Series 7 should have been a full Clara series imo.The god complex completely ended the Amy and Rory story and there cameo in the Christmas special was enough
@@themanwithnoname2816 I think they mean a whole season with her could flesh out her entrance and character traits more, and properly introduce her and the impossible girl storyline
I like the idea of the doctor getting darker and darker the longer he lives and his regeneration keeps him psyche stable. A lot of immortals in fiction start getting cynical and spiteful as they age but the doctor essentially gets a reset with every regeneration
So I'm on the other side of the pond and didn't get the extra, mini episode bonuses. Because of this, I was completely confused and blindsided by the divorce of the Ponds. It made no sense. Even after buying the seasons on Amazon, you aren't given any bonus features. Thank you for finally clearing this up for me.
I do agree that these episodes should have been specials instead of a series. the specials are usually longer in running time so it gives you more time to flesh stuff out (Power of Three) and then Clara should have gotten a fuller series cus I actually like quite a few of the Clara/Smith episodes. Smith is always brilliant and I love the development of the Doctor's character in this. That darker edge cutting through the goofy whimsy we usually get from him. Amy and Rory needed a better leaving story. A Town Called Mercy is underrated and truly brilliant. Power Of Three had so much potential. It just falls so flat at the end that it's frustrating.
Isn’t the lightbulb thing just meant to remind you of the Weeping Angels, the main antagonists of this series’ finale? Making lights flicker is kinda their thing. Maybe the original plan was to have the Angels be somehow present throughout the series to tie everything together, and in the end it just got cut.
It’s one of those rare times where we agree, Harbo! I’m one of those who finds Moffat’s era to easily be their favorite but Series 7 is ROUGH, I constantly go back and forth on whether it or Series 2 takes my bottom spot.
@@NileSWPhotography In terms of core season elements, neither Ten nor Rose are favorites of mine and together they bring out the worst in each other’s character, so that makes things tough already. And then in terms of individual stories, I adore the Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, but everything else is average at best or pretty bad in my eyes. That’s all just my view though, I have friends who love that season, so I’m probably just overly nit picky, lol.
@@Vicksage16 i feel like series 2 relies very heavily on how much you are invested in the tenrose pairing. Even if you love both parts of the finale, even if you love the cyberman two parter, even if you love school reunion and girl in the fireplace, that's still half a season that script-wise SUCKS. you can't bank half a season of sci fi on how much does the audience wants to see the two main characters fuck. It's bad in 7b, and its bad in 2. Its what dragged Martha down, and what damaged Amy's arc through series 5. What do you know? Kapaldi didn't have that problem (age gap+river) and now he is regarded as the best nuwho doctor, maybe all of who for some people. It's such a shame that chibnall didn't learn from those mistakes and dragged it into 13 as well, even though river still exists and is still alive and the doctor still loves her. The worst part about my river argument is that even Moffat doesn't care. 3 seasons are dedicated to the doctors wife, next Christmas he starts kissing some random girl. I'm not saying romance is a stupid idea to explore in doctor who, amy and rory, river and the doctor, and to a lesser extent, Clara and dani, are all great examples for great romance in doctor who. But there is a reason why the doctor and a companion isn't on this list. (River doesn't count she was created to be a mysteries character that ends up being revealed as his wife) This is my rant about romance between the doctor and the companion, which soured some great seasons (5) and some great characters (martha) and made ruined two more.
I think Moffat explained it best. With Series 7 he had to write an exit for The Ponds, introduce Clara, set up and explain a series arc, set up the 50th anniversary, write an exit fir the Eleventh Doctor and cast the 12th Doctor, all whilst trying to keep the show feeling fresh and not more of the same, and working on Sherlock. Series 7 is definitely one of the weaker series of Nu-Who, but the fact that Moffat was able to put out something that was good if not great is a victory in itself, and even the worst stories only ever feel one rewrite away from being good.
Yeah, it's kind of impressive, but the thing is, Moffat would have done better by doing less. The Ponds had an out already, they could have just left the TARDIS like Martha, and Angels Take Manhattan need not have happened. The problem isn't that Moffat had too much to do, but that he did too much. Besides, the idea that Moffat wants to keep things fresh is weird to bring up since he's the king of repetition. Throughout doctor who he had like 5 ideas: The weeping angels, River Song, memories/thoughts being downloaded (all the way back to the girl in the fireplace), the universe ending, and fairy tale stuff made scifi. And he overdid every single one of those things well into the Capaldi era.
Series 7 feels like two halves of two series squished together and it hurts both sides cause theres not enough time to explore and expand in either one.
I always felt that Series 7 was a kneejerk reaction to series 6. The reaction to series 6 was if I recall on the lukewarm end (the more serialised nature not being an instant slam dunk) and series 7 felt like Moffat was giving everyone a middle finger in anger.
Steven Moffat had far too much respect for the fanbase to give us the middle finger even if we deserved it. He's a lot like George Lucas, who had every reason to tell the fans to go fuck themselves after the backlash to the Star Wars Prequels but never did. Luckily for us, both Lucas and Moffat actually know how to be professional which is more than can be said for most of the "professional" writers, directors and producers that have infected modern entertainment.
@@tomnorton4277 He's also the guy who said "DW fans might commmit suicide if I came back" lol. He's a pretty goofy guy but I would say that he gets DW like no one else.
I think 7B was the first time that I had been able to watch Doctor Who as it aired because I had finally caught up with all the episodes by then, but it had been a while since new episodes were airing. I remembered being really excited for The Snowmen
Hear me out but would this season have been better if the episodes were rearranged? Here’s my pitch. We start with the power of three as a two part opener. The doctor and the ponds haven’t seen each other since the god complex but when a mysterious invasion of the black cubes forces the doctor to stay on earth and who better to stay with than Rory and Amy? We meet Brian of course but the companions are trying to live their lives separately to the doctor’s investigation into the cubes until Unit force them to be involved perhaps at the end of the first part. The second part then steers more into the shakri (sorry for the poor spelling) and it’s motivations before the Doctor finds himself alone with the shakri. When it refuses to leave the Doctor comes up with a way to kill it and resolves the invasion. When he returns to Earth and explains what he did Unit congratulate him but the Ponds are not pleased. Episode 3 is Angels take Manhattan and begins pretty much the same place The Power of Three ended. The Doctor and the Ponds have one last day out before the Doctor leaves again when Rory gets kidnapped. This one is pretty similar except fix the timey wimey bullshit, give the Doctor some dark scenes for the Ponds to witness and when they return to the present, they don’t get caught again. To replace that scene have a scene where Brian and River meet (I just think that would be a neat exchange) and then Amy and Rory discuss how the doctor has changed and that perhaps he needs them. They make an excuse and agree to go on another adventure with him. Episode 4, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Remove Ridell and Nefertiti and instead spend more time with Brian and make the dinosaurs a bigger threat. We don’t need a villain how about the silurians just died of natural causes (the natural cause of being stuck on a spaceship with dinosaurs) and have a Jurassic park style thriller in which the core four have to save the spaceship while avoiding the dinosaurs. However as it looks like they’re not going to make it have the doctor suggest leaving and letting the intergalactic space folk explode the ship, the Ponds talk him out of it and they save the day by the skin of their teeth. Episode 5, A Town Called Mercy. Mostly the same except I want the doctor to be a bit more despicable. Episode 6, an original tale in which the villain is the Doctor himself. I want it to be set a few years after his last visit with Amy and Rory, he stops off at their house and they immediately drop what they’re doing to join him. This adventure I want the villain to be the Doctor. His increasingly immoral actions lead to him and the Ponds being on opposite sides of the conflict that resolves around a major moral quandary in which the Doctors side wins. Turns out however, he’s been working for the Cybermen this whole time and when he realises he’s been on the wrong side he helps the Ponds and defeats the Cybermen, not before their leader sees that Amy and Rory are the one thing keeping the Doctor tied to reality. At the end of the episode the Ponds decide that they’re done travelling with the Doctor and don’t want to see him again. Episode 7 and 8, Asylum of the Cybermen. The two part season finale finally shows us the impact the couples recent travels with the Doctor have had in their lives showing us glimpses of before and after each adventure. We see how after their last adventure their lives have been torn apart, Rory has been fired from his job, and because Amy was never able to hold one down they have been forced to sell their home and move in with Brian while they try to pull their