This post is part of a series of reviews. To see them all, click here.

Character Information

• Actor: Matt Smith
• Fellow Doctors: 10th (David Tennant, 50th Anniversary Special), War (John Hurt, 50th Anniversary Special)
• Tenure (as a regular character): S05E01-2013 Christmas Special (44 total episodes, 39 total stories)
• Companions: Amy (Karen Gillan, S05E01-S07E05), Rory (Arthur Darvill (S05E01, S05E06-09, S05E12-S07E05), Clara (Jenna Coleman, S07E06-2013 Christmas Special)*
• Other Notable Characters: River Song (Alex Kingston), Young Amelia (Caitlin Blackwood), Craig (James Corden, S05-06), Sophie (Daisy Haggard, S05-06), Dorium Maldovar (Simon Fisher-Becker, S05-06), Madame Kovarian (Frances Barber, S06), Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh, S06-07), Jenny (Catrin Stewart (S06-07), Strax (Dan Starkey, S06-07), Brian Williams (Mark Williams, S07), Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave, S07), Osgood (Ingrid Oliver, S07), The General (Ken Bones, S07)

* Credited as Jenna Louise-Coleman until the 50th Anniversary Special

Retrospective

When he was originally thinking of who to cast as the Doctor, Steven Moffat wanted to cast an older actor. And then a 26 year old Matt Smith came in to audition for the part, and Moffat knew he had his Doctor. This is less of a contradiction than you'd think, as a big part of what drew Moffat to Smith's performance was his ability to play an older character despite being so young. And that feels like a really good summation of the 11th Doctor as a character.

The 11th Doctor is formed out of pretenses. Obviously there's the old man pretending to be young. But it goes deeper than that. Sometimes he'll admit to them. One of his most famous lines is "good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many". And I could probably spend the entirety of this post dissecting the multiple layers of pretense that are contained within that line. Every time the Doctor takes on a companion it's for an ulterior motive, but in two of the three cases he keeps that secret. Even with the exception, bringing Rory along to keep Amy grounded, the way he does it feels very 11th Doctor. He's still doing something pretty manipulative couched in a goofy scene where he pops out of a cake in place of a stripper. The 11th Doctor is of course a master of the tactic that goes back to the 2nd Doctor of pretending to be harmless and a bit silly to fool the enemy. But he also does this to his allies, something that continues to be commented on as his era progresses.

All of this pretending to be somebody he isn't might make you wonder what he thinks of himself. Well, it's fairly early that we get our answer. In "Amy's Choice" the Doctor's dark side becomes a presence and the one thing that stands out is the extent to which the "Dream Lord" really relishes in trying to tear the Doctor down. Later episodes will only serve to confirm the 11th Doctor's core of self-loathing. It's probably worth remembering that the beginning of the 11th Doctor era is not too far removed from the events of "The Waters of Mars" where the 10th Doctor's ego caught up to him. In some ways you can see the self-loathing already coming through at the end of that episode and in The End of Time. So, while I'm sure this wasn't coordinated between the two showrunners, we end up with a pretty coherent character arc running from the 10th Doctor to the 11th.

And at first blush, the 11th Doctor's self-loathing pairs with his behavior which can be as dark as any Doctor's. In "A Good Man Goes to War" he is pushed to extremes and we see what he's capable of without some of the constraints of his morals – that's where that "good men don't need rules" quote comes from. In "The Girl Who Waited" that manipulative streak turns against two versions of Amy, as he lies to them to get the older Amy's help. And those are just the two most obvious examples. Darker moments can be found throughout the 11th Doctor's tenure. Which would seem to enforce that idea that the 11th Doctor is not a good man. The fact that we see see that the Doctor treats the name "Doctor" as less of a name and more of a role he should inhabit or, as he puts it, a "promise" would seem to reinforce the idea that the 11th Doctor is not a good man so much as he's trying to play the role of one.

Of course, this is nonsense. We'll be returning to this point in Series 8, but to be a good person isn't something you're born as. It's something you work at. Trying to be good is the first step to being good. As I've argued before, I think that most of the bad things the 11th Doctor does are a result of him viewing himself as a "bad man" who is trying to be good. Because if he's that, he can stop trying to be good and just give in to his "true nature" when necessary. Point being, I'm much less interested in the question of whether or not the 11th Doctor is a "good man" than the fact that he doesn't see himself as one.

With all of these masks and pretenses that the 11th Doctor puts on, the obvious question is, just who is the 11th Doctor? I've already mentioned how the ending of the 10th Doctor era shaped his self-perception, and I'd argue it goes further than that. Companions in the 10th Doctor era…didn't make it out particularly well. When your best case scenario is to be Martha who suffered through a year of hell only to realize that her crush didn't like her back you know things have gone poorly. So the 11th Doctor seems to take of two contradictory positions. On one hand he holds on really closely to his first two companions, Amy and Rory. He forms a found family and fights like hell to preserve it. On the other hand, he's not really emotionally open with them for the most part. Obviously there's the lying – there's so much lying – but even beyond that the 11th Doctor doesn't open up much to the people he treats like family.

That kind of emotional repression has consequences though, and the 11th Doctor is shown to make mistakes when he's at his most emotional. The obvious example here is "A Good Man Goes to War", where Madame Kovarian pretty deftly manipulates the Doctor, something that one of the most manipulative Doctors should have seen coming. You can also look to "The Snowmen" for a larger scale version of this. After losing the Ponds, the Doctor crashes and hard. And I think "The Power of Three" is instructive for a different consequence to the emotional repression I'm talking about. With the Doctor ending up stuck living with the Ponds what starts out as just an amusing difficulty staying still starts feeling a lot more uncomfortable over the course of the episode. The fact that he has such trouble living in the ordinary world, even for his supposed family, has a kind of disturbing quality to it. Of course, in that same episode the Doctor finally learns to do what he'd previously struggled with, and while he's still a bit manic and restless, him finally making the effort feels like a major step. And it's telling that, put in a similar situation in "The Time of the Doctor", Eleven's final story, he seems to cope a lot better.

Though speaking of emotional repression we need to talk about the Doctor's marriage to River. This is one of the oddest relationships I've ever seen on television. First of all, I do think it works more often than it doesn't. I've seen people complain that Matt Smith didn't have great chemistry with Alex Kingston, and I just profoundly disagree. Smith's goofy charisma mixes well with a character that plays more towards a femme fatale. And while the Doctor's sexual naivety was often a negative in this era, I think there was something charming about how it mixed with River's more overt sexuality, in a way that didn't work with other similar characters. The problem is the degree to which River is tied in to the main story arc of the 11th Doctor era, and how stories involving the two of them tend to focus on that over anything else. The episode when the two get married has the marriage feeling like a pretty minor event, and it's titled after the marriage. And at times their relationship can feel really iffy, like they lack some basic communication. Still, when it's working, it's really working, and considering the sci-fi weirdness attached to how they meet each other, I actually think their love story mostly works on an emotional level.

You'll notice I haven't referenced much from Series 7B yet. The truth is, I have difficulty pulling much character stuff for the Doctor from that. The Doctor is investigating the mystery surrounding Clara, but unlike with Amy there's not a strong emotional attachment built. In fact, the Doctor seems averse to forming such an attachment to Clara. The obvious conclusion to draw is that after losing Amy and Rory, and then the death of Victorian Clara the Doctor is a bit shy of getting close to someone again, but I'm honestly not convinced. It really feels more like the Doctor isn't sure what Clara is, and so is trying to avoid forming an emotional bond. It's the less interesting explanation, but it's also the one that feels most accurate, partially because after "Name of the Doctor" it seems like the Doctor develops a much closer attachment to Clara, at least going by the two episodes we get of that dynamic. Of course, it doesn't have to be just one explanation. And to be fair, the explanation I've gone with does at least tie in nicely with my focus on masks and artifice as the 11th Doctor's central character trait.

Mind you, a Doctor who is so good at dissembling and keeping secrets is kind of the perfect character to take on a time traveling conspiracy from a powerful church. The 11th Doctor era forms a single ongoing story. Now most of this story is told in Series 6. Series 5 is mostly doing set up for the main plot of the 11th Doctor era, while Series 7 leaves it behind, only for the 11th Doctor's story arc to come back in his final episode. And I've said my piece about this enough, this story is largely a nonsense plot. But this is a character retrospective, not a review of the 11th Doctor era as a whole. And again, fighting against a massive conspiracy that is targeting him, is kind of perfect for the 11th Doctor. He's manipulative and cunning, and yet when he first starts dealing with the Church of the Silence they almost feel too big for him to handle. It really does work to push him to extremes. And the plot, at least nominally, deals with some of the Doctor's biggest secrets. Although, in reality, this mostly comes down to his name and as far as we can tell the reason that the Doctor keeps his name a secret would seem to be different from the reason that the Church wants him to keep it secret so the whole thing feels a bit empty.

