How do you rate Season 5?

Now that the first season of the Moffat/Smith era is in the history books, what did you think of the season as a whole?

Vote and discuss.

Best and most consistent season of Doctor WHO since the series came back in 2005. Loved it!

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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time

It was indeed fantastic! What a finale as well! Tremendous!

Fantastic is the highest score?It deserves better,it deserves rilliant,molto bene,the absoulote pinnacle!I'm ready to dive head first into series 6 with a cry of...



...GERONIMO!

beep wrote:

Fantastic is the highest score?It deserves better,it deserves rilliant,molto bene,the absoulote pinnacle!I'm ready to dive head first into series 6 with a cry of...



...GERONIMO!

LOL! Loving the new avatar!

Agree with what you're saying as well!

Based on the stories, I'd give it a Great, maybe a Low Great.

Based on Matt Smith's take on the Doctor, I'd give it a High Fantastic.

I came into this season thinking I was going to hate him, but I took to him from the very first episode and he's just gotten better and better.

I'm the lone person who voted "meh".

For the Christmas special and season six, I'm not listening to any forum or community. I'm going to ban myself from the discussions so that my opinion will be formed on its own without being hindered by anyone.

~

a1cmustangpilot wrote:

I'm the lone person who voted "meh".

For the Christmas special and season six, I'm not listening to any forum or community. I'm going to ban myself from the discussions so that my opinion will be formed on its own without being hindered by anyone.

That's an interesting idea. Do you plan on sharing why you were left underwhelmed with this season, though? I'm pretty curious to see how it's sitting with people across the board.

I ranked the season as "Great." I love Smith's Doctor, and Amy and Rory as married companions (especially with the new dimensions to their relationship) is just a neat storytelling idea. The season didn't quite get a "Fantastic" from me, simply because I would have liked to see a few more questions answered, though I admit I'd rather keep waiting than have been served a sloppy Season Four-style ending.

mysterylad wrote:

a1cmustangpilot wrote:

I'm the lone person who voted "meh".

For the Christmas special and season six, I'm not listening to any forum or community. I'm going to ban myself from the discussions so that my opinion will be formed on its own without being hindered by anyone.

That's an interesting idea. Do you plan on sharing why you were left underwhelmed with this season, though? I'm pretty curious to see how it's sitting with people across the board.

I had a really hard time with "The Eleventh Hour" and I got harassed a bit from a few people because I didn't automatically declare my undying love for Matt Smith. I got irritated at the flood of people on my flist who kept bad-mouthing Tennant, saying that they're glad he's gone and that Matt Smith is so much better... after one episode.

I actually developed an extreme dislike for the new series right from the start due to that. I didn't like Amy at all until she got slimed in the second episode and managed it well. When "Victory" showed, my anger at the Doctor and Matt Smith grew even more. It wasn't until River was making 11 feel really uncomfortable that I started to enjoy it again.

I wound up getting into a heated argument over Who with someone whilst watching the second part to that episode, so I have little idea what happened. I disliked the "Vampires of Venice" episode, though I love seeing Amy in period clothing.

From then on, it got better. I haven't seen "The Pandorica Opens" or "The Big Bang" yet as I am hoping to watch it tomorrow night.

What's gotten me really upset this whole season is the constant Matt Smith is better than David Tennant and acting as though he never was even the Doctor... as well as Moff is so much better than RTD. I hate that kind of rivalry.

For me, I either enjoy the episode or I don't. I don't care who wrote it. I either like it or I don't. I have a strong feeling that if I watched all of series 5 with Artanyus without being on this forum or on the LJ DW comms, I would have a different opinion than I do now, which is why I am going to ban myself from the forums and community discussions about the show.

I cannot stand the fact that some people think that in order to like something new that they have to demolish the immediate predecessor and act like they didn't even matter. Ten was my first Doctor and I miss him like crazy. All the hate that I have read directed at him and David Tennant has put a huge scar on my desire to like Matt Smith as the Doctor. It's been painful this season and I was ready to quit the show as a result.

I like my Doctors on my own terms, no one elses and it needs to remain that way for me. I do absolutely adore Ten, but my favourite Doctor is still Eight right now. I may never like 11 like I like 4 and 2... and I really don't know if I could ever adore him like I do with Tennant and McGann, but I'd rather come to this conclusion on my own than have my opinons swayed just because I do like the previous Doctor.

