Now that its done...

[Sparky]

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.

Some of the questions may not get answered. I have no problem with that. I don't need every single tiny detail wrapped in a bow. The plot was no where near convoluted and was quite easy to follow. The fact that there are still questions is a setup for later on as they made quite clear at the end of the episode itself.

I found it quite a refreshing change that this season was not overloaded with other characters. It's fun once in a while but the RTD era was overblown with millions of Daleks and Cybermen popping up multiple times. Not to mention the gathering of 7 or 8 companions at a time..some of them who just happened to pop over from a different universe! Thanks but no thanks.

If your meaning of "expecting more" is a return to the overblown cell network regenerating, switch flipping with spinning Daleks, mystical potion plots of the RTD era then I am quite happy that my expectations are different because I don't think we will be going back to that in the Moff era.

 

[TigerOfDarkness]

^^ 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.

I think you are right to an extent. I liked Rory - he made a good comedy relief but the Amy character didn't really grab me - possibly a result of her life being messed up by the Alliance...

Overall, I thought there were great moments (The Van Gogh episode stands out) and some less than great moments (Victory of the Daleks ranks as probably the low point of nuWho IMHO) - personally, S1 is my favourite so far.

There did seem to be a noticable increase in child-orientation and some extreme idealism - I really doubt the Silurian/Human relationship would have a happy ending.

 

[Photoman15]

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.

Don't be so fast as to dismiss those two episodes. I have a feeling they may turn out to be key to next season's (series for you UK readers) stories of who the Silence is/was.

 

[Shazam!]

RTD gave you many characters who The Doctor met, was always so pleased to meet and was later sorry, so very sorry for.

Yeah, that got pretty yawnsome after the first dozen times. I'm glad Moffat didn't go down that route.

 

[Cutter John]

I siuspect having a head writer with a wife and two young kids at home will do that.

 

[Venardhi]

- 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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

So your argument is that it is fiction so any criticism of the story is automatically invalid?

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

So your argument is that it is fiction so any criticism of the story is automatically invalid?

No, my argument is that fiction follows a set of loosely defined rules, and that accusing it of breaking an entirely different set of arbitrary rules is absurd. Criticism is only relevant when it is associated with reasonable expectations.

Expecting any TV episode to tie up every loose end imaginable and to answer every potential question is like expecting a mole to fly, or an architect to cure cancer. It's a nonsensical waste of time.

 

[Venardhi]

Explanation and resolution is part of storytelling. You don't have to spell everything out, but without answers to the big and/or interesting stuff the audience will always get restless. At this point we don't even know if history is the same or not, if everything we watched this season happened or not, if The Doctor has ever existed in this version of the universe up until now or not. These are big questions that require an answer for the audience to understand the world they're investing in.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

You know, I keep misreading the thread title as "Now that's how its done..."

 

[Ubik]

So your argument is that it is fiction so any criticism of the story is automatically invalid?

No, my argument is that fiction follows a set of loosely defined rules, and that accusing it of breaking an entirely different set of arbitrary rules is absurd. Criticism is only relevant when it is associated with reasonable expectations.

Expecting any TV episode to tie up every loose end imaginable and to answer every potential question is like expecting a mole to fly, or an architect to cure cancer. It's a nonsensical waste of time.

I think you're being a bit disingenuous here. Of course a show does not require the kind of detailed world-building that Tolkien brings to his writing. But the poster is not asking for minor inconsistencies or silly irrelevant asides to be explained. This season of Doctor Who, much like Lost and books by Agatha Christie, was based on mystery, on unexplained phenomena. This sets up the expectation that solving the mystery is to be an important part of the plot resolution.

But I too found the basic overarching plot largely incomprehensible. I enjoyed it, absolutely, but I do still have some glaring questions, and this season left a much larger-than-average number of central questions unanswered, as far as I'm concerned.

Seriously - the main one is this. Why did the universe cease to exist, just because the Tardis exploded? Then, it is claimed that the Tardis's explosion is what is keeping the Earth from ceasing to exist as well. Huh? That's the basic conflict of the episode, and I just don't get it. Something exploded the Tardis (we don't know who or why), which somehow causes the universe to cease to exist, but also protects the Earth from ceasing to exist. Huh?

Also, what caused the cracks? And what does the exploding Tardis have to do with the cracks? Has that been answered yet?

Maybe I missed it. Maybe it's in the dialogue. Is it?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Because the TARDIS exploded at every time and every point in the universe and is really powerful. And I think it was explained that the Earth took the longest because it was the point of origin, the eye of the storm so it was relatively calm for a while.

 

[Ubik]

Because the TARDIS exploded at every time and every point in the universe and is really powerful. And I think it was explained that the Earth took the longest because it was the point of origin, the eye of the storm so it was relatively calm for a while.

Really? That was the explanation? That whenever a Tardis explodes, the universe ceases to exist? Why? WHY did it explode in every place and time? It doesn't exist in every place and time. That doesn't make any sense. I still don't get it.

Does that explanation satisfy everyone here? Or did we both miss something?

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Because the TARDIS exploded at every time and every point in the universe and is really powerful. And I think it was explained that the Earth took the longest because it was the point of origin, the eye of the storm so it was relatively calm for a while.

Really? That was the explanation? That whenever a Tardis explodes, the universe ceases to exist? Why? WHY did it explode in every place and time? It doesn't exist in every place and time. That doesn't make any sense. I still don't get it.

Does that explanation satisfy everyone here? Or did we both miss something?

Erm, you may have missed that something was controlling the TARDIS and caused it to explode, that very likely means that outside force did something to cause it to happen that way. Wasn't stated but that was the leap I made.