None of this would work without a strong performance, and fortunately Matt Smith is extremely well cast. That thing that Steven Moffat originally noticed – his ability to play the ancient age of the Doctor despite being so young – plays quite well. It's commented on a few times that the 11th Doctor is sort of playacting at being young, and that's a conceit that only works because Smith is able to play that idea. And I've always loved that Smith tends to play angrier moments more quietly, creating a chilling contrast between his normally manic and goofier demeanor. Though if I have a criticism of Smith's performance it's that, especially later on in his run he can lean a bit too heavily into the goofier side of his performance. Smith brings an unusual and really fun physicality to the Doctor, but sometimes that gets pushed into a realm that feels like a kind of self-parody. Still that's a pretty minor complaint and for the most part I actually really enjoy Smith's later performances in the role. While he can be too over the top later on at times, you can also see that he's settled into the role very well. I don't think Series 5 Matt Smith could have pulled of the "Rings of Akhaten" speech nearly as well, for instance.

On the whole, I really do like the 11th Doctor a lot. This era presents a very layered version of the Doctor. I don't just mean "layered" in the traditional sense, but also in the sense that the 11th Doctor puts on layers of artifice. There's a reason that "Rule 1: the Doctor lies" is a line that came from this era specifically. The 11th Doctor doesn't just lie, he puts on layers of dissembling, sometimes even to himself. Smith's performance compliments all of this effectively. It's not all perfect. I didn't manage to fit it in above but we do have to address the awkward sex jokes that permeate this era of the show. While the 11th Doctor being sexually naive sounds like something that could work, I don't like how Steven Moffat approaches that idea, and, in combination with some genuinely headscratching lines, it leads to some truly rough lowlights for this era. But on the whole the presentation of the Doctor during this era is strong enough to make up for some rough patches, and thus Eleven stands out to me as one of the better incarnations of the Doctor.

10 Key Stories

10 key stories for the character, listed in chronological order

The Eleventh Hour: The 11th Doctor's first episode sets up a lot of his characterization going forwards. It takes a while to get to the actually meaningful stuff, although him meeting Amelia and a little girl pretty much defines how that relationship progresses from that moment forwards. But it's really the final act that stands out to me. The Doctor calmly facing down Prisoner Zero and the just as calmly telling off the Atraxi sets up the 11th Doctor's calm fury going forwards. And of course the way he brings Amy onboard sets up the 11th Doctor's deceptive nature as he lies to her about why he's bringing her on board

The Beast Below: To start with let's talk about the opening that shows the Doctor making a series of very impressive quick deductions about the nature of the society he's walked into. When I reviewed this I said that this was something that went away over time, but after watching through the 11th Doctor era from a more critical perspective, I don't think that's the case. Deemphasized to be sure, we never get another scene like the one I referenced, but we still get the Doctor making deductions throughout his era, so this sets up more than I originally thought. Of course nearly dropping Amy as a companion is significant. Even more is the Doctor's plan to do something terrible to the star whale because it's the only solution he can come up with and saying he'll have to change his name, which sets up so much of the 11th Doctor's character.

Amy's Choice: This episode is a big pivot point for the whole main cast, including the 11th Doctor. It's the moment where we first make the 11th Doctor's self-loathing explicit, which is such an important character note for him going forwards. Also there's something oddly prophetic about the 11th Doctor continuing to visit Amy and Rory after they've left him behind, even if it was just a dream here.

A Good Man Goes to War: Jumping way ahead to talk about the episode that gives us more examples of the core characteristics of the 11th Doctor than any other. "Good men don't need rules" is such an important (if I think often misinterpreted) line for the 11th Doctor's characterization that it would probably put this episode in the "key stories" list on its own. Beyond that though, we get to see the Doctor's cold fury, his more manipulative side in his plan to rescue Amy and ending on a key step in his relationship with River. I've not put a ton of River stories here for reasons that I described in the retrospective, but River turning out to be Amy and Rory's kid solidifies to feeling of a family between our three leads that had already been building.

Let's Kill Hitler: And here's the other River Song story I've placed here, though not really for anything to do with River. The two have some really fun scenes, and the Doctor imparting wisdom to his future wife even while she's trying to kill him is an interesting wrinkle. But the reason I've put this here is the scene where the TARDIS interface talks to the Doctor and uses first the face of the 11th Doctor ("give me someone I like") and then the faces of the RTD era companions ("guilt"). It's a pretty succinct look into the 11th Doctor's psychology, especially when he's got nobody to dissemble to.

The God Complex: This is an episode designed to make the Doctor come to the conclusion he has to stop traveling with the Ponds or risk losing them. We rarely see the 11th Doctor get properly agitated when angry, but his reaction to potential companion Rita's death is a rare example. And speaking of Rita, the two have a great conversation where the Doctor explains all the reasons why he shouldn't be taking on human companions…before offering her a spot on the TARDIS.

A Town Called Mercy: The Doctor meets a mirror of himself in Kahler-Jex, albeit one who's willing to go a bit further than the Doctor, and he doesn't like what he sees. It's not often before the 50th Anniversary that we get a story in the 11th Doctor era that deals so directly with the Time War, but this is absolutely an example, even if said war is never directly referenced. Questions of the possibility of redemption despite monstrous acts apply just as much to the Doctor as they do to Jex in this one.

The Power of Three: The Doctor struggles to live in Amy and Rory's world for a year. He's struggled with this sort of thing before of course, most obviously in "The Lodger", but this is where it ends up feeling a bit more uncomfortable. Eventually, after a few misadventures he works out how to do it. He also gets a very sweet conversation with Amy about her importance to him.

The Snowmen: The Doctor losing the Ponds was a big blow and so he spends much of the next episode sulking on a cloud. Losing your family will do that to you. This also sets up the Doctor's relationship with the Paternoster Gang, particularly with Vastra, whose insights into the Doctor's psychology are consistently on point.

The Day of the Doctor: Reversing some of the tragedy of the Time War, and the Doctor's greatest regret had to feature here. It's a multi-Doctor story, and one more focused on the "War Doctor" than Eleven, so there's not as much character stuff for the nominal lead of the show at this time than you'd expect. Still, Eleven is the one who says "I change my mind" at the darkest point. And in terms of the Doctor's self-loathing, I really think that somewhat gets addressed here.

Rankings

1. Vincent and the Doctor (10/10)
2. The Doctor's Wife (10/10
3. The Girl Who Waited (9/10)
4. The Eleventh Hour (9/10)
5. Amy's Choice (8/10)
6. The Day of the Doctor (8/10)
7. The God Complex (8/10)
8. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang (8/10)
9. A Christmas Carol (8/10)
10. The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone (8/10)
11. A Town Called Mercy (8/10)
12. The Impossible Astronaut/The Day of the Moon (7/10)
13. The Beast Below (7/10)
14. The Angels Take Manhattan (7/10)
15. The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood (7/10)
16. The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People (7/10)
17. Asylum of the Daleks (7/10)
18. The Lodger (6/10)
19. Cold War (6/10)
20. The Snowmen (6/10)
21. The Power of Three (6/10)
22. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (6/10)
23. Let's Kill Hitler (6/10)
24. The Vampires of Venice (5/10)
25. The Crimson Horror (5/10)
26. The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (4/10)
27. A Good Man Goes to War (4/10)
28. The Bells of Saint John (4/10)
29. Hide (3/10)
30. The Curse of the Black Spot (3/10)
31. The Name of the Doctor (3/10)
32. Closing Time (3/10)
33. Night Terrors (3/10)
34. Victory of the Daleks (3/10)
35. The Rings of Akhaten (2/10)
36. Nightmare in Silver (2/10)
37. The Wedding of River Song (1/10)
38. The Time of the Doctor (1/10)
39. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (0/10)

Doctor Era Rankings

These are based on weighted averages that take into account the length of each story. Take this ranking with a grain of salt however. No average can properly reflect a full era's quality and nuance, and the scores for each story are, ultimately, highly subjective and a bit arbitrary.

1. 9th Doctor Era (7.5/10)
2. 7th Doctor Era (6.9/10)
3. 3rd Doctor Era (6.8/10)
4. 2nd Doctor Era (6.5/10)
5. 5th Doctor Era (6.1/10) †
6. 4th Doctor Era (6.0/10) *
7. 1st Doctor Era (6.0/10)
8. 11th Doctor Era (5.8/10)
9. 10th Doctor Era (5.6/10)
10. 6th Doctor Era (3.2/10) †

* Includes originally unmade serial Shada
† Counts at least one story comprised of 45 minute episodes and/or the 20th anniversary story as a 4 or 6 parter for the purposes of averaging

Next Time: And before we leave the 11th Doctor behind entirely, let's have a look back at the minisodes of his era. Of which there were…a lot.

I'm of the idea that the Shalka Doctor's era, like it was in real life, did actually happen. He goes through the Time War, ends up as we see him in Scream, and then gets rewritten back to the Eighth Doctor as we know him today.

(I know its a got to response when it comes to the Time War but its the only one I can think of to make the Shalka Doctor work in this universe)

Then, after a while, a future Doctor meets him and has to figure out what in the name of Rassilon happened to him. (Yes, like the Fugitive)

If a story like this were to ever be made in some form, which Doctor would you choose to encounter the Shalka Doctor?

