I'm hoping they go with an older, wiser, possibly slowed-down Doctor for Twelve. It would be a nice change from the more goofy child-like Eleven. But since we're getting that with the Hurt Doctor, there's no telling what Twelve will be like.
Well, in other news Series 7A just hit Amazon Prime, so I'm going through and watching all of the episodes now:
(Note: Yes, I'm behind, and all of these issues have been brought up long before and beating to death by now. But I like reviewing things, and have just now seen it for myself. So please just skip over this and continue with the other discussion. )
Asylum of the Daleks.
OK, seeing The Name of the Doctor before this one kinda explains away Oswin, and even though I haven't seen it until now, this episode has been out long enough that spoilers are impossible to miss.
The idea of the Asylum is cool, but fundamentally flawed. 'Victory' showed that the new daleks were perfectly OK with killing other, perfectly fine daleks, so the idea of a hospital/mental facility doesn't right true. Also, they do take it out in the end, so the only reason they possibly couldn't at the start was the force field, which could have worked as the excuse. But, again, big flaw, because the controls being in the Asylum is like giving a prisoner the key to his cell, but not giving one to the guard.
The 'Traps' for Amy and Rory are creepy and cool, but the one for the Doctor is obviously a trap and yet he walks straight in. Also, the divorce thing is just stupid, and with all of the explaining being in Pond Life, regular episode watching will mean nothing but confusion. The reasoning isn't that strong anyway, so it was just an excuse to add some more (Un-needed) tension.
Love Oswin though. Clara is nice, but it's also cool to see slightly different personalities and traits in the 'echos'. I almost hope that we get to see more of them in Series 8. Rory's a bit of an idiot smacking the Dalek, and interacting with them instead of running, but I guess he's come back from the dead enough by now not to be bothered about caution.
Leaving Rory and Amy together like that was clever of the Doctor, and it made a nice scene, but the logic just wasn't there. Nine got healed by Nanogenes in the Empty Child, so why isn't Eleven affected? Ok, fine, different genes, different programming. That excuse works, but still. Gotta say, what's the point of the chains if they could so easily be broken?
Oswin should have forgotten the Doctor after deleting him from the web thingy, but it's a minor flaw after the rest of the stuff. And it's a great reveal....Had I not already known about it. 
Overall it's a nice episode, but only if you don't think too much about the flaws. Seems like that's been happening a lot lately, they've generally been great episodes, but nearly every one has been flawed somehow. It's going to be nice to see the 'forgotten the doctor' dynamic in future episodes, but only if it's done well. I think this will get better with more viewings, as my first watching are usually tainted by other's reviews/opinions.
Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
I gotta say I was really looking forward to this one. I’ve managed to avoid most of the info on these middle three episodes, so they give off a lot more of the “Brand new episode” feel.
The big crew is nice for a change, but the Egyptian doesn’t add that much to the things. Brian was nice, and the hunter guy is cool though, so it’s all fine.
It’s great that the Doctor is showing a bit more change by being away from the Ponds. The two-hundred year gap last time with no change was a bit beyond unrealistic. The beach was obviously on the space ship, so they were a bit thick to not notice that right off, but hay, this is a great romp so far.
The CGI is surprisingly good for there being so much of it, and this being a TV show. The Silurian was a great surprise, And you gotta love the triceratops. It was great to see The Doctor finally act like a medical doctor, even this once. The robots were entertaining, but they killed the dino!
The queen’s role seemed tacked on, and was only there to really giver her something to do. Everybody else was great. Wow, it does seem like the Doctor has gotten more violent without the ponds, but it’s not a bad change. The ending is funny, and overall this is a great ‘romp’ episode. Sure there’s not much in regards to a bigger plot, and it’s not that deep or thought-provoking, it’s one I’ll be sure to watch again soon.
A Town Called Mercy
Gotta say, this was the one I was most looking forward to in Part 1. It's got a wild west setting, a darker Doctor, and interesting villain, and best of all.....Americans! 
Anyway, while this one certainly has it's great points, it also lacks a few things. First, there's the bit about who the Gunslinger really targets/kills. At first, it appears that he hunts any and everybody, but later, he only goes after Jex. A bit of clarification on that would have been nice. Second, because of how he acted, it was kinda hard for me to really villainize Jex. If we had gotten a glimpse of the footage the Doctor had seen, or had very short flashback from the Gunslinger's point of view, that would have helped. But it hay have gotten a bit graphic for Who, so it may have been better like this.
Yes, the Doctor grabbed a gun. Yes, he pointed the gun. But he didn't use it. Other's seem to get all up in arms about that scene, while forgetting that both Nine and Ten used guns at some point. (Ten arguably did some things even worse than simply shooting somebody.) Jex was a bit of an idiot for not crossing back over the line in time, and caused the death of one of the few really likable characters.
It is a good episode despite it's flaws, and does a great job with setting, and keeping, the western theme throughout. The Gunslinger is a great threat, and the teleporting makes a great approach. I found the ending a bit lacking, as the gunslinger's role was fairly easily predicted, and Jex's suicide was a quick and easy way out for the writer. But Who's been like that lately, so as long as the first third of a show is really good, everything evens out.
It was a fun episode that got you thinking a bit, that being a good combination in my opinion.
The Power of Three.
Well, every season has it's forgettable episode. And this is it. Really, Kate Stewart is the major redeeming factor in this show, but here appearance is mostly playing second fiddle to the (Mostly) uninteresting cubes. Oh, and I hate long time montages. Really, why couldn't the time be a month? Why a whole year?
The characters interacted with, and kept an eye on the cubes like they were still fresh-ish, but trust me, I'd loose interest way before that year was out. And really, I lost interest quite quickly with them. Sure, the concept is intriguing, but they only play an active role in the last half, and do nothing but sit there in the first half. Sadly, the writer just didn't hit the right balance between "Learning about/fighting the cubes" and "Pond's needing a normal life." The writer should have picked one or the other, and not both.
Brian was a good character, and his devotion was touched on quite well, but it couldn't help but to give off the impression that he was a bit simple-minded. Still, it's the first time we've seen true on-Earth with "Domestics" episode since RTD's era.
The Shakri hardly even showed up, and were defeated with just a bit of hand-waving. While the Gallifreyan fairy tale line did help a bit, they never seemed like much of a threat, and the cubes were never properly explained. Too much time had been giving to other things early on, and left the ending only a fraction of the time it deserved.
It was great to see UNIT back, but all we really saw was one room of cubes, and a small platoon of solders. One of my favorite bits of The Sontaran Stratagem was seeing UNIT taking on a bigger role and being capable of doing something.
While it was nice to see Brian again, the Ponds have reached that point where they really need to leave. They've had a record two and a half series, and it's time to move on. This was the only episode where the companions had to be the Ponds. A better format, as I saw suggested in another review, is to let this be a doctor-lite episode. Have the Ponds do research on the cubes, have them work with UNIT, and keep the Doctor out for the most part. Doing so would have freed up a lot of time for a good ending, as well as better illustrate the post-Doctor life of the companions.
I won't be skipping this when I watch through this series, but I won't be seeking it out any time soon either.
It almost felt like something from the RTD era, and probably would have fit better back then. But because of the high standards set thus far into Series 7, this certainly didn't impress.
Last edited by Pritchard Studios (June 4, 2013 (01:12pm))