IT IS NOT a CRIME!

~

Oh, I want to add that I did love the way that RTD handled his stories. His characters were actually interesting and worth investing time and emotion. I loved his cliffhangers and despite the huge amount of hate for "Stolen Earth/Journey's End", it is my favourite series finale. That whole scene with them returning to earth makes me cry every single time.

Also, I love the Paul McGann movie and have no problem with cheesiness, obviously. To each their own, however.
~

Oh, no! You might end up wishing you'd waited to vote until after seeing the finale! Whether for better or for worse, there's a big possibility it'll impact your view of the season.

Personally, I prefer 11 to 10, but that's like saying I prefer chicken marsala to chicken carbonara: in the grand scheme of things, chicken carbonara is still frakkin' awesome! I can't count the number of times I've seen people have a hard time embracing a new Doctor when they've just said goodbye to their first Doctor; I remember hating Peter Davison after he replaced Tom Baker, and though I dutifully watched his episodes as they aired, it was some time before I accepted him in the role (I was much older by the time I appreciated some of the subtleties in his performance). Interestingly, that effect doesn't seem to hold true for earlier Doctors, since they aren't "ousting" the viewer's first Doctor. Of course, you already know that, since you're a big McGann fan.

Yeah. A lot of people accused me of not being able to "let go" of Tennant because I didn't latch onto Matt Smith. But they kept ignoring my continual favor of the Eighth Doctor. I've seen the 1st through 4th Doctor, Eight through Eleven. I don't like one as much as I love two and Four remains my favourite of the classic series. I love Eight in general... he's just uncomparable to everything else... I had a hard time with Eccleston due to everything that I had seen him in prior to DW... but afterwards, I gained an appreciation for Nine. Ten, I just love to bits. He was warm and friendly, and I just loved his adventures. Eleven leaves me feeling well, not the same.

They call this the "fairytale" season yet for me, that was both Eight and Ten. Eleven just seems, there. And we'll wait and see on the season finale. :/ I've got so much stressing me out right now that I just can't get excited for it at all... and part of it is due to my huge fear that once more the Daleks will be wiped out from existence and yeah, that would be it for them.
~

This season has just been sot of meh/blah for me. To me the episodes felt rushed at times, and lacked very little in the way of development and contrast between the climax of the episode and everything else.

In some cases, I was left feeling rather disappointed in an episode because the anticipated climactic moments never came and just left me feeling like I had been cheated out of something worthwhile.

Me, to each their own. I thought the season was absolutely superb.

I must be some sort of oddity, because I've never started out disliking any new Doctor. I've always given them a fair shake, and I don't let anyone else's opinions overshadow or demolish my own. heck, I rarely let them so much as color my opinion, unless someone makes an observation I missed.

But then, that's always been my nature: I usually have to see things for myself.

Oh, and by the way: The Daleks will always return, simply because they are FAR too popular to get rid of for good. Its a matter of simple economics.

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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time

a1cmustangpilot wrote:

my huge fear that once more the Daleks will be wiped out from existence and yeah, that would be it for them.

This might be a spoiler, but that doesn't happen.

Spoilers ahead... having seen the whole of Series 5...

I voted "Good," as I liked parts of most stories and loved the characters of the 11th Doctor, Amy, and Rory. Overall, I don't think I liked the "fairy tale" aspect that has been mentioned since the beginning. I just don't think it works that well for a show that always explained things in a science [fiction] way. I mean the "Vampires of Venice" story showed this, they weren't vampires but fish people, just like in "State of Decay" there were vampires but there was something of a scientific explanation for them. I just felt some things made little sense, such as why the Pandorica brought healing when it was meant to be a prison (maybe I just missed a line somewhere).

Or how the Doctor came back from being only a memory... reminded me of the Series 3 finale, in a way, except this made no sense at all! "If I think about him, he'll come back." OK... or, if the entire human race thinks "Doctor," being under the thrall of a worldwide telepathic network, the Doctor will be restored. The latter is a silly idea in a way, but at least there was some kind of scientific explanation offered for how the Doctor was brought back to "life."

a1cmustangpilot wrote:

What's gotten me really upset this whole season is the constant Matt Smith is better than David Tennant and acting as though he never was even the Doctor... as well as Moff is so much better than RTD. I hate that kind of rivalry.

