Rank & Rate: The David Tennant Era

[Emperor-Tiberius]

The Tenth Doctor is here, and how! The second and last Doctor under Russell T. Davies, this Doctor went about for four years that furthered, expanded and capitalized the show's return on the airwaves.

Which one of his 37 stories* did you like best? Which one did you dislike? Which of his four years did you like best?

Allons-y!

* I know its silly, but I count Time Crash as a story. A mini-story, sure, but its too good to ignore.

 

[zarkon]

Best to worst:

Blink
Turn Left/The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
Human Nature/The Family of Blood
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
Gridlock
Smith and Jones
The Fires of Pompeii
The Girl in the Fireplace
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
Time Crash
Midnight
The Shakespeare Code
The Runaway Bride
School Reunion
Utopia/The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords
The Christmas Invasion
42
Partners in Crime
The End of Time
Tooth and Claw
New Earth
Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
Voyage of the Damned
The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky
The Idiot's Lantern
The Next Doctor
The Waters of Mars
Planet of the Ood
Planet of the Dead
The Lazarus Experiment
The Unicorn and the Wasp
---cut off point for me overall enjoying the episode
The Doctor's Daughter
Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks
Love & Monsters
Fear Her

Blink is an incredible thriller with a brilliant conceit. It just edges out RTD's three parter Turn Left/The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, as Journey's End ends on a weak note (though that doesn't take away from 2⅔'s worth of incredible writing (and RTD had written Midnight just before this, so he was certainly on a roll). He built it to an astonishing crescendo but didn't quite know how to finish it (metacrisis was not great).

The last full season is undoubtedly the best, with five strong RTD eps and two strong moffat ones. Moran's "The Fires of Pompeii" was also particularly good.

There's little that's truly "bad" here. The Ney York dalek story is of note as it had a chance to do something exciting with the daleks and totally messed it up.

 

[Sparkle Fabulosa]

While I had many issues with Ten's personality, overall I did enjoy David Tennant's protayal of the Doctor. I'm not good at ranking so as before I'm just going to list my favourites. Also series 4 was my fav because I loved Donna.

The Girl In The Fireplace
School Reunion
The Runaway Bride
The Shakespeare Code
Daleks In Manhattan/Evolution Of The Daleks
Blink
Voyage Of The Damned
Partners In Crime
Planet Of The Ood
The Doctor's Daughter
Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead
The Stolen Earth
Journey's End

 

[kirk55555]

I really liked 10. In fact, I can never choose between 10 and 11 as my favorite NuWho Doctor. I liked his personality, David Tennant is awesome, and he also had my favorite series finale (stolen earth/journey's end) and final scene ("I don't want to go"). His first series was a bit rough, but overall he still had a great run.

When it comes to 10's companions, Rose was good, Donna was great, and Martha was bland but inoffensive. If we count Captain Jack Harkness, he was also great.

Stories ranked in categories

Great:
School Reunion
The Girl in the Fireplace
The unicorn and the Wasp
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
Time Crash (I don't really count it as an episode, but it was great)

Good:
New Earth
Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel
The Runaway Bride
The Shakespeare Code
Gridlock
Utopia/The Sound of drums/The Last of the Timelords
Voyage of the Damned
The Doctor's Daughter
Midnight
Planet of the Dead
Water of Mars
The End of Time

Ok:
Planet of the Ood
The Sontaran Stratagem/Poison Sky
Partners in Crime
42

Meh:
The Christmas Invasion
Tooth and Claw
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
Smith and Jones
The Lazarus Experiment
Blink
The Fires of Pompeii
The Next Doctor

Bad:
The Idiot's Lantern
Evolution of the Daleks/Daleks in Manhatten
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit

Terrible:
Love & Monsters
Fear Her
Human Nature/The Family of Blood
Turn Left

Something i've noticed is that, while all Doctors have bad episodes, the 4 stories of the 10th Doctor's era that I labeled as "Terrible" are basically my four most hated NuWho episodes. I mean, I might also add In the Forest of the Night in there somewhere to make it a top (bottom?) 5, but besides that those are four stories I completely despise.

