Doctor Who Series 7 (Spoilers when broadcasting)

[Loerwyn]

So, with Series 7 supposedly about three weeks away (supposedly!), I thought it best to start the discussion topic.

And, to start discussion, here's a one-and-a-half minute trailer.

I'm quite excited about it, but at the same time I'm a little concerned. The last series or so hasn't been particularly great for the most part and whilst we've had some really good episodes, it seems like the characters of Amy and Rory are causing a lot of issues. That's not to say they're bad, of course, simply that they're not being used in the best possible way.

This series is, I think, the end for Amy & Rory, we'll have more River Song, um... and I'm not sure what else.

[ansuzmannaz]

I liked the last season overall, though I'd agree it's a tad uneven. The whole River Song arc is interesting, but it needs more meat, if you ask me. As for Amy and Rory: they are exiting stage left mid-season, so we'll be getting a new companion as of the Christmas Special.

I just hope that the American release schedule is sane. I usually buy a season pass on iTunes, and I hope they don't go for a darned weekly schedule halfway through the season. I need my Who fix!

[Priestvyrce]

Thiugh there were some episodes that I thought were a bit dodgy, the finding the way out of the Doctor's future death was fairly neat. I did think that it was going to be the flesh stuff, instead of what was done. Still, I'm incredibly excited about the coming season.

[Loerwyn]

Apparently the new series starts on the BBC on September 1st, not August 25th as I originally believed.

[sink_plunger]

I'm a member of a podcast that provides weekly commentaries for the new episodes as they go out, so I'm keeping a fairly close eye on this one!

I felt the last series was strangely less than the sum of its parts - some brilliant individual episodes, but the overall story arc just didn't make a huge amount of sense. It sounds as though they're going for a more traditional run of standalone stories this year though, so we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

I'm very excited to see the return of the Daleks as a credible force after so long in the wilderness. Especially as this series sees the return of the Special Weapons Dalek from the Classic Series (not seen since 1988)!

Is anyone else worried that Chris Chibnall is writing so many episodes this year, though? His previous output hasn't been the best.

[Hobbit]

Hi Sink plunger (love the name!). Best of luck with the podcasts: we'll be interested to hear what you think.

On my part, you're talking to some who, after watching the series for most of his life (over 40 years worth!), is at a point where after he struggled through the last series, and is really not sure whether he will continue with this. I'm willing to give it a try but the Christmas special was just dreadful and I'm not sure the new episodes will be any better. Love to be proved wrong, but Matt Smith's not for me.

The Daleks were always my favourites but already I'm uneasy: Daleks asking for the Doctors help? Wouldn't happen.... and so we're potentially on a wrong foot for starters. Some of the plot holes you could drive a bus through last year, to be told 'it's just a show, don't take it too seriously....'

All sounds negative: but I do feel that the series isn't for me any more. I am greatly disillusioned but willing to be persuaded differently!

Hope others feel differently...

Mark

[Loerwyn]

DOCTOR. STIR OUR TEA OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED

- Genuine line from the next episode.

[sink_plunger]

Hi Sink plunger (love the name!). Best of luck with the podcasts: we'll be interested to hear what you think.

On my part, you're talking to some who, after watching the series for most of his life (over 40 years worth!), is at a point where after he struggled through the last series, and is really not sure whether he will continue with this. I'm willing to give it a try but the Christmas special was just dreadful and I'm not sure the new episodes will be any better.

I know exactly what you mean, Hobbit. I grew up watching the tail end of the classic series and became a proper fan just in time to see the show disappear from the airwaves, so I was highly excited to see it come back (and, as I live in Cardiff, filmed on my doorstep, no less!) I loved the whole of the first series and thought the following years offered up a lot of good stuff but, by Series 4 my enthusiasm was waning rapidly.

Maybe it's just because I'm older now, but the heart seems to have gone out of the show. In some respects, it's a victim of its own success - by the time David Tennant left, I think the show had fallen in love with its own star. It was too conscious of his popularity, and it became a vehicle for his Doctor, at the expense of pretty much everything else. That's why, good as he was, I was relieved when he stepped down.

Steven Moffat and Matt Smith have shaken things up nicely and I loved Series 5. But as I mentioned in my last post, I don't feel Series 6 was able to maintain the quality. The show seems to have stopped exploring ideas, and questing into the unknown. And that's a problem.

Still, hope springs eternal, and I'm sure Series 7 will have a lot of surprises up its sleeve for us!

[Loerwyn]

Matt Smith is a fairly good Doctor (his voice acting skills in the Adventure Games left something to be desired, though), but as I've said in previous topics he's been hamstrung by a lot of really bad scripts.