I very much agree with this... though I almost find it funny to see people hate on RTD and Tennant so much, when at the time, they were so loved for bringing back our dear show. (Yes, I know Eccleston "brought back" the show before Tennant, but everyone seems to have forgotten about him.)

I still think Series 2 was the best of the new series, followed by 1, 4, 3, and 5. I probably just need to watch 3 and 5 a little more to appreciate them more...

Actually, a lot of people were irritated by RTD's storytelling before Moffat ever took over. Its not something that materialized when the RTD era ended. Same with Tennant. There were many complaints during his run. Its one of the reasons why I so rarely posted at the Outpost Gallifrey forum: rampant grousing.

Sure, some jumped on the anti-bandwagon when Moffat and Smith took over, but the trend existed there well before then.

The Pandorica heals because it has a restoration field to keep the person held within it alive. The Doctor said that pretty pointedly.

And, by the way, IMHO it makes perfect sense for the Doctor to come back by being thought of when you consider the tack that Moffat has driven home from the very beginning of his reign: Doctor WHO is like a fairy tale. Now perhaps you don't like that (as you said), but Moffat is being internally consistent in that approach, and I like that a lot. When stories violate their own established logic, you lose me pretty quickly.

Things haven't always been explained away in a scientific way in Doctor WHO. The show has long resembled science fantasy more than hard sci-fi, and the show tends to get bogged down if it leans too hard on scientific realities or theories. If I want hard sci-fi, there's plenty of fiction out there that hews that way. That's not what I watch Doctor Who for.

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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time

For the folks who don't understand how Amy remembering the Doctor brought him back, it's that the restoration field in the Pandorica had been linked to her memories.

Indeed. Amy is special because she had time and space pouring into her for years, due to that blasted crack in her wall. It made her different, it made her an anomaly, and it made her pretty darned important.

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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time

BEST......SEASON......EVER!!

At least there was no single episode that's embarrassed much of fandom this season. I'm looking at you, Fear Her! Other fans have a similar feeling with Love and Monsters and Midnight that they're completely embarrassed (one of which I thought was a funny one off kind of thing and the other pretty good). Can't think of a truly dire episode this season. Some not as strong, but none were awful.

The finale thankfully wasn't a sentimental letdown such as we had with Last of the Time Lords (everyone loving Doctor Who to defeat the Master) and Journey's End (15 minutes for the Daleks to forget they had a self-destruct button for Donna to push and then 90 minutes of sappy blubbering). Okay, I don't hate those episodes quite as much as I've made out here, but I can see why many fans felt dissatisfied with the Season Finales the last couple of years. Things tended to go a bit self-indulgent and sentimental for a disproportionate length of the episode.

And while everyone may not like the fairytale ending of this season, it somehow didn't seem quite as self-indulgent as years past. In hindsight it should be just as irritating, but somehow it didn't bother me as much this season.

i gave this series an "ok". i mostly enjoyed the non-moffat penned episodes, and the acting by smith was fantastic! amy, i'm still not sold on. i hope going forward, she doesn't always have to save the day, and we don't have to focus everything on her(since they resolved her story).

i'm also one of the people not sold on the "fairytale" arc moffat has created. sure, i loved the dreamlord, but everyone has dreams. not everyone has a crack in their wall/brings people back just by remembering them. this series, in my opinion, was written for the twilight/harry potter generation(which i can happily say i am not part of, j.k. is overrated).

I'll give you Harry Potter.

But Twilight? No.

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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time

Eh, I gave it a "good" rating, as I thought it was overall better than the last couple of series and I do like Smith as the Doctor (even if he does seem very similar to Tennant in my book). I didn't really LOVE any of the episodes, though -- the one possible exception would have been "The Time of Angels," but the crap second half soured me on it -- and vehemently hated a couple of them. And the others... well, they might've been more enjoyable for me if I had hated them, since then I could've had fun bashing them.

Anyway, glad it's done; looking forward to The Sarah Jane Adventures now.

Heh, always good to have something to look forward to, no?

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Doctor Who: The Winds of Time