DOCTOR WHO: SEASON-BY-SEASON - SERIES SEVEN

Series Seven, in so many ways, reminds me of Season Twenty. It knows that it's coinciding with a major anniversary and is trying to be a bit special. But, maybe, it might have been better if it was just a normal season! 

There is still quite a bit of brilliance going on within both these periods. Twenty, for instance, had some incredible stories like Snakedance and Enlightenment. Even Mawdryn Undead was quite strong. Seven, we'll see, will contain similar tales. These sort of high points mean we're not getting something fairly abysmal like Season Seventeen or Series Two. But we're also not getting something supremely awesome, either. Which becomes more readily apparent since these are meant to be special seasons. 

THE FIRST HALF - THE TROUBLE WITH BLOCKBUSTERS! 

Moff had a sort of weird vision for the first half of this season. He wanted every episode to feel like a blockbuster movie. He even had posters made up for each one that made the story look like it was some major Hollywood production. 

It was a cute idea, I suppose. But one that I felt really didn't work that well. There were, in fact, two major problems with the whole concept: 

1) A blockbuster movie needs a blockbuster budget. While New Who looked gloriously better than the embarrassing visuals the Classic Series used to produce, it was still a TV show. It only has so much money being put into it. It was never going to be able to give us the glitzy effects we'd get from some film with a 300 million dollar budget. 

Look at Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, for instance. The CGI dinosaurs were more-than-passable at the time. But the budget still wasn't really good enough to give us the sort of Jurassic Park feel that it was trying to achieve. In fact, because the money wasn't there, the effects have aged poorly.  Nowadays, one can see fairly clearly several instances where the onscreen characters are interacting with effects that will only be added later in post production. The "fringing" is quite bad, in places.  

2) Because a good Blockbuster is meant to be about Spectacle, the script will often suffer at the expense of the flashy visuals. The plot to the story will lack complexity or nuance so that the audience experiences the maximum effect of a thrilling roller coaster ride. But there really won't be any more to it than that.  

This is an absolute terrible direction to take something like Doctor Who in. I come to the show for adventures that I can appreciate on several levels. Yes, there should be a certain "wow factor" to any good Who tale. But there needs to be all that other good stuff too. I'm looking for complex plots with fleshed-out characters and themes that are explored with a flair of artistic expression. Blockbusters rarely have any of these attributes. So, basically, Moff's decision strips away just about everything that I genuinely love about Doctor Who!  

THE FIRST HALF - WILD, WILD WEST 

These last few Reviews have, more-or-less, been looking at the stories of the season in chronological order. I figure it's time to mix things up a bit. So let's examine things in a slightly different way for a bit and start with A Town Called Mercy. 

It's a funny tale in several ways. Firstly, it doesn't really go for that "let's make everything a blockbuster" theme and seems more like a Spaghetti Western. This is actually one more problem with this whole idea. A few of the stories don't really suit the theme. 

Town Called Mercy also feels quite a bit like a Star Trek story. Particularly Next Generation. In my foggy recollection, most every episode of STNG raised some sort of moral dilemma that the crew of the Enterprise must face. They would gather in lounge-like meeting rooms and discuss the issue from every side. And then discuss it some more. And debate and discuss. Then discuss and debate. And then re-hash all the issues the debates and discussions had already brought up two or three more times. Then, finally, in the last few minutes of the episode, something would happen that resolved the conflict. Oftentimes, the solution came about through no actual actions that the crew of the Enterprise, themselves, were taking. So all that talking the problem through for the better part of the episode had no real effect on the final outcome. 

Mercy tends to work the same way. With some contrast to STNG, it does start off pretty fun and gives us quite a bit of action. Until the Doctor finally figures out who Jex is. At which point, great amounts of debate and discussion ensue. Can someone do something horrible and, somehow, redeem themselves? Is it right to sacrifice one life so that others will be saved? On and on it goes. Admittedly, a bit more action is thrown in here and there to keep us engaged. But, for the most part, it's way more about arguing on the various subjects of the debate than we really need. 

