Top 5 “New Who” Doctor Who Episodes

by Amy Yen

In anticipation to the series 6 finale of Doctor Who this Saturday, I thought I’d do a post on my top 5 episodes since the show came back in 2005. Like a lot of people, I never saw Classic Who & honestly, as much as I like the show, I don’t really think I’ll ever feel the need to go back & watch those old episodes, with the low production values & cardstock companions who only function as damsels-in-distress. But since Russell T. Davies brought the series back, the characters have been admirably fleshed out & the season arcs have always been interesting, if not always successfully executed.

I should specify that this is my personal favorite top 5 episodes, not necessarily the 5 very best episodes, although my choices are all pretty popular episodes. I also changed my mind on a few of them, just to not always pick the Steven Moffat timey-wimey choice, although I am obviously a huge sucker for those stories. Here are my picks:

Honorable Mentions: Human Nature/The Family of Blood, The Big Bang, The Girl in the Fireplace

5) The Girl Who Waited
Interesting, it’s one of two “Doctor-light” episodes in my choices. Not that I don’t love The Doctor, but this episode in particular is the best Rory & Amy story thus far & one of the best companion stories period of the new series. It’s a terrific standalone adventure, but it is also explores one of series 6′s most interesting aspects, the idea of a married couple in the TARDIS. What’s most wonderful about is, there are plenty of examples of how much Rory loves Amy, but this is one of the few stories that really shows how much Amy loves Rory. Rory is what separates Amy from Rose, why she’ll eventually be able to walk away from the Doctor for good.

4) The Doctor Dances
The second half of Moffat’s first two-parter that introduced one of his most famous creations, John Barrowman’s dashing, tragic Captain Jack Harkness, this episode features one of the Doctor’s greatest goosebump-raising, cheer-inducing speeches. “Everybody lives!” To me, it remains the high point of Christopher Eccleston’s short run as the Ninth Doctor.

3) The Eleventh Hour
Matt Smith’s first full adventure as the Eleventh Doctor was full of joy & wonder & magic, & to me, it got Doctor Who back to what it is when it’s at its best, in stark contrast to the cloudiness around it for Ten’s last few stories. And while Eleven’s run certainly has its ultra-dark moments, Matt Smith is such an energetic, compelling presence, the Doctor seems a little less weighed down by his past. “The Eleventh Hour” also introduces Amy Pond in one of the most creative & tragic companion backstories ever. What I remember most about it is its fantastical fairy tale imagery: Amelia Pond in her red jacket, the Doctor landing in her garden & the TARDIS in its bluest blue, ever.

2) The Doctor’s Wife
Neil Gaiman does Doctor Who, I mean, what can you say? What an amazing episode. I will admit, when I first saw “The Doctor’s Wife” in the episode titles, I was momentarily fooled into thinking this might be a River Song story, but the real story is so much better than that. The TARDIS personified is an inspired creation (“Did you wish really, really hard?”) & the best part of the episode might be that final scene, with the Doctor running around the console gleefully. “It’s always going to be you & her, isn’t it? Long after the rest of us have gone.”

1) Blink
I almost don’t want to put this as number 1 because it is both a Doctor-light & companion-light episode—Ten & Martha make the briefest of appearances—and my actual appreciation of the show has everything to do with the fundamental relationship between The Doctor & his companions. But “Blink” is a masterpiece, the original Moffat timey-wimey story. Because at the end of the day, it’s a show about time travel & nobody writes time travel like Moffat (I also think of “The Big Bang” as a great example of this, but “Blink” has the stronger narrative). “Blink” is also just a remarkable piece of storytelling, featuring possibly the scariest Who monsters ever, beautiful photography (those gorgeous, terrifying stone statues in the rain) & a one-off companion who feels as three-dimensional as anyone else in this universe. If it didn’t feature so little of the Doctor, I would call it the perfect Doctor Who story, if only for the brilliance of this scene:

So those are my picks, would love to hear yours in the comments. Doctor Who’s Series 6 finale, “The Wedding of River Song” airs on BBC America tomorrow, October 1 at 9pm ET.

