The UK’s most venerable science fiction superhero is returning to the States with a brand new look. The new season of Doctor Who starts tonight on BBC America, introducing a new cast of time traveling adventurers. In the premiere episode “The Eleventh Hour,” an alien prisoner takes refuge in a young girl’s home, and the freshly-regenerated Doctor is strangely drawn to both.

Matt Smith’s Doctor is as erratic and quirky as any have ever been, due to the chaotic nature of the character’s physical and mental transformation, as well as the actor’s gleeful experimentation with the iconic role. That both were dangerously energetic and occasionally deranged seems expected — perhaps even mandatory — to help establish the Doctor’s new incarnation.

When an out-of-control TARDIS lands in Amy Pond’s garden, its shapes the child’s life in unexpected ways. When the Doctor next meets a very grown up Amy — played with a slightly edgy wide-eyed innocence by Karen Gillan — she rises to the challenges that only global destruction can bring.

Doctor Who can only ever be as good as the Doctor himself, but the chemistry that forms between he and his companions is also a critical aspect of the show’s popularity. Thankfully Mr. Smith and Ms. Gillan seem more than capable to guide us thought a universe of adventures, with more than their fair share of grace and wit.