Doctor Who: Series 6

See this is where and more importantly when I was a big fan.

This is the series I watched from the beginning live every week until the very end, with every twist, revelation, and foreshadowing moment fresh to my eyes. And I do still really enjoy it, for Matt's second series it does do everything on a bigger scale but is it better? Well we first start off with a rather interesting two-parter that was actually filmed in America, the first time in the show's history, set in Utah where The Doctor is rather shockingly killed before his companions and I don't mean regeneration, I mean he's a corpse now. But since we have time travel in the mix the same Doctor from the past appears and we follow the adventures and figure out (kinda) what exactly happened to result in his death. It's a very clever way to start the series because we've seen many movies start off with a huge climax but then we rewind and follow the series of events, so this is a unique take for the show that really hasn't happened since Trial Of A Timelord which is excellent by the way, go watch that, so we know how it ends yet it still grabs you. We kick off with a very interesting story based around the Apollo 11 moon landing which introduces us to a new alien under the monicrum of The Silence, who cannot be remembered if you stop looking at them, a kind of warped Weeping Angels system. We'll get back to them in a bit. After that we have a mixed bag of adventures, Curse Of The Black Spot is a bit of fun with pirates in tow. But the Rebel Flesh is absolute garbage and I have no problem saying it, mainly because it surrounds around clones of people who retain the memories of the original host and they try to fight for survival. This story has been told 10 million times better in many different sci-fi books, with better writing, characters, and dilemmas, it is so shoddily written with no real threat or importance except for pretty much a shock twist ending. It is the only reason it exists, and I can fully say you can skip it because I told you the premise. But it almost gets swept away because of the perfection that is The Doctor's Wife, a wonderful episode written by Neil Gaiman, he of the masterfully written Sandman series and American Gods and he even wrote Coraline. And if you know anything about his writting he is basically the supreme king of personifying ideas and objects, so what if the Tardis itself was infused with a young woman and her and The Doctor have a fun, lovable, and truly heart wrenching adventure? Well I'll give you a hint, I could praise it all damn day. The writing and character interactions are outstanding, going from sweet and loving to surprisingly dark and screwed up. Throw in the villain voiced by Michael Sheen who is quickly becoming one of my boys, an absolutely sublime actress who plays the human version of our beloved time machine, and a quite frankly emotion crushing ending makes this one of the best Doctor Who episodes we've seen so far. You can keep your Girl In The Fireplace, I will take The Doctor's Wife thank you very much. Then we have another new addition to the show format, we have a mid-season break after the really good but also really maddening episode A Good Man Goes To War. Now this hits spoilers a tiny bit but you'll still be fine. So let me lay this out and see if you can spot a problem: So it turns out before Amy and Rory even went to America, Amy was replaced by a clone and while the clone was travelling about, Amy was pregnant and is about to give birth. She has been kidnapped by this.....I don't even know, because she wakes up in like this super secret military base, and there is an army there dedicated to fighting and killing The Doctor and the more I think about it I'm having Arkham Knight flashbacks with this little plot point, like they have intel, are armed to the teeth, and have no doubts about ending this man's life. However! We don't know this militia's name, intention, their origins, or anything. It is literally just an army who want The Doctor dead. No reason why! None. At all. So instead of facing him head on or setting a trap, they kidnap his preggers best friend which shock of all shocks pisses him off! Heavily. So much to the point he starts calling in favors all over in time and space to siege the base and rescue his friend. I'll give you a million bucks if you can guess who loses. Now on paper this sounds awesome, The Doctor calling in favors and amassing an army to battle this unknown force to rescue his friend, but they do precisely dick to explain this opposing force. They handwave it away later on in the last frick fraking episode, but wait there's more! This series is trying soooo hard to CW, 90210, Gossip Girl this f***ing series by eluding that maybe Amy doesn't love Rory and that she and The Doctor made a half Time Lord baby. FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUU-

I'm back. Just......really? R-really? Might one inquire as to why this decision was made? Because me in my stupid little ape mind just wanted to watch a fun sci-fi adventure show meant for all ages, but there I go again being a silly old bean!

Okay. I'm fine now. My head hurts, there's a little blood, but I'm completely fine now. So, where was I? Oh right, the episode is okay let's move on to the second half. Let's Kill Hitler is a decent follow up to that episode, good plot stuff there. Night Terrors is an okay episode, just something normal. The Girl Who Waited is kind of fascinating with Amy trapped in a faster timeline so she grows older and older while Rory and The Doctor try to get her back, but the episode is so inhumanely slow that it was really hard for me to stay awake through which is a shame cause Karen acts her heart out in that. The God Complex is outstanding in content, and actually has one of the best and yet depressing endings to an episode ever. I'm serious this episode is like 9/10 just for the ending, it's so reminiscent of classic Doctor Who and the final shot still brings a tear to my eye. We have a lovely return from Craig, taking place a few years after The Lodger before the big series finale. Which they kinda screwed up but nevertheless is a really good ending and sets up future events fairly well. And I'm going to be real with you, I never anticipated the ending but it filled me with theories galore after it was over the first time I saw it. So how was this season? In some places, it was amazing! In some places, it made me want to pour bleach into my brain! Take from that what you will.

