Story #208 - Amy's Choice (2010)

Harry -
This is a fascinating story, one that reaches deep into Doctor Who's past for source material and invites contemporary viewers to choose which of two options they prefer.

It begins in a village setting, with the Doctor and his friends becoming embroiled in an alien invasion story like something out of the Pertwee era.

It splits into a second narrative, with the Doctor and his friends becoming increasingly suspicious of what they are experiencing, trapped in a TARDIS gone haywire like the early Hartnell era story "The Edge of Destruction".

As our friends bounce back and forth between realities, an enigmatic character appears to goad and taunt them, bringing a whole other element of mystery to the whole thing. This is definitely not your standard base under siege story... or is it?

Sarah -

I couldn’t remember anything about "Amy’s Choice" before this rewatch, so it all felt almost brand-new. I can’t imagine why I didn’t remember it, because I’m a sucker for both alternative-reality and base-under-siege stories -- not to mention it’s a cracking story.

I love Toby Jones as the Dream Lord. Well, to be fair I pretty much love Toby Jones in everything. His menacing contempt for the Doctor was perfect. It was great to watch this story fresh and get to learn the Dream Lord is the manifestation of the darker parts of the Doctor all over again.

Harry -

Big yes to Toby Jones! How many things have we seen him in, and each time he gives a standout performance by crafting a character who goes against everyone else's grain with a smile.

The first time I watched "Amy's Choice", I remember my mind racing at the possibilities. Was the Dream Lord a classic baddie in new form, like the Master or the Valeyard? Could it be the Meddling Monk, or maybe even the Celestial Toymaker?

Sarah -

I love that we have a standard list of classic era characters we want to turn up whenever there’s a mysterious character. They’re bound to turn up eventually.

Harry -
Or at least get a shout out.

Eventually, the Dream Lord was revealed to be a distillation of the Doctor's innermost jerky, condescending darkness, perhaps the worst of them all.

Sarah -
The multiple Doctor story we were never expecting!

Harry -
But long before the resolution, there is the choice. Even before the choice, there is the mystery. I loved how the tension in this story started escalating as soon as the TARDIS team began flipping back and forth between two time periods. Which was real, the initial post-dreaming scene aboard the TARDIS, or the cosy life of Upper Leadworth, complete with pregnant Amy and long-haired Rory?

Sarah -
Can we talk about Rory’s hair or is it best to let it be?

Harry -
Probably best to let it be. Who knows when it might turn up again.

Anyway, it was all a case of psychic pollen getting into the TARDIS works and temporarily infecting everyone aboard. Whew! Got to change those filters regularly. Anyway, Amy made the right choice. Didn't she?

Sarah -
She most certainly did! Let's move on to the next adventure -- I've been looking forward to the story and I do love a two-parter.

Best Quote:

DOCTOR: Oh, way-hey! You've swallowed a planet.
AMY: I'm pregnant.
DOCTOR: You're huge.
AMY: Yeah, I'm pregnant.
DOCTOR: Look at you. When worlds collide.
AMY: Doctor, I'm pregnant.
DOCTOR: Oh, look at you both. Five years later and you haven't changed a bit, apart from age and size.
AMY: Oh, it's good to see you, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Are you pregnant?

Favorite Moment: Amy and Rory reunited with the Doctor

Lasting Image: The Dream Lord in the TARDIS

6/10

Harry -
Best Quote:
AMY: Shall I run and get the manual?
DOCTOR: I threw it in a supernova.
AMY: You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?
DOCTOR: Because I disagreed with it.

Favourite Moment: The "You've swallowed a planet" exchange.

Lasting Image: our three friends napping on the bench. Love a good nap.

6/10

Our marathon continues with Story # 209: The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood...

Story #207 - The Vampires of Venice (2010)

Harry -

Sarah, do you remember all the ballyhooing whenever John Nathan-Turner convinced the BBC to let him shoot a Doctor Who story overseas? Overseas!

After they shot some of "Arc of Infinity" in Amsterdam, JNT set his sights further. He made a pitch for New Orleans, but that got shot down, so he pitched Venice, and that got shot down. Finally he convinced the powers that be to let him shoot "The Two Doctors" in Seville, and the result was a colourful romp set in Spain.

Sarah -

Lanzarote, here we come!

