My thoughts on Series Five
Well, it's over, and I'm kind of sad to see it go. I've not been quite sure how I've felt about it the whole way through, but now that it's finished I think I'll miss it. Most of the episodes have been enjoyable and often exciting, have had me grinning and laughing - and I get that as a children's show that's what it should be doing. But I want more from Doctor Who.
It took me a long time to work out exactly what it was I'd been missing, but last night, after a finale that had me grinning like a lunatic, I finally worked it out. The characters. I want what I had in the first four series. Oh don't get me wrong, RTD messed up sometimes too, but that was almost invariably in regards to plot, and overdoing things. Personally, I'm a character person, so I was able to look over that kind of thing for the most part. But regardless of that, RTD was brilliant with character scenes. He likes them best (he's admitted it himself) and when you look at his other work it's what he's always leaned more towards. His character scenes never hit you over the head as being that. They were natural and subtle and generally awesome. He made me care. I cared about Ten, about Nine and Rose, about Donna. I cared about Jack (although less so as time went on). I cared about Martha, although she was my least favourite companion. Moffat ... isn't good with characters, or at least not as good. He's good with plot and complexity and action. I like most of his characters. But I don't care about them they way I did in the RTD era. Except Rory. I love Rory.
I'm going to go over the series character by character, then episode by episode, and then sum it all up. Because if I want this to make any sense then I need to be more organised than I was in the last couple of paragraphs.
The Doctor: He's brilliant. I love Matt Smith. He's funny and bad-tempered and young and old. He cares. He's eccentric as anything. He has this absolutely wonderful way of talking where he just sort of 'plucks' the words. It's beautiful. He is so much the Doctor. But he's not Ten. Maybe that's me being biased, but then again, maybe not. It's nothing to do with Matt Smith, he's done a brilliant job. It is, I suppose, the writing. It's failed to make me care about him the way I do Ten - or even Nine, or Eight (who has, strangely, become one of 'my' Doctor's). He's brilliant, but he hasn't touched me the way I need him to to fall completely in love. I love the things he does and says, how he acts, but somehow it hasn't all drawn together into a cohesive whole that makes me love him. At least, not as much as I want to be able to. Maybe it's because we haven't seen enough - certainly I found myself caring about him more as the series went on, but never quite enough. Hopefully that will change in the next series.
Amy Pond: I wasn't sure about her at first. She was so completely unlike me - pushy, dominant, completely self-confident - that I struggle to identify. I still do, but I like her more now. I do think Moffat has this tendency to only write very obviously strong women. What happened to those with quiet strength? Who might be a little bit shy? Who can take care of and stand up for themselves without being so in your face about it? I don't know. But she has grown on me as the series progressed, so I can't really complain.
Rory: I love him. He's a little bit insecure, occasionally ridiculous, and totally wonderful. He loves Amy, he's realistically brave, he read up on dimensions. I couldn't love him more. In spite of Moffat's failings as a character writer, I have to say he succeeded where Rory is concerned, although the achievement of the actor really shouldn't be ignored here either. I cried when he died. I shouted yes when he came back, and I acted like a crazy person when I realised he and Amy would be travelling with the Doctor in the TARDIS next season too.
River Song: I hate her. I've always hated her. I'm sorry to fans of her, but I do. She's too Mary-Sue. she's the reason I wonder whether Moffat is capable of writing a subtler female character than in-your-face strong, dominant woman. I'm a girl. I'm not being sexist, I'm just being realistic. Strong women are fine, but they can be characterised a bit more realistically/fleshed out better than Moffat has shown himself capable of. We have the same sort of character in Liz X, and in some ways Amy is similar too. Please, Moff, give us some variety. (I will also admit to being biased against River because I really don't like the idea of the Doctor being married. I just can't see it, and I don't really want to. The fact that they're making so much of it only annoys me more).
The Eleventh Hour: Couldn't have loved it more. A really, really brilliant first ep and intro of the Doctor. Young Amelia was perfect, the Doctor was fantastic, and it was generally very fun and exciting. To be honest, I wonder whether part of why I felt so indifferent to the following episodes was because this one set the bar so high.
The Beast Below: This was ok. I liked some of the Doctor bits in it, and the fact that Moffat hasn't decided to completely dismiss/ignore the fact that the Doctor is the last of his kind. On the other hand, I think this is a pretty good example of how he isn't as good with character/character scenes as RTD: we were almost literally beaten over the head with the Doctor=Space Whale metaphor. It wasn't natural or subtle, and it didn't really work, although I suppose I can see what he was getting at.
