According to most fans season 5 was one of the best. It had great arc (crack on wall), most popular enemies, historical stories, great sci-fi solutions and epic timey-wimey finale. Season 8 has a similar context - new Doctor and Moffat as showrunner. Maybe this is the chance for Moffat to shine like never before. That's why I have very high expectations from new series.

So, what do you expect from season 8?

I guess you mean series 5? Season 5 was in 1967

I'm hoping for either something like series 1- sci-fi with a strong element of social realism, or series 4- doesn't take itself too seriously and is just about two mates having a laugh together. From the look of on-set photos though, I'm thinking more like the former

Well, about two thirds of the way through Series 5 I was starting to think I'd have to rejuggle the top of my Favourite Doctor list because I was so bowled over by Matt Smith. Hoping I have the same feeling with Peter C.

But ultimately I just want to be massively entertained by great stories. Like always really. So keeping it to C21 Who, I just hope it's up there with my personal favourites, 4 and 5.

Also want to be surprised a lot. That it feels fresh and new...I know we've just past 50 years, but sure you know what I mean.

Don't know where the 'most fans' bit about series 5 is coming from. For me it's Moffats strongest series but far from the best. Overall in new who i'd rank it somewhere in the middle.

As for series 8, I'd much prefer it to be more like series 1. harsher yet still likeable doctor with a more gritty feel to the series as a whole.

What I'm really hoping for is a moffat story arc that is actually started and resolved during the course of the series, which at the same time does not overshadow individual stories

Nope. Series 5 is my least favourite, perhaps after Series 7; it went too far into the reams of fantasy for me and it all felt a bit 'empty'. Apart from the Angel two-parter and The Pandorica opens, there isn't an awful lot that stands out to me.


Exactly this

I'm hoping it will hark back to NuWho Season 4 as that is still the best season of the new run. For me, nothing will top it. Season 5 was a bit middling but picked up with The Pandorica Opens.

I would prefer it to be less story arc heavy, I do feel on recent past form, that series 8 will see an unresolved story arc leading into future series like the Matt Smith era.
I think the story arcs have been enjoyable but I want a lighter series arc overall, with more focus on the individual stories.
In terms of season 5 as you have asked, I think it will have a similar context with it establishing a new incarnation. Coupled with Clara adapting to a new Doctor, is one of the main things I am eagerly anticipating.
Series 5 had several stories I enjoyed and I agree it had a strong end two parter. It is not my favourite overall as I preferred the tone of the first four series, but I think it delivered in general.

I'm hoping it will be more like season 1. I've been massively disappointed and underwhelmed by season 5 onwards.

I really agree with this poster. I really want to see how Clara adapts to Capaldi's Doctor, more individual stories with a hint of finding Gallifrey, but not the topic of the story. Let's end with a strong two-part story before the X-mas episode to end the series 8. That would be the best gift that Moffat could give us.

You're absolutely right, Season 5 was the best Season- in Classic Who!

However, Series 5 has been the worst so far and I'd rather not see a return to it in Season 8. I agree with other posters that the show needs to go back to having a Series long arc that is unobtrusive and resolved at the finale, and not dragging on for another three or four years.

Putting aside my dislike for Series 5, I would say the show should move onwards anyway, it should always be evolving in terms of style and with a New Doctor there's no reason why this shouldn't happen.

Yes Satmanager hit a point I missed, I have missed the two parters.
The post by daveyboy sums up what the show should be about, one of the shows strengths is its capability to evolve. A New Doctor always gives it an natural opportunity to do so.

Well S5 is by far the best in New Who but despite that I don't want S8 to be anything like it. I want it to be something all of its own. Of course there should be elements of the past but I'm really hoping for an entirely new start. I certainly don't want it to be anything like the mixture of bad comedy and saccharine sentimentalism that spoilt much of S4.

Definitely not, sorry. S5 is my least favourite of New Who. It picked up after the halfway mark but, for me, the first five episodes were all dismal, which made it very hard for me to warm up to Matt Smith and the Moffat era in general. As I said, it picked up later, and does contain one of my favourite episodes ever (Vincent and the Doctor), but no, don't want a repeat of those teething troubles. Besides, I want S8 to be very new and different, and change the style and tone of New who substantially.

Let me just correct your mistyping.....