In defense of the story, there is still some pretty good stuff going on. Isaac is a really great character who is excellently portrayed. It is quite touching when he's shot and passes his badge on to the Doctor. There's also a very nice speech that the Doctor delivers to the lynch mob about "violence never ending violence - only extending it" that deserves far more credit than it gets. But, alas, monologues from Pandorica and Akhaten always tend to dwarf these things. 

And then there's the Gunslinger. The Gunslinger, quite honestly, is a total bad-ass. He not only has cool built-in weapons, but it looks very cool when he teleports. And I love all his Terminatoresque POV shots. He's meant to still be guarding over Mercy. So the character is easily accessible for future appearances. I would love to see him come back. Even if it's more of a cameo. Like, maybe, the Doctor assembles another army like he did in Good Man Goes to War. It would be awesome to see him return for even just a few minutes. 

THE FIRST HALF - THE CHIBNALL STUFF 

To the best of my recollection, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and Power of Three are the last scripts Chris Chibnall submits to Doctor Who before he becomes its Head Writer. He's written several before this season, of course. Which would lead one to believe that the show would keep producing his stuff. But he probably just got too busy with Broadchurch and really didn't have time for anything else. 

What this means, unfortunately, is that these two stories are probably the first ones we go back to when we hear that he is becoming the Head Writer. Which alarms us a bit since neither of them are particularly spectacular. 

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, to its credit, does the best job out of all the stories in this section of the season of meeting Moff's thematic stipulations. It really does feel like a Blockbuster film that's been squeezed down to fit the small screen. Even the title has that attention-grabbing, sensationalistic tone to it that all movies of this nature need. 

Which means, of course, that the story is ridiculously light on plot. Really, there's not much happening, here. Some mean guy kicked a bunch of Silurians out of their ship but can't pilot it, now. That's the core premise. Chibnall was smart enough to bring in some extra companions to create a few inconsequential subplots. But it's still not anywhere near adequate. 

It's still a nice thrill ride, of course. With lots of fun involving various species of dinosaurs. Solomon is a great villain, too. Although we get nowhere near enough of him. Particularly since Bradley does a great job with the part (they should really bring him back, somehow. Everyone should decline any of his wedding invitations, though!).  Oddly enough, my favorite action moment in the whole adventure is when Rory and his Dad successfully steer the ship. It's a fun little father-and-son moment that they play up really well. 

There are, however, more problems with the story than just the light plot. The two comedy robots, ironically enough, aren't particularly funny. I wouldn't even call them annoying. They just fall really flat. Not sure if it's the dialogue that's been written for them or the ineffectiveness of the voice actors. Or a combination, thereof. But the whole gag just never really works. And their absolutely awful stormtrooper aim when the Doctor and friends are escaping on a triceratops is really painful to watch. 

Overall, though, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is still a passable romp. Power of Three, however, is never all that particularly easy to sit through. 

It has its moments. Giving so much focus to Rory and Amy just before they are about to go does work quite well, in places. It gets us all-the-more attached to them so their departure in the next story feels even sadder. The scene with the Doctor and Amy having a big heart-to-heart works very well at achieving this, too. 

This is also the story that introduces Kate Stewart. A character I fall instantly in love with even before I find out who her Dad is. The presence she will develop in the show over the next few years will resonate as strongly as her father's once did. She's really quite marvelous. 

These two traits, alone, save Power of Three from being an absolute stinker. But the story doesn't really have much beyond that. 

If we're being absolutely honest, the whole thing's a bit dull. There are some engaging moments involving the cubes or the silly misadventures that occur during Amy and Rory's anniversary. But, for the most part, it's a fairly uninteresting plot. 

