The New Doctor Who Review

Doctor Who - "A Good Man Goes To War"

2013-02-25T21:16:00.000-06:00

WHOSCALE: 4 out of 10

For those who didn't see this season as it aired, Series 6/Season 32 was divided into to halves; the first half was shown in the spring of 2011, while the second half started in the fall. This episode marked what Moffat described as a "game-changing cliffhanger" for the first half.

Frequently throughout this season, I have had to re-watch these episodes several times in order to get a confident grasp of what was going on so that I can be assured that I gave it a fair review. With Series 5/Season 31 however, this was not the case. Oddly enough, that season scored higher than any other season so far. Coincidence? Probably not.

This review will no doubt be extensive, because as the score indicates, there was quite a lot about this episode that just was plain silly.

Let's start with the title. Having followed the production of the series, this episode was originally to be titled "Demons Run." That title was later changed to "A Good Man Goes To War." Now obviously, the latter is a direct reference to The Doctor, which I constantly gripe about in the resurrection - the original series seldom - if ever - made direct references to the lead characters in episode titles. Perhaps the only exception were "The Two Doctors," "The Three Doctors," and "The Five Doctors." I know I sound like I'm being nit-picky, but the original series established a kind of format for episode titles, often beginning with "The" and following with an element relative to the story's overall plot. (i.e. "The Sunmakers," "The Romans," "The Aztecs," "The Silurians,") Another format that was regularly used was the "___ of the ___" format, or something similar. (i.e. "Talons of Weng-Chiang," "Terror of the Autons," "Seeds of Death.") These titles encompassed the story as a whole, and did not reference one particular element. In the case of the new series, Moffat & Co. frequently title episodes to either deliberately mislead viewers ("The Doctor's Wife," "The Doctor's Daughter," "The Next Doctor,") or they reference something that doesn't remotely relate to the plot of the episode, but more one specific character ("Amy's Choice," "Vincent and the Doctor," "Smith and Jones," "Partners In Crime,") These titles intentionally suggest that the episode is chiefly about the characters referenced, and not about a traditional Doctor Who dilemma, although some of these episodes often do have a great story, they're just mis-titled. "Smith and Jones," for example. The hospital was transported to the Moon, where we were introduced to the Judoon. The title is a reference to The Doctor's often used alias, John Smith and of course Martha's maiden name, Jones. Ironically, there was an 80s western series called "Alias Smith & Jones," that followed the adventures of two outlaws trying to clear their records. Whether or not this was a double reference, I'm not sure.

The bottom line is, the title of this episode was a reference to one specific element - that of the old tale about why the asteroid is called "Demons Run," and as such was a poor choice.

The opening sequence of this episode was painful for me to watch. Sequences like that of Rory in Roman attire managing to break into a Cybermen ship, reach the bridge and demand the wherabouts of his wife (as if the Cybermen give a f*** who his wife is, or where she is) shows that the producers take "Doctor Who is intended to be a children's show" literally. Portraying The Doctor, as well as his ordinary human companions as "super bad asses" doesn't give a sense of seriousness at all - it just looks rather silly. Granted, The Doctor is the hero of the series, but not in the Superman, Batman, Chuck Norris or Bruce Willis sense. The Doctor is the hero of the series like Colonel Jack O'Neill is the hero of StarGate SG-1. He's the lead character, and obviously the hero, but not to the point that he looks tremendously superior to the other characters.

Blowing up a Cybermen ship just to emphasize a question? That's just ridiculous. The Doctor would never do that over something so trivial. I'm not trying to downplay the issue of Amy missing, but why doesn't he just go to the Shadow Proclamation like he did in "The Stolen Earth?" Why would the Cybermen, of all species in the realm of Doctor Who, know anything about Rory's wife? Even IF they had intercepted information about that, why would they make a note of it? It is completely, totally, utterly, IRRELEVANT to the Cybermen and their objectives! Let's not forget the fact that The Doctor as of late has longed to see the ultimate end of the Cybermen, so why doesn't he just blow them all up right then? Since they're so easy to find, apparently. On a side note, the windows behind Rory on the Cybership are the same exact windows that looked out from the flight deck of the ship in "The Curse of the Black Spot."

The episode digs an even deeper hole by introducing two completely irrelevant characters - The Fat One and the Thin One. So irrelevant, that they aren't even given proper names - just a blatant reference to their sexual preferences. Why in God's name is a gay couple relevant here?! You could have just as easily omitted that detail, and the episode would still have worked seamlessly.

Yet another character that I question is that of Lorna Bucket, the girl who apparently met The Doctor once before in her childhood in the Gamma Forests. The purpose of this character was two fold; one to provide a bit more hero worship for the viewers watching that have embraced the notion that The Doctor is Superman in a bow tie, and to help close the thread of River Song's true identity, which I'll get to in a moment. My memory is fuzzy on the Tennant years, but I think this may have been done once before. A character is introduced and claims to have met The Doctor previously, only to spend the rest of their lives seeking him. Wait...it's come back to me now. Elton from "Love And Monsters" did that.

Why do all of the supporting characters in the new series have this overwhelming obsession with The Doctor? It's obvious that the production crew are attempting to create a link between the series and the avid fans of the show. In other words, they're blurring the lines between Doctor Who reality, and that of actual reality. I do not understand why this is necessary. If you need that to relate to the show, how the fudge did you watch "The Prisoner?"

Moving on. Another element that I found completely distasteful was that of The Doctor raising an army. OK, let's put this in perspective: Amy Pond, a girl who has been The Doctor's companion for less than 2 years, has been abducted since the events of "Day of the Moon." To find and rescue this companion - one who has spent less time in the TARDIS than Jamie - The Doctor blows up a Cybermen ship, and travels throughout the universe recruiting those he's saved in the past so that they can repay their debt to him. First of all, when did The Doctor expect some sort of repayment for what he does? I don't think The Doctor ever felt like the universe "owed him a debt," even though he may have joked about it from time to time. Strangely enough, he only recruits characters as far back as Series 5/Season 31 - The Judoon, the Silurians, the Sontarans, Danny Boy from "Victory of the Daleks," and Captain Avery from "The Curse of the Black Spot." How convenient. The Doctor has faced more menacing odds in the original series, and wiggled his way out of the situation without having to ask a favor from the universe. First he's so bad ass that he can blow up a Cybermen ship to ask a question, then he can't even rescue his companion without raising an army. I could go on for two more days ranting about how out of character this behavior was for The Doctor, so I'll leave it at this. I think I've made my point clear: Raising an army out of previous characters was not the route to go.

There are other moments that just made me want to face palm. For example, a scene that first shows the Headless Monks is conveniently accompanied by an overhead speaker system saying, "Reminder: It is a level 1 offense to remove the hood of a Headless Monk," or something to that effect. Immediately following this, one of the two gay couple asks aloud, "I wonder why they're called "headless monks? They can't actually be headless." REALLY?! Could you have made it more obvious? The entire audience was quietly wondering this until you wrote this first-year student shit. Now it's OBVIOUS: The Headless Monks are actually HEADLESS.

Speaking of the Headless Monks, way to rip off Star Wars again by making them look like Sith Lords wielding lightsabers. I know people may call me lame for making that reference, but let's be honest: No matter what you're doing in a series, if you present a weapon that's a glowing sword of any kind, people are immediately going to think "Star Wars."

By this time, I was getting sick of how River Song always has to be so cryptic with her dialogue. Never a straight answer to anything, and always riddles as answers. "He will rise higher than he's ever risen before, and then he will fall so much further." Damnit, if she feels she can't disclose any information about Demon's Run because of timelines and all that junk, why not just NOT SAY ANYTHING?! Just tell Rory that you can't say anything because it's his future and your past! This kind of crypto-clue talking was nice in "Silence In the Library," and maybe even in "The Time of Angels," but now you're just dragging it out. and it's annoying as hell.

As usual, the music was well overdone.

Yet another bit that makes me want to cringe is when Dorium just waltzes out to greet the pissed off Monks, thinking they will spare him because of previous dealings, even though he's just sold them out to The Doctor. This mindless sequence was done simply to emphasize that the Monks will chop your head off. Thanks Moffat, but we figured that would be the case when we saw them wielding swords. We didn't need to see someone just outright commit suicide to work it out.

Which brings up another dummy mark: Demons Run is occupied by an entire army of Silurian soldiers, but magically, a few Headless Monks (who can't inflict damage except at close quarters) manage to reduce the entire army to that of just Rory, The Doctor and Amy. Even the Sontaran Strax and Bucket are killed.

Is this even remotely supposed to be believable?

What about how the communications array gets taken out? Seriously? Danny Boy from "Victory of the Daleks?" I thought all the Dalek tech was destroyed in that story? So how does Danny Boy still have space flight capability on his Spitfire? To say nothing about how he managed to get from 1940s WWII torn Earth, to the Demons Run asteroid in the far flung future.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for me was that of River Song's identity. Are you telling me that a character who possesses the ability to time travel via a vortex manipulator, has dated androids, knows The Doctor's real name, is a professor of archaeology in the future, has dealt with Weeping Angels more than once, has the ability to regenerate and is in StormCage prison for killing The Doctor is simply Amy and Rory's DAUGHTER?! At this point, I was utterly disgusted with the series. The show had officially become entirely about the supporting characters. It was then that I realized that this entire episode was in fact about Amy and Rory. If you read by blog, or if you watch my YouTube rants, you know that is a total turn off for me as a Doctor Who fan. When you devote a thread that's spanned three seasons to character development in a series that's about traveling through time and space and saving the universe from menaces like The Daleks and The Ice Warriors, you lose all respect from me as a contributing writer.

We're only half way in to Moffat's second season, and already I want him gone.

So far, this was perhaps the lowest scoring episode of the new series, save for "Love and Monsters." A shame that it had to come from Steven Moffat, of all people.

Doctor Who - "The Almost People"

2013-02-18T23:26:00.002-06:00

WHOSCALE: 5 out of 10

Considering that in my opinion, the bulk of the story was covered in the first half of the previous episode, it should be no surprise that the second half of this two part story scored lower on the Whoscale.

Before I go into detail on what costs this episode so many points, I should note that the pacing for this story was a huge issue. I found it frequently difficult to understand what was going on because the dialogue from so many characters was gibberish. For some reason, Moffat seems to think that characters that talk extremely rapidly is "quirky." While this may be true, it should be a trait reserved only for the Doctor, not every character. When you get a room full of characters all conversing and their sentences are garbled because they're speaking so fast, it no longer becomes an appealing quirk, it becomes an irritating annoyance, because I cannot understand them.

Besides the almost non stop music throughout this entire episode, that is perhaps my biggest complaint. As I stated in my previous review, the initial plot and story was not a bad idea for an episode of Doctor Who. The fact that it was a two parter of course, always yields a few points. However, in spite of the story's two part format - and having watched this episode several times now since it aired - I still have trouble "keeping up" so to speak with the development of the story.

I think what I'm trying to say is that the episode does not have a very good structured narrative. For me, much of this episode felt like a mess, particularly when pointless elements start getting introduced into the story. For example, the doppleganger of The Doctor had no purpose whatsoever other than to confuse both Amy and the audience. Then we're forced to deal with yet another problem - as if we don't have enough of them already - Amy initially rejects the notion of "two identical Doctors," claiming that she can tell the difference between the two. This is later proven false due to The Doctor switching shoes with his ganger. What's even more ridiculous is that The Doctor claims that the reason he swapped shoes with his ganger was to determine whether or not Amy could truly tell a difference. Who the fudge cares?!

The more I reflect on what I've just watched, the more I find it difficult to even summarize the story in my head. There was too much already going on by the time the Doctor ganger was introduced. Already we had a missing Rory, a missing Jennifer, a missing ganger Jennifer, three or four other gangers running amok and plotting a revolution against the humans. This was more than enough to resolve within the confines of this episode - and that's if you don't count the final ten minutes, which had nothing to do with this story whatsoever.

Anytime a science fiction story deals with copies, there is always going to be that brief moment of confusion from the audience where they cannot tell which one is the original. Such an example would be the campfire scene in the snow in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, where a shape shifter takes on the form of Kirk, and a fight ensues. A few rolls in the snow later, we're confused on who the real Kirk is. However, the scene soon resolves this with the elimination of the shape shifter. My point is, it's confusing enough to drag out a story with two of every character over two episodes, it's practically mundane when you introduce a copy of a copy, as this episode did with Jennifer. We soon learn that Jennifer has in fact been dead for some time, at that BOTH the Jennifers that were walking around with Rory are gangers. Yet again, what purpose was served by having this element in the story? It served only to confuse the audience even further.

Since Moffat teased the audience with the death of The Doctor in the season opener "The Impossible Astronaut," it was clear that throughout the remainder of this season, Moffat was leading us on with suggestions at how the incident at the lake could be avoided or circumvented. With "The Curse of the Black Spot," were introduced to a life support system that could sustain a dying person indefinitely. With "The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People," we're introduced to a copy of The Doctor. Naturally, my first thought when seeing this originally was that perhaps The Doctor at the lake was this ganger. However, the ganger dies of course near the end of the episode.

The resolution of the story in my opinion was a joke. Cleaves' ganger - who for two whole episodes has sworn to wage war against the humans - suddenly decides that there is no point in the war and surrenders. Meanwhile, Jennifer, who is nothing more than a ganger, suddenly possesses the ability to morph into a horrific CGI monster similar to the one in "The Lazarus Experiment." That monster, in turn, was defeated by The Doctor's ganger simply pointing his sonic screwdriver at it, which reveals that it can break down the molecular patterns of the flesh, thus returning the ganger to a puddle of goo. So why not have just done this to the walkabout gangers from onset?!

The problem of having a double for each of the mining crew is quickly resolved by a few convenient acid-related deaths. The scene between the two Jimmys is practically scene for scene ripped from "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace," where a young Obi-Wan cradles a dying Qui-Gon. The fact that I'm actually finding similarities between a television series about time and space travel and a major motion picture franchise like Star Trek or Star Wars, shows that some, if not all of these modern Doctor Who episodes are well over done.

Yet one other problem that the entire story touched on, was the fact that the gangers were in limbo between "real human" and "ganger" (hence the title of the episode). This issue is magically resolved after the gangers enter the TARDIS. Apparently, the TARDIS energy stabilized their molecular structure, so they were suddenly human. How convenient.

It irritates me to my core when a writer is given the breathing room of two episodes, and yet the whole thing gets resolved in the final 10 minutes. It makes you wonder, "what the hell did we just spend the last hour doing?!"

