The Impossible Astronaut

Plot

Before the first episode aired, a short online scene showed President Richard Nixon taking a call from a little girl who kept phoning him. She pleaded with him to check what was behind him, but he asked how she got his number. She said a "spaceman" gave it to her and mentioned monsters. Nixon replied there were no monsters in the Oval Office, then hung up and leaned back, revealing a blurred member of the Silence standing behind him.

Later, while taking a break from traveling with the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory each got envelopes that summoned them to a specific time and place in Utah. There they met River Song, who had also received an envelope, and the Doctor, now nearly two centuries older than when they last saw him. He offered them a picnic and a trip to "space 1969." During the picnic, a figure in an American astronaut suit rose from the lake and shot the Doctor repeatedly, killing him.

A man named Canton Everett Delaware III arrived with gasoline and told Amy, Rory, and River that the dead man was the real Doctor, whose body they then burned in a Viking funeral. At a diner, the three found a fourth envelope addressed to the Doctor, who was still alive and two hundred years younger than the one who died. The younger Doctor showed up, and his companions told him about space 1969 and Canton but kept quiet about his death and the fact that he himself had sent the envelopes.

The Doctor and his friends then traveled to April 8, 1969, where a younger Canton, a former FBI agent, was being briefed by President Nixon about calls from a girl asking for help. The Doctor convinced Nixon to let him try to find her. Using the call and the girl's mention of a "spaceman," he traced her to an intersection in Florida. There, Amy met and photographed one of the Silence's leaders, a group she had also spotted by the lake, which people instantly forget whenever they look away.

Production

Steven Moffat, who became the showrunner in 2010, wrote this episode. He decided to launch the 2011 season with a two-part story to give it a heavier, more expansive feel, aiming for some of the series’ darkest material. This was the first time a season opened with a two-parter since the Sixth Doctor’s 1985 story Attack of the Cybermen. Moffat later said on Doctor Who Confidential that the episode was among the darker ones but still kept the usual humor.

The Doctor’s death, which some producers thought could end the series, was actually meant to start things off. Moffat wrote the older Doctor’s death to remind viewers that Time Lords aren’t immortal—they can die for good if killed before regenerating. For the alien villains, the Silence, Moffat wanted them to be scarier than past monsters, calling them “a much bigger deal.” Their look was partly inspired by the figure in Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream.

In October 2010, it was announced that Mark Sheppard, known for roles in Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Supernatural, and Warehouse 13, would guest star. Sheppard called playing Canton a “dream job” and hoped to work with Moffat again, including on Sherlock. Though English, this was his first British TV role. For the older Canton, producers planned to age Sheppard with makeup, but he suggested his father, William Morgan Sheppard, take the part instead, and they agreed.

Broadcast and reception

Before broadcast, the episode and "Day of the Moon" were released in a press screening where fans were asked not to give spoilers; a fan later gave away the entire plot on an internet forum, angering Moffat. He stated on BBC Radio 5 Live that most Doctor Who fans are "spoiler-phobes" who refuse to go online to be spoiled. "The Impossible Astronaut" first broadcast on BBC One on 23 April 2011 at 6 pm, preceded by a still-caption tribute to Elisabeth Sladen, who died from cancer on 19 April 2011.

Overnight figures were 6.52 million; final consolidated ratings rose to 8.86 million with a 43.2 per cent audience share, making it the second highest rated programme of the day behind Britain's Got Talent. It was the third most watched on BBC One and sixth overall for the week ending 24 April. An additional 300,000 viewed it on BBC iPlayer within two days. It received an Appreciation Index of 88.

In the US, 1.3 million viewers saw it on BBC America, the highest rated telecast in the channel's history; with DVR ratings the total rose to 1.8 million. In Canada, 538,000 viewers made it the most watched Who episode for Space and its most watched telecast in 2011. In Australia, 860,000 viewers from five capital cities watched it on ABC1 on 30 April 2011, matching ratings for "A Christmas Carol" on Boxing Day 2010.