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| A Christmas Carol |
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 After the changes made for Season Thirty One (New Series 5), which was the first for Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, one could be forgiven that his second season would be much the same. How wrong this turned out to be.
Even before this season started, with the first actual story of the season "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon", this season was preceded by two very special and interesting stories.
First we had the 2010 Christmas Special "A Christmas Carol" which many fans have described as the best and most Christmassy festive special ever. This story was set on an alien planet that had very Dickensian elements. It also introduced the concept of fish 'swimming' in the atmosphere. This story though is mostly remembered for containing the wonderful performance of Michael Gambon, as Kazran/Elliot Sardick, and Katherine Jenkins, as Abigail - who also provided the musical elements of this story. These two very capable guest stars, along with the performances of the regular cast (Matt Smith, Karen Gillian, as Amy Pond, and Arthur Darvill, as Rory Williams) made this a very memorable and enjoyable Christmas story - which the viewing figures of 12.1 million back this up.
"A Christmas Carol" was the first story to have been simulcast on BBC One HD, which was launched in November 2010. Earlier in the 2010 the Eleventh Doctor’s debut series had been broadcast on BBC HD, which would often feature a very different line-up to BBC One itself.
Then during the Comic Relief charity event, in March 2011, two mini-episodes (each approximately 7 minutes in length) of a special story called "Space/Time" was broadcast. This special was set entirely aboard the TARDIS and due to a mishap by Rory (that was inadvertently trigged by Amy's short skirt) resulted in the TARDIS materialising inside itself and there being at certain stages two time-lines of each of the regular cast. This even resulted in an amusing scene in which Amy is seen flirting with her other self.
It was though not until Easter that this season properly started but these two specials, along with the numerous trailers and even a prequel to "The Impossible Astronaut", had set the scene for what would be a memorable second season for the Eleventh Doctor.
This season though is unique in the history of the show. It is the first ever to be shown in two halves and the first, of the revived series, to start with a two part story. This first story is also unique as it contains the first Doctor Who story to be co-produced with BBC America and to have significant location filming in America as well as being set there.
In "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" we also see the return of River Song, the introduction of The Silence and the apparent death of The Doctor – who is shot by an astronaut that appears from the water.
The Silence were the force that were responsible for causing the TARDIS to explode in the 2010 story "The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang" and they have been described as being ‘the scariest monsters yet’. "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" includes flash-backs to two stories from Season Thirty One (New Series 5) - "The Eleventh Hour" and "The Vampires of Venice" – so reminding us that references to The Silence can be found as far back as the Eleventh Doctor’s first story.
"The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" also sees the beginning of this season's story-arc - Amy's pregnancy and River Song's true identity. Details of these story-threads would though not be revealed until "A Good Man Goes To War" - the final story of the first-half of this season – when in the final moments of this story it is revealed that River Song is in fact Amy’s daughter.
Certainly the first-half of this season ended with a fantastic cliff-hanger and with The Doctor determined to track down Amy’s baby viewers had to wait over the Summer months, until the Autumn, for the second-half of this ground-breaking season.
It did not seem as long a wait as expected for the season to continue and the second half of the season started with the rather evocatively titled story "Let's Kill Hitler" which was the concluding part of the storyline started in "A Good Man Goes to War". "Let's Kill Hitler" finally brought Amy and her daughter, Melody Pond, back together - but only after a very unexpected twist involving Amy's best friend Mels turning out to be Melody Pond, who is then seen regenerating into River Song.
In addition "Let's Kill Hitler" also continues the storyline of the task (set by Madame Kovarian in "A Good Man Goes to War") for River Song to kill The Doctor. River Song very nearly succeeds but when she finally learns the truth of who River Song is she instead sacrifices all her remaining regenerations to save The Doctor.
Thinking that River Song is in a safe place, where she will be able to find her own way in life without being influenced by anyone, The Doctor, Amy and Rory continue their travels in the TARDIS. However, Amy and Rory are unaware that The Doctor has discovered the truth of what is going to happen to him (which we witnessed in "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon"). He also learns of the date of his death...
And so a further four stories take place where they encounter a very scared young boy and a deadly dolls house inside his bedroom wardrobe. Then they encounter an older Amy in an alien hospital complex. Then they encounter a relative of the Nimon (in what they think is a hotel on Earth but is in fact a prison aboard a spaceship). Finally The Doctor is reunited with Craig Owen (who he first met in the 2010 story "The Lodger") in "Closing Time".
