I've watched the first 5 episodes of series 5. The Eleventh Hour was a good introduction to the 11th Doctor and his new companion. There were a few funny moments here and there, and his final talk with the aliens to get them to leave was awesome. Amy seems like an interesting companion. I am kind of wondering why the TARDIS blew up and had to fix itself at the end of the last episode/beginning of this one. I get the real life reason (an excuse to change sets) but it wasn't like the 10th's regeneration to the 11th Doctor was any more volatile than the 9th Doctor's regeneration into the 10th. Still, I can over look that. I liked how it was revealed that he came back the day before her wedding. Overall this is a good way to start the season. Next up was The Beast Below. I enjoyed this episode. The weird head spinning people weren't explained very well, but it wasn't a huge deal. I thought the revelation about the space whale was interesting, as was the fact that even after being tortured it still wanted to carry the country. The Doctor's little speech about the options before Amy figured out what to do was pretty good, too. The next episode was Victory of the Daleks. I liked the WWII setting, and the Daleks definitely needed something new to happen with them. I don't know if color coded Daleks was a great idea, I'd prefer a more metallic grey color, but its not a huge deal. I know they're implying that the cracks in space/time are what make Amy not already know Daleks, but while that plot point is interesting its also kind of a lame way to get a companion who has no knowledge of the Daleks. The fight scene with the space flying airplanes was pretty cool. Overall, this was another enjoyable episode. Finally, there is The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone. This was an awesome two part story. The weeping angels are back, and this time they're used more to their full potential and we get to see The Doctor go against them. They were really creepy, and I hope we see them again. River was back for this episode, and she was pretty good. I really hope the person she killed doesn't turn out to be The Doctor. The gimmick of The Doctor always meeting her at different points is pretty interesting still. The only flaw in this story was the stupid "seduction" scene at the end. It was just goofy, and honestly pretty out of nowhere. Although, that said, for a guy who has been in love with at least one companion already, it seemed to me that The Doctor was trying to imply that he could never have feelings for a human, which is a lie, even if he doesn't have feelings for Amy. Still, it was just a brief stupid moment in a great story. I like the 11th Doctor so far, although I don't think he'll beat the 9th, 4th and 10th Doctors. He's had some good goofy and serious moments, although he could probably stand to have a bit fewer goofy moments. I did like the scene in the two parter where River starts driving the TARDIS and The Doctor doesn't like her more smooth way of driving, complaining about the stabilizers being boring and preferring to hear the normal TARDIS noise, which is apparently caused by leaving the brakes on Amy's been a good companion so far, outside of the stupid seduction. I get what they're going with, its probably less about her wanting to screw The Doctor then it is about her being nervous before her weddingl, but it was still a stupid scene. Overall, Series 5 is off to a very good start.
I don't know who said this, but its a fairly accurate and funny description of the new Doctors... "Eccleston was a tiger, Tennant was Tigger. Smith is an uncoordinated housecat who falls off a piece of furniture and pretends that he meant to do that"
It's interesting to see how much more you liked The Time of Angels two-parter compared to Blink, considering the usual reaction. I absolutely adore the Angels as monsters and it helps that they're used sparingly (looking at you, Daleks) and I think that two-parter's a bit underrated (while still the least of the Angel stories in my own mind as well). I think there's more to Amy wanting to jump the Doctor's bones than just nerves about her wedding - she did just go through an incredibly traumatic and terrifying experience with him after all, and he's been her fantasy since childhood. Glad you're liking the Moffat era so far. I love it myself, and Eleven.
I've watched a few more episodes. Vampires of Venice was ok, but not great. I really liked the part in the beginning when The Doctor showed up at Rory's bachelor party, it was hilarious. The rest of the episode though just felt like a by the numbers Doctor Who monster alien story. The aliens as humans thing just wasn't very interesting in this episode. It wasn't bad really, but this was a very average episode. Amy's Choice is another episode I have mixed feelings about. I liked a few of the moments in the episode, but it had problems. The Dream Lord was annoying, and having him be the "dark part of the Doctor" was kind of stupid. I also thought that Rory was a bit too annoying in this episode, and that the future earth section was a bit too obviously not reality, although I didn't guess that both sections were dreams. Overall, I didn't hate this one, but I wasn't impressed. The Hungry Earth was next. After the first five good episodes of this Series, it has seemed to hit a rough patch. This episode, the first part of a two part story, just felt kind of average. It kept my attention, but didn't have many memorable scenes. The Silurian is an interesting looking species, but so far they haven't done anything too out of the ordinary. Next up will be the second part of this story (Cold Blood) then Vincent and The Doctor, which will hopefully get Series 5 out of this rough patch.
