Sunday, July 4, 2010

Doctor Why?

I am completely smitten with the latest series of Doctor Who. Not only did I look forward to a new episode every weekend, but I'm finding myself re-watching the episodes. Not only that, I want to re-watch all of the episodes. But... can anyone tell me why?


Is it Matt Smith's stellar performance as the new Doctor? Maybe it's because of the intelligent and sassy Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan. Or is it because of Steven Moffat taking over the series? Then again, maybe it's Rory. Wonderful, lovely Rory.

Why is it I am so taken by it?


Years ago, starting with the reboot of the series, I watched Christopher Exccleston's run as the 9th Doctor. I enjoyed it but I didn't find myself a fan at the end. But I caught up in time (more or less) to watch the 2nd season with Tennant as the 10th Doctor; I actually only caught the Christmas episode and the first of the next season. I think I actually found myself less fond of it. So, I decided I would revisit the series at a later time. Hoping that in a year or two, my tastes would change a bit and it would be more to my liking.

Several months ago, during New year's weekend, I caught a network running a marathon of the series. If I wasn't sleeping I was watching the show. Still wasn't thoroughly enjoying it, but watching it all the time definitely helped in a kind of "acquired taste" way.


So what made me tune in for this new season? You tell me. I figured I was caught up enough and didn't really care to try to catch what I missed during the marathon, and I figured it wasn't necessary anyway. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan looked like a great pair and I had found that the episodes I saw of Steven Moffat's were ones I was most impressed with. I will certainly be using Netflix's Instant Watch to see the ones of his that I missed. And no doubt I'll be revisiting this series as a whole at least once. It's a long wait until the Christmas special.

So what is it? Is it Moffat's writing? The actors? Maybe it's the plot that carried throughout each episode. And if the season finale was any indication, that story isn't over. Anyway, whatever it is, I hope they keep it up because I love being a fan of this show.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

GINA. I'm sorry I haven't checked your blog in so long (I blame the awkwardness of my bookmarks, that I forget about several of the awesome places I've marked and need to go back to regularly, ANYWAY).

S5 is easily my favourite season of Doctor Who, and exactly for the reason you've listed: Moffat's writing is amazing, Smith's acting is stellar, and Gillan is just so damn winning and charming as Amy. Oh, and Arthur Darvill as Rory is one of the cutest, most fantastic things to ever hit the show.

You know I've loved this show since 2005, but I haven't been happier or prouder to say I'm a Whovian than I have this past year with this season. HOORAY!

Gina Sackman said...

Dude, it's totally cool. I get lazy about my blog visiting habits. I have a good friend with a blog and sometimes I'll go 2-3 weeks without visiting his site and I always feel so bad. Though he seems to enjoy the plethora of comments waiting for him when that happens. :P

When Rory popped up, I must admit, I had this feeling of dread because of... Mickey. I ended up liking Mickey more as time went by but in the beginning I felt like he was pulling the energy down and I was already struggling to enjoy the series. Mickey's not a bad character and what his character did in the show was fitting considering everything, but energy-wise it just felt messy to me. Not a fault of the show's, just a personal preference. So, yes, I was dreading seeing this goofball with Amy. But then by the next episode I was already starting to enjoy him even with his Mickey-like dislike of the Doctor. There's just something about Arthur, I guess! And yes, the writing too.

HOORAY, INDEED!