Victory of the Daleks: This ... wasn't such a great episode. I really don't like the new Daleks, and the ending was flat. On the other hand, I loved the Doctor's hatred of the Daleks and the way he completely lost control of himself/his anger. Really brilliant, and totally believable.
The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone: Some of this was good. I hate River, so that kind of detracted from my enjoyment, but they were still reasonable episodes. On the other hand, I didn't really like some of the changes made to the Angels. I enjoyed these, in a 'these are thriller episodes, and they keep my attention kind of way', but I wasn't fussed about watching them a second time.
The Vampires of Venice: Good, fun, and it had Rory, which helps. I've only seen this the once, and I guess it wasn't particularly memorable, since I'm struggling to bring the details to mind, but there were definitely enjoyable moments, usually centered around Rory.
Amy's Choice: I liked it at the time, and I thought the concept was interesting. Again, I've only seen it the once and can't remember a great deal, but it certainly wasn't bad.
The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood: I liked this. I liked the Doctor and Amy and Rory's relationship and interaction, and it was fun and exciting. I also really liked the woman, Nasreen, which was pleasantly surprising. Although I just checked, and Moffat didn't write this episode, which means that aside from Amy, who I don't mind, he hasn't written a female character that I like in the last two series. Also: Rory died! Amy forgot him! I cried!
Vincent and the Doctor: I've watched this three times in quick succession. It's brilliant. The actor who played Vincent was fantastic, the writing was perfect, and I loved the little hinted mentions of Rory. Definitely one of my favourite episodes. This one had me watery-eyed too. It couldn't have been better.
The Lodger: Fun, interesting, enjoyable. The Doctor was good in it. I liked it, though it didn't stand out in any particular way.
The Pandorica Opens: Excellent set up, really had me wondering. Also, it brought Rory back! Yay! More River *sigh*, but it was good enough that it didn't bother me. I really liked the twist of it being the Doctor who was considered dangerous and got stuck in the Pandorica.
The Big Bang: Now this is what I'm talking about! We had all of Moffat's strengths - action, plot, complexity, and some truly amazing timey-wimeyness, plus character. I grinned liked a complete and utter nutcase almost the entire time, except for the points when i was wailing because I thought someone was dead/about to die/dying. Rory FTW! Two thousand years! I want him. A lot. The Doctor was fantastic. Amy was great - young Amelia was even better. I couldn't have been happier about the ending either - Amy and Rory married and on the TARDIS.
So, overall, aside from the niggling bits: great series. It improved as it went along, and hopefully the next series will be even better - I'm certainly looking forward to it.
It took me a long time to work out exactly what it was I'd been missing, but last night, after a finale that had me grinning like a lunatic, I finally worked it out. The characters. I want what I had in the first four series. Oh don't get me wrong, RTD messed up sometimes too, but that was almost invariably in regards to plot, and overdoing things. Personally, I'm a character person, so I was able to look over that kind of thing for the most part. But regardless of that, RTD was brilliant with character scenes. He likes them best (he's admitted it himself) and when you look at his other work it's what he's always leaned more towards. His character scenes never hit you over the head as being that. They were natural and subtle and generally awesome. He made me care. I cared about Ten, about Nine and Rose, about Donna. I cared about Jack (although less so as time went on). I cared about Martha, although she was my least favourite companion. Moffat ... isn't good with characters, or at least not as good. He's good with plot and complexity and action. I like most of his characters. But I don't care about them they way I did in the RTD era. Except Rory. I love Rory.
I'm going to go over the series character by character, then episode by episode, and then sum it all up. Because if I want this to make any sense then I need to be more organised than I was in the last couple of paragraphs.
The Doctor: He's brilliant. I love Matt Smith. He's funny and bad-tempered and young and old. He cares. He's eccentric as anything. He has this absolutely wonderful way of talking where he just sort of 'plucks' the words. It's beautiful. He is so much the Doctor. But he's not Ten. Maybe that's me being biased, but then again, maybe not. It's nothing to do with Matt Smith, he's done a brilliant job. It is, I suppose, the writing. It's failed to make me care about him the way I do Ten - or even Nine, or Eight (who has, strangely, become one of 'my' Doctor's). He's brilliant, but he hasn't touched me the way I need him to to fall completely in love. I love the things he does and says, how he acts, but somehow it hasn't all drawn together into a cohesive whole that makes me love him. At least, not as much as I want to be able to. Maybe it's because we haven't seen enough - certainly I found myself caring about him more as the series went on, but never quite enough. Hopefully that will change in the next series.