A problem with the Silurian twoparter was, apparently, that it came in so ovrrlong that it had to be cut down by removing almost all of a major subplot (future Rory and Amy being there). Whereas Victory of the Daleks was meant to be 75 mins but needed reshoots of unusable footage, and it couln't all be redone. So the tx version is short, and overuses the stuff that didn't need reshooting.
I've gone through the rest of Series 5 and the Christmas special. Cold Blood, the second part of the story from The Hungry earth, was about the same as the first episode. Fairly unremarkable, except for Rory's "death". That scene was handled well, although I figured it would only be for a few episodes. Vincent and The Doctor was an enjoyable episode. The guy playing Van Gogh did a good job, and the story was interesting. I liked seeing them show Van Gogh the future, it was a nice scene. The Lodger was another enjoyable episode. The guest stars were interesting, and seeing The Doctor wander around in modern times without a companion was interesting. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang was a pretty good finale. It had some problems, mostly because I didn't think for a second that anyone was really in danger, they were obviously going to hit the reset button at the end. Still, it was an entertaining story, and had some cool moments. A Christmas Carol was an outright amazing episode. I'm a sucker for a good Christmas Carol adaptation anyway, and this did it in a unique and interesting way. The guest stars were great, and it did the story in a way you could probably only do with Doctor Who. Not only is it the best Christmas special, I'd put it in my top 5 Doctor Who episodes, easily, and one of my favorite Christmas specials in general. Overall, Series 5 was good. I liked him in the first few episodes, but the 11th Doctor has grown on me even more. He's still not quite as good as 4,9,and 10 in my opinion, but he's still a great character. He's had some really funny moments, and has pulled off some great serious moments, like when he's talking to young Amy at the end of The Big Bang. Amy is a great companion, and Rory isn't annoying really, and I kind of assumed he would be. I'm definately excited for Series 6.
^ Glad you liked it! Season 5 remains my favourite season despite its warts, mainly because that's when I began to truly enjoy the series. My family had been sitting down to watch Doctor Who since the reboot started but despite a really great episode now and then, I never really got into the show until Matt Smith stepped into the role and became my Doctor. I won't comment about season 6 or 7 yet other than to say I hope Eleven continues to grow on you.
I've just finished the one about the Weeping Angels in Manhattan... that was excellent. And it's the last of the episodes available on Netflix.
^ Very sad; unfortunately the Season 7 Part 2 DVDs just came out a few months ago. Glad you're still liking it! Vincent and the Doctor and A Christmas Carol are two of my favorites.
So, I've continued my Doctor who watching (I'm really going through it, but thats because I'm enjoying it so much). I got through 8 episodes today. Its not that hard to do when you have nothing to do anyway, although this was a bit excessive, even for me The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. I have really mixed thoughts about this two part story. On the one hand, there are a lot of interesting ideas, and the guy playing Nixon did a good job. On the other hand, the first 10 or so minutes were the biggest insult to the audience's intelligence I've seen outside of expecting people to like Love & Monsters. It was idiotic, and if you have two brain cells you don't feel any sense of danger at all. There is no way in hell that the Doctor who franchise is going to end after the 11th Doctor. So, The Impossible Astronaut starts off with Moffat basically "killing" The Doctor and making The Doctor's "death" a pointless mystery without any drama throughout the whole Series 6 that will either end up never happening or will end up being a fake out. Either way, no one in their right mind would believe that this is the end of The Doctor, and it feels insulting that its set up like you're supposed to believe you actually saw The Doctor's inevitable, totally real "death". I was so angry it kind of ruined the story, and even effected my enjoyment of The Curse of the Black Spot, since I spent most of the time still fuming about Moffat basically acting like the fans are morons. Its fine to put The Doctor in life threatening danger, and you can make it believable. But, his "death" in this case felt like insulting, lazy mystery being added just to have a mystery go through the Series. The Curse of the Black Spotended up being a decent episode, with an interesting theme but it it was just ok. After that, I took a break to let myself cool down, and I was in a much better mood when I got to The Doctor's Wife. This was a great episode, which happened to be written by one of my favorite