Series 4
By far Tennant's best series in the role (before RTD ruined it all with the overdrawn farewell tour of the specials especially "End of Time"). As I have so many episodes to get through I think I'd best do a quick review for each one:
- Partners in Crime - Great fun little opener and Donna's back this time full time! Wish Adipose existed, I'd happily take it. RTD's time on Doctor Who is littered with social comments from the over reliance on Sat Navs, cosmetic surgery (the Lady Cassandra) etc and this is no different with Davies mocking the diet industry and get slim quick schemes. Reminds me of Peter Kay's sketch "14 stone in a day!".
- The Fires of Pompei - Karen Gillan and Peter Capaldi in the same episode! Ok episode mostly memorable for the mention of specific events like Pompei being "time locked" as well as The Doctor playing God and saving Capaldi's family. Bit of foreshadowing for the "Time Lord Victorious"? More of that to come. Good Donna story.
- Planet of the Ood - The Ood make a welcome return (as if the title didn't give it away!) although we may have grown tired of seeing them before series 5. Plenty of character development for the Ood here although they're a race rather than just one singular character (then again they are very interchangeable). Quite a good story with a serious point to make but not one of my favourite Tennant stories.
- The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky - The return of the spudlike warmongering minute clone race. The first time I saw this episode was the first time I'd come across the Sontarans. I've since seen a few 'Classic Who' Sontaran stories and this is quite a weak one in comparison especially compared to their debut in 'The Time Warrior'. Martha's back too and now she works for UNIT who again pale in comparison to their 'Classic Who' counterparts. Boy genius Luke Rattigan is annoying and the point of us all being over reliant on sat navs (including a scene where it drives itself into a pond which in itself seems to have become just as associated with sat navs) and pollution is a bit heavy handed. The Sontarans come off as stupid and comedy villains although unlike the Cybermen it kind of suits them given their diminutive stature. Moffat however has proven with his use of the recurring Sontaran character Strax that the Sontarans work better as single characters played for laughs rather than some evil race intent on taking over the planet.
- The Doctor's Daughter - Featuring an actual Doctor's (Peter Davison) daughter Georgia Moffat (no relation to Steven Moffat) and now mother to another Doctor's (David Tennant) child, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. Interesting concept exploring the possibility of The Doctor being a Father (although his first ever companion Susan was his Grandaughter!) even if she was produced from his DNA rather than the traditional method of err being produced from his DNA. You know what I mean! Just a shame we never get to see the eponymous daughter "Jenny" again. Oh and Martha's in this episode too.
- The Unicorn and the Wasp - Continuing the theme of The Doctor meeting celeb history figures (Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I, Charles Dickens et al) this story sees The Doctor and Donna in the middle of an Agatha Christie style 'whodunnit' plot with wait for it Agatha Christie, cue references and gags centered around Agatha Christie's work. The story is supposedly a straight out comedic episode but mostly fails to deliver on that part. Additionally the story and the monster are also quite weak it's no wonder Agatha Christie forgets the events (although The Doctor shows Donna that she subconsciously remembers parts of it by brandishing a copy of one of her books with a wasp on the cover).
- Silence in the Library/Planet of the Dead - RIVER SONG! I should end the review of this story right there but that would be an injustice. One of the all time greatest 'New Who' stories ever. This story introduces the character of River Song, a character like no other as she knows The Doctor (quite intimately it's implied) but he's never met her before. She has her own sonic device that The Doctor gave her and she even knows his name. Just as well Moffat took over as showrunner because with a build up like this we needed to know more about her. The story also features the creepy spacesuit villians in the form of the Vashta Nerada as well as an alternative (digital) world where people are "saved" once they've been bumped off by the Vashta Nerada. This is a brilliant story that allows Donna to explore her own story whilst The Doctor is introduced to River and ultimately the two come together when he saves her in this digital world.
- Midnight - Another great story that is atmospheric and creepy yet so simple. The Doctor decides to go on a little space tour which of course breaks down before some being gets onboard and possesses one of his fellow travellers. The idea of the "monster" repeating what everyone is saying before saying it simultaneously then speaking before them is so simple yet so brilliant. It evokes childhood memories of repeating what people say to wind them up then takes it to another level. It very quickly moves from annoying to scary. Oh look out for another Doctor's (the 2nd Doctor) offspring in this episode ie David Troughton as well as Merlin (Colin Morgan).
- Turn Left - A 'what if?' story. Another simple idea and suprisingly a Doctor light episode (this along with Blink actually works) exploring the idea of Donna never meeting The Doctor. The Doctor dies and subsequently Earth is attacked several times with no one to defend it. The story proves to Donna what The Doctor keeps on telling her that she isn't just some temp from Chiswick, she is incredibly important. Of course all this building up can only mean one thing and with a series finale on the way you can guess what it will be! Rose also makes a return in this episode which I'm sure they could've gotten around, why keep bringing her back. Her story is finished, just let it rest.
