Doctor Who: The Specials

Not the Christmas specials, the special specials.

You get a Christmas special every series it's like the Queen's speech. So yeah the last 3 specials from David's tenure are still really damn good. Planet Of The Dead is very basic but the companion in this case Christina is a bit too good, she's right on The Doctor's level for adventure and excitement and I wouldn't feel bad at all seeing her again I mean she is an absolute joy to watch, it's just a bit of fun, a nice Easter special with quite an ominous warning for things to come. Next, quite possibly the most depressing Christmas special I've ever seen, The Waters Of Mars is stellar and it's not to do with the setting, the monsters, or the action. It all comes down to the characters, we've heard The Doctor speak of fixed points in time, unchangeable history and to see this quite honestly startling view of him at the end is worth it. I take that back the whole ending is worth it, they nailed that emotional crux of the episode and they ran with it to the bank, it still makes me tear up a bit. Just further proof for David's great acting talent, he is absurdly superb in this. I mean, wow they brought their A-game to this episode. Planet Of The Dead was just fun, this is....Jesus, I dare say powerful. Which leads us to the most ambitious finale I think we'll see for quite some time with The End Of Time. They really put their all into making this a grand finale for David Tennant, they make it one of the most emotional regeneration stories I've seen, with tons of stuff going on concerning the Time Lords. But really I think the story could have been anything and all the emotion would still be there. Now I've heard quite a backlash to this one, hearing that oh the regeneration went on for too long, it was too overdone, it was just trying to squeeze every drop of emotion it could out of people, but in my special case it took me years to finally see this finale. I finished series 4 very quickly and never knew how he regenerated, something about radiation or another but not knowing the full story literal years after I finished David's run. I wasn't even gonna watch Matt Smith's first series until I knew. But it payed off, it's a last goodbye for the most celebrated and loved Doctor quite possibly ever, and to see him do just a few more good things for his past companions is very sweet. Though the last goodbyes with Sarah Jane and Wilf just shred my heart to pieces. Really any scene with just Wilf and The Doctor makes me weep, just those quiet moments where they just sit and talk speaks volumes and knows exactly how to tug on our heartstrings. I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful Donna's grandpa is, he's the best and I love him now and forever and I will fight you in the streets if you say one bad thing about him. God dang it, no tears. I can't do this now, I'm sorry.

Ugh, curse these emotions. But for the last three hurrah's for Mr. Tennant, it was done incredibly well. Adieu adieu, parting is such sweet sorrow. But next time, we meet my Doctor.

Doctor Who: Series 3

Now we're reaching the prime time for Doctor Who.

I vastly enjoyed series 3 more than both series 1 and 2, I'm not sure if this series is better than the last but it all comes down to people's opinions in the end. Yet even I was enjoying myself much more, probably because it felt like an established season, yes we still get a new companion but this was really when both the showrunners and David started making it their own. Of course that's not to say the last two series were bad or a product of poor craftsmanship, they did a great job reintroducing the show with Chris and then built more on it with David's first series, but this is when it really hit it's stride for me! There's only one episode you could skip, the rest are all great and some of which still have an impact on the show to this day so clearly they were doing their best to make this series the greatest yet and it shows. After the shocking ending to the finale we pick up with The Runaway Bride which is a lot of fun for a Christmas episode before we head into the series proper with Smith & Jones. Now before, I gave Martha not a lot of credit but all because of one thing, she gets all doe eyed at the Doctor and crushes on him hard, I remember days where companions were just travelling friends and had great respect for The Doctor but didn't exactly want a relationship. I know it's a product of these times but it feels so....CW. That's not a good thing (but I still love you Supernatural) but beyond that I dig her as a companion, especially how she pretty much singlehandedly made the good guys win in the series finale but she's fun, intelligent, and a wonderful emotional and morale compass for the series. I have to admit though it really took them over 40 years to have a companion who wasn't white as snow? And no I don't count Mickey as a companion, he had two onscreen adventures before going off. We had flippin' robots as companions before we got other races onboard the Tardis, and no I haven't gotten my hands on any Big Finish audio dramas so don't bring those up, but yeah that's a bit weird but change is always welcome, especially in this show. After that it's just about hit after hit of episodes! Shakespeare Code is awesome, I genuinely love Gridlock, the Daleks In Manhattan is a bit hokey but okay. It was great seeing Mark Gatiss get a part in an episode, and an interesting one at that. The Family Of Blood is an even more fascinating episode with tons to love and appreciate, least of all David's acting skills. Blink is a modern horror master stroke that could be a movie on it's own today and still genuinely and completely unnerves me. I mean Jesus, don't watch it at night, especially before bed. I learned that the hard way. And the so far unrivaled 3 part finale is pretty spectacular in terms of scale, story, and character. I won't say much more but man is it more awesome if you've seen older Doctor Who episodes from the 70s and 80s! The only one you can wholeheartedly skip is 42, it's not bad but it does seem very filler but beyond that, great series! It's a shame we only really have one more series with David though, it's a funny buisness time....you're gone for ages, you've already gone, you're still here, you've just arrived, I haven't even met you yet. It really does put it into perspective sometimes at how much time you get to see a person before they leave. But if memory does serve correctly, his last one went out with a bang.

Time to move on. To see familiar faces, enemies new and old, history in the making, and an unfamiliar face soon to be known.