comic book writers (Neil Gaiman). The idea of the Doctor actually talking to the TARDIS in human form was really cool, and I liked seeing the 9th/10th Doctor's TARDIS control room again. The Doctor's interactions with the TARDIS were great. It was also interesting to get confirmation that Time Lords can switch gender when they regenerate, although I don't think it would work well with The Doctor (although I know there are people that think otherwise). Next was The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People. This was an ok two part story, with its biggest purpose setting up the end twist, that Amy hadn't actually been physically on the TARDIS for some time. After that was A Good Man Goes to War, whichwas a great episode. The Doctor gets allies and goes to storm the bad guys. The only annoyance was River talking about The Doctor being seen as a warrior and all of this stuff with the baby being his fault. Sure, he has enemies, but what was the alternative? Let the Daleks, Cybermen or other alien species take over the Earth/Universe, just so he's not seen as aggressive? Was he supposed to beat the Daleks by non-violent protest? Ghandi was a great guy, but I wouldn't like his chances againt merciless alien cyborgs whose goal is to kill everything that's not them. Besides that it was a great episode, and the end reveal about River was great (although I'd already been kind of spoiled about that, damn you wikipedia ). Let's Kill Hitler was another great episode. It was funny to have the Doctor accidentally save Hitler's life The tiny people driving a life size person reminded me a bit too much of that stupid Eddie Murphy movie, but it wasn't a huge deal. It was interesting to see Mels regeneration into the River we're familiar with. Her confrontation with a nazi soldier (I was just on my way to a gay, gypsy bar mitzvah for the disabled) was hilarious, even if she had just tried to kill The Doctor So, overall series 6 is pretty good so far, although The Doctor's "death" still annoys me. I've cooled down and just decided that I can ignore that idiotic "mystery". There is no way its what it seems, so even though it feels like the least suspenseful mystery ever, I'm not going to let it ruin Series 6, which episode wise has mostly been good so far. Its stupid, but its jut there, and will probably be resolved by the end of series 6 in a real stupid way, after which I won't have to think about it anymore. I still don't dislike Moffat, A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler were great episodes. He just thought up the stupidest mystery I can imagine to make a sub plot of a whole season. I thought it was something that would be resolved in the two part story, and even then it would have been lame. Its definitely not any more mysterious or suspenseful spread out over the series.
I know it's probably pointless to argue, but no, that's not how fiction works in general, and that's not what this particular mystery is about.
I mostly agree with you that its a silly mystery although in Moffat's defense, the mystery isn't The Doctor's death but rather how he cheats death. Its kinda like how after watching Wrath of Khan, everyone wants to know how Kirk beats the Kobiyashi Maru scenario. Did it work well? No, it didn't and as a result I felt that the last half of series 6 is sort of the lowest point of nuWho. Don't get me wrong, I may say that it is the lowest point but it never crosses into "bad" territory. Overall, series 6 is still much better than most tv shows.
I've watched 3 more episodes, and honestly there isn't much to talk about. Night Terrors was an ok episode, although its kind oif forgettable. The Girl Who Waited wasn't bad, but it didn't really have any surprises, and it was just ok. The God Complex had an interesting idea, but I thought it was a bit boring. Also, the Doctor's rationale for dumping Amy and Rory was kind of weird. That "hotel" probably wasn't even in the top 10 most dangerous situations they've been in with The Doctor, and he's acting like every companion he has dies because of being with him. Looking on wikipedia, very few companions have actually died with him, and the only Modern Who ones you could say died were River Song and Astrid, although both are arguably not companions. I'd count both of them, since River is pretty associated with The Doctor and, from an in universe perspective if Astrid hadn't died she probably would have become a companion, but you could make good arguments against them being companions. If they had wanted to write Amy and Rory out of the show, they could have done it in a better way. Not kill them off or anything, but maybe have the Doctor decide to kick them out after an especially dangerous mission where they are nearly killed, and not after the "hotel", which while dangerous is not, like I said, high on the list of dangerous situations Rory and Amy have been in. Next up will be Closing Time, which seems to have the return of Craig from The Lodger, which should be interesting.
