Sunday, July 5, 2015

10 Years of Doctor Who Reborn: Series Five



Hi there! After taking a breather for a couple of weeks, I'm plunging back into 10 Years of Doctor Who Reborn* with a changing of the guard: a new Doctor, a new companion, a new Executive Producer and Head Writer, a new TARDIS set. Series 5 marked the most significant evolution in Doctor Who since the show was relaunched 5 years earlier.  

*At the end of this post is a bit about the coming season of Doctor Who.

We kind of knew what we were getting on the story front. Steven Moffat had written some of the best episodes of the previous four series and his bonafides as a true TARDIS blue Whovian were not in doubt. 

But who was the young kid cast to play the Doctor? If fans of the classic show wondered if David Tennant was a bit young to be playing a centuries old Time Lord, what in the world were we to make of baby faced Matt Smith? But behind that very young face were eyes that made you believe that this was someone who had seen so much, both wonder and tragedy. And with his eccentric charms, Matt Smith was the first to play the Doctor as a truly alien being. 

Almost from the word "go", fans were embracing this mad new Doctor and proclaiming that yes, bow ties are cool!  

So this season of everything new that was Series 5, how did it shape up? After the photo below, let's take a look and find out. 




#13 - Cold Blood ** 
 The 2nd act of the 2 part return of the Silurians struggles to deliver on the first part as characters and plot points careen about like spheroids in a pinball machine, but with less organization. It's not a total stinker of an episode; there's more good about it than bad. 

Side note: I wish we could have more of Nasreen travelling with the Doctor. I loved her attitude, intelligence and humor.   

#12 - Victory of the Daleks **
The Doctor teams up with Winston Churchill in World War II while Daleks deliver tea?!  Wonderful concept! So why do so many fans seem to dislike this one so? I can't answer for everybody but for me, the nail in the coffin for this episode is how quickly Prof. Bracewell gets his concepts on paper into actual working mode to send British Spitfires into space to fight a Dalek space ship. The end result is too weird and cool at the same time and I love it but the leap in logic required to get to that point is just too much for me to make.  

Oh and "Go, go, Power Daleks!"?  

No, I don't think so.  

#11 - The Beast Below **
Regarded by many as the first real dog of a script from Steven Moffat, the episode is not without it's pluses, chief among them is Liz 10. Oh, I want to see her in her own series! She does indeed rule! I think the main knock on this episode is that Amy figures out a third way to solve a problem that the Doctor should've deduced himself. Steven has to have his own companion creation save the day to show how awesome she is. I think that's a bit unfair even though to be honest, it's true. But that was the point of the episode. We met the new Doctor in the previous episode. But who is this person that the Doctor has invited to tag along with him? If she's going to be any good, she has to show she can keep up with the Doctor, not just ask questions while trying not to fall too far behind. 

#10 - The Hungry Earth ***
It's cool to see the Silurians brought to the new Who with Moffat maintaining a pattern Russell T Davies started of reintroducing an alien monster or menace from the classic show each year. And these Silurians are a nasty piece of work, ain't they? Things get off to a creepy start and living up to the episode title as a guy gets eaten by the Earth. Then to really mess with our heads, the same happens...to Amy? No, not Amy! (On a side note, Amy gets dragged through who knows how much dirt and rock without getting so much as a snag in her tights. I notice stuff like that.) All in all, a fairly decent set up even as we saw back at #13, the pay off didn't quite deliver.  


#9 - The Vampires of Venice  ***
First of all, don't be silly: those are not vampires. They're fish people from outer space. Duh!  Really, try to take this seriously, OK?

The episode gets started off with one of the funniest bits in Doctor Who as the Doctor pops out of a cake at Rory's stag party and says the absolutely worst thing he can say. ("You're a lucky man; she's a great kisser.")  I'm not sure about the logistics of our alien fish people disguised as vampires but ultimately, I rather enjoyed this story. The Doctor's encounter with the vampire women is pretty cool, particularly when he whips out a woefully out of date library card. But the main thing in this episode is we see how Rory views the Doctor and his effect on people, particularly Rory's soon to be wife. And Rory is right on the money: "You make people want to impress you!" 





#8 - Flesh and Stone ***
We get one of the funniest exchanges I've ever heard on Doctor Who.

