| Season Start: | 03 April 2010 | | Season End: | 26 June 2010 | | Season Length: | 13 Weeks | | Writers: | Chris Chibnall, Gareth Roberts, Mark Gatiss, Richard Curtis, Simon Nye, Steven Moffat and Toby Whithouse | | Directors: | Adam Smith, Andrew Gunn, Ashley Way, Catherine Morshead, Jonny Campbell and Toby Haynes | | Producers: | Patrick Schweitzer, Peter Bennett and Tracie Simpson | | Executive Producers: | Beth Willis, Piers Wenger and Steven Moffat | | Script Editors: | Brian Minchin, Emma Freud and Lindsey Alford | | Visual Effects: | BBC Wales Graphic Design, BBC Wales Graphics, Dave Houghton, Jenna Powell, The Mill and Will Cohen | | Special Effects: | Real SFX | | Title Sequence: | Frame Store | | Title Music: | Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Arranged by Murray Gold |
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Incarnation of the Doctor: |
The Eleventh Doctor (Newly Regenerated)
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| Number of
Companions: |
2 |
| The
Companions: |
Amy Pond (Joins) and Rory Williams (Joins and Departs)
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| Number of
Acquaintances: |
2
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| The
Acquaintances: |
River Song (Rejoins and Departs) and Winston Churchill (Joins and Departs)
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| Number of
Stories: |
10
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| Number of
Incomplete/Missing Stories: |
0
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| Number of
Episodes: |
13
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| Number of
Incomplete/Missing Episodes: |
0
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| Percentages: |
| Full Stories Held | 100% | | Episodes Held | 100% |
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| Doctor Who Magazine Poll (2014) | |
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| Daleks |
| | Cybermen |
| | Sontarans |
| | Others |
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Atraxi (The Eleventh Hour), Autons (The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang), Francesco (The Vampires of Venice), Hawthorne (The Beast Below), Krafayis (Vincent and The Doctor), Prisoner Zero (The Eleventh Hour), Rosanna Calvierri (The Vampires of Venice), Saturnynians (The Vampires of Venice), Silurians (The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood and The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang), Sycorax (The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang), The Auto Pilot (The Lodger), The Eknodine (Amy's Choice), The Judoon (The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang), The Smilers (The Beast Below), The Valeyard (Amy's Choice), The Weeping Angels (The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone), Time Field (The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang) and Weevils (The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang) |
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 'Amy Pond, there is something you better understand about me ‘cos it’s important
and one day your life might depend on it. I’m definitely a mad man with a box.'
The Doctor
(The Eleventh Hour) |
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| Amy and The Doctor |
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This season is the first for Matt Smith, as the Eleventh Doctor, and for his new companion, Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan. It also is the first season that Steven Moffat has overseen as Head Writer and Executive Producer. As well as changes on both sides of the camera this season heralded a new title sequence, logo and a more upbeat theme music.
The season started off where Season Thirty (New Series 4 Specials), the previous season starring David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, left off. Having undergone a rather violent regeneration, which nearly destroyed the TARDIS, the first story of this season, "The Eleventh Hour", starts with The Doctor hanging on for dear life as the TARDIS hurtles out of control over London. The TARDIS eventually comes to earth, on its side, in the back garden of the home of seven year old Amelia Pond, who is played by Karen Gillan’s cousin, Caitlin Blackwood.
This story has the most unusual introduction of a companion that there has ever been in the show. Not only do we get to meet Amy Pond (as her adult version is called) as a young child but also two versions of her as an adult. When The Doctor is forced to pilot the TARDIS into the future, so as to stabilise its engines, he leaves the young Amelia behind, sitting on a small suitcase, waiting for The Doctor to return in five minutes as he promised. However, when the TARDIS materialises back in Amelia's back garden twelve years have passed (it is now 2008 instead of 1996) and Amelia Pond has grown up. Finally in this story The Doctor takes another trip in the TARDIS (again only intending to be gone for a few minutes) only to return in 2010 on the eve of her wedding day. Unaware of the importance that the following day The Doctor allows Amy Pond to join him in the TARDIS and so her adventure of a lifetime starts.
This season introduced some new enemies (including: Atraxi, Dream Lord, Krafayis, Prisoner Zero, Saturnynians, Eknodine, Smilers and Weevils), re-introduced some previous seen enemies (these were Autons, Cybermen, Sontarans, The Judoon and the Weeping Angels) and some that have been revamped for this season (these were Daleks and the Silurians). We also see the return of River Song who The Doctor first met in the 2008 story "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead". This season also has The Doctor and Amy meeting some famous people from the past - namely war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the famous painter Vincent Van Gogh.