The final sequence in the episode takes place in the TARDIS, and reveals the nature of the Eye Patch Lady that has been visiting Amy as a hallucination. Amy is revealed to be a ganger, which raises my next question. The ganger technology was unique to this time period, so assuming that Amy was copied during the time she was missing in "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon," (which was in 1969) how did the Silents become aware of this technology? It was a clever twist, but some of these little convenient resolutions feel like they were dreamed up at the last minute - to the point of just seeming ridiculous. To me, the whole "Amy is actually a ganger- a element that we just conveniently introduced" felt more like "this here, for lack of a better idea."

I wanted to score this episode high, because it had the core of a good Doctor Who story, but like so many others in the new series, it was presented in a fashion that simply does not work for a show like this.

Doctor Who - "The Rebel Flesh"

2012-08-29T23:02:00.000-05:00

WHOSCALE: 7 out of 10

Following the masterpiece by Neil Gaiman, Matthew Graham was up next with a two part story. This would be the second story contributed to the series by Graham - his previous being "Fear Her."

It's not far fetched to say that "The Rebel Flesh" wasn't as brilliant as the previous episode by Gaiman, but it nevertheless was certainly more in line with what Doctor Who traditionally was than the opening two part story. The setting for the episode roughly follows what we would have seen in the original series - a isolated island, and old medieval castle, a group of scientist that aren't dressed in modern day tank tops and cargo khakis. The setting and format, as well as the storyline are really what carried this one though on the Whoscale. However, there were quite a number of things that I frequently noted while watching it.

The biggest drawback for me in this episode was the fact that the initial problem - the solar storm causing the gangers to go walkabout - was rushed through within the first fifteen minutes of the episode. It was actually so rushed that I recall having difficulty understanding what was going on the first time I watched it. Rushing the openig struck me as strange, considering that the story had the breathing room of two episodes. Normally, a two part story can unfold fluently and relatively slow, such as the case of "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances." Once it was established that the gangers were now teeter-tottering between "almost people" and exact duplicates of their originals, the remainder of the episode focused solely on how the originals refuted the existence of self-aware gangers. At the same time, the gangers themselves struggled to accept their new humanity, and were met with rejection from their originals, as well as Amy.

That brings me to yet another disappointing element in this episode: The TARDIS crew are essentially divided into three camps on the doppleganger issue; The Doctor taking on a neutral role, as well as a peaceful coalition approach, while Amy sides with the originals and Rory defends Jennifer's ganger.

By this time, I was absolutely fed up with suggestive themes regarding the stability of Amy and Rory's marriage. This issue is completely irrelevant to the series, or any science fiction series for that matter. In Star Wars, Han Solo and Leia slowly began to fall in love with each the other, and Lucas loosely alluded to this over the course of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, but it was never so much that the central narrative of Star Wars had to be pushed aside for the sake of the audience finding out whether or not "it would work out." Simply because, that wasn't the issue, and it wasn't important. Not when you've got a platoon of Stormtroopers knocking at your doorstep.

With that said, I question why this continues to be a running theme in Doctor Who, even after it has been established (and then later undermined) numerous times that Amy's love for Rory and Rory's love for Amy is indisputable. The fact that I'm even having to gripe about "relationships" in a review of a science fiction series like Doctor Who is proof that somewhere, the show has gotten side tracked. This is something that shouldn't even be in a review like this.

The original series demonstrated for twenty-six years that you can have both male and female companions in the TARDIS simultaneously without having to incorporate a romantic theme. Jamie was the Second Doctor's companion for his entire run, save for the opening story for the Second Doctor, "The Power of the Daleks." Over the course of those three seasons, numerous female companions came and went, but never was a romantic plotline introduced, and the series did just fine. Some of the greatest stories in the history of the series were during Troughton's run.

The point is, science fiction needs to stick to being just that - science fiction. Any other genre that is introduced into such a series as a recurring sub-plot can serve no other purpose than to dilute the fundamental aim of the series - to appeal to the science fiction community.

I've ranted about that enough. Yet another minus for this episode was the overuse of incidental music. This is something that I'm very picky about, and it's often one of the revived series' shortcomings. In the world of film, music is a method of invoking an emotional response from the audience by communicating a particular mood, or it can serve to accompany action sequences to amp up the drama. However, it can also serve as a distraction, particularly during dialogue scenes. If the writing is poor, or the actors aren't great, incidental music can be used to as a smokescreen for these things. The actors all looked great, and the story was fair, but it seems that Murray Gold often uses incidental music as a means of keeping the episode from dropping into a "too slow of a pace for the iGens." Many fans who were introduced to Doctor Who in 2005 and have since watched some of the original series have complained that it was "too slow paced" or "boring" to them. Granted, they are partially correct when noting it's slower pace, but the writing was brilliant and so were the actors, so it didn't need a smokescreen. You had to pay close attention to know what was going on, and music during a critical dialogue scene would only disrupt the viewer's concentration.

To summarize, the solar storm causing otherwise lifeless gangers to become self aware was the basis for the STORY. However, rather than spread that over the two episodes, Graham rushed through that to focus on what would be the basis of DRAMA - how the two sides would cope with each other. In the midst of this drama fest would be a torn Rory looking after the safety of a female ganger, all the while making a jealous Amy furious. The basic recipe for a modern day science fiction program.

Already this story had disappointed on so many levels, and there was still half of it to go. For me, the story was covered in the opening fifteen minutes. What could there possibly be left to tell that would take an additional episode?

Doctor Who - "The Doctor's Wife"

2012-08-28T01:19:00.000-05:00

WHOSCALE: 8.9 out of 10

So far, the second season under the reign of Moffat wasn't looking good in terms of staying within the parameters of the original series. Steven Moffat, who had contributed the highest scoring episodes during the Davies era, had thusfar contributed the lowest scoring, with the exception of "Day of the Moon," which still only managed to score a 6.5.

As I mention occasionally, during the off-season I always follow the production of the upcoming series as closely as I can, so that I can get an idea of which direction the new season might be going. In the case of Series 6/Season 32, I had very little to go on other than some location shooting, so I was very much in the dark about it. When the episode title was revealed, I had the same feelings about it as I did towards "The Doctor's Daughter" before it aired. Like then, I couldn't have been more wrong about this one.

In my opinion, this was perhaps the best episode of the season, contributed by none other than Neil Gaiman, who was responsible for writing the film Coraline, which shared the darker tone that Gaiman presented with this episode.

The episode title was a total red herring - probably aimed at viewers who were already certain for themselves that River Song was indeed the Doctor's wife - because it never delivers on the literal meaning of it, having no marital reference of any kind. The episode brought back many elements from the original series that really made this one stand out while I watched it.

Gaiman pretty much rolled into a 45 minute episode what fans of the original series had been pining for since the revival in 2005 - a look at the TARDIS interior corridors, a post-Ninth/Tenth Doctor episode that contains a previous control room, a peek into The Doctor's history, and a story loosely involving Time Lords that weren't lead by James Bond and weren't stark raving mad.

There are so many little things that I noticed about this episode that instantly reminded me of the original series, and as a result it made the viewing experience more enjoyable - especially for someone who is watching through a pair of Phillip Hinchcliffe's spectacles. That's a figure of speech. I don't really have a pair of his glasses, but you get my meaning. If anyone has watched the original series as much as I have - in particular the Fourth Doctor era - they know very well the ambient sound of a proper barren alien world. "The Doctor's Wife" hits the nail right on the head in this regard. The ambient wind sound on the surface of The House was spot on.

The location for the surface shots were perfect, too. I'm not certain where they shot the scenes, I only know that it looks very familiar to the disused quarries that stood in for alien worlds during the original series. I know it's as overused as a Rory death, but it's the only setting that works without having viewers like me compare it to Tatooine, Abydos, Hoth, Dagobah, or Earth. Earth settings can sometimes slide by - if it's done right. For example, in the Fourth Doctor story "The Androids of Tara," the planet Tara was very much Earth like, but the episode's narrative made to attempt to draw attention to this fact, and so audiences just ignore the likeness and accept it for what it is - Earth standing in for the planet Tara. One thing that perhaps aided in giving the illusion of alien world was that the scenes were filmed at night, under a dark sky. Similar to "Utopia," this was probably to support the fact that the planet was set under a sky with no stars.

The TARDIS corridor scenes were beautiful. The designers went with the minimalist, hexagonal and roundel look, much like the original series, as well as using the same color palette as the First Doctor's TARDIS interior. Bravo! Beautiful, and I sincerely hope this isn't the last we see of them.

The episode also utilizes another minimalist aspect in the department of characters. Apart from Auntie, Uncle, and Nephew, Idris is the only other guest appearance on screen. Michael Sheen's bellowing voice as The House was superb, and fit the character like a glove.

Gaiman also elected to have The Doctor work with what he had around him to get himself out of an otherwise hopeless predicament - the TARDIS dematerializes in front of him, with Amy and Rory trapped on board. The Doctor is left in an abandoned junkyard full of wrecked TARDISes or TARDI, not sure which the plural is. With the help of Idris, who hold's The Doctor's TARDIS' conscience, The Doctor is able to build a make-shift TARDIS to come save the day. The make shift TARDIS room flying with the exterior exposed reminded me of the Third Doctor story "Inferno," one of my favorites from that season. Gaiman also included an Ood in this episode, which we had not seen since "The End of Time." Moffat improved the look of the Ood without a doubt, with lime green eyes and an orb.

If you're still reading, then you know by now that I have very little to bark at with this one. The only two things for me mainly were yet another Rory death, (we're up to five now!), and the somewhat heart wrenching farewell between The Doctor and Idris at the end.

The music was much more subtle this time around, although it did get a bit orchestrated at times, for the most part it was dark and subtle.

Much less use of skaky cam in this one, which was a plus. I failed to mention in my review of "The Curse of the Black Spot" how much shaky cam was used during that episode.

A brilliant episode, and it was certainly a breath of life after sitting through four episodes and having to spend an entire review with nothing positive to say. Hat's off to Mr. Gaiman, and I look forward to other stories he contributes, if he does.

Doctor Who - "The Curse of the Black Spot"

2012-08-27T22:27:00.000-05:00

WHOSCALE: 5 out of 10

Following the season's opening two part story written by Steven Moffat, show newcomer Stephen Thompson is up to bat.

Let me get something off my chest first: From this point on, the show will no longer be consider "Doctor Who," but instead called "The Fantasy Adventures of Amy and Rory."

It truly hurts to give this episode such a low score, because having kept up with production the year before, I was aware that much of the filming of this story would be set on a pirate ship. Although it was obvious that BBC did this to coincide with the release of the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" film, this episodes fundamental plot had tremendous potential to be a great episode of Doctor Who, in much the way the Fifth Doctor story "Enlightenment" was. However, much of that potential was flushed down the proverbial toilet in favor of senseless, mind-numbing drama amperage. When I say drama, I mean drama that isn't a natural result of the story, but is instead "forced" by scenes, music, sound effects, dialogue, etc. that in no form or fashion make their existence in the episode plausible.

Russell T Davies was notorious for this kind of page-filling gimmick, but I think this episode has to give him a run for his money, in both meaningless drama and plot holes. I'll start with the absolutely pointless scenes that did nothing more than serve as a drama injection:

1) The Dancer (Chris Jarman), is marked by the Siren the same time Rory does, and both are intoxicated by the Siren's song - which I'll get to in a moment. Both are marked, both intoxicated. Just to show audiences what happens when the Siren contacts a marked individual (since it was deliberately omitted in the pre-title sequence to add mystery), Jarman's character is allowed by all others standing right next to him - even his own shipmates - to just waltz up to the Siren. BAM! Jarman's character vanishes, and now everybody has a look of fright on their face. This sequence was entirely unnecessary, and is not even remotely plausible. It was written to reveal what we didn't see in the pre title sequence, as if that matters. I don't care WHAT the Siren does, what matters is that each time some is marked, they disappear without a trace!

2) The second time this happens, Toby accidentally drops the crown onto the deck. Everyone in the scene knows that the reflections are the method of entrance/exit by the Siren, and yet they all just stand and watch as the crown rolls across the deck and comes to a rest. No one panics until AFTER the Siren appears. What the fudgecake???????!!! That is so mind numbingly stupid that it makes me want to skip to the next episode. What's worse was the whole sequence was done in slow motion, to really pump up the drama factor. To quote Falco Lombardi, "Geez Loweez!"

3) The third pointless scene immediately follows number two. Toby has been marked since he was introduced. After the Siren appears, Toby is allowed to walk to her, his father watching the entire time and The Doctor. Again, no one goes in to "Oh noo!!!!" mode until AFTER Toby has been taken by the Siren. How is this scene believable???!! Captain Avery, who previously showed deep concern for his son, just lets him walk into the Siren's hands? (Literally.)

4) Why was Toby even in this story? His character had absolutely, positively, without any doubt NO PURPOSE. The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that he was there purely for the sake of heightening drama (more). Perhaps the producers think a kid in the episode helps the younger audience relate? Listen noobs, if you need a kid in a show of adults so that you can relate, you don't need to be watching. I grew up with Captain Kirk, Captain Picard, Roj Blake, Kerr Avon and Commander Sinclair. I didn't need a kid in Star Trek to relate with Spock's preference for logic. I didn't need a kid in Blake's 7 to relate with Avon's lack of trust towards others.

Now on to the plot holes. Oh, brother. This will take a minute.

1) After it was established that the Siren could only enter through a stable reflection, the remaining crew decide to hole up in the ship's magazine until a storm comes and disrupts the ocean's surface, thus making a stable reflection impossible. There's violent wind and rain, and Rory get's thrown overboard. Unable to swim, apparently. The Doctor elects to release the Siren so that she will save a drowning Rory. To accomplish this, The Doctor opens a barrel of water on deck. So how did the wind, rain, and tossing of the ship not disrupt that reflection as well?

2) Probably the biggest plot hole of the entire episode was when The Doctor, Avery and Amy agree to prick their fingers to lure the Siren out. Still in the storm, the barrel is closed, yet seconds after pricking their fingers, the Siren appears without needing a stable reflection.

3) Rory was saved by the Siren and placed on life support. While on the system, Rory is conscious, breathing normally and is talking to Amy. In order to breath normally, your lungs must be devoid of any kinds of fluids, particularly ocean water. When the life support is turned off, suddenly Rory jerks into a spasm because all of his breath is gone and he can't breathe. Let's assume the first part is plausible, and the Siren has removed the water from his lungs in order to sustain his life. Why would Rory die when taken off the life support? Now let's assume the latter is correct - Rory is still on the verge of drowning. How is he breathing normally? How you GET your oxygen can be changed - technology can bypass your nose and mouth to get oxygen to your lungs, but once your lungs are incapacitated, the body has no way to filter the oxygen into the blood stream. Both cannot be true.