This is yet another story during New Who where the ending starts to get pretty messy. This is actually a fairly common trait in the Revived Series. I blame it on just how rushed a story has to be, sometimes. The writer just doesn't have the proper time to set up the ending the plot needs. So they just, sort of, slap something together and hope the audience isn't paying too much attention to the gaping plot holes. 

First off, I get that a certain level of unusual coincidence sometimes has to happen to get the narrative to work. But there is such thing as too much coincidence. And making a trans-dimensional entrance to a spaceship just happen to be at the hospital Rory works at is a shining example of this. 

But the weirdest part of the whole story is when the Shakri hologram dude just disappears and leaves the main controls unattended. Are you really not going to put some defenses in place (you know, like you did earlier in the story?!) when someone who is openly opposing you is standing right there? Nope. Just leave all the important stuff that they can use to stop you right at their disposal. The Doctor's explanation of: "He was never there to begin with!" makes it all feel even sillier. No doubt, it was meant to make the Shakri sound more mysterious. But, instead, they just look dumb! 

THE FIRST HALF - THE MOFF STUFF 

One could praise Moffat for writing the best stories during this part of the season. But, the plain truth is: the competition really wasn't that fierce. Which does, in some ways, make it look like he needs to do his job better. As a Head Writer, he shouldn't just be making sure his material looks good. He should be polishing everyone else's work too. 

There seems to be this weird consensus amongst fandom that Moff  doesn't write well for the Daleks. I'm not sure how that idea was actually formed. Aside from Series One, Daleks stories during the RTD era were pretty lackluster. Whereas I quite liked Asylum of the Daleks. It's tightly-written and explores an interesting concept. I also like that it's a different kind of plot for the Daleks. Usually, they're forming some great plan for universal domination. This time, they just want the Doctor's help with a problem. 

The episode also comes up with what I thought was a great compromise for the fans that didn't like the update to the Dalek appearance. The bronze-liveried ones are still around, but they're the grunts. The Teletubbies are more of a ruling class. So we'll still, mainly, see the ones the fans seem to like the most. With the less popular ones only making the occasional appearance. Sadly, this still wasn't enough. The Teletubbies would get phased out altogether very soon. 

Seeing the old model Daleks in the asylum, itself, was also quite cool. I'm actually amazed they weren't featured more prominently. All the creepy stuff with insane Daleks and nano-cloud-infected humans was quite chilling. As I said, it's a great story. It also makes sure to do what it says on the tin. It's meant to mainly take place in a Dalek asylum and it does exactly that. 

The twist with Oswyn Oswald was absolutely great. Even if her normal voice coming over the comms seems a bit tricky to reconcile! I'm okay with guessing that she, somehow, created a way for that to happen in order to re-enforce the reality she was believing in. It takes a bit of headcannon to fix the flaw but this isn't one of those "Why was Sutekh given everything he needs to escape?!" situations where we have to fill in too many gaps to get it to make sense. It's not that big of a stretch to work out a viable explanation. I also loved how intrigued I was by the mystery of Jenna Coleman being in the episode but then dying. It's a great set up for the second half of the season. 

Asylum of the Daleks also does a fairly good job of giving us that blockbuster vibe. Those great sweeping shots of the Dalek Parliament do a particularly good job of making us feel like we're watching a big-budget Hollywood film. Although, the inference that the Daleks are ruled by some form of democracy does seem pretty silly. The Dalek Prime Minister, however, does look kinda cool. Would love to see more of him. 

Angels Take Manhattan, on the other hand, doesn't feel like a blockbuster at all. It's an old-timey detective story. And, aside from one major problem, it all works quite well. 

While every Weeping Angel story will always live in the shadow of Blink, Angels Take Manhattan does prove that there's still plenty of mileage left in these quantum-locked monstrosities. They continue to be terrifying and Moffat is always expanding upon their lore to keep them interesting. In fact, this adventure seems to link quite a few things together within the different episodes that have featured them. It seems likely, for instance, that the extinct Aplans that are mentioned in Time of the Angels were wiped out by the same sort of battery farms the Angels were trying to establish in New York. I'd also guess that those Angels we see scavenging at Wester-Drumlins in Blink are more survivors from the disaster Amy and Rory created in 1928. It's entirely possible that one of the four that are now trapped in the basement was also the Angel in the graveyard that took away Amy and Rory. 

