DOCTOR WHO: An Overview Of The Tennant Years

Hi all,

In todays post I am going to talk about the David Tennant era of Doctor Who. The reason I have chosen his era specifically is because those years from 2005-2009 were when I really found my deep love for Doctor Who. I was very much of the age bracket that was targeted (even though Doctor Who is for all ages, there is somewhat a focus on the younger audience in the main) and at the time I was part of that younger audience. So how I will be structuring this post is by talking about each of three series and then the specials he played the Doctor in. This will be done in chronological order.

Please note: I will be excluding his appearance in 'The Day of the Doctor', although I very much enjoyed him in that Special. I feel that is more Matt Smiths era, so if ever I do a post on the Matt Smith era I will sure to talk about that episode. So with all that being said, I will start off with The Christmas Invasion & Series 2.

credit: http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a833630/doctor-who-david-tennant-supports-jodie-whittaker/

• The Christmas Invasion

So this was a very usual episode when I first watched it as I was introduced to regeneration for the first time, much like many others my age. For the majority of episode we don't get to see what the new doctor is like due to his regeneration going somewhat wrong. I particularly enjoyed the aliens in this episode, the Sycorax. I remember they felt very different. It seems in recent years the amount of fresh, new alien concepts has dwindled somewhat, but I do feel we had our fair share in his era.

I wont go into detail of the plot as if I were to do this with every episode, we could very well be here forever, however at some point I may do some episode reviews that I will include more plot information in, if you have any requests for any particular episodes, please do let me know in a comment.

What I will add about this episode though is that it really feels by the end of it David has stamped very clearly that he is the Doctor, between the very confident strides he made coming out of the Tardis on the alien ship and the disgust he portrayed when the Sycorax ship was blown up unnecessarily by torchwood, the characteristics that were on display and the way in which he brought them to life proved in my mind he is The Doctor.

credit: http://www.impossiblepodcasts.com/2011/12/doctor-who-christmas-invasion.html

• Series 2

List of Episodes:

• New Earth
• Tooth & Claw
• School Reunion
• The Girl In The Fireplace
• Rise of the Cybermen
• Age of Steel
• The Idiots Lantern
• The Impossible Planet
• The Satan Pit
• Love & Monsters
• Fear Her
• Army of Ghosts
• Doomsday

So series 2 for a lot of people including myself is a mixed bag of episodes, we have many good episodes notably the Finale and The Impossible Planet & The Satan Pit which saw the introduction of the Ood. An alien I found myself fascinated with at the time, brilliant look to them. But on the flip side, the series does have its weaker episodes I have to say, most notably for me personally Love & Monsters, Fear Her & The Idiots Lantern.

But first lets talk about the highlights from this series overall. The Reintroduction of the Cybermen in what I think is an amazing but creepy two part story was very well done. I know many people feel the new Cybermen of the Tennant era were a little too robotic and I totally understand that view point. After all, Cybermen started out as more human like and that is what scares other people more. However for me at the time, these versions of metal men were incredibly scary, I remember I struggled to watch these two episodes and if I remember rightly there is a scene of the conversion centre that has the subtle but noticeable sounds of harvesting going on and that scene really got me. I would have to rewatch the episode to confirm whether the sounds were present though.

Although I hadn't watched any classic era Doctor Who at the time I really love School Reunion and the addition of who I thought at the time was a new character, Sarah Jane Smith. Of course I later went onto watch the Sarah Jane Adventures and finally I watched all of her appearances in Doctor Who from around 1973/4-1976. Brilliant character, one of, if not the best companion of Doctor Who. But I enjoyed that episode not just for the companion edition but for the monsters, the relate-able school setting and of course the swimming pool stand off scene between The Doctor and the fantastic main villain of Mr. Finch.

credit: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2016/05/doctor-who-10-things-you-may-not-know-about-school-reunion

Finally I wanted to quickly touch on the finale, Daleks & Cybermen. I cant quite believe this concept only came to fruition in 2006. It should have been done years ago. Ok ok, you could argue it was somewhat done in The Five Doctors in 1983 however as far as I can remember the Cybermen and one Dalek never actually fought each other. The concept in my opinion did actually work, I think when the Daleks opened the genesis ark it kind of made you think, 'well the Daleks have won now', but in a nice twist, it wasn't anyone who really 'won' in the end.

