Since it was revived in 2005, Doctor Who has been a consistent hit for BBC and BBC America.
The show’s 50th anniversary special is tomorrow, so in honor of it, here is my season by season reviews of the revived series – I’m not up to tackling the 26 seasons and hundreds of episodes from the classic series.
Season One:
Season one reintroduced the Doctor, the time traveling alien and his bigger on the inside than the outside spaceship the TARDIS. Christopher Eccelston played the Doctor with just the right mix of swagger, humor and mystery. Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper, was a nice counterpoint to Eccelston’s doctor – the right mix of naivete, brashness and warmth.
My favorite episode of the season remains The Empty Child. Deliciously creepy, it was a heady mixture of sci-fi, spookiness and derring-do. It also had the distinction of introducing the world to Captain Jack Harkness – time agent, con-man and dashing, pansexual hero. The Empty Child was part one of a two part story that concluded with wonderfully optimistic The Doctor Dances. (“Just this once . .. just today everybody lives!”)
The season one finale, The Parting of the Ways, is a personal favorite. Yes, I know, the plot didn’t quite make sense, but the episode had emotional honesty and power. I could forgive the plot holes.
Season summary: for a first season, it was generally very good. There weren’t any bad episodes and even the less than stellar episodes were good viewing. It was a great re-launch for the series.
Season Two:
With the doctor’s regeneration and the arrival of David Tennant as the Doctor, the show changed in tone. Eccleston’s Doctor was more serious. Tennant’s doctor was complex, multi-layer, but more adventuresome and emotive. The season began with the Christmas special, then a few months later, began the 13 episode season proper.
For me, the high point of season two was the two parter The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit. The second episode, Tooth and Claw, had a nice combination of sci-fi, humor, spookiness and slightly manic energy. Love & Monsters, the doctor-lite episode, was heartfelt, emotionally compelling and strongly character-driven; it is a stand-out episode.
I disliked the two part story in episodes 5 and 6 (the Cybermen episodes); I was unimpressed with episode 11 (Fear Her) and the season finale two parter (Army of Ghosts and Doomsday) left me a little cold. Yes, the end, with Rose swept out of our reality, was a tear-jerker, but even while watching it the first time I thought there was too much techno-babble and some giant plot holes.
Season summary: season two introduced David Tennant as the Doctor and almost any of its shortcomings can be forgiven for that. Tennant’s Doctor is my favorite (including the Doctors I’ve seen from the classic series). Overall, the season wasn’t as strong as the first, but it was never bad. However, unlike other seasons, it hasn’t held up as well for repeated viewings.
Season Three
Rose is gone, replaced by Martha Jones. I immediately liked Martha, but they the middle of the season, I stopped liking her. However, a couple Martha episodes are some of the best episodes overall.
Season three began with a Christmas special, The Runaway Bride, that introduced future companion Donna Noble. The Runaway Bride was manic from beginning to end. The Doctor and Donna run, drive, fly and get chased all over London. As episodes go, it was mostly forgettable.
Season three proper began with Smith and Jones, followed by The Shakespeare Code and Gridlock. Together, these three episodes are some of the revived series best. Season three promptly fell apart with Daleks in Manhattan, Evolution of the Daleks and The Lazarus Experiment - definitely the weakest episodes of the season. 42 was interesting but less than compelling since the conclusion was never in doubt (although it had a nice Martha lost in space in the future scene).
Human Nature and The Family of Blood were a strong episodes, remarkable because they dared comment on racism, sexism, and the evils of war and violence. Easily as strong as the first three episodes of the season, they were followed by the creepy doctor-lite episode Blink, a fan and personal favorite, and one of the top episodes of the series overall. The season seemed to be picking up steam.
Then came the three part season finale. Utopia, The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords were a mixed bag. Utopia was almost a classic episode – aliens, humans, spaceships, mysteries and hidden identities. It had a strong forward momentum, a fantastic cliff-hanger ending and Captain Jack flirting with everyone. The next two episodes squandered all those strengths. These episodes were Russell T. Davies’ era Doctor Who at its best and worst – epic, logically challenged, character focused and morally serious. The Doctor and Martha defeat the doctor’s second oldest enemy, a fellow time lord and villain, The Master with words. But don’t examine the plot too closely – it doesn’t make any sense and the Doctor’s transformation at the end is a fairly massive bit of deus ex machina. Howver, Martha’s final speech to the Doctor (“So this is me . . . getting out.”) is a masterpiece monologue; emotionally true to the character, smart, and heartfelt. Freema Agyeman’s acting was almost always good, but by midseason Martha was mooning over the Doctor, robbing the character of her strengths.