lives together. When the Cybermen kidnap them away and takes them to the space station above the asylum they are reunited with the Doctor, who has had plenty of adventures since their last and goes to greet them as old friends, however the ponds reject him. Instead of the personal conflict being between Amy and Rory it is now between the Ponds and the Doctor. This story could maybe lean more into the whole horror vibe I think Asylum if the Daley’s was half heartedly trying to go for the first episode can then be about the trio trying to find Oswin before the Doctor realises she’s a partially converted Cyberman a lá Lisa from Torhcwood S1E4, except less sexy. In the cliffhanger ending to the first part the trio are all in separate predicaments, Rory is trapped in the room with sporadically waking up Cybermen, Amy’s bracelet has just broken after the episode has repeatedly explained that without the bracelets they will be converted and the Doctor is locked in a room with Cyberman Oswin who has started to chant ‘Delete’. The next episode I want a full blown Zombie story. Plenty of jump scares (PG13 of course) and chase scenes. The trio survive their predicament but are now being hunted by the Cybermen. Amy hides the broken bracelet (Zombie tropes 101) when she reunites with Rory. The Doctor realises that he can fix the transporter by using their bracelets to beam them up to the Cybermen’s ship. He tells Rory and Amy to meet him at the transporter which is in between both parties. As they are making their way Amy begins to convert. Rory asks the doctor whether another bracelet would counteract the conversion and the doctor tells him it would, however it would leave him vulnerable to conversion himself and Amy wouldn’t be able to switch the bracelet back without immediately succumbing to the conversion again. Rory understands and swaps the bracelets. The Doctor makes it to the transporter no problem but Amy and Rory’s path is blocked by a load of deranged Cybermen. As they agree to run through the horde CyberOswin regains control of her mind and tells the doctor she can disable the cybermen for a brief time. She scrambles the Cybermen’s visual systems for a time but warns Rory and Amy to be quiet and slow when they go through the room. A tense sequence unfolds as they travel through the room but as Rory begins to convert CyberOswin is overpowered by her programming and tells the doctor she’s losing control. The Doctor tells her to hold on as he plays with a computer. He tells the group that he can upload Oswins consciousness out of the Cyberman and into the Asylums mainframe (I don’t know computers, it sounds right though). He then says that when he does it she will lose control of the Cybermen for a few minutes meaning Amy and Rory will be trapped with fully functioning Cybermen. The Doctor quickly presses the last button and immediately opens the door to the room filled with Cybermen. Rory and Amy find themselves surrounded by confused Cybermen who immediately begin to target them. As Rory is struggling agains the conversion Amy pushes him ahead as she distracts the Cybermen. The Doctor pulls Rory into the transporter room and as Amy rushes to them she is caught and killed by a Cyberman. Rory attempts to run back into the room but the doctor stops him and locks them both in the transporter room. As the two are distraught Rory opens an attack on the Doctor blaming him for Amy’s death. The Doctor accepts Rory’s barrage of insults before telling him they need to go. However Rory refuses. He tells the doctor he won’t leave without her to which they argue about what Amy would have wanted. During this argument Oswin reboots into the Asylums Mainframe (just go with it) and learns that Amy was killed. This brings back her memories of how she died, explaining to Rory that if it’s any consolation she didn’t feel any pain when she was deleted. This sparks something in Rory who then asks the Doctor how Oswin could have regained her consciousness after being killed. The doctor admits they it’s possible for the conversion to kickstart the brain for a while before fully taking over. Rory then tells the Doctor he is going to stay to try and convert her and asks the doctor to install their consciousnesses onto the mainframe. When the doctor admits that it might not work Rory tells him that it’s worth it to for the chance to be with Amy. The Doctor silently agrees and when Oswin shuts down the Cybermen Rory runs to Amy and removes the bracelet before succumbing to the conversion. Fade to Black. Later the doctor transports back to the Cyberman ship and when they ask him why he’s alone he simply ignores them and gets in the TARDIS. Before flying off however he tells them that he brought a friend. As the TARDIS dematerialises Oswin introduces herself to the Cybermen on the ship before blowing it up. The end. My thoughts for a through line for the series is that travelling with the Doctor is like a drug to Amy and Rory. I want to show how to begin with they are having fun and unaware of the consequences but slowly start to see through the lens of Brian the effect of what it is having on them. I want him to be wary of the Doctor but ultimately trusting Amy and Rory to make their own decisions. And by the end of the series I want to show their lives at the lowest possible point. On top of that I want to see more Clara cameos. Essentially I want her to be a featured extra in each story before Asylum to truly build up the mystery before the Snowmen. Something that not every viewer will pick up on but that the majority will understand is going to be resolved in the Christmas special. And finally I want the Doctor to be in a place where he is personally responsible for Amy and Rory’s deaths leading to him retiring as opposed to them being in an unfortunate accident that he couldn’t have avoided. If you made it this far, Jesus Christ what’s wrong with you. But seriously, any feedback would be appreciated, please be kind, this was simply a spitballing exercise that I did at 2am to avoid sleep. I know there are many flaws and that it’s easy to criticise in hindsight.
I love these ideas!! Really makes you realise how even something as seemingly minor as changing the episode order (with other changes of course) can make things work so much better. This would've been so cool - well done!!
Tell me why given the best episodes of Matt Smith's era as you said includes the god complex and a town called mercy, both written by Toby Whitehouse, and yet he didn't become showrunner?! Does anyone know if he was offered the job and turned it down, or couldn't be considered to take over from moffat? He seems the logical choice for me...
It's possible that he turned down the job due to the stress that comes with running a national institution like 'Doctor Who'. It's a huge responsibility. It also seems like Toby's strength, like Moffat's, is in writing singular stories. Whilst it's possible he could be good at multi-story arcs, it's also possible he's not and knows that.
It should've been a season with only Clara. Splitting it in two was weird, I understand the doctor was entering a new era, but it feels disjointed and messy.
its interesting that you say Asylum of the Daleks feels like it should be a cyberman episode, i saw a post recently where someone said they wrote this exact story in school but with cybermen to send into a doctor who competition (probably the one that left us with the absorbaloth) and it was rejected for a formatting error!
I'm so happy it isn't just me that found that River Song moment where she slaps the Doctor for healing her hand complete and utter weirdness. Will never understand it. "Don't ever let him see you age..." oh shut up
@@mayotango1317 so? She wasted hers on him when she just met him 🤣 and plus, river should’ve known he was in his last. She shouldn’t have cared. Obviously you can’t adhere to all the plot threads when you write stories but still 🤣
Another thing worth mentioning - Dinosaurs on a Spaceship doesn't even have unique dinosaur models, most were reused from Primeval, which if you've watched that show is crazy distracting.
Angels in manhattan would have been better if the angel grabbed rory and amy, once realising she can't save him hugs him, and as they say goodbye they are both teleported back in time
With RTD coming back for the new series... I really hope we get the same standard of showrunning we had from his original tenure. I'd like to see him potentially relaunch Torchwood when he takes back over though. That show always did a more dark, and grusome DW storytelling style. If anything, 2008 to 2012 was the best time. You had SJA for the more subtle and child friendly stories, DW for the standard level of stories, and then Torchwood for the darker and more honest approach. With the right story, and what with Jack returning during 13s tenure, we could really see something good if Torchwood was relaunched
@@fellinuxvi3541 yeah he was. Then in early 2021, allegations of his sexually horassing co stars were released. He lost a crap ton of jobs including Doctor Who. When a fan asked him to make it up with the BBC and play Jack again, he said ‘mate they dumped me. I don’t need to make it up to anyone.’ So many people don’t even know this has happened like the fan I’m replying to. They still have hope Torchwood will return...
A story being dark doesn’t make it honest. And honest is most definitely not a word I would use to describe most of Torchwood. If anything it came off as more adolescent and immature than both Doctor Who and SJA.
I hold a soft spot for series 7, as it was when I first got into the show, I watched some of the episodes when they first aired, others I would watch a bit later on BBC iPlayer, and because of this I can remember the episode titles a lot easier than other series of the show. I don't remember most of what happens in a lot of these episodes, but Episodes like Angels take Manhattan blew me away, although there's a couple episodes here I've never seen (Cold war, journey to the centre of the TARDIS, crimson horror, nightmare in silver) And it started the yearly tradition of watching doctor who every year when a new series aired. I checked out series 1-6 (although I never finished s6) around the time S10 was airing. I stopped watching after capaldi left.