Harry -

Nowadays, great blocks of Doctor Who are filmed even further out and it's just part of the business. David Tennant shot in Italy. Matt Smith in Utah. Jodie Whittaker has gone as far as South Africa. It wasn't until sometime after it first aired that I learned that 'The Vampires of Venice" was shot in Croatia, in a picturesque town on the Adriatic coast. Trogir certainly has the look and feel of Venice.

La Serenissima is where the Doctor has taken Amy and Rory as a make-up/wedding present, having ruined Rory's stag do with a mega-awkward entrance that had me roaring.

Sarah -

That scene is hysterical. Matt Smith’s comedic timing is spot-on. In an attempt to save Rory and Amy’s relationship on the verge of their wedding, The Doctor brings both of them on their own adventure in 1580 Venice. What could go possibly wrong? Well, quite a bit, as one might expect.

Rory’s first trip with the Doctor is a memorable one. I love that Rory, still in his stag party shirt, doesn’t react to the TARDIS the way the Doctor expects. The look of disappointment on his face is classic.

Harry -

Unlike most guests, Rory is decidedly unimpressed with the Doctor's antics, but he's happy to join Amy for the trip.

Sarah -

We discover Venice is under quarantine, which we all relate to these days, where Rosanna Calvierri and her son run a school for young women. I liked the Hammer Horror vibe -- “Pale, creepy girls who don't like sunlight and can't be seen” -- of the school scenes.

Harry -

Ah, Rosanna Calvierri, played by the wonderful Helen McCrory who just recently passed away, so sad to hear. The school for young women is a front for some very Hammer Horror business. The girls are cut off from the outside world, while Senora Calvierri's son Francesco is caught by Amy and Rory in the act of attacking a woman in a very vampiric way. If the title of the story wasn't a giveaway, these early scenes definitely were. The TARDIS team conclude that they have discovered a vampire hive in the centre of Venice and they've got to put a stop to it.

Only, all of that was a red herring of the alien kind. Just when the Doctor thinks he's got things sorted, they begin to unravel. Amy agrees to infiltrate the school so she can investigate up close, only to be unmasked and captured. Rory then rounds on the Doctor as very few companions ever have, accusing him of goading people into risking their lives to impress him. And it turns out the vampire thing was completely wrong. The "vampires" are fugitives from the planet Saturnyne, desperate to save their race by converting humans into hybrids so that their line can continue to propagate. Whew!

Sarah - 

I love that the vampires aren't actually vampires. 

Harry - 

What started as a lighthearted romp gets pretty heavy. There's a lot to unpack here. Rory made a valid point, but ultimately it was Amy's decision to enter the villain's lair. Was it in order to help the people of Venice, or was it to impress the Doctor?

Sarah - 

I would vote for impressing the Doctor. Rory is spot-on in describing what the Doctor does to his companions. 

My favorite scene is when Calvierri and the Doctor face off. She’s definitely got his number:

Calvierri: Where are you from?

Doctor: Gallifrey.

Calvierri: You should be in a museum. Or in a mausoleum.

We also get our first mention of the Silence and more information on the crack from Calvierri: “There were cracks. Some were tiny. Some were as big as the sky. Through some we saw worlds and people, and through others we saw Silence and the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours, and the crack snapped shut behind us. Saturnyne was lost.”

While the Doctor understands why she is doing what she is doing, he can’t let her get away with it.

Harry - 

Was the Doctor too hung up on his vampires theory that he completely overlooked the aliens? And when it came time to thwart the Saturnyns' plot, did he not willingly commit an act of genocide, or at least contribute to the annihilation of their race? Whew!

Sarah - 

One wonders if things could have gone differently if Calvierri had remembered who Isabella was. That seems to be the moment when the Doctor decided he can carry the weight of another dead race.

Harry - 

Before we wrap up, I did want to comment on how beautiful this story looked. Trogir-as-Venice was very convincing, presented with some brilliant camera work and interesting angles.

This story was much darker than I remembered, but it was compelling both on the surface and for all the nagging character conflicts beneath.

Sarah - 

I really enjoyed this rewatch. It’s an effective story that moves along quickly. 

Best Line:

Rory! That's a relief. I thought I'd burst out of the wrong cake, again. That reminds me, there's a girl standing outside in a bikini. Could someone let her in and give her a jumper? Lucy? Lovely girl. Diabetic. Now then, Rory. We need to talk about your fiance. She tried to kiss me. Tell you what, though. You're a lucky man. She's a great kisser. Funny how you can say something in your head and it sounds fine.

