These are my top operatives: The Legs, the Nose and Mrs. Robinson
The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon are difficult stories to judge due to their mystery nature. If you don't know the twist that is revealed in A Good Man Goes to War and The Wedding of River Song, you watch it with deep interest in trying to figure out what is going on and how the Doctor will get out of things. Once you do know the twist, you settle back and watch it a completely different light and it makes it harder to judge it on it's own merits and not as a larger body of work.
Plot Summary
The Doctor summons a group of people to the American southwest. These include Amy and Rory, River and an American named Canton Everett Delaware III. While picnicking with Amy, Rory and River, an Apollo astronaut rises out of the lake. The Doctor approaches it, warning the others to stay away no matter what. The astronaut shoots the Doctor, starting his regeneration and then shoots him again in the middle of it, killing him. The astronaut goes back into the water, River shooting at it as it retreats. Canton Delaware arrives and the four of them burn the Doctor's body. Canton then leaves but says that they will see him again.
River, Amy and Rory go back to the diner they ate at and find that the Doctor had invited his younger self as well. They opt not to tell him about his death and instead use the clues the Doctor had mentioned before he was killed to figure out what is going on and if there might be any chance to stop it. They fly back to 1969 and the search for Canton Delaware lands them in the Oval Office where Delaware is being assigned a mission by President Nixon.
Nixon has been receiving phone calls from a child and he is trying to find out where and who this child is. They discover the Doctor who reveals his team and offers to help solve the problem. Delaware convinces Nixon to try the Doctor out the group, including Delaware, travel to Florida, not far from Cape Kennedy. Before they left, Amy kept seeing an alien in a suit and confronting her in the bathroom, it killed another woman and then told Amy that she must tell the Doctor something. The alien has the power to make you forget it the moment you look away but you will remember instructions, like post-hypnotic suggestion.
In Florida, the group investigates a warehouse. Rory and River discover a control room while the Doctor and Amy discover elements of a space suit. The Doctor, Amy and Canton hear the little girl call for help. Canton races after the sound but is attacked and knocked out. The Doctor and Amy see the space suit walking towards them. Amy remembers to tell the Doctor that she is pregnant and realizing that she might be able to stop the Doctor from being killed, she picks up Canton's gun and fires at the suit, not seeing the little girl in it trying to get out.
Three months later, Canton has arrested the Doctor and is building a prison around him. He appears to have hunted down and killed Amy, Rory and River as well. Once the prison is finished, a room built of dark star alloy which would repel any attempt at penetrating it, he brings two body bags into the cell. Sealed in, Amy and Rory emerge from the bags and the group enter the TARDIS which was also hidden in the prison. They save River who had jumped off a building and set a plan in motion to stop the aliens whom they've observed over the last three months as being everywhere.
The Doctor installs a recording chip in each of their hands. Upon seeing an alien, they can record their thoughts and a light will tell them that there is a message even though they won't remember recording it.
The team splits up to search children's homes to find records of the missing girl while the Doctor works modifies the Apollo 11 capsule for the next phase of his plan. Canton and Amy find the home where the little girl was kept. The home has been abandoned but the man running it is still there. He has been memory modified so many times, he still thinks it's the early 60's and that the home will be shut down in 1967, despite it being 1969. Amy finds a group of the aliens. She also finds a room where the little girl was kept, complete with pictures of her and a picture of Amy holding a baby. She is then confronted by two aliens and the girl in the suit.
Her screams alert Canton but before he can go, an alien mentions something to the caretaker. Canton confronts the alien. It mocks him and Canton shoots it before running upstairs. The Doctor, Rory and River arrive at the home as Canton runs upstairs and the group breaks in to the room to find Amy gone and her chip removed. It is still recording and they can hear her being taken away. They also find the space suit empty nearby. They go back to the alien, who reveals himself to be the Silence and treat his wounds, taking him back to the Doctor's prison.
