The Regenerated Doctor: Twelve Episodes On. Part II

I feel I should say, just to clear up the confusion from the past blog; I have completely enjoyed this series of Doctor Who. It seems to have grown up a bit; with it being that slight bit darker (despite the odd cheesy bits) and I have enjoyed this series the most so far. I never really got into Ecclestone and Piper's series. Tennant and Piper seemed all a bit fake. Tennant and Agyeman never really worked. Tennant and Tate worked well, but not for a Sci-fi series; maybe a comedy drama. Smith and Gillan seem to have worked the best since it's revival in 2005. The idea of the stories have been fantastic too, and of course a lot of them ideas have come from the head of Moffat, but what my point was in the last blog, was that I did prefer the episodes that were not written by Moffat, but not in any way saying Moffat was 'shit'. I hope that is now clear.

The way I'm going to do this is a ‘short’ paragraph about each of the episodes, giving my opinion. Feel free to disagree with me - they are only my OPINIONS.

Health Warning: Make sure you rest your eyes regularly as this is a long blog. Sorry.

Episode One: The Eleventh Hour.

As opening episodes go, it was actually rather good. Infact, I may go as far as to say 'fantastic'. As an episode on its own, it worked very well, and Moffat done a very good job at writing it and introducing the new Doctor and new characters. In terms of setting up for the rest of the series and the series finale, it was great; without us even knowing, we are told of all this information which helps us as the audience piece together throughout the episodes. Great skill in my opinion. Also, casting Karen Gillan's cousin to play the young Amy Pond was actually quite a good idea, and we are introduced to her, so we recognise her character in later episodes. It is a real introduction into what we can expect.

Episode Two: The Beast Below.

In terms of it being the first episode with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan being away from Earth and fighting something unknown, it wasn't great and a bit disappointing. This episode too was written by Moffat. Again, I cannot quite fathom what it is about it I do not like. I personally think the idea was not big enough to be Amy Pond's first adventure. It was a great idea and quite thought-provoking about how us as human's think we're superior. It was good for us learning about Amy's character, but the idea just was not big enough.

Episode Three: Victory Of The Daleks.

Well, it was a waste of an episode really in terms of storyline. It was the first episode of the series not written by Moffat, and instead by Mark Gatiss. I absolutely LOVED the idea of Winston Churchill wanting to use the Daleks to win the war, it was just a shame it didn't play a bigger part in the episode. I did enjoy it though, I am just being negative and cynical, but there is more of that to come. Fighter Jets being able to fly into space and attack the Dalek spaceship? I did think that was a slightly silly idea. Inventive, but silly. Also, new Doctor means new Daleks (apparently). These Daleks seem to resemble the new sleek and colourful cars we see, and if you put a Dalek and Ford KA together, they would be hard to distinguish. They may be bigger and fierce, but they have essentially been made plastic and colourful to make them more commercial, so they can be made into little toys like Thomas the Tank Engine. I did enjoy the episode however - although you wouldn't believe it by this paragraph.

Episodes Four & Five: The Time Of The Angels & Flesh And Stone.

The first two parter, and it was written by Moffat. With the return of the Weeping Angels and River Song, it was an amalgamation of four of his previous best episodes into one story. Just to prove I am not negative towards Moffat, I did nearly like these two episodes. However, the Weeping Angels are considered to be the scariest aliens of the new era of Doctor Who, with them being everyday objects which attack when people blink or cannot be seen. 'Blink' was one of the scariest episodes for children, and yet in this episode, it was not used to its full potential. However, as episodes go, it still was actually quite good, despite the first episode being ruined by a cartoon Graham Norton. Those little banners are incredibly annoying in any television show, so doing it in the final, dramatic scene of the episode is 'a travesty' and ‘Why don’t the BBC just wipe shit all over the screen during the final scene of Dr.Who next week?’ to quote Charlie Brooker.

Episode Six: The Vampires Of Venice.

