2024/09/08
After 3 series and a season of specials with the 10th Doctor (David Tennant), with series 5 we got a new regenerated Doctor, the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith). When I first saw the publicity photo’s, I thought I really wouldn’t like this doctor (as I also did when David Tennant replaced Christopher Eccleston for series 2. But I was mistaken, I was so wrong because Matt Smith arguably has become my favorite Doctor of the 2005 series. Well, I write arguably, because when I watch series 1-7, I always are in doubt which is my favorite doctor.
The series 5 opener, “The Eleventh Hour” is a bull’s eye episode! Matt Smith as the Doctor and Karen Gillan as the companion Amy Pond are introduced to the audience. I really love this episode, A young Amelia Pond meets the Doctor and has to wait several years before seeing him again. She talks about him during his absence to her friends and family but of course no one believes her at first. In Amy’s room there is a crack in the wall where an alien has been hiding there for 12 years. Only from the corner of your eyes were you able to see the alien. When Amy finally joins the Doctor, 14 years have passed while the next day she is about to be married to Rory (Arthur Darvill).
In “The Beast Below” The Doctor and Amy travel to a future time where all of the residents actually live in a orbiting spacecraft, Starship UK. The Doctor realizes something strange is happening with the ship, it isn't powered in the conventional sense. Amy is given the chance to learn the truth but instead she chooses to have her memory erased. Amy discovers a message from herself in tears, pleading the Doctor to get off the starship. The Doctor is faced with unacceptable options and it's Amy who makes the final decision on what to do. Also a very exciting episode. Next up is “Victory of the Daleks”. Let me first say (again), that Dalek episodes are usually my least favorite episodes. Why leave this alien for a rest for a few series. Churchill summons the Doctor, they are friends but the Doctor is horrified to see that his “secret weapon” is a Dalek! Although the Dalek does not seem to remember being a Dalek. The Doctor manages to save earth but the new and improved Daleks manage to escape. The doctor is confused why Amy doesn’t remember the invasion of the Daleks. After he says this, he we see the crack in the wall in Amy’s room. For me, one of the weaker episodes of series 5.
“Time of the Angels” is another exciting episode, the Weeping Angels are back! The Doctor once again comes across River Song who is on a mysterious mission to locate the last of the Weeping Angels. The Angels have a unique way of hiding - they appear to be solid and immovable when anyone is looking at them. Only when they are alone are they able to move or attack. Amy finds River Song and The Doctor’s relationship quite interesting, more so because at some point in the distant future they are married! The Doctor thinks dealing with the last of the Angels should be a relatively easy task but realizes they are in trouble when they find they are replicating and that there is now an army of them. Series 5 is, in my humble opinion, arguably the best series of the 2005 series. Next episode is also well above average. In “Flesh & Stone” the Doctor, Dr. Song, Amy and some soldiers manage to escape from the ship that is crashed in the forest. The Angels attempt to create a rift in time and space much as the Doctor had found in Amy's room when they first met. Meanwhile Amy is counting down from 10 minutes and the Doctor is convinced that a (Weeping) Angel has taken over Amy’s mind.
“The Vampires of Venice” is another solid episode where the Doctor has to battle a nest of vampires! Rory, Amy’s fiancé has some sort of a bachelor party before the wedding and of all things the Doctor pops out of the cake. They travel back to the 16th century where they have to battle vampires. The Doctor thinks these vampires hiding something even more sinister. Note – I’ve never been a fan of Rory but somehow with this rewatch he’s growing on me. In “Amy’s Choice” we are 5 years in the future where Amy and Rory live in a sleepy town, where she is pregnant. The Doctor comes and visit them but as always, he brings with him…trouble. Before they know they collapse and find themselves in the Tardis again and it is unclear to them which is the reality. The instigator is a mysterious, mischievous stranger who appoints him self the moniker of the Dream Lord makes his presence known. Have the trio awoken in reality or have they slipped in to a dream like state in Leadworth? Note – The 11th Doctor is usually funny in every episode but he is just hilarious in this one. Again, solid episode.
