Doctor Who - Current thoughts on Series Five

Business as usual for the Doctor and Amy

We are more than halfway through Series Five now, and it's only a couple of hours before Cold Blood airs in the UK. I thought it was time to give my current views on the series as a whole.

Matt Smith effortlessly proved himself to be a great Doctor from his very first line in The Eleventh Hour. He is able to be childlike and also to take command where necessary. But while Karen Gillian and Arthur Darvill have been good at acting out their respective roles, I am less sold on the characters they are playing. Amy Pond sometimes feels like a collection of quips rather than a real person. Rory fares slightly better, having real human responses to dangerous situations such as panic and fear. Unlike Amy, he has also showed compassion for victims such as the flower girl in Vampires of Venice.

The structure of the series is similar to the one used in the RTD era. We open with a companion introduction, get an obligatory Dalek episode and then the mid season two parter with a focus on monsters. It's likely that Moffat wanted a similar structure to ease viewers into accepting this new style of Doctor Who. On the other hand, the crack in time story arc has been weaved into the narrative far more successfully than the "Bad Wolf" or "Torchwood" plot strands of the Russell T Davies era. For the first time in the modern series, I have no idea what the shape of the plot of the final episodes will be. The companion has her own secrets from the Doctor, involving a wedding day and there is no clear big bad yet.

However, with the exception of The Beast Below and Amy's Choice, the individual episodes are playing it safe. The villains are straightforwardly evil and the good guys are straightforwardly good.

I think what's happened, is that the show is being compromised. Victory aside, there haven't been any truly bad episodes. Most of them are just average.

We're missing huge chunks of character development. In the RTD era, each companion's experience was treated as something special, whether it was stepping out of the Tardis doors onto an alien planet, or simply recieving a Tardis key. But when Amy first steps out onto an alien planet in Time of Angels she says nothing and barely reacts to the experience. Key moments, such as Amy receiving a Tardis key, or learning the properties of the Psychic Paper, happen off screen. If Rory is to die, and the rumours suggest he will, then will the show really be able to show Amy's grief?

Russell is into the big and the flamboyant. Steven is into smaller, more intricate and complex stories. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

The monsters are a drab bunch this year. They all seemed to based on generic "scary" things like status, shadows and vampires. We've seen it all before in different media. The RTD era could occasionally produce something weird and wonderful, like a monster made up of fat. One of my favourite modern series moments was in  The End of the World, where the twist is that the dark, cloak wearing, metal clawed villains are NOT the main villains.Steven Moffat relies on far more predictable scares such as shadows, statues or snake headed creatures and it's a little disappointing.

The muted colour tones of the current series are annoying to me and potentially damage the show. Watching the Adverts summed this up. Seeing the Ashes to Ashes trailer, with its colourful lights and then seeing the trailer for The Hungry Earth, with dark shadows. The former leaps out at you. The latter just seems ho hum.

If the next few episodes fail to improve, then Series Five will be an average season with a good ending. Not one of the best. If by next year, they sort this out, if they really take the Doctor to interesting places, then we'll be good. As it is, the series is okay so far, but only okay.

Hard Times

I just pulled an all-nighter to catch a meeting which has now been cancelled. That would be funny if it wasn't so bloody annoying.

Things aren't going to well at the moment. I'm stuck with a presentation group who have rubbish ideas. How am I supposed to be inspired by rubbish ideas?

In other news I've just seen Paul Cornell's new television pilot Pulse. It looks good, and the acting is alright, the problem is that it's just like every other medical drama out there. There's nothing that really leaps out as interesting. If you want a sci-fi mystery drama, just go for X-Files

Doctor Who: The Hungry Earth

This Saturday gone was certainly very hot. So much so that I thought about heading outside and watching at a later date. Being the hardcore nerd that I am, I stayed and stuck this episode out. With the benefit of hindsight, I think this is one episode which I wouldn't have felt bad about missing on first transmission.