Amy: What if the gravity cuts out?
The Doctor: Actually, I've thought about that!
Amy: And...?
The Doctor: And we'll all plunge to our deaths! See? I've thought about it! 

Although this one is pretty good too.

The Doctor: Did I mention we have comfy chairs?
Angel Bob: We have no need for comfy chairs. 
The Doctor (aside): I made him say "comfy chairs".  

And in the realm of creepy, Amy's countdown? Weird! But overall, this is not as strong a follow up to Part 1 as I would've hoped. Once more, we have a story that doesn't really know what to do with the stuff established in the preceding installment. I got the feeling the Weeping Angels were making up their schemes as they went along. And the Doctor makes Amy walk with her eyes closed through an obstacle course of Angels but then River gets the teleporter so that was for nothing. Indeed, the point of this whole mission gets lost. And did we really need to actually see a Weeping Angel move? That seemed to counter act that whole meta reality thing going on with the angels not moving when anyone was seeing them, even the viewers at home. 

Oh, at the end, where Amy throws herself at the Doctor? All  the new Who fans are going, "All right! I ship it!" All the classic Who fans are going, "Well, that's not all right at all!' Thankfully, the Doctor agreed with us old fogies.  

#7 - The Lodger ***
This is a warm, fuzzy episode that's full of laughs and love.

It is unfortunately also filled with people who just wander off the street and get killed screaming.

So there's that.

But if you can look at the rest of this delightful episode without thinking about people screaming and dying, then it's a lot of fun. James Corden as the hapless Craig plays well off Matt Smith's even weirder than normal Doctor as Craig's new roommate. What happens when the Doctor and the strangeness that follows him around plops down in the middle of someone's comfortable, ordinary life? The Lodger provides a humorous and touching answer to that. I think I would've rated this episode even higher.

Except for all the screaming and the dying.


#6 - The Time of Angels ***
River Song is back! She sends a message through time the long way to get the Doctor in position to rescue has she retreats via a spaceship airlock. Cool! But who is this woman and how can she know how to work the TARDIS better than the Doctor? Who is she? After the 10th Doctor and River met two years earlier for the first and last time respectively, we delve into the mystery of River Song as we learn that she's in prison. For killing a man. The best man she ever knew. 

Uh oh. 

There's a lot going on here. The clerics as military force was a clever concept. Amy's nightmarish encounter with a Weeping Angel and her clever way of defeating it was nerve rattlingly scary; but the angels aren't done with our Miss Pond yet. The building menace that the shadows and the rocks are hiding a growing menace is very effective in building the tension. And the Doctor's defiance at the cliff hanger? "The one thing you never, ever put in a trap: me."  Oh yeah!  


#5 - Amy's Choice  ***
This episode's a bit of an odd one with its "what is real and what is a dream?" premise and the presence of the disarmingly sinister Dream Lord. Oh, and old people with plant stalks coming out of their mouths, that's always really weird when that happens. But the core of this story is there in the title: this is about Amy's choice, between making babies with the love of her life but in a community of utter boredom or adventuring with the Doctor. Love wins out but at considerable cost. Yeah, the idea that the solution to the puzzle is...suicide? A bit grim, that. But if anyone doubted how much Rory means to Amy, this episode put that to rest.

#4 - The Pandorica Opens ****
Steven Moffat throws everything and the kitchen sink into this epic tale that sets up the finale for Series 5. If the end of Series 4 gave us the Doctor's Avengers, this one brings together a Legion of Doom when Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Silurians and many, many more come together. What else? We get the return of River Song along with guest shots from Winston Churchill and Liz 10 among others, the most whacked out return of a dead character ever, a battle with PARTS of a Cyberman, Roman centurions, horse riding, Stonehenge, the most epic speech by the Doctor EVER! And then there is the end as the freakin' universe goes completely and utterly dark!

MOFFAT is EVIL! (But in a good way!) 



#3 - Vincent and the Doctor ****
Filmmaker Richard Curtis (Notting Hill, Love Actually) takes a crack at Doctor Who and delivers a unique and powerful tale of the Doctor and Amy meeting Vincent Van Gogh. Considered one of the greatest artists who ever lived, we meet Van Gogh when no one thought that, not even him. Vincent is caught in a dark cycle of depression which feeds his sense of worthlessness. But in addition to his prodigious artistic gifts, Vincent Van Gogh can see a monster than no one else can and the Doctor needs his help to stop this creature from killing innocent people. 

