The Eleventh Doctor Era

Warning, Major Plot Spoilers Follows!

Way back in 2009, we had a year of specials that gave us the farewell of the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant), a fan-favorite. Not only that, it gave us the farewell of the first part of 'New Who'. In the final part to The End of Time, we met the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith), who ended the episode with a resounding 'Geronimo!'.

Later, we met the Eleventh Doctor as he ended up crashing into a little girl's garden in Leadworth. Fast forward a lot of time later for us, and even more for the Doctor, we've arrived at Trenzalore once again, and we've bade farewell to Eleven and said hello to Twelve, in The Time of the Doctor.
      Seeing as I never finished my review series, due to internet problems, I wasn't able to post them all in time. However, now I'm reviewing the full Eleventh Doctor Era.

Series Five in Review:
  Series Five had a fairytale view from it. Amy, having met the Doctor as a child, woke up to find the TARDIS in her house's garden once again, and deciding to travel with him. During Series Five, we had episodes that featured cities in space, powered by a star whale, vampires in Venice, a dream world, and an invisible monster. It was revealed at the end of the season in The Pandorica Opens, The Pandorica was inspired by Pandora's Box, Amy's favorite book when she was a kid.
I consider Series Five to be one of the best seasons Doctor Who has to offer, however I don't consider any season bad by any means. This season just had some of the best episodes in my opinion.
Favorite Episodes:
1. Vincent and the Doctor
2. Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
3. The Eleventh Hour
4.  The Pandorica Opens/Big Bang

Best Line:
   “The way I see it, life is a pile of good things and...bad things. The good things may not soften the bad things, but vice versa-the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things.”
 -The Doctor

Series Six in Review:

Series Six was a dark season. It kicked off with the Doctor dying on Lake Silencio, and his friends trying to solve why. Only then were they reunited with a Doctor, years younger than the one that died who had no idea why he was invited to America along with his companions. Team TARDIS joined Canton Everett Delaware the Third in the two parter that kicked of Series Six, The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon. The group battled the Silence, later to be revealed in Time of the Doctor to be confessional priests used by the Papal Mainframe, who had kidnapped a little girl and trapped her in a spacesuit for unknown reasons.
This series had more darker episodes in tone (Day of the Moon, Night Terrors, God Complex, ect.), but had some more lighthearted episodes (such as Let's Kill Hitler, The Curse of the Black Spot). This series answered the question of who River Song was. This season also gave the Doctor a family again.
Series Six may not have been as well as Series Five, and is considered by some one of the worst seasons of Doctor Who, but I enjoyed it. I've seen it the most, and this was the season that had me pacing around the house trying to figure out what was going on. This season had some of the greatest moments as well.

    Favorite Episodes
1. Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
2. A Good Man Goes To War
3. Let's Kill Hitler
4.  The Curse of the Black Spot
Best Line:
 “I'm being extremely clever up here and there's no one standing around looking impressed! What's the point in having you all?”
-The Doctor


Series Seven In Review:

 Series Seven was the first series not to have a two parter (unless you include the cliffhanger from The Name of the Doctor that led into The Day of the Doctor). Series Seven also had the departure of Amy and Rory Williams, and introduced new companion, Clara Oswald. The first half of the series focused on Amy and Rory's farewell, mostly, featuring foreshadowing  for the episode The Angels take Manhattan. The second half included the mystery of Clara Oswald, whom the Doctor had already met twice before but who had died both times.
The Series' main plot arch was the Great Intelligence and Clara Oswald, though both were mainly focused on in the second part of the series, only Oswin having appeared in the first half of the Series. The series introduced Trenzalore for the first time, a planet previously only mentioned before. It also brought in the past Doctors for screen time (using archival footage), having the echoes of Clara Oswald meeting the past Doctors, due to Clara's sacrifice to save the Doctor in The Name of the Doctor.
This season had a lot of gems and there really aren't any bad episodes. I watched all of them, and on first viewing some seemed disappointing or downright bad, but on re-watches, the episodes are very good.

