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DOCTOR WHO - Series 5 was awful.
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I didn't like series 5 that much orignally but re-watching series 1-4 of the 2005 onwards i relised that series 5 was just awful compared. If series 6 is as bad as series 5, they should just they it to rest for a few decades or get the old writers back.
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I felt it was consistently superior to anything that has come before.
Luckily, commissioning decisions aren't made on the back of a few internet critics.
I hope S6 can improve.
I thought the overall style of direction took a turn for the better, especially in the finale. Matt Smith was superb for his first outing. The Weeping Angles two parter, Vincent and the finale were excellent IMO.
Amy Pond telling people to 'shut up' did become tiresome.
There were many many things I didn't like but that's been said in a previous thread at the time.
It is the first new who series that I haven't purchased the box set.
Even bad Doctor who is better than most of the other dross on TV*
It was inevitable that with such a big shake up in Who land (Production and actor wise) that things would take a while to find their feet, and I feel that was certainly the case with series 5.
There were undoubtedly some outstanding episodes (Eleventh Hour seemed to be so good it was almost as if it had 10x the amount of attention of any of the other episodes in the first half of the series, leading to a few clunkers coming right after, especially the beast below) where others didn't work.
Of course you could say the same for any series but I felt the hit/miss ratio was slightly more towards miss than in series previous, only slightly, mind
I didn't like The Beast Below, the James Corden episode felt like a retread of so many other things, not just previous Who eps (Unrequited love preventing a couple from achieving anything, let alone each other...helloooooo? Been there, done that!) and the Silurian two parter was a massive let down for me, but give the production team time and now they've found their feet I'm sure this is a momentary blip
And despite forum protestations it actually felt like series 5 was a mere polish up of what had gone before rather than a complete reinventing of the wheel.
Doctor Who was continued in the honour of what had gone before, yes we had a new Doctor, Tardis, Companion, Screwdriver, title sequence, writers, Daleks (*spit*) etc but it has the same morals, heart fun and adventure it always has had since the reboot, nothing much has changed in that regard.
At the very least I'm glad we're at this stage and calling it series 5 and all that series 1 again nonsense has been done with!
*DW Forum cliche 47013572435!
Then we will all be able to get along spiffingly.
There is not one episode I have the urge to watch again, which I find sad I often watch series 1-4 and the specials, and I love nearly all of them ( apart from L&M of course )
since the series also finished many many months ago and we are closer to the new series than the last one, i am slightly baffled as to why the OP after all this time suddenly felt the need to start this thread, as it hardly is constructive and is hardly going to cover any issues that have not been covered to death in past months,
Lets all keep our fingers crossed for better things in 2011.
anecdotal evidence is the least helpful evidence in the world, means nothing at all I mean, everyone I know that watches the show agrees with me that series 5 was great, which only underlines what i said - that you can't base anything on what people you know alone think.
Point here is often people we like have similar tastes to us, and people less fussed about the show often will say what you want them to. Thats why anecdotal evidence is so unreliable.
Your better off looking at the AI's which are based on a representative sample and put series 5 on a par with the past couple of series and ahead of the first two by a long way, or the DWM poll, which probably represents fandom quite well, which put the series average scores from the DWM poll fractionally behind series 4, on a par with series 3 and again well clear of the other two series.
I go by what I see and hear around me, and my kids' friends who now have no interest in it, and the people I talk to who really disliked the series
It may have been popular with some die hard fans, but the 'man' in the street seems to think otherwise.and more importantly, so do the kids( they are the future die hard fans of course.
I am looking forward to the xmas day ep, ( not as much as last year of course, we were all so sequeeeeeeish in this household last year about it) to see if it can escape the last series and move on.
no, your totally ignoring my point - the man in the street/kids don't seem to think otherwise, that is the point about the AI - totally disproves the notion, since the AI represents these people. They rated the series as highly as ever, regardless of what some people you know have said.
I would have said any comparison to Coupling was a very positive comment...
They weren't 'the first four series', just the last four series. Moffat has returned Doctor Who to something approaching its old self prior to the 2005 relaunch, and I welcome it.
If the man in the street thinks otherwise, why are the AI's still so high?
FWIW I'm not a die hard fan, and neither is my youngest, but we are very excited about the Christmas day episode just the same as we have been for years. Smith can do no wrong!
All I know is the kids arent so hot on it now, they toys are not on the shelves as they used to be, they arent making so many different toys, and that is the start of a problem for modern DW.
For the first time my son has only asked for 1 DW toy, the console, and he was the most massive fan ever, now he is a little'meh' about it. The lack of toys is really not helping with its popularity with the kids.
this is a good point, what i have noted is that there seems to be this air about some of those that criticise the series that suggests prior to this year we were all so united in our love of the show that we sat around the campfire singing "Kum Ba Yah" every night, when the reality is there were people that disliked past series quite strongly as well, this is not a new thing at all. It's just that for many of those who criticise the series it is the first time they have found themselves in that postion since the show returned
I myself struggled a good deal with series 2, difference is i didn't spend months and months and months after harping on about it.
Erm no, that makes no sense, the AI represents how much someone is enjoying a show, if they were sticking with it and not enjoying it then they would have been lower. Poor logic.
As for merchandise, there is more than ever out there, so no idea what you are on about. This year the merchandising has expanded to more and more areas than ever before.
Overall the show seems to have been retooled to a degree. Now it seems to be aimed more at the CBBC/Sarah Jane audience. Things such as redesigning the Daleks to be more toyetic and the lower quality of the scripts seem to bear this out. Also the writers seem to be struggling for ideas for episodes at this point. While some episodes such as The Eleventh Hour were quite good, other such as Victory of the Daleks and Vincent and the Doctor (heh, that kinda rhymes) were trash of the lowest order and just made me want to gouge my eyes out.
If they want this show to still be on the air in 2013 they better get their act together. My only fear now is that the BBC will drag out the show and keep it on life support long after it should have ended.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1285193
Favorite series:
series 5 - 50.00%
series 4 - 26.81%
series 1 - 8.70%
series 3 - 7.97%
series 2 - 6.52%
Yes, but let's not spoil a good rant with facts, eh?:rolleyes:
And yet, curiously, Vincent & the Doctor was one of the most popular episodes of the series with the audience overall...
...and indeed with the critics.
..... and with me.