I thought that having them break up for 5 minutes was just pointless drama for the sake of pointless drama. Classic miscommunication plot line that is up there with Amnesia, Love Triangles and ... oh wait those were used in previous series with Amy, Rory and the Doc. :/
There is so much I would rather they would have done with series 7a. Biggest of all for me, Get rid of Asylum of the Daleks, (as its bad and disposable if not for the Oswin parts paying off later) or replace the Daleks with the Cybermen, a chance for body horror and the conversion makes more sense, since that is more of a Cybermen thing and remove Amy and Rory since they have no impact on the story and its outcome. Hell with this Asylum of the Cybermen story you could go one of two ways, call it a companion lite episode, the Doctor dropping off the Ponds at the beginning of the episode, building to the Doctor becoming more disconnected and crueler as a result of travelling alone that we saw in Dinosaurs and A Town Called Mercy, keep Oswin, the conversion again will make sense, and the whole holding onto humanity, building a block, Oswin seeing her as she used to be, hell Moffat used this idea down the line in the Doctor Falls with Bill Potts, and Moffat is known for reusing his own ideas
I started watching doctor who like a year ago, and around december 2021 I finally got to series 7. I was so excited for it because I had seen some spoilers for the three-part finale, and I was convinced it would be my favorite season. after the first three episodes, I dropped the series entirely, and only a couple of weeks ago did I finish with season 7. The second half is so much better and reminded me of why I fell in love with the show in the first place.
I got all excited when Davies was announced to be coming back and decided to finally catch up with the show, just to be all up-to-date. This series put that idea to bed incredibly quickly. I don't know why I forced myself through it at all but good god it was fucking atrocious. I even thought Moffat's first series was actually alright.
@@Milk88488 I quite like a lot of Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker episodes, man. Horror of Fang Rock, The Axons, The Hand of Fear, The Autons. I even said above I thought series 5 was good.
Moffat's first season is probably the best the show has ever been, and his last season with Twelve is up there too. I'm not sure I'd recommend anything in between.
I'm so glad we're getting closer to the best new who doctor. I like Smith and all but Capaldi is so freaking great and all three of his series are some of my favorite (particularly his first 2)
Made no sense at the time why the Doctor would have "extra regeneration energy" when it was (at the time) his final regeneration. Guess the Timeless Child resolves that issue, but not when Angels take Manhattan/Day of the Doctor aired.
Not really, later in Capaldi's run we learn a Time Lord's cells can try to individually regenerate without having an extra life to form around, that's where the energy comes from. The idea that the Timeless Children could fix anything made me throw up in my mouth a little.
All this is just my opinion so feel free to disagree with me. Matt's smith era sort of went backwards in term of quality when compared to David Tennant and Peter capaldies era,season 5 really hit the ground running and for me is one of the best seasons of doctor who that we've ever gotten,there's plenty of great moments in season 6 and 7 but as a whole it felt a little bit disappointing. Seasons 2 and 8 took a bit longer to get going but once it did it was great. Season 4 and 10 are some of my favourites and definitely feels like a much stronger send off to these doctors compared to series 7
Y'all gotta lay off Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, for me that and Power of Three, (until the ending) are the bright sparks of series 7A. The cast never felt bloated, in fact it felt fresh for an episode to just throw a bunch of people from different backgrounds into one space, that space being a ship of Dinos, and seeing how they play off each other. Brian is a top tier character on the level of Graham and creeping up on Wilf, and his relationship with Rory over the runtime is great. There's a reason Moffat got Chibnall to write that epilogue to Angels Take Manhattan. It also sets up the pins for Power of Three in a subtle but cleaver way, showing how the Doctor has become more of a hindrance in their lives with him just materialising in their living room at random points and explaining why Amy just seems to have random jobs throughout the series because she just can't settle when she knows she can be thrusted into another adventure at any point. It's very classic who, where a huge chunk of the story is just investigating this vast, mostly empty ship and uncovering what the heck is going on, and the detail of it being a Silurian arch is a cleaver detail that checks out and works for a story like this, moreso than the Silurian warriors being involved in A Good Man Goes To War. The only thing I don't really like are the robots, they aren't funny. I hope kids got more out of them than I did
I was so confused when I saw the video title because you hadn't actually reviewed s7B yet. Now it makes sense and I'm looking forward to your take on 7B's individual episodes.
I really appreciate his because I remember watching these as they came out and being severely disappointed, but I could never place why I felt that, and as time went on I forgot what even happened this season and so I started to wonder if I had been unfair and was just being the shitty sort of fan of things who hates on any new thing for no reason, and so it's really nice to get this affirmation that yeah, this season was actually pretty bad
I was at school with Mark Williams, he was a couple of years below me at North Bromsgrove High, though I don't remember ever meeting him. Arthur Darville went to Bromsgrove School, a respected public school in the town. He lived not far away, in the outer suburbs of Birmingham. Always gives me a kick to see the two Bromsgrovians playing father and son. Fun fact, another NBHS alumnus was actress, later producer Trudi Styler, who is married to Sting
Saw the Series 7 episodes when they premiered. Never went back to watch them again. Forgot a few of these episodes even existed. Seeing your reviews, I don't need to go back.
With Amy and Rory being part of his family, I will always find it odd that they are some of the most forgettable companions. Just ask anyone who has watched Doctor Who over the past 20 years who their favourite companion is, I bet they will either say Rose, Donna, Martha or Clara, MAYBE they will say Amy/Rory but I doubt it. This to me is a massive shame considering that Amy and Rory are his FAMILY, the parents to the Doctor's Wife, their story should have been far FAR bigger than it was and their going out should have been huge, but nope, a book is all we got.
The Amy/Rory/River/Doctor team is goated though. A lot of people say that’s their favorite duo, even if their favorite companion or favorite Doctor wasn’t those people. The writer did something special with that foursome
The reason river slapped 11 is because he was an idiot and literally lowered his own lifespan She knows hes on his last Life and he might have had a chance of using that energy to live a longer I'm pretty sure she would rather let a broke wrist heal naturally then have him die young
Funnily enough, I finally liked Amy and Rory in 7A, and finally liked 11 in 7B, but for the most of this era I wasn’t a fan of the Doctor or companions
@@mayotango1317 What has got to do with anything I said? I said people hate both the tenth doctor and the eleventh for the same reasons, as a counter to your "tennant fanboy" nonsense. What has series ten got to do with it?
I can’t agree more that Asylum of the Cybermen would have been so much better. It’s about an asylum for goodness sake, that’s so much more conducive to the Cybermen than the daleks. And you could still have the same reveal of Clara having been converted. For me the whole daleks converting humans thing was always a bit silly given they’re obsessive about purity (for goodness sake the paradigm daleks destroy the Ironsides in Victory of the Daleks because they’re impure) and I’d rather not have had that idea introduced.
They could have given the series subtitles rather than a number akin to the specials. Add a couple of episodes to the Ponds or shift things around and then you could have something like 7 sins (or something of that ilk) as the Doctor becomes darker then 7B being 7 impossible things (just feature (some proper, some cameo) 7 Claras).
Two episodes of series 7A Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and the Power of Three was done by the showrunner who ruined Doctor Who and Steven Moffat also ruined Terry Nation’s famous monster back in 1963 by creating the Dalek Asylum and even ruining the classic Dalek episodes in the 1960s and 1970s with the intensive care scene by making the Daleks look the same as the 2005 designs.
Actually, of all the Chibnall episodes featuring a bloaded cast (probably his biggest flaw - and I love his era! But that doesn't mean I can't be critical of the man.), I thought this was the one where it works the best. All his other bloaded cast episodes should've been two-parters to work. That's one of my biggest criticisms with s12 actually. The ideas of the episodes he wrote were great but the execution was bad. That goes for Dinosaurs on A Spaceship too. Great idea in principle (especially with it being a Silurian Ark) but it could've been better. I still like it. There are way worse things in Doctor Who in my opinion than episodes by Chibnall. Other writers and showrunners also didn't do well constantly but Chibs always gets the biggest hate. I guess it's the dark tradition of Whovians: always hate the current showrunner. Trust me: it's gonna happen with RTD's second run as well! Also, I HATE the cinematic cliché of how dinosaurs are still depicted. Jurassic Park had such an influence that modern scientific knowledge is not used: that many dinosaurs if not most of them had feathers and looked more like giant birds. Here's a good video explaining that: ua-cam.com/video/xaQJbozY_Is/v-deo.html
Got to wonder what they were smoking to think that getting the guy who wrote the least liked episodes of doctor who in as showrunner was in ANY WAY a good idea.
I honestly don't see the problem, or at least I didn't have one with it. I love the entire series, minor parts being the exception, as a whole I actually really loved it. This era of the doctor is extremely iconic, to call it controversial honestly I think is an exaggeration considering how iconic it is, but it is worth stating it is a turn in the writing. The only thing I really had an issue with was that Amy and Rory's divorce seemed extremely forced and character-breaking, but outside of that one point, everything else made sense to me and was thrilling as always. If anything, I found Peter Capaldi's run less interesting, though I loved his also, it had moments where I was less interested, but still overall extremely good. As far as season 7 goes, outside of the divorce, I really liked it.