4) The same problem as three goes a step further at the close of the episode, where all of Avery's crew are shown to be off life support now, without gasping for air. Granted, most of them had minor cuts, but Toby was described as being deathly ill.

Now that I've got the most notable drawbacks out of the way, I'll touch on a few other things that really brought this episode down.

The idea of the Siren was great, and I can see why it was necessary to cast a real-life model (Lily Cole) as the part, but her singing was a little to much like what we had just recently sat through in "A Christmas Carol." Once again, the singing is directly tied to the plot, this time as anesthesia. What really made me cringe was just after The Dance is taken, the Siren's singing changes notes to sync with the background music.

On the subject of music, there was a little too much "Jack Sparrow" towards the end. The opening scene was scored well, but as the episode progressed to a climax, the music became more and more overpowering.

Another thing that bothered me was how Captain Avery relatively took the place as the companion for this story.

For those of you keeping up with how many times Rory has died, this episode makes his fourth death since his introduction as a TARDIS member in "The Vampires of Venice:"

Amy's Choice

Cold Blood

Day of the Moon (although he didn't actually get killed)

The final scene where Amy revives Rory was perhaps the hardest for me to watch. Gone With the Wind music, tear-filled eyes, hugs, kisses, lovey dovey Amy and Rory with The Doctor taking a place in the background of the scene. At this point, it was clear to me that once again we were dealing with a season that would chiefly revolve around the companions, and not The Doctor. Just to recap since 2005:

Series 1/Season 27 revolved around Rose, her connection to Bad Wolf, and her ultimately saving the universe from the Daleks.

Series 2/Season 28 further revolved chiefly around Rose and her growing feelings for the now regenerated- into-heart-throb David Tennant Tenth Doctor, as well as her making a decision to leave Mickey completely.

Series 3/Season 29 was probably the best in this department, focusing mainly on the words of The Face of Boe and the return of The Master. However, in the three part finale, the companion yet again is the one to saved the day.

Series 4/Season 30 introduced a more likeable companion for Whovians in the form of Donna Noble, but again disappoints at the close of the season by having it roughly revolve around Donna's inability to avoid The Doctor, and once more has the companion save the day from the Daleks. When was the last time The Doctor beat the Daleks? Remembrance of the Daleks?

Series 5/Season 31 introduced the Pandorica as the story arc element, but once again much of the season was aimed at exploring the personal relationship between Amy and Rory, Rory's jealousy towards The Doctor, and Amy's inability to choose between the two. In short, a rehash of Series 2/Season 28.

I apologize for this review being so lengthly, but I had a lot to cover. In closing, this episode had the potential to be something equal or greater than "Enlightenment," which is saying a lot, but was lost in the producers continuing effort to make a science fiction television program appeal to EVERYONE. I will never get through saying how foolish this approach is. You're either sci-fi or you're not. You can't be both, and if you try, you're only going to end up gaining half an audience from each genre. Doctor Who was, has, and should always be pure science fiction. If you eliminate the soapy drama, yes - fan girlies and Jersey Shore fans are going to put down the remote and walk away, but in their place will come the Harry Potter fans, the Tron fans, the Trekkies and so on.

Doctor Who has the capacity to go anywhere, anytime. It should not be restricted by the wants and desires of an audience that get their kicks off two people being in a troubled relationship, love triangles, scandal and sexuality.

Doctor Who - "Day of the Moon"

2012-08-24T01:15:00.000-05:00

WHOSCALE: 6.5 out of 10

Once again, Moffat opens the second part to this two part story with a completely different setting and time frame from the last episode's cliffhanger. The first five to ten minutes - like the first half - was tremendously fast paced, mainly focused on bringing viewers up to speed on the events in the last three months (the time we are told as elapsed since the close of "The Impossible Astronaut" and the opening of "Day of the Moon.")

After taking into consideration what all Moffat indicated took place BETWEEN the two episodes, I began thinking to myself, this could have been almost a 10-part story, up there with the likes of "The Daleks' Masterplan" and "The War Games." Had we still been on serial format, that's probably what we would have got. There was so much potential there for a serial, and it's shame that Moffat had to skim over it all in a few brief clips. Even though it was shown that the four members of the TARDIS crew had been separated over the course of the past three months, a series of episodes filling this gap could have easily followed them each in much the same way we followed the TARDIS crew in "The Keys of Marinus," where The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan were separated over different continents on Marinus, eventually reuniting with each other near the end of the story, and it was only a six-part serial.

However, things seem to take a slight upward turn in regards to the Whoscale when Canton and Amy arrive at the orphanage. During this sequence, Moffat turned up the creepiness level, toned down the background music to a Whoscale-friendly level, and slowed the pace down as well. This was of course, short lived.

Perhaps the most annoying thing Moffat was doing at this point was still toying with the whole "Amy hasn't made up her mind yet" theme. Seriously? We're still on this? "Flesh And Stone," "The Vampires of Venice," "Amy's Choice," and "The Big Bang" have all tinkered with this theme, and it was my understanding that we had resolved this issue at the close of last season with the wedding of Amy and Rory. Yet, in spite of the couple saying their vows, Moffat still seems to get a giggle out of giving fan girlies something to gossip about. Speaking of Amy, one thing I failed to mention in my previous review was how Moffat suddenly dropped this sub-plot on us. A little girl is screaming for help in an old abandoned warehouse - yes, this seems an appropriate time to sit down with The Doctor (NOT RORY, MIND YOU!) and tell him you're PREGNANT. What the fudge?!! Come on, Moffat! That's one of Davies' stunts! You don't have to do it, too.

So Amy's pregnant, then she's not. The she is, then she's not. Then we're lead to believe that it might be The Doctor's, and not Amy's. Oh no, SCANDAL IN THE TARDIS!! Why is this pathetic soap scum in a science fiction television series that's about traveling time and space? Moffat, you can't appeal to EVERYONE. There are people out there who just DON'T LIKE the fantasy sci-fi thing. They like scandal, cheating, heart breaks, heart throbs, relationships rising and falling, and all the drama that comes with it. Those people have Jersey Shore. Those people have The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. You can't make a series set in space appeal to those people, unless you make it Jersey Shore: In Space. Granted, you can do that, but that's not what Doctor Who is about, now is it? If you want to write Doctor Who, then write for the audience that watches because it's Doctor Who, not the audience that's divided on whether it's The Doctor's baby or whether it's Rory's.

Now before some fan girl goes bananas and makes a comment rant, I'm fully aware that Amy's pregnancy played a key role later in the season, but it could have fulfilled that role without needing to be smothered in soapy soap opera.

Amy is once again snatched away from Rory in much the same fashion as she was in last season's "The Hungry Earth."

The episode seemed to spend a lot of time uncovering who the mysterious little girl is, only to address the Silent occupation issue in the last twenty minutes. It was clever how the occupation was resolved, but something about this solution still didn't strike me just right. The Doctor didn't lead the way into this solution. In fact, The Doctor has consistently relied on his companions to take the upper hand, as he has been known to do often since the revival in 2005. This episode is a clear example, where we are left ASSUMING that the humans were able to take care of the Silents. In other words, The Doctor was already leaving before it was confirmed that the Silents were gone. I didn't see the Fourth Doctor doing this. He would have stayed until he was absolutely certain the threat was over.

River is dropped off back at Stormcage (again), and we learn that the kiss The Doctor and River share in this scene is not only their first, but their last. Be sure to make a mental note of this when you read my review of this season's finale.

In another unusual move for The Doctor, the whole business about the Silents, their purpose, etc. is dropped completely in favor of some unrelated adventures.

In closing, looking back at the two part story as a whole, there was so much of the story told in either flashbacks or montages, that each part felt more like completely independent stand alone episodes. As bad as this sounds, I think it was a complex story that had to be crammed into 90 minutes of screen time, and the end result was a fuster cluck of a mess. Unless Moffat is prepared to change the series back over to serial format, whether it be 45 minute episodes or 25 minute episodes, I don't think a story this complex should be attempted again. If it is, it's going to need no less than three full episodes to itself. Imagine if Russell T Davies had tried to tell the "Last of the Time Lords" trilogy in only two episodes? There's no way he could have effectively squeezed the events of "Utopia" into the opening of "The Sound of Drums."

One final note - the last scene in this episode was probably the most intriguing . The little girl that occupied the space suit is last seen in an alley regenerating, revealing that she is either a Time Lord, or possesses characteristics similar to one.

The opening story came to close, with many questions still left unanswered. It wasn't the best start, and even though we were only two episodes in, it was already looking like Series 5/Season 31 was going to be the golden season since 2005.

Doctor Who - "The Impossible Astronaut"

2012-08-23T23:18:00.001-05:00

WHOSCALE: 5 out of 10

Following the Christmas special, Steven Moffat penned the opening story to Series 6/Season 32. In addition to this being the official start of the second season under the reign of Moffat, this also marked the first time since 2005 that the arrangement of episodes in a season don't follow the same pattern. Series 1-5/Seasons 27-31 all opened with the first three episodes being single-episode stories, followed by a two-part story, then one or two singles, another two parter, one or two more singles, then a finale two parter. Moffat elected to open this season with a two part story.

As with the last episode, this one was also a bit difficult for me to score on my Whoscale. However, off the top of my head - after just watching it in a classic Doctor Who frame of mind - I can point out two or three things that I immediately noted.

One is the pacing of the episode. This is beyond any doubt the fastest paced two part story Moffat has contributed. There was a lot to cover in this episode, such as the blue envelopes, Amy and Rory meeting The Doctor, further information regarding the true identity of River Song, as well a TARDIS full of questions.

A question I would love answered by Moffat is why the story opens with Amy and Rory at home enjoying married life, after he made it clear at the close of "The Big Bang" that Amy and Rory wished to continue traveling with The Doctor even after they were married. He even further indicated this in "A Christmas Carol," where Amy and Rory are on their honeymoon, but still traveling with The Doctor. Even at the close of that episode, neither of them gave any indication that they wished to return to Leadworth. So why were the two of them home? And why was The Doctor off on his own without them? I understand the TECHNICAL reason for it - that if the episode opened with Amy and Rory already aboard the TARDIS, it would have been practically impossible to introduce into the mix a "future" Doctor, which is who Amy and Rory initially meet - a Doctor that is some 200 years older than the one at the close of "A Christmas Carol." Nevertheless, no reason is given in terms of storyline why Amy and Rory are back home. This isn't the behavior of a companion(s). They don't travel with the Doctor, take a vacation, then join back up with him later. When they do leave, it's normally only an episode away from The Doctor meeting a new one, so how was The Doctor able to lollygag about the cosmos for 200 years without a companion? And showing now signs of aging? Yes people, Time Lords DO age normally in each incarnation. The Doctor wasn't born an old, white haired man.

As I'll note as I review later episodes in this season, Moffat was surely working on a story arc that is spanning the entire length of the Eleventh Doctor's era, so some of my questions may be answered further down the road. It's not uncommon for Moffat to tinker with complex paradoxes with this writing, and this season is no exception.

Another thing I noted was a more regular use of shaky cam. In some scenes, it isn't Bourne Supremacy skaky, but it isn't steady. This is most noticeable throughout the entire course of the Arizona scenes, from the picnic beside the lake until Amy, Rory, and River watch Darth Vader....I mean Anakin, no wait...sorry thought I'd flipped over to Return of the Jedi there for a second.

Have I mentioned the pacing? We're only ten minutes into the first episode of a two part story, and already Amy, Rory, River, Canton and The Doctor have received blue envelopes, met in a diner, synced diaries, gone on a picnic by a Lake, seen a Silent, forgot it, an astronaut has walked out of the lake, briefly spoke to The Doctor, KILLED The Doctor before he can regenerate, found a conveniently placed boat, placed The Doctor's body in it, doused him with gasoline, burned his body in the lake, met back at the diner, and met up with a younger version of The Doctor they just met. Still with me?

I think it's fair to say that Moffat went just a little too far overboard with twisted plotlines and paradoxes. The first time I watched this, I had no clue whatsoever what was going on. The first ten minutes had me so confused that I couldn't even enjoy it.

The episode finally slows things down a notch once The Doctor arrives at the Oval Office and meets President Nixon and a younger Canton. The Doctor tracks down where the mysterious phone call is coming from, and off in the TARDIS they go. Even at the warehouse, the pacing is still relatively steady, and doesn't feel rushed. Still tons of shaky cam here, though.

The emotional wreck Amy was at the lake after The Doctor's death made me cringe. WAAAAYYY too much drama there, Moffat. The Doctor is dead, yes. But the vocal soundtrack? Amy sobbing over his body, telling him to wake up? A little over the top, in my opinion.

Perhaps this episode's one saving grace is the Silents themselves. A terrific design, both in nature and appearance. Another that I felt is worth noting is the close ups of The Doctor at the lake while he's talking to the astronaut. The look of those shots - lighting, background - reminded me of classic Who quarry days, so a few points.

Don't get me wrong, it was a brilliant idea, but the audience can't keep up at this pace. If the first episode of a two part story required being rushed this much to squeeze the story into two parts, it should be more than two parts. In my opinion, this first episode could have EASILY been spread over two 45 minute episodes, leaving the second half of the story to be told over two more.

Since this is the first review of this season, I'll make it clear now: Moffat has been my favorite writer, but the criteria of a Doctor Who episode doesn't change, so from now on, I can't show Moffat any mercy.

Doctor Who - "A Christmas Carol"

2012-08-21T22:30:00.001-05:00

WHOSCALE: 3 out of 10

With the close of Series 5/Season 31, it was time for showrunner Steven Moffat to try his writing hand at the one other element of the revived series carried over from the Davies era - a Christmas special.

I had been keeping close tabs on the production of this episode long before it aired, and both Moffat and Smith commented on the episode prior to it's air date, describing it as "very Christmasy."

The title of the episode is obviously taken from the Charles Dickens book, which is in a way somewhat ironic, considering that the Ninth Doctor actually met Dickens as he was reading "A Christmas Carol" onstage in "The Unquiet Dead."

Overall, it's no secret to even the most casual viewer what Moffat did with this story - it is essentially Dickens' famous story set on another planet, with certain elements altered or added to give the episode the Narnia-style fantasy tone.