"Closing Time" also included a number of Cybermen whose spaceship had become buried underground on top of which a department store has been built. Curious about the fluctuations in the electricity supply in the area and the report of missing people The Doctor, with the help of Craig, discovers not only the Cybermen but also, for the first time since the show was revived in 2005, their rodent-like helpers – The Cybermats…
This all leads to The Doctor, now separated from his travelling companions, finally having to come to terms with his destiny in "The Wedding of River Song" - the final story of this season. This story contains the answers to two of the biggest questions of all - Will The Doctor really die on the shore of Lake Silencio and who was in the astronaut suit that shots him? To answer these questions this story includes a number of flashback scenes from "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" and some interesting twists to the various timelines for the main characters.
This final story also includes the use of real television presenters and the return of a number of influential people from past seasons (namely Winston Churchill (played by Ian McNeice) and Charles Dickens (played by Simon Callow)). The most significant and poignant scene was when The Doctor learns that his old friend Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart has died. This is a very fitting tribute to Nicholas Courtney, who played the part of The Brigadier, who died in February 2011.
This is not the only tribute to a former regular cast member of the show as "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" starts with a pre-credit tribute to the actress who played the part of popular companion Sarah Jane Smith, Elisabeth Sladen who passed away four days before this story was broadcast.
Unlike the Eleventh Doctor's first season (Season Thirty One (New Series 5)), if you ignore the 2010 Christmas special ("A Christmas Carol") the viewing figures for each story did not vary much. Having been watched by 12.1 million viewers "A Christmas Carol" became the most watched Eleventh Doctor story to date - bettering his 10.1 million debut in "The Eleventh Hour" by over two million viewers. This story also became the fourth most-watched Doctor Who story of the revived series (of the 74 episodes shown up to this story).
Of the main stories of this season it was those that started each half that were watched the most. Interestingly the spring half of the season faired slightly better than the autumn half (7.7 million viewers compared to 7.3). Up until "The God Complex" the viewing figures remained fairly constant but they dropped off "The God Complex" and "Closing Time" before rallying slightly for the season's finale. Overall the average figures for the whole season were slightly higher than for the previous season.
No major changes occurred behind the camera. The only significant changes being that after being Associate Producer for seven stories this season Denise Paul was credited as Producer for "Closing Time". It was also announced that this would be the last season for Executive Producer Beth Willis who joined the show at the beginning of Season Thirty One (New Series 5) - in "The Eleventh Hour".
It was also announced, just before the broadcast of "The Wedding of River Song", that the popular behind-the-scenes programme, that has accompanied each Doctor Who episode since the show was revived in 2005, was no longer going to be made. Therefore the thirteenth chapter of the sixth series of Doctor Who Confidential, titled "When Time Froze", was the last made.
This episode, shown on BBC3 after "The Wedding of River Song", included a special mini-episode "Death is the Only Answer". It was written via a competition (Script to Screen), in which junior schools were invited to write a script including the Eleventh Doctor and an enemy of his. This competition was won by the Pupils of Oakley CE Junior School. As well as starring Matt Smith, as the Eleventh Doctor, Nickolas Grace played the part of Albert Einstein. It was directed by Jeremy Webb.
As to the main cast for this season as it finished it was not clear if Karen Gillan, who played Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill, who played Rory Williams, or Alex Kingston, who played River Song, had finally parted company with the Eleventh Doctor. Both Amy and Rory left the TARDIS at the end of "The God Complex" when The Doctor takes them both back to Earth – explaining to Amy that he can't keep putting them in danger and that it is best for the two of them to stop travelling with him otherwise their faith in him will ultimately lead to their deaths.
Both Amy and Rory are seen in a short cameo scene in the following story, "Closing Time", where it is revealed that Amy has become famous and is seen giving an autograph to a little girl. The final story of this season sees them both caught up in the mixed-up timeline helping The Doctor put things right. At the very end of this story Amy, Rory are reunited with an earlier version of River Song (fresh from the crash of the Byzantium in River Song's own timeline) learning that The Doctor has not died.
We will therefore have to wait and see if The Doctor will gain any new travelling companions in future stories and if Amy, Rory or River Song will join him once again in the TARDIS.
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| The Silence |
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In "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" we see the return of River Song and the introduction of what has been described as the scariest Doctor Who monster, The Silence, who are forgotten as soon as you look away. At first it is Amy who sees the Silence but then River Song and Rory become aware of them. But all of them instantly forget all about them once they look away or become distracted. The best scene is when Amy is in the ladies inside the White House and witnesses a member of staff interact with a Silence and then forget ever having seen it – making her realise The Silence have very unique powers.
