Dr. Who - Season 5

First a little background on my introduction to Dr. Who. With this background, you will get a better perspective on my point of view.

I never watched Dr. Who. Thus, I have no nostalgic connection with the Doctor and everything that was introduced before the reboot. I started watching when Christopher Eccleston started. He is my first doctor. I remember seeing Tom Baker on PBS and thinking that the special effects were too special for me. Thus, I have no allegiances to the Daleks, Cybermen, or anything that came before the current run.

Christopher Eccleston (and Billy Piper) won me over to the series. I put all of my time travel issues aside and enjoyed the ride. I have stayed with the series the entire way since then. I just finished watching the latest Doctor Matt Smith. Here is what I thought.

The Good:

The entire run has been impeccably acted. I cannot complain about any of the acting. While I may have my preferences as far as the Doctors and companions, etc. All of the actors are very good.

The special effects are top notch. Gone are the cardboard looking sets. The aliens appear to be more than actors in funny suits. Also, they are not over used. While it is not imperative to have quality special effects, they help the stories in this series.

River Song!

The Bad (Warning Spoilers Ahead)

The reason I kept with Doctor Who against my time travel prejudice was because the original run appeared to tell good stories and not dwell on the time travel. The Doctor would go somewhere interesting and have an adventure. The big problem with Season 5? The ENTIRE SEASON was spent on earth! With the vast expanse of time and space, they had all 13 episodes focusing on earth.

Hey Writers! ALL of the Daleks have been killed over and over again! They are all gone. Dead! Here is an idea -- come up with some new nemeses for the Doctor! I have no connection to them. They were cool. They hold nostalgia for some fans. You should have thought about that before you killed them all -- all those times!

The Angels from the Blink episode in Season 4 were really cool. Thanks for ruining them in Season 5! Using a Deus Ex Machina to rid the universe of them. Well done!

Who were the interesting aliens introduced in Season 5? How can you introduce cool aliens if you spend the entire time on Earth? Homo Reptilicus? Meh! The Vampire Fish people? Lame! You might as well have tattooed we're trying to attract the Twilight fans on the Doctor's forehead. The alien(s) in The Lodger (while far fetched) was the most interesting nemesis in the entire run. I should not have said that because you will bring them back in some strangled fashion.

Also, the entire premise of time travel is filled with potholes. Way to fall into every trap possible in season 5. There were so many paradoxes! Way to celebrate the impossibility of the series! Why don't you take the Doctor back to Gallifrey and visit some Time Lords? All he has to do is go back in time before the war, and BAM! Time Lords! Gone is the idea of them existing outside of time. After all, the Doctor can meet River Song after she meets him -- or something.

I did not care much for season 4. There were some good episodes in that season, but not nearly enough. Season 5 had one! The Lodger -- it could have happened in space or anywhere, but happened on Earth. That was it! The fate of the entire universe did not hang in the balance of that episode. It was a small, sweet story with a horrible monster. More of that please! We don't need to save all of humanity in every single episode. The doctor is becoming more and more like Wesley Crusher in Star Trek. When the episode focused on Wesley, you knew the safety of the entire Universe hung in the balance. Just tell interesting stories!

I hate to be the only nerd in the world who hates Doctor Who, but there you have it. I liked season 1 and 2, but have been less and less satisfied as it has gone along. It hasn't been the actors, the characters, or the special effects that made me dislike the show. It is the terrible writing -- there I said it. Terrible, lazy, and unimaginative! These guys are supposed to be the best in brightest in Sci-Fi. I say that is far from true.

So, why did I watch season 5 in the first place? It is because Neil Gaiman wrote and episode in season 6. So, Neil, you owe me! Show the Dr. Who writers a thing or two. However, I think the framework you are working with is already broken. Perhaps irreparably so. I guess I will have to suffer a few more episodes before calling it done!