Even as I write this review, I find myself having trouble deciding on a rating that would do the episode justice, but at the same time not contradict the purpose of this review. This review is, after all, a comparison this episode to the likes of the first twenty-six seasons of the series.

Holiday specials - the Christmas variety in particular - are always a coin toss when it comes to comparing them to traditional Doctor Who. It has always been my firm belief that there is a wrong and a right approach to this type of thing. Unfortunately for Moffat, it pains me to say that this episode is as close to the wrong approach as you can get. I'm speaking in terms of being a Doctor Who episode, of course. Granted, it was a Christmas special, and as such was intended to be just that - an episode filled with Christmas overtones, happy endings, no deaths, no violence, no over the top drama - just a frolicky romp through the snow that kids and adults could watch together on Christmas Day.

There are elements of this episode that were neat and probably could have served a full-on Doctor Who episode well, such as the fish being able to swim through the fog, but looking back at the last 60 minutes I just watched, it generally feels like I just sat through Moffat's on personal interpretation of Dickens' story, which is what this episode was. There's no room for debate here.

Just for comparison, a decent Christmas Special for this review would be something along the lines of "The Runaway Bride" or "The End of Time." Both stories were set on Christmas, and did contain subtle holiday undertones, but 90 percent of the episodes were solely focused on the issues at hand - The Racnoss and The Master, respectively. Never did I think I would see the day when I would use RUSSELL T DAVIES AGAINST STEVEN MOFFAT in a comparison, but in the case of Moffat's first special, Davies still holds the most points, by a long shot. To be fair though, Davies' first special was no pageant winner either - "The Christmas Invasion" painfully introduced us to the Tenth Doctor. However, with two three specials under Davies' belt that did reasonably well on the Whoscale, I can only hope that Moffat steps up his game in the future.

Now that I've bored you to tears ranting about Moffat rehashing an old Christmas tale, I want touch on some of the things in this episode that did some serious damage to it's score.

Foremost has to be the absolute and total rip off of Abrams' Star Trek film. Shaky cam, a starship bridge, exaggerated lens flares, and a character that could pass for Geordi La Forge. Need I say more? After the special aired, I noted it's likeness to fellow fans, and several fans indicated that this rip off was more than likely done as a mockery of Abrams' film, rather than an attempt to "follow a trend." Nevertheless, this kind of ridiculous kind of film making - the lens flares and shaky cam - has no place in an episode of Doctor Who, mockery or otherwise.

The other usual deductions were present - overpowering, emotional orchestrated music, complete with a singing of "Silent Night."

Another was how Abigail's secret was slowly alluded to - it seemed like Moffat wanted the audience believing that she might be pregnant. Maybe that was just me.

There's really nothing else I can say about it in regards to my review. To summarize, Amy and Rory were on a ship, about to crash land into an alien planet (which has a steam-punk appearance and still celebrates Christmas), and in order to prevent this catastrophe, The Doctor takes the longest route available, exercising more time travel in this single episode then the entire previous season put together.

A great story idea, but it relied far too much on Dickens' original text.

Doctor Who - "The Big Bang"

2012-04-17T22:30:00.004-05:00

WHOSCALE: 7 out of 10

This episode marked the completion of the first season under Moffat's supervision, and served to tidy up a lot of open threads Moffat has started over the course of the season. I remember seeing the previous episode for the first time, and for a whole week pondering who on Earth The Doctor could get himself out of a sealed Pandorica, and I always came up with nothing.

In addition to showing the usual "Previously..." clips from "The Pandorica Opens," the pre-title sequence for this episode opens identically to the post-title sequence scenes in "The Eleventh Hour," only this time no TARDIS crashes in Amelia Pond's backyard, and stars have become something of a fairy tale, considering that they disappeared along with the rest of creation in Roman times. Amelia is lead to the local museum, where the Pandorica is on display - having been preserved throughout history. The Pandorica opens (again), but reveals the occupant to be Amy Pond, which is of course the aged-to-early-twenties Amelia Pond. I remember being so utterly confused at that moment, and wondered if Moffat could explain such a twist logically, if it could be explained at all.

After the title sequence, the episode picks up where we left off, with Rory mourning the death of Amy. The Doctor appears in a flash, donning a Fez and a mop, and instructs Rory to open the Pandorica (which at the time had just been sealed with The Doctor inside) using his sonic screwdriver. Rory follows his instructions, and Amy is then placed in the Pandorica to be preserved in stasis until her younger self (Amelia) makes contact with the Pandorica in 1996. You follow? It's always been my intent with my reviews to avoid explaining the plot and synopsis of a particular episode, but when dealing with some of the stories Moffat dreams up, it's almost necessary to explain his paradoxes in lament terms just so my readers can understand what I'm commenting on. The first few minutes explains how Amy ends up in the Pandorica, as well as explains how The Doctor is able to escape captivity to even materialize in front of Rory in a Fez.

From this point, the episode shifts from the Stonehenge location to the interior of the museum in 2010, where most of the story is resolved. There were some absolutely terrific Doctor moments in this episode, that I felt truly represented the mentality of the classic Doctors. One such occasion was when a near-death future Doctor appears, and moments before dying whispers something to his "younger" self. What was so reminiscent was how carefully The Doctor listened to himself, knowing that anything he had to tell himself is always important. This is further alluded to at the beginning of Series 6/Season 32, where it's indicated that The Doctor trust no one more in the universe than himself. The rooftop scenes were done well, also.

Another similar instance is when it's revealed that The Doctor's words with Amy in the forest aboard the Byzantium is actually from a future version, explaining why the "Flesh And Stone" Doctor was without his tweed jacket, but when he holds Amy's hands, he's wearing it again. The Doctor assures Amy that he isn't sure what the cracks are in her wall, but that he's "working it out," referring to himself in third person, having seen his past self several feet away analyzing sonic screwdriver readings.

As I mentioned in the last review, it was nice for once not to have an alien invasion as the blockbuster season finale plot line. Something I wanted to be sure and note was the fact that The Doctor took matters into his own hands on several occasions, and effectively took it upon himself to restore the universe to it's previous form. I say this mainly in contrast to Russell T. Davies' first two part finale, "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting Of The Ways," where the companion saved the day.

Moffat took care to not overlook any obvious plot holes, and even chose to incorporate some of the questions viewers might be asking into the episode. The Doctor verbally ponders how a petrified Dalek could be restored - or even exist at all for that matter - considering the Daleks' home planet, Skaro, would have been wiped out along with the rest of the universe; therefore preventing their creation altogether.

The resolution of the story seemed to be wrapped up rather quickly - within the first half of the episode. It wasn't because it was rushed - on the contrary, the pacing of this episode seem to relatively match that of the previous, and it didn't feel like key plot points were having to be crammed into 30 minutes. The story was wrapped up evidently in order to reserve the last half of the episode to closing open threads regarding Amy and Rory's personal life. The couple are married, and in what is perhaps the least explicable thing Moffat has ever wrote, an otherwise erased from history Doctor is restored to present time by the almighty powers of Amy's memory. Once again, we're on this mental thing. It was clear this was a recurring theme throughout the season - that of major events changing according to a character's willpower. I let the resurrection of Rory slide because it was reasonably explained - whomever looted Amy's home for tidbits to build a scenario on included a picture of Amy and Rory in centurion dress. This doesn't however excuse the fact that Rory was nothing more than an Auton, and yet again by sheer power of will, he's turned into a human - that still retains Auton characteristics, such as immortality (maybe this means he won't die anymore?) and a still fully functional flip-down hand gun. I don't mean a sidearm, either. I mean an actual HAND gun. But the business of The Doctor being restored simply because Amy remembered him - how does that work? It was never explained how Amy's thoughts alone could resurrect someone who was otherwise non-existent.

The soundtrack was a bit better this time, being much more subtle during the museum scenes, but it later seemed to escalate into full orchestrated mix again for The Doctor's reappearance.

After the reception, The Doctor scurries off back to his TARDIS, exchanging a few final words with River Song, and moments later is joined by newly weds Amy and Rory.

On that note, the season closes. The change in production staff was showing considerable promise, as fans of the original series had been treated a full course meal with Series 5/Season 31. The show still had a long way to go, but seemed to be slipping back into the imaginative science fiction it was during it's first 26 seasons.

Doctor Who - "The Pandorica Opens"

2012-04-17T20:23:00.005-05:00

WHOSCALE: 7 out of 10

Steven Moffat was next in line to write the season's two part finale. This was perhaps one of the most anticipated episodes of the season, as a lot of viewers were expecting to get some answers to many questions that had arisen throughout the season.

We all knew that Moffat was capable of writing some clever plot twists, but I have to say he outdid himself with Series 5/Season 31. If you're one of the casual fan girls that watches only because "Tennant was hot," then this definitely wasn't your favorite. I'm a seasoned sci-fi fan, and it took me at least two viewings to figure out what all was coming together in this episode.

However, to be fair to my readers, I'm going to set aside the fact that the plot was top notch, and conduct this review as a comparative to the original series.

One of the first things that kind of put me off was the length of the pre-title sequence, which essentially took eight to nine minutes setting up the backdrop for the episode. It's not a real biggie for me, but as I've said many times, I'm not a big fan of a "Star Trek/X-Files/Babylon 5" style pre-title sequence. I know almost every modern day television show uses the format, but the three I named are the ones I most associate it with.

This may have been intentional considering the episode dealt with digging up old hidden artifacts, but the music score for this episode seemed to have the ring of Indiana Jones, particularly during the scene where The Doctor, Amy, and Song enter the Pandorica chamber.
Speaking of Dr. Jones, there was another scene during the pre-title sequence that was almost plucked word-for-word from "Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom," where River Song slips some micro-explosives (in place of poison) into Dorium's drink, forcing him to sell the Vortex Manipulator in exchange for a diffuser (instead of the antidote).

While I'm on the subject of music, the episode seemed to be well over-scored. Apart from a couple of dialogue scenes between characters in the underhenge, everything else was coated with a John Williams-ish orchestral score.

Moffat seemed to continue the running theme of recurring characters, a theme that was common during the Davies era. Virtually all of the major characters from the season have a role in this episode - Liz 10 from "The Beast Below," Bracewell and Churchhill from "Victory Of The Daleks," River Song from "The Time Of Angels" and "Flesh And Stone," and Vincent Van Gogh from "Vincent And The Doctor." Although each character seemed to have a relevant role, I think it could have been communicated without having to touch on every past encounter by The Doctor. If one had to be pointless, it was Liz 10, who was doing nothing else other than guarding the Royal Collection in the 52nd Century, which actually doesn't make a whole lot of sense, considering she's the Queen, and should be tending to her space-bound kingdom of citizens, Smilers and Winders.

Rory is resurrected (again) in this episode - this time as an Auton, although once again no character addresses them as "Autons," only as "duplicates."

I think Moffat handled another chapter of River Song's story well again, electing to not have the episode focus on River, but rather have her tag along as another companion to The Doctor. River's universal and temporal experience is only matched by The Doctor's, so it's kind of like getting a Romana on occasion.

Perhaps the most notable part of this episode is the climax, in which a season's worth of wondering what's inside the Pandorica is revealed. I don't think many viewers saw that one coming, because it certainly hit me broadside.

The episode closes on a cliffhanger, in traditional multi-episode Doctor Who form, with The Doctor trapped in the Pandorica, Amy shot dead by the Auton Rory, River trapped in the exploding TARDIS which would seem to be the cause of the mysterious cracks, and more seriously, the erasure of the entire universe, save for Earth itself. (Go figure.) Probably what got Moffat the biggest score with this one was the fact that for once, we weren't in downtown London or Cardiff fighting off a Dalek invasion for the season finale.

Doctor Who - "The Lodger"

2012-04-16T21:37:00.003-05:00

WHOSCALE: 6.5 out of 10

Tackling the "character-lite" episode for this season was Gareth Roberts, who had previously penned "The Unicorn And The Wasp" for the Tenth Doctor. It should be noted that this episode is based on a short comic strip that was published during the Tenth Doctor's run, and as such was written for Tennant's Doctor. However, Roberts seemed to see the problem with having the episode soley focus on The Doctor living as a flatmate, and so a mystery element was introduced.

This was yet again another episode that I have mixed feelings about. So many things were done well, and so many weren't. As an episode of Doctor Who, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but when I look at it through my Whoscale goggles, I'm not so sure what to think.

Roberts loosely followed the same format that Moffat did with "Blink" by having the character with minimal screen time (in this case, Amy) still be actively involved in the story. Amy's absence from the episode is explained in a logical manner. Instead of just having her out of the episode altogether like Davies did with "Love And Monsters," Amy continues to offer information, clues and advice from the confines of the dematerialized TARDIS. It's always a good thing when the writer intertwines the two lead characters' roles in a way that we as viewers don't suspect it's a "character-lite" episode.

There were several nods to the original series in this episode, and some less obsessive fans might not have caught them. Some were obvious - The Doctor giving Craig a brief biography of himself, with flashes of the first three Doctors, and others weren't so obvious - If anyone's seen "Spearhead From Space" with the Third Doctor, then you couldn't help but be reminded of it during Smith's shower scene. Another that was tremendously vague was when Craig recruits The Doctor for his local football match, and The Doctor asks, "Football...is that the one with the sticks?" - harking back to the Fifth Doctor's skilled cricket abilities. It would seem that he also possesses top notch football skills, as well. In addition to sprinkles of classic Doctor Who, there were numerous other quirks about this episode that fit the bill for what you'd expect from The Doctor, such as his football jersey number being "11." Another was The Doctor's reactions to indications of romance. Craig explains the "understanding" in case The Doctor needs some alone time with wink, and The Doctor winks back in acknowledgement, immediately following the response by questioning why he would want alone time.

The episode did well to keep us on the edge of our seats with the volume a little higher so we wouldn't miss a beat after the clocks starting going awry at Craig's and The Doctor's flat. Since I'm in the States, I had to watch new episodes online, and when the time loop at the end of the football match started, I remember thinking that my video played had froze up.

I think what may have me so undecided on this episode's score is because it kept weaving back and forth between two separate stories - one of The Doctor experiencing domestic life with Craig, the other of the mystery upstairs. Now, don't get me wrong - the "weaving" this episode was doing was not so abrupt that it felt like two plot lines running parallel to each other (i.e. "Boom Town"). Roberts did well in mixing the mystery of what was upstairs in with the premise of the comic strip, also titled "The Lodger."

