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 | Reviews for Series 7: Part 2 |
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| Not as bad as I thought overall |
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| By: | Matthew David Rabjohns, Bridgend, United Kingdom |
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| Date: | Monday 20 May 2013 |
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| Rating: |   7 |
The second half of this 7th season of the new series is far better than the first half overall. Although I must amend my review of The Angels Take Manhattan, as my review was based on waffle and not what actually happened in the episode, as I've only actually recently seen it.
The second half of the season begins very well indeed. The Spoonheads are decidedly freaky and unsettling, and the story rips along so fast, but is for once followable and Jenna Louise Coleman, thankfully, is not the same as her performance of Oswin in Asylum of the Daleks, in the fact that she's likeable and not at all up herself. The realisation of the classic foe in the Great Intelligence is very well realised, with the snappy jet crash scene being totally surprising and tense also.
The Rings of Akhaten sees the first rotter of the second half of the season. There are some impressive effects peppered throughout this story, but the whole thing still manages to seem iike its going nowhere at all, and the story itself is just turgid and stilted, with most of the aliens, as with The End of the World, doing nothing at all except look weird or pretty. And the sonic screwdriver is becoming maybe just a little too predictable as a get out of gaol free card now. All that impresses with this episode is the little girl.
Cold War though is just a brilliant return to the past, and sees the return of the Ice Warriors. And boy, does the booming voice and massive frame of the new warrior look brilliant. And what's more, we even at last get to see what the Warrior looks like underneath! And the whole tale is claustrophobic and tense. And there's a great performance from stalwart David Warner. And Jenna Louise again really impresses as the gutsy Clara.
Hide is the worst episode of the seventh series, of that in my mind at least there is no doubt. This story isn't remotely scary, for a start the score is all wrong, not being scary in the slightest and therefore marring any scene that may be construed as scary. And the monster is frankly rubbish in this episode. I was expecting a lot from this episode, and was let down rather spectacularly. Even Matt Smith didn't save this one.
Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS is an oddball adventure, in that it has good and bad points. The good points are an excellent performance from Matt and Jenna, who give brilliant panicked performances as the Doctor and Clara. The scenes with the past Doctors voices being heard was a smile from me, any calling on the past is never bad for me. But the Van Balaan brothers are all totally boring and uninspiring, making for a trio of predictable morons. And Im not sure if the time zombies in the TARDIS work or not....funny we never ever saw them before.....
The Crimson Horror was another Mark Gatiss brilliant tale. There was perhaps just one jarring point, and that was the ridiculous Matt Smith Frankenstein moment. Sorry, but for once Matt here is really over the top in his performance. Thankfully the rest of the episode is filled with the brilliant acting of Diana Rigg, wow, how old is she and still going strong! And the creature I found slightly disgusting.
Nightmare in Silver was only saved by Jenna Louise Coleman. She gives a great performance again. but the nonsense with the far too emotional Cyberplanner just ruins what should and could have been a classy Cyberman tale. The new Cybermen don't even at least look good, and the voices are totally stupid, and the Cybermen have always been emotionally devoid, so why is the Cyber planner such a goon? Sorry, but this is a resounding failure almost as bad as Hide. Very disappointing.
But this classic Whovian smiled broadly at the presenting of all the old brilliant Doctors peppered throughout the Name of the Doctor. They may just be cleverly extracted from old series adventures, but I still grinned broadly at the sight of them. And the rest of the finale isn't bad either. Matt again gives a brilliant performance as the Doctor, and I just love Jenna more and more. Even Alex Kingston is shaping up to be not as irritating as she was a few series back. This is a bit of a heavy rollercoaster of an episode. And John Hurt as the future Doctor? What is going on here? Im glad to say at least this time I want to see how this story concludes in the November 50th anniversary special....
