I like many were very, very sad when David Tennant's Tenth Doctor died and was regenerated into his newest incarnation: Matt Smith's Eleventh. Yes, comparisons could be made between the two but let's be honest every Doctor ever (hesitant of the 8th a little I guess, he's kind of the George Lazenby of the Doctors) was solid in the role. Matt Smith is no exception. Still like the Tenth Doctor took till "The Girl in the Fireplace" Matt Smith took a little time to solidify him in are hearts. For me that episode and one of the best of the season was Amy's Choice. But I'll get to that episode soon but first the main cast.
The casting of Matt Smith has resulted in a great Doctor who is similar but diffrent from every other Doctor. He has a favorite piece of clothing, his bow tie and a catch phrase (GERONIMO). Th Eleventh Doctor does seem to have moved past him being the last of his race and everything but I guessed that chapter has kind of closed already. His new companion, Amy Pond was also very diffrent. Unlike previous companions she had a running mystery. She wasn't as good as say Rose but that doesn't matter because she was nice, strong willed, and lovable character. She was not though as lovable as her boyfriend who like Mickey was awesome. Rory was great in every scene, every episode. He was hesitant and smart, he thought things out before taking action. You loved the guy and I was very sad to see him die and excited to see him come back. Fan favorite River Song returned as well bringing with her an almost Captain Jack attitude as she is younger as when we first saw her. She was still great though although I would have limited appearances a bit. Still the cast like past casts was great.
Now short episode reviews: the first episode did everything perfectly. It introduced the main cast perfectly and made us care very much for Amy by showing her dedication after all she waited for a very long time. The monster a bit boring but besides that an all around good episode. The next episode The Beast Below had a classic big moral reversal which was awesome and showed the Doctor as a man who is conflicted between the rights of the many or the rights of the few. It also kind of asked questions about the morality of torture which was weird for Doctor Who, in fact the show felt more like Star Trek. Victory of the Daleks was perfect in terms of Dalek episodes again with the Doctor making hard choices at the end. The guy who played Winston was very good and seeing space faring Spitfires is beyond awesome. Multicolored tubby Daleks aside the episode was great although not one of the Daleks best. The classic two parter The Time of Angels & Flesh and Stone was half great and half meh. Seeing the Angels again was good but making them less scary bad. River Song was great as always but the second half all the scenes in the Byzantium just seemed way too rushed. So Time of Angels was good but Flesh and Stone was only okay.
Next we had the return of lovable Rory and now with vampires (or fish from space sorry) in Venice. Yes Vampires in Venice may not really have had vampires but still it was one Doctor Who's great actiony episodes as well as having a lot more death (fans have noticed Moffat sure kills a lot less than Davies did, Davies killed people every two minutes it seemed). The episode again had the Doctor choose between races and are femme fatale villain was great. Rory and Amy's romance was also good. The next episode though is the best of the entire season. Amy's Choice is not only full of action, tension it also has one of the best Doctor Who villains ever: himslef. The Dreamlord is not only funny but truly despicable approaching The Master's level of awesomeness. The episode contains a host of great scenes: Rory's Death, attack of the old, frozen TARDIS, Amy's love triangle and of course the Dreamlords perfect comedic timing. An evil Doctor hasn't been done since Colin Baker for gods sake and since it was foreshadowed I think we can guarantee him coming back. The next two parter The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood were the opposite of the Angels two parter: the first part was meh and the second great. The Silurians are classic monsters which are done well here. The whole prisoner of war thing was again more like Star Trek but besides the young boy who's great the rest of the cast is only okay. The second part was much, much better. The whole diplomatic relations plotline was good, the Silurians were good and the eventual foreshadowing of future events and Rory's death (his second death, he got turned to sand in the Amy's Choice but it was a dream) was tragic mostly because he was erased from existance and Amy's memory.
The last couple were also pretty good. Vincent and the Doctor was the second best episode of the season, Vincent Van Goph being totally awesome, the monster being very diffrent from other monsters we've seen as it was shown very sympathetically at the end and despite being invisible there was a real emotional connection. Still what made it great was seeing how Van Goph was shown back in his final years, what he thought of himslef and the Doctor taking him to the future to see him get the recognition he always deserved. It was emotional and funny which made it great. The Lodger is the companion lite episode which is always good as seeing the Doctor in every day situations is always hilarious. Seeing him play football, seeing him work as a telemarketer all these things are very, very funny. The love between Craig and Spohie is also very good and touching. Great episode all around. Now the finale: while it didn't wrap everything up it did end satisfyingly. Seeing Cybermen, Daleks and Sontarans all in one room is good enough for me but no they threw in a dozen more classics some just by name. The reveal of the Pandorica's purpose was suprising, the reveal of the Centurions coming back was suprising and seeing Rory come back was suprising. Seriously though both episodes had flaws like some things being unexplained but who cares the episodes were fantastic, they ended everything perfectly. The fact the Doctor actually died was a shock, and while the whole Amy wished him back was a bit meh, overall things ended well and now we have the long agonizing wait until Chrristmas for are next episode.
Overall the season was good and Moffat seems to pulling all the stops for the show. While somethings feel a bit weird about the show (the Doctor never mentioned himself as a Time lord and that really bugged me) overall the show is still very good and I'm as excited about next season as anyone. Because Rory's coming back. Still next season: Sontaran and Cybermen episodes, real ones.
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