Favorite Moment: Calvierri and the Doctor face off

Lasting Image: Guido in Rory’s stag party shirt

7/10

Harry -

Best Line:

RORY: What happened, between you and Amy? You said she kissed you.

DOCTOR: Now? You want to do this now?

RORY: I have a right to know. I'm getting married in four hundred and thirty years.

DOCTOR: She was frightened. I was frightened. But we survived, you know, and the relief of it, and so she kissed me.

RORY: And you kissed her back.

DOCTOR: No. I kissed her mouth.

Favourite Moment: Rory's stag party.

Lasting Image: Calvierri exposed as a Saturnyn.

8/10

Our marathon continues with Story #208: Amy's Choice...

Story #206 - The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone (2010)

Sarah -

I love it when a story turns out to be as good as I remembered!

Harry -

I love it even more when the story turns out better than I remembered!

My overarching memory of the Weeping Angels as a Who monster is that they blew everyone away when they were first introduced in "Blink", then brought diminishing returns to each subsequent appearance. An unfortunate case of overuse. By the time they showed up on the Class season finale I practically yawned.

However, the Angels were fantastic here, in many ways. While they were mysterious and terrifying in "Blink", here we see the Angels upping their villainy by being diabolical, murderous and arrogant. Watching the first Angel attempt to take possession of Amy was scary as hell. The way they violently picked off the military clerics one by one, then used cleric Bob's voicebox to taunt and frighten the Doctor and friends had me seething at them. I don't often seethe at a Who villain. Moffat got me again.

Sarah -

I think the Angels are way scarier in this story than they were in "Blink". In that story, the Doctor describes the Angels as “the only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely.” There’s nothing nice about the deaths this time around. They’re utterly terrifying and horribly cruel.

Harry -

For sure, back then the Doctor didn't seem to realize how monstrous the Angels could be. Either that or they have made an attitude adjustment for the worse. In my notes I kept writing the word "morbid" whenever the Angels used cleric Bob's voice to taunt the Doctor. That really got under my skin.

Sarah -

I didn’t realize before now that this was the first story filmed in series five. It’s even more impressive how Matt Smith hit the ground running in this story. And Karen Gillan, OMG, could she be any more spectacular?

And then we have the return of River. I remember how surprised I was when she returned after we saw her die. But more than surprised, I was delighted to have her back.

Harry -

What a return! River got her own mini-episode to kick off this story and it was spectacular. Her laser pistol matched her Louboutins perfectly.

Sarah -

Coordinating your accessories is essential!

Harry -

She was still very much a mysterious character in these days, and continued to tease the Doctor. I loved when he got schooled on the TARDIS parking brake.

Sarah -

I love that moment. Wait until he finds out about the drinks cabinet!

Harry -

Amy looked on in bemusement, wondering aloud if River was the Doctor's wife.

Sarah -

SPOILERS, Mom! Oh, wait, spoilers, Sarah! I expect I’ll find myself watching the timeline from River’s perspective this time around. It will be a whole new story.

Harry -

It is wild when you realize how many spoilers River is holding back. I'd have exploded!

The pregnant pause that followed Amy's question felt long enough to make this a three-part story, but after the fun and games River donned the clerics' military garb and everyone got to work. The task of tracking the solo Weeping Angel that was aboard the crashed ship that everyone followed was straightforward at first. It was when Moffat began to throw twists at everyone that the story really took off.

Right away, Amy was terrorized by the first Angel that used its own image held in her eyes to break loose. Wild stuff. Then the business with killing off the clerics. Finally the terror builds to the frightening realization that all the statues on this planet are "hibernating" Angels.

Sarah -

The realization that the native Aplans had two heads and the statues only have one is chilling. The humans are in the middle of a nest of Angels when the Doctor realizes that the prisoner Angel intentionally crashed the Byzantium to restore the other angels with the ship’s radiation.

I was seriously ready to hide behind the sofa at this point.

Harry -

As if that weren't enough, in part two Moffat dials up some more terror by letting us the viewers see the Angels moving. In Blink, Moffat had established a bond between his characters and the audience that so long as any of us looked at an Angel it would not move. To see them turning and reaching out broke that bond and brought with it a feeling of helplessness that I can't really compare with any other viewing experience.

Sarah -

I love, and dread, those moments in horror stories when you suddenly discover that you don’t know as much as you thought. The rules have been tossed out the window and I found myself completely confused and terrified.

