Doctor Who, Season Seven

Weren't we just here? These half-length seasons will take some getting used to after having such long gaps between these roundups in the last thread previous segment of time! That isn't all that's changed, of course. There is a slick polish to Season Seven that simply wasn't there last year. Is it simply a matter of the season budget being condensed into fewer episodes? The TARDIS wiki tells me that Season Seven actually had a larger budget than Season Six, though I can't imagine how they convinced the BBC to give it after the dropping viewing figures in the Troughton years. Nevertheless, we're glad for it. It feels like this season not only has the financial muscle to do what it wants, but the teeth to make it work. The primary impression is one of high confidence on the part of the production team.

For the first time since... well, since ever, in fact, it seems like there was actually a consistent vision on what stories to tell with this season, and what kind of show that Doctor Who should become. These earthbound affairs have so far been fairly diverse and interesting, so if there is a limit to this formula, we haven't reached it just yet.

I almost missed it when it came by, but Inferno was actually our last seven-parter. Even though this season's seven-parters actually filled their time pretty well for the most part, losing this format for good is probably not a bad thing. The trend for the future seems to be a greater number of stories with fewer episodes, which is more my speed.

All in all, the highly condensed and slickly produced nature of this season led to a high concentration of amazing stories, making for a season which is, pound for pound, our best yet. I hope the rest of the Pertwee years can keep up this momentum.

Since the seasons are shorter and are moving quicker, I'm choosing to eschew the shortened review blurbs from the round-ups for now, and will move right on.

Here's the score breakdown:

Spearhead from Space - 9.75
Episode One - 10.00
Episode Two - 10.00
Episode Three - 9.00
Episode Four - 10.00

Doctor Who and the Silurians - 9.43
Episode One - 10.00
Episode Two - 9.00
Episode Three - 10.00
Episode Four - 10.00
Episode Five - 9.00
Episode Six - 8.00
Episode Seven - 10.00

The Ambassadors of Death - 8.14
Episode One - 9.00
Episode Two - 9.00
Episode Three - 9.00
Episode Four - 8.00
Episode Five - 8.00
Episode Six - 7.00
Episode Seven - 7.00

Inferno - 9.57
Episode One - 10.00
Episode Two - 9.00
Episode Three - 10.00
Episode Four - 10.00
Episode Five - 9.00
Episode Six - 10.00
Episode Seven - 9.00

Best episode: Doctor Who and the Silurians, Episode Seven - 10.00
Runner-up: Spearhead from Space, Episode One - 10.00
Worst episode: The Ambassadors of Death, Episode Seven - 7.00 (!)

Season Seven average: 9.16 (!)

Best guest performance: Derek Newark as George Sutton (Inferno)
Best special effect: The Autons (Spearhead from Space)
Best musical score: The Ambassadors of Death (Dudley Simpson)

That's all for now, but soon we'll take our first musical interlude of this thread, covering one of the many excellent tunes of 1970. See you then.

(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 22 March 2021.)