Gavin WintersThe triumphant, celebratory, “Everybody lives!” ending is one of the best ever. And while it may have become a bit of a Moffat cliche later of him being reluctant to kill anyone, at this point it was still refreshingly brilliant and joyous. #DoctorWho
For no particular reason, here’s a picture from this story you may like to see… #DoctorWho
Boom Town: this was very under-appreciated at the time, possibly because it’s a quieter episode following on from the wildly popular two-parter of TEC/TDD, but I’ve always thought of it as a highlight of the season, with some great character moments. #DoctorWho
RTD really loves to milk a gag through repetition, doesn’t he? It started with Eccleston’s multiple looks at the London Eye way back in ‘Rose’, and now we get Margaret’s teleport reversed several times, then all her attempts to kill the Doctor in the restaurant. #DoctorWho
But amongst all those jokes you get the whole discussion of the Doctor’s morality and whether he’s right to deliver her home to her execution or not. #DoctorWho
Some say the solution at the end with the TARDIS console opening is a Deus Ex Machina, but you could argue it was set up way, way back in The Edge Of Destruction! #DoctorWho
RTD had planned that we’d see Margaret again a couple of years later, as a newly grown child Slitheen with Annette Badland providing the voice. Maybe something that will eventually happen in his new era…? #DoctorWho
Bad Wolf / The Parting Of The Ways: you can’t fault the impeccable structure of season one, with how it re-introduces the core concepts of #DoctorWho, adds new mythology, and then it all, even the “lesser” episodes, lead to this finale. I don’t think any season’s done it better.
Some of the game shows may be a bit specifically dated to what was popular in 2005, but RTD was clever enough that they each represent a particular *type* of show, that are eternally recognisable - reality tv, quiz, makeover show. #DoctorWho
What a cliffhanger to part one. A real “Fuck you, Daleks!” 😄 It took me an embarrassingly long time to notice that the Doctor’s “Rose, I’m coming to get you!” was deliberately echoing Davina McCall’s Big Brother catchphrase. #DoctorWho
I love the awkward, fumbling, mutual liking between the Doctor and Lynda-with-a-Y, teasing us she may be a new companion. With Rose quietly seething in the background. 😄
Until that Dalek outside the window silently flashes its lights in time with four syllables… #DoctorWho
Has anything ever topped POTW as a finale? I’m not sure, it’s still one of the greatest anyway. A tiny group of people fighting against impossible odds… the genius of the hologram turning to face Rose… the punch-the-air moment of Mickey and Jackie with the truck… #DoctorWho
The Christmas Invasion: but first a quick detour to the CIN Special, or ‘Born Again’, if you like. A fun, if inconsequential little intro to the new Doctor. But annoyingly half-finished, with missing sound FX.
Ten tells Rose he can’t change back. Well, not this time… #DoctorWho
Funny how quick the #DoctorWho Xmas special became a ‘tradition’, even after just one.
RTD sets the template here for the next few years, a riproaring adventure full of Christmas fun. Bizarrely annoying some fans, who wanted something with the complexity of Blink or Midnight.
On Christmas Day!🙄
It’s a smart move to make the audience root for the new Doctor by keeping him out of the action until the situation gets absolutely desperate, so you’re cheering when the translation thing kicks back in and he finally emerges from the TARDIS. #DoctorWho
And the other trick of course, (whenever it’s new Doctor, same showrunner) is to surround him with familiar characters from the previous era, to reassure the audience things haven’t changed too much - Jackie, Mickey and Harriet Jones (yes, we know who she is. 😄) #DoctorWho
At last, another room in the TARDIS! Well, okay, the console room redressed.