Of course, the biggest deal going on in the story is that this is the final outing for Amy and Rory. Their departure is beautifully-handled. That big moment on the ledge of the building is ridiculously intense and really does show us how strong of a couple they genuinely are. Leaping out and hoping everything will be okay is a nice big blatant metaphor for what marriage is. And the image works nicely. 

And now, we must discuss the one big problem: 

I get it, it's hard to do a story with Weeping Angels in New York and not want to make the Statue of Liberty into one of them. But you can't do that without providing a rational explanation for how a giant friggin' statue can move through the streets of friggin' New York and not be seen by anyone!! It's a bit too much to swallow. 

I do have one other super minor problem with this tale. At this point, I was getting tired of companions almost always being forcibly separated from the Doctor in order to finally leave the TARDIS once and for all. I guess it would be hard to stop travelling with this near-magical being who can take you anywhere in Time and Space and you might need to be stranded in a parallel universe or trapped in a storm of time paradoxes or something like that in order to truly give it all up. But I also think it's possible that people can just behave the way most companions in the Classic Series did. One day, they could just come to the realization that it's time to leave. 

Unfortunately, there will still be quite a while before companion farewells are going to get written that way, again. 

THE FIRST HALF - CONCLUSION 

I do wonder, sometimes, if I misunderstood Moff's vision for these particular five stories. Only two of them really seem to fit the description of "Blockbuster". Is my definition of the term too strict? Or was he actually just trying to create episodes that felt like Hollywood genre films? But, even if that was the case, how does Power of Three fit in? I don't remember there being any popular Hollywood movies about cube invasions! 

I think, if we really want to appreciate this particular period, there were other arcs and/or themes going on that deserve far better attention. 

Amy and Rory finally leaving is definitely one of them. It really did seem like everything we needed to explore about these two was settled by the end of Series Six. But Moff adds this very nice Coda to their relationship in these last few episodes. We watch them make the transition back to their normal lives but still love the Doctor for everything that he has done for them. It's a beautiful process to observe. 

A much more subtle but interesting arc is the moral decay that the Doctor seems to be going through during this period. He ruthlessly sends Solomon to his death during Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and seems quite ready to do the same to Jex during Town Called Mercy. Amy echoes a sentiment once expressed by Donna: it's not good for him to travel alone. He seems to lose some of his compassion when he does. Fortunately, he will be getting obsessed with the Mystery of Clara soon and this will get him on a straighter path for a bit.

INTERMISSIONS BEGINS: 

THE SNOWMEN 

Thanks, so much, Moff for giving us a very different kind of Christmas Special, this year. The Snowmen is both sinister and funny but isn't making such a concerted effort at tugging at the heartstrings as Doctor, Widow, Wardrobe tried to, last year. Also, we're not getting any dialogue like "humany wumany"!   

A lot of Christmas Specials also have the tendency of being very self-contained. Production knows that there's a ton of audience that is really only coming in to enjoy a Christmas Day tradition and doesn't really watch the show much outside of that. The Snowmen, however, is surprisingly relevant. It sets in motion the whole "Who Is Clara Oswald?!" arc that permeates the second half of the season.  

Finally, there's the gorgeous fan service of bringing back the Great Intelligence. Again, Moff is quite obnoxious. He puts the letters "GI" up all over the place to tease us. Oblivious loser that I am, I never clue in till the Doctor starts talking about London Underground in the 60s. I still don't quite get everything till the proper Reveal at Clara's grave. 

INTERMISSION ENDS 

Into the second half of Series Seven we go. Again, I'm going to skirt around chronologically-reviewing the stories. Instead, I'll discuss them in order of preference. 

