Doctor Who Season 5

If you want science fiction that respects its own premise, Doctor Who Season 5 is available on and right now. A compact run that never overstays its welcome. 702 people have weighed in on TMDB, and the verdict leans heavily positive. Patrick Troughton anchors it with a performance that grounds the bigger ideas in something human. There is no real reason to keep putting it off.

Doctor Who Season 5 arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. What makes Doctor Who Season 5 work is that the ideas never crowd out the people having them. No complete stories from the season were known to have survived until the early-1990s when archivists recovered a complete version of The Tomb of the Cybermen. A second complete story, The Enemy of the World was recovered in 2013, along with a nearly complete recovery of the story that followed it, The Web of Fear. The season is also notable for having Patrick Troughton play a double-role as both the Doctor and Salamander in The Enemy of the World. Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was aired in 1967. What separates Doctor Who Season 5 from lesser genre entertainment is a willingness to let the concept cost the characters something. The consistency throughout is what elevates it — not every moment is the best, but none of them are a reason to stop watching.

For late-night viewing or a proper weekend binge, Doctor Who Season 5 fits the bill. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. It is a manageable watch, easy to fit into a single week. Watch for Patrick Troughton in particular — the performance elevates the material. Satisfying on multiple levels.