Top 10 David
Tennant Stories
David Tennant’s
era is where the show really took off and became popular. It lead the ground work for the mega season
finales where everything was thrown in except the kitchen sink. It was an era of returns, sadness and some
really good stories. I really liked this
era and along with Matt Smith’s top ten list coming in December it was hard to
pick and place these stories.
10. The End
of Time
Written by
Russell T. Davies
Directed by
Euros Lyn
Why it’s in
the top 10:
It is David
Tennant’s big goodbye. The last time we
see the 10th Doctor being heroic. You
have the return of the Master and The Timelords. One of the best parts of this story is the
performance of Bernard Cribbins. Another
great performance by David Tennant most notably the last half hour where he
channels Hamlet before he sacrifices his life to save Wilf from radiation and
then saying goodbye to all his companions before he regenerates. It had lots of
good moments like the moment when The Master takes over everybody and homages
to Star Wars also. Really like the farewell
tour at the end.
10. Midnight
Written by
Russell T. Davies
Directed by
Alice Troughton
Why it’s in
the top 10:
RTD’s best
script that he has writing in the 5 years that he was in charge of Doctor
Who. Plus it was your classic sci fi
paranoia story. It was pretty intense
how the alien that took over Sky was able to get the passengers to play off
their fears and turn against each other.
Loved how it took place in the shuttle only and everyone was trapped
there waiting for the rescue shuttle. Midnight
is a classic horror situation without a CGI monster but using basic fears to
scare you.
9. Army of
Ghosts/Doomsday
Written by
Russell T. Davies
Directed by
Graeme Harper
Why it’s in
the top 10:
It’s the
ultimate Fanwank episode. It has the
Daleks and Cybermen fighting each other in glorious battle scenes around
London. It’s enough to give a 50 year
old nerd an orgasm. Just loved seeing
The Daleks and Cybermen in the same story and seeing them battle each other was
pure joy and a treat for fan of the classic series. Plus the scene where the
Doctor says farewell to Rose was one of the most touching in the series
history. Truly gut wrenching for fans of Rose seeing her parted from The Doctor
in an improbable way by being saved by Pete Tyler and being transported to the
alternate Earth instead of being sucked into the void. One of the sadder departure stories ever in
Doctor Who.
8. Rise of
the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
Written by
Tom MacRae
Directed by
Graeme Harper
Why it’s in
the top 10:
We get an origin
story of the Cybermen plus we get the first glimpse of the alternate Earth that
gets revisited twice more. Plus we get
to see somewhat how the Cybermen are made.
One of the stronger Cybermen stories in a long time with a Star Trek
Mirror Universe affect. It was based on Mark Gatiss’s Big Finish story Spare Parts. A really good story that gives us a hint of
how the Cybermen came about but with a different twist to it as it was an
Earth, although alternate dimension Earth, that made it seem all the more
realistic and scary.
7. The Waters
of Mars
Written by
Phil Ford and Russell T. Davies
Directed by
Graeme Harper
Why it’s in
the top 10:
It’s the
classic monster story. Monster threatens
a group in a space station and the Doctor shows up to save them. Loved how they
used a common object that we use in everyday life and made it threatening this
time drinking water. We see a different
Doctor in this one a Doctor that is darker.
The Doctor is unhinged and defiant as he breaks the laws of time to suit
his own purpose. One of the few Doctor Who
stories that does not have a happy ending.
Plus it’s the beginning of the end for the 10th Doctor.
6. The Fires
of Pompeii
Written by
James Moran
Directed by
Colin Teague
Why it’s in
the top 10:
This is the
story that made Donna more of a serious companion rather than being comic
relief. It was her compassion and drive
to go after The Doctor to save just one person brought home the fact that Donna
was the best companion for the 10th Doctor.
Plus how could you not laugh when the Doctor pulled out a water gun and
used it on the Pyrovilles that in its self was classic. It also stars future
companion Karen Gillian who would go on to play Amy Pond and of course the man
who played Caecilius Peter Capaldi will be taking the keys of the TARDIS from
Matt Smith this December.
