3 Reasons I Don’t Like the Doctor Who Seasons 5 and 6 (as Much as I Liked the Older Ones)

1)   There has been no change in the doctor or his companions from season 5 to season 6. This was one of my favorite things about Doctor Who, having either a new companion or a new Doctor each season. I loved the change. I loved getting to know these new characters, I loved seeing the Doctor meet new people and take them on an adventure through time and space. It is part of what Doctor Who is to me, and now that I am watching the second season with the same doctor and the same companions, I feel like there is something missing.


2)      There have been no reappearances of any of the old characters. So far, the old characters have always made a comeback in the new seasons, typically those from the 2005 remake, but Russel T. Davies also got Sarah Jane and the Master on board for a few episodes, and I loved it. I love seeing the new characters interact with the old ones, interact with each other, or with the new Doctor. And I just love seeing them again, because it’s just nice. It’s fun. So far, there have been none. Sure, in season 5, some of the old enemies were brought back, but no actual characters.

Also, there has been no Captain Jack Harkness for a very, very long time. Enough said.  
("Hello, there. Name's Captain Jack Harkness, and who are you?" 
"Doctor? Is he flirting with my husband?!"
I would probably give very, very much to see this scene)



3)      The fact that the Doctor has a love interest who is non-Time Lord. It just bugs me. I know that he has a granddaughter in the first two seasons, so he probably had a wife, or at least a love interest, at some time, but that was when he was on Galifrey, with other Time Lords. He has been portrayed as the lonely traveler in the remake, which I thought was pretty reasonable and a nice difference to his otherwise cheerful and carefree demeanor. It created this beautifully contrasting character, always lonely, but always traveling with others, always looking for companions.
Also, I just don’t like River Song. She bugs me. 

That said, if someone asks me "Star Wars or Star Trek?" I respond with "Doctor Who!". Always. 

Science Fiction and Science

I’m going to be straight here. I love science fiction. Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate Universe, Doctor Who… I don’t know why, but I am hooked. And most of the time, I’m absolutely absorbed in a strange world where no man has gone before.

I have went without food, fresh air or sun light for the better part of a day on several occasions, because, dammit, I was going to- I had to- finish this season of Doctor Who or Star Trek in the next three days!

But sometimes, something just completely snaps me out of this hypnotized staring at a screen. 
Sounds in space, characters dodging lasers, explosions in space, aliens who have never encountered humans before, but speak perfect English, or FTL without even an attempt at explanation. One of these things, and BAM! my brain kicks in and screams "This is rubbish! This couldn’t possibly happen! This is not scientifically possible! Let's watch something else"

I used to try and defy my brain.

I used to lean back in my chair, hit pause, and glare at the screen. And then I’d try to come up with a reason why things in science fiction are the way they are.

And every single time, I’d fail. Because I just can’t come up with an explanation, no matter how much I twist it, that doesn’t cause my brain to call B.S.. I don’t know if that’s because the screenwriters have absolutely no idea of physics, or because I have too little idea of it to come up with some decent explanation.

But either way, I don’t try anymore. I have given up. I try to accept the errors, to tell my brain to shut up, to forget about these mistakes as soon as I’ve seen them flitter across the screen. I try to pretend that somehow, magically, it all makes sense.

But that's the point. That's what still drives me crazy when I see aliens that look just like humans, except with green skin or an enourmously bulged forehead, or when someone explodes in vacuum. It’s not magic that's supposed to make everything work in the science fiction universe, or is used to explain everything, but science. Hard, fast science and facts.

I don’t complain in the scientific errors in Harry Potter. I don’t complain that every second page, at least one fundamental law of physics is broken. I don't complain that it makes absolutely no sense that according to Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration, it is impossible to create food out of nothing, but that a simple spell can create birds out of thin air which could then, in turn, be killed, roasted and eaten.

No, I simply accept that this makes absolutely no sense. Because it is magic. It doesn’t have to make sense, and especially does not have to obey the laws of physics, because the magical world in which all these atrocities take place is not based upon science.

Science fiction, on the other hand, relies on science to explain almost everything that makes the story interesting – enemy robots, space travel, sonic screwdrivers and laser weapons.  And then it completely cocks it up.