Harry -

A slow-moving chase scene ensues as the Angels close in on the Doctor and friends. It was agonizing to watch Amy struggle through the increasingly weird settings of the ship, eyes pressed shut, as one-by-one the people around her began to disappear. When it seems that Amy's done for and the Doctor is unable to save her, the Angels suddenly turn and run. The far greater menace of the "crack in time" put the Angels to flight.

In the nick of time, it's River who saves Amy by teleporting her to safety.

Song 1

Doctor 0

Sarah - 

In retrospect, it’s emotionally overwhelming to see River rescue Amy -- and no one else knows about their relationship. That really blew me away this time around. Karen Gillan’s performance is amazing in this episode. The clerics being picked off one by one is terrifying, but the dust coming out of her eyes is the most frightening thing in this story. 

Harry - 

I really loved the chaos at the end, with the Doctor barely keeping it together, the Angels plummeting into the crack, and River and Amy safely reunited. What a hell of a story!

Sarah - 

It’s so, so good!

Harry - 

So this crack in time is having a huge impact on the season arc. It is capable of erasing people and events from existence, and the Doctor remains baffled. I'm keen to learn more, let's get off this planet and see where our friends are headed next.

Oh, it's back to Amy's place, and it's a very important date…

Sarah - 

“Oh, did I forget to mention that I’m getting married in the morning?” The first time I watched, I started yelling at my television when Amy way trying to get it on with the Doctor. This time, I knew not to panic.

Harry - 

Best Line:

DOCTOR: Lovely species, the Aplans. We should visit them some time.

AMY: I thought they were all dead?

DOCTOR: So is Virginia Woolf. I'm on her bowling team.

Favourite Moment: River's mini-episode at the opening.

Lasting Image: The Angels moving before our eyes.

7/10

Sarah - 

Best Line: 

DOCTOR: Parked us? We haven't landed.

RIVER: Of course we've landed. I just landed her.

DOCTOR: But, it didn't make the noise.

RIVER: What noise?

DOCTOR: You know, the (wheezing).

RIVER: It's not supposed to make that noise. You leave the brakes on.

Favorite Moment: River’s entrance to the TARDIS.

Lasting Image: Amy rubbing dust out of her eye. 

8/10

Our marathon continues with Story #207: The Vampires of Venice...

Story #205 - Victory of the Daleks (2010)

 

Harry -

Well here we are, arrived at perhaps the first truly divisive story of the Moffat era. Let's get the big debate out of the way. Dorabella: is it a funny name or not?

Sarah -

It’s unexpectedly funny, considering that it was a memory planted by the Daleks. Where do you come down on this pressing issue?

Harry -

It's the kind of name that gets shortened immediately, so the child would probably grow up as either a Dora or a Bella, which is not so bad. But it would not be on my top 10 baby names list.

Apparently there was a bit of fuss over the Daleks in this story too, particularly the New Paradigm Daleks.

Sarah -

A fuss in Doctor Who fandom? Say it isn’t so!

Harry -

Big and brassy, these New Paradigms are a throwback to the colourful Daleks of the Peter Cushing movies. I imagine Steven Moffat had fond memories of those films and gave writer Mark Gatiss the green light to create a version for the New Who era. Watching them emerge from the progenitor chamber was like something at an auto show -- here's the new model for Season Five, in five spectacular colours! I know some people associated with this blog rushed out to buy the entire set.

Sarah -

I’m shocked, shocked! Nah, just kidding, I remember quite well your obsession with the New Paradigm Daleks. They certainly are shiny and festive, which feels a bit surplus to requirements when it comes to taking over the universe, or whatnot.

Harry -

The BBC marketing department must have loved these Daleks, but apparently fanhood at large did not.

Sarah -

I’m a bit of an agnostic when it comes to the NPDs in general, but I’m not a big fan of them in this story. It’s a promising story that gets waylaid by the big reveal of the NPDs. There are way too many long and lingering shots of the Daleks as they emerge from the chamber and assemble to face the Doctor.

Harry -

But the colours. There's a red one!

Sarah -

As much as I love shiny red things, It’s a whole lot of fanwanking, even if much of the fanbase was too busy being angry to notice.

Harry -

Fair enough. There's a strong throwback vibe to the story that goes beyond the paint jobs of the Daleks. For this story, Gatiss also adapted the premise of "The Power of the Daleks" -- where a small group of Daleks insinuate themselves among a group of humans and pretend to be willing servitors, while scheming to regroup and mass produce themselves anew. The "I am your soldier" line is an almost identical quote from the 1960s story.