Canton stays with the alien while the Doctor, River and Rory return to the warehouse with the suit. Canton continues to treat the Silence and it angrily declares that the humans are foolish and that they should kill the Silence if they had any power. Canton records the outburst and sends it to the Doctor. The Doctor follows Amy's chip signal to the Silence control room and he reveals that he implanted the message from the Silence into Neil Armstrong's "One small step for man" broadcast. Humans are now post-hypnotically suggested to kill the Silence on sight.
Enraged, the Silence attack but River and the Doctor hold them off, River shooting most of them, while Rory gets Amy into the TARDIS. Canton is left with President Nixon and the Doctor drops River back at Stormcage prison. The Doctor speaks with Amy who asserts that she is not pregnant, Rory just learning of this now. The Doctor doesn't push it but secretly scans Amy where she reads both pregnant and not pregnant at the same time.
Analysis
As mentioned above, once you know the twist of both who River is and what is actually happening to the Doctor, the emotion of the story, especially the first half of The Impossible Astronaut changes dramatically. You are a lot less invested in the emotional fallout of the Doctor's death and instead studying the scene for clues to what is actually happening and that has a big impact on how you view it. Most importantly, it allows you to focus on the story as a whole and to see what appeals and what doesn't.
As far as the story goes, I enjoyed it. I never got the full mystery experience since I had found out through other means of both who River was and who the astronaut was. I hadn't been fully spoiled on how the Doctor escapes so I did enjoy that a bit more, but it is still good the second time around.
All of the characters are spot on in this story. The interaction between the Doctor and his companions, including Canton is funny but also serious. It gives the mission a sense of urgency where there always seems to be something at risk but you are not afraid as much because the Doctor is staying light-hearted. Even Nixon is enjoyable despite having to stick to stereotype. I'm also amused at President Nixon getting to ride in the TARDIS.
The Silence make excellent adversaries. The forgetfulness aspect gives them a level of power that encourages a stay in the shadows aspect. This enhances their creepiness much like the Weeping Angels. Their only downside is that they are also complacent and don't move to kill with any decisiveness. That makes their defeat much easier than it should have with that kind of power.
There were a few moments I didn't care for. After dealing with it for all of Series Five, I'm a bit tired of the whole Rory doesn't know if Amy loves him or the Doctor bit. There were also a couple of secondary characters that seemed a little flat. Fortunately they didn't spend much time on them so it wasn't that bad.
I also thought the explanation for the spacesuit was rather odd. The Doctor surmised that the Silence planted the idea of going to the moon so that humans would construct spacesuits for the journey. But why was a spacesuit needed in the first place. Surely there were other outfits that could have been modified to make an assassin machine out of. Also, why place Melody in the suit as a little girl? She could have been kept in the home and out of the way longer while she grew into the suit and less resistant to their cause.
This is the part where knowing the outcome starts affecting your enjoyment. Madame Kovarian, having failed in her first attempt to kill the Doctor, has the Silence build an assassin suit, using a Time Lord infused sociopath as a power source, despite the fact that the suit can carry out the attempt itself. What's more, in order to get said sociopath, her mother must be lured back to the White House in 1969 where the Silence have a strong presence and she can then be held until the baby is delivered. It just seems like an overly complex plan to accomplish the assassination of the Doctor. Of course, we won't even cover the fact that it was the first assassination attempt that created the scenario in which Madame Kovarian decided that the only way to stop the Doctor was to kill him. Nasty bit of time logic there.
Plot nitpicks aside, the story is still enjoyable. It's an emotional journey at the start and an interesting elaborate plan that comes together to defeat the Silence in the end. Even if you know the twists, the characters and the structure of the story are both enjoyable enough to provide a good ride. It makes for a nice way to open Series Six, even if falls on it's face a few times, especially in the first half.
Overall personal score: The Impossible Astronaut - 4.5 out of 5; Day of the Moon - 4.5 out of 5
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