A Weekend of Doctor Who

Series 6 of Doctor Who has officially begun.  Just like last year, BBC America launched the first episode with the mother of all Doctor Who marathons.  All day Friday and Saturday, they showed all of Series 5 and the four specials that came after Series 4.  They also showed a "Rewind" special and other goodies.

I finally got to see the "End of Time" specials, where David Tennant passes the baton to Matt Smith.  With that, I finally got caught up with every single episode released since 2005.

Then at 9PM Saturday evening, it happened--"The Impossible Astronaut."  As expected, it was a great episode.  It opened with a shocker--something that may not be resolved until the end of this season.  We'll have to wait and see.

A couple of items reemerged from Series 5, including Dr. River Song.  What exactly is the story between her and the Doctor?  I won't say what else appears in this episode--"Spoilers!"

My only complaint is this: the commercial breaks!  Just before this episode aired, it said, "Brought to you with limited commercial interruption by XXX."  Well, someone forgot to tell BBC what "limited commercial interruption" means.  Every break cut off the show in weird places--especially the ending.  It gives we Americans the impression that we are missing part of the show.

That's bad.

It also felt like we got more commercials during this episode than in any of the other episodes shown earlier during the marathon.  If that was "limited interruption," I'm not looking forward to "normal interruption."

Just saying.

Anyway, my family and I look forward to the rest of Series 6.  May there be lots of fun monsters, and lots of good time twists, and more of those "human" stories like the Van Gogh one.

What happens next?  My kids joke that the next episode will be called, "The Satan Astronaut."  Here are my questions and predictions:

• Who is the Astronaut?  My kids say: River Song.  (BTW, does the Astronaut remind you of Babylon 5?)
• Who blew up the Tardis in Series 5?  My prediction: the Dream Master.  Or perhaps it was the Chinese government.
• Who was the woman Time Lord in the "End of Time" specials?  Are they coming back to this story line?  My wife predicts that it is the Doctor's mother.
• Did the Time Lords create the Weeping Angels (alluded to in the "End of Time")?

Let's see what Series 6 brings us!