Series 5 (Doctor Who 2005): Difference between revisions

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|companion2  = Rory Williams
|companion2  = Rory Williams
|companion3  = River Song
|companion3  = River Song
|enemy      = Time Field
|enemy      = The Cracks
|producer    = Tracie Simpson
|producer    = Tracie Simpson
|producer2  = Peter Bennett
|producer2  = Peter Bennett
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|enemy = The Cracks|enemy2 = }}{{you may|Season 5|n1=season 5 of the original series}}
|enemy2 =Kovarian Chapter }}{{you may|Season 5|n1=season 5 of the original series}}
'''Series 5''' of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', also known as '''season 31''' for clarity over [[season 5]], began its run on [[BBC One]] on [[3 April (releases)|3 April]] [[2010 (releases)|2010]], — almost twenty-one months after the [[Journey's End (TV story)|last episode]] of the previous [[Series 4 (Doctor Who)|regular series]] — and ended on [[26 June (releases)|26 June]] 2010. It was notable for being the debut series for [[Eleventh Doctor]] [[Matt Smith]] and for introducing a new [[companion]], [[Karen Gillan]]'s [[Amy Pond]] and later [[Arthur Darvill]]'s [[Rory Williams]].
'''Series 5''' of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', also known as '''season 31''' for clarity over [[season 5]], began its run on [[BBC One]] on [[3 April (releases)|3 April]] [[2010 (releases)|2010]], — almost twenty-one months after the [[Journey's End (TV story)|last episode]] of the previous [[Series 4 (Doctor Who)|regular series]] — and ended on [[26 June (releases)|26 June]] 2010. It was notable for being the debut series for [[Eleventh Doctor]] [[Matt Smith]] and for introducing a new [[companion]], [[Karen Gillan]]'s [[Amy Pond]] and later [[Arthur Darvill]]'s [[Rory Williams]].



Revision as of 16:53, 9 September 2015

RealWorld.png

You may be looking for season 5 of the original series.

Series 5 of Doctor Who, also known as season 31 for clarity over season 5, began its run on BBC One on 3 April 2010, — almost twenty-one months after the last episode of the previous regular series — and ended on 26 June 2010. It was notable for being the debut series for Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith and for introducing a new companion, Karen Gillan's Amy Pond and later Arthur Darvill's Rory Williams.

From a production standpoint, the series featured the largest number of staff changes since the BBC Wales version debuted in 2005. By far the most publicised was Steven Moffat's replacement of Russell T Davies as head writer, but whole departments within the production got new leadership, as well.

Overview

New production team

Beth Willis, Steven Moffat and Piers Wenger in a publicity shot for Series 5.

In the spring of 2008, it was announced that Steven Moffat, who had written Hugo Award-winning or -nominated scripts for the revived series in each of its first four seasons and whose association with Doctor Who dated back to his writing the Comic Relief parody The Curse of Fatal Death in the late 1990s, would succeed Russell T Davies as head writer and producer of the series. [source needed] Davies officially retired from involvement with the series after the 2009 specials and announced he had no plans to retain any direct connection to the series now Moffat's tenure had begun. [1] However, in 2009 he said he would remain involved with production of Torchwood for the foreseeable future, and hoped to see further crossovers with Doctor Who, indicating he might not completely sever his ties with the parent show.[2] Though a single 2010 two-parter of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Death of the Doctor, featured the Eleventh Doctor and former companion Jo Grant, the following year, Russell T Davies' Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures was cancelled. Following Torchwood: Miracle Day's broadcast in 2011 and Davies' return to the United Kingdom, Torchwood has also been put on hold. [source needed]

Moffat stated that no characters from the Russell T Davies era would return in series 5. [3] This did not prove entirely true. River Song, a Moffat-created character from the Russell T Davies era, returned in four episodes of this series. Fellow executive producer Julie Gardner also left at the end of 2009. She was replaced by Piers Wenger. Beth Willis was added as a third executive producer — giving the show three execs for the first time since Mal Young left at the end of Series 1. The line producer of the series — a position once held by Phil Collinson — was split between Tracie Simpson and Peter Bennett, two members of the production staff who had risen to prominence during the 2009 specials. For the first time since 2005, the series also credited a co-producer, Patrick Schweitzer, for episodes 6 and 10, the two episodes filmed in Croatia. Other senior members of the production staff, such as production designer Ed Thomas and composer Murray Gold remained at their posts.