Every new series, the revived show has reintroduced a monster from its original run. This year sees the return of the Silurians. We only got a glimpse of two Silurians in this episode. One being a foot-soldier, Alaya, and the other being some kind of surgeon. I can't say I'm that keen on the new design. It feels like it deviates too much from the previous versions. The non-human faces forced viewers to empathize with something alien and different rather than letting them feel comfortable with something that had human appearances. Perhaps contact lenses in the eyes would have been better.

The story itself seems to have elements cherry picked from various parts of the Jon Pertwee era. We had a Drilling project going wrong, like in Inferno. We also had a village being surrounded by an invisible shield, similar to The Daemons, and the Silurians were sucking people into the ground as the Tractators did in Frontios. It was a pity that we didn't see any actual villagers reacting to the invisible shield.

The Drill Crew and their families were at least different. Tony Mack and Mo felt like a very earthly characters and hands on compared to the elitist scientists we saw in the Pertwee Years. Nazreen Choudry also appears to be a likeable character so far. Elliot was nice enough but his mother is obviously being set up as the antagonist who is likely to throw a spanner into the Doctor's plans for negotiation.

Matt Smith was okay in this episode, but his confrontation with Alaya felt like it was written for David Tennant in the parts when he proclaimed Alaya beautiful and that he was the last of his species.

Amy Pond continues to show no real interest in Rory as she appears genuinely surprised that they stay together. It was nice to see her getting a bit emotional as she was sucked into the ground and trying not to be frightened when a scary Silurian scientist approached.

Rory is actually a fairly decent companion, getting to investigate the grave robbing side of things. I think I like him more than I like Amy.

Meera Syal was very likeable in the role of Nazreen Chaudhry. This might be a Pertwee derivative tale, but at least the base leader was likeable this time. Tony Mack seemed like a fairly likeable everyman. Elliot was decently played for a child part.

At the end of the day, this was a very traditional tale, with no real surprising elements.

Next: The story continues. I hope it gets better next week.

Ninjas Rescue Students From Mugger

Possibly the coolest news item this month.

See here

Doctor Who 5x07: Amy's Choice

If you could choose between an ordinary but dull life or an exciting and dangerous one which would you choose? This is a dilemma facing Amy Pond in 'Amy's Choice'. A mysterious being known as the Dream Lord is shifting the Doctor, Amy and Rory between two worlds. One of these is in Upper Leadworth where Rory is living as a country Doctor and Amy is expecting a child. It is a stable but very quiet place. The alternative is life on the Tardis with the Doctor.

Things soon get dangerous in both worlds. In Upper Leadworth, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are threatened by a group of old people possessed by aliens. In the Tardis, the Doctor, Amy and Rory are threatened by a cold star. The Doctor and company can only choose one reality. if they die in the wrong one they stay permanently dead.

It is perhaps little surprise that the Upper Leadworth scenario is fake. Amy is unlikely to be leaving the series with a baby this early on. When Rory dies in the dream world, Amy chooses the Tardis but the Doctor deduces that both are dreams and blows up the Tardis.

Amy gets a lot of good character development this week. It is clear she is undecided about the direction in her life. She finds Upper Leadworth boring but still likes the Doctor. She also shows bravery when she stands up to the Dream Lord.

We get a good sense of who Rory is as well. He wants the ordinary life but he is happy to make sacrifices for Amy, including gettng rid of the rat tail haircut he had in Upper Leadworth. It's easy to imagine that we would be Amys but I suspect some people are happy with the quiet life like Rory is.

Matt Smith's Doctor gets to be more serious this week as he faces off against the Dream Lord. Even when he is unsure of reality he still rescues the bystanders in Upper Leadworth before helping Amy and Rory.

The Dream Lord is a brilliant villain played by Toby Jones. His costume is a reflection of the Doctor's. It is a shame he and the dreams are just the result of psychic pollen. He could just as easily have been the Valeyard.