Well S5 is by far the worst in New Who ...... I certainly don't want S8 to be anything like the mixture of bad comedy (e.g. Doctor in a cake) and saccharine sentimentalism (e.g. overblown music as a mentally ill person is taken into the future) that spoilt pretty much all of S5.

Good post...... apart from how can the absolutely dreadful Vincent be one of anyone's favourite episodes ever? Surely one of the worst television programmes ever broadcast.

Absolutely no offence to the OP, and people's hopes for Series 8 have been interesting, but the mention of Series 5 in the thread title....there was only one way this thread was heading! Still, whatever, I agree with all who've said it's got to be new and forward looking...this is the start of the NEXT 50 years!

Matt Smith was at his best in series 5. His portrayal of the Doctor felt so fresh, and the same went for the episodes themselves. Everything after The Big Bang had lost that edge, for me.

Obviously there were still a few good episodes like The Doctor's Wife, The Girl Who Waited, Asylum of the Daleks and maybe a couple of others.

Did you really think The Eleventh Hour was dismal??? I always think I am fond of S5, but actually apart from five out of six of Moff's episodes, the rest don't quite do it for me. However it certainly is my favourite Matt Smith series..

Personally I want Series 8 to be like Series 8. If I have to answer though then I guess I hope that Series 8 takes inspiration from Series 1 and Series 4 - the former balanced the sense of wonder and the sense of 'alien' very well, whilst the latter had the best variety of episodes I think we've seen without feeling like it was just trying to show off.

Still struggling with the crazy concept of differing opinions I see...

For me, season 5 was when the show stopped being 'must watch TV' and became 'record and watch at some point later in the week when I have an hour to kill'.

I'm hoping for a return to 'must watch TV' and having Brian Minchin back on board as Executive Producer makes me very hopeful that will be the case.

I agree. I think The Eleventh Hour was the last time I was genuinely excited about watching an episode in advance. I remember I had to take my parents to a party before it was shown and racing back to watch it with ten minutes left to spare. I saw nothing in that episode that warned me of the mediocrity to come.

Then it did come, week after week, and from that point on, despite the odd good episode here and there, it's been a case of watching it out of duty, not really bothering if I've missed watching an episode live, just catching up on it when I could and sometimes that could be up to four days later.

In all the years I've watched Doctor Who, even during the McCoy years, I've never experienced that and as you say I want a return to 'must watch TV' and feel absolutely gutted if I have to go out and miss it. To be excited before every episode again, it's a long lost feeling I want back again.

Hopefully Series 8 will provide that but while Moffat is in charge, my hopes aren't high.

Yep, I have to agree.
Whilst I think series 5 is by far the best of Steven Mofftats era (so far) yet with the hindsight of knowing how all of arcs play out, especially the ones that carried over through series 6/7, series 5 ends up being somewhat tainted by the mess that followed it.



Series 8 hopes.
Contained series arc that actually pays off, something the Moffat era has woefully failed to do so far IMO. I cannot think of a singe arc resolution that got my Who juices flowing each one has left me cold.

The hints at a longer multi series arc about the search for Gallifrey, played in the same way the whole Last of the Timelords arc was over series 1-4. With real dialogue, passion and emotion...and not catchphrases, spoilers sweetie and smart quips.


I hope Moffat stops hampering the longevity of new monsters by giving them cripplingly confining concepts. The Silence, completely wasted. Imagine if they were just bad ass killers, nothing more nothing less, could have been a brilliant returning monster for generations, yet they are confined by their oh so clever concept, in fact they are so confined that all they can do now is ...er...what is it they do now apart from move slowly?
And as for The Angels, after the Manhattan fiasco about as scary as a garden gnome.


So.....I hope series 8 brings something new to the table, but in terms of tone and style, series 1 and 3 would do me, especially how the arcs were played out.

I am agreeing with the above three posts, all the more dissapointing due to the fact I had a real anticipation of what Moffat may be capable of as head writer. His four earlier efforts in series 1 to 4 had me at fever pitch at what may lie ahead, but the reality just hasn't lived up to my previous expectations. On the flip side he can write some great stories as ever, Asylum, Bells of Saint John.
Camera Obscura made a point that I could not put my finger on but I realise I am the same, the arc resolutions are no longer filling me with gratification and I too just feel cold at their revelations. There just has been too many recently and we need a lighter arc across a series.

Hmm.. Lol!