Now that its done...

[Sparky]

- If episodes unhappened, why did Moffat make me watch them by filming them in the first place? If he didn't want them to happen, maybe he shouldn't have made them?

Every episode led up to this one. The characters remember them but I do admit I am unsure if they "happened" or not.

- How does reigniting the universe mend the TARDIS? Wouldn't it simply explode again?

It didn't mend the Tardis. The Tardis exploded and started Big Bang 2. Amy brought back the Tardis.

- To whit why didn't the Big Bad just re-detonate the TARDIS?

To be explained.

- Why didn't Amy remember The Doctor immediately upon waking up? She remembered her parents swiftly.

The Doctor told her to remember her parents just before the universe reset. The Doctor was erased from history but she still had leftover impressions and dreams of the Doctor as her imaginary friend.

- Why did The Doctor send River Song to his TARDIS to get equipment to help open the Pandorica when the Pandorica was already opening?

He sent her to get equipment to figure out what was in the Pandorica.

- Why did Auton Rory shoot Amy, but then manage to pull himself together to guard her for 2,000 years?

He was trying to hold onto his humanity and only fully pulled his humanity together after the Auton programming shot Amy.

- Why would real Rory remember anything if he died in Cold Blood?

The doctor said that Amy was special because the crack had been stealing her life for a long time. The Alliance "got more than they bargained for" when it came to her memories that they took to spring the trap. The universe had been pouring into her head. She had the ability to bring people back because she could "remember" them.

- Why did all the stars explode?

Because the Tardis exploded into every time and place and erased the universe.


- Why would a TARDIS exploding cause all the stars to explode?

Because history was erasing itself.

-Why did the Alliance steal Amy's memories from June 26, 2010? Why that date?

Because that's when they landed and took the latent mental impressions from her house.

- How did the Alliance know Amy was the Doctor's companion most likely to lull him into a false sense of security?

This one I give you, could be explained by finding the true threat. The "alliance" itself could have been manipulated by the same person that blew up the Tardis.

- If the Alliance could build the Pandorica, why can't they seal the cracks themselves?

The cracks could only be sealed by the restorative energy from the Pandorica being sent into every corner of space and time by an exploding Tardis. The Alliance thought they were going to seal the cracks by locking the Doctor away and preventing him from blowing up the Tardis.

- How can a vortex manipulator make a Pandorica fly?

Got me there. I will give them a break on this one as it was more visually interesting than the box just disappearing and showing up in the explosion.

- Who made the TARDIS explode? As in, foreshadowing? As in give me a reason to watch, or care?

We don't know yet. That's what we will find out either in the xmas special or the next season.

- What happened this season? What didn't happen this season? Did a giant Cyberman destroy Victorian London or was that erased?

This one is up for question as well. I'm going to assume that everything in past seasons did happen but as for this season that is still up in the air.

It doesn't make sense. You can enjoy it, but you can't go on pretending it isn't seriously flawed.

Made perfect sense to me. yes there were some unanswered questions but that just sets up future episodes.

 

[Brent]

Everything in this season happened.

I feel like I'm debating the LOST finale again.

 

[Samurai8472]

Everything in this season happened.

I feel like I'm debating the LOST finale again.

The explosion went off and the doctor is in purgatory

 

[Skywalker]

Everything in this season happened.

I feel like I'm debating the LOST finale again.

The explosion went off and the doctor is in purgatory

Amy didn't bring the Doctor back to life because she remembered him, she just made it possible for the Doctor to find her. Amy, the Doctor, and Rory all leaving together in the TARDIS wasn't them heading off on another adventure, it was them moving on together.

River didn't go with them because she wasn't ready.

 

[WillsBabe]

Matt Smith is great, and I have great affection for him. I can see the value in Moffat's more intimate approach to story-telling. Karen Gillen is wonderfully pretty and I like Amy. I like Rory and I like River, and what she reprsents, too. I know that there is a lot of worthy stuff in this season but for whatever reason it doesn't really engage me on an emotional level. I don't care about Rory and Amy or their story or how it fits in with the Doctor. The closest I came to caring to being touched emotionally was the final episode. I'm more about character than story, so this stuff is important for me. But I'll keep watching because I'm mostly enjoying this season but it's not massively engaging me.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^^ There is something missing on that emotional level but I haven't been able to isolate exactly why that is.

 

[Hennessy Badger]

I don't know. I can't place series 5 above the previous four series, I just can't. For every The Eleventh Hour and Vincent and the Doctor (amazing television!), there was Amy's Choice and The Lodger, which were not great - and my standards are fairly low.