Okay, I liked this episode greatly because of Rory. His introduction and development during this episode I actually really liked. However, remember this episode was not typed from the fingers of Moffat, but instead by Toby Whithouse. The introduction to the episode was pure brilliance, with The Doctor jumping out of a cake during Rory's stag do, and just fumbling around the place. It was a shame that Doctor Who has joined in with the recent hype of Vampire's, but as usual, they put a different twist on the whole idea; fish creatures from another planet coming to Earth to find women to help reproduce their species. It was a fine example of Doctor Who explaining something that was unexplained in human history.

Episode Seven: Amy's Choice.

My second favourite episode of the series, and guess what - it wasn't written by Moffat, but instead by Simon Nye, a comedian who has history in Doctor Who. 'The Dream Lord' was a great idea, and also the thought of coming from the dark impulses of The Doctor, which it was suggested as being, was pretty clever. Swapping between two life-threatening scenarios, in which they had to decide which was real. One included the TARDIS crashing into a freezing star, the other with a pregnant Amy and being chased by Old People. I actually LOVED the idea. Also, for you fact-fans reading this blog, if you recognised the voice of the Dream Lord, it was because the actor Toby Jones, does the voice for Dobby the House Elf in Harry Potter. Cool aye?

Episodes Eight & Nine: The Hungry Earth & Cold Blood.

The second of the two parters, and this one was not written by Moffat, but instead by Chris Chibnall, who is the head writer of Torchwood. I enjoyed these - actually a lot, and I was truly gripped. The Silurians returned from the original series, and these were creatures that live in the centre of Earth, that once ruled planet Earth. They are great 'aliens' and I love the idea. This too was a good example of Doctor Who reflecting a mirror to the attitudes of the Human Race and us hating any form of change. Two clever episodes, and I think they were absolutely great. Also, I rather like the idea of us sharing the Earth with creatures of similar intelligence in 1000 years... Was a shame about Rory dying, but because it had no build up, it was predictable that he was going to return.

Episode Ten: Vincent And The Doctor.

It was my favourite episode of Doctor Who - possibly ever! Helped by the fact it was written by Richard Curtis, God of the cheesy comedy writing and one of my writing 'inspirations'. Anyway, there are not many things on Television that can bring me to tears, but, and I am not ashamed to admit it, I had a tear in my eye during the final scenes with Vincent in the art gallery. I have a prejudice towards Doctor Who episodes meeting famous historical characters like Agatha Christie, Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, so I was expecting to hate this episode, so the surprise of me loving it, was brilliant. They could have taken it further with the monster, with this episode being mainly about Gough and his torment, but it really did work. The scenes with Matt Smith fighting an invisible alien were also quite good.

Episode Eleven: The Lodger.

I liked and it wasn't written by Moffat, but instead by Gareth Roberts. I did love the idea of The Doctor becoming stuck on Earth and having to interact with normal everyday day-to-day life on Earth, by moving into a flat and playing football. It was a humorous episode, but lacked the sci-fi edge; that was thrown in for the last 10 minutes of the episode. The episode bumps off the recent popularity around James Cordon, and has the classic storyline of two best friends being in love, which always makes me laugh. However, like I said, it didn't really focus on the alien and Sci-Fi element of the show until the final 10 minutes, so as a storyline for Doctor Who, was kind of weak.

The Finale: Episodes Twelve & Thirteen: The Pandorica Opens & The Big Bang.

We return to Moffat's writing, and as Moffat's writing goes, this wasn't 'alf bad. My liking of this episode can be explained by the fact he didn't write it entirely on his own however. With the first episode being set in Roman times and around Stonehenge, I really liked it. Obviously, because Moffat wrote it, River Song returned yet again, and as I predicted, so did Rory. As I said earlier, I love the episodes of Doctor Who when they give an explanation for an unexplained phenomenon, and Stonehenge is a prime example. Loved it, and I never expected the Pandorica being for him. It was a fantastic build up with lots of alien action - including the Cybermen, which happen to be my favourite Doctor Who aliens.