Several departments underwent big changes beginning with The Eleventh Hour. Directors of photography Rory Taylor and Ernie Vincze — who between them had fairly evenly split responsibilities since 2005 — left, along with Davies and Gardner. They were replaced by a series of individuals, each handling only one or two episodes of the series.

The costume department came under the leadership of Ray Holman, who replaced Louise Page, the longest-serving designer since the Hartnell era costumer Daphne Dare. The change, however, was not just the replacement of one individual with another, as Holman brought in members of his design company to fill junior positions in the costume department.

Series 5 also saw a subtler behind-the-scenes change, especially for the more junior members of the production team. Combined with the general economic downturn that saw an across-the-board cut in jobs, it was also the first year since 2004 that Torchwood was not in some stage of production at BBC Wales. This meant there was some job competition at the Upper Boat Studios. Some long-term members of staff left the studios completely, while others took effective reductions in rank to remain. Arwel Wyn Jones, for instance, went from being the supervising art director for the previous two series to alternating set decorating duties with Julian Luxton. Still others remained in Wales, but shifted to Moffat's other Welsh production, Sherlock, or found placement on Merlin, Being Human, or other BBC Wales programmes.

Series numbering

The run-up to the broadcast of the series premiere was characterised by confusing and sometimes contradictory indications from BBC sources. According to issue 410 of Doctor Who Magazine, the BBC intended to begin the numbering of seasons yet again to reflect the change of production team. Thus, the 2010 season would ostensibly be marketed as "Series 1".[4] A December 2009 announcement by the BBC regarding the show filming in Croatia also referred to the upcoming season as "Series 1."[5] This seemed to be supported by photographs of location filming, which clearly showed clappers labelled "Series 1". This suggested that, at least internally, the production team believed it was, indeed, a "first" series.

However, in early 2010, Steven Moffat indicated in issue 418 of Doctor Who Magazine that this season would be referred to as Season 31. In his column in Issue 417, Moffat addressed the confusion humourously, suggesting the season be called "Series Fnarg". "It's a whole new number," he wrote. "I haven't decided yet, but I think it's even."

Muddying the waters even further, BBC Video announced on 3 March 2010 that the first DVD release of episodes from the series, scheduled for issue in the UK in June 2010, would be titled Series Five, Volume 1.[6]

As of late June 2010, there were conflicting sources which each marketed the series differently. BBC iPlayer listed it as Series 5, as did the DVD releases but on the Doctor Who website, they added a gallery called series 1 wallpapers. Even in the weeks immediately following series broadcast there was no definite information on the "official" numbering system for this series.

However, from around the time of the full series DVD and Blu-ray box set, the name of this series firmly resolved into "series 5". The numbering of later series also firmly confirmed that this was indeed "series 5".

New TARDIS team

During his acceptance speech for the award for Best Drama Performance at the National Television Awards on 29th October 2008, David Tennant announced that he would not return for the 5th series. As the Tenth Doctor's companion, Donna Noble, had been ostensibly written out by the time, Tennant's announcement set up the possibility that series 5 would begin with a completely new set of starring actors. Aside from the special case of Rose, the only reasonably analogous situation in the history of Doctor Who was the start of Jon Pertwee's first season.

On 3rd January 2009, during a special episode of Doctor Who Confidential entitled The Eleventh Doctor, the BBC announced that Matt Smith would be playing the Eleventh Doctor.[7] Smith succeeded Tennant in the last scene of The End of Time and Smith's Doctor was seen crashing towards the Earth in a flaming, badly damaged TARDIS. That scene also confirmed that the Doctor would almost certainly sever connections with previous companions, making way for the introduction of new co-star Karen Gillan, who would play the character of Amy Pond.