So funny I see this because about 1 hour ago I was thinking that Season 7 was one of the best--albeit there are many bests. And Stephen Moffat's writing was brilliant. Along with RTD of course.
I loved the western episode, Angels Taken Manhattan and the day/name/night “of the Doctor” series at the end. Other than that this series was a mess. And I blame Moffat for how he wrote Clara. She was such an unnecessary character and as a veiwer it’s hard for me to suddenly have this curiosity surrounding Clara that the Doctor does. We only saw like two copies of her that season. If she was echoed throughout the Doctors timeline, Clara should have been in every episode from the start of the show. Or at least more than just the same season they did the story arc
Doctor Who series 7A is the only time I’ve genuinely fallen asleep from boredom while watching New Who. So… that’s an accomplishment, I guess. Otherwise yeah, there’s nothing really memorable about this half of the season for me.
Yeah for sure, when I first started watching Doctor Who it was a run of series 6 on the tv which I really got into. Then asylum of the daleks came on and I stopped watching halfway through partly out of boredom and partly because I found Amy insufferable.
@@mayotango1317 Sorry, probably should've clarified, I liked her in series 6 but it was specifically the jarring changes in asylum like the divorce and her abusing Rory that put me off at the time.
Just realized why they never filmed the Brian minisode! It's because Amy is established to be infertile so having a descendant of Amy and Rory show up would be a plot hole, unless there's adoption involved.
Oof, Harbo, Raid are pretty unethical, what with the microtransactions targetted at getting kids into gambling. I wouldnt recommend selling your platform to them
Raid? Really? I know they pay a lot but seriously, you sold your self respect :(. Otherwise a fun video but honestly tbst RSL shill really drops my Opinion of you
You know, before I rewatched all of doctor who a couple years ago, I would've sworn that God Complex was in 7a because it fit with them returning home so often.
For some reason I thought The god complex and The girl who waited were in series 7A before I watched these reviews. That’s probably the only reason I liked this part of the series
I love your reviews of RTD episodes, find the Moffat ones fine, I’ve stopped watching your Chibnall ones because I know they’re gonna be nothing but criticism, and I can’t tell if it’s justified or not, it renders your reviews of Chibnall episodes pointless. You are a very gifted reviewer, and that’s something that’s not as easy as it looks. One of the reasons I love your RTD era reviews is that you really articulate what works for you, what doesn’t and why, I don’t get that from your Chibnall ones, it doesn’t matter what he does, you criticise. I’d love to see you interrogate this bias, because like I say you have a real gift as a reviewer.
You haven't watched his Chibnall reviews have you? With both Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and The Power Of Three, half the video's are spent praising things he liked about the episodes and his video on Flux is mostly praising the season and debunking some stupid criticisms made against it. He criticises Chibnall like he criticises Moffat and Davies when he writes something bad. What are you on about?
@@cuppajoe2022 That’s not how I find his reviews, I find that the starting point is ‘it’s a Chibnall episode, so clearly rubbish’ I mean the title of his Power of Three review is Chibnall’s Cube Disaster and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is called The Most Chibnall Episode to Ever Chibnall’ (I got nearly ten minutes into that review and switched off at the Chibnall bingo card). Like I say, it’s a shame because he’s a very gifted reviewer.
@@MsJaytee1975 Uh, its not an opinion that he gives out a lot of positives to those episodes. That's fact. Also, those thumbnails and titles are done to get people's attention. Just look at some of his Moffat titles like 'when Doctor Who did 1984 badly' or 'How James Corden ruined the Cybermen' or 'Why 'Lets Kill Hitler' Sucks!'. It's not something that's exclusive to Chibnall episodes. Also again, he makes a two hour long video that is mostly praising Chibnall. Not an opinion. That is just pure fact. He always gives Chibnall fair reviews, just like Moffat and RTD.
Series 7B is infinitely better than the garbage that is Series 6B. People "dislike" Series 7B because they were throwing a tantrum over Karen and Arthur leaving, just like how they threw a tantrum when Matt leaves.
Two Chibnall stinkers dragged it down. But I like the fan theory that the series actually takes place in reverse order. The Doctor lost Amy and Rory first and then went back to spend some more time with them.
@HarboWholmes I made a video on my channel about how Doctor Who spin-off's could come back, and from they way you talked about the spin-off's I thanked you'd like them to return. Any it would be a massive help if you would. Also great video
good video, Amy and Rory had a good conclusion in series 6 but choosing to continue their arc with them and the doctor not willing to part ways is basically another example of companions who don’t get off the ride before its too late, also that was the longest raid shadow legends sponsor ever.
I knew I didn't like S7 because when I was watching doctor who i had vacation so i watvhed S6 in like 3 days, but I just couldn't get through S7, specifically 7B
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I'm sorry you had to do this sponsorship. I totally get it though. Love your videos man.
UA-camr right of passage!
Scam!
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Counter argument: this is the season the hair and makeup department decided that Arthur Darville was allowed to have his hair done and look amazing
He looked so damn good 🤤
Hot Hot Hot 🔥
Series 7 should have been a full Clara series imo.The god complex completely ended the Amy and Rory story and there cameo in the Christmas special was enough
You mean Amy’s cameo*
@@doctor3823 DigitalCrate meant the Xmas Lion Witch Wardrobe inspired episode
@@doctor3823 both of them had a cameo in the Doctor widow and wardrobe
No way Clara's time on the show was over killed I literally celebrated when she died in Face the Raven!
@@themanwithnoname2816 I think they mean a whole season with her could flesh out her entrance and character traits more, and properly introduce her and the impossible girl storyline
I like the idea of the doctor getting darker and darker the longer he lives and his regeneration keeps him psyche stable.
A lot of immortals in fiction start getting cynical and spiteful as they age but the doctor essentially gets a reset with every regeneration
With 11 becoming 12 it was kinda the opposite which I really like.
@@Comicbroe405 yeah he mellowed out over time. It was a fresh take on the character
So I'm on the other side of the pond and didn't get the extra, mini episode bonuses. Because of this, I was completely confused and blindsided by the divorce of the Ponds. It made no sense. Even after buying the seasons on Amazon, you aren't given any bonus features. Thank you for finally clearing this up for me.
I only got them because I sailed the high seas.
That's why Blu-ray is the way to go.
I do agree that these episodes should have been specials instead of a series. the specials are usually longer in running time so it gives you more time to flesh stuff out (Power of Three) and then Clara should have gotten a fuller series cus I actually like quite a few of the Clara/Smith episodes. Smith is always brilliant and I love the development of the Doctor's character in this. That darker edge cutting through the goofy whimsy we usually get from him. Amy and Rory needed a better leaving story. A Town Called Mercy is underrated and truly brilliant. Power Of Three had so much potential. It just falls so flat at the end that it's frustrating.
Take a shot every time Harbo says "Style over substance"
You're gonna kill these poor viewers
[Slurred] Any of you that think ye're better 'n me you're gon' have another thing c-...
@@lazulenoc6863 Victim No. 1.
@@EventideBlackFox YourassisassandImthegrassman
@@lazulenoc6863 Here’s what I have that you don’t: a functioning liver! 🤪
Isn’t the lightbulb thing just meant to remind you of the Weeping Angels, the main antagonists of this series’ finale? Making lights flicker is kinda their thing.
Maybe the original plan was to have the Angels be somehow present throughout the series to tie everything together, and in the end it just got cut.
It’s one of those rare times where we agree, Harbo! I’m one of those who finds Moffat’s era to easily be their favorite but Series 7 is ROUGH, I constantly go back and forth on whether it or Series 2 takes my bottom spot.
How come you find series 2 the worst season? Genuinely interested because as much as I used to love it.. I don't really like it anymore
@@NileSWPhotography In terms of core season elements, neither Ten nor Rose are favorites of mine and together they bring out the worst in each other’s character, so that makes things tough already. And then in terms of individual stories, I adore the Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, but everything else is average at best or pretty bad in my eyes. That’s all just my view though, I have friends who love that season, so I’m probably just overly nit picky, lol.
@@Vicksage16 i feel like series 2 relies very heavily on how much you are invested in the tenrose pairing.
