Doctor Who Series Eleven First Thoughts

The episode was solid (the lack of opening and closing credits did disconcert a lot of people).

Whitaker doesn't have me as quickly as Capaldi does, but she's developing a good grasp of the role. It's hard to establish her final take as the Doctor spent much of the episode in the throes of post-regeneration confusion (on occasion even forgetting English words, although that may be partly because she didn't have the TARDIS to translate).

And no, we haven't seen the new TARDIS yet. This episode was about the Companions and primarily about Ryan Sinclair.

The episode was explicitly narrated by Ryan (I'm hoping we'll get episodes narrated by Graham and Yasmin too), and somewhat centered on him. Whether this implies that Ryan is the primary Companion or not, I'm not sure.

If he is, then I have no complaints.

See, Ryan Sinclair is the first full time Companion with a disability. "He has dyspraxia."

To my current knowledge, this also makes Ryan Sinclair the first major character in any TV show to struggle with dyspraxia.

And they didn't "code" the character or let it go for episodes while we figured it out. They stated it, up front, in dialog.

My favorite lines in the episode:

"You're...a woman?"

"I am? Does it suit me?"

And, of course, "Sheffield steel." Which you have to be British to fully understand. (Basically, Americans, Sheffield is British Pittsburgh).

Oh, and the Doctor's new sonic screwdriver case is made of spoons. Just handing that out there to people who might be amused by it.

(I was quite fond of "I'll have a plan by the time I get to the top" too).

I think the writers and actors still need to settle in some before this gets really good, but it's a refreshing change in tone from Moffat's late seasons and I have absolutely no complaints.