But it was the Dalek’s make-over that caused the most comments by fans and the press - and not all favourable. "Victory of the Daleks" started off being a typical Dalek story reminiscent of those seen in the 1960’s - especially the Second Doctor’s debut story "The Power of the Daleks" where the Daleks in this earlier story also masquerade as being loyal servants but secretly are working to a secret agenda. In "Victory of the Daleks" this agenda is the birth of a new race of Daleks. Larger and deadlier than any Dalek that The Doctor has encountered before. Unfortunately the primary colour scheme and larger plastic looking side panels used for this new breed of Daleks resulted in them being likened to plastic toys and they have even described as being ‘CBeebies Daleks’. The revamp of another iconic enemy though was a far greater success.
The seventh story of this season, "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood" heralded the welcome return of the Silurians. First seen in the 1970 Third Doctor story "Doctor Who and the Silurians" these classic creatures have a very unique can place in Doctor Who. They are not alien nor are they truly an enemy. Being the original inhabitants of Earth they actually have more of a right to live on Earth as the humans do. Like in his previous encounters The Doctor tries to broker a peace between the two races and despite there being on both sides key members who are susceptible for this to happen he has to overcome key individuals, also on both sides, who are either ignorant or are just power crazy and war like. The Silurians seen in this story are more realistic looking then their earlier versions and the costumes worn by the key figures make them more regal looking.
Like in previous seasons all the stories in this season led or had elements that build up to the season’s finale. In the case for this season "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang". However, like the ending of "Amy's Choice" you may have been left wondering if previous events really happened. However, unlike "Amy's Choice", in which everything that occurred except for the very ending in that particular story turned out to be all a dream, the ending of "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang" resulted in one huge paradox.
As a means for the Universe to be reinstated The Doctor uses River Song’s Vortex Manipulator and the Pandorica to reach the heart of the exploding TARDIS. This ended in all the cracks in the universe sealing up so trapping The Doctor in an alternative Universe. With the known Universe returned to normal Amy and Rory live their lives without The Doctor’s influence and, in the case of Amy with her parents – now that there is no crack in her bedroom to erase them from her history. At the end of this story Amy and Rory get married rather than Amy departing in the TARDIS on the eve of her wedding day. It is only during their wedding reception that Amy finally remembers The Doctor and his TARDIS – after The Doctor had planted a thought in Amy’s sub-conscious, when he visited her when she was seven years old just after he departed in the TARDIS, shortly after meeting her for the first time. This allowed him to return to our Universe and it is then, just before the final story of this season ended, that Amy and Rory join him in his travels.
With this paradox taking place it would therefore be easy to assume therefore that all the events from The Doctor arriving at Amelia’s house did not take place as the story ended with Amy Pond and Rory getting married and then joining The Doctor in the TARDIS. But before this The Doctor witnesses events from his recent past, and from recent stories. These include: "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone", "The Lodger", and "The Eleventh Hour". For The Doctor to revisit these events the stories in this season must have taken. Also for the cracks in the universe to be sealed and for the events that occurred in River Song’s past (as it was a River Song from the future who assists The Doctor) then the events in "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone", and in their previous adventure together,- the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead", must have taken place for the paradox to occur.
As to viewing figures for the Eleventh Doctor and Amy’s first season (and the first for Steven Moffat at the helm) the first story, "The Eleventh Doctor", attracted 10.1 million viewers. This may not be as high as the average for the previous season (which was watched by an average of 11.2 million viewers) but this story was still watched by more than the average for the whole of the Tenth Doctor’s era. However, "The Eleventh Doctor" was to become the highest watched story of the season as the number of viewers slowly dropped for the remaining stories until the penultimate story, "The Lodger", which was only watched by 6 million viewers. The final story did gain a few more viewers (6.5 million) but this was not enough to prevent it becoming the least watched finale of the revamped series to date. Two possible reasons for this steady decline could be down to the 2010 FIFA World Cup football tournament and the hot weather experienced over the most of the UK during the later half of the season.
