You're asking questions that mostly only a fan could answer. As for CGI, I remember thinking that they struck a good balance, using as much as they had to in order to not get laughed out of the modern market, but not turn it into a CGI circus. So it's a middle-ground, no obviously cheezy cardboard cutouts and Halloween costumes, perhaps betraying the hardcore aesthetic, but necessary to survive in a commercial sense. The fans would understand cheezy, everybody else wouldn't.

And like I said, I think you'll like the characters. I vaugely recognized this Doctor from other roles, and he played it with style and low-key humor; and this sidekick's a nice cuddly blonde, neither too dumb nor too hard-edged smart, mostly just young and in need of the Doctor's protection. There are signs of chemistry between them that's nice and genuine too.