You could say the Doctor won but did he really? Having to lose Rose made the ending bittersweet and it felt like the victory wasn't ever really a victory. Now I know that many classic fans don't like the thought of the Doctor falling in love and after watching more and more Doctor Who over the years, I am starting to agree a little more, but at the time I have to say I was really invested in the emotion that was shared between the two characters and again at the time for me being a younger viewer, it worked.

credit: http://www.nexusroute.co.uk/archives/40449

I wanted to quickly round off the series 2 talk by touching on a few of the episodes I feel are a little weaker within this series. I know that quite a few fans believe series 2 to be one of the weaker series overall in the modern era. I would say when compared with other series it is a weaker one, but if you take it for what it is and do not compare it, it isn't such a bad series really, I mean there are some great two part stories. But an episode like love & monsters does in my opinion leave a small mark on the series overall. I don't mind the episode, I think the main character is called Elton and for a Doctor light episode, I do somewhat get invested and interested in the character of Elton. However overall I find the episode a little slow, the creature played by Peter Kay (who did a good job at working with what he had) seemed a little lack lustre and more comical than anything else.

Another episode I don't hold too highly is Fear Her, with this episode I just cant seem to get into it, whenever I sit down to watch it I seem to get quite bored, again not a lot goes on in the episode overall, however there is a nice, light ending. It is important to note that the reason I dislike episodes, is for the most part not the fault of the cast, but sometimes it is to do with the pace of the episodes, writing of the characters or plots more so than anything else. But I think I have covered series 2 enough, so I will now proceed onwards.

credit: http://www.combom.co.uk/2011/02/doctor-who-fear-her-is-it-really-that.html

• The Runaway Bride

So this Christmas special is one I kind of like, its not the best Christmas special we have had but still probably not the worst either. It sees the addition of one off companion (later to be full time) Donna Noble. I like Donna, in fact she is one of, if not my favourite companion of new who. She is slightly less likeable in this episode compared to in her full series with the Doctor in series 4. But still adds a lot to the episode. The creature while somewhat unimaginative I still really enjoy and I love the connection with the timelords when she says 'they murdered the racnoss' it gives more of a sense of authority to timelords and it all goes to painting a better picture of timelords until we finally see them once again in the end of time, previously we had only seen them in classic who.

Overall this episode can be a little slow at times, but there are some good high intensity scenes for example when the Doctor destroys the Racnoss and when he is rescuing Donna from the taxi among other scenes.

credit: http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/doctor-who/christmas-specials/episode-02-the-runaway-bride

• Series 3

List of Episodes:

• Smith & Jones
• The Shakespeare Code
• Gridlock
• Daleks In Manhatten
• Evolution of the Daleks
• The Lazarus Experiment
• 42
• Human Nature
• Family of Blood
• Blink
• Utopia
• The Sound of Drums
• Last of the Timelords

I have to say straight away, I really like series 3. I don't know whether it is the addition of Martha Jones as the new companion, that there is excellently executed historic episodes or for the amazing finale but for whatever reason I really like this series.

So lets start off with a few of my top picks for the season. Firstly I think it would be wrong of me to start with anything other than Blink, a Doctor light episode that works much better than Love & Monsters of the previous season. The weeping Angels were an ingenious creation by later showrunner Steven Moffat and the one off companion or maybe I should say lead character of Sally Sparrow is very well thought out. I love the idea of the timey wimey dvd easter eggs and it was brilliant to find out who actually put them there in the first place. But it is truly the monsters than make this episode, a very creepy concept.

Another two episodes I simply have to talk about is Human Nature/Family of Blood. Again another clever idea with this episode, not so much with the monsters this time but with turning the Doctor human to avoid capture. I love historical episodes when they are done right and this series gave us plenty of historical settings. I feel that pacing is really good in these episodes, there are somewhat scary moments for a younger viewer, I know when I first watched it there were moments that scared me. But the thing that really speaks to me in these episodes has always been the 'flash forward' scene near the end, in which John Smith sees what his normal life could be like, even then somewhat knowing he cant have it and that he will make the choice to open the watch and become the Doctor once more.

credit: http://cultbox.co.uk/features/rewind/doctor-who-at-50-human-nature-the-family-of-blood-2007

Before I talk about the Finale to this season I just wanted to point out one of the episodes I am not so taken with. I know a lot of the fandom don't particularly like 42, I have to say I don't mind that episode. However I don't particularly like The Lazarus Experiment, it is in some respects a fairly okay episode, the concept works in theory however the Monster for me personally seemed a little over the top, it seemed also to be much like a kind of 'who dies next' episode as well, after the change within Lazarus it seems like it was simply binding time until the end of the episode. I do like seeing Marthas family though and expanding more on her home life.