As with a lot of new episodes since the revival in 2005, this one took the biggest hit on the Whoscale in the last ten minutes. Something about the resolutions of plots just isn't sorted with the writers. Like so many before - to the point of almost becoming a revived series tradition - the "companions" for this episode save the day, and not by some clever thinking or application of logic - no, by using the same incredible mental powers that Bracewell used in "Victory Of The Daleks." Basically, by "wishing" the baddies away, Craig saves The Doctor and Sophie. If you're a diehard reader of this blog, this be sure to remember that resolution when reading my review of "Closing Time" in Series 6/Season 32. The phrase "kiss the girl!" just seems like it was plucked out of a Disney film, so it just didn't feel very Doctor Who-ish.

There were some VERY intriguing aspects about this episode. I remember my reaction the first time seeing the interior of the upstairs flat, and immediately thinking, "OH, S***! IT'S A TARDIS!!!" The fact that we never actually find out who owns that TARDIS makes it even better, with the mysterious visitor getting away scott free. I recall speculation floating around after it aired - fans were guessing The Master, Omega, River Song, Susan Foreman and everything between.

It wasn't has close to original Who has Chibnall's Silurian story, but it seemed to have roughly enough ingredients to make it fair well on the Whoscale.

Doctor Who - "Vincent And The Doctor"

2012-04-14T23:38:00.008-05:00

WHOSCALE: 6 out of 10

Following the Silurian two part story, Richard Curtis penned the next episode. This story was intended to be the season's historical installment, as was "Tooth And Claw" for Series 2/Season 28, "The Shakespeare Code" for the Series 3/Season 29, and "The Unicorn And The Wasp" for Series 4/Season 30. While all of these previous installments have featured a historic figure as one of the main characters, in each case the stories were generally set around the Doctor Who style mystery/monster format, with the historic character being "along for the ride" so to speak in much the same way The Doctor's companions were meant to be.

However, in the case of "Vincent And The Doctor," it's clear that Curtis abandoned this format to focus more on teaching viewers about Vincent Van Gogh, and less about making it an episode of Doctor Who that features a historic character.

First off, I'll point out a technical oversight that I noticed before the title sequence. The episode opens with The Doctor and Amy visiting an art museum that contains all of Van Gogh's paintings. The Doctor is intrigued by one painting in particular of a church, where a mysterious creature was depicted in one of the church windows. This odd depiction convinces The Doctor to travel to the past to talk to Van Gogh personally about the painting, which serves as The Doctor's reason for visiting Van Gogh to begin with. Clearly, the creature would have wreaked havoc on the Earth by the time 2010 had rolled around, but oddly enough, the creature seemed to keep quiet all those years. Now, one might could explain this by saying that the painting was the same one done when The Doctor and Amy were with him at the church, but at the close of the episode, the church painting is shown to NOT have a creature in the window, which would seem to indicate THAT painting is the one Van Gogh did with The Doctor.

Throughout the course of the episode, I had mixed feelings about it. Sometimes it felt like Doctor Who, sometimes it didn't - but more often than not, it didn't. The problem I think was that Curtis was so wound up in trying to educate viewers instead of telling a gem of Doctor Who. Granted, the purpose of a "historical episode" is to be a rough history lesson, and the original series did several of these during Hartnell's first two seasons, but having not been told they were historic episodes, I never would have known because the plot was so tastefully done. "The Aztecs" comes to mind - one of my favorites from the Hartnell era - where a history lesson about the ancient Aztecs spanned four episodes without requiring a single monster. My point is, educational episodes are great, as long as you don't make it OBVIOUS that being educational is what you're trying to be. Besides, most children are more inclined to absorb such facts if they aren't aware that's they're being fed educational data.

Curtis minimized the use of CGI in this story by having the Krafayis be invisible to everyone in the episode except Van Gogh. This turns out to be the reason behind some of the accusations Van Gogh had got by the townspeople about being mad. Kudos for that, but it was one of those CGI-dodging gimmicks that's a bit obvious to the trained viewer. OF COURSE it's invisible. I'm not encouraging the use of CGI by no means, but there are other ways to get around it besides simply having the appearance of the monster absent for the most part of the episode, and writing it being invisible (and blind, apparently). Animatronics comes to mind. Yeah, it's a lot more time consuming to build a puppet and shoot some forced-perspective shots with it, but the pay off is worth it. If you look on YouTube, you've got five-year olds posting tutorial videos about using Adobe AfterEffects. Most kids know the difference between CGI and real, tangible puppets, so they're more likely to be scared behind the sofa by a physical puppet than a CGI monster. There's some body language that CGI just can't mimic, and it's a dead giveaway. The kids may know it's a mechanically operated puppet, but to them, its a REAL puppet nonetheless, and they can't help but wonder if it's going to be hiding under their bed later that night. The worst a CGI monster can do is crash your PC or Mac.

The episode also had atleast 30% t0 40% of it's shots done in shaky-cam, so do I really need to rant again about why I subtract points for this?

What really killed this episode's score was the final ten minutes, where it effectively drops into a modern day primetime drama format for Van Gogh's visit to the 2010 museum. Having an emotional, heart wrenching Lifehouse-ish song over the epilogue of an episode has been the norm for television dramas like "Grey's Anatomy,""E.R.," and "One Tree Hill" for years. I'm not sure if this was Moffat's experimental attempt to "see how the fans like this format," but it's been my understanding that hard core Whovians were outraged by it, myself included. If there's one thing that has no place in an episode of Doctor Who, it's modern day music with lyrics! Thankfully, so far this episode has been the only one to do so, having already seen Series 6/Season32.

It was an OK episode, but as the title implies, it was mainly about a particular character, to the point that the inclusion of a monster made little to no sense at all.

Doctor Who - "Cold Blood"

2012-03-28T22:08:00.005-05:00

WHOSCALE: 8.5 out of 10

Chris Chibnall continues to pour on the Third Doctor era homage with the conclusion to "The Hungry Earth." Like this season's first two parter, the story utilizes roughly two main locations, in this case being above ground at the drill and the church in the first half, and focusing mainly underground in the Silurian city in this half. Once again the two part format does considerably well - largely due to the fact that with more time to work with - a more elaborate, slower paced story can be fluently developed over the span of the two episodes, instead of choosing between sacrificing depth or rushing an in-depth story through a single episode. That's not to say though, that some two part stories since the revival have still managed to turn out being flops. "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End," penned by former showrunner Russell T. Davies can arguably be the worst two part story of the revived series, mainly because of what he was trying to accomplish. Too many recurring characters and villains all twisted and intertwined into a basic Dalek storyline, with his usual soap subplots tossed in as well.

However in the case of "Cold Blood," Chibnall took the same approach to the second half that Moffat did with "Flesh And Stone." The episode picks up right where we left off in "The Hungry Earth," and once again the episode is chok full of nods to the original series. While Amy and Mo wandered the underground caverns, I couldn't help but be reminded of many a Third Doctor story, where Pertwee was exploring similar caverns.

As a diehard fan of the original series, I have a tendency to point out the little things that most viewers probably don't even notice. One of these little tid bits is the character names. For whatever reason, the original series seldom used common names for the characters in a particular story, whether it they be human or otherwise. The Silurian names stuck out in particular to me, as they were intentionally made to not sound like something you would hear above ground - "Alaya," "Restac," "Eldane," and "Malohkeh." Props for taking to time to be creative, Chibnall.

The story generally follows a universal narrative, without ever deviating for subplots. It only starts to go into a slight downturn right at the end - where once again, Rory dies. If you're still keeping count with me, that's two (2) deaths for Rory so far, and he's only been an official companion for four episodes. With Rory's death enters the usual sobbing, screaming companion scene. It almost as if all of the over-the-top drama was saved until the last ten minutes of the episode, where two episode's worth of drama was released, and thus causing the steady flow of the story to abruptly be disturbed.

There were a few scenes where I felt the CGI backdrops were a bit overdone, namely the one of the "Star Wars clone army" scene of Silurian soldiers. Now, in the Davies era, it would only have been a matter of time before that CGI army would have been marching up to the surface, but thankfully here, the backdrop scene is the only time we have to deal with a CGI army. Even after Restac has started releasing the soldiers, we never see any CGI Silurians, only the real ones.

The ending begs to question a few actions that I'm not quite sure analytical fans such as myself couldn't explain. For one, Moffat had already demonstrated that any object coming into contact with the light beaming from the crack in the wall would be instantly removed from history, yet here The Doctor is able to walk right up to the crack, stick his arm through, grab a piece from the other side and walk away unscathed.

The final scene definitely had be eager to see the rest of the season the first time I saw it, where the object The Doctor grabs from the crack in the wall turns out to be a charred piece of the TARDIS.

Another fantastic story, and tastefully done. At this point, it was clear that Series 5/Season 31 was going to blow the Davies era out of the water as far was traditional Doctor Who was concerned.

Doctor Who - "The Hungry Earth"

2012-03-22T21:07:00.003-05:00

WHOSCALE: 9 out of 10

The second two parter for this season was penned by Chris Chibnall, who had previously contributed the Tenth Doctor story, "42."

Under the direction of Moffat, Chibnall is the second writer to have a kind of redemption story since the Davies era.

The idea behind this story was obviously to reintroduce the classic villains, the Silurians. To do that, Chibnall borrowed heavily from the flavor of the Third Doctor era, which was when the Silurians got the most air time.

There were tons of nods to the original series in this episodes, particularly the structure of the episode. It contained all the traditional elements you would have found in a Earth-based Third Doctor story - a mining operation, a small, rural village, and a scarce team of scientists drilling into the Earth's crust. Additionally, Chibnall successfully overcame the issue of avoiding present-day times while still setting the story relatively close to 2010 (in 2020), thus there's no reason to suspect that touch screen technology and present day clothes wouldn't still be the norm.

The plot is poured on thick in the beginning, with strange grass growing in the cemetery, a man swallowed up by the Earth, and empty graves with no visible sign of being disturbed. Although I knew well before this episode aired that it would be a Silurian story, I imagined when watching this time around what it must have been like for someone who hadn't followed production of the season before it aired, with absolutely no clue what this one was about. I expect it was even more of treat for Third Doctor fans than it was for me.

Everything seemed spot on in this episode. The pacing was a bit faster than that of "The Time Of Angels, " but not enough to feel like the producers were having to cram a six episode story into one. The music was sparingly used once again, if not a slight bit more powerful than what was used in "The Time Of Angels."

The Doctor is once again leading the way in this episode, with companions Amy and Rory tagging along as they should, and the two puzzled scientists joining in. Strange for the new series, but Amy was absent for much of this episode, having suffered the same fate as Mo near the beginning. She only appears in a couple of shots then, one of those being from a Silurian viewpoint, and a short scene near the end of the episode where a Silurian surgeon is apparently about to dissect her, having already done so on Mo.

As with most of the episodes from Moffat's debut season, I could find very little that just turned me off about it. If I just had to pick any minuses, it would be the slight over-injection of drama from The Doctor as Amy is pulled underground, the other being the CGI backdrop at the very end, and the ridiculous time discrepancy when The Doctor & company are setting up a security system - they had eight minutes to do, and it's hardly feasibly to accomplish what they did in that time. The "montage" format that is used even further indicates that far more time than eight minutes passed.

The production team took a new approach to the look of the Silurians, which has gotten mixed opinions since the episode aired. Personally, I think they looked fantastic. All mask and costume and no CGI will always win in my book. However, they did seem to fall a bit short on the facial features; the new breed of Silurian retains more human characteristics than their 1970s predecessors. No doubt this was to better smooth the transition for audiences. A sort of "safety measure" so they wouldn't look too far-fetched alien. At any rate, I think the revamp of the Silurians turned out far better than that of the Cybermen.

As with traditional Doctor Who style, the episode ends on a cliffhanger, leading up to the setting of the second part.

Doctor Who - "Amy's Choice"

2012-01-08T00:56:00.005-06:00

WHOSCALE: 5 out of 10

This episode was penned by Simon Nye, and was his first contribution to the series. This was perhaps the darkest story since Moffat took over, and the premise was no doubt a good one, but since the episode - as the title implies - revolves chiefly around Amy, it didn't fare so well on the Whoscale.

Once again, we find ourselves in the same hole we were in during the Davies era - a companion-driven story, with the antagonist(s) set as a subplot. That is the number one reason this episode did not score higher. What is the deal with Doctor Who revolving around the companions? Is it so hard to write an entire season where the trio, as a TEAM, discover, encounter, and overcome a situation?

This is something that has and always will bother me about the revived series, and for the life of me I cannot see what could possibly be so appealing about it that such a good writer such as Moffat would chose to continue those trends during his reign. No one can argue that by "The End Of The World" during the Davies era, we had already surmised that the series was largely going to focus on Rose, and when "Father's Day" came along, it was practically an international public announcement.

I can honestly say I had trouble scoring this episode. There were so many elements that would have worked fantastic in terms of classic Doctor Who, but once the episode shifted to more or less having Amy decide between The Doctor or Rory, it just killed it.

Yet another thing that just baffles me about the revived series. Why in God's name does every companion have to be emotionally involved with The Doctor???!! Why is the love triangle a necessity in a science fiction series?! To even entertain the notion of a relationship between The Doctor and one of his companions is to invite elements into the story that can serve no purpose other than to distract the focus of the episode from the main plot line.

The episode's intent to focus on Amy caused a tremendous plot error later in the episode; The Dream Lord was a figment out of THE DOCTOR'S imagination, so why was he so hell bent on singling out Amy?! What does that mean? That the Doctor secretly returns Amy's affection for him, and secretly wants her to choose between himself or Rory?

As my readers already know, I'm extremely anti-shaky cam, and this episode is full of it. I'm almost positive that the shaky cam was explicitly used here to further enhance the feeling of being in a "dream," but as I've said before - it's makes the shot look like it was filmed in a hurry, like the cameraman was in hurry to finish so he could take a piss, or because they were five minutes past lunch time, etc. At the very least, it probably makes some viewers with weaker stomachs sea sick....errr...Tee sick. TEE as in "T" - Television!

The setting was ideal for classic Who - the rural village of upper Leadworth, and the initial plot was good - the idea of a darker side of The Doctor forcing the trio to shift back and forth between to realities, each with inherent dangers, and having them choose one. Normally, a respectable Doctor Who writer would have The Doctor work out a solution to the problem, but to fill the absence of originality is the usual substitute - just have the companion save the day instead.

