Doctor Who Season 6

[oZode]

Every doctor has their own thing. I'm a fan of Tennant, but Smith wasn't that bad either. As for the companions Amy and Rory are my favourite, but I also didn't like River.

The 6th season was good, but had a lot of loose ends - my biggest problem was "A Good Man Goes to War". The Doctor's "army" consisted of all those obscure characters - where was Capitan Jack? They could have also pulled Mickey into the mess.

Another thing I don't get is how are they going to continue the show without revealing that the Doctor isn't dead. Because "the doctor dies at the fixed point of time on 22 April 2011 at Lake Silencio" and everyone knows that, even the time travelling cops. So if that doesn't actually happen and he continues to save the Earth and the Universe and Time itself, how come no one notices? OK his timeline is a little twisted so they could write of his new adventures as thing he did before he dies that just now turn up. But what about future regenerations? If there ever is a twelfth Doctor the time cops and the other time travelling races should know about it. And if everyone knows that the Doctor doesn't die at Lake Silencio why do they even try to kill him, and why do they lock River up for his murder?

Isn't that because the doctor went into hiding? He got too popular, so he had to fake his death. However that still doesn't explain the plot hole, but you honestly think they are going to kill the doctor for good? Please.

The god complex is one of my favorite episodes in this season because it cuts that faith bullshit out and also has a minotaur! I like minotaurs. Not to mention, the concept of a hotel with doors filled with your greatest fears used to incite faith in you so the minotaur can feed of your emotions is awesome concept and the execution is as well done as the concept.

I don't really like let's kill hitler though because it felt rather uhh... sloppy in execution to me. The tesselator feels thrown in, and while the starting parts were good (crazy friend of amy turns out to be river song that is still a psycho who wants the doctor dead? Oh shit.), but I couldn't take any of the drama involving the doctor slowly dying from some poison lipstick seriously because isn't he supposed to die in like, 2011? I can't help but to feel the only purpose of the episode was to say "uhh... this is like, why river song can't regenerate and doesn't wanna kill the doctor despite being raised by the silence to kill him and why they need to put her in a astronaut suit!".

 

[Burn2Feel]

The Silence (Both the scary monsters and their entourage) could have been the greatest villains of the new series, too bad we didn't see or learn enough about them, they felled wasted.
I hope they return some day, as I feel they've got a lot of unfinished business.

Seeing as the matter of The Question is still around, I think they'll be back and have a greater presence than this series soon.

 

[Me55enger]

season six?

How many times can they recycle the original baddies before people begin to realise that theyre pretty much just recycling the old baddies?

 

[Tanis]

I just wish they'd get the TimeLords back again, making The Doctor less of a 'lonely god' and more of a 'rebel without a cause'.

Also: Next 'Children In Need' special should have the 8th Doctor, somehow.

 

[Encentrik]

This is going to be a pretty long "review" so just a warning:

Series 6 of Doctor Who was one I had mixed feelings about. While as always I pretty much enjoy any Doctor Who episode mainly because I enjoy seeing The Doctor simply be "The Doctor", no matter how bad the episode is. Series 6 started off with a bang; the first two episodes were quite possibly some of the best in the entire new run of Doctor Who, especially with the introduction of The Silence. The Silence, in my mind, are the perfect villains for The Doctor as he & the companions actually had to take months in order to figure out how to beat them rather than in 1 day like most of the time.

After those episodes, the others were mixed; The Doctor's Wife was spectacular but what would you expect from the author of The Sandman? The Curse of the Black Spot felt as if they were trying to cash into the Pirates craze that was going to happen later in the year but I did like the Captain and his son. The Rebel Flesh was one that felt out of place until The Almost People where it finally made sense why the Flesh were there and I have to say while it is a bit of a cop out twist ending, I didn't see it coming at all. (Also the references to previous Doctors when the Ganger Doctor first appeared was simply fantastic.)

A Good Man Goes to War was one that I thought had everything; Humor, Suspense, Sci-Fi Action and the Darkness that lies within the Doctor. Do NOT stand in the way of him and the people he loves; as for the *SPOILERS* reveal of River Song as Amy & Rory's kidnapped daughter, it was pretty obvious but to be honest, it's still nice that I can confirm my suspicions. Overall the first half was great, even if it did have a bit of a rough patch here and there.

Now the second half...that's where things get a bit messed up. See certain episodes were mixed around, such as Night Terrors which originally was set in the first half as you can clearly tell with the Doctor wearing the original Tweed jacket instead of the Trenchcoat for that one episode. Let's Kill Hitler was a well written episode with some very funny moments and nice call backs to Doctors 9 & 10. I loved Night Terrors mainly due to the atmosphere it created and the brilliant lighting; The God Complex also has a spot in my heart due to the creative nature of the episode in terms of atmosphere & how the enemy finds you in the maze.

