Having watched and discussed all of the Tenth Doctor episodes, we hereby contemplate the highs and lows of not only the David Tennant era, but of an epoch defined by Russell T Davies
Having just reviewed Series 5 of NewWho, we sat down to share some of our opinions and impressions of Matt Smith’s inaugural season as The Doctor.
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Having just finished reviewing all of Series 5 of NewWho, we sat down to share some of our thoughts and afterthoughts. In retrospect…
- What do we think of Matt Smith’s inaugural season as The Doctor?
- Do our favourite episodes match up with the ratings we gave them at the time?
- How do the companions hold up to our resolute moralistic scrutiny?
- And where’s the show heading?
These are just some of the topics we touch upon in this bonus episode.
Listen to it now and let us know if you agree or disagree!
And if you haven’t listened to our reviews of the individual episodes yet, then be sure to do so pronto!
In an effort to try to be more involved in the New Who reviews, I’ve decided to do series overviews for New Who while doing my Classic Who mini’s. And starting with Series 6, I’ll pick two episodes that I like and don’t like to do mini reviews on. So with that, let’s begin this series lookback!
Series 5 was an interesting little thing. It was full of whimsy and magic. We got Van Gogh, Silurians, Daleks (The Paradigm Daleks are awful, though) and so much more this series. Matt Smith’s Doctor was soon a fan favorite. He was the Doctor who made bowties cool again. For many in America he became the gateway Doctor after filming in America for Series 6. But, we’ll talk about Series 6 later.
Amy and Rory are a great TARDIS Team. It’s the first time we got a married couple in the TARDIS. The return of River Song was well done and pretty much every story clicked with me.
I say all of them clicked, but in reality there is probably one episode that didn’t do it for me. The Lodger wasn’t great. It has its moments, but it’s just the Doctor hanging out with James Corden for an hour, then timey wimey stuff happens and the Doctor needs to save the day.
So, overall what did I think? Series 5 is probably the better season starring Matt Smith than Series 6 and 7 (I’ll get to those later). I loved this series and it’s why Matt Smith is one of my favorite Doctors. So, let’s go through the episodes and find my average rating:
The Eleventh Hour: 4.0/5
The Beast Below: 2.9/5
Victory of the Daleks: 2.0/5
Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone: 3.5/5
Vampires of Venice: 3.2/5
Amy’s Choice: 3.8/5
The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood: 3.6/5
Vincent and the Doctor: 4.3/5
The Lodger: 2.0/5
The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang: 3.8/5
So, the average rating for this series is: 3.31/5. Definitely Matt’s highest rated season by far in my eyes, with many stories ranking in the mid to high threes. Next time you hear from me on New Who, I’ll be taking a look at The Doctor’s Wife. See you then!