This weekend, the 10th Doctor’s era came to a close with the conclusion of “The End of Time.”
Now, as fans across the world get ready for the Matt Smith era to begin on “Doctor Who,” we take a moment to look back on the best stories from David Tenntant’s tenure as the Doctor.
Listed here are my top eight stories from the David Tennant era.
8. The Waters of Mars
A new series story that captures the feel of a classic Patrick Troughton “base under siege” story. An isolated group of humans faces a threat from an alien virus that is carried by the water. The story evokes the sensibility and dread of the Troughton years stories with the new series’ solid effects, directing style and character emphasis. Unlike many of the specials, “Mars” has no moments that drag or keep the story treading water to pad out its running time and the ending with the Doctor decides its time to fully embrace and expand his role as Time’s Champion is among Tennant’s best work in the series. Easily the best of the four specials for 2009.
7. Midnight
Another story that captures the feel of the second Doctor’s era with an isolated group of humans facing an alien threat from without and (possibly) from within. Technically it’s a marvel, watching as various actors repeat lines together in perfect sync and the sense of dread that permeates the entire story is wonderfully achieved. It’s nice to know that the new series can still achieve old-series level scares by simply having a well crafted story with well drawn characters.
6. Gridlock
This one makes it only for the classic series call back to the Macra. That little moment had me jumping and down for joy as Davies pays homage to the classic series with a great reference that old series fans will delight in, while new series fans won’t be left out. Another story that’s essential told on one-set, though it’s re-treated to be various aircars stuck in a giant traffic jam in New New York.
5. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
The first entry by Steven Moffatt on the list (all three of his Tennant era offerings will make this list…) Again, the series captures the base under siege mentality with the new series sensibility. Part one is definitely stronger than part two, but overall I didn’t mind so much. Alex Kingston does some nice work here in a solid guest star role and it should be interesting to see her come back in the future. Moffatt clearly shows why he’s the best writer the new series has found and how he could be the Robert Holmes of the new century.
4. Blink
I’m sure some of you are screaming because this one isn’t in the top spot on the list. And I will admit that it’s a solid, chilling and effectively done Doctor-light story. It’s a template for how to do Doctor-lite stories and not have them feel like you’re missing the central character too much. The weeping angels are creepy and effective monsters and Sally Sparrow is the best non-TARDIS companion we’ve seen on the new series. But in the final debate, there are just three other stories I liked a lot better…including one more by the best writer this series has, Steven Moffatt.
3. School Reunion
This is the way to pay homage to the series history without alienating your new fanbase who may not know who K-9 or Sarah Jane are. Throw in Buffy alum, Anthony Stewart head as the bad guy and you’ve got a near perfect episode. Tennant is still growing into the role of the Doctor here and I’ve got to admit I prefer his earlier, more restrained work that we see here (and in his early block of stories) to the excesses that come later. It’s not that he’s a bad actor, but there were times later in the run that the zany Doctor bit was pushed a bit too far for my liking. The scene with Tennant and Head by the pool is one of the more chilling and memorable of the era. It was also the story where Mickey began to grow as a character and not just Rose’s jealous boyfriend.
2. The Girl in the Fireplace
There’s a reason Steven Moffatt won three straight Hugos and why many of us are eager to see what the show will look like under his leadership. “Girl in the Fireplace” is one of them. Combining elements of horror (the clockwork aliens are some of the most visually arresting of the entire new series run) along with a solid, character driven storyline that gets into the nature of the “wibbly, woobly, timey-wimey” and you’ve got one of the nicest surprises of the Tennant era. The story is completely captivating and I found myself falling in love with it the first time I saw it–and have each time I’ve watched it since.
1. Human Nature/The Family of Blood
Paul Cornell adapts his seventh Doctor New Adventures story for the tenth Doctor in a story that boils down the Doctor to his basic core character elements and examines them. In much the way that “Superman II” helped define Superman by taking away his powers, so does this story help define the Doctor by stripping away some of the elements that make the Doctor the Doctor. Superbly acted by all parties, the first half is a bit more solid than the second (as is the case with most two parters from the new series), but it’s still so much fun and such a delight that you won’t really mind that much. Tennant shows some solid moments as both John Smith and the Doctor and seeing his dark turn in the story’s final moments makes me wish we’d seen more of this side of the 10th Doctor.
I’ll give you #1 and #2 being better than blink, but #3’s over the top campiness ruined the reunions just enough for me to disagree with that’s rating over blink.