The Girl Who Waited was an episode that I don't think I ever could've predicted being in this season mainly due to how dark the material got; how long would you wait for your best friend thinking he'll save you but doesn't come for 40+ years? Your sanity deteriorates and your perspective on that person will be full of hatred and scorn. Karen Gillan did a remarkable job in that episode playing the old, bitter Amy and the young, hopeful Amy that still believes in the Doctor always being there for her which was eventually resolved in The God Complex.

Closing Time...I really did not like. It was great at first seeing as I actually liked Craig and the episode "The Lodger" back in Series 5; full of jokes and made me laugh all the way through. Closing Time's problem was while it did do a good job having the Doctor actually be afraid of how to face his death it was all ruined by the ending. I'm not going to spoil it but the "Love conquers all" theme that goes on really overstayed its welcome in that episode. If it went dark and actually did what it was going to do, I would've considered it one of the best episodes of the series because it would've stayed with the dark tone it was going for but that isn't the case.

The Wedding of River Song: Unnecessary new characters solely to be tossed away, brilliant second act and fun but somewhat lackluster third act. Overall, the episode was really well done even if it was a bit of a mixed reaction ride. The ending though is a great way to end Series 6 and it's always nice to see the Silence once again.

Overall, it's a season that didn't do as well as its previous one, Series 5 being my absolute favorite of the new Doctor Who run, yet it did do a semi-decent job at what it set out to do. The introduction to the Silence is one fans will never forget about and neither will I.

To give you perspective of how I view the new run:
Series 1: 7/10
Series 2: 7/10
Series 3: 8/10
Series 4: 7/10
Specials Run: 5/10 (Seriously, David Tennant is NOT SPACE JESUS)
Series 5: 9/10
Series 6: 7/10

Favorite Doctor Order:
11
9
10

End long post.

 

[LordFisheh]

I do tend to think that Smith has been written as too much of a child friendly Doctor; too much focus on 'goofy antics' (aka Closing Time), 'love saves the day' (Closing Time again) and general childishness (witness the godawful Christmas special). Smith himself is great, but I don't think the writing really brings out the glimmers of awesome we see in him other than 'heh, that looks intriguing'. He looks like he's going to question and have to really deal with his place in the universe, then doesn't. In short, the writing is hit and miss. And River Song, oh my god. Again, sometimes she's good, but more often she just comes across as a complete Mary-Sue. The Doctor loves her, she escapes prison and does whatever else the plot requires without effort (much like the Doctor himself, which I guess is the point), and don't get me started on the 'I'm-a-psychopath-but-with-no-consequences-really-it-just-makes-me-sound-cool' nonsense from Let's Kill Hitler.

But honestly, I did like the series. Just... some of it irked me .

 

[SciMal]

I enjoyed it. I like Matt Smith's character, and while I thought his first season was a bit weak because it centered more on Amy than the Doc, it still had its strong points.

Smith's second season as the Doc was stronger than the first, had some very interesting episodes, and I even liked the River Song arc (if not the Silence finale - how predictable).

I think the Amy/Rory bond was exploited too much in lieu of plot, as only a few episodes contributed to their growths as characters. The rest of the time it was a bit annoying.

I really, really enjoyed the lack of traditional enemies and the over-used invulnerability of the Tenant and Eccleson eras. I was so sick of the Daleks that I never found them a threat, even when they built a giant engine to destroy the Universe with zed-Neutrino energy. Between the over-use of the Daleks and Cybermen, the only viable threats to Tenant's Doctor were literally Satan and the Master. To that end, Tenant defeated Satan - so really, the biggest threat to Tenant's Doc was himself in the form of the Master. Kind of silly.

Now that Rory and Amy have been taken out of the picture most of the time, I hope Moffat focuses on the Doctor and bringing back more mystery.

Overall, I appreciate Moffat really diverging from the earlier seasons. He's taken more risks, whereas the previous seasons were very, very formulaic to the point that I was watching the episodes more for the special effects than the story.

I'm also enjoying Smith more as the Doctor than I thought I would. I liked Tenant, but by the end he was reduced to a handful of stereotypes which made the character very flat. The humanizing factor of Tenant's finale with rose was a total cop-out because the writer didn't want to take too many risks, and Tenant Doctor's growth seemed to happen in single-episode spurts instead of arcs (which may or may not stick).

So, I am looking forward to the next season with anticipation.

Edit: Also, I think everybody else but me has completely forgotten the 10th Doctor's daughter, who is alive somewhere in the future. If Moffat ever brings her back, he'll be my favorite Dr. Who writer ever.