You have to laugh at how, whenever we get a scene of a Doctor choosing their new clothes, every other outfit in the TARDIS wardrobe is completely insane, and there’s really only one option. #DoctorWho
Incidentally, the original as-broadcast version of ‘Song For Ten’ (not the Neil Hannon version on the soundtrack) was briefly available to download on the BBC #DoctorWho website, which I nabbed at the time…
https://www.dropbox.com/s/60c3lesadnegaxu/Song%20For%20Ten%20%28Original%29.mp3?dl=0
New Earth: not the strongest season opener. I don’t think it was really necessary, but there’s still a bit of ‘reassure the audience it’s still the same show’ as we enter Tennant’s first season, with a return of Cassandra and the year 5 billion. #DoctorWho
There’s some surprisingly poor CGI and greenscreen effects when people are being infected, and in certain other shots too. You can’t even excuse it as being dated, as they looked bad at the time. #DoctorWho
It’s funny when you realise how little Zoe Wanamaker is actually in this episode, as 90% of the time Cassandra is being played by other actors. #DoctorWho
Tooth And Claw: opening with the arse-kicking kung-fu monks is a great hook, but er… how exactly do they manage that flying through-the-air move? (Supernatural influence from the Wolf?) #DoctorWho
But anyway - a proper CGI werewolf! Things have moved on a lot since Greatest Show In The Galaxy. And there’s another McCoy era throwback with an alien trying to take over the Empire by killing Queen Victoria. #DoctorWho
I like the unexpected use of Ian Dury and the Blockheads on the soundtrack as the Doctor lists his favourite things about 1979… and then pulls a face at the thought of Thatcher.
Cancel this woke BBC nonsense now! 😄 #DoctorWho
Hmm, the laboured “Bet you’re not amused Ma’am?” gag is the point where Rose started to become smug and irritating with Ten. To the extent that I actually forget how likeable she was with Nine and it’s always a surprise on rewatch. #DoctorWho
School Reunion: Sarah Jane! And as the Doctor said, “K-NIIIIIIIIIIINE…!”
Tennant plays the reunion so well, both as the Doctor and, on the meta level of him meeting a childhood hero. He even seems to be attempting a Tom Baker face here. #DoctorWho
You can sense the nervousness of the show in bringing back K-9 in the line about “Why does he look so…disco?”, trying to pre-empt any audience mockery. But there’s really no need. His design hardly looks that different from any random robot you might have got in 2006. #DoctorWho
RTD always cleverly made sure any references to the past work on two levels, for fans and casual viewers. The Doctor here talking about leaving Sarah Jane and then how the Time Lords “all died” makes it sound like she was with him immediately before the Time War. #DoctorWho
Anthony Stewart Head makes a brilliantly slimy villain in Finch. I like his poolside confrontation with the Doctor, and his description of the Time Lords as “dusty, ancient, Senators” is the perfect summation of their classic series appearances. #DoctorWho
Rose’s petulant jealousy over Sarah-Jane is another step towards her character becoming annoying and dislikable, even if it does ultimately end up being very funny between them.
And as for her annoyance at Mickey coming aboard… bloody hell! What a miserable cow. #DoctorWho
The Girl In The Fireplace: or, as fans have sometimes dubbed it, “The Fire In The Girly Place” 😆. Moffat’s first go at a type of plotline that will become familiar later - the Doctor imprinting himself on a young girl who then grows up obsessed with him. #DoctorWho
The mystery of what exactly is going on plays out well, with more oddities and strangeness added bit by bit. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on it, a bloody horse turns up on a spaceship. #DoctorWho
The Clockwork Droids are a fantastic, iconic design, and the jumpscare of the one under the bed must have spooked lots of kids watching. #DoctorWho
“We can’t use the TARDIS, we’re part of events now!”
Um… yes, just run that one by me again?
*cough!* Handwave! *cough!* #DoctorWho
It’s more of ‘Moffat’s Malfunctioning Tech’ (TM) at fault. I mean… putting aside the time windows… the droids massacred the crew and chopped them up to use their organs!
I hope there was some kind of 51st century inquiry after which the manufacturers were jailed. #DoctorWho
Rise Of The Cybermen / The Age Of Steel: inevitably the other ‘big bad’ of the classic series was bound to return. It’s a typically smart RTD move to make these old monsters resonate with today’s kids by likening their conversion process to ‘upgrading’ your phone. #DoctorWho
At last the Cybermen look and act in the uniform way they were always supposed to. Actors of the same height, in identical costumes, all marching in sync with each other. #DoctorWho
This right here is one of the worst moments in all of #DoctorWho - the Doctor forgetting about Mickey holding the button… then he and Rose snigger about it like a pair of smug, giggling pricks…🙄
Honestly, you feel like reaching through the screen and giving them both a slap.
