There have been change of production teams before in Doctor Who. The eleventh doctor era was a huge regeneration for the show.
Steven Moffat was the new head writer and showrunner. He heralded a brand new production team and handpicked Matt Smith as his Doctor.
Adam Smith was chosen as director for the opening episode and he brought in a fairy tale mini movie aesthetic.
The newly generated Doctor is zooming past London landmarks as the damaged Tardis crash lands in the garden of young Amelia Pond. She is afraid of the crack in her wall.
The Doctor still cooking after his change realises that little Amelia has good reason to be afraid. An alien known as Prisoner Zero has escaped from and is hiding in Amelia's house.
However he pops into the Tardis and promises to be back in a few minutes. Little Amelia waits for him, he does show up what he thinks is the next day. Only it is 12 years later. Little Amelia is now Amy Pond (Karen Gillan.) A kissogram girl with a troubled history. No one believed her story of the raggedy Doctor who showed up one night.
However Prisoner Zero is still in the house and his captors, the Atraxi threaten to burn the planet if Prisoner Zero is not returned.
Just as with RTD's opener Rose. The inspiration for the Eleventh Hour is Jon Pertwee's introduction in Spearhead of Space.
Now London is no longer the base. Amy lives in a village which is 30 minutes drive away from Gloucester. The Doctor gets his clothes from a hospital locker, the same as McGann's Doctor as well.
Moffatt has clearly spent a lot of time in the opener. There are some sly call backs to previous Doctor Who episodes from the RTD era. Fleshing out the characters of Amy and her nerdy boyfriend Rory. Also seeding the arc story for the season.
There were some bonuses, a cameo from Olivia Colman. Or as Moffat said, if he had known that she would one day win an Oscar, she would had got more lines.
The real plus was Matt Smith who hits the ground running. Too many times the Doctor is incapacitated after regeneration, here Smith very much hits the ground running. Even Tennant was bedridden for his introductory episode.
