Shame me all you want, Matt Smith was my first doctor and Series 5 was the first one I ever watched. I still remember how I first saw it - I was passing through the living room and caught a scene from Series 5 Episode 9 "Cold Blood" where Matt Smith was cramming his arm into a bright crack in time and space and yanking out a chunk of stone, and then jumping into a blue phone box that dematerialized, and I went "hey what the hell is that." My dad was more than happy to show me.
imo Series 6 was still good but kind of felt like "well how do we top the overarching plot from Series 5." Series 7 was... blagh. And since then Doctor Who has just been kinda spotty. But yeah. 5 has a special place in my heart.
It's definitely... Aged since 2010! It reminds me of early Tumblr in the worst ways. Like, lolz, fish fingers and custard guys, how random! lolz delete ur internet history Jeff!
But that's just to say I think it would be a hard sell to get someone who's never watched Doctor Who before in on it with this episode. I still loved it, of course. Despite the dated CG, Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi are thoroughly creepy and disturbing antagonists. Steven Moffatt eagerly sets up a lot of his ongoing plot threads in this - perhaps a little too eagerly. Prisoner Zero just decides to say a bunch of purposefully vague stuff like "Silence will fall, Doctor," while Matt Smith stands there just kind of staring at them? He looks like he's trying to maintain confidence when really he has no clue what the fuck this creature is talking about. And that "silence will fall" line, ugh, don't get me started on how much of a rocky journey that little line went through from Series 5 to 7. It changed meanings entirely like 4 times. And to think it all started here!
But it all had a delightful resolution where we got a cute little clipshow of every Doctor leading up to Matt Smith stepping forward and telling a giant eyeball to fuck off and it does. Worth it.
Oh and then he accidentally forgets to bring his companion along for 2 years and calls her "the girl who waited" which along with hearing Amy's Theme again gives me PTSD flashbacks to that episode from Series 6 but alright yeah good episode.
Season 5 was my first season too! Matt Smith was my first as well. No one should shame you for liking Series 5. It's lit af.