Goodbye: Doctor Who The End of Time, Part 2

-by Amy Yen

“I don’t want to go,” realizes the Tenth Doctor, 906 years old and for seemingly the first time unable to grasp the idea of his own semi-mortality. So ends what feels like the longest goodbye in the history of television.

If Ten and Tennant weren’t so beloved, this year-long saga would surely be the most tedious event on television. After all, the most elegant thing about Christopher Eccleston’s regeneration might have been its simplicity. “You were fantastic. And do you know what? So was I!” I mean, come on, what a great last line.

But David Tennant was different, if only because he stayed for so long. He was my Doctor & a lot of folks’ Doctor & because of that reason, the four specials, the “He will knock four times” prophecy, the entire tiresome ordeal with the Master and the Time Lords & the parade of ex-companions…it all seemed fitting, rather than tedious. We didn’t want the goodbye to end either.

I will give RTD this: he was right about the four knocks bit being heartbreaking. I mean, poor Wilfred, who was, by the way, COMPLETELY BRILLIANT in this. And I asked for a proper showcase for David Tennant & that’s what I got. “SO MUCH MORE!” screams Ten (IMO, it’s really the look on his face when he hears Wilf’s sad, pathetic knocks that’s really stunning, more than even this rant). It actually felt too set up for the showcase. It reminded me of Glenn Close on Damages. If it was on American TV, I’d call it a scene tailored specifically for the Emmy reel, the plot & show being completely secondary…I hate these scenes. However, seeing as how David Tennant is brilliant & it really would be a shame to see him go without reminding everyone of that one more time.

Actually, the entire thing was one big indulgence, in a meta kind of way, but I kind of didn’t care. Because it’s always wonderful to see Martha & Mickey, even if their marriage was kind of a WTF moment (& in the commentary revealed to have been done entirely because RTD got a kick out of the whole “Smith & Jones”/“Martha Smith-Jones” thing, which was both amusing & a little annoying to me, as a Martha fan, since the “Ms. Jones”/ “Mr. Smith” thing always felt like Martha & Ten’s little inside joke). It’s always nice to see Sarah Jane (one of the best bits of the commentary was when RTD & Julie Gardner explained this sequence as the Doctor saving all of his friends’ lives one last time…in Martha & Mickey’s case, it was literally saving their lives, but in Sarah Jane’s case, it was saving her because he saved her son).

It was nice to see the Doctor, for once, providing a moment of happiness, of laughter, for Captain Jack, for all he’s failed him. (I hope that, even if they can’t show it, they tie Jack’s eventual return to Torchwood—& presumably, his eventual forgiveness of himself—to something the Doctor helped him with. Jack has always been the best example of the Doctor making others better, simply by his presence in their lives.)

I think that if the Human Nature/Family of Blood story wasn’t universally loved the way it is, the Joan Redfern/Verity Newman thing would have been completely misplaced. As it is now, it is a lovely scene, but one that I still don’t think belongs. Joan just wasn’t around long enough to warrant it, no matter how wonderful the story was. If anything, I wish they would have put this time toward a more satisfying, less trivial goodbye for Donna, who was not only a true companion, but one of the most special & beloved.

Ten’s goodbye to Rose, poetic, in the snow, was quite lovely. This is how I like Rose, the way we first met her. And as much as the character has meant to the new Who series, I truly hope this is the last time we see her. Bringing her back again would be a disservice.

So, this is it. Ten limps back to the TARDIS & we are dragged through another Ood scene that I’m so totally over (this promotion for the finale really did make the Ood & Joshua Naismith way more important than they were…to be honest, I feel like they could have left both of them out & there STILL would be too much packed into this story). Ten is somehow still not ready, even though there’s no one left to say goodbye to. It’s tragic that this Doctor dies all alone, biggest family in the Universe not withstanding.

The End of Time is a flawed story, but I still kind of loved it. It accomplished the most important thing anyway, it gave David Tennant the send-off he deserved. It’s difficult to imagine anyone else in the role, really. I mean, Tennant IS the Doctor, to me, to a lot of people. It’s always hard to say goodbye.

