A recurring source of my disappointment has been a ‘change for change sake’ mentality which has peeked out from behind the scenes during Doctor Who Confidential alongside a perceived rush to constantly distance the new run from the multiple-award winning seasons which preceded it.
Sad to say that the over zealous desire to change things has led to a dreadful title sequence,an appalling mix of the theme tune and a dire Dalek redesign which the fantastic new TARDIS set can’t completely make amends for.
This rush to create artificial distance from the previous 4 series and last year’s specials even seems to extend to a ban on referring to the latest series as ‘series 5’.
Some of the new production team probably need to get ever so slightly over themselves.
So it’s a cause for some wry amusement that the series closer was about as Russell T. Davies as it was possible to be without the Welsh-one penning it himself – lots of noise, a hastily resolved cliffhanger from part one, gratuitous overuse of past monsters & characters and a great big, magical ending with no basis in logic which was easily on a par with the series three finale where just saying the Doctor’s name was enough to return him to full size and health.
Hurrah!
What the new team have got absolutely right is the casting of Matt Smith and Karen Gillan who have been great and delivered the goods each week despite some ropey scripts.
Presumably the new guard have now got running around the office shouting “we’re not Russell” out of their systems so they should have a little more time to concentrate on the quality of the series 6 episodes which fall between the series opener and closer.
I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing what Christmas and 2011 have in store for the Doctor and Amy but if any of the production team really think – as they seem to suggest on Confidential – that they’ve delivered the best series of the show so far, they’re deluding themselves.
An enthusiastic 10/10 for the series opener and closer, a less excited 7/10 for the series as a whole.