Doctor Who Series 6

Woo hoo! Now that's how you write a cliffhanger for a mid-season break. This season of Doctor Who has been one most enjoyable ever. There's not a single bad episode in the lot. I can't wait for the conclusion in September, but at least we know who River Song is, which concludes what must be the longest story arc in Doctor Who history.

RIP Elisabeth Sladen

The actress Elisabeth Sladen, well known to Doctor Who fans as Sarah Jane Smith, has died. Sarah Jane was my favourite companion. Sladen recently reprised the role as the title character in The Sarah Jana Adventures, which was a very enjoyable series.

Sladen was only 63 but apparently had been fighting cancer for some time, which makes her performance in SJA even more special, as it was quite a physical role. Half of the stories for series 5 of SJA were were ready completed. It is uncertain if these episodes will ever be aired.

Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol is the first Doctor Who Christmas special from the new creative team and it was excellent. I especially appreciated that the story did not involve saving the Earth on Christmas again. The story was a wonderful retelling of the Dickens classic, with a few Doctor Who, er, enhancements. Who needs ghosts when you can time travel. Loved the flying shark. More spoilers.

Previous stories have pointed out that bad things can happen if you touch an older or younger instance of yourself. And yet that is exactly happens in this story. On the other hand, it made a powerful scene that was the turning point in the story. Which is precisely why I enjoy Doctor Who: the stories are consistently inconsistent. ^_^

He Is Not Leaving

Well, I hope not anyway. I really like Matt Smith as The Doctor so when I read this, I almost shouted, "Noooooooooooooo!" Then I found this and all was right again. But there's no smoke with without fire, so it is a little worrying when these Internet rumours start. C'mon Matt, it's too soon to leave yet. You've got years left to do other things.

Doctor Who Series 5

I thoroughly enjoyed the recent Doctor Who series, especially the final episode which had some great time travel paradoxes. It was funny watching The Doctor unravel the paradoxes to avoid messing up his own time line. One can see why he usually avoids creating paradoxes. I liked the way The Doctor orchestrated his own rescue by simply depending on Amy to remember that he existed. This incarnation take his companions much more seriously that previous Doctors might done.

I hope the River Song story gets told soon. If they build it up too much, it might not live up to the expectation. Someone very powerful took control of the Tardis in the penultimate episode. I suspect that only the Timelords are capable of doing that to a Tardis, but I didn't notice any clues that they might be behind it. It's going to be a long wait for the Christmas special and the next series.

New Doctor Who

First impression of the new Doctor Who played by Matt Smith is... This is going to be good! Everything is new: companion, TARDIS (inside and outside), title sequence, theme arrangement, and on and on. And yet somehow The Doctor remains unmistakeably The Doctor, which I suppose is why the character has endured for so long.

But can someone decide what season number this is? It seems to be a bit confusing. ^_^

Doctor Who: The End Of Time Part 2

Well, that's it! The conclusion of The End Of Time marks the end of the tenth Doctor. The story had a few good twists. The man that knocks four times, which fore tells the Doctor's death, was different than expected. The regeneration process was nicely drawn out to allow the Doctor to collect his "reward" as he reconnects with some of his companions. It was brilliant!

The story filled in more of the fate of the Time Lords whom the Doctor implied were dead in previous stories, but he was dissembling to cover up what he had done. War with the Daleks has changed the Time Lords from the non-interfering, do-gooders portrayed in the original series. I hope we will see more of them in future stories as they make a formidable enemy for the Doctor.

It was all very well done and a fitting conclusion to the tenth incarnation. I'm looking forward to the eleventh Doctor and the new production team.

Doctor Who: The End Of Time Part 1

Thoroughly enjoyed part one of The End Of Time. The cliff hanger ending was so unexpected that I'm still still reattaching my jaw. However, the cafe scene was by far the best in whole episode. I wish it could have been longer, but unfortunately the plot waits for no one. It was great to see Donna and Wilfred back but it is still not clear why they are so important. I guess we'll find out in part two which I have to wait a whole week to see... Damn!

Doctor Who: The Waters Of Mars

The best part of The Waters Of Mars wasn't the story, which was rather average Doctor Who fare, but watching the Doctor start down the slippery slope of megalomania. He has always been arrogant and self-righteous, but at the end you always knew that he had done the right thing. That was definitely not the case in The Waters Of Mars. The story ends with the ominous sound of the cloister bell, but this time the danger may be The Doctor himself.

Tom Baker Returns As The Doctor

No, no, not on television! Tom Baker is reprising his role as the fourth Doctor in a new Doctor Who audio drama. The first episode was released today. If you even for a moment thought Baker could do it on TV, you obviously haven't seen him recently.

To many in North America, Baker's portrayal is the Doctor, even though it was already the fourth incarnation. David Tennant is now my favourite Doctor but it took many incarnations to replace Baker.

Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead

I finally got around to watching the Doctor Who Easter special, only a month late, but better late than never. ;-) The story was very well done and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

It was great to see UNIT back in action. We have only seen once them once before in the new series. UNIT was always a curious counterpoint to the Doctor since he never used guns of any sort, so they really only existed to shoot at things. Well, that hasn't changed but UNIT is different than they were in original series, because they never had any “boffins” on staff that I can recall.

This was the first of four specials to be aired this year. The next three will air in November and December so there is a long wait before we see any more of the Doctor. The final two specials will feature the regeneration into the eleventh incarnation.

Doctor Who

I finally got around to watching the Doctor Who Christmas special. It was enjoyable and well worth the time. But is is also a little sad as it will be one of the last few stories with David Tennant as the Doctor. The title of the Christmas special was "The New Doctor" which I suppose was a little joke from the producers since the official announcement of the new Doctor only came in early January.

The new actor will have some big shoes to fill. David Tennent was by far the best Doctor of all. I also liked how the new series changed the Doctor's personality. The character as been through so much in the intervening years that he seems a lot meaner than the the incarnations of the 1970's and 1980's. Some have even suggested that the current Doctor is a return the first one, who was much more vindictive than the later personas.

It made the return of the series a lot more interesting and watchable. However, the entire creative team has changed as well, so who knows what direction they will decide to take. I'll watch it no matter what since its just so great have Doctor Who back on the air.