The Weeping Angels and Silurians were enjoyable enough, but I'm not convinced they needed two-parters for those stories. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances and Human Nature/The Family of Blood really used the two-part format to pack an emotional punch - The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone and The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood failed to do that for me.

The Beast Below, Victory of the Daleks, and The Vampires of Venice were at the same level as anything from the first three series - but they are not nearly as rewatchable as series 4's Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, Midnight and Turn Left.

The final two episodes were enjoyable. They may not have made much sense, but they were fun. And admittedly they were better than the finales for series 3 and 4.

I think the series was entertaining and I'm glad I watched it, but I have a feeling the series set won't be in heavy rotation in my DVD player. Not like the other four.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I think it may just be my favourite series of the new run.

 

[captcalhoun]

i loved it, but S4 was still better.

S4
S5
S3
S2
S1

 

[Sparky]

Matt Smith is great, and I have great affection for him. I can see the value in Moffat's more intimate approach to story-telling. Karen Gillen is wonderfully pretty and I like Amy. I like Rory and I like River, and what she reprsents, too. I know that there is a lot of worthy stuff in this season but for whatever reason it doesn't really engage me on an emotional level. I don't care about Rory and Amy or their story or how it fits in with the Doctor. The closest I came to caring to being touched emotionally was the final episode. I'm more about character than story, so this stuff is important for me. But I'll keep watching because I'm mostly enjoying this season but it's not massively engaging me.

Interesting. I value Moffat's more intimate approach as well. However I thought that Amy and Rory's story was key to that intimacy. Their entire story was character based.

You have Amy who is from a very young age always looking towards the stars. Her life really makes no sense with missing memories, cracks in walls and a mysterious Raggedy Doctor that has caused her to have mental issues. She can never quite figure her life out. Then there is Rory, the hopelessly in love cowardly misfit who is quite happy to stay where he is and settle down. During the course of the season they grow as people and learn what they really mean to each other. Amy figures out that she truly loves Rory but then he is taken from her in both body and mind. Rory learns that there is more out there than just settling and that you have to sometimes fight and die for those you love.

In the end they loved each other so much that she was able to bring him back through a memory imprint that the Alliance took of her house. After he finally broke through the Auton programming he was willing to wait by her side and protect her for 2000 years. Of course he managed to kill a Cyberman and punch out the Doctor as well.

The way their story goes is the key to the entire season. Without that story the season as is wouldn't exist.

I don't remember the exact quote but somewhere along the way it was mentioned that the Doctor brings out the best in people. This has never been more evident than in this season.

It was brilliant from beginning to end...and beyond hopefully.

 

[VDCNI]

A up and down season all in all.

TEH was good though mainly because of Matt Smith but then we had two of the worst ever episodes in Who history. Thankfully the Angels two parter picked things up again, even if the second part was weaker and the Amy pretending to be able to see scene ruined the Angels for me.

Vampires was fun, Amy's Choice was decent but then the Silurians two parter was a huge disappointment.

Thankfully the last 4 episodes were all top notch even if the Big Bang was a slight let down after the fantastic The Pandorica Opens. I thought it was interesting that SM chose not to resolve all the mysteries set up in this season, not an odd thing for a sci-fi show to do but unusual for DW given it has a wider much more family audience.

So it didn't match Season 4 for me but as good as any other season since 2005.

Matt Smith, like DT, makes even the weaker episodes watchable and I like Rory but Amy I'm still undecided about. Karen is fine but something doesn't work for me with Amy even now they've resolved some of the mysteries about her. I'm not sure why SM feels the need to have her repeatedly talk about snogging the Doctor in front of Rory, those moments at the end just jarred for me. It doesn't help that as soon as River Song appears she completely overshadows her.

So looking forward to next year - particularly to see how MS develops and for the return of Alex Kingston who has been fantastic.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

10/10, brilliant stuff, i cant wait to see whats the Moff has lined up for us next year.

 

[Technobuilder]

Eagerly anticipating Series 6 of NuWho...

Doctor #11 really developed over the course of this series into a strong contender with Doctor #10 for favorite Modern Doctor.

Rory is probably my favorite new character of the series overall just because of his character's growth and onscreen chemistry with Matt's Doctor. (Great banter partners)

River Song IS the new 'Jack Harkness' type character of Mystery and Renown to be figured out over the course of several series. Looking forward to this wild ride.