Rory's death causes Amy to make the choice for all of them, saving the day. Why would The Doctor go along with such reckless behavior? What if she was wrong? There was no LOGICAL reason behind the unnecessary risk they take in the van. I say LOGICAL reason - there IS a reason, it's just not logical. The reason being Amy proving her love for Rory to the viewers. What the f**k?! I don't care if they love each other or not! The TARDIS is freezing over, we're being terrorized by Eknodine-infested pensioners, and we still don't have any safe, logical way of determining which is the dream and which is reality! Eh, logic and safety be damned. Let's throw our own lives out the window as well and HOPE we guessed right. That way we can quickly wrap this episode up. Rory is dead now, so there's no love triangle anymore, so no engine to ooze drama, and no real reason to continue further with this story.

Speaking of Rory's death, get out your chalkboard and ckalkstick, because this episode is the first of numerous future episodes where Rory seems to "die," and is later resurrected.

Yet another "quick fix" to an otherwise grim situation was when The Doctor had got cornered in a freezer at a butcher shop. With angry Eknodines on the other side of the door, how can a Time Lord get out of this rut? Easy. Just set your all-purpose sonic screwdriver to the "cause Eknodines to let you pass by them without even a tap on the wrist by simply shooting out a light bulb above them" setting and you're home free! Just point and click!

I've watched this episode several times since it aired, and I've always liked it, but never really realized how distant it was from original Doctor Who until I sat down earlier tonight and watched it with my review goggles on.

It was a well conceived story, but the companion driven plots were getting beyond old, and the companion saving the day was just plum ridiculous. What makes both of these things such episode killers for me is that NEITHER of them should be in an episode of Doctor Who, if you're going by the rulebook written by Newman, Letts, Holmes, Hinchcliffe, Turner and the rest of the original series production crew. Bottom line is, true Doctor Who fans HATE these kinds of episodes, Mr. Moffat, and they aren't going to start liking them, no matter how cleverly you twist them into a plot. The stories should be antagonist-driven, and should be concluded by the lead role. In this case, it's THE DOCTOR. No matter how you slice it, unless you're going to rename the show, he has, is and forever always will be THE LEAD ROLE. You can't shift another character to the front and still brand it "Doctor Who."

Doctor Who - "The Vampires Of Venice"

2012-01-04T22:50:00.006-06:00

WHOSCALE: 8 out of 10

The third writer to contribute to this season was Toby Whithouse, who previously penned the Tenth Doctor episode "School Reunion." As a viewer, I can't be certain if it was Whithouse's writing or the executive decisions of Russell T Davies that turned that episode into such a flop, but under the reign of Steven Moffat, Whithouse's contribution to Doctor Who seems to be singing a different tune. Following in the footsteps of Moffat with the title, Whithouse follows the traditional Doctor Who "The ____ of ____" format. As I recall, this episode was aired relatively the same time as the Twilight craze was in full swing, so it was great to have a vampire story that didn't get wrapped up in all the hype caused by those films and books.

Rory Williams joins the TARDIS crew at the start of this one, showing even further evidence that Moffat was playing the opposite card against the Davies era. He may not have intended it to be the opposite of the Mickey/Rose duo, but it certainly resulted that way. Rather than have Rory volunteer to "see what's out there" at the dismay of Amy, Whithouse and Moffat chose to have The Doctor invite Rory along on his travels as companion to Amy, to keep the two of them together and to permanently cut ties with any Doctor/Amy romance possibilities.

The show once again takes advantage of location shooting in Croatia, standing in here of course for 1580 Venice. This makes for a fantastic classic Who feel. By this time, it was impossible to not see the changes Moffat had made with the series, with "The Vampires Of Venice" being the sixth consecutive episode in the season to score no less than a 7 on the Whoscale.

This episode probably would have tied the previous one with a 9 if not for the CGI overload in the final ten minutes. Flumes of clouds come billowing out of the tower, filling the skies with ominous CGI overcast. The CGI used for the vampires in aquatic form was enough for me. Also, a technical oversight was the fact that the skies were covered in thick overcast, yet Amy was able to reflect a narrow beam of sunlight onto Francesco in alien form to destroy him.

The music was a bit more frequent in this one than some of the previous episodes, but there were times when it sounded much like a piece from Dudley Simpson, namely the scene where The Doctor enters the room and glances into a mirror.

Although I approved of Whithouse writing The Doctor as the hero of the hour and not one of his companions, the final scenes got a little ridiculous - The Doctor climbing the steep rooftop of the tower in the rain to open the steeple and flip a toggle switch.

There were a lot of nods to the original series in this one, some subtle, some obvious. An obvious one was The Doctor flashing his out of date library card, with a mug shot of the First Doctor on it. A more subtle one was how The Doctor befriends a Venetian local, Guido. As the episode progresses, Guido's home serves as a temporary meeting place for The Doctor, Amy, Rory and Guido to discuss further action. For some reason, the Fifth Doctor story "The Visitation" comes to mind. Perhaps it's the mention of plague in this episode.

There was some terrific dialogue in this episode, particularly from The Doctor.

It was also nice to be six episodes into the season and not having set foot in downtown London or Cardiff.

Most of the things I didn't like throughout the first 35 minutes were so insignificant and irrelevant that they don't really need mentioning. The main minus was the CGI-fest near the end. That aside, it was an extremely enjoyable episode, and for the most part felt like solid Doctor Who.

Doctor Who - "Flesh And Stone"

2012-01-04T20:31:00.005-06:00

WHOSCALE: 9 out of 10

All I can say about this episode is "Wow!" Moffat once again delivers a magnificent story that fluently continues onward from where the previous episode left off. During the course of this second part, the pacing never feels like it's stepped up to force a resolution. Everything about this episode is rich with classic Who flavor, that it's practically one of the few times where I should have jotted down notes about good points, unlike what I'm accustom to doing - jotting notes of un-Who like moments.

Some of the things that I just wanted to applaud Moffat for in this one:

1) The interior of the Byzantium, with its minimalist design, similar to the Dalek ship in Gatiss' "Victory Of The Daleks."

2). The Doctor always at the forefront of the episode, constantly working not only to escape the trailing Weeping Angels, but to work out the implications of the bigger threat - the crack in Amy's bedroom wall that seems to follow them everywhere.

3) The sonic screwdriver gets a plausible use for once, used as a homing signal for Amy via her communicator.

4) Probably one of the most clever uses for a forest location shoot in a long time. An interior greenhouse aboard the Byzantium? Brilliant. When the hatch first opened, I couldn't help but be reminded of the Fourth Doctor story "Nightmare Of Eden."

5) The console design in the Byzantium was very reminiscent of the bulky, blocky consoles used in the original series, complete with toggle switches and round display screens.

6) Moffat thickens the plot to the likeness of molasses when Marco immediately "forgets" who Phillip and Crispin were after they ventured into the blinding light of the crack.

The Doctor was superb in this episode as well, most notably once he and River reached the forward control room, and he yells at her in a fit of frustration about the situation. Moffat also has a knack for leading us viewers to overlooking the obvious. When The Doctor surmises that a complicated time space event can close the crack temporarily, our immediate thoughts are either The Doctor or River Song, who are certainly both complicated events. The notion of the Weeping Angels never crossed my mind. Finally, The Doctor leads the way into the resolution of this story, by hinting to Amy and River that the drained Byzantium would lose its artificial gravity, thus causing the approaching Angels to "fall" into the crack behind them.

The music was once again ideal, subtle and sparingly used. The only exception being the scene when the Angels fall.

The farewell scene between The Doctor and River was done extremely well. No teary goodbyes, but more of a "until next time" attitude, which is quite true in their cases, since they both know from each others' pasts..err..futures... that they will see each other again....err...before this...umm...River apparently sees the Doctor BEFORE the events of the Byzantium when the Pandorica Opens, and she will see him AGAIN when she reaches The Library during the Tenth Doctor story, "Silence In The Library." Got it? Yeah, I know. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.

The only things at all I noticed that seemed unworthy of Whoscale points were the short scene of a teary-eyed Doctor face to face with a doomed Father Octavian, and of course the final scene in Amy's bedroom. However, I do have a different perspective on how Moffat handled that.

During the days of the Davies era, infatuation with the good Doctor was welcomed with open arms, if not encouraged. However, Moffat made it clear in interviews soon after he took of production that there would be no romance between The Doctor and his companion in Series 5/Season 31. In the final scene of this episode, Moffat makes it clear how he was going to handle that subject in this season. The Doctor quickly rejects Amy's advances, and soon swings our attention back to the date The Doctor discovered while scanning the crack on the Byzantium. This revealed that the date the cracks were created were the same day that Amy gets married.

Another masterpiece from Moffat, and thus far his vision for the show was knocking the past five years out of the park when it comes to solid Doctor Who.

Doctor Who - "The Time Of Angels"

2012-01-02T21:50:00.004-06:00

WHOSCALE: 8.5 out of 10

Just as Davies wrote the first two parter for Series 1/Season 27, Steven Moffat penned the first for Series 5/Season 31. Most viewers were expecting something like this to happen after Moffat took over production - an episode involving the Weeping Angels and the return of River Song. I certainly expected this, but I never would have guessed that the two would be in the same story. Normally, when multiple major elements like this are crammed into a single story, it often causes the episode itself to suffer in terms of balancing participation from each of them. That certainly wasn't the case with this story. Moffat successfully wrote a story that included the mysterious River Song and the menacing Weeping Angels, without ever sacrificing a second of plot development.

There are several things about this episode's face value that immediately give it a good ranking on the Whoscale. Foremost being the title, which follows the tradition "The ___ of ____" format that was common place during the first four Doctors. Another thing that I applauded Moffat for was resisting the temptation to set up a subplot involving Song. Instead, he incorporates her into the story as a companion to The Doctor, and rather than devote an episode to soapy River/Doctor conversations, the episode continuously stays focused on the problem at hand.

We learn in this story that River Song can write and translate ancient Gallifreyan. I think for most of the fans, this prompted even more questions than it answered about her.

The same location that was used for Bad Wolf Bay is used again, but this time for another planet, which harks back to the days of the original series, where local quarries often stood in for alien worlds.

There was very little I could find that just turned me off while I was watching it. Perhaps the incidental music, but it was never close to being as bombastic as it was in "Doomsday." If I had to make an comparison, I would say it relatively equaled the use in the Ninth Doctor story "Aliens Of London"

There was so much that I liked about this one, that it probably will always be my favorite from this season. Moffat did a terrific job of side stepping issues that might have come across as being "ripped off" from other forms of science fiction, such as the teleportation of Father Octavian and his Clerics. Moffat also turned up the fright factor of the Angels about ten notches in this one also with decayed, disfigured statues joining the ranks.

The cliffhanger is spot on, pure bred Doctor Who. I recall seeing this one for the first time, and seeing the gravity globe exploding, then having to spend a whole week trying to work out what they could possibly do to get out the corner they were in, and what that exploding globe had to go with it. I was chomping at the bits.

It was refreshing to see The Doctor and River once again working together to piece together a puzzle.

Doctor Who - "Victory Of The Daleks"

2012-01-01T23:29:00.004-06:00

WHOSCALE: 7 out of 10

Next up to bat was Mark Gatiss, who coincidentally also wrote the third episode of Davies' first season, "The Unquiet Dead." Gatiss has been known for contributing episodes to the series that were some of the few that could compete with the kind of Whoscale scores that Moffat often got.

By this time, a lot of fans - both new and old - were getting a bit tired of having to deal with Daleks every season. But Moffat placing this in the number three slot as a stand alone episode, with no additional Dalek related stories in the season was a move I felt to again gradually bring audiences out of the Dalek-infested Davies era and into...well, whatever Moffat had planned for us.

Right off the top, the episode scores points with the title. Gatiss stays true to Doctor Who heritage by following the "____ of the Daleks" format. The last Dalek story to follow this format was Helen Raynor's "Evolution Of The Daleks" back in Tennant's second season.

This episode has received quite a lot of negative criticism from fans since it was aired, and has even been occasionally ranked the worst episode of Series 5/Season 31. Being a diehard fan of both the original series and the new, as well as often viewing episodes from a classic Who point of view, I have to wholly disagree with them.

Gatiss harks back to the lost story "Power Of The Daleks" with the Second Doctor, where the Daleks were initially introduced has servants. However, Gatiss' story often felt like it should have been one of those six part serials, and as such was rushed. The pacing of the episode is relatively balanced for the first twenty minutes, but the revelation of the Daleks' true intention, the truth behind Bracewell's relevance to the Daleks all came together a bit quickly, which then set the stage for the next ten minutes of light speed action.

One thing I thought that was terrific was the simplicity of the the Dalek ship this go around. Instead of the CGI backdrop, fire and brimstone appearance, the walls, ceiling, and floor use very mute colors, with touches of tin here and there. It reminded me of the Kaled bunker from the Fourth Doctor story, "Genesis Of The Daleks." Likewise, Gatiss also incorporates three lone Daleks, instead of the Davies style invasion in the millions tactic. This format has and always will work wonders for Dalek and Cybermen stories, as long as the first half is relaying the fact piece by piece that the Daleks (or Cybermen) are in fact "up to something." The story can then slowly play out revealing what that something is, and then having The Doctor cleverly devise a way to out wit and out think them, instead of just pulling a magic lever.

Unfortunately, the final twenty minutes of this episode is where it starts to falter on the Whoscale. Once again we have to sit through a short sequence that looks remarkably similar to a young podracer prodigy from Tatooine destroying a Trade Federation ship. In the case of this episode, it's WWII Spitfires instead of Naboo Starfighters. Speaking of the Spitfires, that was perhaps the least believable part of the entire episode, and I place most the blame on the fact that an in depth Dalek story like this one just doesn't work when crammed into 45 minutes. You get ridiculous time discrepancies like the time it took Bracewell to outfit a squardron of Spitfires with gravity bubble technology and replace their outdated machine guns with laser cannons - about 45 seconds. After further examination, one has to wonder how a combustion engine aircraft is able to fly loop-de-loops and zig zags in free space, with no oxygen to combust, and no air passing over the wings. That's reading a bit deep into the technical side of the physics in that scene, but things like that wouldn't have been overlooked in the original series. In fact, a squadron of Spitfires wouldn't have been anywhere near a Dalek ship - The Doctor would have somehow deactivated the power source himself.

The episode gets even more disappointing when Amy once again steps in to save the day, over shadowing the lead character. This sort of thing was getting kind of ridiculous, also. Honestly, why bother to have The Doctor feel his way though an entire episode uncovering clues if his companion can resolve the whole darned thing with a Leadworth education?!