New icons

In addition to the cast and crew changes, many of the other continuing elements of the show also underwent major redesigns at the start of the series. Most conspicuous was the 6 October 2009 unveiling of a new series logo — the first significant departure from the one that debuted on Rose. Likewise, the TARDIS itself got a noticeable exterior and radical interior make-over. British tabloid media reported the switch was due to the show's switch to high-definition production,[8] although periodic revisions to the TARDIS are nothing new to the series. Changes both major and minor have occurred numerous times since 1963. Along with the TARDIS change came a substantially redesigned sonic screwdriver, which was expected to remain the Doctor's all-purpose tool as it has been since the series returned in 2005.

The logo for Series 5 as it was originally unveiled in late 2009 and as it is used on merchandise

A new Doctor Who theme arrangement was introduced, replacing the version introduced for the 2007 Christmas special. Discounting closing-credit variations and versions devised for non-series events, this was Murray Gold's third major arrangement of the Ron Grainer/Delia Derbyshire theme. Gold had now arranged more versions of the theme for TV than any other composer. Although some reviews [by whom?] referred to it as a new theme, it was still recognisably the same piece of music dating from 1963.

Television stories

Story arc

Shortly after the airing of the first episode, Matt Smith discussed the cracks in time and the mention of silence falling, telling the interviewer that they would be a key to the series story arc. He also mentioned that the crack might be one of five things that viewers needed to look out for throughout the series. The other four things remained unknown.

In The Eleventh Hour, there was one on Amy's wall and one with a similar shape on the TARDIS scanner, which the Doctor looked at worriedly and quickly turned the screen off. A third crack was seen at the end of The Beast Below on the side of the United Kingdom space ship. The fourth one was seen at the end of Victory of the Daleks on the wall behind the TARDIS right as it disappeared.

The crack played a major role in Flesh and Stone, appearing inside the Byzantium in the 51st century, larger than ever and prompting the Doctor to begin investigating it. The crack was connected to a history-ending, Big Bang-scale temporal explosion, on 26.06.2010 at Amy's wedding. It leaked time energy into the universe. This caused people and events to be erased from history, leaving no traces of their existence except in the memories of time travellers. Several events erased from time by the crack included the Cybermen creating the CyberKing in Victorian London and the Dalek invasion of 2009, both of which occurred late in the Russell T Davies era. The Doctor closed the crack by feeding it an army of Weeping Angels (because they are complicated space-time events), but this was only temporary.

The crack next appeared towards the end of Cold Blood during Rory's death scene. The Doctor reached inside the crack and drew a part of the TARDIS from inside it. (TV: Cold Blood)

In The Lodger, a crack was seen behind Craig Owens' fridge.

A crack appeared on the TARDIS' television screen in The Pandorica Opens, just before River Song left the TARDIS, whilst the words, "Silence will fall", were heard just after she left.