By now the pattern of each season in the new era was becoming clear - the first two-parter was always a kid-friendly runabout with lots of chases by monsters (who are then conveniently marketable as toys for Xmas!) with the later two-parter having more adult appeal. #DoctorWho
Alt-Jackie is clearly written as being more selfish and unlikeable than the regular version, so we don’t feel too bad when she gets Cyberised. And of course it then leaves alt-Pete free to be paired up with real Jackie in the finale. #DoctorWho
I’m sorry, I know it’s meant to be poignant but… I can’t help but laugh at the death of Cyber-Sally Phelan. 🤭
It’s just… Nick Briggs doing his deep booming Cyber voice while saying “WHERE’S GARETH? ITS BAD LUCK FOR HIM TO SEE ME BEFORE THE WEDDING…!”
😅😅😅😅#DoctorWho
The Idiot’s Lantern: not much to say about this one, a middling episode for the middle of the season. The faceless people are a suitably creepy image. For those of us of a certain age, reminiscent of Sapphire And Steel.
Rose got over Mickey’s departure fairly quickly! #DoctorWho
Why exactly do the TV aerials look like swastikas? Bit on the nose. And you’d think people in Britain in the 1950s might notice and have something to say about that… #DoctorWho
Only certain Doctors can get away with doing the angry shouty thing without looking a bit silly (mainly Tom, Eccleston and Capaldi). Tennant tries it here and, well, he’s probably better at doing the quiet, hissing-through-his-teeth anger… #DoctorWho
I like the end where Tommy is encouraged to go after his Dad. It’s at least an acknowledgment of the real-life complexity of such a situation, rather than going for a simplistic “Oh he’s just evil, forget him!” ending. #DoctorWho
The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit: this is one of the best stories of the modern era so far, and on this season two rewatch, one of the few that still holds up to how I felt about it at the time.
Notable for the introduction of the Ood… and that orange spacesuit! #DoctorWho
Pity we have to open with more of the Ten/Rose smugfest - the over-the-top laughter at the suggestion of getting back in the TARDIS and leaving… 🙄 #DoctorWho
Lol at Rose’s face when an Ood randomly says “The Beast and his armies shall rise from the pit to make war against God.” 😄 #DoctorWho
A proper old-school #DoctorWho quarry… but with some CGI enhancements made to look about a million times better than they ever have before.
The multi-threat cliffhanger of the pit opening, the Ood turning evil, the planet starting to lose orbit, etc, is excellent.
The gigantic Satan is the most impressive CGI creation in the new series up to this point. Especially when you think it was a last minute addition that they weren’t sure they could pull off given the time and budget. #DoctorWho
Having the TARDIS make a triumphant return after a long period of the Doctor being cut off from it is always a winning plot device. Androzani is probably where it was done most effectively in the old show, and this has the most air-punching example of the new era. #DoctorWho
“I couldn’t save the Ood. Only had time for one trip.”
You’re in a time machine! Just go back a bit earlier and bundle them all in the TARDIS ffs!
Poor old Ood. No one gave a shit. 🤷🏻♂️ #DoctorWho
Love & Monsters: well here we are, the most RTD of all RTD episodes. Peak RTD. The ultimate litmus test of whether you’re on board with his vision of #DoctorWho or not. A brilliant love-letter to fandom accompanied by a warning of its obsessive side.
Best episode of the season.
It’s still staggering to me that this became the “controversial” and “divisive” episode. It’s overflowing with greatness. The characterisations of the whole LInDA gang and their growing friendship. Elton falling in love with Ursula. The flashback about Elton’s mother… #DoctorWho
Not to mention it’s Camille Coduri’s best performance as Jackie, as we get an insight into “those left behind” in the Doctor’s world.
Oh, but a minute of Peter Kay running around in a green fat suit and it’s “Worst. Episode. Ever!!!” 🙄 #DoctorWho
To be fair, that chase sequence at the end is slightly cheesy, but it’s a minor moment in an otherwise superb story.
And then we have the audaciousness of that ending with paving slab Ursula… 😅 It’s that sort of ‘not-giving-a-fuck-ness’ I want to see again in RTD2. #DoctorWho
Fear Her: the other great “unloved” episode of season two (Ludicrous that Love & Monsters always gets lumped in with this). Watching it again it’s not that bad, it’s just… there. Nothing particularly gripping or exciting happens. #DoctorWho