The Accused: Series 7 (Season 33) of Doctor Who
The Charges: Rushed Endings, Un-thought through stories, Over hyping and No time for character development
Series 7 (Season 33) dissapointed many viewers, who complained of rushed endings, un-thought through stories, over hyping and no time for character development, but is it guilty of the afforementioned charges? I will be questioning and presenting the evidence of each story and I will come to a verdict on each of the charges.
Asylum of the Daleks
This story was rather over hyped, boasting the most number of Daleks EVER in one story- the dissapointing thing was, that the classic ones got 10 seconds maximum air time. However, the appearence of Jenna was a nice surprise, and very well kept. I think the wiping of The Doctor from the Dalek hive mind was unnessacary, rushed and very annoying- The Doctor's worst enemies have now never heard of him, whether this cuts them out of the show completley is still to be seen. The character developments however seemed very good, and I did like the story of Amy and Rory divorcing and the character development they recieved during their adventure together.
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
Where to start on this... The ending wasn't very rushed, I actually thought THE ENDING was quite well thought through aswell, however I didn't think the same of the rest of the story. A terrible idea for a story (not as terrible as
Love and Monsters, the worst ever story. It could never be beaten on badness);
DINOSAURS... ON A BLOODY SPACESHIP!?!?!? No! JUST NO! grr... It was a dreadful idea but suprisingly well written, with some good character development between The Doctor, Rory and Rory's Dad. Also highly hyped up, boasting brilliant CGI and a wopping big spaceship- and it was right, but the hyping was WAY too much...
A Town Called Mercy
This was a very good story in my opinion, yet it was so unpopular with other fans. It was like a classic western and an unappreciated classic Who... The ending was not atall rushed. It ended with a good old western duel and The Gunslinger reforming. It was definetly thought through with a fantastic plot and dialogue and some fantastic character development, especially from the Doctor, who's darkside was brought out by Kahler-Jex, who reminded him of his blood soaked hands and by the people of Mercy, who wanted Kahler-Jex killed, and hardly atall hyped, which seems strange because for me, it was one of the best stories for Series 7 and one of the best stories since 2005.
The Power of Three
Another one by Chris Chibnall, who wrote Dinosaurs on a Spaceship; and it showed. Another bad story, just as Dinosaurs has been. It was extremley rushed, ending with a wave of the Doctor's wand... sorry, Sonic on the computer. It was incredibly slow too... We spent twenty minutes with Amy and Rory first going around with The Doctor and then living their lives with the cubes in their lives, then the threat emerged, we spent 20 minutes with the threat being investiagted then 5 minutes sorting it out... A bad time devision indeed! On the plus side it was hardly hyped atall and had some very good character development for The Doctor and Amy, who discussed Amy's future in the TARDIS.
The Angels Take Manhatten
One word... Overrated. Good, but overrated. It was an interesting utilisation of The Angels' abilities, to have people meeting themselves in the future, but why always in Winter Quay? This confused me and was rather unthought through. Also, how did the Statue of Liberty move? There must have been someone looking at her- it's a city of a million people, someone must have been looking. It was incredibly good for plot and dialogue and character development however, and it was really sad, and it didn't feel atall rushed- which was good, because it would have just ruined Amy and Rory's last story if it had. It was very hyped up but for good reason, though that's not really any excuse.
The SnowmenGood episode. It possessed a very good, strong plot with some brilliant ideas and dialogue. It was nice to see the GI returning- sadly without the Yeti this time :(, but it was still great to see it back. It was though through quite, though prehaps some bits weren't as well explained as Moffat may have wished and thought. There was some good Clara character development, and also some great Doctor development, with him being brought out of his depression. It was a good episode, with a good level hype and no rushed endings.
The Bells of St. John
Interesting one... I'm not sure about my views on this one, but let's start with... WHAT THE HELL DID THE FACT HE WAS A MONK IN THE 13TH CENTURY HAVE TO DO WITH THE PLOT! AND THE BELLS OF ST. JOHN!?!?!?! I THINK MAYBE
WIFI OR SOMETHING OF THE SORT MAY HAVE BEEN MORE SUITABLE. Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. Ok, so the think through wasn't great, the ending felt rushed, though there were some good scenes though very little character development scenes- except for the scene after Clara's first kidnap and also the end scene. As for the hype levels... through the roof. Way over hyped, I think the most hyped episode of the series. It wasn't bad so to speak but it could have been improved.
The Rings of Akhatten
This one split the fandom, a bit like River Song or Marmite- Some loved it, others hated it. Personally, I'm undecided. On first watch I was underwhelmed- it was slow starting and chesey times but it had a potentially good plot that just wasn't delivered clearly or thought through enough. It was slightly rushed at the end, with Clara defeating the massive God/Planet/Parasite thing with a leaf. And what the hell was the point of the Mummy or the Vigil- they just seemed unneeded for me. Though on further watches I've become more and more won over, and I now consider it not bad, but not nessecarily good, if you know what I mean. And ontop of that Rings, was just not worth the huge ammounts of hype it recieved.