Even if you love both parts of the finale, even if you love the cyberman two parter, even if you love school reunion and girl in the fireplace, that's still half a season that script-wise SUCKS. you can't bank half a season of sci fi on how much does the audience wants to see the two main characters fuck. It's bad in 7b, and its bad in 2. Its what dragged Martha down, and what damaged Amy's arc through series 5. What do you know? Kapaldi didn't have that problem (age gap+river) and now he is regarded as the best nuwho doctor, maybe all of who for some people. It's such a shame that chibnall didn't learn from those mistakes and dragged it into 13 as well, even though river still exists and is still alive and the doctor still loves her. The worst part about my river argument is that even Moffat doesn't care. 3 seasons are dedicated to the doctors wife, next Christmas he starts kissing some random girl.
I'm not saying romance is a stupid idea to explore in doctor who, amy and rory, river and the doctor, and to a lesser extent, Clara and dani, are all great examples for great romance in doctor who. But there is a reason why the doctor and a companion isn't on this list. (River doesn't count she was created to be a mysteries character that ends up being revealed as his wife)
This is my rant about romance between the doctor and the companion, which soured some great seasons (5) and some great characters (martha) and made ruined two more.
Series 11 and 12 are worse than both.
series 6 is awful
I think Moffat explained it best.
With Series 7 he had to write an exit for The Ponds, introduce Clara, set up and explain a series arc, set up the 50th anniversary, write an exit fir the Eleventh Doctor and cast the 12th Doctor, all whilst trying to keep the show feeling fresh and not more of the same, and working on Sherlock.
Series 7 is definitely one of the weaker series of Nu-Who, but the fact that Moffat was able to put out something that was good if not great is a victory in itself, and even the worst stories only ever feel one rewrite away from being good.
Yeah, it's kind of impressive, but the thing is, Moffat would have done better by doing less. The Ponds had an out already, they could have just left the TARDIS like Martha, and Angels Take Manhattan need not have happened. The problem isn't that Moffat had too much to do, but that he did too much.
Besides, the idea that Moffat wants to keep things fresh is weird to bring up since he's the king of repetition. Throughout doctor who he had like 5 ideas: The weeping angels, River Song, memories/thoughts being downloaded (all the way back to the girl in the fireplace), the universe ending, and fairy tale stuff made scifi. And he overdid every single one of those things well into the Capaldi era.
They're all problems created by Moffat himself.
Good might be a strong word
The goat for a reason.
Series 7 feels like two halves of two series squished together and it hurts both sides cause theres not enough time to explore and expand in either one.
I always felt that Series 7 was a kneejerk reaction to series 6. The reaction to series 6 was if I recall on the lukewarm end (the more serialised nature not being an instant slam dunk) and series 7 felt like Moffat was giving everyone a middle finger in anger.
Steven Moffat had far too much respect for the fanbase to give us the middle finger even if we deserved it. He's a lot like George Lucas, who had every reason to tell the fans to go fuck themselves after the backlash to the Star Wars Prequels but never did. Luckily for us, both Lucas and Moffat actually know how to be professional which is more than can be said for most of the "professional" writers, directors and producers that have infected modern entertainment.
@@tomnorton4277 He's also the guy who said "DW fans might commmit suicide if I came back" lol. He's a pretty goofy guy but I would say that he gets DW like no one else.
I personally loved 7B over A (probably because I’m on Coleman Stan) but I still look forward to your review(s) of 7B
I think 7B was the first time that I had been able to watch Doctor Who as it aired because I had finally caught up with all the episodes by then, but it had been a while since new episodes were airing. I remembered being really excited for The Snowmen
Same here. I loved his new costume, tardis & dynamic with Clara
Hear me out but would this season have been better if the episodes were rearranged? Here’s my pitch.
We start with the power of three as a two part opener. The doctor and the ponds haven’t seen each other since the god complex but when a mysterious invasion of the black cubes forces the doctor to stay on earth and who better to stay with than Rory and Amy? We meet Brian of course but the companions are trying to live their lives separately to the doctor’s investigation into the cubes until Unit force them to be involved perhaps at the end of the first part. The second part then steers more into the shakri (sorry for the poor spelling) and it’s motivations before the Doctor finds himself alone with the shakri. When it refuses to leave the Doctor comes up with a way to kill it and resolves the invasion. When he returns to Earth and explains what he did Unit congratulate him but the Ponds are not pleased.
Episode 3 is Angels take Manhattan and begins pretty much the same place The Power of Three ended. The Doctor and the Ponds have one last day out before the Doctor leaves again when Rory gets kidnapped. This one is pretty similar except fix the timey wimey bullshit, give the Doctor some dark scenes for the Ponds to witness and when they return to the present, they don’t get caught again. To replace that scene have a scene where Brian and River meet (I just think that would be a neat exchange) and then Amy and Rory discuss how the doctor has changed and that perhaps he needs them. They make an excuse and agree to go on another adventure with him.
Episode 4, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Remove Ridell and Nefertiti and instead spend more time with Brian and make the dinosaurs a bigger threat. We don’t need a villain how about the silurians just died of natural causes (the natural cause of being stuck on a spaceship with dinosaurs) and have a Jurassic park style thriller in which the core four have to save the spaceship while avoiding the dinosaurs. However as it looks like they’re not going to make it have the doctor suggest leaving and letting the intergalactic space folk explode the ship, the Ponds talk him out of it and they save the day by the skin of their teeth.
Episode 5, A Town Called Mercy. Mostly the same except I want the doctor to be a bit more despicable.
Episode 6, an original tale in which the villain is the Doctor himself. I want it to be set a few years after his last visit with Amy and Rory, he stops off at their house and they immediately drop what they’re doing to join him. This adventure I want the villain to be the Doctor. His increasingly immoral actions lead to him and the Ponds being on opposite sides of the conflict that resolves around a major moral quandary in which the Doctors side wins. Turns out however, he’s been working for the Cybermen this whole time and when he realises he’s been on the wrong side he helps the Ponds and defeats the Cybermen, not before their leader sees that Amy and Rory are the one thing keeping the Doctor tied to reality. At the end of the episode the Ponds decide that they’re done travelling with the Doctor and don’t want to see him again.
Episode 7 and 8, Asylum of the Cybermen. The two part season finale finally shows us the impact the couples recent travels with the Doctor have had in their lives showing us glimpses of before and after each adventure. We see how after their last adventure their lives have been torn apart, Rory has been fired from his job, and because Amy was never able to hold one down they have been forced to sell their home and move in with Brian while they try to pull their lives together. When the Cybermen kidnap them away and takes them to the space station above the asylum they are reunited with the Doctor, who has had plenty of adventures since their last and goes to greet them as old friends, however the ponds reject him. Instead of the personal conflict being between Amy and Rory it is now between the Ponds and the Doctor. This story could maybe lean more into the whole horror vibe I think Asylum if the Daley’s was half heartedly trying to go for the first episode can then be about the trio trying to find Oswin before the Doctor realises she’s a partially converted Cyberman a lá Lisa from Torhcwood S1E4, except less sexy. In the cliffhanger ending to the first part the trio are all in separate predicaments, Rory is trapped in the room with sporadically waking up Cybermen, Amy’s bracelet has just broken after the episode has repeatedly explained that without the bracelets they will be converted and the Doctor is locked in a room with Cyberman Oswin who has started to chant ‘Delete’. The next episode I want a full blown Zombie story. Plenty of jump scares (PG13 of course) and chase scenes. The trio survive their predicament but are now being hunted by the Cybermen. Amy hides the broken bracelet (Zombie tropes 101) when she reunites with Rory. The Doctor realises that he can fix the transporter by using their bracelets to beam them up to the Cybermen’s ship. He tells Rory and Amy to meet him at the transporter which is in between both parties. As they are making their way Amy begins to convert. Rory asks the doctor whether another bracelet would counteract the conversion and the doctor tells him it would, however it would leave him vulnerable to conversion himself and Amy wouldn’t be able to switch the bracelet back without immediately succumbing to the conversion again. Rory understands and swaps the bracelets. The Doctor makes it to the transporter no problem but Amy and Rory’s path is blocked by a load of deranged Cybermen. As they agree to run through the horde CyberOswin regains control of her mind and tells the doctor she can disable the cybermen for a brief time. She scrambles the Cybermen’s visual systems for a time but warns Rory and Amy to be quiet and slow when they go through the room. A tense sequence unfolds as they travel through the room but as Rory begins to convert CyberOswin is overpowered by her programming and tells the doctor she’s losing control. The Doctor tells her to hold on as he plays with a computer. He tells the group that he can upload Oswins consciousness out of the Cyberman and into the Asylums mainframe (I don’t know computers, it sounds right though). He then says that when he does it she will lose control of the Cybermen for a few minutes meaning Amy and Rory will be trapped with fully functioning Cybermen. The Doctor quickly presses the last button and immediately opens the door to the room filled with Cybermen. Rory and Amy find themselves surrounded by confused Cybermen who immediately begin to target them. As Rory is struggling agains the conversion Amy pushes him ahead as she distracts the Cybermen. The Doctor pulls Rory into the transporter room and as Amy rushes to them she is caught and killed by a Cyberman. Rory attempts to run back into the room but the doctor stops him and locks them both in the transporter room. As the two are distraught Rory opens an attack on the Doctor blaming him for Amy’s death. The Doctor accepts Rory’s barrage of insults before telling him they need to go. However Rory refuses. He tells the doctor he won’t leave without her to which they argue about what Amy would have wanted. During this argument Oswin reboots into the Asylums Mainframe (just go with it) and learns that Amy was killed. This brings back her memories of how she died, explaining to Rory that if it’s any consolation she didn’t feel any pain when she was deleted. This sparks something in Rory who then asks the Doctor how Oswin could have regained her consciousness after being killed. The doctor admits they it’s possible for the conversion to kickstart the brain for a while before fully taking over. Rory then tells the Doctor he is going to stay to try and convert her and asks the doctor to install their consciousnesses onto the mainframe. When the doctor admits that it might not work Rory tells him that it’s worth it to for the chance to be with Amy. The Doctor silently agrees and when Oswin shuts down the Cybermen Rory runs to Amy and removes the bracelet before succumbing to the conversion. Fade to Black. Later the doctor transports back to the Cyberman ship and when they ask him why he’s alone he simply ignores them and gets in the TARDIS. Before flying off however he tells them that he brought a friend. As the TARDIS dematerialises Oswin introduces herself to the Cybermen on the ship before blowing it up.
