Doctor Who - Series 7 Part 1

BBC America is apparently not happy with the choice of Peter Capaldi as the new doctor. In fact, they're so unhappy that rumour has it they're considering creating an american version of the show.

I mean, of course, it went so well last time they tried.

So beginning my look back at the resurrected Doctor Who I'm going to take a look at the first half of recently concluded season 7 after the jump.

Asylum Of The Daleks kicks us off and does so in a fantastic way.  Everything about this episode works as an example of how a good Dalek episode should be.  It bounces between creepy, funny, awesome and heartbreaking over the course of fifty minutes.  Future companion Jenna-Louise Coleman absolutely nails the performance here and her revelation towards the end is all the more satisfying for how it's been staring you in the face the whole time.  Amy and Rory are great as ever, though the subplot about their temporary divorce does seem to come out of nowhere and is rather quickly resolved.

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship follows up the intensity of Asylum with a heaping dose of fun.  It takes it's rather silly concept (clue: it's in the title) and proceeds to explore it, first allowing the show some giggles and a few rollicking action scenes before a surprisingly dark but not out of character moment with the doctor and the episodes villain.

A Town Called Mercy is an example of Doctor Who's way of doing genre parody.  Mix some sci fi concepts into an existing genre, then throw the Doctor in there to complicate things further.  Doctor Who does a western.  If that concept appeals to you, you'll like this episode.  If it doesn't, you could probably take it or leave it.

The Power of Three is probably the weakest of this half of the series.  The plot drags its feet and the resolution (and indeed the introduction) of the villains plot feels rushed and crammed in at the end.  However, it wins points for the amount of character moments and truly great performances from Matt Smith, Arthur Darvill and Karen Gillan.

The Angels Take Manhatten is probably the highlight of the series, but also overloaded with "wait... what?" plotholes, the kind that occur to you an hour after the show has ended because you were so caught up in the ride up till that point.  Of particular note is the ending, where Amy and Rory leave the show finally.  Performances all round are stunning, the moment is well shot and shocking and you might go at least five minutes after the end before you start realising all the flaws with it.

Overall, Series 7 has probably been the weakest of Matt Smith's run.  There's nothing really wrong with it on an episode by episode basis, but it doesn't meet the bar set by season 6 and season 5, both of which has a consistently higher quality of episodes than this.  This half seemed to be more about tying up Amy and Rory's plotline than anything else and that's fine I guess, I would preferred that to be a subplot running under more stuff for the silence (we still don't know who blew the tardis up in series 5)

I'll get into more next time, when we take a look into the second half of the series.

Posted in: Doctor Who, Review, Series 7 Part 1, TV