villains should not be the person keeping the whole show on track and inserting the only whimsy in the entire episode!

We’ll see what happens in the coming season. Clara is on her way out and we may see Steven Moffat take his exit if ratings fail to rise again. Hopefully the show can find its footing and get back on track to being great after the debacle of last season and the dismal beginning to the new season last night.

Rating: 2.5 SHIELDS