Doctor Who Recap: The Woman Who Fell To Earth Is Everything A Doctor Who Opener Should Be

The wait is over. Yesterday afternoon, the first episode of Doctor Who’s 11th season premiered on Space, introducing Whovians to an entirely new cast of characters—and no TARDIS (more on that later).

In Twelve’s shredded suit and custom boots, Doctor number Thirteen made her entrance…through the roof of a Sheffield commuter train. And not a second too late! The city was playing host to an unusual amount of intergalactic action that night. Not one, but two alien lifeforms were roaming around in search of one crane operator (and some souvenir teeth).

Earth is, unfortunately, a hunting ground for aliens looking to score human trophies so that they can become the leader of their tooth-faced species. On the bright side, it would be way more of a bummer if the Doctor wasn’t standing between us and them.

When the two lifeforms, one electric and tentacle-y, the other icy and intimidating, show up on the same night, the Doctor and her new Who Squad (soon-to-be companions Ryan, Yasmin, and Graham) figure out fairly quickly that the parallel arrivals aren’t a coincidence.

The big angry guy is looking for someone, a particular human to take back to his home planet as a trophy. The little electric guy is there to help him (which is totally cheating). The big guy kills everyone that gets in his way while the little guy only killed one person… Grace, who we really liked. Sniff. In the end, the Doctor is victorious (like always) and remembers who she is, how to make a sonic screwdriver (Swiss Army knife?), and how to get back to the TARDIS… although that last one didn’t quite work out the way she’d planned. Four people floating in deep space is a problem to be dealt with NEXT episode.

It’s always a strange experience to watch the Doctor regenerate, but Jodie Whittaker manages the transition from Peter Capaldi’s Twelve to her new Thirteen in a skilled and subtle way. We like her (a lot) and we’re excited to see what she’ll do with the rest of the season—and we’re relieved to know that we’re not the only ones questioning the new Doctor’s fashion sense (thanks, Yasmin).

5 questions we have about the Season 11 premiere of Doctor Who:

1. The Doctor was really upset with crane operator dude for kicking our tooth-faced alien pal off of the crane. After he’d killed a couple humans, it was a bit of a surprising reaction, no?

2. Did anyone catch the Upper Canada Village pennant in the warehouse where the Doctor crafted her new sonic?

3. We loved the new monster in this episode, but are we really going to go through an entire season of Who without seeing a single Dalek?

4. Will we be going back/forward in time or to another world in the next episode?

5. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: how is the Doctor going to rescue her friends from the random spot in space they’re currently floating around in? And where is the TARDIS?

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