Rate and Discuss: Series 6 as a Whole

[Jon Masters]

So, it's all over until Christmas. But , as a game of two halves did it build on a strong beginning and play the full match, or did a different team come out after half time ? Should Moffat stick with the same formation, or start scouting to buy in new talent ? Or is it time for a new manager to step in (or to ask an old hand to come back ?)

Tell us if you were over the Moon, or sick as a parrot

[Andrew Curnow]

I'm not sure... but I like the poll options, Jon!

[Andrew Curnow]

More seriously, I've struggled with this series, for a variety of reasons. To be fair, that may be me as much as anything else - I just don't like long, drawn-out stories, so the notion of a more heavily arc-based season was never going to score highly with me.

Likewise, personally, I find River Song nothing but irritating, her smugness being the main trait. That's not a criticism of the writing or acting particularly, it's just a personal thing.

And thirdly, I don't like the show when it gets (like River) too smug. The Timey-Wimey worked well in Big Bang and at Christmas, but when we get to The Day of the Moon and River's jumping off a building, with the Doctor going back in time to pick her up about ten minutes later, it just feels all a bit clever-clever.

I think part of the problem facing the modern-day production team is that you can't really attract a great actor to a role, if there's no character development. In the old days, I guess, the Doctor was pretty much a fixed character (wasn't it Tom who said something along those lines, that the character isn't an acting role in the usual sense) and would end the story the same as he started. Now, we've had a Ninth Doctor rehabilitated from a prickly loner, a Tenth Doctor who stops having travelling companions and who rails against an impending fate, and now an Eleventh Doctor who, similarly, has an emotional journey over the course of the series. It just seems they can't quite get away from the idea of 'revealing' the Doctor to be a tortured, lonely figure, because it's good meaty actor stuff.

However, despite all that, I have enjoyed the season finale, and have 'come out the other side' feeling better disposed to the season than I did at the time. I guess now that I at least know how it plays out, maybe I don't find it as annoying. I still think the handling of Amy & Rory's baby was very poorly done (I trust we'll never again read a criticism of Timeflight's very brisk "Adric's dead" scene) and the general 'dark' look to the series may be all very arty, but was a bit gloomy, but I'm still enjoying Matt's Doctor, and still hoping for a lighter, less smug, season next year.

[Anthony Williams]

Once again, Andrew's summed up how I feel pretty much perfectly. I have no more to add to that

[Rob McCow]

All great apart from that wretched Pirate one. Would have been a perfect run if that Pirate one hadn't stunk worse than a backed up sink.

[SiHart]

Loved it. No really. Aside from the silly nonsense of "he'll never rise higher or fall lower" stuff in A Good Man Goes To War, I have genuinely really loved this season.

[Nyder]

I gave it an 8 - on the whole I really enjoyed it. However it nearly became "River Who" - far too much time & energy was spent on her. But then again Alex Kingston is a joy to watch and NEARLY steals every scene from Matt (who is definitely my fave Doctor out of the last 3). I actually liked the pirate story - I guess the word "romp" comes into play here

So yes I've been pleased with this season, but like a lot of others I'd like to see less story arc next year please. And more TARDIS interior scenes please

[Alex]

All great apart from that wretched Pirate one. Would have been a perfect run if that Pirate one hadn't stunk worse than a backed up sink.

I'd agree with that, apart from that I didn't like Closing Time as well. But otherwise I thought it was a brilliant season, and my favourite yet since the series returned. Matt was just superb throughout, Amy and Rory developed fantastically (especially the latter, who went from being my least favourite companion to one of my all time faves) and I thought it was packed with truly innovative ideas and excellent scripts, and the series has never looked more beautiful.

9/10 from me, and I can't wait for next year's lot!

[Jason Thompson]

I thought it was one of the weaker seasons, frankly. Starting with something bold like the Doctor's death was a great idea, but the arc got too pointlessly heavy for my liking, being shoehorned in every episode in the first half, leading to the not-remotely-surprising 'game-changing' cliffhanger of A Good Man Goes To War. Too many plots were either smug or nonsensical or both, pre-publicity hyped up episodes far too much, and we still have no answers for some questions asked last season. River Song worked better as a character when we didn't actually know her whole story, and what we were given just cheapened the character. What we saw in Silence in the Library was someone who clearly had a deep emotional, long-lasting connection to the Doctor, and what we found out here shows that was just an obsessive compulsion because she was programmed to be a psychopath and kill him but it went a bit awry, so it wasn't even as deep and genuine a connection as he and Rose, Martha or Donna (or even Amy) developed through their time together.

And for heaven's sake please give the 'timey-wimey' stuff a rest!

[Perry Vale]

I loved it, but not as much as last year's....

Unlike many here it seems, I love the arc stuff, but that was all (for me) pretty much tied up by AGMGTW. That gave me the series conclusion there and then (faking his death to the Universe) - just not the exact mechanics of how it would be done.

As such, after LKH there was a slight dip in enjoyment for me (and hence why I voted a 9), as there was a succession of non-Moffat penned stories from people who weren't quite up to it, imo. There isn't a Moffat episode of the Smith era I haven't loved to bits, and those that I have had some trouble with have been from the 'B' team...Whithouse (Vampires, God Complex), Chibnall (Hungry Earth/Cold Blood), Matthew Graham (Rebel Flesh/Almost People), MacRae (Girl Who Waited) and Roberts' second offering.

I adore the four regular cast, and as many have said, the show has never looked so good on the whole, so I really have very few quibbles. Having made a great effort to avoid all spoilers this year, there were lovely, genuine surprises each week. It's a golden era for me.