Many fans may have mourned David Tennant’s decision to give up playing possible the most popular incarnation of The Doctor (since Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor at least) but despite the low viewing figures the show was still in safe hands with the prospect of many great stories still to come and the answer as to who was behind the TARDIS to exploding and exactly what was meant by ‘The Silence will fall’. Until then as the caption, after the end credits of "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang", stated ‘Doctor Who Returns Christmas 2010’.
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| The Alliance |
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This season is full of scenes that are a joy to watch. From a khaki coloured Dalek carrying a cup of tea on a tray fixed to its plunger to The Doctor taken aback by a very expectant Amy. We even get to watch The Doctor try to masquerade as a normal human being so that he can rent a room in a house that very strange and deadly events are occurring in the first floor flat. This story, "The Lodger" even has The Doctor playing in a football match scoring many goals. But it is the scenes in the opening story "The Eleventh Hour" where we are introduced to his new companion. Not once but twice before she finally gets to join The Doctor in the TARDIS.
As well as having the return of the Daleks this season also has two stories where The Doctor came face-to-face with creatures that he has encountered before. In "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone" The Doctor and Amy, who are joined by River Song (who the Tenth Doctor previously encountered in the 2008 story "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead"), have to face the return of the Weeping Angels. In The Doctors first encounter (see the 2007 story "Blink") there are only a few. But in "The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone" there are hundreds and it seems that they are more deadly and ruthless. The most memorable scene is when Amy, who is unable to see, is forced to walk through a forest full of Weeping Angels, in a manner that will not make them realise that she can’t see them. As in the early story the Weeping Angels can only move when no one is looking at them and so they will not harm her – until that is when she trips over a tree root and the heads of the closest Weeping Angels turn to face Amy.
The second story is "The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood" in which The Doctor encounters the Silurians once more. Like in his first encounter (see the 1970 Third Doctor story "Doctor Who and the Silurians") these reptiles, who lived on the surface of the Earth long before humans populated the planet, have been disturbed by human activity. This time by a drilling project. When The Doctor goes underground to try and broker a peace with the Silurians he is shocked to discover that there are not just a small handful of the reptiles but a whole underground city. Undaunted The Doctor continues in his quest unaware that a Silurian that had been captured, when it had been part of a raiding party above ground, has been killed. Worse still the dead Silurian is a family member of another Silurian who is determined, regardless of the cost, to wipe all ‘apes’, as she calls them, off the face of the Earth.
The must see story, because it contains the most number of enemies, is "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang". The end of the first part of this story has Autons, Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, The Judoon, Sycorax, Hoix, Silurians, Roboforms, Blowfish, Weevils and Uvodni. Known as ‘The Alliance’ never before has The Doctor had to face so many foes at the same time. But the biggest surprise is when it is revealed that the Pandorica does not contain the most deadly being in the Universe, as expected, but is instead a prison. Worse still, for The Doctor, the newly formed alliance has arranged for him to be placed in as they believe imprisoning The Doctor will prevent the destruction of the Universe. And so as the Pandorica closes The Doctor is powerless to prevent the destruction of his TARDIS, the death of Amy at the hands of Rory, who turns out to be an Auton, and the destruction of all the galaxies in the universe. Only the Earth remains (for now) but with a night sky containing not one single star…
In the second part of this story The Doctor has one of the most interesting and original means of escaping from the Pandorica. This sequence is a must watch part of this story as is the scenes were The Doctor, Amy Rory and River Song are chased around a museum by a Stone Dalek. Brilliant stuff…
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| Bracewell's Ironside |
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A strong candidate for the highest point of this season must go to the scenes in the opening story "The Eleventh Hour" between The Doctor and seven year old Amelia Pond. Having been disturbed, while requesting for a policeman, or someone, to mend the crack in her bedroom wall, Amelia encounters the newly regenerated Doctor who emerges from the TARDIS that has crash-landed in her back garden - demolishing a garden shed in the process. The scenes that follow, once they enter her home, are a joy to watch as the young Amelia tries to satisfy The Doctor craving for food which is only successful when he discovers, in the fridge, Fish Fingers and Custard. It is not until The Doctor departs in the TARDIS, promising to return in five minutes, and the TARDIS materialises once more in the back garden that we get to meet The Doctor’s newest companion, the adult version of Amy Pond. The Doctor has arrived twelve years later and Amy has grown up. At first he does not recognise her. The comical thing is she is dressed as a police woman and, despite her working as a kissogram, she knocks him over the head with a baseball bat and handcuffs him to a radiator when she mistakes him for an intruder.