Tldr: Very underrated and creative episode, and i need to know if anyone agrees with me on this.

Watched this 4th Doctor serial for the first time a few weeks ago, and every now and then i think about it and am just baffled by how low the ratings are. It’s one of the lowest rated Doctor who stories ever… but i found it so captivating, and i absolutely loved how they handled the worldbuilding. That, and all the scifi elements were so refreshingly creative. I really liked the first part which was set entirely in the space ship, i think it was a great part and very exciting.

The only problem i had was the second part, which was a lot of running around in tunnels (which seems to be the common criticism with the episode), but it really does pick up from there. Anyone criticising it for the visuals and effects really needs to remember what show they’re watching. Yes, the constant green screens for every shot look really clunky, but i honestly think it’s really interesting how they experimented with it, and it allowed for some more ambitious settings that we’d never before seen in Doctor who.

With the awful rating of 5.8 on imdb I’m guessing I am the only enjoyer of this episode, but I would be happy to be proven wrong!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DejdZ7lgfxk/?mdxt=em81M2hidnB0cjI2

Finally an official release of Fifteen's Theme!!! (And hopefully an extended cut of that Shepherd's Boy reprise from The Giggle)

For those of you that have engaged with all three mediums, are there any difference in characterization between the 8th Doctor novels, comics, and audios?

In RTD1, the Doctor took Rose home... a year too late. Awkward wouldn't do this justice; her mother and boyfriend seriously suffered, and she couldn't dare try to explain her baffling disappearance.

This would have been traumatic for everyone involved if not for the perfect, most conveniently timed and placed alien intervention ever, where they all get directly involved in the debacle, save the world, their lives changed forever, and the Doctor gets exposed and Rose's disappearance explained in the process.

Then later on the Doctor goes to visit the Mars colony on the exact date he shouldn't have; how did that happen?

Unless the Tardis did these on purpose, I love the irony of the Doctor getting time so horribly wrong now and then.

So Im on 2x6 of the 2005 show and while there are some episodes I like, I find it very difficult to get through. Its very inconsistent and idk if I want to watch 10 seasons of this. I was just wondering episodes like Vincent and The Doctor, Heaven Sent, Midnight, Twice upon a time, and Doctor falls, Will I understand them if I just skip to the really good episodes of the show? The show doesn’t totally follow a continuous story so I was wondering if any of these are fine to watch without seeing the previous few episodes.

I'm currently researching alternate versions of the Doctor - can anyone clarify whether the following versions of the 8th Doctor are temporary changes, parallel-timeline versions of the Doctor, duplicates, or something else?

• The 'Axon Doctor' from 'Master!': "Planet Doom"): McGann in his new series costume, with gold skin and pin-pong-ball eyes
• A partially Krynoidised 8th Doctor in his blue leather jacket, from 'Planet Krynoid': "Nightfall").

(Combo image here.)

Thank you!

This post is part of a series of reviews. To see them all, click here.

Series Information

• Airdates: 1st September 2012 - 25th December 2013 *
• Doctors: 11th (Matt Smith), 10th (David Tennant, 50th Anniversary Special), War (John Hurt, 50th Anniversary Special)
• Companions: Amy (Karen Gillan, S07E01-05), Rory (Arthur Darvill, S07E01-05), Clara (Jenna Coleman, S07E06-2013 Christmas Special)**
• Other Notable Characters: River Song (Alex Kingston, S07E05,E13), Oswin Oswald/Clara Oswin Oswald (Jenna Coleman, S07E01, 2012 Christmas Special)**, Brian Williams (Mark Williams, S07E02,E04), Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave, S07E04, 50th Anniversary Special), Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh, 2012 Christmas Special, S07E11,E13), Jenny (Catrin Stewart, 2012 Christmas Special, S07E11,E13), Strax (Dan Starkey, 2012 Christmas Special, S07E11,E13), Osgood (Ingrid Oliver, 50th Anniversary Special), The Moment (Billie Piper, 50th Anniversary Special), The General (Ken Bones, 50th Anniversary Special), The Curator (Tom Baker, 50th Anniversary Special)
• Showrunner: Steven Moffat

* Includes the 2012 and 2013 Christmas Specials, as well as the 50th Anniversary Special
** Credited as Jenna Louise-Coleman during Series 7

Review

Truly no season of Doctor Who is so clearly divided in half as is Series 7 of the Revival. The closest comparison I've got to work with is Season 14 of the Classic Era, which saw Sarah Jane leave at the end of The Hand of Fear one story in The Deadly Assassin that lacked a companion entirely, before the back half turned to the adventures of the 4th Doctor and Leela. That season was actually marketed as two separate ones at one point. But even with that in mind, the front and back half of the season shared the same title sequence, the Doctor's outfit remained the same, felt pretty similar in tone and production, and, though admittedly this one is subjective, were reasonably consistent quality-wise. None of that can be said for Series 7.

In between the halves of Series 7, the title sequence changed. The Doctor's outfit was tweaked, albeit slightly. Tonally the two halves do feel a bit different to me, the front half being the most grounded portion of the 11th Doctor era with its focus on the Ponds who are mostly just living a quiet married life with occasional adventures, and the back half falling back into whimsy with Clara's ordinary life getting much less of a look in or even a reference. And quality-wise…wow.

Okay so the first half of Series 7 is nothing extraordinary. I don't actually dislike any of the episodes here, but they all feel pretty flawed in significant ways. But the stories are good enough on their own to mostly overcome that and their own flaws. Even when, in "The Power of Three", the story fails, you've got some genuinely great character work keeping things interesting. And the fact that the first half focuses on a character arc rather than a plot arc helps things a lot. For once, no grand villainous plans are going on in the background. It's just a story about Amy and Rory trying to figure out what their lives should be, now that they have both an ordinary life and a Doctor life. As an arc it's a bit disjointed, with the majority of the story told in "The Power of Three", but by the end of that half of the series you're still left with the feeling of a complete story.

And then the second half of the series comes around and everything falls apart.

The frustrating thing here is, Series 7B isn't even really bad in an interesting way. The back half of Series 7 took me a long time to finish reviewing, and even longer to post. This was for a few reasons. For one, I got stuck trying to write my "Day of the Doctor" review, which was the first time I ever decided to delete everything I had written and start over. For reference I was writing that review around the time I was posting the end of my Series 7A reviews. And at that same time…my laptop's keyboard broke down meaning I had to get it in for repairs. But even setting that aside, the big issue I ran into is that Series 7B…is boring. It's a collection of episodes that just don't have strong hooks. Even when on a conceptual level an episode may have promise, that promise tends not to win through. I mean, I'm sitting here trying to think of something else to say about those stories…and I just can't.

But hey, maybe the arc is a little better. Sure, after I enjoyed the character focus of Series 7A, going back to something closer to previous 11th Doctor isn't necessarily a good thing. But maybe it works anyway. Except the "Impossible Girl" arc is genuinely awful. Frankly Doctor Who doesn't have a great history with multi-story arcs even going back to the Classic era. But even by those standards, this is rough. The problem with the Impossible Girl storyline is twofold. First of all, it feels like a rehash of past arcs, especially Series 5's. You've got a companion with a cutesy nickname who's got some sort of mystery around her that the Doctor is investigating while pretending he's just taking her on adventures. We've done that. But here's the real problem: Series 5's crack in the wall arc was integrated with Amy's character in such a way that it allowed for genuine character exploration. The Impossible Girl arc feels like it is custom built to make it hard to care about Clara.

Clara is introduced as a mystery first. Two versions of her, shown in "Asylum of the Daleks" and "The Snowmen" each appear as seemingly different people but with the same voice (and face, although the Doctor never sees Oswin's face), and as they die, say the same line. The third version we meet is the one who becomes a companion, and it's already hard to get invested in this version. Not only have we just seen two of them die, but they were two characters who were very different from the typical companion. Oswin was a futuristic cruise liner employee who was a secret genius and had been holding back the Daleks, both inside her mind and out. Victorian Clara was a cockney barmaid who somehow got work as a governess. But the version of Clara who becomes a companion…is from modern day London. Like all but one female companion of the Revival era to this point, and even Amy eventually moved to London. There's nothing wrong with this version of Clara but it's hard not to feel that this one is a bit more of a generic companion than the last two versions.

But the other problem is that she's a mystery, so we can't learn too much about her, lest that undermine the mystery. Or at the very least, that seems to be the approach the production team took to Clara here. We do get a pretty significant mass of moments of characterization for Clara but they all feel very surface level. While writing reviews for Series 7B, I genuinely felt like I was scrambling for something, anything to say about her. At least I was able to find things, unlike past companions like Peri or Mel who felt incredibly generic. But honestly maybe that makes things worse? Like there was an attempt at characterization being made here, but the focus on the mystery surrounding Clara just ended up overwriting all of that.

By contrast, Series 7A is built on a foundation of strong characterization. Amy and Rory are growing apart from the Doctor, but still part of his life. There's a real sense throughout the series that the two have found a balance in their relationship and that what they're trying to do is work things out together. The exception is of course "Asylum of the Daleks" which drops a really under-explored near-divorce into the mix, one of the worst missteps in the characterization for the pair. That aside though, the running story of Amy and Rory moving away from the Doctor represents strong writing.