[duncan]

I'm the opposite. I much preferred this series compared to series 5. I found it very difficult to get into the new feel of the show and was very disappointed with a lot of the episodes last year. But this year saw a marked improvement in terms of tone and quality. I particularly enjoyed Matt's portrayal this year and found most stories to be quite strong, particularly, the Doctor's Wife and The Girl Who Waited.

A strong 8 from me whereas series 5 would have only got a 6.

[Rob McCow]

So yes I've been pleased with this season, but like a lot of others I'd like to see less story arc next year please. And more TARDIS interior scenes please

Same complaint every year! We've been teased with brief shots and this year - gasp - a whole corridor! But it's not enough.

[J.R. Southall]

I loved it, thought it was a vast improvement on last year's series. I think Moffat's really got his mojo now, and the arc-episodes were so much more fun and so much madder than last year's (although The Big Bang was kind of where this all started). The better of the guest writers' stories were all superb, and even the weaker guest episodes were a notch above what they have been recently. All around, an improvement in every area, with some real, genuine classic episodes to boot (and not just one or a couple).

I can't put my finger on exactly why I've been so much more impressed, although ceasing to care about every tiny little detail and just going with the greater flow has helped. And I definitely think Moffat's worked out how to do Doctor Who this year, whereas I think last year he wasn't so sure.

[Zbigniev Hamson]

Way down on last year. Far FAR too much River Song. Still better than any RTD series.

[SiHart]

I like Moffat more as a showrunner than as a script writer in the RTD series days. I fear i may be one of the only people who does.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I like Moffat more as a showrunner than as a script writer in the RTD series days. I fear i may be one of the only people who does.

Agree, some of his Tennant episodes did seem to stylistically clash quite noticeably with much of RTD's episodes.

I've given series six 8/10 as a whole. Some excellent episodes but I felt the tone of the series was a bit too dark at times.

[Stuart Wallis]

An improvement on last year, but overall pretty average. When it's been good, it's been at least watchable, but when it's been bad, it hasn't. Annoying story arc. 5/10

[MacNimon]

5/10.

A good attempt at an arc, but the whole River Song thing left me cold. I've never particularly cared for the character since she was first introduced, and any story -never mind arc - featuring her immediately loses points.

I was simply rather bored with the season as a whole, but silly things ruined it such as the lack of searching for the baby, etc. It was as if such an important event didn't even warrant a mention for several episodes. The final scenes of the season helped make up for this a bit, though. Matt, Karen and Arthur were all great throughout the series however, it's a joy to watch them...I just wish they had better material to work with. I love them all!

Like I said, it was a decent enough attempt at an arc; an interesting experiment but because of the lack of an interesting and exciting story, I've got to regard it a failure. Hopefully we'll get back to basics next year...fun, exciting stand-alone stories.

[Dirk Gently]

I'm waiting to see the entire run again with less time between episodes but right now I'd probably give it 8/10, possibly 9/10 if the episodes are as good as my memory.

[Anthony Williams]

5/10.

A good attempt at an arc, but the whole River Song thing left me cold. I've never particularly cared for the character since she was first introduced, and any story -never mind arc - featuring her immediately loses points.

I was simply rather bored with the season as a whole, but silly things ruined it such as the lack of searching for the baby, etc. It was as if such an important event didn't even warrant a mention for several episodes. The final scenes of the season helped make up for this a bit, though. Matt, Karen and Arthur were all great throughout the series however, it's a joy to watch them...I just wish they had better material to work with. I love them all!

Like I said, it was a decent enough attempt at an arc; an interesting experiment but because of the lack of an interesting and exciting story, I've got to regard it a failure. Hopefully we'll get back to basics next year...fun, exciting stand-alone stories.

In addition to 100% agreeing with Andrew, I 100% agree with Kenny, too!

[Zbigniev Hamson]

It does seem to me that this whole River Song story has been rushed through just to make sure it gets finished, either while Alex Kingston is still willing or available, or still of a similar enough age to be believable. And I think that's been to the detriment of the series because Doctor Who should never be about the same thing over and over again week after week. It should either (in my opinion) have been something that played out slowly over years, maybe with different actresses in the role (which indeed the concept of her being able to regenerate seemed tailor-made for), or it should have been a much shorter or simpler story that wasn't tied in with the companions and everything else to the extent that it's dominated the series for 2 years.

The fact that I find her a really annoying character doesn't help either.

[J.R. Southall]

To be fair, there have been, over the course of the last two series, around fifteen stories that haven't tied in to the arc, or not very greatly.

That's three years' worth of Pertwee.

[Andrew Curnow]

I guess it depends on how loose a connection has to be before you discount it as being part of an arc? I don't think I'd count fifteen personally, but if you exclude 'eyepatch lady popping up' and 'moping around because the Doctor's going to die' and 'is she pregnant or not' then fair enough.

[J.R. Southall]

I guess it's to do with whether or not the plot could still happen without reference to the arc. In The Vampires of Venice, for instance, they give the cracks in time as an excuse for the vampire fish to have fetched up in Venice, but really they could have mentioned whatever they wanted to, and the plot would still have worked.

[Stuart Wallis]

And I think that's been to the detriment of the series because Doctor Who should never be about the same thing over and over again week after week. It should either (in my opinion) have been something that played out slowly over years, maybe with different actresses in the role (which indeed the concept of her being able to regenerate seemed tailor-made for), or it should have been a much shorter or simpler story that wasn't tied in with the companions and everything else to the extent that it's dominated the series for 2 years.

The fact that I find her a really annoying character doesn't help either.

I agree, Sweetie! The original series managed for 26 years with not that many arcs, which is all we seem to be getting these days.