Actually the story with Neverwhere is even worse: it was lit for film and then filmed on video. I still like it, faults and all, though.

I just hope they give the film an actual ending.

I think that you could have put any schmuck in that green suit (which has a 90s yuck factor) and it wouldn’t have changed a thing in this issue. He just seemed to lack character.

You make some good points though, and I know it’s just the first issue. Hopefully they’ll build on it. Oh, and BRING BACK THE GOATEE!!!

Lots to enjoy (including, in hindsight and shorn of the chaos that surrounded it, some quite affecting stuff from Matt Smith facing death).

However there’s just too much stuff, too juxtaposed, and too breathless. The episode has very little clarity or emotional through-line because the noise and the signal are way too similar in volume.

The actual emotions that count – Rory and Amy’s, and River Song’s are so superficial and glib that they fail to hit home. And the big revelations about River are delivered in such a wilfully tricksy and timey-wimey way that they feel more like questions than answers.

I must say since Life on Mars, I’ve stopped expecting answers from TV. However I suspect that in this case we will get answers, but they may not be satisfactory.

At least for the Vader scene I understand that it fits the sequence on some level, even if it’s a needless addition. (Or maybe I’m just not that big a fan of Return of the Jedi so I care less.)

Or for a funnier analogy, the scene in Father Ted, where Father Ted tries to repair the competition prize car with the small dent in it and ending up with a wreck.