- The Stolen Earth/Journey's End - Yet another example of RTD going for the epic finish to a series then cocking it up with the concluding part. Why does every series under Russell T Davies have to go for the bigger is better spectacular ending? Why always the Daleks too?! Hated seeing all the companions and hanger ons (Torchwood, Harriet Jones etc) all coming together like the bloody Scooby gang. This story is also the reason why Matt Smith is supposedly the 13th incarnation of The Doctor (because 10 had vanity issues! LOL). The Doctor/Donna idea is a bit silly as well as the extra "handy" Doctor grown from the hand of the 10th Doctor lost whilst battling the Sycrorax in the 'Christmas Invasion'. Of course the extra Doctor means that Rose can go and have her happy ending in a parallel universe. Pass me a sick bucket! To add to the misery The Doctor then has to wipe Donna's mind so she no longer remembers him or their adventures. FFS RTD! Worst series finale since the reboot.
As I said earlier Donna is a great companion, ok I've not exactly sold her very well above but she's awesome. Firstly she's not pining over The Doctor unlike Rose and Martha, she's not even remotely interested in him (get the impression she prefers guys with a bit more meat on them! LOL). She's intelligent, funny and definitely more than a match for him. There's something about the older companion that definitely works in this case. There just best mates seeing the universe together and she helps him get over Rose (something Martha could never really do), just a shame they bring her back again at the end of the series to spoil it all!
Ok now that's done, let's have a look at the specials.
The "Specials"
After 4 years in the role David Tennant decided to take on a new challenge in the form of Hamlet amongst other roles. As a result he couldn't commit to the role full time and filmed several 'specials' throughout 2009 before regenerating into the excellent Matt Smith.
- The Next Doctor - Playing with the idea that we don't yet know who the next Doctor will be David Morrissey's "Doctor" even has Tennant's Doctor going for a bit before he works out what has happened. This is a fun episode ruined only by the crap (yet again) Cybermen.
- Planet of the Dead - What a great companion The Lady De Souza would have made. Also Lee Evans as Bernard, brilliant. The story and the villains are a bit crap which is a shame. Oh and he will knock 4 times.
- The Waters of Mars - Now this is more like it! Another 'time locked' event where the Doctor intervenes this time it goes wrong and still results in the death of Adelaide (after she gives him an ear bending. The monsters are great too although the Ood make another appearance at the end.
- The End of Time - Oh dear God, why? This could've been so much more better though to be fair RTD didn't have a great track record with finales. Yet again he goes for the epic spectacular and then overdoes it with sentiment. The Master is awful in this story. Firstly they bring him back with magic potions then he develops super powers and a flashing skull face. The Naismiths are bumbling idiots as are the cactus aliens. There's a massive fall from a spaceship that doesn't even affect Tennant's Doctor yet a fall from a much smaller height killed off Tom Baker's Doctor! Just as things couldn't get any worse RTD throws in the kitchen sink and brings back the Time Lords with some mystery woman who may or may not be The Doctor's Mum (it's never explained) however it's not The Doctor that saves the day but The Master by taking out the Time Lords. This story isn't all bad, The Doctor sacrifices himself to save Wilf (Donna's Grandad) and there's a great scene with them chatting in the cafe as well as on the spaceship however all this is undone with the ending. As I said above RTD overdoes the sentiment as Tennant goes on a farewell tour, saying goodbye to all his former companions before uttering "I don't want to go", get over yourself! Four years on and this line still irks me! Tennant's farewell could've been handled so much more better but instead we get this crapfest. Kind of sums up Tennant's era all over, some moments of brilliance ruined with some cringeworthy scenes and awful series finales.
So there it is the whole RTD era covered. Of course Matt Smith's run has come to an end so I have the option of covering that too, maybe later. Re-watching these episodes has made me realise just how "fantastic" Christopher Eccleston was and that David Tennant wasn't as great as I once thought (ok Matt Smith's awesome portrayal may have slightly influenced this!) not that he was bad in the role. I think a lot of the downsides with Tennant's Doctor were the quality of the stories (particularly series finales) and the relationship with Rose especially as this should've been tied up at the end of series 2 instead of bringing her character back time and time again. There's also the whiney emo side to Tennant's Doctor too that's perfectly encapsulated in the line "I don't want to go". Yeah because you really were the centre of the universe, so much so that your regeneration almost destroyed the TARDIS. FFS. The minute or so of Matt Smith at the end of 'End of Time' was such a welcome relief. It really shouldn't be like that, I should be sad to see a Doctor go not happy (although it's always great to see a new Doctor). In my eyes Tennant isn't the worst Doctor (he's still above McCoy and Colin Baker as well as poor McGann due to limited TV stories - thank you so much Moffat for the Night of the Doctor) but he's far from my favourite. I'm sure that last line will upset a few fan girls and boys. Oh well.
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