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Nov 01, 2013 Web Exclusive By Mark Redfern

Doctor Who is held up to a ridiculously high standard by fans. It’s accepted with most shows that not every episode of every season is going to be amazing, but some Whovians seem to expect a classic every week. Perhaps it’s because each episode featuring the time and space traveling Doctor is set on a different planet and/or in a different time period, meaning that each adventure stands out more than your average procedural show. Season seven of the new Who features its share of hits and misses, but enough of the former that such vocal and increasingly frequent message board proclamations that showrunner Steven Moffat has lost it and should step down are still exceedingly premature.

The second half of the season aired in 2013, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the Doctor’s adventures, and this is the last full season to feature Matt Smith as The Eleventh Doctor. Misses include the underwhelming “The Bells of Saint John” and Neil Gaiman’s return as a writer with “Nightmare in Silver,” which was a disappointment after he penned season six’s most beloved episode “The Doctor’s Wife,” in part because of two very precocious and ungrateful kids that most fans probably wished The Doctor had left at the episode’s extraterrestrial theme park, never to be seen again.

But this season also featured the emotional departure of married companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill) in “The Angels Take Manhattan” and the clever introduction of mysterious new companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) in the chilling “Asylum of the Daleks.” Three of the season’s strongest episodes aired back to back-‘70s haunted house story “Hide,” the trippy “The Journey to the Center of the TARDIS,” and the Victorian-set “The Crimson Horror,” which featured a great scene-stealing villainous turn by Diana Rigg.

Season finale “The Name of the Doctor” answered the season-long central mystery surrounding Clara and set up the 50th anniversary special to feature the guest return of David Tennant as The Tenth Doctor and Billie Piper as Rose Tyler.

Season seven mostly finds Doctor Who still in fine form. But perhaps next season’s creative shakeup of Peter Capaldi taking over as The Twelfth Doctor during the traditional Christmas episode will momentarily please grumpy fans. (www.doctorwho.tv)

Author rating: 7.5/10