I think series 7 is an improvement. But I don't trust anything right now.

Doctor Who: Series 5

Oh memory lane here we come.

I think I finally remembered how I was introduced to the show, how it all started. I kept seeing adverts for the new episodes of Doctor Who, and they were late adverts too, nearing the end of this series. But nevertheless I was intrigued and maybe caught a bit of an episode though I can't remember which, and I started watching the marathons while this series was still going on. And yet I feel Matt is my Doctor, and in a way it's true, I remember watching his series one after the other, there on my sofa at 8:00 for every new episode! And honestly after all this time I still love this series and every episode is well done and should be watched. So, new Doctor, new companion, new opening, new everything! After a rather aggressive regeneration our new Doctor crashes into a young girl's garden and discovers a visible crack in the universe, and through a severely wounded Tardis he comes back over a decade later with the young girl grown up and so they travel amongst the stars on adventures and try to discern the cause for the cracks in the very universe itself. I think now that writing has shifted from Russell T. Davies to Steven Moffat, you'll notice a new storytelling aspect, Davies dropped hints here and there about the ultimate endgame for the series finale but Moffat centers the series around a conflict and the resolution of the conflict by the series finale. More of I guess a modern take where there's a huge event which is the result of a master plan that must be unfurled by our hero, and it's not bad at all because it causes speculation, theorizing, and something extra to provide the show beyond the elements we already love. I'm fine with that, and the adventures are so varied in time and setting and situation it never gets dull or predictable. Granted it slightly bites the show in the rear later on with the expanding mysteries, but for now it works. And I know so many people who just quit after David left, and I feel that to be such a shame cause Matt's first series is a damn good one! I love Matt to the moon and back for his potrayal of The Doctor, more fun and energetic like a child but still holds great wisdom and spirit. Which makes sense cause Matt is the youngest actor to play our favorite Time Lord since Peter Davison, and he is adorable sometimes! He really can play that full gambit from cute and fun to serious and dramatic and everything in between, I just love him. We have another ginger companion, this time so scottish it would almost put Jamie to shame and Karen Gillan is a dream, I adore her so but I feel her character is just a bit off. It starts out as adventures with friends and then out of nowhere she just wants to snog him. Hwhat?? I take such a grievance with this new companion viewpoint, can't companions just be friends with The Doctor and they both care about each other greatly and leave it at that? You don't need this bullshit romance, it will never happen so why even try? Just cease and desist! Aside from those quite frankly kind of uncomfortable character slips, I love her! Though her boyfriend is a tiny bit of a whiner, does this show just hate male companions? Captain Jack at least was game, I mean he did try to hop in bed with everything but you can't deny his likeability! Rory gets better though about halfway through the series, so I can't complain much there. River comes back and Alex Kingston...she is absolutely smashing in this series, in the acting sense and the looks sense, this woman is amazing and I fully ship her and Matt's Doctor hardcore, bit cougar-ish I know but they're cute dammit! Oh God, I'm rambling. Gotta get back on track. All the episodes are really good, we get the Daleks back with some rad new designs, the Silurians return not seen since the 80s if memory recalls with sleek new designs, an interesting return for the Weeping Angels, and much much more. Best episode hands down, Vincent And The Doctor. God dang it, that ending is still too much for me, it was already a very good episode but the ending just made it excellent. Just thinking about it now makes me want to weep, just flat out ugly cry because it touched my heart deep in the feels and I will never recover! Also The Lodger gets massive brownie points because it is so funny, and such a different episode but so so very welcomed in my eyes. Though I will freely admit I wish they just dropped a flippin' bomb on the audience for the finale, now I won't spoil it but for those of you who know it well and for those who will see it just remember these thoughts: Could you imagine if there was no second part to the finale? It just ended right there and you had to wait until the next entire series for a resolution. Oh my God. It would be talked about for years to come, people would be blowing up message boards and fan sites throwing theory after theory out, think The Reichenbach Fall but with Doctor Who. Maybe that's where Steven got the idea. I mean it gets dark and looks pretty much hopeless, Doctor Who rarely ever gets the chance to just stun the world into silence with an ending. The only time that really happened was Earthshock, in more ways than one, that ending.....you could hear a pin drop at the end of that. People still talk about it, and for good reason, it did the unthinkable in a groundbreaking and incredible way. We need more of that! If we didn't even have music over the credits, just text crawl on pitch black background it would have been a big moment. Not complaining but come on, you have to give me a bit of credit! But anyway, awesome new everything, fully recommend it, Matt will always be nearest and dearest to my heart and we have quite a bit of time with him yet.

Next series, get ready for another real bomb this time.