Series 5 - Matt Smith - 'The Pandorica Opens' and 'The Big Bang'

It appears we’ve been on a bit of a Matt Smith binge but this is hardly surprising having just acquired the blu-rays for seasons 5 and 6. For our 56th and 57th evenings with the Doctor we chose the two part story which sees the Doctor face all of his foes in one big standoff surrounding the mysterious Pandorica. As the finale of Matt Smith’s first series as the Doctor the audience widely expected wonderful things from The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang and with the promise of appearances from River Song, the Daleks, the Cybermen and well, just about every race of monsters the Doctor has ever come up against, there was only one way this episode could go.

Series 4 - David Tennant - The Stolen Earth and Journey's End

This two part story from the fourth Series of the re-launch Doctor Who is the finale of David Tennant’s last series with the show.  Following these episodes he only appeared in a series of specials before he gave his life to save Wilfred and regenerated into Matt Smith. Remarkably this episode didn’t just mark the end of David Tennant’s time as the Doctor but also celebrated Doctor Who’s 750^th episode and tied up a whole load of loose ends left over from the series.

So much happens in this episode and there are so many moments for the fans that you almost forget that this is the first appearance of Davros since the show’s return. Who doesn’t love a good Dalek episode? Davros’ plan is to use the 27 planets that he has stolen to create a ‘reality bomb’ which he will use to destroy the universe, very dastardly. As ever the Daleks are a very formidable foe, they work their way around the world cutting off communication links between the Doctor’s allies in the hope of stopping the Tardis from locating Earth. Martha, Sarah Jane, Harriett Jones and Torchwood are using their combined power to create a subwave signal that the Doctor will be able to track down from outside of the pocket universe they have been confined to.  

Series 7 - 50th Anniversary Special - Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt - Day of the Doctor

'The man who regrets and the man who forgets' 

50 years of television is a wonderful thing to celebrate and what better way than with a real fan pleaser of an episode broadcast not only on televisions all around the world but also in viewed by thousands of people in cinemas around the UK. The atmosphere at the cinema was brilliant; there were cosplayers everywhere, film crews interviewing fans and a massive queue for the screening. The most exciting thing was seeing just how many people, adults and children alike, there are who love Doctor Who in our area. Sometimes you just don’t realise how much you have in common with the people around you. 

Season 10 - Jon Pertwee - Planet of the Daleks

The fourth serial of the tenth season of Doctor Who sees the Doctor and Jo stranded on a planet that has danger seeping from its very pores. Spiradon is a planet inhabited by aliens known as Spiradons who have developed the ability to generate an anti-reflecting light wave which renders them invisible. As well as the Spiradons the planet also boosts a large population of venomous fungus and plants. Spiradon has been taken over by a troupe of Daleks who have subjugated the inhabitants in an attempt to perfect the art of invisibility.

The Doctor and Jo overcome the dangers of Spiradon with the aid of a group of stranded Thals and the Doctor finds himself once again standing in between the universe and his mortal enemy, the Daleks.

Season 21 - Peter Davison - Resurrection of the Daleks

Episodes about Davros and the Daleks are always fun to watch and, with so much historical knowledge to draw from, they’re usually relatively easy to review. However this story, I think is an exception to this rule. This was our first encounter with the 5^th Doctor, Peter Davison and we had high hopes as it boasts being the only episode in which Peter Davison meets his oldest enemies as well as the first ever Doctor Who episode that was broadcast in 45 minute segments rather than the traditional 25.

This episode notoriously garners mixed opinions amongst fans and in hindsight we accept that this probably was not the best episode to introduce us to the Peter Davison’s Doctor. In all honesty the Doctor didn’t really seem that instrumental to the storyline as he had very little dialogue, not a great deal of screen time and the Daleks eventual downfall comes and the hands of Davros himself rather than the Doctor. However what time the Doctor does spend on screen is quite notable, if only because of how far his character has come from the kindly old gentleman that William Hartnell introduced us to.

Day 12 - Resurrection of the Daleks

With Sherlock on the TV this evening we decided to watch a slightly shorter classic episode. This evening we watched our first Peter Davison episode 'Resurrection of the Daleks' from season 21 of Doctor Who.

Reviews of 'Dalek' and 'Resurrection of the Daleks' to follow shortly :)

Season 12 - Tom Baker - Genesis of the Daleks

For Day 4 of our year with the Doctor we decided to check out the 6 part serial from the twelfth season of Doctor who featuring Tom Baker as the Doctor alongside Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan.

Tom Baker is a real fan favourite and he is also one of the longest running Doctors with his time on the show spanning 7 years from 1974 to 1981 and amassing 7 seasons in total. Tom Baker, with his crazy hair, wide eyes and ridiculously long scarf played the Doctor as a heroic, kooky alien with a love of jelly babies and a true compassion for other creatures. From the start of this episode it is easy to see why this often tops polls for the favourite episodes of the era and was a true representation of Tom Baker in the peak of his time in the Tardis.

After years of dominating our TV screens as one of the most terrifying and intelligent of the Doctor’s adversaries, it was finally time to learn the origin of the Daleks and the writers did not disappoint. This is also the first episode to feature Davros, a truly marvellous villain who would inspire many more stories and give children nightmares for years to come.

Season 25 - Sylvester McCoy - Remembrance of the Daleks

For Day 3 of our year with the Doctor we decided to watch an episode that would be a new experience for both of us, with this in mind we decided to watch the iconic Sylvester McCoy episode ‘The Remembrance of the Daleks’. This episode which was first aired in October 1988 marked the beginning of the 25^th Season of Doctor Who, a remarkable feat. As before the episode aired as 4 segments of 25 minute duration over 4 consecutive weeks and was the last appearance of Davros and the Daleks on television until the show’s revamp in 2005.

One of the great things about this episode (and there are many great things) is the number of little references to Doctor Who and its origins. This episode is set in 1963 around the time that the first Doctor Who was filmed and aired, in the very location that the first episode was set.  We return to Coal Hill School which Susan attended and to the junkyard at 76 Totter’s Lane where the Doctor first parked his Tardis. 

Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor and his assistant Ace have been drawn to 1963 in the course of the Doctor’s quest to secure the hand of Omega. The hand of Omega is a tool designed by a Legendary Time Lord and stellar engineer who created it as a way of manipulating stars to allow the Gallifreyans to time travel. During his research Omega was caught in a supernova caused by his own tool and was sucked into a black hole where he was trapped for the remainder of his life.