I guess everyone's as underwhelmed as I am.

It's far from bad. It's probably good, but it's just not the second coming (which I swear was not a reference to another TV show when it popped into my head).

The latest episode felt a little more like Dr. Who, but was fairly claustrophobic, I thought, without intending to be. I mean, here we are in outer space watching a massive celestial event and all we really get to see are about three rooms on this space station. At certain instances, it felt an awful lot like a less comedic Red Dwarf.

Also, as I feared, it was a little rushed. Having roughly half the time to tell a story in just doesn't leave much room for the soul of Doctor Who. It was like we were rushing around to different points to make sure to get the plot in, with little time for reflection, like we were trying to get back to where we were when our text adventure game crashed. (Exit. N. Show Paper. E. Z. Z. Take sphere. Exhale. Etc.)

Other random nitpicks: The flash point of wood on Earth today is 330 to 470 degrees Celsius (according to a 1970 USDA Forest Service research paper), yet the Doctor didn't even seem phased by the heat. Maybe he's hardier than I thought. The plot was a little too obvious, I thought, and only marginally compelling -- a very, very, simple parlor detective story. I have the feeling there may have been a little more there in its initial concept, what with the talk of finances, but it just didn't make it to the actual broadcast show. A sputum joke to go with last week's burp joke. A talk to the face joke? Really? I feel like there are more, but I can't think of them now.

I just don't feel like it's going to get much better.