The second episode was also fantastic, but if I am brutally honest, and I am going to be disliked for this, but I was disappointed. I loved The Doctor flitting between two different times in the episode, and it was great recognising him later in the episode. Rory was great, as were the two Amy's and Matt Smith was really good. The faults for me were them not making a bigger thing out of 'Nile Penguins' and 'Himalayan Pharaohs', in which you probably won't be aware of unless you watched Confidential. The idea was that the stars changed reality, so penguins lived in Egypt for example. That was a great piece of the story. Also, I was disappointed with the INCREDIBLY cheesy ending of the Doctor being brought back by a memory. There are probably poor children desperately trying to remember their grandparents to bring them back thanks to that. Anyway, I disliked the cheesiness of it. Forgetting that, I thought the episode itself was brilliant, and Matt Smith's dancing made it worthwhile.

I am also, slightly disappointed by the lack of any new aliens or brand new planets. The Weeping Angels episode, which was easily filmed in a quarry and a British Spaceship in the second episode, were the only episodes not based on Earth. There were no big, impressive CGI planets and sceneries. Also, there were no new, big aliens which required imagination. Apart from changing the design of the Daleks and Silurians, there were no new, impressive aliens. An alien that is invisible for a huge majority of an episode? Well, that's imaginative.

However, I love it when Doctor Who makes everyday objects scary for children. Essentially, that has made up for the lack of big aliens and planets, by imaginatively making everyday objects scary. Kids have had Statues, Cracks in walls, Old People and even the ground to be scared of after this series. Small ideas which are great. I feel sorry for any children that go on a day trip to an old castle with their parents this summer. Old castles generally have cracks in walls, statues, Old people walking around and are surrounded by lots of ground.

Something else I haven't quite liked is the return of River Song. I find her character just too complex. Why can she not just have a normal timeline like every other character? I spend episodes trying to work out at what point in her timeline with the Doctor we are at. I just find her far too complex. What race is she? We don’t know, and in my head, the fact that she is a time traveller, makes me wonder if she too is a Time Lord... I just don't know, and I don't like not knowing. I do not doubt her returning in the next series, because there are many questions still unanswered, for example: Does she marry the Doctor? Does she kill the Doctor?

My problem is that I don't just sit down and enjoy TV, but I am constantly ready to negatively criticise, which does annoy me, but despite all this negativity I seem to have against this series of Doctor Who and Moffat's writing, I honestly have loved this series! Matt Smith WILL shape up to be the best since Tom Baker.

As for the Christmas Special, not much has been released so far. All we know is that it includes Amy and Rory’s honeymoon, Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins. I assume that’s good. Anyway...

Long live Matt Smith!

P.S. If you have just read this entire blog, the next website you visit should be Vision Express to book an appointment to get your eyes checked. I am so very sorry! http://www.visionexpress.com/book-eye-test/

The Regenerated Doctor: Twelve Episodes On. Part I

The out first series with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan is now but over, and it is fair to that I have been both amazed and disappointed. I am very surprised with how good Matt Smith has been as the Doctor and I certainly think he will be remembered as one of the big iconic Doctor's in the future. Karen Gillan's Amy Pond also works brilliantly next to Matt Smith's Doctor, with their social interaction being top notch. However, I have been very disappointed with the writing, in particular with one writer, Steven Moffat.

If you cast your minds back to my blog at the beginning of the series, you will remember that I wasted an entire paragraph saying how good Steven Moffat's writing should be and how it will be brilliant and humorous. Don't get me wrong, the episodes have been brilliant and humorous, it is just as shame those episodes were the ones not written by Moffat. I have failed to put my finger on what it is I have not liked about his writing in this series. Maybe it is because he fails to take the storylines far enough. Maybe it is because he has spent too long developing on the characters persona. Maybe my expectations were just too high.

Before I completely write him off (Budom Tshh) as the lead writer of Doctor Who, I must compliment him on the series storyline. The continuous storyline of Amy Pond and the cracks in the Universe must be one of the biggest storylines seen in Doctor Who. Throughout the series there have been continuous hints and links in each episode to the finale. It has been a pretty mind-boggling storyline for people to piece together, with everyone having a guess to what is happening and only occasionally getting odd bits right. I think that is brilliant. Keeping the audience guessing, gripped and thinking by not giving answers away easily is an idea which I have loved.