In “The Hungry Earth” The Doctor wants to go to Rio with Amy and Rory but as usual they arrive somewhere totally different. They arrive 10 years into the future in a small Welsh village. The Doctor immediately feels something is off, there is drilling nearby, the rig has reached a dept of 21 kilometers and the Doctor realizes that the drilling has disturbed an ancient reptilian race that has lived deep underground for thousands upon thousands of years and who are determined to protect themselves against the 'apes' who live on the surface. After a man disappeared into the ground, so does Amy. In part two, “Cold Blood”, The Doctor and Nasreen Chaudry go deep underground and find an ancient society that has been disturbed by the drilling. While they are taken prisoner, Amy manages to free herself. The military commander of the underground reptilians, Restac, is convinced that the "apes' - their term for humans - are an invading force. The Doctor manages to negotiate a truce pending the transfer of prisoners which he, and some of the more pacifist members of the reptilians, hopes will lead to a lasting peace. The only problem is that Alaya, the reptile prisoner has been killed and Restac is ready to go to war.
The very best story of the 5th series, perhaps the whole series is: “Vincent and the Doctor”. After the loss of Rory, the Doctor treats Amy extra sweet, he brings her to a Van Gogh exhibition but than the Doctor sees something strange in one of a painting of van Gogh (Tony Curran) which results that they go to him with the Tardis. There they have adventures and Van Gogh is seeing a creature others don’t see. This creature was seen by the Doctor during the exhibition. Van Gogh really is not to certain of his own work so the Doctor decides to show him the exhibition. Note - Beautiful last 10 minutes, where Van Gogh realizes and hears how his paintings are going to be revered. Episode already was good but by the final 10 minutes absolutely brilliant. Also a nice touch was the bowtie thing with the exhibition host and the Doctor, so funny.
“The Lodger” is also so much fun! For sure in the top 5 episodes of the 5th series. While the Doctor has just stepped outside of the Tardis, it leaves again, without him. The Doctor soon finds himself at the home of Craig Owens (James Corden), who has been advertising for a lodger. Obviously there is something strange happening in the house where people are being lured to a room upstairs. In the final moments of the episode, we again see the crack in the wall in the kitchen. Note - As said earlier, the 11th Doctor is so funny, in this episode we see that again. The smaller episodes, without the Daleks or the Cybermen usually are the better Doctor Who stories.
The last two episodes is in fact a two-part story to finish up the season. Episodes “The Pandora Opens” and “The Big Bang”. When an unknown Van Gogh painting is found in a house in France in World War II, it's pretty obvious who it's meant for. It's left to Prime Minister Winston Churchill to try and contact the Doctor and does so in a round about way via an imprisoned Dr. River Song. The work is called Pandorica Opens, the Pandorica being a mythical enclosure for the most dangerous thing in the universe. The Doctor and Amy soon finds themselves in Roman Britain where at Stonehenge they discover the fabled Pandorica. Rory, who was supposed to have been erased from time and never existed, is now a Roman soldier but Amy doesn't recognize him. River travels to the future in the TARDIS and discovers something important in Amy's room. Sort of trap, created from Amy’s mind by the crack in the wall. The Daleks, Cybermen and others have imprisoned in the Pandorica the most dangerous creature in the universe - the Doctor, who they say, will in the future destroy the universe. Moving to 1996, a preteen Amy Pond visits a museum with her Aunt and opens the Pandorica, only to find the adult version of herself inside. Traveling back and forth in time, the Doctor tries to make sense of it all and finds River Song, who is also missing. He realizes that there is only one explanation for a starless universe. The doctor can save the universe but than he will end up on the other side of the crack on the wall. But he does leave clues how to get him back, and he is back on Amy’s wedding day. A fantastic season finale!
Final Word:
Well I said it before in this blog, I think series 5 might arguably be the best series of the 2005 series! Only one weak episode, at least that is my opinion (Victory of the Daleks), but the rest I would rate an 8/10 or higher and “Vincent and the Doctor” I rate 10/10! I stopped for a few months with watching Doctor Who (and other shows), I will soon start with series 6.
Ps. Like with The Pretender Season 3, I don’t took notes for series 5. Well I did take notes but in hindsight, not enough. So again sought help and luckily with IMdB and Wikipedia, I could complete the series 5 blog! I want to thank the people who took the time to write summaries and other detailed info which helped me immensely! Below the links to these pages:
IMdB – Series Five – Summaries and more
Screencaps taken from: Kissthemgoodbye.net/DoctorWho
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