The end. My thoughts for a through line for the series is that travelling with the Doctor is like a drug to Amy and Rory. I want to show how to begin with they are having fun and unaware of the consequences but slowly start to see through the lens of Brian the effect of what it is having on them. I want him to be wary of the Doctor but ultimately trusting Amy and Rory to make their own decisions. And by the end of the series I want to show their lives at the lowest possible point. On top of that I want to see more Clara cameos. Essentially I want her to be a featured extra in each story before Asylum to truly build up the mystery before the Snowmen. Something that not every viewer will pick up on but that the majority will understand is going to be resolved in the Christmas special. And finally I want the Doctor to be in a place where he is personally responsible for Amy and Rory’s deaths leading to him retiring as opposed to them being in an unfortunate accident that he couldn’t have avoided.
If you made it this far, Jesus Christ what’s wrong with you. But seriously, any feedback would be appreciated, please be kind, this was simply a spitballing exercise that I did at 2am to avoid sleep. I know there are many flaws and that it’s easy to criticise in hindsight.
I love these ideas!! Really makes you realise how even something as seemingly minor as changing the episode order (with other changes of course) can make things work so much better. This would've been so cool - well done!!
damn such a good idea, so in depth i love it, if only it was real
funny how a random bloke on the internet writes better stories than chibnall
Tell me why given the best episodes of Matt Smith's era as you said includes the god complex and a town called mercy, both written by Toby Whitehouse, and yet he didn't become showrunner?! Does anyone know if he was offered the job and turned it down, or couldn't be considered to take over from moffat? He seems the logical choice for me...
It's possible that he turned down the job due to the stress that comes with running a national institution like 'Doctor Who'. It's a huge responsibility. It also seems like Toby's strength, like Moffat's, is in writing singular stories. Whilst it's possible he could be good at multi-story arcs, it's also possible he's not and knows that.
The angels take Manhattan feels really short even though it’s the same 40 to 50 minute episode the other episode are
It should've been a season with only Clara. Splitting it in two was weird, I understand the doctor was entering a new era, but it feels disjointed and messy.
its interesting that you say Asylum of the Daleks feels like it should be a cyberman episode, i saw a post recently where someone said they wrote this exact story in school but with cybermen to send into a doctor who competition (probably the one that left us with the absorbaloth) and it was rejected for a formatting error!
I'm so happy it isn't just me that found that River Song moment where she slaps the Doctor for healing her hand complete and utter weirdness. Will never understand it. "Don't ever let him see you age..." oh shut up
Because he wasted his regeneration energy on her.
@@mayotango1317 so? She wasted hers on him when she just met him 🤣 and plus, river should’ve known he was in his last. She shouldn’t have cared. Obviously you can’t adhere to all the plot threads when you write stories but still 🤣
Another thing worth mentioning - Dinosaurs on a Spaceship doesn't even have unique dinosaur models, most were reused from Primeval, which if you've watched that show is crazy distracting.
Angels in manhattan would have been better if the angel grabbed rory and amy, once realising she can't save him hugs him, and as they say goodbye they are both teleported back in time
With RTD coming back for the new series... I really hope we get the same standard of showrunning we had from his original tenure.
I'd like to see him potentially relaunch Torchwood when he takes back over though. That show always did a more dark, and grusome DW storytelling style. If anything, 2008 to 2012 was the best time. You had SJA for the more subtle and child friendly stories, DW for the standard level of stories, and then Torchwood for the darker and more honest approach. With the right story, and what with Jack returning during 13s tenure, we could really see something good if Torchwood was relaunched
I think the BBC cut ties with John Barrowman though, so restarting Torchwood is almost impossible.
@@cuppajoe2022 How did that happen? Wasn't he in the new series?
@@fellinuxvi3541 yeah he was. Then in early 2021, allegations of his sexually horassing co stars were released. He lost a crap ton of jobs including Doctor Who. When a fan asked him to make it up with the BBC and play Jack again, he said ‘mate they dumped me. I don’t need to make it up to anyone.’
So many people don’t even know this has happened like the fan I’m replying to. They still have hope Torchwood will return...
@@cuppajoe2022 Damn, guess he wasn't a big enough star to make the headlines. I had no idea.
A story being dark doesn’t make it honest. And honest is most definitely not a word I would use to describe most of Torchwood. If anything it came off as more adolescent and immature than both Doctor Who and SJA.
I hold a soft spot for series 7, as it was when I first got into the show, I watched some of the episodes when they first aired, others I would watch a bit later on BBC iPlayer, and because of this I can remember the episode titles a lot easier than other series of the show. I don't remember most of what happens in a lot of these episodes, but Episodes like Angels take Manhattan blew me away, although there's a couple episodes here I've never seen (Cold war, journey to the centre of the TARDIS, crimson horror, nightmare in silver) And it started the yearly tradition of watching doctor who every year when a new series aired. I checked out series 1-6 (although I never finished s6) around the time S10 was airing. I stopped watching after capaldi left.
I think there could’ve been a world where moffat juggled the ponds and Clara properly with series seven. We aren’t in that world.
I thought that having them break up for 5 minutes was just pointless drama for the sake of pointless drama. Classic miscommunication plot line that is up there with Amnesia, Love Triangles and ... oh wait those were used in previous series with Amy, Rory and the Doc. :/
What love triangles? Rose, Mickey and the Doctor, yes.
There is so much I would rather they would have done with series 7a. Biggest of all for me, Get rid of Asylum of the Daleks, (as its bad and disposable if not for the Oswin parts paying off later) or replace the Daleks with the Cybermen, a chance for body horror and the conversion makes more sense, since that is more of a Cybermen thing and remove Amy and Rory since they have no impact on the story and its outcome. Hell with this Asylum of the Cybermen story you could go one of two ways, call it a companion lite episode, the Doctor dropping off the Ponds at the beginning of the episode, building to the Doctor becoming more disconnected and crueler as a result of travelling alone that we saw in Dinosaurs and A Town Called Mercy, keep Oswin, the conversion again will make sense, and the whole holding onto humanity, building a block, Oswin seeing her as she used to be, hell Moffat used this idea down the line in the Doctor Falls with Bill Potts, and Moffat is known for reusing his own ideas
I started watching doctor who like a year ago, and around december 2021 I finally got to series 7. I was so excited for it because I had seen some spoilers for the three-part finale, and I was convinced it would be my favorite season. after the first three episodes, I dropped the series entirely, and only a couple of weeks ago did I finish with season 7. The second half is so much better and reminded me of why I fell in love with the show in the first place.
I got all excited when Davies was announced to be coming back and decided to finally catch up with the show, just to be all up-to-date. This series put that idea to bed incredibly quickly. I don't know why I forced myself through it at all but good god it was fucking atrocious. I even thought Moffat's first series was actually alright.
Oh dude, try and endure it until you reach the Twelve Era. You won't be disappointed. Guaran-effing-teed!