 

[captcalhoun]

something was controlling the TARDIS - River told the Doctor

something caused the TARDIS to explode - we saw that.

the TARDIS exploding caused every star everywhere to go supernova simultaneously - the Doctor explained that.

why wasn't explained. it just did.

Earth was still there because it was the centre of teh explosion - the Doctor explained that.

if you didn't get that, weren't you paying attention? were you playing Tetris on your mobile or texting on your Blackberry or farting with your iPod? are you one of Holdfast's people who can't pay attention to a 55 minute TV show without your attention wandering?

 

[tomalak301]

Season 5 was the best season of the show since I've started watching. Heck, if I were to rank them, this would be my order:

Season 5
Season 1
Season 4
Season 3
Season 2

Loved the mystery, loved the adventure, and loved the new cast. Looking forward to more next year.

 

[Ubik]

something was controlling the TARDIS - River told the Doctor

something caused the TARDIS to explode - we saw that.

the TARDIS exploding caused every star everywhere to go supernova simultaneously - the Doctor explained that.

why wasn't explained. it just did.

Earth was still there because it was the centre of teh explosion - the Doctor explained that.

if you didn't get that, weren't you paying attention? were you playing Tetris on your mobile or texting on your Blackberry or farting with your iPod? are you one of Holdfast's people who can't pay attention to a 55 minute TV show without your attention wandering?

I beg your pardon? For the life of me, I can't find anywhere, in any of my posts, anything that warrants such an aggressive response. I'll ask you to be civil, please, if you want to have a discussion with me.

The answer to your implied question is, yes, I heard every one of the lines in the show. And no, those lines don't answer my questions. If the Tardis's explosion does indeed cause the ceasing of existence of the universe, I would expect the Doctor to have at least one line sounding something like, "What the hell? How come my Tardis exploding causes the universe to cease to exist?" Or, if the Doctor knows the answer already, I expect at least one line from Amy that sounds something like, "What the hell? How come the universe has ceased to exist, just because your space ship exploded?" Something. Anything. Instead, Amy and Rory take it in stride, as if it makes more sense to them than it does to me. From the two humans, we get no awe or despair or terror about the fact that the Doctor, gleefully swooping throughout the universe, puts the universe in jeopardy every time he puts himself in danger.

My point is, something is missing. If the Tardis's explosion causes the universe to cease to exist, I expect someone, most plausibly Amy, to question that fact, just as I am. It just doesn't make sense. The insurance costs on that ship must be astronomical. And besides, we've seen the Tardis explode before in Doctor Who, and no one said anything about no universe ceasing to exist.

 

[Silent_Bob]

...what are your thoughts on series 5 overall?

I guess relieved is the best way to describe how i feel about the series. With a new Doctor and a new production team i was extremely concerned prior to the start that i wouldn't like series 5. It didn't help that i really disliked Smith's debut at the end of 'End of Time' .

So i was extremely relieved when 'The Eleventh Hour' aired and it showed that it was still the Doctor Who i knew and loved, and Smith was a worthy successor to the role afterall. Sure the series had a few duff episodes, like 'Victory of the Daleks' an episode that didn't seem to have any plot beyond "look new Daleks!", but the rest of the series made up for any failings.

I still think series 4 is the best series of Doctor Who i've seen thus far, but 5 isn't far behind. And Smith has secured his place as my third favourite Doctor, coming after Tennant and McGann.

 

[Gepard]

Seriously - the main one is this. Why did the universe cease to exist, just because the Tardis exploded? Then, it is claimed that the Tardis's explosion is what is keeping the Earth from ceasing to exist as well. Huh? That's the basic conflict of the episode, and I just don't get it. Something exploded the Tardis (we don't know who or why), which somehow causes the universe to cease to exist, but also protects the Earth from ceasing to exist. Huh?

Also, what caused the cracks? And what does the exploding Tardis have to do with the cracks? Has that been answered yet?

Presumably the force of the explosion "shattered" space-time, causing cracks. But try this on for size: the Doctor attributed the cracks to "two parts of space and time that never should have touched being pressed together." What does that have to do with an explosion?

And what was the light coming out of the cracks? At first I thought it was the same as the white light restoration beam in the heart of the Pandorica, but apparently not. So where did it come from?

And why did tossing the Pandorica into the heart of the exploding TARDIS fix the universe rather than wipe out the Panorica, anyway? Even as Eleven cooked up the plan, I thought it seemed bizarre to want to throw the last remaining piece of the real universe into the heart of the thing that was wiping out that universe. I know, I know, "restoration beam," but they didn't do anything with that. It was just *toss*, into the explosion, and then everything rewinds. That makes no sense.

Oh, and if the exploding TARDIS was in a time-loop, why was Eleven able to teleport into it with no trouble to rescue River? That just seemed too easy to me.

 

[Captain Pike]

But try this on for size: the Doctor attributed the cracks to "two parts of space and time that never should have touched being pressed together." What does that have to do with an explosion?

Perhaps he means the inside of the TARDIS touching the space outside it when the explosion occurred?

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

But try this on for size: the Doctor attributed the cracks to "two parts of space and time that never should have touched being pressed together." What does that have to do with an explosion?

Perhaps he means the inside of the TARDIS touching the space outside it when the explosion occurred?

Or he meant the two states of existence and non-existance of the universe collided and cracked time and space in the process.
I can't describe it better, but that would explain the effect of the cracks much better.
It was a two-way street. The non-existence side effecting the existance side by erasing anything that got to close and scattered information/memorys streaming into Amy's head to the non-existance side.