It's Doc vs. Hitler in new Doctor Who

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Publication: Postmedia News
Date: 2011-08-27
Author: Alex Strachan
Page:
Language: English

The good Doctor crash-lands in Berlin in the 1930s in tonight's fresh outing of Doctor Who, the first new episode since early June.

The Doctor (Matt Smith, irrepressible as always) comes face-to-face, as it were, with one Adolf Hitler, an indifferent painter and Chancellor of Germany from 1933 until his chancellorship was rudely interrupted in 1945.

The episode, written by Steven Moffat and filmed this past spring in Cardiff, Swansea and Cyfarthfa Castle, Wales, is called Let's Kill Hitler, so you know the Doctor and his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan, enchanting to a fault) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) are unlikely to be fans.

The idea may sound farfetched — real-world physicists recently posited that time travel is scientifically impossible — but the episode contains an important moral, as have many of Doctor Who's most memorable episodes: Time travel carries with it certain responsibilities, and the Doctor is anxious to show just what can go wrong if the casual time traveller doesn't think things through.

Tonight's episode was screened to reporters earlier this month, but if you're expecting spoilers, you won't find any here. Instead, consider this appropriately oblique teaser from BBC's official press office: "Old friendships will be tested to their limits as the Doctor suffers the ultimate betrayal and learns a harsh lesson in the cruellest warfare of all."

The opening scene — not a spoiler so much as a tease — is a visual eye-popper, as Amy and Rory careen through a wheat field in a battered old convertible, just the tops of their heads visible as they come to a screeching halt in front of the Doctor and his travelling space machine, the Tardis. The view cuts to an overhead shot: It's a crop circle — a very special crop circle, and a cute visual joke, as viewers find out.

Amy and Rory are on a mission to track down their infant daughter, Melody, who's missing, and they think the Doctor can help.

There are few dramas on TV with the ability to be goofy and serious at the same time, but Doctor Who manages to pull it off with an almost breathtaking ease. There's a reason Doctor Who has lasted as long as it has, and a reason why it has been nominated for BAFTA awards over more high-minded, literate dramas. It's really quite special. And Let's Kill Hitler sets a new bar in what's shaping up to be one of the show's most special seasons. (Space)

It's Doc vs. Hitler in new Doctor Who

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