The individual episodes on the other hand are…odd. Like I said, while I like all of them, each has its own significant flaw that detracts in some way. For "Asylum" it's that near-divorce I mentioned before. "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" is fun, but lacks substance and has some frustrating elements in the secondary cast. "A Town Called Mercy's" ethical arguments are interesting, but can feel a bit odd, although this is definitely the least flawed of the bunch. "The Power of Three" is easily the strongest character work that Amy and Rory get…which is good because the actual plot receives basically no attention. And finally "The Angels Take Manhattan" is basically trying to ride its emotional core to success in spite of a plot that really doesn't make much sense. What stands out is, aside from "Asylum", you could argue that the whole of Series 7A is built on stories that don't quite work, but character work that succeeds. It's a really weird collection of episodes.

Bridging the gap between the two parts of Series 7 is of course the 11th Doctor. If there's a running theme for the Doctor going through all these episodes, including the three specials that haven't received much attention from me so far, it's that the Doctor should never be alone. The Doctor spends a lot of time in this series without a companion, even if we see very little of it. Throughout Series 7A he's spending a lot of time away from Amy and Rory and he's getting noticeably more ruthless as a result. This pattern ends in "Town Called Mercy" when Amy actually calls him on it, and her dressing down of him seems to take hold. He even ends up spending a full year (just don't actually ask which one) in "The Power of Three" with them and eventually manages to live a normal life, something which the 11th Doctor in particular always seemed to struggle with. And then in the very next episode he loses the family he built for himself.

The theme of the Doctor what the Doctor is like on his own is mostly picked up in the two Christmas specials after this. The Doctor's post-Ponds isolation is…odd. Still the larger point that without a companion the Doctor's behavior becomes more erratic is made clear here. "The Snowmen" makes it clear that the Doctor needs someone to take him out of his depression and the Victorian Clara just about does that. Though this is somewhat undercut when, in spite of ending the episode on a giddy note, in the very next episode he's managed to isolate himself in a medieval monastery for some reason. Did I mention that a lot of Series 7B is made up by scenes that are largely pointless? Anyway, "The Time of the Doctor" takes a bit of a different approach. It's true, the Doctor spends hundreds of years away from Clara as part of the narrative of that story. But he's not on his own. He's accidentally integrated himself into a community. I think there's an argument that the 11th Doctor was always trying to build these communities for himself, he was just bad at finding them.

But in between those two specials, the Doctor becomes consumed with figuring out the mystery of the Impossible Girl. If there's something to connect this story to the one of the Doctor needing not to be alone, it's that the Doctor has somewhat isolated himself from Clara. Sure she's traveling with him, but not constantly. She doesn't always live on the TARDIS, and like with the Ponds the Doctor is having adventures away from her. But to a larger point, because he's so consumed with trying to figure out what's going on with Clara, I don't think he ever manages to actually get to know her in Series 7 proper. It's noticeable how much more in sync the pair are in "Day of the Doctor" and "Time of the Doctor" than they were previously. It feels like in the time between the end of Series 7 and the actual specials the Doctor has actually formed a bond with Clara. Which is all well and good, but it would have been nice to actually see that happen on screen, rather than having to infer it from the opening sequences of "Day" and "Time".

Of course the big thing that happens in "Day" is the end of the Time War as a central part of the story of Doctor Who. This is a mostly successful transition that has some of the most successful character work after the Ponds left. It's funny that it took a story about the Time War to do this, because the Time War didn't feature nearly as much in the 11th Doctor era to that point as it had previously in the Revival. Not forgotten exactly, but only pulled out occasionally, and not for the most important episodes. Still, the end of Time War guilt as a central feature of the Doctor is an important character note, though one that will pay off more down the line.

Musically Series 7 is a frustrating one. It's the height of a trend that really started in Series 6 of reused tracks becoming especially noticeable. This isn't because reused tracks have to be bad, indeed there are several instances where they work around this time. But when they don't work it becomes very noticeable, as it often leads to ill-fitting music. Worse however, it often leads to music that gets stitched together in kind of an awkward way. Thankfully this trend does lessen by the end of the series and is basically absent in the post-Series 7 specials.

Oh and one last thought before I wrap up. Series 7 is one of just two series of Doctor Who to lack a single multi-part story. And with 16 episodes (counting the specials) it's quite long as well. I think this does hurt the series overall. Two parters allow for more variety in storytelling and their slower pace allows for tension to build more effectively. And with such a long run of episodes, they also just break up the pacing a bit. I genuinely think that the series was hurt by the lack of variety in this regard. And of course without multi-part stories that means that more story ideas have to be submitted, making it harder to weed out the worse ones.

Aside from that, I really struggle to find something overarching to say about Series 7. It really is a series defined by its two halves. You could argue that it should be treated as two separate series, but, as it's officially one series, that's how I've decided to cover it. I guess the 11th Doctor's deepening isolation is a throughline, but it doesn't feel like a particularly strong one. Instead we get two parts to the series. The first a collection of stories that are all at least decent but each have pretty significant flaws. The second…let's just say that purely in terms of quality 2013 was the worst year to date for the Revival era. Hell, I'd go so far as to say it was the worst year of televised Doctor Who that didn't star Colin Baker. And at least the Colin Baker years were bad in an interesting way. The thing that really stands out about Series 7B is how dull much of it is. It's a frustrating end to the 11th Doctor era.

Awards

Best Story: The Day of the Doctor

The 50th Anniversary Special was far from perfect but delivered in all the ways it needed to. The most substantive multi-Doctor story ever, it made good use of its two parallel plot lines to tell an engaging story that came together remarkably well by its end. The War Doctor may have been created by the production team out of necessity, but John Hurt's excellent performance and the unique story told surrounding him in this story really does make it feel like the best possible choice. Seeing David Tennant back as the 10th Doctor is also fun, and Billie Piper gives a good turn as The Moment. A very strong story to be sure.

Worst Story: Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

A complete waste of time.

Most Important: The Day of the Doctor

This story also marks a key transition point for the Revival. Even in the 11th Doctor era where it was deemphasized, the show was still understood to be dominated by the trauma of the Time War. "Day" marks the end of that era and the beginning of something else. As the key delineation point for the show, it has to win this award.

Funniest Story: The Power of Three

While the plot is a complete mess, the draw of this episode was always seeing the Doctor live with the Ponds. And while it is eventually played more seriously, "Power of Three" gets a lot of good comedy out of the 11th Doctor trying to live a normal life. Hell, even when things are more serious, there's a degree of the jokiness to the whole episode. Amy and Rory get a few comedic moments of their own, and Rory's dad Brian is his own comedic goldmine.

Scariest Story: Hide

"Hide" is the only episode of Series 7 that's aiming for scary and really feels like it pulls it off. "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" goes for some scares but it kind of falls flat, and, despite the name, "Nightmare in Silver" never really manages to make the Cybermen scary. "Hide" does some genuinely effective ghost story stuff and the pocket dimension is genuinely atmospheric. Not the best attempt at a scary Doctor Who story by any means, but a decent effort at least.

Rankings

1. The Day of the Doctor (8/10)
2. A Town Called Mercy (8/10)
3. The Angels Take Manhattan (7/10)
4. Asylum of the Daleks (7/10)
5. Cold War (6/10)
6. The Snowmen (6/10)
7. The Power of Three (6/10)
8. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship (6/10)
9. The Crimson Horror (5/10)
10. The Bells of Saint John (4/10)
11. Hide (3/10)
12. The Name of the Doctor (3/10)
13. The Rings of Akhaten (2/10)
14. Nightmare in Silver (2/10)
15. The Time of the Doctor (1/10)
16. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS (0/10)

Season Rankings

These are based on weighted averages that take into account the length of each story. Take this ranking with a grain of salt however. No average can properly reflect a full season's quality and nuance, and the scores for each story are, ultimately, highly subjective and a bit arbitrary.