Another Davies fanboy. I bet you refuse to watch classic too
@@sh-spectrum409 Heard this a lot, yeah. I'll push through.
@@Milk88488 I quite like a lot of Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker episodes, man. Horror of Fang Rock, The Axons, The Hand of Fear, The Autons. I even said above I thought series 5 was good.
Moffat's first season is probably the best the show has ever been, and his last season with Twelve is up there too. I'm not sure I'd recommend anything in between.
I'm so glad we're getting closer to the best new who doctor. I like Smith and all but Capaldi is so freaking great and all three of his series are some of my favorite (particularly his first 2)
You're right and you should say it
Made no sense at the time why the Doctor would have "extra regeneration energy" when it was (at the time) his final regeneration. Guess the Timeless Child resolves that issue, but not when Angels take Manhattan/Day of the Doctor aired.
Well Moffet didn't know at the time, by the same logic and neither did River or the Doctor. In retrospexr it can be written off as remaining energy
Not really, later in Capaldi's run we learn a Time Lord's cells can try to individually regenerate without having an extra life to form around, that's where the energy comes from. The idea that the Timeless Children could fix anything made me throw up in my mouth a little.
All this is just my opinion so feel free to disagree with me. Matt's smith era sort of went backwards in term of quality when compared to David Tennant and Peter capaldies era,season 5 really hit the ground running and for me is one of the best seasons of doctor who that we've ever gotten,there's plenty of great moments in season 6 and 7 but as a whole it felt a little bit disappointing. Seasons 2 and 8 took a bit longer to get going but once it did it was great. Season 4 and 10 are some of my favourites and definitely feels like a much stronger send off to these doctors compared to series 7
Obviously I'm not counting Christopher eccelsten coz he only got one season,duh and yes season 1 is great
Y'all gotta lay off Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, for me that and Power of Three, (until the ending) are the bright sparks of series 7A.
The cast never felt bloated, in fact it felt fresh for an episode to just throw a bunch of people from different backgrounds into one space, that space being a ship of Dinos, and seeing how they play off each other.
Brian is a top tier character on the level of Graham and creeping up on Wilf, and his relationship with Rory over the runtime is great. There's a reason Moffat got Chibnall to write that epilogue to Angels Take Manhattan.
It also sets up the pins for Power of Three in a subtle but cleaver way, showing how the Doctor has become more of a hindrance in their lives with him just materialising in their living room at random points and explaining why Amy just seems to have random jobs throughout the series because she just can't settle when she knows she can be thrusted into another adventure at any point.
It's very classic who, where a huge chunk of the story is just investigating this vast, mostly empty ship and uncovering what the heck is going on, and the detail of it being a Silurian arch is a cleaver detail that checks out and works for a story like this, moreso than the Silurian warriors being involved in A Good Man Goes To War.
The only thing I don't really like are the robots, they aren't funny. I hope kids got more out of them than I did
I was so confused when I saw the video title because you hadn't actually reviewed s7B yet. Now it makes sense and I'm looking forward to your take on 7B's individual episodes.
I really appreciate his because I remember watching these as they came out and being severely disappointed, but I could never place why I felt that, and as time went on I forgot what even happened this season and so I started to wonder if I had been unfair and was just being the shitty sort of fan of things who hates on any new thing for no reason, and so it's really nice to get this affirmation that yeah, this season was actually pretty bad
I was at school with Mark Williams, he was a couple of years below me at North Bromsgrove High, though I don't remember ever meeting him.
Arthur Darville went to Bromsgrove School, a respected public school in the town. He lived not far away, in the outer suburbs of Birmingham.
Always gives me a kick to see the two Bromsgrovians playing father and son.
Fun fact, another NBHS alumnus was actress, later producer Trudi Styler, who is married to Sting
I don't care, A Town Called Mercy is a stand out episode. One of my favourite episodes and the best of both parts of season 7
Agreed
Saw the Series 7 episodes when they premiered. Never went back to watch them again. Forgot a few of these episodes even existed. Seeing your reviews, I don't need to go back.
With Amy and Rory being part of his family, I will always find it odd that they are some of the most forgettable companions.
Just ask anyone who has watched Doctor Who over the past 20 years who their favourite companion is, I bet they will either say Rose, Donna, Martha or Clara, MAYBE they will say Amy/Rory but I doubt it. This to me is a massive shame considering that Amy and Rory are his FAMILY, the parents to the Doctor's Wife, their story should have been far FAR bigger than it was and their going out should have been huge, but nope, a book is all we got.
The Amy/Rory/River/Doctor team is goated though. A lot of people say that’s their favorite duo, even if their favorite companion or favorite Doctor wasn’t those people. The writer did something special with that foursome
I've hardly seen people say they like Clara
@@yennefer440
Clara is rarer than Amy/Rory in my opinion.
I just realized that the power of 3 is "cubed"
Torchwood was shelved because Russell T Davies returned to the UK to care for his husband, who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
The A seems to be missing from the title of the video
The reason river slapped 11 is because he was an idiot and literally lowered his own lifespan She knows hes on his last Life and he might have had a chance of using that energy to live a longer I'm pretty sure she would rather let a broke wrist heal naturally then have him die young
The only thing worse than season 7 is Raid Shadow Legend 😳🤣
Funnily enough, I finally liked Amy and Rory in 7A, and finally liked 11 in 7B, but for the most of this era I wasn’t a fan of the Doctor or companions
Meh, Tennant fanboy.
@@mayotango1317 Where did that come from? Tons of people hate 10 and 11 for exactly the same reasons.
@@fellinuxvi3541 No, Series 10 is so much better.
@@mayotango1317 What has got to do with anything I said?
I said people hate both the tenth doctor and the eleventh for the same reasons, as a counter to your "tennant fanboy" nonsense. What has series ten got to do with it?
@@fellinuxvi3541 Series 10 had fun, great companions, crazy ideas, a multi-master story, it feel more flesh and new that Series 11.
As this was my first series (even though it was more 7B than 7A), I can't exactly criticise it myself
I think I speak for most people when I say I would rather watch series 7a then play raid shadow legends.
I can’t agree more that Asylum of the Cybermen would have been so much better. It’s about an asylum for goodness sake, that’s so much more conducive to the Cybermen than the daleks. And you could still have the same reveal of Clara having been converted. For me the whole daleks converting humans thing was always a bit silly given they’re obsessive about purity (for goodness sake the paradigm daleks destroy the Ironsides in Victory of the Daleks because they’re impure) and I’d rather not have had that idea introduced.
Raid Shadow Legends better than season 7A? I am insulted enough to just click away.
I loved series 7-wish that Clara had been weaved in more, but otherwise I very much enjoyed the variety!
A town called mercy was my first episode of doctor who, so I guess I got pretty lucky
They could have given the series subtitles rather than a number akin to the specials. Add a couple of episodes to the Ponds or shift things around and then you could have something like 7 sins (or something of that ilk) as the Doctor becomes darker then 7B being 7 impossible things (just feature (some proper, some cameo) 7 Claras).
Two episodes of series 7A Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and the Power of Three was done by the showrunner who ruined Doctor Who and Steven Moffat also ruined Terry Nation’s famous monster back in 1963 by creating the Dalek Asylum and even ruining the classic Dalek episodes in the 1960s and 1970s with the intensive care scene by making the Daleks look the same as the 2005 designs.
I only saw doctor who through reruns I thought dinosaurs on a spaceship was an early Matt episode I was not aware it was near the end of the ponds
Actually, of all the Chibnall episodes featuring a bloaded cast (probably his biggest flaw - and I love his era! But that doesn't mean I can't be critical of the man.), I thought this was the one where it works the best. All his other bloaded cast episodes should've been two-parters to work. That's one of my biggest criticisms with s12 actually. The ideas of the episodes he wrote were great but the execution was bad. That goes for Dinosaurs on A Spaceship too. Great idea in principle (especially with it being a Silurian Ark) but it could've been better. I still like it. There are way worse things in Doctor Who in my opinion than episodes by Chibnall. Other writers and showrunners also didn't do well constantly but Chibs always gets the biggest hate. I guess it's the dark tradition of Whovians: always hate the current showrunner. Trust me: it's gonna happen with RTD's second run as well!
Also, I HATE the cinematic cliché of how dinosaurs are still depicted. Jurassic Park had such an influence that modern scientific knowledge is not used: that many dinosaurs if not most of them had feathers and looked more like giant birds.
Here's a good video explaining that: ua-cam.com/video/xaQJbozY_Is/v-deo.html
The motif of flickering lights is just weird, I wish it went to some weird light monsters.
