Rewatching Doctor Who Series 5… forgot how good it actually was

While it was still hit & miss, the Ecclestone/Tennant/Smith era was generally pretty good TV. Lots of brilliant stand-alone 'monster-of-the-week' episodes, as well as story arcs that actually kinda made sense (by time travel standards at least). Tennant generally had the more memorable moments/episodes, whereas Smith had better overall story-telling & supporting cast.

I don’t disagree but man, the sentiment “i love classic Doctor Who, like Matt Smith” really hit me in the olds.

Late Tennant/early Smith is the best run in the history of the show for my money.

Matt Smith era was peak Who for me - that whole fairy tale vibe with Amy and Rory just worked perfectly

Great series with a really unique vibe. The fundamentals of the show have never really changed so yeah a new, great series could come at any time. Will it? We'll see. The last great (or last least pretty good) series to me was series 10. A little depressing to think that was almost a decade ago now Depends who gets handed the top job after rtd

I started watching it for the first time when 7 was airing. I fell in love with the series, Matt Smith being my favorite. I was excited to finally be caught up only to lose all of the main cast I’d grown to love right as I caught up. 5-7 is my favorite era.

I agree wholeheartedly that the new revival era up until Whitaker was fantastic 99% of the time. Back then, watching it weekly though, its a different story compared to watching the whole series today. It took a significant while for people to adjust to post-David era and Moffat's showrunning style. I remember as a kid being thrown off at how 'different' it all felt, not knowing that it was precisely what the show needed and remains its staple way of remaining relevant. The show regenerates with each new Doctor, new skin with the same core DNA underneath. At least it was until, again, Whitaker Era onwards. The biggest flaw I see with the current Era of the show is it's apparent refusal to accept criticism gracefully. People thought the show was getting abit long in the tooth and difficult to maintain weekly by the time Capaldi left, so the show's style, presentation and writing decided to take a huge left turn to 'address this', not knowing what to keep and what to change. Following the critsicm following Whitaker, they pulled the same mistake with bringing RTD. Their instinctive reaction to the shows ratings and viewers going down was to 'rewind the clock' and bring back the core production team behind the original revival period, without really figuring out, again, what elements needed to return and which needed to change. Because of that, we've had a showrunner who almost thinks his writing is infallible given the high regard his previous tenure received, took the wrong lessons from recent seasons, and seemingly thought that 'As long as its nothing like the last few years, people will eat it up'. It's only very apparent this is the case when you look at the interviews given by RTD and co. about their thought processes and priorities. The show never needed a bigger budget; S1 to S10 did so much more with less, but prime TV became the staple standard for TV going forward and so a bigger budget was deemed 'essential'. Subversion for the sake of subversion is very rarely done well, and RTD does not do it well. Many twists or expected climaxes ran completely hollow over the last two seasons because of this, with RTD clearly feeling very accomplished with himself because he's 'subverted' expectations on what a finale/plot climax should be (Look at his interviews post the finale of Chuti's first season, he's all about this). Unforunately, S1 and S2 of the 2023+ era were filmed quite quickly between eachother; by the time S1 finished airing and the critiques started flowing in, they were heavy in production of S2 leaving very little room for change. To get started with Chuti is difficult because he's a fine actor, but its very clear this is where the magic was missing from the production staff aswell. It's all been confirmed through the various leaks, rumours and interviews that Chuti didn't hold the role to the same reverance as previous actors did. Sure, you don't need to be a super mega fan to play the doctor well, but every actor from 9 to 13 understood the assignment and the importance of what it means to play the Doctor. Even in Whitakers era, many people can't fault the passion and eagerness she put into playing the role. The fact that Chuti left a full season before his planned exit is telling enough, deciding he had other callings in life. This felt like something the casting staff should have been able to have picked up on during auditions but it was seemingly missed; maybe he did genuinely have passion at the beginning, but with how quickly things changed and how messy his exit was, it's hard to believe he saw the role as a significant investment instead of just being a career stepping stone.

Remember the pandorica speech when the doctor was daring all of the other races to come down first? I always found funny that if you think about it, all of the other alien races were not actually afraid and instead giggling between themselves because the doctor is  the one walking into a trap.

My God, you kids today! My favorite Doctor was Jon F****** Pertwee until David Tenant came along.

Eccleston, Tennant and Smith were so f****** good all round. Loved Capaldi too but writing started to fall off a bit.

Season 5 is masterful, for my money the best overall season of Doctor Who by far That being said today is a different time than the early 2010s were. Culture has changed and the people who were into the show back then, like myself, have more or less moved on. The stage isn’t quite set anymore, I don’t imagine DW will ever be as big as that again; at least not in the foreseeable future

When it aired I actually wasnt too keen on the Smith/Capaldi/Moffat years. It felt like every other episode of Smiths tenure had something to do with his love of Amy and Clara and having just done that with 10 and Rose it got quite tiring. 12's relationship with Clara was *better* but her being the focus of a lot of his attention got tiring, too, and I missed out on most of Capaldi's final series except his regeneration (which is ironic given that's the series without Clara), and I could never get into 13 and Chibnall. I rewatched *most* of NuWho in anticipation of the 60th and found myself enjoying 11 & 12 a lot more than I had when they were contemporary. 12s final series is probably my favourite of the whole show and 12 is one of my favourite Doctors (probably my favourite NuWho Doctor honestly). It's not a perfect show, by any means, but it's all a cracking good bit of telly.

That's why I still have them as my flair ↑

Sad that you think that is old doctor. But I will say it elevates Dr Who to the masses. It was quite hard to follow in the real old series when I was a kid watching public television.

I started at Season 5. Then worked backwards. I think S05 works as a great soft reboot without needing prior seasons, until Tennant & Co start rocking up.

I read every single Doctor Who book that ever existed when I was a kid in the 1980s and I’ve enjoyed DW up to and including Capaldi. I haven’t watched any of the new stuff as I tried, but I just didn’t sit with me.

Series 5 is still one of my favorites. I agree, it felt a lot more fun because of all the timey wimey shenanigans, but still emotional and clever. I miss that era

I f****** loved the early season's - Eccleston and Tennant, when I first watched them, and they still hold a place in my heart, but when I rewatch the show these days it's only the Smith and Capaldi seasons I really tune in for. I may just be in love with Oswald. As for the new stuff, I have tried numerous times to get through Whittaker seasons and never managed. Her second season has always been a point of just uninterested drop off, regardless of how much the series has meant to me, personally. No idea about anything beyond that because I can't watch anything past what I've seen due to autism.

Did they reset the series numbers? Because it started in the 60s IIRC.

I thought it waa a bit hit and miss for me. The finale just hurt my brain too much!.

I tried with Smith for a while but I just didn't enjoy it as much. It may be weird to say but Tennant and Ecclestone felt like they were set in the real world, Smith onwards felt like they were set in Dr Who land.

Series 5 is better that whatever we're on now. But not as good as 1-4

Season 5 started in 2009.