Before I begin, it should be noted that I think all of the episodes of this section of the season are, at the very least, decent. There's nothing here that smacks of Creature from the Pit or The Next Doctor. I don't sit there, at the end of it, regretting the time I spent watching it. 

But some of these tales definitely have more flaws to them than others. As we reach the top of the list, however, I'll admit that one or two of these stories achieved some degree of brilliance.   

Anyhow, here goes. Starting at the bottom: 

Journey to the Center of the TARDIS 

There are a few problems that weigh quite heavily on Journey to the Center of the TARDIS. Its biggest one also affects a few other stories in this particular period. 

Quite simply, the directing feels very flat. A I watch the episode, I'm very disconnected from everything that's going on. I'm having an especially difficult time feeling an attachment to any of the characters. The Baalen Brothers aren't particularly likeable, of course. But that doesn't mean we still can't find them engaging. So there's no excuse for me to not really care about them. Truth be told: I'm not even all that interested in Clara and the Doctor during this episode. When absolutely no one in the story is resonating with you, that's usually the fault of the director. 

The other real problem with the adventure is that the title creates an effect that I like to call the "Invasion of Time Expectation". If a good chunk of the plot is meant to take place within the TARDIS, then we're anticipating a decent exploration of the place. Yes, there will be lots of wandering around in corridors. But we do expect that time will also be spent in some interesting rooms. At best, Journey allows a glimpse here and there into some interesting spots in the TARDIS. But not really much more. The shots of Clara wandering down a corridor with an observatory and swimming pool CGIed into the background feel especially cheap. It all becomes a bit of a let-down. Basically, don't throw us into the TARDIS for the entirety of an episode and then not show us much!    

There are some redeeming qualities, of course. The ultimate revelation of what the TARDIS zombies were was quite clever. I also like the big confrontation the Doctor has with Clara at the cliff's edge. The whole adventure becoming an aborted timeline that only the Doctor remembers was also a neat way to conclude things. There's a lot of well-executed timey whimeyness, here. 

Overall, however, the story only succeeds so well. Which is why it sits on the bottom of this particular list.

Cold War 

The Ice Warriors are finally being brought into the New Series! Yay! Green men from Mars might be a huge cliche, but I still love these guys. 

Of course, this would be even more exciting if the story didn't feel as flat as Journey to the Center of the TARDIS did. Once more, I'm not really experiencing much of an attachment to anyone. The scientist who likes Ultravox and Duran Duran is the only one who particularly stands out much. I do remember being legitimately upset when Skaldak grabs him and it looks like he might actually get killed. In that moment, I realized that I cared about him a bit, at least!   

Doing a story about the terrors of the Cold War twenty-or-so years after it's over is probably not the wisest choice, either. It's fine to go back into the 80s and make a historical piece. But trying to showcase the futility of a mutually-assured destruction doesn't really feel all that particularly relevant, anymore. 

The other problem I have with this one is that it re-hashes The Ice Warriors just a little bit. Once more, a Martian is found in the ice. Do these guys just not know when to come in from the cold?!  

Nightmare in Silver

Poor 'ole Neil Gaiman.  He had such a difficult act to follow! 

The Doctor's Wife is a piece of absolute brilliance. One of the best stories from the New Series. Whatever script he wrote next for the show would live in the shadow of his first contribution. 

When I heard he would be writing a Cybermen story, I was quite interested in seeing how Gaiman would treat this particular monster. And he did do some very interesting things with them. I really loved the concept of the Cybermites. All you needed to do, now, was throw a few bugs at someone and they would start converting into Cybermen. I also loved how adaptive these horrible monsters had become. The way that they kept upgrading to deal with the various obstacles that were being used against them was quite interesting to watch.