1. Classic Season 7 (8.1/10)
2. Classic Season 25 (7.7/10)
3. Classic Season 10 (7.5/10)
4. Revival Series 1 (7.5/10)
5. Revival Series 5 (7.3/10) ^b
6. Classic Season 20 (7.1/10) †
7. Classic Season 26 (7.0/10)
8. Classic Season 4 (7.0/10)
9. Revival Series 4 (6.6/10) ^a
10. Classic Season 11 (6.5/10)
11. Classic Season 18 (6.4/10)
12. Classic Season 12 (6.3/10)
13. Classic Season 6 (6.3/10)
14. Classic Season 1 (6.2/10)
15. Classic Season 14 (6.2/10)
16. Classic Season 13 (6.1/10)
17. Classic Season 3 (6.0/10)
18. Classic Season 5 (6.0/10)
19. Classic Season 24 (5.9/10)
20. Classic Season 15 (5.9/10)
21. Classic Season 2 (5.8/10)
22. Classic Season 9 (5.8/10)
23. Classic Season 8 (5.8/10)
24. Classic Season 17 (5.8/10) *
25. Revival Series 6 (5.6/10) ^b
26. Classic Season 16 – The Key to Time (5.6/10)
27. Revival Series 3 (5.6/10) ^a
28. Classic Season 21 (5.2/10) †
29. Classic Season 19 (5.2/10)
30. Revival Series 2 (5.1/10) ^a
31. Revival Series 7 (4.6/10) ^c
32. Revival 2008-10 Specials (4.0/10)
33. Classic Season 23 – The Trial of a Time Lord (3.7/10)
34. Classic Season 22 (3.5/10)

* Includes originally unmade serial Shada
† Includes 20th Anniversary story or a story made up of 45 minute episodes, counted as a four-parter for the purposes of averaging
^a Includes preceding Christmas Special
^b Includes following Christmas Special
^c Includes two Christmas Specials and the 50th Anniversary Special

To emphasize the extent to which the two parts of this Series define it, if we were to take Series 7A on its own, it would average a very strong 6.8/10, and while I'm not sure it deserves to rank quite that highly, I do think it's a strong enough run of episodes to at least have that conversation. Series 7B, not counting the specials, would come in at a 3.1/10, worse than the average score of any season. Accounting for the three specials, all of which clearly "belong" to Series 7B, it goes up to a 3.6, which is still awful.

Next Time: The 11th Doctor masked a lot with a childish exterior.

If Sutekh is the God of Death, then if he is killed don't that make the rest kinda redudant? Like if you beat the strongest fighter who cares about the second third fouth strongest? Like this is not subtext Masitroe and the Celestial Toymaker flat out say that.

So as much as I like Lux, isn't making him 'God of Light' make him come off as weak? Since the Dr has killed Sutekh? Like would the story have been hurt if Mr Ringading was a cartoon that came to life or a do over of the Wire or like from the same species?

Also if Sutekh wants to kill everything, why hasn't he killed the rest of the panethon? Why hasn't he killed the others? Why is he sparing them? They aren't working for him or anything. I can't see Mr 'where ever I go i leave dust and darkness'. Tolerating 'the God of Light dazeling at the heart of the pantheon'.

Plus Sutekh really feels out of place in his own pantheon. Like The Toymaker and Maestro feels linked same with Lux. But Sutekh is nothing like them. Like comper them to say the Deadric Princes in Elder Scrolls who do feel linked together.

See usually Gods in Pantheons work two ways. Either each god has its own domain and they stick to it or they are in conflict with each other. Like the Olympian Gods are always trying to one up each other. While in contrast, Loki aside, the Asier are all lloyal to Odin. And Odin only imprison's Loki after he murder Baldur the Beautiful.

Also if they are Gods why do they have no worshippers? Sutekh did in Pyramids of Mars.

Also while we are on the topic. Why did RTD decide to ditch Sutekh's backstory? Dose RTD not understand that Sutekh's rivialry with Horus was a huge drive of his character. As much as Sharaz Jek's character is driven by his hated of Trau Morgus. Or Captain Ahab or Jas Hook's hated of Mobby Dick and Peter Pan. Or Eric Saward's fued with JN-T. It makes him feel 'real' part of a bigger story. Dose RTD not know about Erich von Däniken Who was a insperation for the Pyramids of Mars? The idea that stories of gods come from humans encountering aliens.

Like I don't know why you'd chose to make your baddie less intersting. This is why post Genesis Davros don't work (ignoring that the Dalek's shouldn't need a daddy figure that they come back to). If you take away Nyder, his conflic with the other Kaleds and war with the Thals, all you are left with is a shouting nutter. Like Davros wanted to make the Daleks so that the Kaleds would not go extinct. Skaro was a dying planet and the Kaleds had to adpt (ie mutate) or the Thals would kill them. 80s Davros by contrast wants to destroy the universe because he's a 1950s comic book baddie (oh the irony if you know his inperations).

I think this might have worked if Sutekh was part of a pantheon of deamons. Like him the Beast, Fenric, the Destroyer etc. I'm struggeling to see Sutekh interact with the others in the Discord Pantheon.

Season 18, Episode 1

The Leisure Hive(4 parts)

-Written by David Fisher

-Directed by Lovett Bickford

-Air Dates: August 30th-September 20th, 1980

-Runtime: 97 minutes

Or as I like to call it...

The one with the silly march of clones

We Begin!!! On Earth where, the TARDIS crew are trying to enjoy a nice holiday when K9 ends up accidentally going into the water and short circuiting himself. They haven’t been finding a good spot due to them still using the randomiser to run from the Black Guardian, with The Doctor becoming more fed up with it and directly trying to bypass it which Romana scolds him for. Romana does eventually admit to him a vacation destination she had on her mind after The Doctor asks her, the luxury holiday to restore the Leisure Hive(eyyy) on the planet Argolis. The Leisure Hive is a domed resort on the desolate world of Argolis, devastated by their war with the Foamasi, with the Argolins being on their last legs as the last of their people begin dying out of old age and due to the fallout from the war. As a result the titular resort is also facing collapse as they’ve poured a lot of money into the research of tachyonics but have come up with little outside of entertaining illusions, and their being faced with the prospect of being bought out seemingly by their former enemies the Foamasi who placed an offer on their world as their Earth agent informs them. The Foamasi may be closer than first appear as one breaks inside the Leisure Hive just around the time Chief Executive Morix dies, with Mena taking his position, who has put a lot of hope on a new development form an Earth scientist who claims to have found a way to reverse aging through tachyonics. The TARDIS crew soon arrive at the Leisure Hive but quickly see all is not well as a visitor trying out the Tachyon Recreation Generator is ripped apart limb from limb by sabotage. There is something sinister afoot on Argolis, have the Argolins old enemy the Foamasi come to take them out once and for all, or is there something equally devious happening within the walls of the Leisure Hive(eyyy).

Episode Proper

Wow, they really went head first into the 80s didn’t they; certainly can’t say they went halfway. While The Horns of Nimon had a few episodes in the 80s and many bits of Shada were shot and meant to air during the time period, The Leisure Hive is well and truly the mark of Doctor Who being in the 80s. Even if you had no idea what time period each episode of the show came out and you had seen Season 17 to the first story of Season 18, you could really tell we are in the 80s, from the music to that specific era’s feeling of cheese, if I should this episode to a friend they would immediately recognize how 80s it all was. The episode proper is a fun one, while certainly not without its flaws, I did enjoy myself with The Leisure Hive, with it being a nice showcase of this new era of the show, now very much under JNT who is a figure I’ve heard a lot about in talks of Classic Who, so it's interesting to see the start of his tenure heading the show.

The episode premise is solid, taking place on a luxury vacation resort surrounded by a desolate wasteland where a mysterious saboteur is attacking the facility; honestly saying it like that it bears some resemblance to Orphan 55, at least from what I’ve heard of it, anyways think this one is much better than that one given the clips I’ve seen of that one. I liked the setting of the Leisure Hive with it being fun to have an episode take place on a resort, which is surprisingly something we haven’t seen a lot of up to this point, which is funny since it would become more of a staple kind of setting for the series as it goes on; usually up until now it was mostly The Doctor trying and failing to the get his companion(s) to a comfortable spot to relax, like The 3rd Doctor and Florana, which he never did get to, at least not on the show. The desolate wasteland and past history of war does well to juxtapose the calm resort of the Leisure Hive, it was a neat part of the setting that spoke to the story they are trying to get across.

The history of Argolis and its people makes for a good hook to the story, being a planet that was desolated by war, with its survivors rendered sterile and facing possible extinction, especially with the addition of the fact that others are trying to buy the last bit of their home from them. The past of the Leisure Hive was pretty interesting to learn about, with their being neat parts like the helmet of the person who led the Argolians to this destructive war put about the place as a nice symbol of humility. I really liked seeing the investigation into the sabotage going about the Leisure Hive, with it doing well to build some nice intrigue into what exactly is happening at the resort. The sabotage itself was nothing to crazy except that one scene where a guy gets ripped limb from limb due to machine sabotage, with us getting to see his dismembered corpse; it was all quite gruesome and not something I expected from Doctor Who at this time after such relatively light episode beforehand. 

There’s a whole lot of technobable this episode, which I don’t mind and for the most part found decently enjoyable, following along fairly well, as this episode decides to make a whole fake science using Tachyons, some kind of faster than light particles. It’s interesting to learn about Tachyons and see the different attempts to apply their use in order to aid the Argolians in this desperate period of their history, at first seeming like more of a parlor trick, separating limbs temporarily or using it to place anti-grav squash, but we see the attempts to do it’s more practical uses as well. The whole conflict trying to stop the extinction of the Argolians is pretty compelling, as we see the con artists attempts to try and sell them false hope of reversing the aging process before turning a new leaf and seeing the legitimate experiments on this font, with the main villain having a scheme of his own involving cloning.