Ok, I've gone through a lot of episodes since my last post, so I'll try to keep it to short comments about each episode. Closing Time was enjoyable. I liked seeing Craig again. I do wish they'd explain the Cybermen better. Are these still the parallel world Cybermen? They have the same design, but at this point how many of those can be left intact. Are they the normal universe cybermen, but with the new design? I figure the normal cybermen have to be somewhere, and I could accept that the normal universe ones somehow got the design and started using it more than there just only being alternate reality cybermen all the time. The cybermats were cool, and The Doctor "speaking baby" was funny. The wedding of River Song is a hard one to judge. Its pretty good, but its the conclusion of the stupid "mystery" thats gone on through the season, and that part was still a bit lame. I immediately figured out the solution when he talked to the tiny, person suit driving people. Still, it was pretty good, and about as good a conclusion as they could have done. I also liked the reference to Brigadier Stewart (his actor had apparently died a bit before this episode came out). I like it when the modern Doctor acknowledges the people that he knew in the classic series. The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe was just ok. Nothing impressive, and maybe the worst Christmas special. Asylum of the Daleks is another mixed one. Most of it was very good, but the ending was BS. Erasing The Doctor? Yeah, because that makes sense. It was worse when its later revealed that he's "erasing" himself from everything, and no one knows him anywhere in any time period. Except UNIT, his former companions, the suit driving people and probably the: Ice warriors, Silurlions, Zygons, Cybermen, Sontarans, The Silence, possibly the Weeping Angels and dozens of more species that you can't just press a button and erase their worst enemy/famous hero. So, besides starting that kind of stupid plot idea, I liked the episode. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was a decent episode. I liked the Dinosaur effects, and seeing The Doctor ride a triceratops was awesome. A Town Called Mercy was pretty good. We got to see the excellent Ben Browder of Stargate SG-1 fame (for me thats where I liked him the best, no need to mention the other show). He played a pretty good role, although the alien doctor's eventually sacrifice kind of made his death pointless. The cyborg was cool looking. The Power of Three was decent. It was cool to see the brigadier's daughter as a member of UNIT, it would be interesting to see her again. The Angels Take Manhatten was a very entertaining episode. I'm going to say this right now, I acknowledge that its stupid and nonsensical, but the "angel" Statue of Liberty was awesome. It sucks that Amy and Rory are gone, but they had a gone run. I thought it was a bit weird that River didn't try to stop the criminal boss from throwing her Dad to the baby angels, especially since she didn't know about the book, but I'll give her a pass because she probably didn't know that he had angels locked up. The Snowmen was a good christmas special. Clara was interesting, and the mystery about her dying twice and still existing is interesting. I thought for a second that they had recast the girl from Asylum of the Daleks as someone else and wouldn't acknowledge it, I should have known better. Ian McKellan being the voice of the great intelligence was cool, although he was under used. The Bells of Saint John was kind of average. I liked Clara, but the overall plot was a bit stupid and for a mostly unconnected story I don't think we needed to see The Great Intelligence again so soon. The Rings of Akhaten was awful.I don't have anything else to say about it, it just sucked. Cold War was decent. I liked the setting, and it was cool (no pun intended) to see an Ice warrior of Mars. The sailors could be abit annoying at times, and the reason the TARDIS disappeared was kind of lame (I hope that doiesn't become a regular plot device) but overall it was a good episode. Next up will be Hide. I'm really going through them now, because I really want to get to Day of the Doctor, which I'll probably get to today or tomorrow at this rate.
The TARDIS going because of the HADS is a callback to a Troughton story, The Krotons, where it causes less nuisance, but enough for the Doctor to decide to leave the HADS off in future.
Rings of Akhaten grows on you on rewatch, once you get over the Space Mopped (German word for a dinky, crappy motorcycle). The music is excellent and it has one of the best bad ass Doctor speeches in the whole series. I get goosebumps every time I listen to the Long Song and the Doctor telling his story.