Another high point is when The Doctor is summoned by Winston Churchill to a 1941 war-torn London. There he encounters Bracewell’s Ironsides. Or to give them their correct name - Daleks. But these Daleks, in khaki green, seem to be working for Great Britain as loyal servants and using their sophisticated armaments against the German Luftwaffe, who are carrying out bombing raiders over London. It seems only The Doctor sees them as they really are. Not even Amy recognises the danger they pose. This may be the first time she has encountered them directly but The Doctor is confused as to why she does not recognise them from their recent invasion of Earth in her timeline (see the 2008 Tenth Doctor story "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End"). The Daleks try reason for helping the British Government is eventually revealed when The Doctor, in frustration, has to resort to violence against one of them. However, he has fallen into their trap as all along they have manipulated The Doctor into confirming that the are Daleks so that their DNA can be accepted as the catalysis to give rise to a new breed of Daleks. Daleks that are larger and more deadly than any that have gone before.
The lowest point of the season is a choice between the new design and colouring of this new breed of Daleks, the second story of the season, "The Beast Below", or "Amy’s Choice". For the reasons for the disappointment in the new-look Daleks see A Seasonal Summary above.
In "The Beast Below" the beast turned out to be a Space Whale providing the propulsion system for a colony ship from the Earth, which has been devastated by solar flares, containing the remnants of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The most obvious threat are The Smilers - enamel-painted heads (which swivel around to show either; a happy face, an unhappy face or an angry face) that are housed in strange fairground type booths. Unfortunately, like the tormented Space Whale, they proved to be not much of a threat at all.
"Amy’s Choice" involved two different worlds. In one The Doctor, Amy and Rory are trapped inside a powerless TARDIS which is heading towards a cold star. While in the other reality a heavily pregnant Amy is living with and Rory when they are visited by The Doctor just as the elderly inhabitants of the village start to attack them and other younger residents. As the storyline flits between the two realities they are visited by the Dream Lord who reveals to them that one of the realities is real while the other is just a dream. They have to decide which is which. If they get it wrong and are killed in the fake world then they will wake up permanently in the real one. But if they die in the real world then their death will be permanent. As it turns out neither were real and so nothing apart from the very end really happened.
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The Firsts:
Matt Smith's first full story as the Eleventh Doctor. (The Eleventh Hour)
The introduction of companion Amy Pond played by Karen Gillan. (The Eleventh Hour)
Steven Moffat's, Piers Wenger's and Beth Willis' first involvement in the show as Executive Producers. (The Eleventh Hour)
Amy Pond's first trip in the TARDIS and her first trip to the future. (The Beast Below)
The first time that the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond encounter the Daleks. (Victory of the Daleks)
Amy Pond's first trip to an alien planet. (The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone)
The first trip in the TARDIS for Rory Williams, played by Arthur Darvill, and also his first story as an official companion. (The Vampires of Venice)
The first appearance of The Silurians in the revamped television series and the first for 26 years - since the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "Warriors of the Deep". (The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood)
The first story where a companion (Rory) has died while travelling with The Doctor in the revamped television series and the first for 28 years - since Adric in the 1982 Fifth Doctor story "Earthshock". (The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood)
The first time that the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond encounter the Cybermen. (The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang)
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| Doctor Who Magazine - Countdown to 50 | Issue 463 - (Released: September 2013) |
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The Doctor and Companions/Acquaintances| |  | | The Eleventh Doctor |
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| | | | |
 | | River Song |
|  | | Amy Pond |
|  | | Rory Williams |
| | | | |  | | Winston Churchill |
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On Release | | Complete Series DVD Box Set |
VIDEO |
|  | | Complete Series Blu-Ray Box Set |
VIDEO |
|  | | Complete Series Ltd Edition DVD Box Set |
VIDEO |
|  | | Complete Series Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set |
VIDEO |
| | | | |  | | Original Television Soundtrack Cover |
AUDIO |
|  | | The Essential Companion Cover |
AUDIO |
|  | | Complete Series 1-7 Ltd Edition Blu-Ray Box Set |
VIDEO |
|  | Complete Series DVD Box Set
(2014 Re-release) |
VIDEO |
| | | | |  | | Complete Series Blu-Ray Limited Edition Steelbook Box Set |
VIDEO |
|  | | Original Television Soundtrack Vinyl Cover |
AUDIO |
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Magazines| |  | | Doctor Who Magazine - Countdown to 50: Issue 463 |
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