When you look at episodes like A Good Man Goes To War, you see that with the right script(s) and cast, he can shine.

[sink_plunger]

Matt Smith is a fairly good Doctor (his voice acting skills in the Adventure Games left something to be desired, though), but as I've said in previous topics he's been hamstrung by a lot of really bad scripts.

When you look at episodes like A Good Man Goes To War, you see that with the right script(s) and cast, he can shine.

Agreed. As a fan of Troughton and McCoy, I'm a fan of the mad professor approach and am really enjoying Matt Smith's portrayal. He's always watchable, even when the story isn't up to scratch.

[Luke_B]

Well, I enjoyed this quite a bit, with the exception of a few elements. The Daleks converting humans seemed out of character for them; more of Cybermen concept really. The Daleks have always been about racial purity and having humans serve them, albeit converted into puppets, strikes me as something that would be beneath them. I also found Oswyn's cockiness a bit irritating, and I was actually happy when she turned out to be a Dalek. Hopefully they tone that character trait down a bit when she returns as the companion at Christmas (however that's going to work). But, those quibbles aside, I thought this was a fun, big budget episode. I liked returning to Skara at the start and the tension was good for most of the set pieces. Pretty solid season opener.

[Hobbit]

And so we're off...

The Daleks converting humans seemed out of character for them; more of Cybermen concept really.

Actually, the Daleks were the first to do this, both in the Peter Cushing film and the Hartnell TV series Dalek Invasion of Earth...

.... what got me was that the Daleks would *never* ask the Doctor for help.

The thing with the bracelets was a bit of a dumb/predictable/cliched move.
But the most grating thing was that the Daleks wanted 'to get rid of love', or such like. Must love The Beatles, then...

The new character was OK.

In the end, for me, it was an improvement on most of the episodes I've seen lately, but there were so many things that could have been better. Cliches and more dumbing down of the Daleks, who are generally sad parodies of the evil, malicious and clinically logical monsters they once were.

Thought after the programme: Surely the idea of a planet asylum for the Daleks would've led to others using that against them? If it was so easy for the Doctor and his crew to infiltrate, then surely others could have too? And set the insane Daleks onto the others?

Erm: 6/10.

Mark

[Luke_B]

Actually, the Daleks were the first to do this, both in the Peter Cushing film and the Hartnell TV series Dalek Invasion of Earth...

Good to know that there was some consistency with continuity there.

[Priestvyrce]

I didn't mind the "Daleks want to destroy love" theme, too much. The show is looking good in this episode and yes, the writer's did use alot of "classic" sci-fi tropes, humanity triumphs over darkness, the genius child(person) that saves the day,etc. The Doctor really didn't do to much,except posture and preen.
It was a nice first episode. I wonder what the overall story will be for the season. Will be the question that shouldn't be answered, which was hinted at in the last episode of season six? It seems that is the way this year will go.

[sink_plunger]

Oh dear. And I was so looking forward to this...

Despite the cautious tone of my previous posts, I had high hopes for this episode. After all, it was Moffat's first real Dalek story, their long awaited return after two years of bit-part cameos and it was the season premiere, setting out the stall for Series 7. And it got so much wrong!

The script was clunky, the pacing leaden (it seemed to take them half the episode to even reach the Asylum) and the whole idea a bit contrived. Why had the Daleks created an asylum when, as the Doctor rightly pointed out, they've always just exterminated such impurities? Why would they build a forcefield that can only be opened from the inside? Why do they need the Doctor of all people to help them, when they've clearly got enough Daleks and firepower to overrun the place? Why bring Amy and Rory along? Did they add anything at all to the plot, other than that horribly perfunctory divorce sub-plot? Why did Jenna Louise Coleman sound like a human over the intercom when she'd been a Dalek all along?

In the end, for me, it was an improvement on most of the episodes I've seen lately, but there were so many things that could have been better. Cliches and more dumbing down of the Daleks, who are generally sad parodies of the evil, malicious and clinically logical monsters they once were.

How true. The Dalek Parliament was cowardly and ineffective. (You've got the Doctor! Just kill him!) The Daleks in the Asylum were a generic, personality-free threat that rumbled into life every few minutes for an action set piece. (Were they really so fearsome a force that the Dalek fleet couldn't have handled them easily?) Most of the threat came from the nano-cloud, which was almost identical to Moffat's Amy's-got-a-weeping-angel-in-her-brain plot device from Series 5. (For those that want it, a friend of mine has written a very insightful review, touching on many of these points).

This could have done so much right, but it just felt derivative and hum-drum. Still, fingers crossed for next week, eh?