Doctor Who | BBC America | A

"OK, what have you got for me this time?"

While the Doctor's question is directed at his newly refurbished time ship the TARDIS, for fans of the long running sci-fi series Doctor Who, it's a declaration of expectations from the show's revised structure. With a new star, new producer and a new direction, the show, which chronicles the adventures of a time traveling and face changing alien known only as the Doctor, faces the questioning of fandom as it enters its fifth series this Sunday on BBC America.

In the premiere episode "The Eleventh Hour," the Doctor, recently regenerated into his new body, crash lands on earth in the backyard of a little girl named Amy Pond, who believes he has arrived to fix a mysterious crack in her wall. Time hopping 12 years into her future, the crack is fixed, but the alien prisoner that lived in the crack has escaped, prompting a force known as the Atraxi to bring it back or destroy the earth trying.

While never as action packed and CGI-laden as other noted sci-fi shows like Battlestar Galactica and Stargate, Doctor Who has always prided itself on being a quintessentially British show. References to Scottish people's affinity for frying things and the appearance of noted British astronomer Patrick Moore maintained the originality of the show. But more than anything, "The Eleventh Hour" doesn't stray from the sense of impending doom showcased in British science fiction or the solutions that always come at a mind-numbing last second.

Matt Smith, playing the new doctor, makes sure to keep all these elements in tact and does so with pizzazz. After 10 incarnations throughout the show's stellar run, the 11th Doctor easily cements his mark early on in the episode. Like the imaginary friend that Amy believes him to be at a young age, Smith's Doctor grabs the audience's hand and gains the viewer's trust as he leads us on a breathtaking and dangerous ride. Smith's Doctor is feeling out both his new body and his new part, acting with a touch of lunacy and boyhood charm.

Much praise goes to Karen Gillan's portrayal of new companion Amy Pond, who uses her frustration with the Doctor for breaking his promise 12 years earlier as a standoffish way to understand him better. Smith and Gillan have great chemistry that should pan out as the season goes on. With this notion, the big shoes that Smith and company are looking to fill from their former associates makes the new series of Doctor Who fit perfectly.