Doctor Who Series 5 brings us Matt Smith as the new face of the Doctor, and introduces us to Amy Pond, his new companion. There were several excellent episodes in this season, but my favorites were “Vincent and the Doctor”, “The Lodger”, the two-parter with “The Time of Angels” and “Flesh and Stone”, and the series opener, “The Eleventh Hour”.

We meet Amy Pond in “The Eleventh Hour”, and get introduces to fish fingers and custard, a dubious but delicious combination. Caitlin Blackwood was amazing as the young Amy Pond, and I liked her portrayal even better than Karen Gillan‘s. The story worked really well, too. Having Amy turn out to have been in and out of treatment her whole life was a brilliant move. And bow ties really are cool.

I thought Gillan came into her own in Doctor Who Series 5 as Amy in the two-parter with the Weeping Angels. We got to see more of River Song, too, and Alex Kingston was excellent in “The Time of Angels”. The episode had a little bit of everything, from the excitement of exploration to the jumping-out-of-your-seat moments when the Angels are revealed. This continued in “Flesh and Stone”. Having the Angels be such a powerful and devious race, even more powerful and devious than first thought, worked very well in this episode.

We got to see more of the quirky and fun side of the Doctor in “The Lodger”. While it had its creepy moments (some of them very creepy, indeed), I found the lighter moments to be where Smith shone the brightest. His roommate/companion for the episode, played very well by James Corden, was perfect for the part of the unsuspecting focus of the Doctor’s attentions. How the Doctor was able to help Craig and Sophie get together at the end of the episode was fun to watch.

My favorite episode of Doctor Who Series 5, however, was “Vincent and the Doctor”. The producers of the show struck gold when they found and cast Tony Curran to play the troubled Vincent Van Gogh. He was absolutely perfect in the role. I thought the director captured how it would be to go back in time and meet someone famous before they were famous. All the excitement of doing that coupled with the bewilderment of the not-yet-famous person—it was done brilliantly.

This season was wonderful, with only the hiccup of “The Vampires of Venice” episode slightly marring an otherwise amazing set of episodes in Doctor Who Series 5. Matt Smith is not my favorite Doctor, but he definitely re-energized the series with his quirkiness and unbridled enthusiasm. He brought the fun back to the series.

Episodes:
    The Eleventh Hour Five point zero stars
    The Beast Below Four point zero stars
    Victory of the Daleks Five point zero stars
    The Time of Angels Five point zero stars
    Flesh and Stone Five point zero stars
    The Vampires of Venice Three point five stars
    Amy’s Choice Five point zero stars
    The Hungry Earth Four point five stars
    Cold Blood Four point five stars
    Vincent and the Doctor Five point zero stars
    The Lodger Five point zero stars
    The Pandorica Opens Five point zero stars
    The Big Bang Five point zero stars

Original Air Dates: April 3 – June 26, 2010 (USA)
TV Parental Guidelines Rating: TV-PG
Network: BBC One
Language: English

MySF Rating: Four point five stars
Family Friendliness: 100%

Content:

Alcohol/Drugs: 1 (brief, occasional)
Language: 1 (mostly mild, occasional, deity)
Nudity: 0
Sexuality: 1 (brief, chemise-wearing vampire girls)
Violence: 2 (some fighting, some death, nothing really graphic)