Not everyone has been enamoured by Doctor Who Series 7, but was it as unimpressive as some believe? While we await the 50th anniversary Time & Space-tacular and the gravelly grandeur of John Hurt, here are some of our thoughts on maybe the most divisive run yet since the show’s 2005 revival…
> Order the complete Series 7 boxset on Amazon.
Series split
Perhaps we just grew used to the RTD system, but it was scheduling that worked: 13 episodes in late spring, then a Christmas special. You knew where you stood, and it was a comfort knowing that Doctor Who was a fixed point in the schedules. These days we all feel like we’re sitting on our suitcases in our gardens, waiting for the familiar wheeze of the TARDIS.
What was a novelty last series was the very thing that did the greatest damage to Series 7 simply because it’s a format that puts undue pressure on each episode. In a 13 episode run you can get away with the odd dud by surrounding it with better episodes – ‘Vampires of Venice’ was packed between ‘Flesh and Stone’ and ‘Amy’s Choice’. But by spreading a series across 9 months in smaller doses, there’s a greater expectation upon what we do get; that every episode must be exceptional because we’ve had to wait longer for it.
They’re expectations that the show can’t possibly meet, but then, when setting expectations the show doesn’t exactly help itself…
Hyperbole
Steven Moffat knows how to sell a show well. Perhaps too well. Like a travelling fireworks salesman he rolls into town with a wagon-load of hyperbole and then whips out his matches of mischief and lights the fuse of… erm… enigmatically worded excitement.
Don’t get us wrong, it’s fantastic to see the writer so passionate about the show they’re making, but sometimes it’s better to just let the episode speak for itself, rather than setting unreasonably unachievable expectations by promising it’ll be ‘epic’. Since when was Doctor Who about ‘epicness’ anyway?
‘A blockbuster every week’
‘Epic’ is a horrendous word, ground down to meaninglessness by Caps Locked over-usage on YouTube, and the greatest trap a show can fall into is believing something has to be ‘EPIC!!!’ to draw in the crowds. Series 7’s ‘every episode’s a blockbuster’ shows signs of this thinking creeping in.
Chris Chibnall gave it away when he told us that for ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’ The Moff had briefed him ‘We need to do it Michael Bay style on a BBC budget’. Undoubtedly tongue in cheek, but really, do we want to go down a road where the flash takes precedence over the substance? To be good, to be ‘sigh’ epic, Doctor Who just has to be well-written. Think the script-strong ‘Blink’ or ‘Midnight’. And hey, speaking of writers…
Writer variety
This series’ two-parter free format was the perfect opportunity to showcase some new writers, and yet Who seemed to close ranks.
Only Neil Cross brought a new voice to the show with his excellent ‘Hide’, and divisive ‘Rings of Akhaten’, which significantly improves on repeat viewings. From the stalwart scribes it was a mixed bag: Mark Gatiss gave us two fantastic and very different scripts that showed how flexible Who is as a show, and Chris Chibnall’s ‘Dinosaurs on a Spaceship’ was outrageous fun, but Whithouse and Gaiman’s offerings were surprisingly lacklustre this time round.
Doctor Who is a show that thrives on change at every level, so how about some new names for Series 8? Especially female ones!
A sea of (guest) stars
One thing you can’t complain about regarding Series 7 is the quality of famous faces. Redgrave, McKellen, Rigg and Stirling, Warner, Cunningham, Imrie, Scott, E. Grant…phew, it’s a positive Who’s Who who’ve been in Who.
All have been brilliant, to the point where you wish they’d had a bit more screen time. And their presence proves that while some worry about the show’s popularity, Doctor Who still has the gravity to attract the top thesp talent.
Clara, Clara, & Clara
While we’re on the theme of talent, without a doubt the best thing about Series 7 has been Jenna-Louise Coleman, brightening all of time and space with Clara’s plucky presence (is it weird that we love Victorian Clara just a tiny bit more than Clara Prime?).
Fighting off icy governesses and facing down a sun monster with just a leaf, Coleman strikes the right balance between bravery and vulnerability that makes it seem like it’s the girl next door saving the universe.
With the ‘Impossible Girl’ mystery unspun, let’s get her living on the TARDIS full-time and give her something to sink her teeth into in Series 8 – stories that really stretch her character, ‘The Girl Who Waited’-style. Speak of the devil…
Pond farewell
The knowledge that the first half of Series 7 was the Pond’s farewell tour didn’t suit the momentum of a new series, although that didn’t stop us enjoying the sight of Amy gunning down velociraptors, or the interplay between Rory and his Dad (Mark Williams), and – our favourite – Rory thinking that Daleks laid eggs.
When ‘Angels Take Manhattan’ arrived, it was an emotional goodbye, and fittingly timey-wimey for a couple who grew up with their own daughter and then met her before they’d even given birth to her. Wowser.
‘Bam-bam-BAAAAM!’
Murray Gold’s music has created a rich and thrilling background to The Doctor’s universe, and we adore his work on the show and this series. The Akhaten lullaby is a thing of rousing choral beauty, and there’s a haunting quality to Clara’s theme.
But please, can we hear something other than a variation on the 11th Doctor’s theme every time vaguely dramatic doings occur? It’s a tremendous tune, and the perfect music to run for a bus to, but much like the sonic screwdriver, is used far too often these days.
The Paternoster Gang
It’s impossible to imagine Series 7 without Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. As a trio they’re one of Moffat’s finest additions to the show’s canon, bringing the kind of comic relief that appeals to both kids and big kids.
Who didn’t chuckle at the amnesiac antics of Strax and the Memory Worm in ‘The Snowmen’? And Catrin Stewart shone as the protagonist in the first half of ‘The Crimson Horror’ with her plucky Cockney bravery and Victorian action catsuit.
In fact the inter-species lesbian couple and their alien valet have become such fully-formed characters in their own right that you can’t help but think their future lies in spin-off media. Paternoster Gang web series, anyone?
The past
A glimpse at the Special Weapons Dalek was just the beginning for a series which was acutely aware of its age and subsequently indulged in its history. And yet despite squeezing in nods to the show’s continuity continuum it never got bogged down in the past.
The Brig’s daughter, Ice Warriors, The Great Intelligence, The Eye of Harmony, multitudinous mentions to past adventures, and then a finale which deftly scanned across The Doctor’s life – it all proved that when nostalgia is correctly applied, it can be a reinvigorating experience.
The future
It’s fitting that a show about time travel should have fans who are constantly worried about its future.
On one hand, Moffat bringing the Hurt has us excited for the 50th, and having Peter Capaldi on-board for Series 8 is brilliant news. But, with filming not due to start until the end of the year, is it going to be autumn 2014 before we get another full series?
What did you think of Series 7? Let us know below…
> Order the complete Series 7 boxset on Amazon.
Watch the Series 7 Part 2 trailer…