Doctor Who - The Revival: Series 5 Recap

Series 5. I would say that despite the fact that I felt there was a bit of a lag in the middle of the season, that this series truly was great. It was a lot like Series 3, where it it starts off great, has a few mediocre to bad episodes, and the comes back strong and concludes wonderfully. All in all I can't fault it for having a few bad episodes...every season and series has had the same affliction.

But with one of the best Season/Series openers (not to mention one of the best first stories for ANY Doctor) and a great 2 part finale...not to mention good solid stories like The Beast Below, The Lodger, the Weeping angels 2 part extravaganza...I think this is one great first series for the young Matt Smith.

Moffat had big shoes to fill, many crazed fans didn't think so, RTD was some odd monster to them, some monster that brought their favorite series back on the air, made it super-successful, and somehow managed to recruit two tremendous Doctors and several great writers (including Moffat)...and yet they act like he did nothing but wrong for the show. They all loved Moffat though, and they believed he was the messiah to bring the show around. Was he? Doubt it. He did exactly what RTD did. He made the show rock solid, fun, exciting, scary, had great writers, great actors (cast an amazing Doctor), and all around kept the show as successful as the previous 4 series and specials year. All credit to Moffat and Smith for taking the many times rejuvenated show and rejuvenating yet again, making it seem just as fresh as it did in 1963 or 2005.

The thing that really shined through this series, more so than anything was Matt Smith. The guy IS the Doctor. He has hints of almost all his past incarnations. At times he can seem energetic like Tennant, Grumpy like Hartnell and Colin Baker, moody and brooding like Eccleston, completely aloof like Tom Baker, a nutty uncle wanderer like Troughton or McCoy...and an old man in a young body like Davison. He has hints of all previous 10 Doctors in there, and what makes it seem so new and fresh. He is doing all these things we've seen in 10 Doctors for 45 years, and yet he makes it his own and makes it seem brand spanking new. Moffat chose a FANTASTIC new Doctor, and even when episodes were bad, dull, or weak this series...Smith never disappointed.

I am excited for the future. I can't wait to see Moffat's first Christmas special, see whats in store for the questions still left open at the end of this season (it seemed heavily implied these answers would surface in the following season), see who the HELL River Song is...and to see just whats in store for my favorite character on television...hope that we get a great Doctor-Amy-Rory team next year, it would be great to get that trio-60s-feel again.

NEXT TIME: Back to Bannerman Road