 

[mythme]

There's just something about Tennent I can't nail down. He's fine in Doctor Who but he never feels quite "Doctorish" to me. I often say it feels more like the "David Tennant Show" than "Doctor Who" at times. The Fourth Season is the best for me; Donna really helps dilute Tennants oft-overpowering ego. She's the perfect foil for #10 (although I still prefer Martha sans the unrequited love rubbish). And aside from "Waters of Mars" which was fairly decent, I do not like any of those "special" episodes. Bernard Cribbins was the saving grace for "End of Time" which I think was a great opportunity very poorly executed.

BTW, Kirk, I can't believe you rated "Family of Blood" so low. Love that one!

From top to bottom:
Silence In the Library/Forest of the Dead
Stolen Earth/Journey's End
Blink
Utopia/The Sound of drums/The Last of the Timelords
Human Nature/The Family of Blood
Girl In the Fireplace
The Runaway Bride
(Time Crash)
The Fires of Pompeii
The Shakespeare Code
Partners in Crime
New Earth
Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel
Smith and Jones
School Reunion
Gridlock
Voyage of the Damned
Planet of the Ood
The Sontaran Stratagem/Poison Sky
The Doctor's Daughter
Midnight
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
Planet of the Dead
Water of Mars
42
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Turn Left
(The Infinite Quest)
Tooth and Claw
The End of Time
The Christmas Invasion
Evolution of the Daleks/Daleks in Manhatten
The Lazarus Experiment
The Next Doctor
(Dreamland)
The Idiot's Lantern
Love & Monsters
Fear Her

 

[kirk55555]

BTW, Kirk, I can't believe you rated "Family of Blood" so low. Love that one!

Don't get me started on that story, or I'll never shut up about it

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Both Human Nature and Turn Left are absolutely fantastic, just amazing. I love them both dearly.

Also, The Unicorn and the Wasp? I liked that one, but so high?

 

[Tosk]

I can't rate the episodes, but I definitely enjoyed the 10 years. Especially when Donna was around.

 

[kirk55555]

Both Human Nature and Turn Left are absolutely fantastic, just amazing. I love them both dearly.

Also, The Unicorn and the Wasp? I liked that one, but so high?

The Unicorn and the Wasp just pulled me in the first time I saw it. I can say I liked it more than any episode in the lower categories, so to me it fits in "Great", although if I ranked the categories in order it would probably be listed last in the "Great" section.

Human Nature/Family of Blood might work if they hadn't advertised it as Doctor Who. Its about 80 minutes of David Tennant starring in a BBC period piece, with a bit of Doctor Who shoved into the story. Also, I extremely disagree with the entire ending of the story. The Doctor doesn't desire to be a human, or to have human things. He's a traveler, he almost went nuts being stuck on Earth when he was exiled there. He would look back at this stupid adventure, shrug and forget about it, not act like he lost something or get nostalgic for it.

Maybe if the story had actual science fiction for the majority of its runtime, David Tennant actually played the Doctor instead of some idiot human and it had been one part, it might have been watchable. As it is, its easily my most hated NuWho story, and its only not my most hated Doctor Who story ever because The Greatest Show in the Galaxy exists.

Turn Left was just horrible. Besides the fact that "The Doctor drowned, regenerated, and then drowned until he died" is extremely stupid (none of his regenerations could swim? Even if he was being held down, its still idiotic), the whole story is incompetent, and also obviously a fake out from the very beginning. It has no tension, and the overall story is just painful to watch.

 

[MacLeod]

I think episodes like

Blink
The Girl In The Fireplace

Have to be near the top, as for ones towards the bottom I never eallt cared for the Daleks in Manhatten two-parter. Not saying it's the worst put I would put it towards the bottom end of episodes.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I'm relatively surprised not more posters have shared their lists. I thought at least we'd have all seen NuWho by now, right?

The Tennant era is another favorite of mine, and combined with the Eccleston one, basically the whole of RTD (five years, five series) is my favorite of NuWho, by far. This Doctor simply was extraordinaire. I can't think to say much about him, other than that his era has been rather consistent and, while OTT in many cases, the cast always managed to pay off Davies' wilder concepts (like, well, pulling the planets out of their orbit (!) or Gallifrey appearing next to Earth (!!) or, well, a giant spider nesting in the center of the Earth) and its a testament to that team that these stories are still enduring and entertaining in ways that Moffat stories from later seasons haven't done in repeat viewings.