Sarah -

I love the throwback to Power of the Daleks, which has been gloriously animated since this episode first aired. Victory of the Daleks is about as Mark Gatiss as Doctor Who can be; he does love the celebrity historial. The Eleventh Doctor’s reaction to the Daleks is exactly the same as the Second and Ninth Doctors when everyone else thinks they’re harmless -- and I’m totally here for that. I love the look of Ironside Daleks and the To Victory propaganda poster, which I was so excited to buy at Chicago TARDIS in 2010. It still hangs in my kitchen.

Harry -

Another win for the BBC marketing department!

Sarah -

Take all my money!

Harry -

Setting aside all the Dalek hooplah, there is indeed a huge celebrity involved in this story, and it's Winston Churchill -- or rather the idealized Winston Churchill to whom British pop culture and favourable historians have given enduring life. While the actual Churchill has become a problematic hero in modern times, here he is portrayed in almost comic book terms. Big, bombastic and heroic. The Winston Churchill we'd love to embrace I think.

Sarah -

In the end all humans are problematic, why should historical figures be any different? He was the big, bombastic, heroic figure that led Britain through the war, with all the biases of his gender, race, and class that we now abhor. Ian McNeice’s performance certainly plays to the wartime hero angle of his persona.

Harry -

Who couldn't relate to Amy's excitement at meeting the hero of World War Two? He's got a war to win and he will seize every advantage, including Bracewell's Ironsides much to the Doctor's dismay. Which is where the Doctor's fantastic, Troughtonesque and Ecclestonesque tirades come into play.

Sarah -

One of my favorite aspects of the story was the Ironside Daleks using Churchill to get the Doctor to London so they could get the Doctor to testify that they were, in fact, Daleks. Even if they were inferior to the NPDs. Now, that’s what I call playing the long game.

Harry -

The story skips along at such a pace that the conflict between the Doctor and Churchill is barely given any space. I wonder if this story might have been better off as a two-parter. Back in the day, "The Power of the Daleks" was an all-out six parter which allowed for the Doctor's suspicions to be more fully fleshed out.

Sarah -

I can’t help but think it would be a stronger story if it were a two-parter or if some of the NPD screen time was given to the Doctor-Churchill conflict. Even the inter-Dalek conflict and extermination of the “inferior” Daleks feels rushed after all the time spent showing us the shiny new Daleks.

Harry -

At least we got that one great scene where the Doctor goes apeshit on one Dalek before everything kicks into gear. Cue the space-bubble spitfires for a rousing outer space dogfight!

Sarah -

I did roll my eyes a bit, but it made as much sense as anything else and how else were they going to get rid of the Daleks?

Harry -

Gatiss must have loved scripting all that RAF banter. After the Dalek ship is given a proper thrashing (hurrah!), we arrive at the final crisis. The Daleks reveal that Bracewell is a bomb. As in "The Beast Below" the Doctor tries and fails to save the day. It falls upon Amy to talk Bracewell into deactivating himself, convincing the machine that it is human and incapable of mass murder.

Pond 2

Doctor 0

Sarah - 

Good decision to keep Pond around!

Harry - 

The one thing that really didn't make sense was that once Bracewell's trigger was deactivated, the Doctor and Amy let the robot pack up and leave the Cabinet War Rooms, presumably to head to a life undercover, or perhaps to Scotland to seek out the mythical Dorabella. Presumably that means an inactive Dalek robot is still out there wandering the British Isles. Certainly a better fate than blowing one's self up. Maybe he got into Morris dancing, or Scottish independence. Who knows, eh!

Sarah - 

Bill Paterson is so lovely as Bracewell that I don’t even mind the Doctor and Amy giving him another chance at life. What does worry me is Amy not remembering the Daleks and that crack in the wall. 

As an aside, If you’ve not been, I recommend a visit to the Cabinet War Rooms next time you’re in London. The way things are going pandemic-wise, that will probably sometime around 2030. 

Harry - 

Best Line: after the Daleks call the Doctor's jammy dodger bluff: "I was promised tea!"

Favourite Moment: the New Paradigm Daleks reveal.

Lasting Image: those colourful Daleks!  I'm looking at one as I type this.

7/10

Sarah - 

Best Line:

Amy: "What, so you mean I've got to stay safe down here in the middle of the London Blitz?"

Doctor: "Safe as it gets around me."