 

[Berithil]

Matt smith is great as the doctor (not as good as Tennant in my opinion), but the writing in the new series really is a letdown. The plot could of been really good (the doctor dying on the beach) but they totally made the "chronicles of Amy and rory, and their chauffeur the doctor". Bit disappointing considering some of the best episodes of the past series were written by moffat, (remember silence in the library? Back when river song was actually an interesting character)

 

[Something Amyss]

I didn't realise how much people hated the new companions. I actually really like all of them. My favourite companions from the new series, but then maybe that's just because after Donna anything would be an improvement.

I have trouble seeing how the only companion in the new series with full depth and a character arc would lead new characters to be a "breath of fresh air."

Now, I like Amy and Rory, but I'm not sure what there is to knock about Donna.

Meanwhile, the hatred seems to stem from the usual "Not Rose" syndrome. It seems like the fandom hates everyone who's not rose or Tennant.

The weirdest thing, as someone said above, Rory and Amy seem to shrug off never getting to actually raise their daughter alarmingly easily. The blow is probably softened by knowing your daughter is safe now, but still.

They take pretty much everything that happens all too well, but this really is the most noticeable. Maybe the characters knew this was a horribly contrived plot convenience and didn't get attached as such.

As far as my own thoughts of the series, keeping in mind I missed a couple of episodes:

Well, actually, let me star here: Season 5 is my favourite yet. Prior to that, the vast majority of my top episodes were written by Moffat. I went into season 6 with a lot of expectations, and the opening two parter didn't hurt that at all. But overall?

I think this was a pretty weak season.

The writing was erratic, the overarcing plot was contrived (and the ending completely lame), the River Song elements were rushed and several completely telegraphed.

Going back to the resolution of the major plot arc, it harkened back to one of the things I hated most about the RTD era of Doctor Who: The tendency to a complete asspull.

A couple of danglers from Season 5 also seemed like they were abandoned. Maybe they will be dealt with in the next season, but dropping them entirely seemed sloppy and careless.

 

[TimeLord]

I think the main episodes were great. I didn't think some of the filler stories (Night Terrors, Rebel Flesh etc) were definitely not as strong. Obviously The Doctor's Wife is the exception to that last sentence.

 

[RyoScar]

I love Matt Smith as The Doctor, he's definitely my favourite actor to play the Doctor, second would be Tom Baker, third would be David Tennant.

I also love Steven Moffat's writing, it's very nightmare fuel based, which is what Doctor Who has always been about.

He gave us really awesome horror characters E.G The Weeping Angels and The Silence.

I prefered Season 5 but Season 6 is awesome too in my opinion, hope Season 7 is just as good.

 

[llew]

Smith is a great doctor with shit writing, if mofat did a better job of the stories then smith could easily beat tennent i think. Also, people appear to forget that amy and rory did get to raise their child just not in the way they expected... in "lets kill hitler" Mel who was amy's best friend rowing up was really melody pond (A.K.A their daughter A.K.A river song)

 

[the trooper]

i really liked the prevoius season. it felt really fresh and i really like matt smith as the doctor. However, season 6 really was hit and miss for me. some of the episodes have just been really kinda dull, such 'Night Terrors' and 'The God Complex'. The latter had a really good twist to it and a very unexpected conclusion, but i just thought the rest of it wasn't very good.

I like having two companions on the tardis, and both of them were great in this series. However, as its already been said, the way thy seems fine with losing their baby, after lets kill hitler really bugged. Now i really like the character of river song, but parents would not act this in real life .

So, overall i was disappointed with this series, for mostly the same reasons listed above. Im just getting tired of mofat employing some of the same plot devices in his episodes. But I will say that i did enjoy his latest creation, the Silence. Hopefully issues with writing and directing will be fixed next season

 

[CrazyBlaze]

quote="faranar" post="18.338268.13687965"]Every doctor has their own thing. I'm a fan of Tennant, but Smith wasn't that bad either. As for the companions Amy and Rory are my favourite, but I also didn't like River.

The 6th season was good, but had a lot of loose ends - my biggest problem was "A Good Man Goes to War". The Doctor's "army" consisted of all those obscure characters - where was Capitan Jack? They could have also pulled Mickey into the mess.

Another thing I don't get is how are they going to continue the show without revealing that the Doctor isn't dead. Because "the doctor dies at the fixed point of time on 22 April 2011 at Lake Silencio" and everyone knows that, even the time travelling cops. So if that doesn't actually happen and he continues to save the Earth and the Universe and Time itself, how come no one notices? OK his timeline is a little twisted so they could write of his new adventures as thing he did before he dies that just now turn up. But what about future regenerations? If there ever is a twelfth Doctor the time cops and the other time travelling races should know about it. And if everyone knows that the Doctor doesn't die at Lake Silencio why do they even try to kill him, and why do they lock River up for his murder?

Time can be rewritten. Even fixed points in time can be changed. There is the series explanation for everything.