When the creature can be seen, it turns out to be a giant alien space chicken. Really.

But at the core, this episode is about a man gifted with an extraordinary talent to see the wonders of the world around him and express those wonders through incredible paintings. But this episode does not flinch from the pain and destructiveness of the terrible depression that afflicts Vincent Van Gogh. And his ultimate fate in the grip of that disease hangs over the beauty of this episode. But the Doctor's assures Amy that the bad things in life should not cancel out the good things and they definitely added to Vincent's good things.

A very emotionally powerful episode. 


#2 - The Big Bang *****
So to sum up: a companion is dead, another companion is a robot, the Doctor is locked in a cube from which there is no escape, the TARDIS explodes, the universe ends and only the Earth is left, hanging on in a starless void.

Then things get complicated.

Amelia saves Amy, the Doctor is jumping back and forth through time and he has a fez now, Rory punches the Doctor, River Song stares down a Dalek and makes it beg. And then there's the big bang as the Doctor reboots the universe and literally saves everything. Then he makes a grand entrance at Amy & Rory's wedding where we learn that the Doctor may be able to save all of existence but he dances like a tipsy giraffe.

But for all the comedy and tragedy, for all the big universe shattering and rebuilding ka-booms, what sells this are the people at the heart of it. Rory may be made of plastic but his heart is as human as ever and filled with love for Amy. River is snarky and dangerous but even as she's flirting with the Doctor at the end of the episode, we can see the cracks in the façade, the pain hiding beneath the bravado. And Amy who remembers the Doctor back into existence because she is the one who waited for the Doctor for so many years and she's not going to forget him now.

And then there's the Doctor. Matt Smith handles the comedic bits deftly but its the bit near the end where Matt realty shines, as the Doctor goes through the re-wind of recent events towards what he believes will be his final exit from life and all memory. As he speaks to a sleeping Amelia Pond, we see the distilled core of Matt's Doctor, the old man in the young body. Matt is near perfect in this scene which elevates an already great episode to a whole other level. 



#1 - The Eleventh Hour *****
I really didn't want to list this one as first.

Don't get me wrong: I'm listing The Eleventh Hour at #1 for a very good reason: it really is that good.

But I always feel bad when the first of something turns out to be the best. All in all, Series 5 was a success and ended on a very powerful note. But when the first episode is the best one, well, no matter how good everything else, there's a sense of "it's all downhill from here".  

But there is no denying just how much awesome goodness is in this thing. 
  • The dramatic crash of the TARDIS.
  • The Doctor's first encounter with Amelia Pond.
  • The straight out of Winnie the Poo sequence where the Doctor keeps rejecting all sorts of food until he settles on fish fingers and custard.
  • The Doctor's selflessness as he immediately goes to work on Amelia's very scary crack in her wall even though he's still wobbly from regeneration.
  • The heartbreaking scene where Amelia gets dressed and waits outside for the Doctor to return.

And we're barely a quarter of the way into this story.

You know, I could just keep listing bullet points of all the awesome things that happen in this episode. It would be faster to just watch it again.

The Eleventh Hour set the bar pretty darn high for Matt Smith and Steven Moffat. Across four years, yeah, there were a couple of clunker episodes but for the most part, the best of the best, the really good ones, were great because they aspired to the pinnacle established from the very beginning.

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Next week: 10 Years of Doctor Who Reborn returns as I run down my take on Series 6 with the most Christmasy of Doctor Who Christmas specials, the biggest punch in the gut of a season opener ever, the Doctor gets to chat with someone he's known for hundreds of years...for the first time, and much more.

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But before I take my leave today, what, pray tell, is going on with Doctor Who THIS year? This photo got posted.






















Peter Capaldi remarked that this is photo is from a scene right before the Doctor makes a really big mistake. 

Gee, I hope it's not investing in Tours of Mexico with Donald Trump or Savings Bonds from Greece. 

Click here for a link to an article where Mr. Capaldi has a bit more to say. 

Thanks for dropping by and do visit again. Until then, remember to be good to one another.

Dave-El
I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You



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