So the finale, what a brilliant end to the season and it really feels like Martha has had good character development by the end of the final episode. It is great to see the Master back also and I really loved John Simm playing the role. I know some people aren't completely taken by him. However I think he is great as the Master. The episodes are very well acted, there is a strong story line behind them and I remember when first watching I really enjoyed the paradox and the toclafane. It really felt when the toclafane were descending onto planet earth that the Doctor wouldn't be able to stop the Master and that he has met his end.

A solid finale that I actually rewatched not long ago and it had the same appeal as it always does. I don't particularly know what makes it really good in my opinion. Whether it is the chemistry between David Tennant and John Simm, the story line, the somewhat unpredictability of the episode. I am quite honestly not sure.

credit: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/john-simm/images/6188466/title/doctor-who-wallpaper

• Voyage of the Damned

Probably one of the best Christmas specials we have had in modern Doctor Who in my opinion. The one character that always sticks in my mind from watching this as a child is banacafalata. The Doctor is travelling alone at this point and the one off companion in Kylie Minogue is truly great. A character very bubbly and full of life that gives the episode more of an appeal. The supporting cast in its entirety is very good and who can forget the moment the Doctor says that speech about being 903 years old. The host are very similar to robots of death and no one seems to mention that when reviewing this episode, its not a problem if they have reused an old villain/monster. But I thought it should at least be mentioned. Obviously these are called the heavenly host and can fly plus have halos that kill people, so they have been altered somewhat.

The scene in which the characters are all crossing that bridge is incredible as well. The deaths of two of the characters that we have only just got to know seem quite honestly crushing, which is a real sign of truly great writing, being able to make us as an audience feel invested in characters after such a short space of time is amazing. Overall a strong Christmas special. Now onto series 4!

credit: https://aminoapps.com/c/doctor-who/page/blog/should-bannakaffalatta-return/Gbtn_uVJ6ajKeomgpBYkknrxKEvEGg

• Series 4

List of Episodes:

• Partners in Crime
• Fires of Pompeii
• Planet of the Ood
• The Sontaran Stratagem
• The Poison Sky
• The Doctors Daughter
• The Unicorn & The Wasp
• Silence in the Library
• Forest of the Dead
• Midnight
• Turn Left
• The Stolen Earth
• Journeys End

I previously talked about series 3 and how I very much loved the series overall. Well series 4 I love even more. Donna Noble is the main companion here and a fantastic one she is too. However before I get on to talking about some of the highlights of this series and episodes I love the most. I thought I would first quickly cover some of the slightly weaker episodes in my opinion of this series. So personally I feel the unicorn and the wasp, planet of the Ood and maybe partners in crime (the last one is at push) are the weakest in this series, however for the weakest episodes in the series they really aren't that bad. I still enjoy them, however just not as much as the others. Partners in crime has some very well placed comedic moments, the detox scene is great in the unicorn and the wasp and the planet of Ood has some good scenes as well, especially when the Doctor and Donna get trapped in those shipping containers with the Ood.

So now onto some of the solid episodes. So a fantastic return for the Sontarans in the two parter within the middle of the series. I really liked how the episodes built up the Sontarans as a real threat and the Global scale of the Atmos crisis was shown really well. I remember as a child not necessarily being scared of these episodes, but just loving and really feeling invested into the entire story. The return of Martha was nice to see as well and the inclusion of a doppelganger was interesting, however the Doctor knew what was going on. Very nice with the addition of not only Martha but the Noble family too.

credit:http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/characters/sontarans

A couple episodes that did certainly go back to scaring me was silence in the library and the forest of the dead. Brilliant two part story that saw the debut and the departure of River Song. Many fans are divided on River Song some love her and others hate her. I kind of like her to be honest, I think it is nice to have a character that is different than just the standard companion. The aliens in this episodes were invisible but also ingenuous. Excellent concept and very well executed. It was very scary seeing the skeletons in the space suits and for a young viewer at the time I did find it hard to watch but I enjoyed the episodes all the same. A nice and fitting ending to the story as well.