The final ten minutes devotes itself to being entirely heart wrenching and joyous, with a farewell by Churchhill and Bracewell, finally leading The Doctor and Amy back to the TARDIS, who then also pause just outside the doors to reflect on the events of the episode.

The music in the episode was almost a mirror image of the episode's Whoscale. It was often subtle and sparingly used in the opening twenty minutes, and then turned into a piece from John Williams during the Spitfire sequence. It then calms to an emotion invoking piece for the Bracewell bomb deactivation sequence.

Finally, I'll touch on the redesign of the Daleks. This was another item of great criticism after this episode aired. I remember the first time I saw them, and my first thought was "Power Ranger Daleks?" The new design grew on me a bit after I discovered that each color is symbolic, and that each Dalek color is representative of a particular rank or function. For example, the white Dalek is the Supreme Dalek and the blue one is the Scanner/Intelligence officer. I also immediately noted the change in the texture of their exteriors. While the Daleks are meant to be metal, the original series never went to far to hide the fact that they were just plastic. This in the end added to the charm of the series, and at the risk of insulting the production department of the new series, the new Daleks look plastic. To me, that's a good thing. It helps bring back the flavor of the bare bones simplistic style of the original series.

Doctor Who - "The Beast Below"

2012-01-01T22:02:00.008-06:00

WHOSCALE: 8 out of 10

After seeing this episode and seeing the final scene leading into the next, it was apparent that one of the things Moffat was NOT changing this season was the format of the opening three episodes. Since the revival in 2005, the opener has been based on modern Earth, with the next two episodes being set in the future and in the past, in alternating order. The Tenth Doctor's opening season was the only exception, with "New Earth" being set in the distant future. However, that season marked the first Christmas special - "The Christmas Invasion" - which was set on modern day Earth.

The out right adversity between Davies' production style and Moffat's production style is once again very evident in this episode. The pacing of the story doesn't ever feel rushed, nor does it seem to just bog down. The story unfolds fluently, and in true Doctor Who style, devotes much of the first half to presenting elements of the story that spike our curiosity, and make us lean in a bit closer to our televisions, ensuring that we don't miss a beat. Moffat has always done well with establishing in depth, concise, plot-hole free mysteries in his Doctor Who episodes. "The Beast Below" is no exception.

The incidental music was much more subtle and more sparingly used in this episode, but I've always thought that Moffat intentionally used more in "The Eleventh Hour" to help transition less-informed viewers through the end of the Davies era into the Moffat era.

Before I get my readers to thinking I'm just kissing up to Moffat, let me point out a few things that contributed to minuses on this episode's Whoscale.

Probably the most bothersome scene was the semi-heart wrenching reflection scene at the end between The Doctor and Amy. The following scene is the two of them scampering off back to the TARDIS, so I felt that Hinchcliffe or JNT would just have omitted that short scene altogether, since it roughly just recapped what most of us had figured out five minutes earlier.

Another point of dislike for me was the fact that The Doctor's role as unsung hero takes a back seat at the climax, and once again it's up to his companion to step in and save the day. The possibility that the Star Whale willingly arrived to save the human race doesn't strike me as one The Doctor would overlook.

Speaking of companions, Moffat did well writing the part of Amy though. Her character shows many qualities in this episode that reflects qualities that original series companions possessed: bravery, initiative, compassion, intelligence, stability under pressure, and for once the companion isn't spelling out every scene so the fan girls will get what's going on. The Doctor's portrayed smart. Amy's portrayed smart, just not Time Lord smart.

That brings me to another plus in this episode - the dialogue. Moffat wrote some terrific one liners that tremendously reflected the quirky persona of the first eight Doctors.

One final plus was the Smilers and the Winders. Definitely the stuff of nightmares for the kids watching, and Moffat choosing to introduce such fantastically creepy villains in his second story proved that there wasn't going to be a "safety blanket" in any of his episodes like Davies had often done with the series to liven things up and to turn the scare factor down a few notches. It was looking like we were going to have the likes of "Blink" for a whole season.

Best classic style scene had to be the meeting between Liz 10 and The Doctor in the corridor. A terrific episode, and definitely spoke a lot about what we could expect from Moffat's vision of Doctor Who in the near future.

Doctor Who - "The Eleventh Hour"

2011-12-30T21:47:00.010-06:00

WHOSCALE: 7.5 out of 10

This was perhaps the most anticipated episode for me since the revival of the series in 2005. It was a whole new start in so many ways, and I had been following production of the series closely. The internet was swamped with rumors of a new title sequence, a new version of the theme music, and one claiming that Moffat was planning to return Doctor Who to it's roots with Series 5/Season 31.

Since this episode opens the Steven Moffat era, I must point out in this review how quickly Moffat communicated the differences between the direction he was going, and what Davies had done the last five years. As always, I will also be reviewing this episode's approximation to classic Doctor Who, which will probably be the most difficult part from here on out for me - I'm partial to Moffat.

I'll begin by covering what I saw as a sign of things to come the first time watching this episode. The title theme had been revamped, but I was a little disappointed that (Murray) Gold had again chosen to orchestrate the majority of the theme. Also, the original bassline is all but completely drowned out by Gold's "chase" percussion. The main melody sounded good though, echoing back to the days of a synthesized theme.

Remember that "The Eleventh Hour" was to Moffat as "Rose" was to Russell T Davies. Both were their opening stories, and established the kind of show Doctor Who would be in future.

Ok, here are the comparions to show that Moffat intentionally wrote his opener to be a complete departure from what Davies wrote five years earlier:

SETTING: A recurring setting in the original series (probably due to budget constraints) was small, country side English villages. Virtually all of the Earth-based stories set in modern times during the RTD era were set in either metropolitan Cardiff or downtown London. This includes his series opener, "Rose." Moffat hits a home run by setting "The Eleventh Hour" in the small, rural village of Leadworth.

CHARACTER EMPHASIS: This is probably the most obvious opposite of the two openers. Davies titled his opener after the companion, whereas Moffat titled his after The Doctor. Moffat again wins on this level, because the show IS called Doctor Who, and as such revolves chiefly around the adventures of the lead character, The Doctor. Davies deliberately wrote his opener from the viewpoint of the companion, and as a result she frequently became the front runner of the show, over shadowing The Doctor. Although the emphasis on The Doctor in this episode doesn't equal that of the emphasis on Rose, the emphasis in this one IS generally balanced between The Doctor and Amy Pond, and is able to cover introducing Amy, the new Doctor, and the problem at hand quite evenly.

CLASSIC VILLAIN/NEW VILLAIN: This was one of the complaints voiced frequently by old fans about the new series. Davies opened with a very minor scrape with some Autons (which they were never even called), whereas Moffat chose to introduce us to a new villain, and a mystery to go with it. Prisoner Zero escaped into our dimension via a crack in Amy's wall. The crack is revealed to be a fissure in the fabric of space and time. Now, The Master was introduced on the backdrop of an Auton invasion in the Third Doctor's first story, "Spearhead from Space," but at that time, it was our first encounter with Autons. So once again, Moffat scores a 1-up against his predecessor.

DOMESTIC APPROACH: If you've read any of my previous reviews, you know what I'm talking about. Davies immediately introduced us to a wide range of companion family members to keep us coming back to Earth on a regular basis. It is my belief that Moffat saw this, and wanted to write a companion that had no ties here on modern Earth, leaving the field open for the duo to go anywhere, any when, for any length of time. Moffat established IMMEDIATELY in the opening scenes that Amy had no family except an Aunt, which was never even shown on screen. Ten minutes into "Rose," we had already had an unfortunate encounter with Jackie Tyler. With Moffat leaving out the domestic approach, he scores yet again.

THE DOCTOR'S COSTUME: Okay, look at all of the previous eight Doctors, and you will immediately notice that their costumes were all quirky, and seldom ever blended in with any time period he visited. Both Eccleston's and Tennant's Doctors were dressed in modern costumes, with Tennant at the forefront in his suit and tie. Moffat scores big again by returning The Doctor's curious sense of style - a tweed jacket, a button up shirt, braces, black rolled up trousers, black boots, and of course, the red bow tie. Bow ties are cool. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Moffat establishes here that this Doctor would not be eye candy for fan girls, but the lovable Doctor we could immediately connect with due to an item of clothing - a black suit, an oversized coat, velvet magician garb, a multi-colored scarf, celery and cricket, a quilt of a coat, and a question mark umbrella or in this case, a bow tie.

TARDIS APPEARANCE: Although I had no complaints about the appearance of the Davies era TARDIS, I definitely was pleased to see Moffat returning the design to the First Doctor style - white framed windows and the St. John's Ambulance sticker. The interior is much more fairy-tale looking though. I'm partial to the white walled Fourth Doctor console room. I did notice that the ceiling right above the console is the same disc pattern that the First Doctor's console had above it. I gave Moffat a few points for bringing back the old exterior, but it never was an issue for me, as I was just as pleased with the RTD outward appearance. So this one is a tie.

COMPANIONS: Granted, Moffat took a completely different approach to introducing The Doctor to Amy, but in the end, we ended up with more or less the same thing we had by the end of "Rose." A modern day female with a goofy, portrayed as idiotic boyfriend who stays behind. Now, I'm sure we can all agree that Amy is hands down less annoying than Rose, but I was hoping for an extra-terrestrial companion, such as a new Turlough, Romana, Adric, or Vicki. Or Jamie, for that matter. Why not pick one from history that we seem to frequently visit? No score here, Moffat.

CGI USE/VILLAIN SEVERITY: Davies was actually pretty sparing with CGI in his opener, just as Moffat was. At the risk of sounding like Davies actually out did Moffat, I think the Autons in "Rose" were more of a threat than Prisoner Zero was. The Autons were actually shooting people, whereas the most threatening Zero got was...well.....barking while standing still. Zero frequently reared his spiky teeth, but never actually used them. In fact, instead of just attacking Amy when she wandered into his room, Zero playfully stays out of her line of sight.

One thing I just have to mention: LENS FLARES!! What is so special about them that they have become a form of art in film?! There's a scene with The Doctor and Amy where slow motion reigns supreme, and with no visible source, a blue lens flare is cast across the screen during the slow motion sequence. Didn't like it then, and I never will in anything. All I can think about is how Abrams butchered Star Trek with them.

That about covers the comparisons between Moffat and Davies, as well as most of what I disliked about this episode. The Doctor saves the day instead his companion for once, which was also a plus. This episode felt more like Doctor Who than "Rose," so I was eager to see what was next.

Doctor Who - "The End Of Time, Part Two"

2011-12-19T22:51:00.005-06:00

WHOSCALE: 6 out of 10

So begins the final story in the Russell T Davies era of Doctor Who.

The second part picks up relatively soon after the last events of the previous part, but it wasn't a fluid continuation from the cliffhanger to the next episode. Of course, that's peanuts. Several two parters throughout the last four seasons have started their second parts that way, and I've seldom made note of it before, so there's no point in picking on Davies about it.

The opening scenes of this episode were terrific - splendid, in fact. Especially in terms of classic Doctor Who style. The dialogue between The Doctor and The Master echoes back to the original series, with The Master's madness reaching new heights. Now with the power of the entire human race at his disposal, he realizes that he can finally resolve the never ending drumbeat in his head. Now, I'm aware that The Master(s) of the original series never complained of such a noise, but I'm trying to be merciful on Davies' final story. Even the music in those first fifteen to twenty minutes is quite subtle.

Despite the CGI overkill in the opening Time Lord scenes, the meeting scenes were done well. The backdrop was dark, with no distinguishable background. The was a technique sometimes employed during the 60s and 70s by productions to cut down on cost. No doubt that wasn't the intent here, but nevertheless it works well in more ways than one. No CGI, and makes for an excellent Gallifreyan meeting place for high ranking Time Lords.

One thing I will say about this episode though: This one has to hold the record for number of rip offs from other science fiction films. I'll name them as I go through the review. The first rip off is the gauntlet Rassilon is wearing, which seems to have that familiar Emperor Palpatine flavor to it. Palpatine didn't need the gauntlet, but I guess if you've mastered the Jedi arts, you don't need one, huh?

Davies wrote some excellent dialogue for The Doctor in the opening scenes, perhaps the best being "Worst. Rescue. Ever!"

The episode continues to look promising as The Doctor, Wilfred and the Vincocci duo escape to an orbiting ship via a teleport. However, the episode starts to falter here a bit. The outward appearance of the Vinvocci ship looks rather...well, cartoonish. Granted, Doctor Who has displayed a wide variety of shapes and sizes when it comes to spacecraft, but they've always had that real-world touch to their design, and didn't look like something out of either Jules Verne or a Saturday morning cartoon.

The episode then starts to bog down in terms of story development. As with traditional Davies stories, there is a "pause" in the flow of the story, accomplished by a heart wrenching heart-to-heart between The Doctor and Wilfred. Now I'm not saying the pacing was too slow. It never is for me in an episode of Doctor Who. Especially when you compare the slowest paced new series episode versus an original series story, such as "The War Games," which spanned a massive ten episodes. Just for contrast, nine and half of those ten episodes were about the story, with the last few minutes focusing on the Second Doctor's regeneration. That's in comparison to the Tenth Doctor's last season, which has been occasionally dwelling on his departure for the most part. Back to my point - the pacing was fine, but the scenes between The Doctor and Wilfred here didn't seem to further the story any, and felt like it was one of those things just aimed specifically at fan girls still whining because Tennant was leaving.

The episode then practically stops being Doctor Who and effectively becomes Star Wars: A New Hope when Wilfred a.k.a Luke Skywalker and Rossiter a.k.a Han Solo man the gunnery of the Vinvocci ship. Of course, the differences are that it's in Earth's atmosphere instead of free space, and they're fighting off hundreds of missiles instead of four TIE fighters.

The episode gets even more ridiculous when The Doctor takes the controls of the ship and aims it right at the Naismith mansion. Just before reducing the house to a cinder - which would have solved all of the problems in one blow (Time Lords returning, The Master, and the template holding The Master Race together - The Doctor sends the ship into a sudden ascent, narrowly missing the mansion. Then by a conveniently placed hatch on the flight deck's floor, The Doctor jumps out of the ship with no means of slowing his fall. In fact, he now holds a revolver. Seriously?! Was Russell half asleep when he wrote this scene? The Doctor didn't survive a fall from a stationary radar dish onto a grassy field in "Logopolis," how could he possibly survive free falling out of a speeding ship, though a glass sky light onto a cement, tile covered floor?!