Oddball Question: Will Jenny ever return or make an appearance?

 

[Darth_Daver]

River Song IS the new 'Jack Harkness' type character of Mystery and Renown to be figured out over the course of several series. Looking forward to this wild ride.

I just hope they tie the whole who is River Song thing with Captain Jack's missing two years (which perhaps the Doctor erased?) But if the best man that River shot ends up being the Doctor, I really hope it's further down the line as right now I'm liking MS better than DT! (and that's saying something)

But I want to see Matt Smith, Alex Kingston and Jack Barrowman in the same scene...

 

[The Doctor]

As a cohesive whole, this series of Doctor Who stands above and beyond anything in the RTD era except maybe Eccelstone's series. But and this is a big, round, but there are several episodes and two-parters in the previous runs of Who that blow away any single episode of Matt Smith's run so far. 'The Family of Blood' two-parter, 'Empty Child/Doctor Dances,' 'Utopia,' these are just a few of many, many more.

I will say, as I did in the ratings thread for 'Big Bang' that Moffat has managed to keep the silly that has made the new Who work for me under RTD and make it smarter, so that I don't have nearly so much hand-waving to do in order to explain it all. I'm looking at you, 'The Last of the Time Lords!'

 

[GabeHimself]

^^ There is something missing on that emotional level but I haven't been able to isolate exactly why that is.

Because there are no characters. RTD gave you many characters who The Doctor met, was always so pleased to meet and was later sorry, so very sorry for.

 

[GabeHimself]

- If episodes unhappened, why did Moffat make me watch them by filming them in the first place? If he didn't want them to happen, maybe he shouldn't have made them?

Every episode led up to this one. The characters remember them but I do admit I am unsure if they "happened" or not.

- How does reigniting the universe mend the TARDIS? Wouldn't it simply explode again?

It didn't mend the Tardis. The Tardis exploded and started Big Bang 2. Amy brought back the Tardis.

- To whit why didn't the Big Bad just re-detonate the TARDIS?

To be explained.

- Why didn't Amy remember The Doctor immediately upon waking up? She remembered her parents swiftly.

The Doctor told her to remember her parents just before the universe reset. The Doctor was erased from history but she still had leftover impressions and dreams of the Doctor as her imaginary friend.

- Why did The Doctor send River Song to his TARDIS to get equipment to help open the Pandorica when the Pandorica was already opening?

He sent her to get equipment to figure out what was in the Pandorica.

- Why did Auton Rory shoot Amy, but then manage to pull himself together to guard her for 2,000 years?

He was trying to hold onto his humanity and only fully pulled his humanity together after the Auton programming shot Amy.

- Why would real Rory remember anything if he died in Cold Blood?

The doctor said that Amy was special because the crack had been stealing her life for a long time. The Alliance "got more than they bargained for" when it came to her memories that they took to spring the trap. The universe had been pouring into her head. She had the ability to bring people back because she could "remember" them.

- Why did all the stars explode?

Because the Tardis exploded into every time and place and erased the universe.


- Why would a TARDIS exploding cause all the stars to explode?

Because history was erasing itself.

-Why did the Alliance steal Amy's memories from June 26, 2010? Why that date?

Because that's when they landed and took the latent mental impressions from her house.

- How did the Alliance know Amy was the Doctor's companion most likely to lull him into a false sense of security?

This one I give you, could be explained by finding the true threat. The "alliance" itself could have been manipulated by the same person that blew up the Tardis.

- If the Alliance could build the Pandorica, why can't they seal the cracks themselves?

The cracks could only be sealed by the restorative energy from the Pandorica being sent into every corner of space and time by an exploding Tardis. The Alliance thought they were going to seal the cracks by locking the Doctor away and preventing him from blowing up the Tardis.

- How can a vortex manipulator make a Pandorica fly?

Got me there. I will give them a break on this one as it was more visually interesting than the box just disappearing and showing up in the explosion.

- Who made the TARDIS explode? As in, foreshadowing? As in give me a reason to watch, or care?

We don't know yet. That's what we will find out either in the xmas special or the next season.

- What happened this season? What didn't happen this season? Did a giant Cyberman destroy Victorian London or was that erased?

This one is up for question as well. I'm going to assume that everything in past seasons did happen but as for this season that is still up in the air.

It doesn't make sense. You can enjoy it, but you can't go on pretending it isn't seriously flawed.

Made perfect sense to me. yes there were some unanswered questions but that just sets up future episodes.