Finally instead of talking about the finale (which I may talk about in a separate post as how can I not talk about the return of Davros). I wanted to talk about an episode that I don't hear many people talk about positively or negatively really. But I know a lot of people will agree with me when I say that Midnight is one of the Diamonds of this series. Its a very small setting, however that's what makes it great. The acting is absolutely amazing and again another very creativity idea for an alien. The best thing I like about this episode is that we never know what the entity is and therefore it is hard for viewer to rationalise it in their head which adds to the creepiness of the alien. Donna (Catherine Tate) isn't in this episode much but interestingly enough David Troughton is. The son of the 2nd Doctor Patrick Troughton. Little fact for you there.

credit: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Winfold_Hobbes

• The Next Doctor

An episode that first caused me a lot of confusion when I watched the first part as I along with many other people were lead to believe this man the Doctor met was one of the future incarnations of himself. I have to say the brilliance of this episode is that we get to see how the Doctor analyses his meant to be future self and future companion. he almost takes a backseat and watches how this new version of the Doctor does things, along with a little intervention of course.

Now I have to say I am not 100% taken by the Cybermen in this episode, they were okay and Cyber king was pretty cool but the reason I like watching this episode is to see Jackson Lake and the Doctor work together, bounce off each other and unwrap a sad mystery. The chemistry between the two actors is clear and this really makes the episode for me. I would say in my opinion this one of the weaker Christmas specials, but it is still a good episode to watch if for nothing else just the way the two lead characters bounce off each other. Also just before I wrap up this section, I thought I best mention Ms Hartingon I think she is called. She is an okay villain, I would have liked to have seen a little more of a backstory for her to make me more invested in her character though.

credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/S0_05

• The Specials

• Planet of the Dead

• The Waters of Mars

• The End of Time Part 1 & 2

So there were 4 longer length specials done in the final year of David Tennants run as the Doctor instead of a full series. He was travelling alone, however each of these specials has either a one time companion and/or a great supporting cast.

Planet of the dead I find quite a light and enjoyable episode of Doctor Who. Lady Christina is the one off companion for this episode. Some of the points I really like in this episode are the Doctor trying to work out why this planet is lifeless and what mystery has gone on, the conversations with Malcolm are great and Lee Evans brings some perfect comedy to the role. But other than that it isn't any crazy action pack adventure, but it is well paced and enough happened to keep me interested, just a nice solid episode really.

credit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/episodes/S0_06

The Waters of Mars, hailed by many fans as the best episode of modern era Doctor Who and I would have to agree, well it is between this and Capaldi in Heaven Sent. This is an incredible well paced adventure starting off quite slowly getting to know the characters one by one at the mars base and then things start going wrong and the speed of the story slowly escalates. The 'water zombies' are a perfect enemy. The line that was repeated a few times 'just one drop' sent a lot of fear into me as viewer and every time one drop of water went on someone, we knew they were gone. I was invested in all of the characters and I remember when each of them was dying, it was hard to watch. Captain Brooke was an incredible companion in this story and she tried to do everything she could to stop the events from happening.

Moving on to the fixed point in time, that speech from the Doctor was exactly what the story needed at the point in time he gave it and the flashback to the 2007/2008 I believe it was when Adelaide saw that Dalek and it ended flying away was a great touch to cement that speech. Finally I wanted to talk about the timelord victorious, what a great concept this was, the music along with the confident no nonsense attitude made a perfect climax to the story. I will stop right there as this one is so good I could write an essay about it.

credit: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2015/08/doctor-who-10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-waters-of-mars

Finally the end of time parts 1 & 2. First off I really like the parts in this that are narrated, that was something fresh and new that I remember liking when I first watched this episode. So I wanted to highlight that. Now many people don't like how David Tennant regenerated, in the sense it was over exaggerated and over emotional. Well, this is a regeneration story so I thought I better touch on this. I get where the fans who say this are coming from, it was quite a different regeneration and maybe it was a little over the top.

However I think this over emotional side comes from the fact it wasn't just David Tennant leaving. The show runner Russell T Davies was leaving too and I believe a good portion of the production team. So I think he wanted to put everything into it and therefore made the regeneration a little too big. What I did really like before the regeneration which other fans didn't particularly like is the meeting or visiting of some of his old companions, I really found it a nice touch to put that in there and it seemed to close out the era very well.

The story itself is fairly good, I liked the inclusion of the Noble family and Wilf as the one off companion as well as the timelords, seeing the timelords and gallifrey for the first time in new who was a treat I have to say. Finally, the one thing I don't think anyone saw coming in this episode was who caused the Doctor to regenerate that was a really shocker and it was amazing writing.

credit: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2015/08/doctor-who-10-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-end-of-time

So that is it, my 'brief' overview of the David Tennant era of Doctor Who. As I mentioned at the start of the post, it was kind of my era of the show, so I absolutely love talking about it.

What are your favourite episodes from the era? What do you love about Doctor Who? Let me know down below! :)