Doctor Who Series 5: Shaping Up Well


Just watched last night's Doctor Who on the iPlayer (as my girlfriend was too scared of the Smilers to have it on our TV last night... bless her), and I must say that this series is shaping up very well indeed. From Moffat's script and the production itself to the magnificent performances of Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, 'The Beast below' encapsulates everything that is great about Doctor Who when the show visits the far future.

Matt Smith has really grabbed me as the Doctor now. I was really worried that there would be too many left over traits from the Tennant era for him to be able to make his own mark, but his portrayal of the Doctor is sublime. He's witty, relentless, clever and manic, but there is also a very calm, subdued element that brings to mind the early Doctors, in particular Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker IMHO.

Both episodes so far have been superbly put together, and this week's was positively epic while never actually showing anything particularly epic. Sophie Okonedo is always a pleasure to see in anything, and her performance as Liz is sure to already be generating thousands of fanfic stories. Who could resist an ass-kicking futuristic Queen with such an awesome costume? The Smilers were chilling, perfectly tapping into the common fear of creepy inanimate objects with odd faces.

These first two episodes have been a very strong start to what is shaping up to be an excellent series of Doctor Who. To me, this series, with this cast and crew, is bringing back everything that made Doctor Who so great in the first place. The RTD era did that too, but it's wonderful to see a different approach. Matt Smith- you ARE the Doctor. Nice one, mate.

Comments

Tony said…
I still don't like the new theme though, seems a retrograde step especially after the last update had so much depth.
Andrew Hawnt said…
it's growing on me. I think that if the fanfare stuff was a bit lower in the mix, and the digital stuff a bit higher, I'd like it more.