Cold War
I love Mark Gattis, and Cold War did not dissapoint me... but apparently other fans were dissapointed. It was well throught through and beautifully written and very dramatic. Some people thought the ending was rushed but I thought it was just fine. Yes it was very hyped, but it was the return of the Ice Warriors, so I suppose it kind of deserved the hype but maybe no episode is worthy of that.... There were a couple of slow scenes between Clara and The Professor but no major or big character development.
HideHide was another one by Neil Cross, but unlike Rings, this one impressed me. We all thought it was going to be a ghost story- turns out it was a love story.... aw. It was a fantastic plot, well thought through, brilliant ending and lots of great scenes with some fantastic dialogue. It was a sort of three tier development story- the relationship between the two monsters, the relationship between Emma and Alex and the relationship between Clara and The Doctor. It was a complex but not complicated plot which was great. It was hyped up and I'm not going to excuse this using it's quality but it was worth the hype!
Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS
Journey could be argued as a redemption story for Steven Thompson who previously wrote the atrocious Love and Monsters. Yes it was good, but not good enough to excuse that aforementioned monstrosity. I think he'd need to write another good one to excuse that. It was a very complex plot and very entertaining. There was a real hint of danger that The Van-Baalen Brothers were actually going to strip the TARDIS and that they were all going to be killed by these creatures. It was good to see deeper in the TARDIS even if it was mostly corridors. I was, however, disappointed with the Eye of Harmony- WHAT WERE THEY PLAYING AT!?!?!? THEY'VE COMPLETLEY CHANGED IT! Not happy about that, but the rest of the rooms were good. I was hoping to see a huge complex, built up engine room, shame it had already been wrecked as a cheap excuse not to build a beautiful machinery complex. It was way way way overhyped, because of the fact we would see deeper in to the TARDIS. There was little character development for The Doctor and Clara except for their argument about what she was, however there was some good development for the terribly acted Van-Baalen bros.
The Crimson Horror
Another good one from Mark Gattis. Superb. Sublime. High calibre. Great quality. Fantastic. Well done Mark- two fantastic stories in one series. It was a well thought through storyline with an evil fascist woman preparing to start a new world with the help of a Leech from the dawn of time. It was great for character development for the Paternoster gang who got a real chance to shine and prove they deserve a spin off! The ending was perfect except for the death of Mr Sweet- was I really the only one who thought he was cute? It wasn't particularly hyped but the little hype it did receive was wrongly done so, crediting it as a Doctor-light story- which it was not.
The Nightmare in Silver
The Borgs are now in Doctor Who... oh no, they were Cybermen. I don't watch Star Trek so I don't know much about the Borgs, so it wasn't until a friend of mine pointed out the constant upgrading to become immune was stolen from the Borgs that I knew about this, but it didn't effect the story for me. It was good, well thought through, though there was no real time for any character development, but it was still good. It was hyped because of the return of the Cybermen, and I did quite like the new Cybermen especially the new material they're made from- it looks very smooth and shiny. The ending was slightly rushed, I mean, why didn't the Doctor use the Gold ticket earlier and then implode the planet 10 minutes in? That's a mystery to me, but it didn't impact my huge levels of enjoyment.
The Name of the Doctor
Now for the big one! The biggest and most secretive episode of I think any Doctor Who series ever.... Oh except for the fact 210 strangers in America got it early- damn. Moffat's statement saying thanks to those 210 for keeping the ending secret after the story went out was hilarious, but enough about that huge mess up and more about the story itself. It left me speechless when those words flashed up on the screen INTRODUCING JOHN HURT AS THE DOCTOR! I officially had the biggest Whogasm ever. Moffat didn't lie when he said Who would never be the same again. Not only was it the game changer but it also ended a 5 year story arc surrounding River and the Silence- or so we're led to believe.... It was incredibly well thought through and the ending was superb. But the best bit about this story, which gave me quite a few Whogasms was the inclusion of Archive footage and body doubles of all 11 Doctors, for me it was the best story of Who EVER! It was incredibly overhyped- and most if it was lies anyway....
The Verdict...
Rushed Endings: Not guilty
Un-thought through stories: Not guilty
Over-hyping: Guilty
Not time for Character development: Not guilty
Closing Statement
It's only on a closer inspection of Series 7, how lacking in all the charges it actually was. I expected it to be guilty of at least three charges- I was wrong. It felt disappointing at the time but looking back, some of the stories weren't that bad- in fact most were good. It is now obvious to me that the source of people's disappointment was too high expectations set by the BBC and Doctor Who Production Team, not in fact because of poor stories. Yes there were a few poor stories, but as a whole thing, rather than individual, the stories were of a high quality.
Do you agree with my verdicts or would you like to appeal? Comment your verdicts below!
And if you want to report any further crimes to be put on trial, suggest them in the comments!