The episode then turns into a semi-classic western showdown with The Doctor aiming at Rassilon with the revolver, then The Master, then Rassilon, then The Master again.

I remember watching this episode for the first time on New Year's Day, and thinking that perhaps the fall through the glass (which tore his clothes) would be the cause of his regeneration. I'm sure Davies intended it that way. Then I remember being on the edge of my seat when The Doctor was stuck with the decision of shooting The Master or Rassilon. I never saw the solution coming, so kudos to Davies for finally writing a resolution that fit like a glove.

The most utterly pointless element of this entire episode has to be Gallifrey returning. For no apparent reason, Gallifrey appears next door to Earth. Not to destroy Earth or take its place. Just to co-exist with it, I guess. In true Davies form, nameless people are running and screaming in panic as they look up into the sky and see the red giant, as if never seeing a sky full of planets before...."The Stolen Earth," anyone? Once the Time Lords and The Master are returned, Gallifrey in turn vanishes, followed by several scenes of cheerful, nameless people hurrahing that the big bad planet is gone. I say it was pointless because at no time in this episode is it explained HOW Gallifrey is instantly transplanted into our Solar System, or for that matter WHY. The prophecy said that Gallifrey was returning, but that was about all we got on it.

The biggest shock for me when watching this one for the first time was the truth behind "he will knock four times." I remember pondering that heavily during the final days of the Tennant years, and wondering what it could possibly mean. Most fans chose to go with the most obvious answer, being The Master and his sound of drums. I have to say hats off to Mr. Davies for this part, because as a diehard fan of Doctor Who - who studies the series - never saw it coming.

The Doctor enters the chamber and is hit with radiation, at which point he collapses. I remember thinking, "here we go. Finally the regeneration into number Eleven." But no, again The Doctor has defied all odds, and steps out unscathed. The episode's Whoscale breathes one last breath with the subtlety of The Doctor's beginning regeneration. One moment he's peppered with bloody cuts, the next he's healed.

The episode then drops off the map for the next fifteen minutes, as we have to sit through half a dozen farewells from The Doctor to his past companions from the Davies era. Oh yes, Rose is in there.

The Doctor enters the TARDIS and the regeneration finally takes place. Matt Smith gets his first few minutes of screen time as the Eleventh Doctor, and I am left being one hell of an eager beaver, anxious to see where Mr. Steven Moffat was going to take the series.

The Master disappears back into the gate with the Time Lords, and presumably back to Gallifrey within the time lock.

Doctor Who - "The End Of Time, Part One"

2011-12-15T21:45:00.005-06:00

WHOSCALE: 7.5 out of 10

With the close of "The Waters Of Mars," most viewers were certain that the Tenth Doctor's end was near. Apart from the animated "Dreamland," this marks the only multi-part story of the revived series to feature the same episode title for all parts, with each part labeled "Part One," "Part Two," etc.

There is quite a lot to cover in this review because Davies had so much he wanted to do with this finale, being that it was also the last story he would contribute to the series. That said, virtually all of the loose ends he's left throughout the series thusfar had to be taken care of now, mainly because with Steven Moffat taking over as Executive Producer for the series at the start of Series 5 (Season 31) wanted a clean slate to work from with the Eleventh Doctor.

John Simm reprises his role as the The Master, and his performance is as brilliant as ever. Once again, he does a magnificent job of portraying the mad Master, even more so now with a botched resurrection resulting in an insatiable appetite for food. This insatiability is so extreme that The Master resorts to cannibalism.

There is of course, a few things that I think were a bit over done or otherwise pointless in this episode. Most of these things will be nothing my readers haven't heard me rant about in previous stories penned by Russell T Davies, because they have become such a staple item for his writing.

First and foremost was probably the music for me. Throughout the episode, I had the BBC Orchestra of Wales blasting my eardrums, even at times when the on screen action was very, very subtle. One such time is the opening sequence with Wilfred in the church. Moments after the mysterious woman vanishes, and Wilfred notices the depiction of the TARDIS in the stained glass window, the music is excessively bombastic. I know I sound like a broken record about it, but this level of orchestrated music just doesn't fit the tech-savvy sci-fi that Doctor Who is meant to be. It works for films like Star Wars and StarGate, because those respective films were the first of their kind, and thus we had nothing to compare them too. In the case of Doctor Who, it's my opinion that the revived series has a select set of standards it must live up to in order of being worthy of diehard fans' acceptance. These standards were set by the original series, and thus showed the world "this is what Doctor Who is like." Fans of any kind of cult sci-fi series are always weary of remakes and resurrections, because the last decade has shown so many ill-fated attempts, with the likes of Battlestar: Galactica, Hawaii 5-0, Transformers, Star Trek, Inspector Clouseau, Beverly Hills: 90210, Dragnet, Get Smart, The Love Boat, The Twilight Zone, Knight Rider, Bionic Woman, Melrose Place, V, Dallas....the list is almost endless. There have been so many bad remakes that I had to google a list of them. At any rate, it should be no surprise that Doctor Who fans were biting their nails when it was announced that the BBC was resurrecting it. While Dudley Simpson and several others performed orchestrated music for the original series, it was always used sparingly, and when it was used, was subtle comparable to the likes of "Blink."

Enough about the music. The second Davies mark was the character introduced for comic relief aimed at the kids watching. This time, it came in the form of the Vinvocci duo Rossiter and Addams. These two characters have about the same exact role - both in story and out - as Dr. Malcolm did in "Planet Of The Dead." Their behavior is often intentionally clumsy and goofy, in much the way Mickey Smith was in "Boom Town." The original series was often dotted with humor, mainly from one-liners by The Doctor, but it seldom required characters at the forefront specifically for comic relief. As I said in an earlier review, something that Davies did not understand and Moffat did was the fact that kids of all ages didn't care that it was super scary - they KNOW it's scary. That's why their watching. Of course, those kids are too young to see the obvious difference between tones in a cannibalistic Master eating people and a duo of green, cactus-looking aliens bumbling around like a Saturday morning cartoon. Nevertheless, the younger audience praised "Blink" and "Silence In The Library" for the sheer terror those stories provided, and thought they could not see it, their reasons for liking those episodes more was because they weren't pampered every ten minutes. Moffat knows they don't want to be. Honestly, if children were so terrified of the monsters on Doctor Who, they wouldn't watch it.

The third issue is not much a common Davies mark as it is the way he treated Tennant's regeneration. With all previous Doctors, the regeneration process was never a time of sorrow, because the man wasn't dying, just changing his outward appearance and maybe his behavior a little. The memories, knowledge, and soul was always still there. However, Davies knew that there were atleast a few million fan girls out there already broken hearted that their precious David Tennant...errr...Doctor was soon meeting his end. Because of that, Tennant's regeneration was treated as exactly that - an end. The scene with Wilfred and The Doctor in the cafe' verbally illustrates this, with a teary-eyed Doctor out right saying that he would cease to exist, that he would die, and another man takes his place and flies away. This is perhaps the biggest misconception of what regeneration is ever. If each incarnation did as Davies depicts and utterly died, to be replaced with a new man, then each incarnation would be totally and absolutely different from the last, with no recollection of his previous adventures. This served as a sort of early morning brain washing for the Tennant lovers, and instantly struck them with a sense of hatred for the newcoming Matt Smith. As a result, many fans were protesting, saying that the show would no longer be Doctor Who and that it would suck after Matt Smith took over, even though they had not even seen Matt in anything yet. The way the regeneration from Eccleston into Tennant is the way it should have been handled here. Rather than have a long, grueling build-up, it should have been on the spot and last minute, like all of Tennant's predecessors. It felt like a lot what Davies was doing with Tennant's final hours was specifically aimed at broken hearted teenagers, who only needed to see one tear from The Doctor before they buried their face in the sofa bawling.

Naturally, this episode contains some meaningless drama, namely the scene where The Doctor meets The Master in the wasteland for a second time. The Master pulls a Emperor Palpatine move and shoots lightning at The Doctor, causing climatic explosions behind him, which he doesn't even seem to notice. The Master gets enough of being mocked, and lands a shot right in The Doctor's chest. Strangely, this is enough to knock him down, but he soon recovers.

The transition from human race into Master race was done well, i thought. Rather than some fancy CGI light show that regeneration has become, it was more of a camera trick. It was neat how once the process had started, the people would fluctuate between person and Master before ultimately becoming a doppleganger of The Master.

The final scene shows the narrator of the episode to be James Bond....err....Lord Bond....errr...James Rassilon....err...anyway, Timothy Dalton stars as a Time Lord in a final scene that can be described as nothing less than a rip off from the senate scene from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

With that left only one final installment in the RTD era.

Doctor Who - "Dreamland"

2011-12-15T17:49:00.005-06:00

WHOSCALE: 8 out of 10

Since I included the previous animated story "The Infinite Quest," I thought it would only be fair to include the other animated short that aired in weekly parts between the showing of "The Waters Of Mars" and "The End Of Time."

What scored this one high right off the bat was the fact that it was a in depth story divided into serial format, where each individual episode ended in a cliffhanger accompanied with the "sting" of the theme music. Even though each episode was only five to six minutes in length (save the opening episode), the entire story from start to finish has the feel of an original series story.

Many fans have criticized the serial's poor animation quality, and have thus considered it one of the worst stories in Doctor Who history. However, these viewers often think what makes a program great is shiny, high tech special effects such as those in the Transformers movies. The story doesn't have to be clever, just bombard the audience with explosions and shaky camerawork to keep them watching.

Perhaps the one complaint I had with the serial was the accelerated pacing of the story, which I was willing to overlook since writer Phil Ford was forced to cram his story into six minute segments instead of traditional 25 minute segments.

Ford also steers clear throughout the story of any wishy washy soapy romance, which was another plus and direct reflection of traditional Doctor Who story telling format. As with original series episodes, the romance between Cassie and Jimmie is limited to at most holding hands a couple of times. The most emotional scenes are perhaps the saddened Saruba Velak.

I also thought that the character of Mister Dread was done well, and Ford did a great job of interweaving them into the plot line.

Other than mentioning that the serial was praised by SFX Magazine, I can find no other things that I disliked about it. It was a solid story through and through, and the fact that it was a Doctor Who serial complete with cliffhangers alone was enough to sell me on it.

Doctor Who - "The Waters Of Mars"

2011-12-14T23:17:00.005-06:00

WHOSCALE: 6 out of 10

For the third special leading up to the big finale with the Tenth Doctor, Russell T Davies collaborated with Phil Ford to write this story set on Mars in the year 2059.

For about the first thirty minutes, this episode felt very close to classic Doctor Who, with the exception of a little over orchestrated music. However, the first half had the dark, creepy tone comparable to an episode of The X Files, and is definitely a rival for Davies' earlier "Midnight."

As with virtually all of Davies' stories, this one has a character whose main purpose is merely comic relief. In this case it's the Wall-E rip off called Gadget.

The episode starts to take tremendous downturns though when entire sequences begin to be solely devoted to enlightening the audience on Adelaide's personal history, from being spared by Dalek during the events of "The Stole Earth" and "Journeys End" to her future, where her great, great, grandchildren fall in love with new species. Davies continuously beat us over the head with the fact that Adelaide's death on Bowie Base One was a fixed point in time, and could not be changed. In spite of all that, I still didn't understand why it was necessary to know WHY Adelaide was even on the mission. Why weren't the other members asked?

This episode very loosely reminds me of the Fourth Doctor story "The Ark In Space," where The Doctor encounters a group of pioneering humans ready to "out-sit eternity" as he puts it. However, in that story, we didn't have to sit through five to six heart-wrenching minutes of Vira telling us why she was even on The Ark. In the case of "The Waters Of Mars," the episode would have done just as well without that info, especially the flashback sequence as The Doctor and Adelaide examine the ice crater.

On the subject of the ice crater, Davies does take time to nod the original series by mentioning the Ice Warriors.

The way the infected scientists looked was well done, and definitely gave me the willies a little the first time I watched it. It's those beady eyes and pronounced smile that gets you.

As if the first dabble in Adelaide's diary wasn't enough at the crater, we go through a 2059 version of a late night phone call between she and The Doctor via the comm system. Again, the episode goes from chaos to very somber and slow in the blink of an eye (no pun intended). This is another typical mark for Davies, as he did a similar mid-chaos pause in "Army Of Ghost" and "Doomsday."

From that point, the episode becomes 100% a music video, all shown in slow motion for boosted drama smothered in a orchestral and vocal soundtrack. This continues long enough for The Doctor to stand and watch the base team scurrying to load the ship, as well as turn and walk out.
At normal speed, the scene would have lasted anywhere from 30 to 45 seconds, but for the sake of barraging the audience with drama to cover up a spot of writer's block, we show the entire sequence over several minutes in slow motion.

As with most of the new series episodes, the sonic screwdriver yet again saves the day, by modifying Gadget into a DeLorean that leaves tire marks of fire. Not really, but ANYONE who has watched Back To The Future would have instantly thought of that film when they saw Gadget blasting down corridors and across the Martian surface. That bit was for the kids watching, because evidently today's generation of child sci-fi fanatics can only handle so much serious tone per episode. Remember when the original Doctor Who was a kid's show? Remember when the original Star Trek was a kid's show? Look Russell, kids don't want a cute little robot to make them feel like everything is going to be OK when they are intentionally watching the show because they know it scares them. Did Chris Carter hold back when he spooked us with The X Files? No! And Russell wonders why everyone picked "Blink" as their favorite. It's because it was super creepy, and Moffat didn't try to brighten up the episode's obvious dark tone with kid's humor. Yeah, it scared the Dickens out of kids and kept scaring them, but they loved it for that, and thus were pining for more.

The rocket explodes causing a hull breach on the base. Atmosphere is venting out so fast that the three remaining members - Adelaide, Yuri and Mia - have to hold on to keep from getting sucked out. Then The Doctor enters in heroic gesture to save the day, oddly unaffected by the venting atmosphere. He grabs a sealant canister and tosses it to Mia, who evidently is no longer affected by the venting atmosphere either, because she's standing straight and hands free to catch the canister.

The final scene was done rather well. The Doctor drops off the three survivors, and for once we see a darker side to the cheeky Tenth Doctor. Adelaide ultimately takes her own life, thus sustaining the current sequence of future events, and The Doctor is shell shocked at the realization that no matter what he does, he is powerless over the decisions of others. Ood Sigma pays him a visit in the street, then vanishes. Inside the TARDIS, the Kloister Bell is heard, and the stage is set for the Tenth Doctor's final story.