DOCTOR WHO - SERIES 10

"I'm not doing this to win...I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone...I do what I do because it's right."

I'm going to try and be as positive as I can whilst writing this, because for me, this series of Doctor Who has been...difficult. And believe me, that is putting it lightly. I'm also going to say now, yes, in part this will be a review for this series of Doctor Who, but in part it will also be some stuff on Capaldi's time in the Tardis, because I've got some stuff to say on that too.

Ok then...Onto the series review bit.

It's been clear over the past few years that the quality of Doctor Who on the whole has been declining, probably due to Steven Moffat being head writer, and going against everything Doctor Who has been about from the beginning. Last series, at best, was average. It had it's up and downs, but unfortunately the ups only lasted one or two minutes per every few episodes. The Doctor might get a good speech here or there, like this one for example...

But even good speeches are weighed down by the episode they're in. Looking back, the only truly good episode of series 9 was Hell Bent, which saw the Doctor trapped inside an impossible castle for billions of years. Looking at this series though, there were no truly good episodes. At best, maybe two were average. Average...And yet better than the rest of the series. In the good old days we might have had one or two average episodes followed by the rest of the series being pure gold. Look how far we've come...

I'm going to rush through this next bit, because I want to spend a while focusing on the final two episodes. In the good old days, Doctor Who used to be a lot of fun to watch. But somehow, we've got to the point where every episode has been a struggle from start to finish, and if I'm being perfectly honest, I genuinely don't see why everyone is giving this series so much praise. It's both confusing and just plain weird. The writing, for both the stories being told and the dialogue that filled them has been, well, some of the show's worst. Moffat's decision to do a 'soft reboot' this series just so he gets to explain every little detail to us over and over again seemed so utterly pointless. It's conversations we've seen time and time again but even then it didn't get old because it had good writing behind it.

Moving on to the Companions. Ah, the Companions. Those lucky people who get to travel with the Doctor through space and time. Sarah Jane, Rose, Amy and Rory. And now...Bill and Nardole.

It actually pained me to write those two names so close to the others.

A lot of people have been praising both companions this series, and again, I just don't get it. The inclusion of Matt Lucas' Nardole in most, if not every episode this series has been a complete mystery to me, as I'm not sure who thought that character had any place on TV what so ever. And then there's Bill. I could write a lot about why Bill is possibly my least favourite main companion ever. But I'm not going to, because I've got a feeling it's just going to make me angry. Just know that when she finally left at the end of the finale, even though it was beyond stupid, I had no wish that she'd ever be in the show again.

Ok then, onto the finale, which yes, had it's stupid and completely ridiculous moments. But on the whole, was entirely watchable. Which is more than I can say about the rest of the series. It was revealed just before the series started that John Simm, the man behind the Master from David Tennant's time as the Doctor, would return at the end of this series, to pretty much everyone's excitement because he's perfect for the role.

And while Simm was perfect in his role, there simply wasn't enough of it in the finale, which was hugely disappointing for me. Back to the finale at hand, and the story on the whole was actually...Well I could see where they were going with it, which made a nice change. The Doctor and friends were trapped on a spaceship with a colony of quickly evolving Cybermen, and the Master was sort of around too.

It was good to see an old enemy return, but not enough of the finale was dedicated to them...

The thing about the finale is...there were moments where it would've been a suitable send off for Capaldi's Doctor. The speech about doing what he does because it's right, and not for glory or reward was quite a good moment, and made a lasting impression for the remainder of the episode. Well, the remainder of the episode, until he decided he didn't want to change any more. Which, y'know, would've been effective with literally any other Doctor ever. But as Capaldi began ripping off quotes from old Doctors, including Tom Baker's 'the original, you might say' and David Tennant's 'I don't want to go', any effect his previous speech had faded almost instantly. Capaldi's time in the Tardis has been bogged down by bad writing, which I'm sure will continue into the Christmas special, after all, any of those written by Moffat are usually crap. Yes, I wanted to see Capaldi regenerate simply for the satisfaction of it, but more than that, the finale would've been a good send off had the last ten minutes been in line with the rest of the story.

About time to wrap it up I think. On the whole, there's no doubt in my head that this series of Doctor Who has been the worst to date. The writing, the companions, even Capaldi himself, who up until now I had hoped was a good Doctor in-waiting got progressively worse as the series went on. The inclusion of the original Cybermen and John Simm's Master was an almost redeeming touch for the finale, but both were under-used, and unfairly so, especially given that it was the first ever multi-Master story, when in truth it featured very little of either incarnation. The finale itself was a wasted, and potentially good send off for Capaldi, but now we'll have to wait until Christmas to see what Moffat has in store for us. Whatever it is, my hopes are low.

I guess, in a way, Capaldi's Doctor was just one of those characters who never really got enough time to shine and leave a lasting impression. Yes, he had good moments throughout his time as the Doctor, but a good speech here or there isn't really good enough when you consider the quality of the other Doctor's since the show was reborn in 2005. I would've liked to have seen him under the writing of the show's incoming new head writer, but alas, it's probably best a new Doctor gets the spotlight.

"Everything ends and it's always sad. But everything begins again too and that's always happy." - The 12th Doctor