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Doctor Who Series 5 Review

The fifth season of Doctor Who is a great introduction to the Eleventh Doctor and one of the best seasons of the entire show so far.

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“The good things don’t always soften the bad things,

but vice versa, the bad things don’t necessarily spoil

the good things and make them unimportant“

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So let’s first talk about the new characters. Both are terrific and some of my favorites so far. Rory is pretty good and likable, but his entire storyline was too drawn out and overly tragic and playing on emotion too much. But Karen Gillian is awesome as Amy Pond who is one of the most sexualized, yet still one of the best companions so far. I love the strong relationship between the two and she’s a lot of fun.

As for the Doctor, Matt Smith excelled in playing this role and although somewhat at unease at first, he quickly became better and better and he will end up being one of my favorites of all time. I loved his more childlike, more sweet persona and he is by far one of the most purely endearing Doctors so far.

The Eleventh Hour is simply outstanding as one of the best season openers so far. It’s simply a beautiful, highly endearing episode where the Doctor and Amy first met and I loved the child segment, but the rest of the episode is great as well with a particularly creepy alien villain. The Beast Below is a disappointment and more in line with your typical futuristic monster Doctor Who storylines.

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Victory of the Daleks is a highly forgettable Dalek story, but The Time of Angels is a pretty still introduction to a fun story which only gets better in the subsequent conclusion Flesh and Stone which is delightfully atmospheric and creepy. It’s a rare Doctor Who horror story that really works.

The Vampires of Venice is solid and intriguing in setting and time period, but it should have been better given the great potential here. Amy’s Choice is a typical parallel universe storyline for better and for worse. Emotional, but overly familiar.

The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood are actually rather solid as the best episodes the Silurians have got yet. Their redesign works for me as they look so good, but the story that they get here is terrific. Certainly, Rory’s death is impactful but overly melodramatic. The world building is awesome as their world looks well drawn and realized and the conflict between the two races was very well established here.

Vincent and the Doctor is fantastic!! This is by far my favorite Doctor Who episode so far, including both the new and the old formats. So the two travel to the past where they help Vincent van Gogh start to appreciate himself more. Yes, the alien was not needed at all, but otherwise the episode is impeccable with a fantastic performance from Tony Curran in the main role and one highly moving, emotionally rewarding and even profound ending. I ate it up.

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The Lodger is unfortunately forgettable and The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang are unfortunately way too melodramatic for my taste and again overly reliant on emotion and tragedy. Yes, that wedding ending is great, but the whole journey toward it was not worth it in my book.

Overall, I loved this season. I love the new Doctor and Amy Pond, the acting is great, the effects continue to improve and this season saw a great return of the Silurians along with the best ever episode in the history of the show in Vincent and the Doctor. This season truly revitalized the whole show.

Worst Episodes: Victory of the Daleks, The Lodger and The Pandorica Opens.

Best Episodes: The Eleventh Hour, Flesh and Stone and Vincent and the Doctor.

My Rating – 3.7