Yeah... watched it right through a few times now.

Despite its redeeming features, I do still wish they'd done so much more with it.

Especially, I think, with the Asylum Daleks.

Although I realised it likely wasn't going to be the case, I had been hoping for a two parter for the first story indeed... I don't think a good cliffhanger right at the start would have done any harm to the ratings. 

I hope what's to come in the rest of the series will further redeem it, relative to this point though...

...I had similar issues with the start of the last series to be honest... and then it never did actually fill in those blanks for me. Although, what it did instead was pretty damn good, I suppose... and to be fair, did entirely distract me from my misgivings, at the time.

On the topic of cliffhangers, have the Beeb had really negative focus group feedback on cliffhangers in DW or something? Does the cliffhanger format not work so well for modern audiences?

I came to Doctor Who towards the end of the Tom Baker era, initially, wherein single storys would regularly run over multiple episodes. Having anything wrapped up in one 45 minute episode just didn't happen. Cliffhangers were integral to the format... but the seasons were much longer running. For example six stories in season fourteen, each four episodes, apart from Talons of Weng Chiang, which was six episodes. Episodes were maybe nearer the 35 minute mark at that point iirc?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/index_fourth.shtml