Season summary: When it hits its stride, season three is masterful television. When it stumbles, it falls flat on its face. Martha started off strongly, a great companion but her doe-eyed love for the Doctor wore thin. Martha’s closing speech came within a hair’s breadth of redeeming the character. The uneven quality made season three frustrating – great episodes followed by bad episodes and a conclusion that stretches the viewers’ credulity rendered it, for me, the most debatable of the Russell T. Davies’ era.
Season Four
As usual, the season began with a stand-alone and largely forgettable Christmas episode. (I’ve read online reviews and apparenlty lots of fans liked this episode so I recognize I’m in the minority about this episode)
The season proper began with Partners in Crime and the reintroducton of Donna Noble, the runaway bride, as the Doctor’s new companion. My response to Donna was almost immediately positive. Unlike Rose who was young and malleable or Martha who was clearly besotted with the Doctor, Donna related to him as more of an equal, companion and friend. In Partners in Crime, Donna and Doctor miss each other several times before a fantastic, slapstick reunion that remains for me laugh out loud funny.
Following the pattern of seasons two and three, season four started strongly and sagged in the middle – the two part The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky had some nice moments but were never compelling. The Doctor’s Daughter was a solid enough episode but didn’t quite make it to good. The next episode, The Unicorn and the Wasp, was entertaining and gave David Tennant and Catherine Tate an opportunity for more shtick. It was solid enough and enjoyable enough.
The next four episodes were uniformly strong. The two parter, Silence inthe Library and Forest of the Dead, were possibly the best season four episodes. They introduced River Song, who plays a major role in future seasons and managed to mix scary with scifi in the correct proportions. Midnight was a Donna-lite episode, a disturbing pyschological drama with a group of characters trapped in a stalled vehicle on an uninhabitable planet. Then came the Doctor-lite episode Turn Left. The premise of Turn Left is simple enough – what would have happened if Donna and the Doctor never met. The episode essentially unwrites the last two seasons of the show and gives us a look at what the world would be like. We also see Donna at her best – determined, courageous and terrified. She saves the whole universe simply by being herself. Typical Russell T. Davies view of the world she saves it not through violence or weapons but through a dramatic act of self-sacrifice.
I struggle with the season finale two parter The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End. Sure they’re big and bold and grandiose. The whole of reality is going to erased. There are explosions and threats and mysteries. And the plot makes little to no sense.
But they’re incredibly compelling TV. Some of the character moments are the show’s strongest – the Second Doctor saying to Donna, “all that shouting at the world because you’re afraid no one would notice you otherwise. You’re brilliant,” and then the Doctor-Donna saving the universe followed by the heartbreaking end of her character arc. Still, for all their “event TV” tricks and their fantastic pyrotechnics, The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End were unsatisfying.
Season summary: Season four remains my favorite of the revived series. David Tennant and Catherine Tate had great onscreen chemistry. Season four suffered from Davies’ trademark excess, especially in season finale, but it was also filled with his trademark strengths – strong characters with real emotional connections and worldly perspective and liberal values combined with moral seriousness.
Season 4.5
Season 4.5 were also known as the 2008-2010 specials, four episodes planned to cover the gap between producers and show runners and give the new creative team time to get up to speed. The first two episodes, The Next Doctor and Planet of the Dead, were nice enough but unremarkable. The Waters of Mars was the real standout episode. The massive two parter The End of Time can only be described as excessive, grandiose, and noisy. The plot was massively over-complicated but the episodes moved with so much momentum that it was easy to get lost in the excitment of it all. The return of the Time Lords made for some fantastic visuals. It was great way to end both David Tennant and Russell Davies tenures. I think Davies had taken the show as far as he could and it was a good time for his departure.
Season Five
For me, season five missed the mark. Matt Smith’s doctor was intended to be a more puckish character the the prior doctors (more like classic series’ Patrick Troughton’s portrayal). Karen Gillan’s Amelia Pond started off fun but lost steam pretty quickly; Matt Smith’s doctor didn’t work for me. Season five suffered from massive over-plotting. Where seasons had suffered from sloppy plotting, season five was massively over plotted – it was intended to be a complex, season long story arc and while it was pretty tight, the plot came at the cost of characters.
