Product Description
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Matt Smith and Karen Gillan star as the new Doctor and his
companion in an all-new series of Doctor Who. After his explosive
regeneration, the Eleventh Doctor awakes to discover his TARDIS
is about to c! After falling from the sky, he pulls himself
out of the wreckage to come face-to-face with young Amy Pond. The
Doctor promises to take Amy to the stars. But first they must
divert an alien plot that could destroy the Earth. The Doctor
makes good his promise, and Amy boards the regenerated TARDIS,
ready to take to the stars on a series of wild adventures that
will change her life. As always, wherever the Doctor goes, his
oldest enemies, the Daleks, are never far behind. They are
hatching a new master plan from the heart of war-torn London in
the 1940s. But they are not the only strange creatures the Doctor
and Amy must face--there are also alien vampires, humanoid
reptiles, the Weeping Angels, and a silent menace that follows
Amy and the Doctor around wherever they go.
.com
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Sometimes, change is good, as evidenced by Matt Smith's
assumption of the mantle of Britain's beloved science-fiction
hero, Doctor Who, in this stellar series. Replacing David
Tennant, who was arguably the most popular incarnation of the
Time Lord since Tom Baker, was an unenviable task for any actor.
But relative newcomer Smith--the youngest performer to play the
Doctor--makes the role his own within the first few moments of
the series opener, "The Eleventh Hour," which introduces his
puckish interpretation, as well as companion Amy Pond (Karen
Gillan). The pair, whose banter is a terrific mix of screwball
humor and light sexual tension, are later joined by Amy's fiancé,
Rory (Arthur Darvill), who is not quite whom he appears, as
revealed in "The Pandorica Opens." Old enemies such as the Daleks
("Victory of the Daleks"), the Silurians ("The Hungry Earth"),
and the formidable Weeping Angels ("The Time of the Angels") test
the Eleventh Doctor's mettle, as does the series' central
adventure, in which a host of the Doctor's foes, including the
Cybermen and the Sontarans, unite to seal him in the fabled
Pandorica, an inescapable prison located within Stonehenge. The
13 episodes of Series 5 are thrilling, thoughtful, humorous, and
altogether addictive--in short, as good a series of Doctor Who as
any that's been produced.
When compared to the archival Doctor Who releases, the six-disc
set of the Complete Fifth Series comes up somewhat short in the
supplemental feature department, but there are still a number of
worthwhile extras to complement the episodes. Chief among these
are the six commentary tracks, most of which feature newly minted
show runner Steven Mof (Sherlock), as well as Gillan and
Darvill, and run the gamut from giggly, lightweight chats to
informative looks at the production process. Less interesting are
the video diaries by the three series leads, which are amusing
but forgettable fluff, as are the outtakes and Doctor Who
Confidential Cut-Downs. The Monster Files provides a look at the
series' key villains, including the new designs for the Daleks
and the monstrous Alliance, which Mof reveals as being
comprised of whatever costumes were available at the time of
shooting (!). A barrage of TV spots and promos, including a US
spot, round out the extras. --Paul Gaita