5. The
Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
Written by
Matt Jones
Directed by
James Strong
Why it’s in
the top 10:
This Story is
the first appearance of the Ood who would play a bigger role in the 10th Doctor
era later on in the series. Plus the
Doctor fights an enemy that is Devil like and bringing the mythos of the devil
back into the Who universe. Plus how
great was it to see the Ood going crazy and killing people. That scene in the air ducts where the Ood was
chasing Rose was pretty intense. Plus how could you not like the possessed Toby
outside of the space station floating around and then killing his crew
mate. The voice of Gabriel “Sutek” Woolf
as the beast was pretty cool to hear in Doctor Who again.
4. School
Reunion
Written by
Toby Whithouse
Directed by
James Hawes
Why it’s in
the top 10:
School Reunion
gives us the return of Sarah Jane Smith and K9 for the first time since the
Five Doctors. The death and resurrection
of K9 was a sad and happy sequence of events.
The best scene visually is when Sarah Jane sees the TARDIS for the first
time and then the camera pans around and there is the Doctor standing in the
shadows. The Doctor saying goodbye (for
now) to Sarah Jane in the closing moments was really heartfelt and a touching
moment for classic Who fans. Plus how
classic was the cat fight between Rose and Sarah Jane and the classic line “The
Loch Ness Monster”. School Reunion is
just a classic and fun story to watch and it was good to see Elisabeth Sladen
as Sarah Jane again and to see her get a spin off show from this appearance
also.
3. Human
Nature/ The Family of Blood
Written by
Paul Cornell
Directed by
Charles Palmer
Why it’s in
the top 10:
Another fan
wank story for the fans as this story was adapted from Paul Cornell’s book
Human Nature. It is a love story that
unfortunately does not have a happy ending for both involved. A really clever story that explores what
happens if The Doctor becomes human with a new identity and no recollection of
his past Time Lord self. It was great to
see the scarecrows walking around and terrorizing the school plus seeing the
Doctor in the school teacher getup with the machine gun was very reminiscent of
the books cover. Plus this is one of
David Tennant’s best performances as the Doctor if not the best. Human Nature/The Family of Blood is a clever
story that had not been attempted before and works on so many levels.
2. The Girl
in the Fireplace
Written By
Steven Moffat
Directed by
Euros Lyn
Why it’s in
the top 10:
Again it’s
written by the guy who is the show runner for the Matt Smith era and his best
stories are in the Tennant era. The Girl
in the Fireplace is another classic monster story with some of the neatest
looking robots ever. The Clockwork robots are just magnificent to look at and
just really great in the detail. Plus
look at their costumes truly one that they took great pains to look
awesome. The Girl in the Fireplace is love
story with a sad ending as every time The Doctor came back to see Reinette she
was older and then sadly she was no more.
The ending was truly one of the sadder ones in the shows history. It is an all along perfect story with another
of David Tennants great performances.
1. Blink
Written by Steven Moffat
Directed by Hettie MacDonald
Why it’s in the top 10:
It’s written by Steven Moffat the
Robert Holmes of the new series. Well he was during the 9th and 10th
Doctor’s era. Sally Sparrow saves day
and starts cult affection about her.
Actress Carey Mulligan portrayal of Sally Sparrow was the highlight of
this story and of season 3. The Weeping
Angels are pretty cool and have garnered the title of the best new bad guy for
Doctor who as they returned for a rematch with Matt Smith‘s 11th Doctor a
couple of times. This is an adaptation of
a Steven Moffat story “What I Did On My Christmas Vacation by Sally Sparrow”
which appeared in the Doctor Who annual of 2006 and features the 9th Doctor. Just an all-around perfect story that is
filled with sadness and joy and it sure is one of the scariest and creepiest
stories ever in Doctor Who. Blink is
probably the best story of New Who and so far has not been matched in the new
series yet.
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