These questions will not get answered. Why do viewers insist on trusting writers (Lost, Battlestar, X-Files) when its clear that some of these questions will never get answered?

That they even crop up is a sign that the plot is too convoluted to make sense. It's complex for the same of complexity, not because of the demands of the story.

Also there are no other characters so the Universe feels kind of empty and while I loved Amy Pond at the beginning she has been an inconsistent cypher the rest of the time.

I expect more of Doctor Who. Much more.

 

[Captain Pike]

Gabe, I know you think otherwise, but for me, personally, I found RTD to be all smoke & mirrors, style with very little substance and infuriatingly carried away with his own creations. Which was a shame, because he proved he could bang out a decent story on the rare occaison that he tried a more honest approach.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

- If episodes unhappened, why did Moffat make me watch them by filming them in the first place? If he didn't want them to happen, maybe he shouldn't have made them?

The episodes did happen, you did watch them, your memory was not erased. Moffat "made you" watch them because he thought you may find them entertaining, which apparently you didn't.

Why did Vincent have to paint the TARDIS exploding, to give it to Winston Churchill to hide it in the Royal Gallery to get River to steal it from a now 3,000 year old Liz Ten to get the Doctor to Stonehenge? Most people go there on holiday...

"Have to"? He didn't have to do that, that's what happened. It happened that way because the people in charge thought it would be unexpected and entertaining.

Why did the TARDIS reroute Churchill's call to River? The TARDIS has no problem forwarding all other calls for the remainder of the story? It's almost as if it's just writer fiat.

It is writer fiat. It was a way to link all the season's secondary characters together.

How does reigniting the universe mend the TARDIS? Wouldn't it simply explode again?

Apparently not. We don't know how a TARDIS is supposed to work exactly, because it's a fictional machine that could not possibly exist and which does what the plot requires. It did not explode again because it didn't.

To whit why didn't the Big Bad just re-detonate the TARDIS?

Because that wouldn't have any dramatic weight. Villains almost never use the same plan twice in a row.

Why didn't Amy remember The Doctor immediately upon waking up? She remembered her parents swiftly.

We don't know, she just did. Plus it was obviously necessary to set up the final scenes.

Why did Auton Rory shoot Amy, but then manage to pull himself together to guard her for 2,000 years?

We don't know, he just did.

Unexpected things happen all the time in real life, I don't see why they shouldn't happen in fiction. In fact they should happen, because the unexpected is exciting and intriguing. We like surprises, we like mystery, we like new things.

That's what the Doctor Who production team is doing, see, they're in the entertainment business. They're not writing a thesis or an encyclopedia. They're not coming up with a Grand Unified Theory. It's not their job to answer every single potential question about every single scene in the show, because it would be futile, tedious and boring.

It's quite clear that you're really into worldbuilding and that for some reason you think that every single information on screen should be connected and explained and put in perspective, but that's not what fiction writing is about, it never was and it never will be. If that's what you expect from Doctor Who, you'll never be satisfied.

Why would real Rory remember anything if he died in Cold Blood? Why did all the stars explode? Why would a TARDIS exploding cause all the stars to explode? Why did the Alliance steal Amy's memories from June 26, 2010? Why that date? How did the Alliance know Amy was the Doctor's companion most likely to lull him into a false sense of security? If the Alliance could build the Pandorica, why can't they seal the cracks themselves? How can a vortex manipulator make a Pandorica fly?

Same as above. File under "Why is Donald Duck dressed as a sailor?"

Who made the TARDIS explode? As in, foreshadowing? As in give me a reason to watch, or care?

We don't know it yet, though he's associated with something called "the Silence" and we've heard his voice, so there's your foreshadowing right there. A reason to care is that he made the TARDIS explode, and if you're watching Doctor Who, you're interested in what happens to the TARDIS and the people inside.

What happened this season? What didn't happen this season? Did a giant Cyberman destroy Victorian London or was that erased?

It's fiction. Everything happened and nothing happened.

It doesn't make sense. You can enjoy it, but you can't go on pretending it isn't seriously flawed.

Your criteria are flawed. You may have not enjoyed this season, and that's your right, but you're asking of Doctor Who what no other piece of fiction has ever been asked to deliver.

 

[davejames]

It took a little adjustment at first to get used to Moffat's smaller, quirkier style, but I've grown to absolutely love the latest series.

The only real duds in my book were Victory (too cheesy) and Vampires (too pedestrian). Everything else was fantastic I thought.