The "New" Doctor's First Season Ends with Mixed Results

It's tough to come in and take over a role that was mastered by someone else. David Tennant had become the most popular actor to play the classic sci-fi character from British television, Doctor Who. He had even managed to surpass the popularity of the signature who played him in the 1970s, Tom Baker. He deserved that praise, because he was brilliant. He added humor, excitement and just a touch of menaced to the role that made it something fantastic to behold and something to look forward to every weekend on BBC America.

Matt Smith had quite a task ahead of him when he stepped into the role for the first time this season. What would happen? Would be take the character in radical new directions or would he ruin what to many is a beloved character? He was the youngest actor yet to take on the role and he was hardly well known. Well, the good news is he did just fine.

The first season with the new Doctor has now ended. The good news is that Matt Smith is excellent in the role. He manages to incorporate the elements that Tennant added to the character and then add his own. This Doctor retains his supreme confidence but he adds a tremendous and welcome sense of humor and compassion to his role. This Doctor is not afraid to be silly at times and he insists that "bow ties are cool." Well, with the way this Doctor wears them, they are.

All season long the series was building to something. This is the common thing in these ongoing series these days. You have a "monster of the week" but there is an over-arching story that follows the characters throughout the season. Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer called this the "Big Bad" which tormented the main character all season and culminated in a final climax every year. Now the Doctor has to have something similar.

This year that strange thing was a crack in time and space that started in the first episode as we met the new Doctor and his new companion, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan). This crack followed the Doctor all season long as we met and grew to love Amy who seemed, like so many others, obsessed with the Doctor. Then we met her fiance, Rory, and got to know him too. By the end of the season this Doctor had faced old enemies like the Daleks and race of Reptilian humanoids. He had run into Cybermen and then faced off against vampiric angel statues. In each case the strange crack in time and space would show and erase key characters from existence.

The season has now ended. The climax was reached. All in all it was a good season but I feel that the writers faltered a bit with the ending. They should have ended one episode sooner than they did.

The finale was a two-parter involving something called the "Pandorica." This turned out to be the ultimate prison for the ultimate threat in the universe. Then, as the prison cube begins transmitting its presence to the universe all of the Doctor's enemies suddenly show in Earth's ancient history. Daleks, Cyberman, Santorans and more all showed up to confront the Doctor and open the Pandorica. It turned out the ultimate threat was the Doctor himself and the prison was made for him.

To me, this is where the season should have ended. The climax seemed perfect for a cliffhanger. In previous years, this is where the story would have ended for the season, leaving you for the summer wondering how the Doctor would escape the inescapable prison. Sadly, this did not happen with the new writers, producers and season.

Instead viewers had to witness the Doctor as he made good his escape and then suffer through a treacly happy ending to boot. It was cute and it was funny, but the ending just seemed to be a bit of an anti-climax after the season-long build up. Yes, the TARDIS exploded, but even that was resolved.

The point of a good season finale is to leave you gasping for breath and wondering what will happen next. This, then, provides the motivation to sit in front of the television again when the new season starts to find out what happens next. That didn't quite happen with this Doctor and at the end of this season.

It is a small quibble, really. I will be back. I love the characters and I want to see where they go next. However, the climax of seeing the Doctor enclosed in a prison and finding out what happens next would have been a little bit better.