Doctor Who Series 7 (2012)
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Doctor Who Series 7 Review
The seventh season of Doctor Who is easily the worst one in Matt Smith’s reign and truly the exhaustion point for this particular arc.
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“Am I speaking Russian? How come I’m speaking Russian?“
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Asylum of the Daleks is entirely forgettable and such a bland opener. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is incredibly silly and overly cartoony in approach and execution, but undeniably a lot of fun with particularly solid action and special effects.
A Town Called Mercy is set in American west around 1870. Needless to explain, this is a western episode and the mix of science fiction and western genres is very rarely attempted, let alone successfully pulled off. This particular episode has its fun scenes and is overall surprisingly solid, but still the western genre is not suited to Doctor Who’s style at all.
The Power of Three actually features a rather solid storyline and although far from a great episode, the moments where Amy and Rory examine whether or not they should stay with the Doctor are human and quite powerful emotionally speaking.
However, The Angels Take Manhattan entirely squandered the potential to give the two a proper sendoff and I did not like how they went away at all. And overall, although both of these characters are highly likable, the stories that they got are so stale and soapy that they brought both down with them unfortunately.
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The Bells of Saint John introduces us to Clara properly as the Doctor’s newest companion and the overall episode is quite solid with the moments between the two propelled by wonderful dialogue. I like Jenna Coleman in the role quite a bit and she is quite charming, but unfortunately she was reduced too much to the damsel in distress role afterwards throughout this season.
The Rings of Akhaten is a futuristic episode which is visually dazzling, but in terms of substance is entirely uninspired and disappointing. Cold War brought back the Ice Warriors in a very successful, surprisingly tender manner as it focuses on just one troubled specimen. I loved the set design and effects here along with powerful, emotional dialogue. It is truly the finest and only truly good episode of this entire frustratingly weak season.
Hide has a very good romance in it and although the storytelling is not great, the episode benefits from an interesting, different than usual tone and approach to it. Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS is ridiculous, overly silly and although it features a killer premise, the execution is bad with bland guest characters and an over-reliance on blockbuster action.
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The Crimson Horror executes its time period with solid attention to detail and the tone is good, but the story and overall mystery are mostly too weak to be enjoyed more. Nightmare in Silver is an action-packed, dull excursion into spectacle whereas The Name of the Doctor is probably the messiest of all Doctor Who season finales which introduces John Hurt as the new Doctor but not for full time which is an odd choice and I do not get the point to him.
Overall, this seventh season is easily the weakest of the three starring Matt Smith. It has some solid episodes, but most are forgettable and very messy. In the end, Matt Smith got one very good season and two weak ones, and although he was at first terrific in the role, he later became weaker and much more boring. I do hope the next Doctor is going to be better.
Worst Episodes: The Angels Take Manhattan and Nightmare in Silver.
Best Episodes: The Power of Three and Cold War.
