he'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'd blow our minds

I've just finished watching the return of Doctor-Who to British television screens. This was a big part of my tea-time ritual when I was growing up, and is most a welcome addition to the wasteland of the Saturday evening TV schedules after a 16 year absence. As soon as the credits fired up and the familiar music drifted across the room, I was struck by how ridiculous it was that the BBC got rid of this in the first place (although, to be fair, the last few series were shit. What the hell was the Doctor thinking when he hooked up with Ace, for God's sake?). This is solid gold TV and is bound to be a ratings winner. Judging by the number of red buses etc. they showed in the first 5 minutes, I imagine the BBC is also hoping to make a mint selling this abroad too....

My first impressions? Pretty good. Christopher Ecclestone is showing no signs that he is taking this too seriously, and is thus following in the grand tradition of all the best Doctors, especially Tom Baker. The effects were also pretty good, but were still also reassuringly crap in a more expensive kind of way, if you know what I mean. We even had an auton wheelie bin belching after it had eaten someone, for heaven's sake!

First episodes are always difficult though: a lot of scene setting is always necessary. So perhaps it's wisest to reserve judgement until the Daleks turn up, eh?

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Off to see "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" in a bit.

I haven't read too much about it, but as it's a Wes Anderson film starring Bill Murray, the word "quirky" springs to mind....

more later, I guess.