Despite that, I do still stick my point of being disappointed by his episodes. He wrote some of the classics of the previous series, such as 'The Empty Children' (from the first series, set in World War II with the classic line 'Are you my mummy?'), 'Blink' (the original episode with the Weeping Angels) and 'Silence In The Library' (the original episodes with River Song). Moffat wrote 6 episodes for this series: the opening two episodes, the two episodes with the Weeping Angels and River Song (he was obviously proud of them two ideas) and then the concluding two episodes, but that was with help. The reason why his original episodes worked may be because they were very small ideas, but now he is using similar ideas on a bigger scale.

Let's not dwell on the negatives though.

Matt Smith has been a brilliant Doctor in my opinion, and I am glad I did not write him off like all the David Tennant fans did. Even the people who were positive that he wouldn't be good and it would no longer work without Tennant seem to like him. Obviously, there are the people who are totally against him and don't think him impressive, but those people are stubborn and don't realise the concept of Doctor Who. The idea of regeneration is a brilliant plot idea, which allows the program to continue successfully, long after an actor has left to pursue pastures new.

This reincarnation of The Doctor, I feel will go down in Doctor Who history as one of the greatest, just like Tom Baker, who does seem to be iconic Doctor from the old series. With Matt Smith not having the classic sex appeal that Tennant seemed to have, which is good because people watch him for the personality of the character, and not just get lost in his deep, blue eyes... Anyway, the persona of this Doctor seems somewhat mad, which is just fantastic. Eccleston had a touch of the madness, but let's not talk about him. Smith seems very 'retro' and 'vintage', to use some of my favourite buzzwords, and these mixed with the madness,  a splash of quirkiness and a sprinkling of one-liners, create the perfect mixture for what I think would make a great Doctor.

One-liners such as:

"Oh yeah, it's an inter-dimensional, multi-form from outer space. They're all terrified of wood."

"Oh. Ok? I escaped then? Brilliant. Love it when I do that!"

"You can do loads in 12 minutes. Suck a mint, buy a sledge, have a fast bath..."

"I like the bit when someone says "It's bigger on the inside!" I always look forward to that."

"Oh that's good, fantastic that is. Twenty minutes to save the world and I have a post office... And it's shut!"

"Why does no one ever listen to me, do I just have a face that nobody listens to? Again?"

"I'm The Doctor. Well, they call me The Doctor. I don't know why. I call me The Doctor too. Still don't know why..."

If I have to compliment Steven Moffat and Matt Smith on one thing; it is the creation of this brilliant persona. He is a genuine benevolent, brainy Timelord, just like Tom Baker and Patrick Troughton.

Karen Gillan playing Amy Pond; the attractive and feisty companion for the Doctor, has been met with pretty positive criticisms. Young enough for the child viewers to be able to relate with her and find her a fun character, independent enough for the feminists among the viewing public to like her and old enough for men to drool over her short (infact, very very short) skirts. Again, there are the few people who don't quite grasp the concept of Doctor Who and think she should be setting an example by wearing layers of clothing. However, for her to appeal to the audience of the time and fit a certain 'stereotype', she matches the fashion of today.

Amy Pond has a partner called Rory, who is played by a man called Arthur Darvill, and he is another great comic character, who compliments the Doctor and Amy perfectly. Now, Rory was at risk of becoming another Mickey, Rose's Boyfriend, in that he could have been a useless and whining character. He may slightly tick them boxes, but he much more. He has infact become a main and panicle character, who is rather humorous. I like him. His character wasn't developed in the first episode and I wasn't that keen on him, but as the series went on, his character begins to unravel and became rather liked by all. In the next series, I hope we see a lot more of him and that he continues to be great.