Unfortunately, some more bad directing seems to step in and damage all the great writing this episode gets. Again, things are feeling quite unengaging. Some superb casting helps to nullify some of this.  Warwick Davis has a ridiculous level of screen presence that does massively help the story. Matt Smith also does an incredible job of playing against himself as he fights the influence of the Cyber Planner. 

But it's still not quite enough. Nightmare in Silver still feels a lot like Cold War and Journey to the Center of the TARDIS. Something that is cranked out rather than properly produced. Which is a shame, really. It's a great script by Gaiman. Maybe not quite as strong as his first one, but still very good. But this is another story where the direction feels a bit like it's been phoned in. I can see why he stops submitting after this. It's hard to want to write scripts for something that isn't realizing your vision particularly well. 

Rings of Akhaten 

We're moving out of the flatter stories that are merely passable and into the stuff that starts to genuinely impress me. 

Although, I wouldn't say that fandom holds Rings of Akhaten in the same place in their heart as I do. I seem to recall lots of complaints about it. I'm not sure why, though. Maybe singing aliens and space mopeds are a bit too silly for some peoples' tastes. But it's actually the sort of stuff I go to Doctor Who for! I like my sci-fi a bit weird and not taking itself too seriously! 

And then, of course, there's the speech. Gorgeously-written. I love it when he talks about seeing universes held together by the will of a madman. I was like: "Hey! He's talking about The Three Doctors!" This is also where we see a huge difference between Ten and Eleven. If Tennant had been performing the monologue, the whole thing would have dripped with angst. Smith still delivers a bunch of sadness but gives it a much more interesting undertone. He seems almost proud of the pain he's suffered. The choices he makes in his delivery make the whole scene so much more enjoyable. 

There are a few problems with Akhaten. But I still find it to be a reasonably good story. We need more adventures like this, in fact. So often, the Doctor just talks about all the strange worlds he's seen but is just hanging around in modern-day London a lot! He needs to actually go to these places more frequently and let us witness them for ourselves. 

The Crimson Horror 

As much as I love seeing the Doctor heading off to weird alien worlds, the earthbound stories do seem to be doing particularly well during this part of the season. Especially the Historicals.

The Crimson Horror is another tale that is great fun. Nothing too complicated. A crazy old woman with a worm attached to her chest is up to no good with some red goo. But a good time is had with it. The Paternoster Gang continues to be entertaining, too. I also enjoy how the narrative is done in a non-linear manner for a bit. Diana Rigg and Rachael Stirling deliver great performances that really help to make the story shine. It's always great when this mother and daughter work together.    

This a great example of how hit-or-miss Gatiss' writing can be. Crimson Horror is a script that I put in the "good pile". But he's done some serious stinkers, too. In fact, I actually consider Idiot's Lantern one of the worst stories of New Who. He even has some middle-of-the-road stuff like Victory of the Daleks. Basically, he's a bit all-over-the-place! 

I know many have felt he should have succeeded Moff as Head Writer. But his track record does make me feel a little trepidatious about that idea. He's just a little too inconsistent. Yes, the two stories Chibnall wrote in the other half of the season were a bit "meh". But they were still passable. Overall, his scripts held up. He had also created a ridiculously-successful TV series just before he was handed the keys to Doctor Who (yes, I know Gatiss has had some success with other shows he worked on, too - but I don't think he ever quite hit the level of Broadchurch). Sorry kids. Based on qualifications alone, Chibnall was the better man for the job! 

Anyhow, a bit of a digression, there. Sorry! Bottom Line is: Crimson Horror is definitely a good time! 

The Bells of Saint John 

Given how simple and straightforward it is, this story still ends up being quite delightful. A mysterious being is hoovering up souls through the Wi-Fi and makes the mistake of trying to snatch up someone the Doctor has become intensely interested in. There's really not much to it all, really. But Bells of Saint John is an especially fun romp. 

The last ten minutes or so have some really great surprises. The Doctor re-jigging a "spoonhead" is a magnificent little twist. And the Great Intelligence being back already was a fantastic Reveal. Moments like these make such a basic plot worth the watch. Even re-watches remain enjoyable. The surprises may be gone, but they're still very entertaining. 