HOLY SHIT I NEVER REALIZED HOW MUCH BETTER ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS WOULD BE IF IT WAS A CYBERMAN STORY.
29:10 Have you made or will you make a video about “Torchwood: Miracle Day”?
"At least we are out of the dark"
7a is whiter than a swedish guy that has never seen the sun compared to 7b
Harbo having to partner with Raid in order to offset the fact nobody watches his videos anymore. The poor man.
Harbos too underrated every time I see his sub count I’m shocked 😢
Got to wonder what they were smoking to think that getting the guy who wrote the least liked episodes of doctor who in as showrunner was in ANY WAY a good idea.
Despite being a long standing fan of some 30+ years it was series 7 that i saw the writing on the wall.
I honestly don't see the problem, or at least I didn't have one with it. I love the entire series, minor parts being the exception, as a whole I actually really loved it. This era of the doctor is extremely iconic, to call it controversial honestly I think is an exaggeration considering how iconic it is, but it is worth stating it is a turn in the writing. The only thing I really had an issue with was that Amy and Rory's divorce seemed extremely forced and character-breaking, but outside of that one point, everything else made sense to me and was thrilling as always. If anything, I found Peter Capaldi's run less interesting, though I loved his also, it had moments where I was less interested, but still overall extremely good. As far as season 7 goes, outside of the divorce, I really liked it.
So funny I see this because about 1 hour ago I was thinking that Season 7 was one of the best--albeit there are many bests. And Stephen Moffat's writing was brilliant. Along with RTD of course.
I loved the western episode, Angels Taken Manhattan and the day/name/night “of the Doctor” series at the end. Other than that this series was a mess. And I blame Moffat for how he wrote Clara. She was such an unnecessary character and as a veiwer it’s hard for me to suddenly have this curiosity surrounding Clara that the Doctor does. We only saw like two copies of her that season. If she was echoed throughout the Doctors timeline, Clara should have been in every episode from the start of the show. Or at least more than just the same season they did the story arc
Doctor Who series 7A is the only time I’ve genuinely fallen asleep from boredom while watching New Who. So… that’s an accomplishment, I guess. Otherwise yeah, there’s nothing really memorable about this half of the season for me.
Yeah for sure, when I first started watching Doctor Who it was a run of series 6 on the tv which I really got into. Then asylum of the daleks came on and I stopped watching halfway through partly out of boredom and partly because I found Amy insufferable.
Ironically, the only time I fell asleep in New Who was Sleep No More
@@harry_page Why, Amy is so cool. A Senfield character in Doctor Who.
@@mayotango1317 Sorry, probably should've clarified, I liked her in series 6 but it was specifically the jarring changes in asylum like the divorce and her abusing Rory that put me off at the time.
@@harry_page Still she is more likeable that Rose or Jodie Whittaker.
If Series 7A was bad. Series 7B definitely isn’t any better, if anything it’s worse.
I don't think s7a was that bad, except for Asylum. Though you can tell that it was a full season condensed due to behind the scenes issues.
Just realized why they never filmed the Brian minisode! It's because Amy is established to be infertile so having a descendant of Amy and Rory show up would be a plot hole, unless there's adoption involved.
I think in the letter Rory says he’s adopted
I feel like not even Series 11 & 12 are worse Raid: Shadow Legends. That game blows.
I didn't know about the mini- sodes until I watched reviews like this.
Oof, Harbo, Raid are pretty unethical, what with the microtransactions targetted at getting kids into gambling. I wouldnt recommend selling your platform to them
Not critcising, just food for thought
Whilst you explained how S7A failed, you dont explain why it failed. You also made series 7A more interesting than actually watching that series.
Anytime someone sponsers Raid Chibnal writes another script
Season 7 is a masterpiece compared to the show now.
Raid? Really? I know they pay a lot but seriously, you sold your self respect :(. Otherwise a fun video but honestly tbst RSL shill really drops my Opinion of you
If you want his videos to continue coming and him to have enough money to live, you'll just have to deal with it.
Thank you, as always, for your work! ✌🏻♥️
Harbo relieved to not do a video about a two parter for series 7.
Meanwhile in series 9…
Loved all the episodes from 7
You know, before I rewatched all of doctor who a couple years ago, I would've sworn that God Complex was in 7a because it fit with them returning home so often.
For some reason I thought The god complex and The girl who waited were in series 7A before I watched these reviews. That’s probably the only reason I liked this part of the series
24:54 "Amy's parents seemingly got erased by a crack again" had me bust out laughing
I love your reviews of RTD episodes, find the Moffat ones fine, I’ve stopped watching your Chibnall ones because I know they’re gonna be nothing but criticism, and I can’t tell if it’s justified or not, it renders your reviews of Chibnall episodes pointless. You are a very gifted reviewer, and that’s something that’s not as easy as it looks. One of the reasons I love your RTD era reviews is that you really articulate what works for you, what doesn’t and why, I don’t get that from your Chibnall ones, it doesn’t matter what he does, you criticise. I’d love to see you interrogate this bias, because like I say you have a real gift as a reviewer.
You haven't watched his Chibnall reviews have you? With both Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and The Power Of Three, half the video's are spent praising things he liked about the episodes and his video on Flux is mostly praising the season and debunking some stupid criticisms made against it. He criticises Chibnall like he criticises Moffat and Davies when he writes something bad. What are you on about?
@@cuppajoe2022 That’s not how I find his reviews, I find that the starting point is ‘it’s a Chibnall episode, so clearly rubbish’ I mean the title of his Power of Three review is Chibnall’s Cube Disaster and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship is called The Most Chibnall Episode to Ever Chibnall’ (I got nearly ten minutes into that review and switched off at the Chibnall bingo card). Like I say, it’s a shame because he’s a very gifted reviewer.
@@MsJaytee1975 Uh, its not an opinion that he gives out a lot of positives to those episodes. That's fact. Also, those thumbnails and titles are done to get people's attention. Just look at some of his Moffat titles like 'when Doctor Who did 1984 badly' or 'How James Corden ruined the Cybermen' or 'Why 'Lets Kill Hitler' Sucks!'. It's not something that's exclusive to Chibnall episodes. Also again, he makes a two hour long video that is mostly praising Chibnall. Not an opinion. That is just pure fact. He always gives Chibnall fair reviews, just like Moffat and RTD.
Hey! It’s been quite a while since you got a sponsor lol.
I guess raid got you too :(
Anyways, back to watching the video!
Raid has sponsored everyone and it’s cool to see harbo being sponsored
Good video but shame Raid Shadow Legends is just so bad
Series 7B is infinitely better than the garbage that is Series 6B. People "dislike" Series 7B because they were throwing a tantrum over Karen and Arthur leaving, just like how they threw a tantrum when Matt leaves.
First Raid sponsorship that I'm willingly watching.
Two Chibnall stinkers dragged it down. But I like the fan theory that the series actually takes place in reverse order. The Doctor lost Amy and Rory first and then went back to spend some more time with them.
I didn't even know that sone of those mini-sodes exist until now🤣🤣🤣. I mean I know about Pond life but not the others.
@HarboWholmes I made a video on my channel about how Doctor Who spin-off's could come back, and from they way you talked about the spin-off's I thanked you'd like them to return. Any it would be a massive help if you would. Also great video
Nobody cares about Spin-offs, The Doctor is the Doctor.
If it weren’t for the chibnall era, then series 7 would definitely be the worst of the revived series
Honestly I liked the Mitchell and Webb robots because they were just that lmao
good video, Amy and Rory had a good conclusion in series 6 but choosing to continue their arc with them and the doctor not willing to part ways is basically another example of companions who don’t get off the ride before its too late, also that was the longest raid shadow legends sponsor ever.
so much better than any chibnal bits though eh? Also way better than any of the newest who so far. It was a masterpiece compared to all that.
Asylum of the daleks is one of my favorite episode ever and I thought the rest of s7a would be as good. But it clearly wasn't
1:17 what are those creatures..?
I knew I didn't like S7 because when I was watching doctor who i had vacation so i watvhed S6 in like 3 days, but I just couldn't get through S7, specifically 7B
Lightbulb theory video when?
I liked the cowboy episode.
I watched this last week, is this a reupload? 🤔 Or have I time travelled?
It was way better than the Whitaker episodes.
It was way worse than the Whittaker episodes
@@booradley8895 There were none worse than the Jodie Whittaker episodes.
@@RH-oj5cj This was far worse then the Jodie era
@@booradley8895 No, it wasn't
@@booradley8895 You can't get worse than the Whittaker episodes.