Cast

Recurring

Guest

Regular season

Episode Number Title Writer Director Notes
1 The Eleventh Hour Steven Moffat Adam Smith Introduction of Amy Pond and Rory Williams. The TARDIS undergoes an extensive redesign after being damaged; debut of a new TARDIS prop bearing the St John's Ambulance logo and a new TARDIS console room. First appearance of a crack in time, seen many times throughout Series 5. Destruction of the blue diode sonic screwdriver, which is then replaced with a new model bearing a green diode sheated in 4 clawed prongs.
2 The Beast Below Steven Moffat Andrew Gunn First appearance of Liz Ten.
3 Victory of the Daleks Mark Gatiss Andrew Gunn Reappearance of the Daleks. First appearance of Winston Churchill. Seemingly retcons some of the events in the previous season due to the effects of the cracks in time.
4 & 5 Pt. 1: The Time of Angels
Pt. 2: Flesh and Stone
Steven Moffat Adam Smith Return of River Song & the Weeping Angels. First appearance of The Church.
6 The Vampires of Venice Toby Whithouse Jonny Campbell Rory joins the TARDIS crew.
7 Amy's Choice Simon Nye Catherine Morshead First and only appearance of the Dream Lord. Rory dies in a hallucination. The events of the story take place solely within the Doctor's TARDIS.
8 & 9 Pt. 1: The Hungry Earth
Pt. 2: Cold Blood
Chris Chibnall Ashley Way Reintroduction of the Silurians. Rory dies for the first time. The Doctor discovers his TARDIS is fated to explode.
10 Vincent and the Doctor Richard Curtis Jonny Campbell First appearance of Vincent van Gogh.
11 The Lodger Gareth Roberts Catherine Morshead First appearance of Craig Owens and Sophie. The TARDIS is apparently hijacked and reprogrammed to explode by a Silent.
12 & 13 Pt. 1:The Pandorica Opens
Pt. 2: The Big Bang
Steven Moffat Toby Haynes Return of various enemies; Rory and River Song. Reappearance of Vincent van Gogh, Winston Churchill, and Liz Ten. Rory is brought back to life. Amy and Rory are wed. Resolution of the cracks in time arc by stopping the TARDIS explosion. First mention of the Orient Express spacecraft, later visited in Series 8.

DVD Box Set Mini-episodes

Episode
Number
Title Writer Director Notes
1 Meanwhile in the TARDIS: Part 1 Steven Moffat Richard Senior Set between The Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below
2 Meanwhile in the TARDIS: Part 2 Steven Moffat Richard Senior Set between Flesh and Stone and The Vampires of Venice

Adaptations and merchandising

Home media

DVD

All episodes of Series 5 were released in 2010.

name Number and duration
of episodes
R2 release date R4 release date R1 release date
Doctor Who: Series 5, Volume 1
The Eleventh Hour
The Beast Below
Victory of the Daleks
1 x 65 min.
2 × 45 min.
7 June 2010 1 July 2010
Doctor Who: Series 5, Volume 2
The Time of Angels /
Flesh and Stone
The Vampires of Venice
2 × 45 min.
1 x 50 min.
5 July 2010 5 August 2010
Doctor Who: Series 5, Volume 3
Amy's Choice
The Hungry Earth /
Cold Blood
3 × 45 min. 2 August 2010 2 September 2010
Doctor Who: Series 5, Volume 4
Vincent and the Doctor
The Lodger
The Pandorica Opens /
The Big Bang
2 x 45 min.
1 × 50 min.
1 x 55 min.
6 September 2010 7 October 2010
Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series
The Eleventh Hour
Meanwhile in the TARDIS: Scene 1
The Beast Below
Victory of the Daleks
The Time of Angels /
Flesh and Stone
Meanwhile in the TARDIS: Scene 2
The Vampires of Venice
Amy's Choice
The Hungry Earth /
Cold Blood
Vincent and the Doctor
The Lodger
The Pandorica Opens /
The Big Bang
8 x 45 min.
3 x 50 min.
1 x 55 min.
1 x 65 min.
1 x 3 min.
1 x 4 min.
8 November 2010 2 December 2010 9 November 2010

Novels

Audiobooks

Soundtrack

According to Who Online, the soundtrack for series 5 was released on 8th November, 2010. [9]

External links

Footnotes

  1. BBC News Q&A session with RTD. 4 July 2008.
  2. Den of Geek: Torchwood Series 4 'Ready to Go', accessed 26th July 2009.
  3. Mayer Nissim (Tuesday, March 23 2010). "No past characters" in new 'Doctor Who'. Digital Spy. Retrieved on 2nd August 2011.
  4. "New Companion Confirmed!", Doctor Who Magazine #410 (22nd July 2009), p.5
  5. "series one in croatia", The Doctor Who News Page, 1 December 2009
  6. Doctor Who News Page - Matt Smith First DVD Release Date, accessed 3 March 2010
  7. BBC: New Doctor actor is youngest ever
  8. Dr Who Tardis to get makeover
  9. http://www.drwho-online.co.uk/news/