But the biggest shock of this story was the scene when the ‘future’ version of The Doctor is shot dead by the astronaut that appears from the water. Unfortunately, for The Doctor, we also witness the astronaut shooting him a second time as he starts to regenerate resulting in The Doctor appearing to be killed outright. This particular scene ended with a very distraught Amy and then everyone becoming confused when they realise that The Doctor is still alive – all-be-it a younger version of the Eleventh Doctor. This story also contained a scene, at the end, of a little girl apparently regenerating.
But after the first story and before "A Good Man Goes To War" this season includes three other great stories: in "The Curse of the Black Spot" The Doctor and his companions get involved with pirates and a Siren that kidnaps crewmembers of a sailing ship as and when they become injured; This is followed by "The Doctor’s Wife" where The Doctor is lured to a far distant asteroid and nearly loses his TARDIS, only to realise that the woman he meets has in fact become the TARDIS but in human form: Then finally there is the two-part story "The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People" in which The Doctor, Amy and Rory encounter doppelgangers of not only the humans but of The Doctor himself. It is though at the very end of this story that it is revealed that Amy is in fact a Ganger and that she had been kidnapped, by Madame Kovarian (otherwise known as the Eye Patch Lady) whom Amy had been occasionally seeing, through open hatchways, throughout the first-half of this season. With the Ganger Amy disposed of the real Amy awakes to find herself heavily pregnant and about to give birth. The reason for Amy’s kidnapping and the subsequent abduction of Amy’s baby by Madame Kovarian is revealed in the next story – along with the revelation, at the end of this final story, that River Song is in fact Amy’s daughter.
The second half of this season started with "Let's Kill Hitler". Despite its title we do not see much of Adolf Hitler but we do get the brilliant scene where Adolf Hitler gets to thank The Doctor for saving his life – thanks to the out of control TARDIS smashing through the windows of his office just at the point when he is about to be assassinated by a shape-shifting robot known as a Tessalecta. This story also contains the brilliant scene where Rory gets the chance to hit Adolf Hitler before locking him up in a cupboard.
The end of this story contains a very important scene in which The Doctor learns of when he is going to die – an event that has already been witnessed by Amy, Rory and an older version of River Song. It is this that we had to wait until the final story to see exactly how, and if, The Doctor would survive what seemed to be an inevitable event. This final story also revealed who was inside the astronaut that is seen emerging from the lake.
But before these questions were answered, in the final story of the season, there were four other stories of which two stood out as must sees. The first of these was "The Girl Who Waited". Having only two additional cast members it was still a powerful and moving drama. It was though brought to life by a sensational performance by Karen Gillan, playing the part of Amy Pond, who we are already used to, but also the embittered older version of her character stranded in quarantine and forced into hiding to survive as she waited, for far longer than she has had to wait for The Doctor before, to be rescued.
The other must see story was "Closing Time" - which not only had the Eleventh Doctor travelling alone for the first time, since meeting Amy in his very first story, "The Eleventh Hour", but also sees The Doctor reunited with Craig Owen (who he first met in the 2010 story "The Lodger"). Craig has become a father with a very young son and this meant we witnessed some very amusing and memorable scenes of The Doctor once again understanding ‘baby’ talk and having to deal with Craig’s new role as a father left alone for the first time to look after his son - especially the interaction between The Doctor and Craig as he comes to terms of being a father. In this story The Doctor also encounters the Cybermen whose spaceship is buried under a department store. In this story The Doctor is travelling alone but despite this we still get to see Amy and Rory in a short scene where it is revealed that Amy has become famous and is seen giving an autograph to a little girl.
But of course it was the end of the season that we were all waiting for. As well as finally resolving all the unanswered questions that had been posed in "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon", the final story of this season, "The Wedding of River Song", contained some very memorable scenes – especially the opening pre-credits sequence where a steam train is seen exiting from a skyscraper above the city of London while cars travel suspended from balloons. In this time-confused London, London picnickers are warned not to feed the pterodactyls and Charles Dickens is interviewed about his new Christmas ghost special. This mix-up of time is all caused by a woman - according to his Holy Roman Emperor Winston Churchill’s soothsayer (who turns out to be The Doctor).
Could he be referring to Amy, River Song or Madame Kovarian? Certainly the return of The Silence could have made you think at first that it was Madame Kovarian but then when Amy, wearing an eye-patch, arrives and shoots The Doctor she becomes the main suspect. It was not until later, when The Doctor learns that his old friend The Brigadier has died, that he realises that he has no choice but to accept his fate and that his time has come. And so the events already witnessed in "The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon" take place but this time we get to see who is inside the astronaut suit and how The Doctor literally cheats death.
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