And then, of course, there's the anti-grav bike. The Doctor riding it up the side of the Shard is probably one of the most ludicrous things the show has ever done. But I still grin ear-to-ear every time I watch the sequence. It's just so awesome!       

Hide 

Up until this story, I felt Blink was the most terrifying Doctor Who episode, ever. Those damned Weeping Angels were absolute nightmare-fuel in that. 

But then we get to Hide. An adventure that starts off as a traditional haunted house yarn. But it really does contain some of the creepiest visuals the show has ever given us. I legitimately get the chills watching this episode. The scare-factor goes through the roof. 

What makes Hide even more enjoyable, however, are the tonal shifts. It starts off as just a fun little spooky story. As we start seeing that the ghost isn't really a ghost, things change to some hard sci-fi for a bit. Then it makes a sharp turn back into scariness as the Doctor gets stranded in the forest. And then, finally, it becomes a romance. As all this happens, the writing remains tight and the story-telling is completely engaging. It's an extremely clever plot that still remembers to have a heart. It's especially impressive that the actual "monster" in the story turns into someone we desperately want to see saved so he can be re-united with the love of his life. 

Hide is quite brilliant. In some ways, it should be considered the best story of this part of the season. However, I am a sucker for fan service. Which is why there is just one story that manages to beat it. 

The Name of the Doctor 

If I'm being completely honest, I was in love with this episode within its first few seconds. Actually letting us see the moment where the Doctor and Susan steal a Type Forty TARDIS and escape into the cosmos was totally cool. But to then have Clara chasing after various incarnations of the Doctor had me foaming at the mouth! Like Power of the Doctor, it was a new and different way to do a multi-incarnation story. In fact, it's such a unique technique that I almost don't really consider this to be a story that involves several different versions of the Doctor. And yet, it is.   

What's even nicer is that, beyond those first few minutes, we do really get a great story. It's a bit on the simplistic side. It even feels like things are dragging ever-so-slightly as the Doctor deliberates over diving into the "wound in Time" to save Clara. But there's still just enough meat there to get us to feel like there's more than just fan service going on. There is a real plot, too. And it's all quite breath-taking as we see this absolutely terrible fate awaiting the Doctor on Trenzalore.  

And then, of course, we get to the last few minutes where there's some more totally cool appearances by previous incarnations. Any dissatisfaction that I was experiencing over the lightness of plot or even the slightly blatant padding gets forgotten. I'm blown away by some more of the previous Doctors that are showing up as we finally get the full answer to the Mystery of Clara.  It's all quite wonderful! 

Finally, though, we get the tease to end all teases. Who the Hell is John Hurt meant to be?!!!     

SEASON CONCLUSION

If we want to get all super-technical and pedantic, Series Seven ends here. I'll still talk about the two Specials after this, but let's stop to take a look at what we've gotten, thus far. 

There's a lot of things that I greatly enjoyed about this season. The very first and last episode were, in my mind, Classics. I loved Asylum of the Daleks and adored Name of the Doctor. But the stuff in between met with mixed results! Angels Take Manhattan, Crimson Horror, Hide and a few other stories like them are quite good. But we also had Town Called Mercy, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS and certain other episodes that were, quite honestly, a bit dull. 

What this means, of course, is that Series Seven really only works so well. I would even consider it the weakest season Moff ever produced. The fact that this is a season that also falls on an anniversary year makes its flaws all-the-more apparent. 

Still, I wouldn't call this an actual "bad" season. There's enough quality story-telling going on in it to save it from that status. But it's also just a bit disappointing, in places. 

THE SPECIALS - PART ONE: A GREAT DAY 

I've talked about Day of the Doctor in a few other entries, already (Top Ten: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2015/12/book-of-lists-top-ten-who-stories-7.html Best Anniversary Ever: https://robtymec.blogspot.com/2020/11/review-overview-what-constitutes-good.html). As always, I'll try to cover new ground, here. 