I'm now completely caught up with Doctor Who Here's my thoughts Hide was was a nice adventure with some good moments and characters. It was entertaining all the way through. Journey to the Center of the TARDIS was a nice episode. I like seeing more of the TARDIS, and while the brothers were a bit lame, it was still a decent episode. The Crimson Horror is tricky. I'll admit, I was getting antsy to get to The Day of the Doctor, so I kinda just skipped past this one. I plan to go back to it, but I checked to make sure that it doesn't add anything to the overall plot of the season and the then upcoming anniversary, and when it said no I skipped past it. Its the first time i've done that (not counting The family of Blood, which I at least skimmed, mostly just to the last few minutes). I don't regret it. I'll come back to this one later, and if nothing else it means I'll have an 11th Doctor to go back to. Nightmare in Silver was a disappointment. After writing the excellent The doctor's wife Neil Gaiman, an usually excellent writer, turns out what appears to be a mediocre episode. I saw children in the first few minutes, so I'll admit that I skimmed through it. I saw the Cybermen (after they had apparently took design tips from the Borg) and Doctor of Borg. This one is not one I feel the need to ever explore more thoroughly. The Name of The Doctor was awesome. We learn about Clara, see the creepy tomb of the Doctor, and see River Song one more time. I'm not too big a fan of The Great Intelligence honestly, but it was astill a good episode. I especially liked seeing Clara traveling through the different Doctor's timelines, the awesome scene of her telling the 1st Doctor what TARDIS to take, and the reveal of the War Doctor at the end. Because its important, I'll talk about the pre DotD mini spodes. Night of The Doctor was excellent. It was really cool seeing the 8th Doctor again. Thew only thing i wonder was when he basically said "goodbye" to his companions. By my counting, he had one, maybe two companions if you count the street punk who worked against him for most of the movies, but he seemed to name 4 or 5 companions right before he drank and regenerated. Were those made up, or from tie in material? Or am I insane, and just heard him wrong? Either way, this was a cool mini episode. The Last Day was ok, but felt unneeded. Now, the main event. The Day of The Doctor was amazing. I can't overstate how good it was. It was written and acted very well, and it tied up the questions we've had since the 9th Doctor's first appearance. John Hurt was an excellent Doctor. I will say that, while I count him as The Doctor, he doesn't steal Christopher Eccleston's number. To me, it will always go 8th Doctor, War Doctor, 9th Doctor. The story itself was epic. I liked the touch of starting off the anniversary with the original intro. It was cool to see Galifrey during the War, and seeing the War Doctor as he tries to decide what to do. Billie Piper had a weird role, but it was nice to see her. The three Doctors were great together. It was cool to see the Zygons (after just being introduced to them in Terror of the Zygons a few days ago). The ending was great. The 11th and 10th Doctor's basically forgive their past self, and are ready to do the deed together. What they eventually ended up doing was great. All 12 Doctors combining forces (with little clips of the Doctors on the Timelord's screens being a nice touch) and all 12 TARDISs (what is the plural for TARDIS ) working together to save Galifrey. The Curator was an awesome cameo from Tom Baker. some people seem to debate who he is, and while they left it open I personally think he is The Doctor, regenerated probably far in the future into an old face. The last scene, with all 12 Doctors standing and looking at Galifrey was awesome. I liked how all 12 Doctors were credited at the end in the credits, in reverse order from Smith to Hartnell. This was a great way to celebrate the anniversary. So, I can't give my thoughts on the 11th Doctor in general because he's not done quite yet, but I'll give some overall thopughts on Doctor Who in general. It is an excellent franchise. Ever since I first heard about it (probably as just a reference on a website around the time it revived) it sounded like something I'd really enjoy. Now that I'm up to date with modern Who (and going through the 4th Doctor), I can safely say I was right. While there have been a few bumpy patches, thats to be expected. I honestly can't pick a favorite of the Doctor's I've seen. I am definately a Doctor Who fan./ I'll probably try to catch Doctor Who as it goes now, and I intend to go through the 4th Doctor and beyond, although at a more casual pace. I really burned through the modern stuff. I will mention something I keep forgetting to type about in this thread. The intro theme has sucked since the 11th Doctor started. The 9/10th eras had a great theme. The 11th added a stupid lead in to the main part of the theme and a lot of junk going on. I can't stand it. I'd almost always watch the intro with the 9th/10th Doctors, it would really get me pumped up for the episode. The 11th Doctor got saddled with a very inferior version of the opening.