Doctor Who Series 7 is about halfway over, and with the show set to return on March 30, it's a great time to take a look back at where the story has taken us so far. I will be going over a good deal of spoilers, so if you're still catching up and want to watch the episodes fresh, be warned!
The series kicked off with the 2011 Christmas special, "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe." While it was mainly a fun filler episode, featuring the Doctor attempting to bring some Christmas joy to two children, it does lead into the series proper by bringing him back to the Ponds.
The first episode of the new series' arc was "Asylum of the Daleks." In it, the Doctor, Amy, and Rory are captured by Daleks, who in a surprise twist, need the trio's help. It seems a force field guarding a planet the Daleks use to house their race's mentally unstable has been damaged by the crash landing of a human ship. If the Doctor cannot destroy the planet in time, hordes of crazed Daleks will be unleashed onto the universe.
Once on the planet, the trio get in touch with a human survivor, Oswin Oswald, who guides them through the facilities. Just as they are about to rescue Oswald and escape however, the Doctor discovers that she has actually been turned into a Dalek herself, a victim of the planet's defense mechanism. After coming to terms with her situation, Oswald helps the others to escape, and also hacks into the Dalek psychic link to remove their memory of the Doctor. As the planet, and presumably Oswald, is destroyed, the Doctor discovers that the Daleks no longer recognize him, nor do they even know who the Doctor is.
The next episode, "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship," features a "return" of previous companions of the Doctor (although this is technically their show debuts). To save a ship full of living dinosaurs, the Doctor travels through time to recruit Queen Nefertiti, big-game hunter John Riddell, the Ponds, and inadvertently, Rory's dad Brian. The episode was definitely on the filler end of the spectrum, featuring a fairly goofy (but entertaining) story filled with giant dinosaurs, silly robots, and a fairly ordinary villain.
This episode is significant for two reasons though. One, the Doctor very uncharacteristically, and knowingly, allows the villain to die. Secondly, the episode gives Brian, Rory's father, a renewed sense of adventure. Since the events of "Dinosaurs," it seems that Brian has been spending his days traveling the world (and beyond).
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