The sleepiness of Upper Leadworth s well conveyed with the bird song and Murray Gold's slow calming music. It's a shame ther wasn't more of a connection to the original Leadworth. Perhaps Mrs Poggitt could have been the Anne Reid character. Maybe Jeff could have made a brief cameo as well.

The Eknodines that possess the old people will probably not be remembered as the most remarakable villina of Doctor WHo. he image of an eye sticking outof an old person's mouth was creepy.

There haven't been many dream episodes in Doctor Who is Amy's Choice is a decent adventure by Simon Nye. A nice small character piece for a decent Tardis team.

University Challenged

I've handed in a load of University projects recently. All that's left is a fascinating project on myths and fairytales, pretty ironic considering what Moffat has been doing with Doctor Who, and of course, an exam on murder mysteries.

Still, with a lot off my load I can hopefully spend more time with my housemates, especially since the sun is coming out.

Best Picture of 2010

Check out this photo of Doctor Who producer of Beth Willis! Soaking wet!


This new series gave us something good, at least

Doctor Who 5x06: Vampires of Venice

The Doctor Who production team seem to be making a habit of overseas location filming these days. It's a great thing for giving the series a sense of scale. Venice is one of my favourite holiday destinations and I am really happy that this was the location chosen, even if the filming was actually taking place in Croatia.

The script was written by Toby Whithouse. The last time he wrote for  Doctor Who was for Series 2 with School Reunion. Both scripts share similarities. This is a tale where a generic invasion by aliens is a backdrop to a character plot. This time around the generic aliens are the Saturnine, alien fish people instead of alien bat people and the character based story is the return of Rory Williams. There's even a similar scene in both stories where the Doctor confronts the leader of the aliens and declares that he will stop them.

The generic aliens of this piece are the Saturnine. Vampires who turn out to be fish. Very little is revealed about their history other than that they fled from something called "the silence" and came to Earth through one of those cracks in time. They are converting human girls into Saturnine females so that they can be bred be with the surviving Saturnine males and give birth to a new generation of Saturnine. The CGI Saturnine were fairly well realized although there's a sloppy error at the end where the villain's cloak is actually part of her legs, but then she takes her cloak off at the end.

Amy gets very little development this episode in spite of the fact that she has just been reunited with her fiance. She is also completely unapologetic for cheating on her boyfriend in the previous episode, which makes her come across as more than a little unlikable. Rory on the other hand, is a bit of a coward in the face of danger, like Mickey Smith during the Rose Tyler period. Similarly, Rory has been researching the latest scientific theories.  However, unlike Mickey, Rory he is a good nurse and his compassion for the attacked flower girl demonstrates that he is less selfish than Mickey.  He is a welcome addition to the Tardis crew.

Matt Smith's Doctor continues to be mad, funny and brilliant. His first scene, bursting out of a cake at Rory's stag night, was a hoot. It's not all fun and games though, as the scene where the Doctor confronts Madame Calvierri demonstrates. The scene begins with the Doctor sitting on a throne, calm and in control. So much for the naysayers, including myself who once thought that Matt Smith would not be able to dominate a scene.

Other than the Doctor, companions and villains the only other characters are the Gondolier, Guido and his daughter Isabella. Guido is determined to get his daughter out of the school but his grief is not really explored. He ends up being the sacrificial lamb when he uses gunpowder to blow up the fish girls.

Vampires of Venice is a fairly straightforward tale with some nice moments but nothing really spectacular. Still, at least we now have two companions in the Tardis for the first time since the 80s. I'm looking forward to seeing more Doctor/Amy/Rory interaction and how this will affect Rory's wedding plans.

3/5

Current Events

I've taken up smoking again. I't's been a while, but I've missed its soothing effects.

In other news, the Election is over, we're stuck with a bloody Hung Parliament. This means nothing's going to get done, just like the last time we got one. Another Lib/Lab pact looks likely, but Gordon Brown is threatening to resign over this. I may be more supportive of the movement if he does.