The experiments with the Tachyons are pretty cool to see done, with reversing the hour glass and a fantastic cliffhanger for part 2 involving The Doctor being put as a test subject for one of the trials, only for it to be faulty and he comes out as a severely aged old man, being something legitimately shocking and doing well to shake up the episode with the old Doctor. There is of course the other competing attempt by Pangol which makes for a solid villain plot, trying to make a clone race of his people, abandoning the notions of piece to try and continue the war that is the reason his people are going to extinction; the reveal that he himself was the first successful clone is another solid twist by the episode. This clone plot is great stuff and makes for a nice fun climax as the clone army starts being made, with the cheesy effects actually making it pretty memorable, even if that is by making it more humorous. It’s all resolved in a fun and satisfying manner with a nice hopeful note for the Argolians as the episode comes to a close.

There’s also the secondary plot involving the sabotage and conspiracy aboard the Leisure Hive, featuring a couple murders and a trial. You all know me, I am a lover of murder mysteries, so I just love it when Doctor Who decides to dip its toes into the genre, and this was another fun usage of it as we see The Doctor and Romana investigate the multiple murders on the Leisure Hive, with the former even getting charged with murder allowing us to get a solid trial scene out of this episode; I of course enjoyed the investigation scenes as well. The choice to have one of the victims strangled by The Doctor’s overly long scarf was a genius move, which just speaks to the level of wacky fun this episode has to offer. I like the slow build up of the different sabotage and killings aboard the Leisure Hive, with the suspense at times being solidly creepy as it builds to the different bits of sabotage and murder we see in the episode; appropriately suspenseful 

Of course it’s obvious the Foamasi we see breaking onboard the Leisure Hive are behind the crimes but that doesn’t mean that the twist involving them wasn’t appropriately shocking, with the reveal the two Earth real estate agents we see are actually the Foamasi aliens in disguise having run around and committed all these crimes; it makes for a memorable part 3 cliffhanger seeing the disguises being ripped off. The twist with them was well built up as they dropped a good amount of clues that the Earth real estate agents weren’t who they say they were and that their intentions weren’t pure, especially with the push to sell the Leisure Hive and the suspect contract they gave. I liked the reveal of their intentions, being criminals attempting to buy the planet, with their inclusion also causing a bit of a diplomatic crisis which was neat as Pangol threatened the arresting officer’s wellbeing. That whole portion was another good bit of fun from this episode which I really enjoyed. 

However that does bring me to the main issue that I have with this episode and that’s that both of these plots, the one with Pangol and his clone army and the Foamasi mystery feel way too disconnected from one another. The episode honestly felt over by the time the Foamasi criminals had been caught, even if there were still things to wrap up, the following stuff with Pangol felt so wilding disconnected to the stuff with the sabotage we were mostly dealing with throughout the episode, as the latter plot failed to properly transition back to the main plot line of the episode. They felt like two separate stories going on that just happened to take place in the same place, which admittedly is the case in-universe, but watching the divide is pretty clear as we go from the mystery wrap up to the clone army. 

It’s like The Stones of Blood, where the dissonance between both plots is very clear and it feels at points I’m watching a different story line. Though of course the stuff here is nowhere near as drastic as it felt in The Stones of Blood, it just felt like the most apt comparison as to how part 4 of this episode felt to me after dealing with all that came before, especially with the rather forced attempts to keep the Foamasi in the picture, having them repeatedly ask to leave, then repeatedly refused, attempting to leave anyway only to be destroyed, which does well at least of showing how crazy Pangol is, only in what feels a bit of a cop out that the good Foamasi survived; I am at least glad he lived. Still, like with The Stones of Blood, I had fun with both storylines of this episode and enjoyed my time with the entire story as whole; sure some parts may be a bit dissonant but as long as I’m having a good time, I don’t mind it too much. 

Pacing, Sets, and Special Effects

The pacing for this episode is good for the most part, though there are points that do feel like it is stitching out for time, most egregiously being of course the opening shot where we get like two minutes of the camera scrawling across the empty beach; it is a funny sight gag of the TARDIS along the beach houses but there was no reason for it to be that long. The only other place the pacing felt weird to me was during part 4 where the secondary plot stopped but the episode still continues as it goes back to the primary plot involving the clones; don’t know how to put it, the transition felt a bit off even if it did get comfortable after a bit. The rest of the episode doesn’t have this noticeably bad filler but it does still very much feel like parts of it are trying to lengthen it out for as much as they can in order to meet the runtime for 4 parts. This is probably one of the shortest four part stories that we’ve had thus far and honestly it probably should’ve just been a 3 parter to go a bit quicker, as that would’ve worked much better than having 4 weirdly short parts that probably could’ve been combined together to just 3. 

The sets for this episode are pretty good actually, with the inside of the Leisure Hive itself being some neat futuristic location, with the different rooms all looking fairly distinct from one another, with the helmet used as a center piece of most of the rooms being a nice touch. I think what really makes the sets look good this episode is the lighting which is really on point, giving some nice colors to the location like the orange of the main control room, allowing the sets to really pop. The scientific doo dads that they have all over the place for the science room are neat, looking nice with all the colorful water and shapes that they move around in order to get across the futuristic technology of the Leisure Hive; though it does admittedly look a little silly seeing them controlling this technology just by flipping some pyramids around and putting them in holes like a children's game.

The special effects for this episode were incredibly cheesy and 80s, the scene of The Doctor and Romana passing through the zero-grav squash game is rather funny looking with the blue screen. The most egregious example is the dome which looks so very silly and I love it, the detached body parts were neat even if not the most convincing, but the clone army moving in the dome was absolutely hilarious, I loved how cheesy the whole thing looked; it was like watching a cheesy 80s music video, very funny. Despite the cheesy effects the costumes for this episode were actually really good, with it being nice seeing them have a majority of the cast in monster costumes. I like the Argolian costumes with them being a nice mix of human actors and special effects that gets across well their alien natures, like the green look and fruit heat piece. The Foamasi costumes are solid as well, though they may look a bit silly when shot further out and head on, the close up shots of them look fantastic and really sell them as aliens.

This episode is also the debut of the new title sequence, once again doing the Pertwee thing where they decide to change the title sequence for the last season of The Doctor’s run. I’ve grown accustomed to and really enjoyed the The 4th Doctor title sequence which I’ve seen for the past 6 seasons so it was certainly an adjustment going into this episode, especially with just how different it is; no longer in the 70s this title sequence blasts you into the 80s. I like the new title sequence, though it does very much suit The 5th Doctor way better than The 4th Doctor, with Tom Baker’s face rather awkwardly imposed onto the sequence that looks much more natural with Peter Davison’s face. The sequence itself just screams 80s Doctor Who and I enjoy the cheesiness of it from the mutli-colored lights to the open lettered credits, it’s all good fun. It especially helps that I am familiar with most of the theme music for the show, with the Peter Howell theme for the 80s being one of my absolute favorite renditions of the title theme. I love the use of guitar and synth, it’s so much fun, and absolutely adore that middle 8, love to see it’s return, with it just being beautiful in how the instrumental sings. All in all, a solid title sequence even if it works better with the next Doctor with an excellent theme I really enjoy.

Argolians

The Argolians were some pretty good aliens for this story, with it being nice to have another story where the majority of the characters in it are aliens, with it also being great to see that they actually put the effort in making them look alien instead of just humans called aliens. I like the look of the Argolians with their green skin and fruit-like thing on their head, it helps keep them human looking so the effects team can manage but still having enough effects to make them stand out from normal humans. I really like the backstory of the Argolians, having been in a fast but devastating war with the Foamasi which left Argolis devastating and their people dying, with it doing really well to inform the behavior of all the Argolian characters that we meet in this episode, mainly Mena and Pangol. 

The predicament of the Argolians is legitimately compelling and very interesting to follow as we see them left dying, fully sterile and now on the verge of extinction, with minimal hope for survival. The fruits falling out of the Argolians head I found to be such a cool detail to mark the slow death of the Argolians we see, doing really well to heighten the tension as we see Mena, the current head, slowly but surely lose those fruits from her head as she dies; good ticking clock. It also tied in well with the cloning plot and rejuvenation experiments that we see Romana get involved in, as they attempt to stop the Argolians from dying out. The weakening sales of the Leisure Hive only adds to the good tension of the Argolians possible extinction, with the possibility of having to sell to the Foamasi, their enemy in war, who they had made peace with but would be a great loss of dignity to sell the last part of their planet to them. It’s something I found quite compelling, especially with the imagery Mena gives of the last of the Argolians walking out to accept their deaths to maintain this least shred of dignity for the Argolians people.

Mena was a good side character for this story, with her doing well to represent the shifted perspectives of the Argolians at the outset of the war. I liked how humble Mena is, wanting to show humility for the Argolians in the wake of the war, and seeing the furtherance of peace as the most important thing for her people even with the Foamasi. The decoration she puts up of their previous leader’s helmet who led them into war to look on with humility was a nice choice for set dressing and did well to show how far Pangol goes when he eventually begins wearing it. Mena is just a nice person, a really reasonable authority figure for the episode and I really wanted her to make it through this, especially as her hopes of rejuvenation for her people to survive fluctuates before it eventually succeeds which definitely made me relieved. Adrienne Corri did an excellent job in the role, getting across her reasonable authority as well as her rapid aging in the latter part of the story.