No, “School Reunion” was fantastic. It was that series’ Celebrity Villain Episode, and both K9 and Sarah Jane managed to show up in a way that felt organic and awesome (“Bad dog…” “Affirmative!” = CMoA).
Sorry, Blink was #1 hands down! That was the best Doctor Who ever and the story dealt with time travel.
Cool list. And being an individual’s list, there is no real right or wrong to it. My list would be much the same except for number 1, The Doctor’s Daughter.
How could you not include the Season 2 closer (“Doomsday”) or Season 4 closer (“Journey’s End”). “Doomsday” features a geektacular battle (Cybermen vs Daleks? Yes, Please!!) with a heart-rending closing while “Journey’s End” is like a greatest hits episode (Sarah Jane, Capt. Jack and Davros, oh my!) also with an ending that makes you want to cry like a little girl. Was that too much sharing? Maybe.
@Ben. Well, if you’ll notice none of the season enders made it to my top spots, mainly because while I think RTD does well in smaller, character driven episodes, when he goes for epic, it just fall flat. And both Doomsday and Journey’s End show that…RTD seems to write on the “let’s throw it at the wall and see what sticks” philosophy. He’s got some good ideas but he never explores them, which I find frustrating.
As for the long-awaited battle between Cybermen and Daleks, I’d be dreaming of it since I was 12 and a few hurled insults just didn’t satisfy my inner geek. I caught some of it the other day on BBC America’s Tennant-a-thon and still came away disappointed by it.
@Eric. I like Blink a great deal, but I think it’s overpraised. It’s a solid, scary, unique story but I still thought the top three on my list were slightly better, if only because they featured more of the Doctor. Of course, you need to recall that I’m one of few dissenting fans who doesn’t love City of Death….
gridlock is my alltime favourate, loved planet of the dead, waters of mars, blink, the library episodes, and the one with new new york (with the cat people), theres most likely more that im forgeting but there the ones off the top of my head, love the ood episodes not a fan of cybermen and cannot stand the darlecks, I know that last comment will have the traditionalists up in arms but there soo iritating, so cartoony you cant take them seriously, everytime i see its a darleck episode i always cringe, but anyway keep up the good work,
sci-fi fan from oz
Okay, why the hell is Gridlock which ws a crap episode and even though it brought back the macra, it was not done well and shouldn’t have made it into the top 50 I say.
Midnight was alright, but Waters of mars WAY beats it. I think you’ve got this a little bit wrong. I mean the Master wasn’t even mentioned, who was by war the best villain, even conquering the Weeping Angels.
Human nature/Family of Blood was good, but it doesn’t deserve number 1. I have to agree that The Girl in the Fireplace and School Reunion was INCREDIBLE and definitely one of my favourite, with their soundtracks I was just blown away but they don’t quite top it.
Silence in the Library/Forests of the DeaD were amazingly done, put together like the hardest puzzle but they did it with such skill it was unbelievable and River Song leads you on to thin so well, I do not complain. Unfortunately, there were still better.
I don’t know if you were allowing Specials but this should be the list.
8. School Reunion
7. Silence in the Library/Forests of the Dead
6. Doomsday
5. Stolen Earth/Journeys End
4. Waters of Mars
3. Blink
2. The Sound of Drums/Last of the Timelords
1. The End of Time
Completely agree with your choices for #2 & #1. Both the Girl in the Fireplace and Human Nature/Family of Blood struck an emotional nerve that few other episodes could rival. I don’t know what it is about Midnight, but I would place that at number 3 ahead of Blink…I know that is sacrilege. I appreciate not only the technical precision of the actors and actresses in Midnight, but also the psychological thriller elements of isolation, mob mentality, and not ever being able to see what was really out there. Well played! Thanks for the list.
well, you’ve quite forgotten about the impossible planet / the satan pit, that was one of the best ever!
@aura. Actually I didn’t overlook those episodes. But they were just OK and really could have been a single story if done right.
@Tim. Yes, I did include the specials in my consideration (hence “Waters of Mars”). And End of Time was an example of everything I liked and hated about the RTD era. And since there was a lot more I disliked about it than liked, there was no way it made my top list. As for the shout-out to the Macra, it was awesome. I don’t care what anyone says, it was a perfect way to include classic series continuity without alienating the new series audience. And it was an example of what RTD could do well–craft a character-driven story on a small scale.
My top 8 are:
8: the sound of drums/last of the timelords
7: the girl in the fireplace
6: journeys end
5: the end of time
4: human nature/family of blood
3: blink
2: doomsday
1: silence in the library/forest of the dead