We're nearly halfway through the new Series of Doctor Who. It's good so far. But I want it to be great. I want an episode that changes my perceptions of the program, just like RTD used to do. Still, Moffat has at least one or two more years to do this. Matt Smith is now firmly the Doctor.

Less than six Weeks left to go of Uni. Hooray! And one presentation and exam. Boo!

Doctor Who: Flesh and Stone

At least they've got comfy chairs!

In last week's episode, the Doctor, Amy, River and a group of soldier-clerics were hunting down a lone weeping angel through a series of caves. Now the hunters become the hunted, and the Doctor and friends are being pursued into the Byzantium Ship. The use of the gravity globe to lift the team to safety was a fairly predictable resolution to last week's cliffhanger, even if they hadn't given it away last week. Fortunately, the rest of the episode gets better. The Doctor, Amy, River and the soldier-clerics  are able to withdraw into the wreck of the Byzantium spaceship. They soon discover a crack-in-time aboard the ship, which may turn out to be more of a threat than the Angels.

Flesh and Stone is a little more fast paced and action-oriented than last week's slower and creepier horror atmosphere, but at least this episode keeps up the tension. Moffat continues to find new ways to make the Weeping Angels seem threatening, by draining ship power. There is also the idea that a person who looks into the eyes of an Angel can become an Angel. It takes the idea that you must not blink at an Angel and makes it scarier int hat you have to be careful what you see when your eyes are open.

It's good to see that the mystery of the cracks is being addressed so early on. In previous years, the story arcs would just involve one word tacked on to otherwise stand alone episodes.  This time we know that the cracks were the result of an explosion and the Doctor knows the date when it will occur. It's nice to see Moffat weaving his arc in to the individual stories.

Matt Smith continues to be a superb Doctor, getting several wonderful moments during the death of Father Octavian, and losing his patience with River. We also see how confused his Doctor gets when a woman comes on to him!

Karen Gillian gets to show more emotional range as Amy is faced with iminent death. This new vulnerable side makes her much more relatable than she was before. Of course, Amy's most famous moment comes at the end of the episode. I have mixed feelings about this. I don't mind the idea that the companion fancies the Doctor, and it's understandable that a former kissogram might be less inhibited, but it does seem jarring compared to the horror that comes before. I guess after facing danger, her mating instincts kick in.

Faced with a dangerous situation, River Song shows her more serious side, allowing Alex Kingston to imbue depth into the character. We now know that she killed someone, but who is it? Could it be the Doctor? Personally, I can't wait to find out more.

So, that's three episodes of Series Five that are great and two that are slightly poor. Things are looking okay so far.

Next Week: Vampires in Venice...nuff said. Looking forward to it.

Free Comic Book Day

To sooth my current academic misery, I attended the Free Comic Day with my housemates, Phil, Adam and Tom. Bought myself a copy of Detective Comics #684, and got free crap along with it.

Batman crouching moodily over the gates of Arkham...the more things change....

Although I'm not always up to date on comic books news, I did find out that Detective Comics is being retooled for Batman only stories. Obviously having Batman comics, graphic novels, films and cartoons aren't quite enough for the heads of DC.

As a story, it's pretty typical Batman fare. Jeremiah Arkham, the former Black Mask, has a plan to lure Batman back into Arkham Asylum.  To be honest, this whole "psychological villain" thing now feels as cliched as the generic supervillain stuff. I rather more enjoyed The Question storyline.



This one, Iron Man Vs. Thor, is slightly more interesting. It's bascially just an eco-tale of people who want to colonize the moon. Tony Stark built the technology that helps the villains, and Thor hates what they're all doing to nature. Pretty standard stuff, really.

The Free Comic is G.Joe, something I know very little about because in Britain, we had Action Man instead. I had a ninja action man, cause ninjas are cool. Anyway, I don't really care enough to judge the Free Comic I got . It seems fairly okay. The cover promises that the villains have won, though they haven't really.