The season’s best episode was the surprisingly humane The Beast Below. The season closer, The Big Bang, was a highly entertaining mess. In between, I thought the season was never better than mediocre.
Season summary: season five is my least favorite season. It was never genuinely bad but didn’t live up to its own ambitions.
Season Six
Another forgettable Christmas special (and an espeically cloying one at that).
Season six was massively overly complicated and entirely entertaining. Starting with the two part season opener, The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon, most of the season felt like it was charging ahead a breakneck pace. I can skip over the next episode – mindless entertainment – and jump to episode four written by Neil Gaiman, The Doctor’s Wife.
The Doctor’s Wife is a bit schizoid. Superficially, it seems inconsequential, mostly filler. But a second viewing reveals a surpisingly dark episode. The next two episodes, although absolutely central to the season’s story arc, felt like an aside (but they were mostly entertaining and a little creepy) and took too long to get where they were going. Then came the mid-season finale, A Good Man Goes to War.
Season six’s mid-season finale, with the reveal, at long last, of River Song’s identity – she is Amy and Rory’s kidnapped daughter all grown up and married to the Doctor. Like most big secrets, there was no way it could live up to the mystery itself. Although the episode improves with a second viewing, I can’t say it entirely succeeds. It doesn’t stand up to close examination of its various plot points and character’s motovation.
The second half of season six delivered one stand-out episode, two good episodes and an episode best not watched. I think the best Amy Pond episode ever was The Girl Who Waited; it was also the best episode of season six. The God Complex was classic, highly entertaining scifi TV. Let’s Kill Hitler should have been awful but somehow managed to be manic, entertaining, and heartfelt all at once. I wanted to dislike it, I ended up liking it, but it missed the mark just enough to land it in the “good” category. I’m only mentioning the execrable Closing Time to say “Don’t watch it more than once.” And I’m largely ignoring the logical holes in The Wedding of River Song. Steven Moffatt wrote himself into a corner and had to cheat to get out of it. It was entertaining enough that I was willing to forgive the holes. It wasn’t the best ever episode but somehow it entertains and I can forgive its faults.
Season summary: Don’t ask me why but season six (mostly) worked. Other than the generally awful Closing Time, it was entertaining (The Lodger from season five featured the same supporting character and was my least favorite episode of that season). Sure it was an an overplotted mess but it was an extremely entertaining over-plotted mess.
Season Seven
Going into season seven, fans knew Amy and Rory were departing during the season and a new companion had been chosen. It had the usual forgettable Christmas episode followed by the proper season opener.
Season seven was underwhelming. Asylum of the Daleks was a strong episode to start the season – the plot was straightforward and well done (and snuck in Clara, the future companion in a complete surprise to viewers). The remaining Amy and Rory episodes felt emotionally distant. They weren’t bad (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was good clean fun and The Power of Three had some good moments) but they lacked emotional depth. Rory and Amy’s departure in The Angels Take Manhattan felt anti-climactic. It wasn’t bad, but it was never great.
The Snowmen introduced us (again) to Clara. Only a different Clara. The scifi jumble gave way to a surprisingly heartfelt episode that enjoyed more than I expected. In this episode, Clara felt like the most entertaining companion in a long time. Unfortunately, the season had peaked. Other than Hide the rest of the season (except the season finale) was less than amazing. Hide worked simply because it was a haunted house science fiction story. The Crimson Terror was entertaining but the plot was so complex I’m not sure even the villain understood her scheme. The season finale, The Name of the Doctor exemplified everything I’ve liked and disliked about Steven Moffatt era Doctor Who. The sloppy plotting of earlier seasons has largely been fixed but the episode was wildly complex. The characters remained out of focus the whole time and Clara’s motivation simply befuddles me. That said, I think the episode was more good than bad – especially the huge reveal at the end of a previously unknown incarnation of the Doctor.
Season summary: Season seven was competent. I’ve never warmed up to Matt Smith’s doctor so I welcomed word of his departure after the Christmas episode; I thought Rory was a more interesting companion than Amy but he was under-used. River Song was underused this season. Clara is fun, more like a classic Doctor Who companion than a modern one and that’s fine. For me, the seventh season was better than season five but not quite as good as season six.
So what episodes are do not miss?
In not particular order:
The Empty Child
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
Turn Left
Midnight
The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit
Tooth and Claw
Love and Monsters
Blink
Utopia
Gridlock
The Shakespeare Code
Human Nature/The Family of Blood
The Girl Who Waited
The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
The Snowmen
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