I’m really enjoying the recent revival of the Doctor Who series. David Tenant was, IMO, the best Doctor by a country mile, and several of his episodes instantly stood out as classics.
Admittedly I only came on board with the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker, who is my second fave).
One of the things that stood out for me with the Ninth and Tenth Doctor was the quality of the writing and acting. Stephen Moffat episodes in particular stand out (The Empty Child / Doctor Dances
, Girl in the fireplace
, and the frankly matchless Blink
), so I was quite excited when he took on the mantle of executive producer.
My favourite episodes are the clever ones which either mess with your head, or actually use the fact they are all time travellers (which is why I like Blink
quite so much).
To say I’ve been disappointed so far with series 5 and Matt Smith would be overstating, but with series 1-4 there were things I liked, and things I loved, whereas so far with Series 5 there are things I like, and things I don’t like..
So in true nerdy spirit, here’s what I like / don’t like!
Things I like about the Eleventh Doctor
- The new Tardis – lovely set, and I love the underneath/glass floor thing.
- Amy Pond – Karen Gillen is simply beautiful and adorable, and seems to be almost as clever as the Doctor. But see also “don’t like”
- Rory Williams, who after some initial promise currently seems a bit pointless as a character.
- The fact it’s on at all!
- Amy’s Choice was a great episode.
Things I don’t like
- The Eleventh Doctor. While I like Matt Smith, his character doesn’t really inspire confidence.
- In your face CGI. Frankly unnecessary and unwanted.
- Sex. This is easily the most sexualised session (even allowing for Jack Harkness) – Amy wears a belt, I mean skirt, than doesn’t cover anything, and the Doctors previous ‘encounters’ come up every 5 minutes. If I want aliens and sex, I’ll watch Torchwood.
- Continuity issues – always contentious, but:
- How come the Angels can look at one another now?
- How do people pre the 80s know the Timelords are ‘extinct’ when it hasn’t happened yet?
- Unsubtle story arcs – these were generally done beautifully in series 1-4.. you almost didn’t realise they were happening. So far the crack in time has been shoved in like a half-brick in a sock. The “Bad Wolf” thing was in your face, but it was the first time it had been done, so we didn’t know what it was about.
There have also been some very thought-provoking quotes (for me as a Christian) by/about the Doctor. I paraphrase a little ‘cos I can’t remember them exactly.
- Doctor:
If I always told you the truth, you wouldn’t have to trust me
- Doctor: The only person who hates me as much as you in the entire universe is me.
- Rory:
You’re so dangerous because you make people want to impress you.