Many hated RTD for his take on DW, but I didn't. He single-handedly, seemingly, pulled me into this show and, to his credit, forced me to stay. That said... he did kinda ruin Rose, didn't he? She became obsessed with the Tenth Doctor in the second series (OK, maybe she was worried that she'd lose him again or whatever, but still...) and then turned her into... military expert in the parallel world? What?! Honestly, I love the Stolen Earth three-parter, but it'd have been better if she wasn't a fearless, giant-gun-holding soldier. Speaking of which, he positively destroyed Martha in the fourth series by making her a full-fledged soldier, and pairing her with Mickey. Really? What, for the Smith & Jones gag? That lasted long. RTD is also guilty for never bringing the Brigadie into the show (he did in SJA, but it wasn't the same), which is weird given that he grew up with the Third/Fourth Doctors, where the Brigadier was most prominent - I rather he was in The Sontaran Experiment two-parter than Martha, if anything. Still, that is relatively little, as he did so much for the show's legacy - namely, bringing it back, and with a bang - that his shortcomings are just that: short.

As for David Tennant - well, he really is the best Doctor since Tom Baker, isn't he? I mean, 9 is my fave, but strictly objectively speaking, he's the most appealing Doctor that probably ever will be, and the one that showed that NuWho could survive after Eccleston's exit. He helped make the show internationally successful, and thats no small feat. And honestly, I feel he had a couple of years left in him (just like with Eccleston, obviously).

Anyway, the list - I forgot to mention that it'd be nice if we included the animated episodes, cause with them, Tennant has 39 stories (even though I think it really is 38, but whatever).

38. Evolution of the Daleks/Daleks in Manhatten
37. Love & Monsters
36. The Doctor's Daughter
35. The Lazarus Experiment
34. The Next Doctor
33. Fear Her
32. New Earth
31. The Idiot's Lantern

30. Tooth and Claw
29. Planet of the Dead
28. The Christmas Invasion
27. Voyage of the Damned
26. The Infinite Quest (animated)
25. Partners in Crime
24. Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel
23. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
22. Gridlock
21. The Shakespeare Code

20. The Sontaran Stratagem/Poison Sky
19. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
18. Utopia/The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Timelords
17. Dreamland (animated)
16. The Unicorn and the Wasp
15. The End of Time
14. The Runaway Bride
13. Smith and Jones
12. 42
11. Planet of the Ood

10. Turn Left/The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
9 . School Reunion
8 . The Fires of Pompeii
7 . Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
6 . Time Crash
5 . The Girl in the Fireplace
4 . Water of Mars
3 . Human Nature/The Family of Blood
2 . Midnight
1 . Blink

 

[zarkon]

I'm relatively surprised not more posters have shared their lists. I thought at least we'd have all seen NuWho by now, right?

Well, the earliest tennant eps are almost 9 years old now, if you haven't rewatched them you are going to struggle to remember them.

Plus it's a daunting number of episodes to rank - we have 4 full lists, which is about the same that the similarly long TBaker era got in its thread.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I'm relatively surprised not more posters have shared their lists. I thought at least we'd have all seen NuWho by now, right?

Well, the earliest tennant eps are almost 9 years old now, if you haven't rewatched them you are going to struggle to remember them.

Plus it's a daunting number of episodes to rank - we have 4 full lists, which is about the same that the similarly long TBaker era got in its thread.

While I watched them more recently, I tended to binge-- sometimes 6-7 episodes in a day, so things tended to blur together and episode titles would barely register. I will say that I loved Tennant's run and consider him a favorite.

He might've been my very favorite if not for the annoying tendancy to have his female companions swoon over him. Donna is by far my favorite Tennant companion.

A couple of favorites do stand out. "Blink". "School Reunion" (which is responsible for my checking out Classic Who). "The Runaway Bride". "Silence in the Library". I generally enjoyed it all. The good thing about binging is that the bad tends to be forgotten quickly as you move on to the next adventure.

 

[DWF]

I rewatched the entire era when the seasons were rereleased on DVD. I loved his Doctor from the start and I too was saddened when he left. Tennant's Doctor was the heroic one and some of the sadness of the Time Wars was gone. Thanks to RTD Tennant's era had a movie style quality to the multipart finales. I saw The Rise Of The Cybermen/Age Of Steel in the theater and it hold up rather well on the big screen.