Edmund and I have been re-watching the Doctor Who reboot from the beginning, and I’m writing mini-reviews; I post them one season at a time. The info is cribbed from Wikipedia, and I added my scores and comments.
The scores go thus:
- This is embarrassing. Go away.
- Weak. I’m not going to try convincing my friends to watch the show based on this.
- Average for a Doctor Who episode.
- That was a good one!
- One of the best ever.
This one is for “Series 6″ of the recent collection, released in 2011 and starring Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, Karen Gillan as Amy Pond, and Arthur Darvill as Rory Williams under the direction of Steven Moffat. The distinguishing feature of the series is the use on long, inter-connected story arcs rather than simple episodic format. Even the more standalone episodes contained foreshadowing or cross-references to longer plots.
| No | Title | Score | Comments | Code | Episodes | Writer | Director | Original airdate |
| 214 | “The Impossible Astronaut” “Day of the Moon“ |
4/4 | Intriguing premise, suspense, surprises, good camera work and rhythm, creative storytelling. Alas, the musical theme is now unbearably pompous. | 2.1 2.2 |
2 episodes | Steven Moffat | Toby Haynes | 23 April 2011 30 April 2011 |
| 215 | “The Curse of the Black Spot“ | 2.5 | Eh. An ordinary episode with a somewhat lacklustre plot, but we get to see Hugh “Lord Grantham” Bonneville as a pirate. | 2.9 | 1 episode | Stephen Thompson | Jeremy Webb | 7 May 2011 |
| 216 | “The Doctor’s Wife“ | 2.5 | Some emotional moments with good acting, but overall a fairly cockamamie and gratuitous plot. The writing didn’t impress me, Gaiman or not. | 2.3 | 1 episode | Neil Gaiman | Richard Clark | 14 May 2011 |
| 217 | “The Rebel Flesh” “The Almost People“ |
4/3.5 | Good idea with nice twist that was enough to let me gloss over the “mining for acid in a medieval monastery in the North Sea” concept to go along and think about disposable replicants. But lost serious points in the last few minutes of the second part when, after all the speeches, the Amy replicant is just summarily destroyed. Nice going, Doc. | 2.5 2.6 |
2 episodes | Matthew Graham | Julian Simpson | 21 May 2011 28 May 2011 |
| 218 | “A Good Man Goes to War“ | 3.5 | First half or two-thirds earn a 4 or 4.5 for the brisk rhythm, dialogue, and plot twists as well as the gratuitous but entertaining cameos. The last part is a weak 3 for excessive predictability and characters being stupid in order to obey the plot. | 2.7 | 1 episode (50 mins) | Steven Moffat | Peter Hoar | 4 June 2011 |
| 219 | “Let’s Kill Hitler“ | 1 | Oh dear god, that is so awful. It feels like it was given to Nigel the intern to write, six months after the rest of the season, to tie up loose ends. I loved River Song until then, but I profoundly hated the character in this episode – not for being a psychopath but for being—So—Fucking-Annoying. Also, death speech of the week, blah, blah, blah. With a title like that, it’s like you announced “Chasing the White Rabbit” but played “We Built This City on Rock’n’Roll.” | 2.8 | 1 episode (50 mins) | Steven Moffat | Richard Senior | 27 August 2011 |
| 220 | “Night Terrors“ | 3 | It had its moments, but dragged a little too much, not enough material to supply much in the way of plot twists. Good atmosphere, though. | 2.4 | 1 episode | Mark Gatiss | Richard Clark | 3 September 2011 |
| 221 | “The Girl Who Waited“ | 4 | I probably liked this episode more than it deserved—because the focus was on Amy and Rory. I liked the acting and the quandary. The setting had a nice creepiness to it too. | 2.10 | 1 episode | Tom MacRae | Nick Hurran | 10 September 2011 |
| 222 | “The God Complex“ | 3 | It could have been an excellent episode but somehow never quite came together, probably because the fear-fate-Minotaur connection never made sense. The Monster in the Maze idea was married at shotgun point to the idea of losing faith in the Doctor. | 2.11 | 1 episode (50 mins) | Toby Whithouse | Nick Hurran | 17 September 2011 |
| 223 | “Closing Time“ | 3 | An other episode that should have been better. Having Craig and |
2.12 | 1 episode | Gareth Roberts | Steve Hughes | 24 September 2011 |
| 224 | “The Wedding of River Song“ | 3.5 | Nice alternate timeline/timecrash ideas, and as usual I like reconnecting with old friends. A little too tidy, but I did like seeing some plots revived. | 2.13 | 1 episode | Steven Moffat | Jeremy Webb | 1 October 2011 |
| 225 | “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe“ | 3 | Probably too sweet and charming, but I enjoyed it—especially the three miners Droxil, Ven-Garr, and Billis. The Arwell family was also pretty well cast and acted. It was odd that the trees were so expendable, though. | — | Christmas special (60 mins) | Steven Moffat | Farren Blackburn | 25 December 2011 |
The Reef 