Fashion is an odd thing. With whatever Karen Gillan wears (on or off television) being criticised by the media, and making the redhead popular, she doesn't seem to have done much wrong in their eyes. Even Matt Smith has not done bad. He has made the tweed jacket somewhat of a fashion 'must-have' this year and I'm waiting to see whether the Fez hat is going to follow suit (a very slight bad pun - geddit?). Not sure the Bowtie has made it popular, despite his persistence that "Bowties are cool!"

Right, so part 1 is done: A general synopsis of the writing, actors and their characters from this series. Like a proper blogger, I have waffled on about things I don't particularly know about, but instead what I have observed and forced my opinions onto you; the innocent reader.

In part 2 of my Doctor Who blog, I plan to delve into the plotlines and episodes of series 5 of the new, revamped Doctor Who episodes.

Oh, and anything else I think of.

The New Regeneration Of Doctor Who

Not only has the Doctor himself regenerated, but so has the entire show with a completely new cast, new sets, a new theme tune, and a new writer. This blog is hardly anything original, as already the Internet is filled with thousands of people wanting to share their thoughts and feelings about the first episode the new series of Doctor Who, with Matt Smith. I, like many, thought that the new series would be rubbish and unsuccessful. It is essentially a completely different program now seeing as everything has changed from the last series, and it had a lot to achieve and live up to in the first 64 minute program. However, did it achieve this?

It most certainly did, and I think I may even say that it is better. David Tennant was a great Doctor and was possibly one of the most popular Doctors yet, but in my opinion he became too emotional. You watch the old episodes of Doctor Who with Tom Baker, Peter Davidson, Jon Pertwee or whoever, you will never see them in emotional scenes which break the audience’s hearts. Some will argue that was a good thing, others will insist it was a bad thing. In keeping with Doctor Who tradition, it was a bad thing, but for appealing to the modern audience, it was a good thing. Matt Smith, on the basis of his one episode, looks like a traditional, old fashioned Doctor.
He has the ideal appearance. He is the youngest actor to play The Doctor, but his unique appearance certainly makes him perfect for the role. He is a man, who looks young, but also, intriguingly, looks old. Now, seeing as he is playing a 900-something year old Time Lord, it just seems perfect. He has the right level madness too and looks like he could easily fit into Wallace And Gromit. Okay, his appearance doesn't include a random vegetable in the top pocket of his jacket (which I must say, I want), but he just seems brilliantly mad and funny. He seems to have the perfect mixture for any brilliant Doctor. Lines such as 'You're Scottish. Fry Something' made me warm to him instantly.

There are those people who will be missing David Tennant greatly, and upset that the show can carry on without him and are refusing to watch the new episodes. However, that is the spirit of Doctor Who that even after an actor has had enough and wants to move onto different projects, they can just carry on with someone else. That is why the trick of regeneration was invented, and it is quite an easy cheat to explain why someone else is playing the role. When you think about how they do it in soaps; it is much better. If an actor no longer wants to play a role in a soap, the character will usually go on holiday for 6 months and return with someone who is of a different height and looks completely different - yet everyone just accepts this.

Doctor Who also has a new writer and producer - Steven Moffat. Now, this is a man who had written and produced numerous other shows including sitcoms, and a few episodes under the reign of Russell T Davis. Also, he wrote the Comic Relief Doctor Who Special of 1999 in which Rowan Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley all play The Doctor (It is very funny and you will find a link to it at end of the blog). All this experience makes him perfect for his new writing job as it clearly shows he can do comedy with Doctor Who. Judging by the first episode, he will be a good writer, and some of his previous episodes from previous series have been some of the most popular.

The theme tune is different too, but still keeps the main structure of all previous Doctor Who theme tunes. All the theme tunes have the four beat structure, which symbolises the Time Lords heartbeat. The theme tunes from the old days, which seem to send a tingle down your spine of remembrance as the ear-piercing screeching starts, are actually very similar to today's theme tune. Sure, the last theme tune didn't evoke the same emotions, but then the new theme tune for Matt Smith, seems to go back to its roots of being dramatic and soul-churning, and personally I think that it is brilliant - and still it includes the ear-piercing sound which seems to go right through you and for some reason has become iconic of Doctor Who theme tunes - to deafen the viewer for a few moments.