Amy Pond: I wasn't sure about her at first. She was so completely unlike me - pushy, dominant, completely self-confident - that I struggle to identify. I still do, but I like her more now. I do think Moffat has this tendency to only write very obviously strong women. What happened to those with quiet strength? Who might be a little bit shy? Who can take care of and stand up for themselves without being so in your face about it? I don't know. But she has grown on me as the series progressed, so I can't really complain.
Rory: I love him. He's a little bit insecure, occasionally ridiculous, and totally wonderful. He loves Amy, he's realistically brave, he read up on dimensions. I couldn't love him more. In spite of Moffat's failings as a character writer, I have to say he succeeded where Rory is concerned, although the achievement of the actor really shouldn't be ignored here either. I cried when he died. I shouted yes when he came back, and I acted like a crazy person when I realised he and Amy would be travelling with the Doctor in the TARDIS next season too.
River Song: I hate her. I've always hated her. I'm sorry to fans of her, but I do. She's too Mary-Sue. she's the reason I wonder whether Moffat is capable of writing a subtler female character than in-your-face strong, dominant woman. I'm a girl. I'm not being sexist, I'm just being realistic. Strong women are fine, but they can be characterised a bit more realistically/fleshed out better than Moffat has shown himself capable of. We have the same sort of character in Liz X, and in some ways Amy is similar too. Please, Moff, give us some variety. (I will also admit to being biased against River because I really don't like the idea of the Doctor being married. I just can't see it, and I don't really want to. The fact that they're making so much of it only annoys me more).
The Eleventh Hour: Couldn't have loved it more. A really, really brilliant first ep and intro of the Doctor. Young Amelia was perfect, the Doctor was fantastic, and it was generally very fun and exciting. To be honest, I wonder whether part of why I felt so indifferent to the following episodes was because this one set the bar so high.
The Beast Below: This was ok. I liked some of the Doctor bits in it, and the fact that Moffat hasn't decided to completely dismiss/ignore the fact that the Doctor is the last of his kind. On the other hand, I think this is a pretty good example of how he isn't as good with character/character scenes as RTD: we were almost literally beaten over the head with the Doctor=Space Whale metaphor. It wasn't natural or subtle, and it didn't really work, although I suppose I can see what he was getting at.
Victory of the Daleks: This ... wasn't such a great episode. I really don't like the new Daleks, and the ending was flat. On the other hand, I loved the Doctor's hatred of the Daleks and the way he completely lost control of himself/his anger. Really brilliant, and totally believable.
The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone: Some of this was good. I hate River, so that kind of detracted from my enjoyment, but they were still reasonable episodes. On the other hand, I didn't really like some of the changes made to the Angels. I enjoyed these, in a 'these are thriller episodes, and they keep my attention kind of way', but I wasn't fussed about watching them a second time.
The Vampires of Venice: Good, fun, and it had Rory, which helps. I've only seen this the once, and I guess it wasn't particularly memorable, since I'm struggling to bring the details to mind, but there were definitely enjoyable moments, usually centered around Rory.
Amy's Choice: I liked it at the time, and I thought the concept was interesting. Again, I've only seen it the once and can't remember a great deal, but it certainly wasn't bad.
The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood: I liked this. I liked the Doctor and Amy and Rory's relationship and interaction, and it was fun and exciting. I also really liked the woman, Nasreen, which was pleasantly surprising. Although I just checked, and Moffat didn't write this episode, which means that aside from Amy, who I don't mind, he hasn't written a female character that I like in the last two series. Also: Rory died! Amy forgot him! I cried!
Vincent and the Doctor: I've watched this three times in quick succession. It's brilliant. The actor who played Vincent was fantastic, the writing was perfect, and I loved the little hinted mentions of Rory. Definitely one of my favourite episodes. This one had me watery-eyed too. It couldn't have been better.
The Lodger: Fun, interesting, enjoyable. The Doctor was good in it. I liked it, though it didn't stand out in any particular way.
The Pandorica Opens: Excellent set up, really had me wondering. Also, it brought Rory back! Yay! More River *sigh*, but it was good enough that it didn't bother me. I really liked the twist of it being the Doctor who was considered dangerous and got stuck in the Pandorica.
The Big Bang: Now this is what I'm talking about! We had all of Moffat's strengths - action, plot, complexity, and some truly amazing timey-wimeyness, plus character. I grinned liked a complete and utter nutcase almost the entire time, except for the points when i was wailing because I thought someone was dead/about to die/dying. Rory FTW! Two thousand years! I want him. A lot. The Doctor was fantastic. Amy was great - young Amelia was even better. I couldn't have been happier about the ending either - Amy and Rory married and on the TARDIS.
So, overall, aside from the niggling bits: great series. It improved as it went along, and hopefully the next series will be even better - I'm certainly looking forward to it.