Favorite Moment: the Doctor in the elevator with Churchill, waving the cigar smoke away.

Lasting Image: the poster! I’m looking at it as I type this. 

7/10

Our marathon continues with Story #206: The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone...

Story #204 - The Beast Below (2010)

Harry -

I think, Sarah, when we started our marathon rewatch of Doctor Who in its televised entirety, we aimed all our focus on the classic era and left the Matt Smith era alone for these past ten years.

Having watched his first two stories, I wish we hadn't done that. They have both been so good!

Sarah -

I like that we have a bit of distance on the Matt Smith era, it's helping me bring a fresh perspective. But I have to disagree on "The Beast Below". It didn't hold up for me and I have a feeling it could end of being the low point of the series. Turns out Steven Moffat agrees with me. In an interview for the 50th anniversary he was asked for his favorite and least favorite episodes so far:"The Beast Below…it was quite a mess…it was all over the place…” 

I have to agree.

Harry -

You came armed with a link! Feeling outgunned here, but I will say what I liked about the story. Amy wastes no time showing she's got the chops to be a great companion. She successfully investigates on her own, she shows empathy where the Doctor is prepared to give none, and she follows his earlier advice to keep her eyes open for details, which leads her to resolve the story's main mystery.

Sarah -

Sorry, I didn't mean to get all librarian. I remembered Moffat's comment from 2013 and was almost surprised to find the reference.

Harry -

Moffat's Scottish roots provided for some lighter moments of dialogue between Amy and the Doctor.

The Orwellian society aboard Starship UK offered an irresistible dilemma for the Doctor to wade into, despite all his high and mighty talk of never interfering. The entire story was dripping with allegory. The smilers were very unsettling, and downright horrifying when they stood up to attack; a good example of Moffat turning something unexpected into an object of terror.

Where did it go south for you, Sarah?

Sarah -

Almost from the beginning. The story feels very thin, but maybe that's ok. Amy gets to have her first adventure in the future, where she's more than 1,000 years old, and does all the resourceful things a companion gets to do. The Doctor is ready to send her home, but realizes that she sees the things he misses, so Amy gets to stay in the TARDIS.

Harry -

Moffat's look at a future UK society was a bit uneven. He predicts, and this one is a surer bet with each passing year, that the Scots will choose their own course and strike out on their own. He's bang-on about the impulse that most people have to look away and pretend they see nothing when someone is in distress.

Sarah - 

It does feel prescient, doesn’ it? Brexit in Space!

Harry - 

I wasn't sure about Liz 10 though. Not the character herself, because she was well performed by Sophie Okonedo. It's the notion that even a thousand years from now, the English will still be clinging to their monarchy, and an increasingly impotent one at that. The shadowy figures behind the scenes (future bureaucrats?) are the ones who know all the secrets and keep things running.

Sarah - 

I wish Okonedo was given more to do, but one doesn’t expect much from the monarchy, so it might be appropriate.

Harry - 

So we get to the big moral horror of the story. The Doctor has been teasing it by playing around with glasses of water, then we get a big clue when he and Amy get shot down a conduit into a stinking, slime-filled chamber. Once the requisite characters are assembled down below, the beast upon whose back the UK is travelling is acknowledged. The great secret of Starship UK is revealed and it's not pleasant. A starwhale, the last of its kind, has been harnessed and for some stupid reason is being tortured as it conveys the UK through space. The Doctor wants to lobotomize the beast so it will continue on while brain-dead. It's up to Amy to observe that the creature has only friendly intentions and there's no need to torture or destroy its mind.

Pond 1

Doctor 0

Funny that Moffat would pan this story, after spending a lifetime dreaming what he would do and the stories he would tell as Doctor Who's showrunner.

Sarah - 

Imagine finally getting the job you wanted since you were eight-year-old -- I wouldn’t know what to do with myself!

Harry -

Very true.

Sarah -

Maybe I should have given this another watch, but I didn’t and I don’t feel like I have much more to say. I’m ready to find out what’s up with Winston Churchill. Shall we? 

Harry - 

Our first Matt Smith historical, let us go forward together!

Sarah -

Best Line: 

"Oh, I'm way worse than Scottish."

Favorite Moment: Amy discovering she’s 1306 years old. 

Lasting Image: The Smilers are so creepy.

6/10

Harry -

Best Line:

"You look human."

"You look Time Lord."

Favourite Moment: Amy out-thinking the Doctor and saving the starwhale.