This might be the episode that has had the most expectations put on it in the entire history of the show. This isn't just an Anniversary Special, it's an adventure celebrating the first fifty years of a franchise. It has to accomplish sooo many different things in the span of about ninety minutes. There's no possible way it will ever be able to accomplish the task. 

And yet, Day of the Doctor is a thing of magnificence. It really does tick every single box that it needs to - and then some! Who, for instance, expected a future Doctor to show up in the plot?! And, while I'm not the biggest Tom Baker fan in the world, his cameo at the end was still absolutely brilliant. 

If I'm let down by anything, it's the fact that the whole storyline with the Zygons feels a bit light. But then, having a slightly shallow plot has been a long-standing tradition in Doctor Who Anniversary Specials. Both The Three and Five Doctors don't have much going on in them, either. So I'm willing to let it slide!    

I really don't think there could have been any better way to celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary than what we ended up getting, here. Moff really did pull off the impossible.    

THE SPECIALS - PART TWO: A GREAT TIME 

From one highly-anticipated episode to the next! 

Everything over the last three seasons has been building towards this moment. What truly awaits the Doctor at Trenzalore?

Quite a bit more than expected, really. I mean, we knew the Doctor wasn't really going to die. That much was obvious. But, just like Series Six, we're interested in seeing how he's going to get out of it. And, of course, there's been this whole mystery building about the Silence and the Question That Must Never Be Answered and other stuff of that nature that we're finally expecting some answers to. There's a lot that has to happen in Matt's Final Hour. 

But, just like Day of the Doctor, we get more Bang for our Buck than we bargained for. Who expected Time of the Doctor to address the fact that the Doctor had used up all his regenerations? I mean, Moff could have skirted around it a bit longer and claimed that Ten regenerating into Ten didn't really count. There's so many things to deal with in this story that it would have been understandable if he had pushed this back to Capaldi's regeneration. 

Instead, he faces the problem head-on and comes up with a more-than-acceptable solution. Everything ties together quite nicely and the Big Story that the entire Eleventh Doctor Era has been telling reaches a very satisfactory resolution. It was even quite cool to see another incarnation live out a full life and regenerate of old age! 

Time of the Doctor also sees the first use of a writing technique that Moff will enjoy engaging in a few more times over the coming years. He seems to like to "wrong foot" us a bit. He gets us to expect one thing and then delivers something entirely different. With Time of the Doctor, we were imagining some huge epic battle on Trenzalore. And we did get to see just a hint of it. But the emphasis was definitely a lot stronger on watching the Doctor settle into a small village and become its protector. I don't think anyone thought we'd be getting this sort of plot in Eleven's final tale. So that's the one Moff gives us. And I quite like it when he plays that sort of trick from time-to-time. 

END OF AN ERA 

And.... that's it! Another Doctor gone. 

I do really feel that Eleven left too soon. I found him to be very watchable and he could have, easily, kept us engaged for another few seasons.  I'm thinking a Pertwee Run would have been just right. 

Part of the reason I feel this way is the simple fact that I really hate that no New Who Doctor ever sticks around for more than three seasons. But, more significantly, Eleven really was a great Doctor. Matt Smith was incredible in the role. I'm also very happy with how his whole Era was put together. I loved that it was telling one long arc with a few smaller ones built into it. Everything about this period really shines. It's not perfect, of course. But it actually comes pretty damned close. 

I know so many fans consider the Tennant Era to be the "glory days" of New Who. What we're actually getting for a Sixtieth Anniversary Special seems to indicate this. Personally, if they were going to return to a favorite period of the show to celebrate sixty years of Who, I would have preferred some extra episodes from Eleven's time as the Doctor. Maybe he finds a way to reach Amy and Rory, after all, and has a few more adventures with them. 

That would have worked far better for me.