Favorite Episodes:
1. Hide
2. The Name of the Doctor
3. Nightmare in Silver
4. Asylum of the Daleks
5. The Bells of Saint John
6. Cold War
7. The Angels Take Manhattan

Best Line:
   "Run you clever boy, and remember me."
-Clara Oswald


The Specials in Review:

 The first Christmas Special to feature the Eleventh Doctor was A Christmas Carole. Originally, I didn't care much for the episode, but a week before Christmas, I watched it and The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe. I was smiling all the way through A Christmas Carole, and teared up when Karazan broke down crying realizing what he had become. A wonderful Christmas Carole.
The second Christmas Special- The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe- was a wonderful story set at Christmas, that had a sad setup that ended up with a happy ending. The best part of the episode, for me, is when the Doctor goes to spend Christmas with his family, Amy and Rory. It's a wonderful tale.
The third Christmas Special with Eleven was The Snowmen. It brought the introduction of Clara, the new companion.. It also saw the return of Classic Who monster, the Great Intelligence, and the reappearance of The Posternoster Gang.
   The Doctor was a much colder character in this Christmas story. However, he was brought out of his retirement by Clara, who charmed and intrigued him. The Doctor invited Clara to travel with him, after only knowing her for a day, even going as far to give her a TARDIS key almost as soon as she stepped through the TARDIS doors.
 This Christmas Special has to be a favorite of mine, and my favorite scene has got to be the Spiral Staircase to the TARDIS on a cloud. It's so magical, and it's my favorite scene.
The fourth Special to feature the Eleventh Doctor wasn't a Christmas Special, but instead the long awaited 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor. The episode was 75 minutes and was epic. It was fantastic and just outright amazing! It featured the return of David Tennant and Billie Piper (as the Tenth Doctor and the Moment/Bad Wolf/Bad Wolf Girl), and saw the introduction of the War Doctor (John Hurt), who first appeared in the last moments of The Name of the Doctor. It also saw the return of UNIT, and Coal Hill School.
The episode was chock full of special nods to the past, having Clara working as an English Teacher at Coal Hill School for one, and mentioning Captain Jack Harkness (these are just the ones I can recall at the current moment), and it also featured a wonderful cameo. No spoilers for that! It also saw the return of Gallifrey, and saw the final day of the Time War once again.
The fifth and final special to feature the Eleventh Doctor was heartbreaking The Time of the Doctor. This episode saw the return of Trenzalore, and revealed who the Silence was. It also featured the introduction of the Cybermen head, 'Handles', and had the Doctor spend years protecting the town called Christmas on Trenzalore, after sending Clara home.

This episode was a brilliant send off to Eleven. I was really worried about how Eleven would go, and I wanted him to go out with dignity and heroically, and I got my wish. Eleven, despite hating endings, regenerated bravely, counseling Clara as he was about to change. As the Doctor said 'He's coming', and when Clara asked who and the Doctor replied 'The Doctor', I said at the same time as Clara, 'But you are the Doctor.' I wonder if any other Whovians did. This episode had me balling my eyes out all the way through, from the time Handles died to the time the credits rolled. I knew I'd cry during the episode, but I had no idea how much I would. The episode was absolutely wonderful, and perfect.
Favorite Episodes:

1. The Day of the Doctor
2. The Snowmen
3. The Time of the Doctor

Favorite Line:
“There's a man, called the Doctor. He lives on a cloud, in the sky, and all he does, everyday, is to stop all the children in the world from ever having bad dreams.”
-Clara Oswin Oswald.


Hopes for Twelve and Series Eight.

  As soon as we saw the 2/5 second clip of Twelve in The Day of the Doctor, I was sold.
 However, seeing a clip of the new Doctor before the regeneration is a lot happier than after one. Anyway, there are a lot of hopes for the new Twelfth Doctor (my Dad is particularly excited about Twelve). Here are a few of mine.
From what I've heard, Twelve is supposed to be darker than Eleven, and that seems to be what people want. My opinion? I want Twelve to have a Grandfather-y feel to him, in my own personal opinion. Of course, he could still have darker moments (I think every Doctor has their dark moments), and still be funny, but I'm hoping for a Grandfatherly vibe from Twelve.  Luckily confirmed is that Series Eight isn't supposed to be split. Hopefully, we'll be getting some two parters again. (I don't mind not having them, however two parters give us what it'd be like if New Who was a movie).
Another thing I'm hoping for (one that very well could happen), is that a new addition will join the TARDIS. (I'm not saying I want Clara to leave, she's gone to Top 3 Favorite Companion Status-she's at number 3 for now-but it'd be cool to have a trio in the TARDIS again. Each New Who Doctor has had a trio before (Nine had Rose and Jack, Ten had Rose and Mickey, Eleven had Amy and Rory). It'd be cool for Twelve to have his own trio. Rumors are that we will have a new companion. Ever since Day of the Doctor, it seems likely that the teacher from the beginning, Tom, will join the Doctor and Clara. Because, let's face it, when does Doctor Who bring in a side character and not bring them in again at some point? I'm crossing my fingers for a new companion to join Twelve and Clara.
Another thing that I wish to happen is for UNIT to be a bigger part of the story, I would really love to see Kate Stewart and Osgood to return!
That's all I'm hoping for at the moment, but all in good time! I can't wait to see Twelve in action!

-Tegan