Lasting Image: Smilers for sure.

7/10

Our marathon continues with Story #205: Victory of the Daleks...

Story #203 - The Eleventh Hour (2010)

Sarah -

"The Eleventh Hour" is one of my favorite new Doctor stories. The slate has been wiped clean and a new era has begun!

Harry -

I forgot how good this one is. It starts with the Doctor's arrival (literally a crash landing) in the life of a new companion. After the initial confusion and a comedic sequence about food, it's a wild pacey adventure that doesn't let up until Matt Smith's inaugural I am the Doctor speech. "The Eleventh Hour" is great fun!

Sarah -

It’s so much fun! But I still can’t buy into fish fingers and custard. Ick!

Harry -

I keep meaning to try it someday, but it's been over ten years and counting...

Also, I semi-dread the fact that the musical theme created for this Doctor by Murray Gold will be running through my head ceaselessly in the coming months, but I can live with it.

Sarah -

It’s quite jaunty, isn't it?

Harry -

So much jaunty!

The new production team led by Steven Moffat reboots the show flawlessly. Doctor Who was the very first TV show to reboot itself, and has done repeatedly over the decades while maintaining perfect continuity, best of both worlds.

Sarah -

It’s a whole new world and comfortably familiar at the same time.

Harry -

"The Eleventh Hour" offers opening moments of mystery to draw in first-time viewers while giving a nod to longtime fans. I love that the TARDIS swimming pool makes an audible cameo, but it doesn't take away from anyone who hadn't seen the show before. A former work colleague had never watched Doctor Who until she checked out a holiday-time marathon of Season Five. She became hooked and Matt Smith will forever be her Doctor.

Sarah -

That’s lovely! This was also the season my daughter started watching NuWho. She was raised on Classic Who and will always love Tom Baker, but Matt Smith was the first real-time Doctor she watched. She and her brother were young when Doctor Who came back and we thought it would be too intense for them. By the time Matt Smith became the Doctor, she was older and ready for action. My son maintains his allegiance to his favorite Doctor, Peter Davison, but his sister is all about Matt Smith to this day!

Harry -

It's hard not to get pulled along by the energy in this story. Smith is practically bouncing off of everything he comes into contact with. Before long, his new friends are running to keep up.

Sarah -

He had me from the moment he popped out of the TARDIS. Everything was there from the beginning.

Harry -

Two challenges that the Doctor must face up front are the mysterious thing in Amy's house, and the consequences of having left Amy behind when she was a child. For the Doctor it was a matter of minutes, but for Amy, the Raggedy Man's appearance/disappearance caused lasting issues.

Sarah -

It all happens so quickly, but the Doctor’s disappearance leads to years of trauma for Amy. How horrifying to grow up in a town where everyone knows all about your trauma and mostly thinks you’ve made it all up. It’s a wonder Amy manages to function at all!

Harry -

It did seem troubling that everyone in the village seemed to know about Amy's Raggedy Man. She could barely revel in being right all along, what with the monster in her house, which turns out to be a shape-shifting alien fugitive, which has drawn a galactic police spaceship to the planet Earth in pursuit. The most horrifying thing, besides the snake creature and the barking man, which were both well done, was the complete indifference of the Atraxi voice coming from the spaceship. It declared with total banality that if Prisoner Zero did not surrender, it would simply annihilate the entire planet and move on. There's some cosmic horror for you!

Sarah - 

Shape shifting is something that always creeps me out, so this story always hits an effective horror note for me. The moment that really hits me is when the mother with the twins says, “Oh, I'm getting it wrong again, aren't I? I'm always doing that. So many mouths.” It makes me want to hide behind the sofa. 

Harry - 

After lots of climbing and running, the new TARDIS team saves the day and Matt Smith cements his place at the end of a lovely past Doctors montage. Hurray!

Sarah - 

I’m such a sucker for these moments. Smith’s, “Hello. I’m the Doctor. Basically, Run” makes me want to cheer every time.  I also appreciate the Doctor stealing clothes from a hospital doctors’ dressing room for the third time in his career. 

Harry - 

You will probably agree that the best and worst thing about this episode was the guest appearance by Olivia Colman. Future Oscar Winner and all-around superstar Olivia Colman (best)! Given barely a half dozen lines and about three minutes of screen time (worst)! What a terrible waste!

