Doctor Who: Season 7 Review. Share. But considering those lofty ambitions, Season Seven still succeeded where it really counted - with strong character work, sporadically genius story concepts, and some show- altering twists that ensure we're as jazzed as ever for the forthcoming TV event of the semi- century. But enough about the quinquagenary celebrations - let's vworp back to a time and space long ago, known as 'September 2. Thanks to the joy of the BBC's current predilection for splitting Who in two, the beginning of Season even feels an age ago, but a refresh of its opening narrative gambit still delights. In the biggest surprise since, well, the season's bookended final scene, 'The Asylum of the Daleks' set everyone on the back foot by covertly smuggling the Doctor's new companion into the show while his current ones were still there. As if that wasn't bamboozling enough, Moffatt had the ingenious audacity to kill her off, just as the audience's interest was peaked by the spunky, sassy and super- clever interloper. And thus the game was afoot for an arc that would span the entire season, with an associative mystery that - while sporadically frustrating - proved ample and engaging enough to ease the pain of losing the Ponds. Moffatt's plan to . Doctor Who Season 9 Episode 11 Quotes. And I'm gonna explain to you how I survived. I can't wait to hear what I said.
![]() ![]() It's a debut so bold and engaging that you all but forgot about the Ponds by episode's end (sorry Roramy). It also proved how important the Doctor/Companion chemistry is to the show as a whole, not only from a character development POV (the first half reinforcing how the Doctor greatly benefits from a human friendship that can rein in his more alien tendencies) but from an enjoyment POV - while we'll always love Matt Smith's portrayal, it was his insta- spark with Coleman that propelled the show through its weaker, more niggling second half episodes. What started so strongly with 'The Snowmen''s Big Bad, Big Energy and Big Styled Season 7. B opener faltered a little with 'The Bells of Saint John' (fun, but little more than an excuse to smuggle hoverbikes into the show), and the intergalactic yawnfest of 'The Rings of Akhaten'.'Cold War', 'Hide' and 'Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS' boasted individual and insta- memorable plot hooks that felt rushed (despite the audience by that point already expecting a premature conclusion), and while the less said about the disappointing 'Nightmare in Silver' the better (it's been almost a month since the episode aired, and I still want to garrotte those kids), at least Season 7. B had a corkingly fun, albeit throwaway, romp to savour in 'The Crimson Horror'. And then there was 'The Name of the Doctor', an episode with a host of expectation heaped not only upon its plot and the set- up needed for the subsequent 5. Moffatt's inception. Miraculously, it nailed its intentions, with a story that finally answered Clara's big secret, sent a rocket- fuelled fan- baiting plot twist into the mix (HELLO, John Hurt), and offered Matt Smith ample opportunity to flex his dramatic muscles with a performance that encapsulated the series as a whole - both epic in its ambitions and yet, when needed, intimate in its execution. Judged individually, it's hard to argue that the ratio of forgetful to mind- blowing episodes was fairly even. And from an over- arching plot POV, the singular episodic nature of each adventure meant it wasn't the most cohesive either. But judged on the combination of sweeping story beats, performances and seismic status quo shifts, Season Seven fit the bill. The Verdict. Where Who goes from here is anyone's guess, and surely that's as successful a measure as ever. By Anthony Ocasio;. ![]() ![]() ![]() The moment that Doctor Who becomes predictable is the moment there's something very wrong, and 5. He follows that marvel with an only slightly less impressive installment re- imagining the Cybermen. They’re one of the Doctor’s greatest foes, but we haven’t seen the Cybermen since “Closing Time,” the penultimate episode of Season 6. Now they’re back — and upgraded — for the penultimate episode of Season 7. In Gaiman’s script, the lumbering robo- warriors are lightning fast terrors reawakened from slumber by icky little Cyber- mites to wreak havoc in a rundown outer space amusement park. There’s nary a “You will be deleted” to be heard. However, the true genius twist of “Nightmare in Silver” isn’t the revamped Cybermen (though they’re pretty darn cool, and the slo- mo attack sequence devised by director Stephen Woolfenden was a nice touch), but the Cyber- Doctor. Now that the Cybermen can “upgrade” using “almost any living components,” the Doctor himself becomes a target. And it’s the Time Lord vs. Cyberman battle brewing inside his brain that makes this another standout “Who” for Gaiman, and another in what has been a phenomenal season for Matt Smith. Whatever one thinks of the Ponds’ final episodes and Clara’s introductory installments, Smith has been on fire in Season 7 — seeing and exceeding every challenge the writers dream up for him. Gaiman gives Smith a whopper: playing opposite himself as both the Doctor and the Cyber- Doctor for entire scenes and effortlessly switching between not just those two personalities but also impressions of other characters for good measure. It’s a performance tour de force made all the more thrilling by providing the audience a window inside the Doctor’s mind. Gaiman gives us all that plus the delightful business of Clara stepping up as a natural fit in the role of military platoon commander and a lovely guest star turn from Warwick Davis as Porridge, secretly the Emperor of 1. They’re barely defined beyond their single character traits — Angie whines about not being able to use her phone and vows to become Queen of the Universe; Artie politely thanks both Clara and the Doctor for their travels — which only underscores how underdeveloped Clara’s pre- TARDIS life remains. At this point in recent companion stories we’d already met key friends and family of Rose, Martha, Donna and Amy. We’ve only seen Clara’s parents briefly and still don’t have much reason to care about Angie and Artie. It still feels like the mystery of the “impossible girl” is getting in the way of fleshing out her character, but maybe that all begins to change next week with the season finale. Other highlights: – “I trust the Doctor.” “You think he knows what he’s doing?” “I’m not sure I’d got that far.”– In what has become a weekly occurrence in this 5. Doctor’s past: This time when the faces of every one of his past selves flash inside his mind.– As long as Clara remains a mystery, it’s difficult to figure out exactly what to make of her relationship with the Doctor. Smith certainly has chemistry with Jenna- Louise Coleman and all the hints at romance point to the story heading that way — but the Doctor is more a Time Lord obsessed than a Time Lord in love at this point. The Cyber- Doctor obviously interpreted that obsession as affection when it tried to convince Clara it was the real Doctor. Perhaps we’ll have the definitive answer next week.
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