Then there is a new TARDIS and Sonic Screwdriver. How brilliant they both look. Sure, the sonic screwdriver is bigger and slightly reminiscent of the toys you find in Ann Summers, but (without trying to sound like I am describing of those said toys) this new one has green lights and looks more mechanical. As for the TARDIS, well that is a thing of mechanical beauty also. It is what I would imagine a Kwik Fit would look like in Narnia. It has to be one of best interior designs the TARDIS has seen before. The TARDIS looks more mechanical than ever before, and that is exactly what it is suppose to look like, but with different levels as well just makes it look even better. Also, we may be treated to seeing the library and the swimming pool which were shown in the older episodes - a bigger TARDIS with my more rooms - promises to be a good 13 episodes.
However, with any Doctor, there has to be an assistant, and the new one is a beauty. Amy Pond is her name and on second impressions (because the first impression was of her as a brave little girl) we can conclude she has very nice legs. You have to admit that is quite the entrance for a new assistant - wearing a kissogram police uniform as she hits the Doctor over the head with a baseball bat, which she continued to wear for a majority of the show. She is played by Karen Gillan, a 22 year old Scottish girl whose only previous TV acting role was in a previous Doctor Who episode. It does seem that the younger the Doctor gets, the younger his assistants seem to get and I honestly think it won't be long before the Doctor is played by a 13 year old boy with a female companion of 8 years old; and then I'll no longer be able to say things like 'nice legs' without being questioned by the police.

Anyway, I have written quite a hefty blog so far about the new Doctor Who episode and there has been no real mention of the actual episode itself. The episode started with the TARDIS crashing through the skies of London, and was rather successful in showing how mental Matt Smith's Doctor will be. Then the scene with him eating Fish Fingers and Custard - a disgusting combination, but I'm sure it is a combination which many children have tried during their Easter Holidays and probably made them sick. I haven't tried it, but I assure you if we had Fish Fingers and Custard in the house - I probably would have been curious also.

Then you have all the Doctor’s funny, witty one liners which are again usually associated with all the legendary Doctors. The alien was quite a simple one and seemed to be so the viewer could be eased into the introductory episode. Matt Smith seemed to ease straight into his new role by jumping around and uttering the trademark gobbledegook as if he knew what it actually meant. He even used the trademark cheeky grin which both Eccleston and Tennant had. It was a brilliant Doctor Who episode and I think it promises to be a brilliant series and Smith promises to be a fantastic Doctor.

The best moment of the episode for me was on the top of the hospital towards the end when he summons back the aliens to confront them. The alien then trolls through the history of the Earth, and in the process images of all the past Doctors appeared and then at the end Matt Smith walks through, wearing what will now become his trademark smoking jacket and bow-tie. I think that was a brilliant moment of recollection and seemed like he was being officially christened and accepted into the role.
Like a lot of people, I was ready to write off the new series and I am glad I didn't because just by watching that one episode, I felt like a 10 year old child again, which is something I never felt while watching David Tennant - who was more of a serious Doctor in his final episodes. It is just this persona which Matt Smith has created for himself instantly which makes me feel this way - something which I have felt previously while watching the older episodes of Doctor Who, particularly with Tom Baker and Peter Davidson.

I feel guilty for previously thinking that Matt Smith would go into Doctor Who history like Paul McGann as a rubbish Doctor who ruined it, before seeing hardly any of his acting. I had not seen him in any previous shows to judge his acting skills, and you certainly could not do it by judging by the last minute of Tennant's final episode. However, I do honestly feel that Matt Smith has the potential to be a great Doctor, so let us hope and pray that the remaining episodes are just as good - if not better - and that I have not just given the new series all this praise falsely. If I feel I have, then be sure I'll be ready to blog my anger and disgust.

Here is to hoping that series 5 of Doctor Who will continue to be fantastically brilliant.

Click Here For The 1999 Comic Relief Episode Of Doctor Who