Matt Smith, Eleven, looked, frankly, perfectly at home in his five-second introduction (“Still not ginger!”). I cannot wait for series 5. And oooh, since it might be the last chance for me to sign off with this…Allons-y!

Swan Song for Ten: David Tennant’s Final Doctor Who ‘The End of Time’ Begins

-by Amy Yen

Technically speaking, David Tennant was not my first Doctor. Like a lot of new Whovians, I started with “Rose,” & I knew Chris Eccleston as Claude the Invisible Man in Heroes before I ever laid eyes on Nine. Nine was charming & wonderful & fantastic. But it was Ten & Tennant, out of longevity if nothing else, that became my Doctor.

“The End of Time, Part 1″—the first half of the Tenth Doctor‘s final adventure—is an incomplete & flawed story. It took too long to get going, it was so confusing it was almost completely incomprehensible at times (Obama? Really??), it was way too over-the-top, it featured almost none of the promised guest stars &, in many ways, it failed to properly feature the greatness of David Tennant as the Doctor.

It did have its moments. Tennant’s quiet scenes, in the cafe with Wilf in particular, were his best. Wilf was wonderful, even though it took too long to just get him in the TARDIS already. Lucy Saxon‘s redemption was nice, if a little inexplicable (how was she able to do all that when she got locked away right after all the stuff on the Valiant? why was that random guard helping her?). Donna’s scenes were heartbreaking. And of course, that final scene, with Timothy Dalton & all the time lords…well, it was enough to bring all the anticipation for part 2 roaring back, even while the Master’s subplot disappointed.

The thing is, the Master always sounds good in concept. The Master’s coming back, you say? This is going to be awesome! But then, it turns out exactly like last time. The Master, it turns out, is bloody crazy. And not in a so crazy, it’s awesome kind of way. John Simm is great, but he’s given material so over-the-top here that it makes dancing around the Valiant to the Scissor Sisters seem subtle. He’s exhausting, in that cartoon villain kind of way. You kind of feel like saying, really? Again, with the taking over the world?

Still, you can’t judge “The End of Time” without seeing part 2, & as noted, there were just enough awesome bits in part 1 to make the next week seem very long indeed. Because, what’s so riveting & intriguing about this particular Doctor’s anticipated regeneration is that he dreads it so much. “Even if I do change, it feels like dying,” he tells Wilf, “Some new man goes sauntering away.” And so Ten rages against the dying of the light & it’s impossible to turn away, even as we know Matt Smith & Eleven are waiting, just on the other side of 2010.

Come on, New Year’s, get here!

Live-Blogging Doctor Who: Waters of Mars

-by Amy Yen

NOTE: This post contains blatant, unabashed spoilers for the US/Canada airing of Waters of Mars. You should be pleased that I’ve managed to not post this sucker until now, since I obviously have had the download since approximately two hours after it aired in the UK in November. Waters of Mars airs on BBC America & on SPACE in Canada on December 19.

You’ll note I’m doing this off a download, so the time track will start at 0.

00:00 – We open on Adelaide Brooke, our one-off companion (well, sort of) for this story. She is the leader of a base on Mars. Adelaide watches a video message from her daughter, who appears to be in her 30s, & her baby granddaughter. The daughter blathers on about nothing until the transmission cuts her off. Luckily for us, this isn’t her story.

00:50 – In what is a pretty impressive Mars landscape, presumably done by The Mill, the TARDIS materializes & there he is, Perfect Ten. The Doctor is in his spacesuit, possibly the same one he had in 42 & The Impossible Planet/Satan’s Pit. He is vacationing on Mars, which is a lovely little thought, I think. If you could vacation in all of time & space, where would you go? There is a very subtle at times sense of dread throughout this entire story…if you forgot the warning Ten received at the end of Planet of the Dead, you’d do well to look it up again.

00:58 – I do enjoy how the Doctor, when he is alone, still comments aloud as if he had a companion to share his adventures with. If I was in a more romantic mood, I’d say we are all the Doctor’s companion.