Sarah - 

You may recall that Olivia Colman was my dream Doctor before Matt Smith was announced, so it was exciting to have her in the opening story, but so very disappointing that it was for little more than a cameo. I demand she be brought back in a proper baddie rold. Do you hear me, Chibbs?

Harry - 

Let's rally and press on, a whole new era awaits!

Best Line: "Carrots! Are you insane!" (Nice callback to the Sixth Doctor's last words onscreen.)

Favourite Moment: Olivia Colman's creepy cameo.

Lasting Image: the Doctor meeting Amelia for the first time.

8/10

Sarah - 

Best Line: “I'm the Doctor. I'm worse than everybody's aunt. And that is not how I'm introducing myself.” It makes me laugh every time.

Favorite Moment: The Doctor popping out of the TARDIS to meet Amelia.

Lasting Image: Little Amelia Pond sitting on her suitcase, waiting for the Doctor. 

8/10

Our marathon continues with Story #204: The Beast Below...

The David Tennant Era - Final Thoughts

Harry -

As eras go, this one was as grand as they come. An energetic Doctor, big blockbuster stories, and New Who at its pop culture peak.

Sarah -

Oh, those heady days of the RTD Era! The mere existence of Doctor Who was nothing short of a miracle. Everything was awesome just because it existed. Well, maybe not everything, but I was willing to let some (or maybe a lot of) stuff slide because it was Doctor Freaking Who on my television, which I never thought was going to happen again.

Revisiting the Tennant Era has been challenging. So many of the things I was able to brush off on first watch really got under my skin this time around.

Harry -

Totally agree. The giddiness of watching season after season of New Who was great when it first happened. Having completed a repeat view of this era, there was so much that got under my skin. The arrogance of the Doctor. The season-finale blockbusters that were so much noise without much story. RTD's maternal issues playing out every time we met a companion's mum. And complicated relationships taking over from simple friendships when it came to the Doctor's travelling companions.

Sarah -

Seriously, what is it with RTD and mothers? Writing every companion's mother as difficult is positively pathological!

Harry -

We encountered some brilliant new aliens, from the Sisters of Plenitude to the Weeping Angels to Vashta Nerada. Historically, we met Queen Victoria, William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie. I loved all of these encounters and they delivered on what we love and expect from Doctor Who.

Sarah -

And two fabulous new companions! Martha and Donna are both favorites of mine, despite how they're treated by the show. My favorite Martha moment is when she walks away from the TARDIS because she knows she deserves more. It feels a little obvious to have her end up with Mickey, another companion treated badly by the Doctor, but in my head cannon they're having a wonderful life together.

Harry -

Yes, it was nice to see a couple of characters who endured "complicated relationships" in the show find happiness with each other. While kicking Sontaran asses.

Sarah -

I was so angry when Donna was robbed of all her growth the first time around and was just as angry this time around. I hope Donna has a wonderful life with her husband -- and her lottery winnings.

Harry -

Donna ranks very high on my list of fave companions and I will not forgive RTD for the way he wrote her out of the Doctor's life. Once again, Big Finish saved the day by rolling out new audio adventures for them, and they've been great!

I have to go back to the blockbuster finales as what was most disappointing from this era. The stakes in these stories were so wildly massive and just unfathomable (from the fate of the Earth all the way up to the fate of existence itself) that they were hard to engage with.

Sarah -

Right? I like a good finale, but they got to be just too much.

Harry -

But there were some wonderful gems in this era. "School Reunion", "Human Nature/The Family of Blood", and :Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead" will always be classics of this era for me.

Sarah -

Absolutely. Now that we've finished the era, I'll probably dip back to watch old favorites now and then, but there will be other stories I don't think I'll be rushing to see.

Harry -

Yeah, it was good to rewatch this era right around the 10-year anniversary of Tennant's departure. Given some distance and some contrast with subsequent eras, it settles nicely into the history of the show. At the time it was so loud and mega, seemingly the be all and end all of the revived series, but now I think of it as just one way to do Doctor Who. As with all previous eras, I'll check out certain episodes again, but there are some I'm glad we may never have to watch again.

Sarah - 

We started this project just after Matt Smith's first series ended and I decided at the beginning that I would avoid rewatching stories until we reached them in our marathon. This means I've been waiting to rewatch the Smith era for 10 years! I am so ready to move on. 

Harry - 

Same here!  Farewell Tennant and RTD, on to Smith and Moffat!

Sarah - 

Allons-y!

Our marathon resumes with Story #203: The Eleventh Hour...