Series 7 Countdown: Series 5 Monsters

Today, I shall continue my Series 7 Countdown posts by looking at the main monsters and aliens that appeared in Series 5.

Atraxi - The Eleventh Hour 

This episode wasn't about the monster threat really, just about introducing a new Doctor and a new companion. The episode was brilliant but the thing which I disliked about it was the introduction of another space police. What's wrong with the Judoon? The Judoon are far better in my opinion. 3/5

Smiler - The Beast Below

The Smiler's were pretty rubbish 'monsters', as for one, where did they're voice come from? Definitely not that painted on face that 'turns' from happy to angry... The cage they were in was not very futuristic and they reminded me of Max Capricorn... 1/5

Daleks - Victory of the Daleks

The end of the RTD era Daleks (or so we thought) saw the entrance of new 'hump-back jelly bean' Daleks which I really like and I think look far superior to their bronze predecessors. They have bigger, better guns, they are taller and can now stare straight at their enemies instead of looking up at them and for in their first appearance these Daleks actually won! 4/5

Weeping Angels - Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone

The return of the Weeping Angels was fantastic and although there was more of them and don't get me wrong, I love the Weeping Angels, I did prefer Blink. However, they were still terrifying but I think showing us how they move (which doesn't look that fast at all) was a bad move. 4/5

Vampires - Vampires in Venice

I didn't like this episode that much mainly because of the Vampires which I think was a little too fairytale, something Doctor Who has done a few times before... Anyway, the Vampires had been affected by the cracks and now they wanted to kill everyone on Earth, heard it all before... 2/5

The Dream Lord - Amy's Choice

The Dream Lord was a good villain and I loved him taunting The Doctor! The resolution was good though as you really see that the Dream Lord is weak and only has influence over dream states. 3/5

Silurians - The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood

The re-introduction of the Silurians was great and made a great two-parter. The new look was fantastic and the way their history was written into this episode was very good and I hope one day we get to see what happens in 1000 years time when the Silurians come to the surface once more... 5/5

Krafayis - Vincent and the Doctor

This episode (as you can tell by the title) was not about a monster at all, but about Vincent Van Gogh. I like these type of episodes but if you are going to have an alien threat, you need to put a great deal of thought into it, something I don't think was really done here with the Krafayis. 2/5

They're was no alien threat in The Lodger.

The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang didn't have one alien threat but loads which all had similiar screen time so I will not be writing about any of them.

And my favourite is...

The Silurians

Definitely the best threat and if you think about it, they're not even alien!

And my least favourite is...

Smiler

Poor robots and I'm sure Steven Moffat could have came up with something much better than this.

In Conclusion...

Not a great series for alien threat stories but for some reason, I think it is my favourite series!

Series 7 Countdown: Worst Series 5

As Series 7 draws ever nearer, I am going to be publishing countdown posts. For each post I will write about my most memorable episode from that series and also a separate article for my least favourite episode of that series. (The 2009 Specials and the Christmas Special's will both have there separate articles) Today's article is on my least favourite episode of Series 5.

The Beast Below

Picking my least favourite episode of Series 5 was hard as all were at a very high standard but The Beast Below did have quite a few weak points and was a fairly average episode.

The Start

The beginning of the episode seemed rather dull and nothing seemed to be going between The Doctor and Amy. The Doctor also seemed to be a little mad in this scene! It did introduce the Smilers which I will talk about later on in the article. Also, it creates the mystery as we hear 'The Silence' music again and this made our brains whirl as some could remember the same music was heard in The Eleventh Hour when Amy's crack in her bedroom wall was revealed.

The Smilers

The Smilers have to be my least favourite alien of Series 5 just because they are clown like and I am not a huge fan of clowns! Also they are a pretty poor alien looks-wise as their mouths don't even move! Is this Doctor Who in the 1960's or the 2010's? Also I don't know where their voices come from... maybe somewhere from that red box they were in which reminded me of Max Capricorn from Voyage of the Damned.

Storyline

The whole story of the Star Whale moving Starship UK was very good and I enjoyed this part of the episode. The Star Whale was great looks-wise for an alien and I loved how we were introduced to an alien who came to the humans to help them in their time of need, just as the Doctor does. It strongly introduces Amy as a companion as she has to make The Doctor realise that he doesn't have to chose between the humans and the Star Whale.

Liz 10

Liz 10 wasn't a good character in my opinion as for one reason I think the fact that there has been 8 more Queen Elizabeth's in the space of about 800 years in barmy and really unrealistic. Also she doesn't seem to be treated like a Queen and the Royal Family don't seem to be keeping in the trend of being very posh!

In Conclusion...

Not bad but nothing special. Steven Moffat himself has even said he looks back at some parts of this episode with regret. The Smilers were a down, the slow start was a down and the fact that nothing special happened in this episode, apart from Amy proving herself to be a companion. This episode also seemed to steal a few themes from RTD episodes: The Max Capricorn like case for the Smilers from Voyage of the Damned and the Forget option, which something similiar was seen in Gridlock. So overall, a fairly poor episode.

Tomorrow: Best Episode of Series 6

Series 7 Countdown: Best Series 5

As Series 7 draws ever nearer, I am going to be publishing countdown posts. For each post I will write about my most memorable episode from that series and also a separate article for my least favourite episode of that series. (The 2009 Specials and the Christmas Special's will both have there separate articles) Today's article is on my favourite episode of Series 5.

The Eleventh Hour

The Eleventh Hour stands out for me as it is the best series opener we have ever seen since the revival and introduces the 11th Doctor in a manic way but it also shows you how talented Matt Smith is as an actor.

NOTE: Cold Blood was also a very interesting episode but it wasn't as big as The Eleventh Hour and not as much of an important episode to get correct.

Burning in the Sky

The scene at the beginning of the episode was one that has stuck in my mind ever since. The one I am talking about is the TARDIS flying through the night sky and the Doctor clinging to the outside of it. This is great not only because it is exciting, but because it is memorable and you really want to know what is going to happen next!

Young Amelia

The introduction of Amy Pond (Amelia) was really good as it showed you she was a real companion as she wasn't scared of the TARDIS crash landing in her front garden and she was quite interested by the Doctor but never felt intimidated by him. Also since he was still regenerating, she would be in the right mind to chuck him out as he was pretty bonkers, but she believed him and found him magical.

Prisoner Zero

The alien part of the story wasn't the best but this episode was all about the introduction of a new doctor and a new companion, something that hadn't been done since Series 1. Prisoner Zero was a fairly average alien but the story surrounding him and Amy was quite clever and interesting but I feel that how the Atraxi couldn't track him down with all their technology was quite weird. Also when it comes to outer space police, I prefer the Judoon.

I'm the Doctor

The best scene of this episode wasn't the crash land, the fish fingers and custard or the 'Who da man?', but it was when the Doctor stepped through the holographic screen in his new costume and said 'I'm the Doctor'. This was fantastic as it showed how feared the Doctor was throughout the universe and this is the first time that the fact of the Doctor just saying that sentence and scaring an alien away was used. This theme would later come back in Series 6 when he 'slips back into the shadows'.

In Conclusion...

A thoroughly entertaining episode that kept us on the edge of our seats, introduced the 11th Doctor and Amy fantastically and showed us that Steven Moffat was the right person for RTD to hand over Doctor Who to. The rest of Series 5 lived well up to that last fact as I think it was probably the strongest series to date with some great episode's such as Cold Blood, The Big Bang, Vincent and the Doctor, The Lodger, Flesh and Stone and yes, Victory of the Daleks!

Tomorrow: Worst Episode of Series 5