Pangol made for a good antagonist for the episode, trying to lead the Aroglians back to their militaristic past. Like I said earlier, I found the backstory of Pangol being a successful clone child by the machine to be really interesting, with it being a neat showcase of the lengths the Argolians had gone to continue their race and fits neatly with Pangol’s motivations. Pangol is a fun villain with him basically being a bratty child who wants to bring the Argolians back to their war-like roots and begin a new race of Argolians with the machine. Though he’s relatively subdued in the first half of the story, once he shows his colors he becomes much more hammy, especially with his need to try and get others to watch him starting the new Argolian, people which was really entertaining. I found his fate amusing, returning back to the machine, trying to stop Mena, and eventually being aged back into a baby with Mena saying to raise him right; nice unique ending as opposed to him just dying, reminds me of the similar concept in Boom Town. David Haig does well in the role as Pangol, giving a fun performance as him which I rather enjoyed. The Argolians made for good aliens in the episode, even if they may not be anything stand out, they did well to make themselves fairly notable.

Foamasi

The Foamasi were also fun aliens for the episode, with their whole deal this episode doing a lot to remind me of the Slitheen that would later appear in Modern Who; not saying Russell did a copy paste but definitely an inspiration at least. The Foamasi look pretty cool as these bug-eyed reptilian aliens, with their language of clicks being nicely alien which I liked. Their past with the Argolians is interesting, especially coupled with the seeming attempts by the Foamasi to buy the Leisure Hive from the Argolians. The build up of the Foamasi throughout this episode was great, as we only get close up shots of them and see them break into the Leisure Hive, it serves well to make the audience recognize the threat, with their involvement in the mystery portion of the episode being some good stuff. We know the Foamasi are there lurking in the shadows but the characters don’t and that allows for good tension, especially as we don’t know what their goals are.  

I loved the twist with the Foamasi near the end of part 3, revealing that the Foamasi we saw breaking in and are the ones who have been behind the murders and sabotage in the Leisure Hive, are actually not the Foamasi as a collective working but in reality two high ranking members of a criminal group of Foamasi known as the West Lodge. Meeting the Foamasi detective was pretty cool, seeing the clicking as he leads the TARDIS crew to the two criminals he’s looking for, stealing the speaking the device to explain the situation of his attempts to stop the West Lodge form tricking the Argolians into giving them the planet which would’ve been the hub of their new criminal enterprise. I’ve talked about it in the past, but I love it when Doctor Who really gives it’s aliens individuality and conflicting factions, not all just a homogenous group, with it being nice seeing them do that hear with the criminal Foamasi being outliers of the actual peaceful Foamasi who agree to talks with the Argolians. 

I really liked the idea of the aliens terrorizing the episode just being a criminal syndicate of that group and not the whole species, much like we humans have. It helped differentiate things from the usual aliens invading a location for their own benefit like we already see in so many Doctor Who stories; it’s a nice change of pace. This distinction of the alien attackers being just a criminal group of the species in question and not the whole group reminded me a lot of what Modern Who would later do with the Slitheen and the Raxacoricofallapatorians. There is some clear inspiration in ideas, especially with the fact that the West Lodge dressed up in human bodysuits like the Slitheen did, posing as the Earth agent for the Argolians, which is incredibly similar to what the Slitheen would do in their episodes, coupled with the fact that realistically they shouldn’t fit in there. I was glad when the Foamasi detective survived even if it was a bit contrived, with his vocal reaction being fairly amusing to me; Andrew Lane did well with their voices. All in all the Foamasi were fun aliens for this episode with a nice twist involving the West Lodge that certainly would inspire the Slitheen later down the line. 

Supporting Cast

The rest of the supporting cast for this episode was fairly good, fulfilling their roles pretty well. I liked the scientist guy, Hardin, with him being a legitimately competent scientist who was originally convinced to perform a con job on the Argolians, giving them hope for rejuvenation using the tachyon technology. I found his development nice as he clearly feels bad about the whole con job, mainly due to his relationship with Mena which I thought was rather nice, making him rethink what he’s doing and try to go back on it; he clearly cares a lot for Mena. The hope when he starts working with Romana in order to make the rejuvenation a reality was nice, with it wrapping up well at the end with him and Romana succeeding in doing just that for Mena before she died. Nigel Lambert did a good job as Harden, capturing well the guilt and desire to make things right that Harden is feeling.

The Doctor

The Doctor was pretty good in this story, with it also showing the start of a turn for a more serious version of the incarnation. Going into Season 18, I had heard about the shift from the much goofier and light-hearted era of Season 15-17, back towards a more darker shift, something which the Doctor Who in the 80s would actually become rather known for. The main part I did here is how The Doctor gets more serious in this last string of stories compared to the much more lighthearted eccentric hobo in a box that has been his staple character for a while now. Of course that’s not saying The 4th Doctor has never been serious or that he’s devoid of his usual comedic personality and charm, but I do notice a bit of a shift with how he’s played, has a more serious air to him than previous. Both The Leisure Hive and The 4th Doctor are of course still pretty fun and haven’t quite gotten to that level I’ve heard about, but I do notice the signs of it here that I’m sure will only become more apparent the further I go into this season.

Still with all that being said, there is good fun to be had with The Doctor here, even if the opening scene is over long, the visual of the TARDIS among the beach houses is funny and I do enjoy just seeing him and Romana trying once again to take a holiday and relax, both on the beach and later going to Argolis. As I mentioned in my previous review, I like seeing the TARDIS crew just hanging out, and that includes here with us seeing them just chilling for a good part of the opening part before the accident happens with the Tachyon Recreation Generator. It’s always great seeing the TARDIS crew spring into action at the sign of this incident and immediately get embroiled in the incident going on. The conversation the two have is fun as they break down the rejuvenation experiment as fake as they just walk around and move through the anti-grav squash. 

Then there’s also the cliffhanger for part 1 with The Doctor getting torn apart which is just wonderfully cheesy in my eyes, especially with how the scream fits with the credit sting.As with previous instances, I love seeing The Doctor investigating and learning more about the situation, playing detective as we see him learn more about Argolis and trying to piece together what’s going on with the sabotage and schemes happening behind the scenes. It’s only added to when The Doctor gets framed for murder, with his own scarf being tied around the victim’s neck to pin him for the crime which is an admittedly darkly amusing image. Also good time to mention his new burgundy outfit and scarf which I think looks good even if I still do much prefer his more iconic outfit which I’ve grown an attachment to after 6 seasons. 

Anyways, we get a trial scene with The Doctor which is always fun to see, with it getting a pretty unique resolution as The Doctor is made to be the subject of the next time experiment to test it out and ends up aged hundreds of years in a nice shocking cliffhanger for part 2. The old Doctor is a cool visual with Tom Baker in that old make-up, as well as just being a great and unique idea for this story with the aged up Doctor now running around for most of the second half. They play it pretty well, with it fitting that The Doctor would be sick of being old but also not letting that stop him from running around and getting some good scenes where he figures out what’s going on with the machine and clones. There are some fun gags as well, like The Doctor writing the complex warp mechanics of the TARDIS and having one of the scientists read it causing him to pass out. 

The part he plays in the wrap up of both of the major plots in this story is pretty good, teaming up with the Foamasi investigator after realizing he’s not a threat and understands him, and then an especially fun end for the stuff with Pangol with The Doctor going into the machine when he starts making the clones thus amusingly making them all clones of The Doctor which is just the best image, and also a helpful way to rejuvenate The Doctor by the end. I liked also enjoyed how the story mentioned the randomiser, with The Doctor having been trying to bypass the randomiser already mentioned before, since it fits he’d eventually want to get that control of the ship back that he had earlier, and it’s given a decent excuse why it’s gone having been used for the Generator to stop Pangol’s plot, with a fun ending line by The Doctor clearly wanting control of ship back even with the danger of the Black Guardian; interested to see what comes of that since I know he does return. Tom Baker was solid in this story, being pretty fun even if there is a twinge of seriousness here being given to The Doctor; especially does really well with that old age make up on his face.

K9 and Romana

K9 is here with John Leeson returning as his voice which I’m happy to hear again; no shade on David Brierly but Leeson is the voice of K9 so it’s nice to have him back for the final season he’ll be appearing in. Of course this return lasts all of a minute as we get probably the funniest way I’ve seen of writers trying to find an excuse to write out K9 from a story with him just running into the sea chasing after a ball and immediately short circuiting after doing so; it’s such a funny and clear way that they’re getting rid of a character. Anyways because of that I’ll just move onto Romana who was also good here; and was in part the reason K9 got wrecked, being the one to toss the ball. Like I said earlier, I enjoy the TARDIS crew just hanging out and trying to have a holiday with the opening scenes with her and the rest of the crew just hanging around being nice. I also do like how it is Romana who brings up the idea to go to Argolis to have a holiday, kickstarting things.

