The new Doctor got the opportunity to strut his stuff this Easter weekend. What did you think? Well we thought plenty. The reality is that Brooks and I, as well as everyone else on the planet, approached this particular regeneration with considerable skepticism — largely because of the unorthadox man love we felt for David Tennant as the 10th Doctor.

All good things must come to an end, and come to an end they did in this past Decembers amazing two part special. But now it’s Spring time, a time for life renewed. And this year the Doctor, the Tardis, and the whole damn show has experienced a bit of a rebirth.

Obviously, the switch of the doctor himself from David Tennant to Matt Smith is thefirst noticeable change, and is the one that is fixated on most. But is it really the most dramatic change that is occurring with the beloved Science Fiction series? I’m not so sure it is. Along with the Doctor’s regeneration, the reigns of the shows writing has been handed over from Russell T. Davies to Steven Moffat. Now to be fair, I will say I don’t know much about Moffat or what his intentions are with the series. I do, however, know the impression the first episode gave me.

The main thing I walked away with after having watched the new episode was a distinctively more retro feel to the show. For starters the Doctor has kicked off his trendy converse kicks and dawned a vintage 1960′s Harris Tweed jacket. Next you’ll notice distinctively more second hand garbage used as parts on the Tardis. Now this is obviously a throw back to the days of yore when the grossly budget strapped Who series creators were relegated to using anything they could as props. That said, I was turned off when I recognized an automobile’s window washing fluid tank sitting prominently atop the console. Lastly, it seems as though Moffat wanted to really drive the retro point home with a montage of past Doctors and their heroic deeds.

Do I even need to go into detail about how lovely the new companion is? I mean really? She is practically delectable. I am curious to see Moffat’s take on the Doctor/Companion relationship and how River Song will work into it all.

To sum it all up, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the first episode went. That may be largely due to the exceptionally low expectations I went into it with. I think the new feel Moffat is giving the series will work out quite well, and that the change in writers and doctors at the same time may have been the best way to have approached this. It makes it a lot easier to set aside the differences of the actors when the whole show is going through a transformation of its own.