Doctor Who: Twenty-Sixth Series Summary
The classic series finishes strong.
I have really loved watching the adventures of the Seventh Doctor and Ace, especially since this season seemed to be (Battlefield aside) about the companion and her development, as well as tying off the loose ends from the last three years. Ghost Light, The Curse of Fenric, and Survival brought us deep cuts into Ace’s history, and Fenric brought closure to elements from her introduction in Dragonfire. Fenric also brought a lot of strength to Ace as she faced her past and literally washed herself clean of the negative emotions surrounding it.
Ace grew so much over this season, and it was amazing to watch. I really admire her as a character and companion.
As a Whovian who started with the 2005 revival series, I also wonder how much of Clara’s character in the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors’ eras was derived from Ace. Looking into the Wilderness Years that follow this season, Ace was apparently being set up to travel to Gallifrey and train as a Time Lord. She’s essentially becoming the Doctor, much like Clara did, but Ace does it so much better.
And I’m really sad to see her go. I’d love to see her come back in the future.
The Seventh Doctor’s final season comes in exactly on target with the Twenty-Fifth season, making it the sixth player in a tie for fifth place with the Seventh, Tenth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Twenty-Fifth seasons. What a way to end the classic run.
So, where do we go from here?
Well, we’re at a crossroads, aren’t we? The goal of the Timestamps Project was to explore the classic era of Doctor Who and see how it informs the modern era of the franchise. We’re at the inflection point between the two with the Eighth Doctor and the Doctor Who TV movie on the horizon, and I’m not stopping.
From here, I’m going to visit Dimensions in Time and Death Comes to Time before covering the TV movie. That will mark the end of the Seventh Doctor’s run for me – since Dimensions in Time and Death Comes to Time aren’t considered canon, they won’t be counted in the Seventh Doctor’s score, but the TV movie will since he’s in it for some time and it contains his regeneration – and the Seventh Doctor Summary will follow.
After that, I’ll look at Night of the Doctor for the Eighth Doctor’s regeneration, followed by the Eighth Doctor’s Summary. Finally, I’ll close the classic era with non-canon stories The Curse of the Fatal Death, Scream of the Shalka, and the Eighth Doctor’s version of Shada.
The Timestamps Project will enter the 2005 revival era with the Ninth Doctor later this autumn.
Battlefield – 4
Ghost Light – 2
The Curse of Fenric – 5
Survival – 4
Series Twenty-Two Average Rating: 3.8/5
UP NEXT – Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time
The Timestamps Project is an adventure through the televised universe of Doctor Who, story by story, from the beginning of the franchise. For more reviews like this one, please visit the project’s page at Creative Criticality.
Creative Criticality 
Season 26 is beautiful, and it’s a shame that the series didn’t get to continue. At this point the BBC just pulled the plug after JNT worked tirelessly to save the show ever since it was put on hiatus after season 22. It’s fashionable in fandom to hate JNT now, and certainly every choice he made as producer wasn’t great, but he at least cared about the program, and it stinks that the BBC didn’t see the value in keeping it around. All sorts of people have tried to do various takes on season 27 based on what was being discussed at the time, but there’s no way to know for sure what would have eventually gotten in there, and that’s a shame.
I’m not sure if you’ve seen the TV Movie yet, but while the Doctor doesn’t regenerate until a bit of a way in, McCoy doesn’t get much to do except lay around and say “aaaaaugh!” I’ll be interested to here if you feel that the movie at all influences your score for the seventh Doctor.
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