Romana acts pretty well in The Doctor here, with the two continuing to have great chemistry in this new season, with some good banter shared between them. Romana gets some clever scenes bouncing off The Doctor as they make their realizations together for the most part, making for a nice duo dynamic for a good part of the story. For the most part Romana is to the side working on the Tachyon machine to rejuvenate the Argolians, which while not as involved as The Doctor is still a solid part to play, with her being the one to figure out most of the machinery and science needed to try and make some experiments with the tachyons to try and save the Argolians with this rejuvenation. It’s always nice seeing the TARDIS work on some science, with Romana showing herself to be a real woman of science here, much in the same way I like seeing The Doctor show off their person of science credentials in stories. Lalla Ward was solid in this story, continuing to really get Romana down really well, interacting nicely with the supporting cast throughout this story and also doing well to show off the smarts of Romana.

Closing Thoughts/TLDR

As a whole, The Leisure Hive was a flawed but still fun and wild jump into the 80s era of Doctor Who. The main story is solid with the sabotage and scheming behind the scenes of at the titular Leisure Hive, with it being fun seeing the investigations into the sabotage as well as learning more about Argolis and the conflict with the Foamasi, as well as tachyons. There are two main plots here which I enjoy, that being Pangol’s scheming to take revenge and sabotage mystery with the Foamasi, but admittedly due feel rather disconnected from one another similar to how I felt with The Stones of Blood except not as good but still entertaining. The pacing is pretty good for the most part though feels a bit odd in part 4 due to the dual plot stuff. The sets are good and the costumes are rather good as well and work for what’s needed, with the special effects admittedly not being good but have a fun cheesy charm to them which I like; also like the new title sequence and theme. The Argolians are an interesting alien race with some cool biology to them and a compelling predicament, with Mena being a nice representative of them and Pangol serving as a solid villain for the story with his clone army and his defeat was an interesting change of pace. The Foamasi were fun aliens with some good twists involving them with their mystery subplot, with the Black Love reveal being cool and the investigative character being nice. The rest of the supporting cast is good, with Hardin being a surprisingly decent guy who feels guilty about going along with this con on the Argolins. The TARDIS crew is solid in this story, though K9 mostly sits it out, with Romana getting some good scientific stuff to do with The Doctor getting some great scenes as well, especially with the aging accident. Overall The Leisure Hive is not technically that good a story, with a fair amount of flaws and cheesiness, but I very much enjoyed my time with it and do find it at the very least, an entertaining story to start for Tom Baker’s final season.

Next time: An evil cactus alien mastermind, yes that’s right, seeks the power of the Dodecahedron on Tigella, which itself is facing trouble as power losses threaten the energy and society of Tigella, alongside growing divides between the Deons and Savants. To claim this powerful artifact, the cactus alien disguises himself as The Doctor to steal it. Who would be so brazen, why none other than galactic criminal mastermind Meglos(eyyy).

Final Rating: 6/10

"Some galactic hobo with ideas above his station. The cosmos is full of them. Anyway, there’s been enough randomising on this job."

-The Doctor, delivering a funny penultimate ending line to the story describing the Black Guardian

How do I access all of the big finish?

Nothing about the tender process requires RTD to leave.. It doesn't require Phil Collinson to leave, who is just a producer and could work with any production company, it doesn't even require Julie Gardner and Jane Trantor of Bad Wolf Studios to leave, the fact they have shows the BBC has purposely moved on from them because the BBC were not happy with the results of the two seasons RTD and his Bad Wolf team made with their RTD2 era.

This is a point that is not really being discussed much, but I think is a very important one.

It shows the RTD2 era was indeed a failure (something some in the fanbase have argued until they were blue in the face wasn't the case) as it was deemed necessary by the BBC to end the RTD2 era and move on from the people involved with making it, it shows the BBC recognises that it needs to change course, which is encouraging for the future of the show post RTD2.

If the BBC were happy with the results of the last two seasons, if they thought RTD and the Bad Wolf team had done a good job then there is no reason to move on from them, they would be part of the tender process, Bad Wolf Studios would be offered to join the tender process with the very high probability of winning, and RTD would be ensured he can stay as Showrunner under whatever production wins.

If the BBC wanted RTD to be in charge of DW there is no reason why the tender process would stop that, the tender process is just putting a production company in place to make it, if the BBC said they wanted RTD in charge then any production company bidding would fit their pitch to meet that requirement, and RTDs vision, his RTD2 era, would continue.

That the BBC don't want RTD back, and they don't want Bad Wolf Studios involved with the tender process ​says everything, it shows the BBC were not happy with their output and wants to very clearly move on from it and change course.

RTD had plans for season 3 and 4, he had plans for more spin-offs, and the BBC with their actions have said no. Bad Wolf Studios didn't have to stop making DW, they could have gone through the tender process and won if the BBC were happy with them, but the BBC wasn't happy with them.

People can try and spin it all they like, but it's clear the BBC fired RTD and Bad Wolf Studios because the RTD2 failed, it's approach failed to connect with audiences and the viewership fell dramatically.

Hopefully all of this suggests the BBC might just understand the reasons why the RTD2 era failed to connect with audiences and will want a new era that has a approach that will be better suited at connecting with the wider audience, we can only hope.

Perhaps this is obvious to everyone but me. In the episode BLINK, the Doctor repeatedly warns Sally Sparrow, "Don't blink! Don't even blink! Don't look away, and whatever you do, don't blink!" So why is the episode called BLINK, instead of Don't Blink!? I know it's slightly shorter, but still.

​

The adding elements of fantasy was definitely a controversial thing RTD did , and many people hated it and wanted for it to stay strictly sci fi, I do believe the way he implemented fantasy was deeply flawed but I believe adding fantasy elements to doctor who is a great idea and here I am gonna argue why

**Other sci fi worlds did it**

MARVEL, DC, scp universe, Warhammer 40k to name a few

All great and ever expanding sci fi universes that has big involvement of fantasy

This helped make the world way way bigger, while also gave so much potential for story telling

And I believe doctor who can be just as big (hell with the extended media, it's already as big, speaking of which...)

**Extended media already did it, wonderfully**

There's many stories in the VNA, EDA and big finish with fantastical elements

Hell according to the novel, real magic used to exist in doctor who universe until the time lords erased which made for cool story line in the novel cold fusion about an invasion from another universe where magic wasn't erased and replaced science or in the novel a Christmas on a rational planet about the goddess of magic trying to make a come back

There's plenty from various novel and spinoff novels with similar themes and elements, the war on heaven was heavy on fantasy as it described as a war between literal concepts and abstract beings where fiction and reality interacted

On big finish side they had an entire story arc about 7 battling elder gods (sounds familiar?), Except these gods where more akin to Lovecraft's eldritch Cosmic beings than whatever RTD was trying to do

In conclusion I think adding fantasy would expand the universe in many ways, it would help give the doctor more and unique challenges, we already seem done in great way either by doctor who itself or by other franchises

I think RTD tumbled this aspect too

Just to be clear I am not saying replacing sci fi with fantasy or make it more, just make it every now and then

Or /r/Gallifrey's NSQ-MMFPBTAA:TRQTDDTOTT for short. No more suggestions of things to be added? ;)

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I've just thought about this now - I'm sure others have in the past. From the Doctor's perspective, right after some regenerations, another story (and era) just picks up, without giving the Doctor a break, quite often.

I'll speak for NuWho, as that is what I have watched in it's entirety.

9th to 10th - Could have been a break for when Rose wakes up just before 9 regenerates, and also we see 10 get a resting break in The Christmas Invasion, so this is fine.

10th to 11th - Wild that the Doctor went from seeing Rose in 2005 to meeting Amelia Pond in a matter of, maybe, minutes? Could have been more time that just minutes, with the TARDIS being crazy between End of Time and the Eleventh Hour. However, that is still not a break for the Doctor, who's dealing with that, then right to meeting Amelia Pond.

11th to 12th - Seems there was some break before 11 regenerated, (changing clothes and whatnot), then went off to meet the dinosaurs as 12, but he seems to then have a break soon after that, when landing in Victorian London.

12th to 13th - the Doctor goes from going against two incarnations of the Master, to fighting off Cybermen, to saying goodbye to Nardole and Bill, to then holding off regenerating and meeting his previous 1st incarnation of himself, going through another whole adventure of bouncing around time and space (still no break), then finally regenerating, and falling right into a train to meet Ryan, Graham and Yaz with their story continuing until the Doctor is knocked out.

13th to 14th - although 13's last adventure is wild, with regenerations, old faces and companions, there is enough to say that the Doctor could have had a break or two after her final adventure before getting onto that cliff, before regenerating. Same goes for post regeneration 14, who may have even visited 1966 London, meeting the Daleks (if the comics are cannon) and went to help create the Daleks too Children in Need special? Either way could have been a few breaks here and there between adventures.

14th to 15th - Well, again, enough breaks between... Whatever that was.

Other possible cases from Classic Who (but could be wrong):

1st to 2nd

3rd to 4th

5th to 6th?

I'm sure there are more cases of this for the Doctor and companion between standard episodes, but these are just the wild ones I've pointed out in the middle of regenerations.

Did I miss any?