Mastodawn

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

I like the gag of the TARDIS materialising between those two containers, forcing the Doctor to rotate it 90 degrees just to get out. #DoctorWho

Even given the wild extremes of the #DoctorWho universe, perhaps the sight of people turning into a child’s drawings, which then move on the page, was a bit much for the main show. Might have been more suited to the Sarah Jane Adventures.

All the shit that Chibnall got for having 13 enter people’s minds without permission, and here the 10th Doctor just casually mind-melds with a child and puts her in a trance, in front of her mother, without asking either for consent… 🤷🏻‍♂️ #DoctorWho

“Not you too Bob!”

The commentary on the Olympics throughout is utterly mental, some of the most bizarre dialogue ever in #DoctorWho, especially “the Olympic dream… is over!”

Just because the runner dropped the torch??

People seem to hate the ending where the Doctor runs with the torch and lights the Olympic flame, but actually… I like it. Best part of the episode for me. It’s goofy but fun. #DoctorWho

Army Of Ghosts /Doomsday: RTD takes the ‘TV show references’ bit from the season 1 finale and tweaks it into his patented trick of a montage of actual celebs reacting to whatever wacky events are going on.

And why does Jackie’s TV pick up French and Japanese channels? #DoctorWho

Hard not to see Yvonne Hartman’s Torchwood through a UKIP/Brexit-y lens now, with all its guff about “Britain being truly independent!” #DoctorWho

Can’t believe it’s taken me 17 years to notice that Mickey first appears at a distance, as just some bloke in a corridor that Rose follows to the room with the sphere, before he’s properly revealed. 😳 #DoctorWho

The surprise reveal of the Daleks emerging from the void ship was the most thrilling thing. Finally, the long held fan fantasy of Daleks and Cybermen blasting the crap out of each other was to become reality. #DoctorWho

But first, their bitch-off was quite entertaining too…

“You are superior in only one respect!”

“What is that?”

“You are better at dying!”

#DoctorWho

Generally I don’t think season 2 has aged that well. At the time the barnstormingly popular casting of Tennant carried it through, but a lot of it isn’t as rewatchable as season 1 was. Or as I suspect later seasons will be. For me it’s the weakest year of RTD1 #DoctorWho

And it’s not helped by the fact that there are no words to express just how much I. Do. Not. Give. A. Shit. about the Ten/Rose “romance”. 🙄 It leaves me completely cold.

Top comedy moments here. Should have had a laugh track. 😜 #DoctorWho

Anyway, brighter times are a’ coming. 😃 #DoctorWho

The Runaway Bride: right from the off Tennant and Tate have fantastic and funny chemistry together, perfectly in keeping with the ‘1930s screwball comedy’ tone they were going for with this one. #DoctorWho

Donna pulling the Santa mask off the taxi driver to reveal a robot is a nod to Terror Of The Autons, surely?

That whole motorway chase sequence is still brilliant. Pity the poor guy whose car roof gets bumped by the TARDIS. How do you claim that on the insurance? #DoctorWho

It’s a feature of RTD’s #DoctorWho that he always kept in mind how kids / casual viewers might only have general memories of previous stories, not specifics.

People don’t care about the exact details of the Robot Santas, they’ll just remember “Oh, the bad guys from last Xmas!”

Unfortunately we’re now into the era of the Tenth Doctor moping over Rose every bloody episode.

Cheer up mate, it’s Christmas! 😜 #DoctorWho

Lol at the Wile E. Coyote moment of Donna swinging on the rope, missing the Doctor and clattering into the wall. #DoctorWho

The Racnoss Queen is such a crazy character, with her peculiarly mannered way of speaking and a seeming fascination with Christmas, weddings, etc.

And the creature itself looks great, just a shame they couldn’t stretch to a single CGI shot of her scuttling about. #DoctorWho

Smith And Jones: I love the confidence of how this opens. The question the media always asked in season 1 was “Can #DoctorWho work for modern audiences?” With season 2 it was “Can it work again, with a new Doctor?” But by now it’s like ‘Screw you, we’re a success and we know it!’

It’s a brilliantly economic bit of writing from RTD that in the first sixty seconds we get to know Martha and all her family, even down to the Dad’s new girlfriend, and immediately understand the dynamics between them all. #DoctorWho

“Where are they from, the planet Zovirax?”

The single most dated reference in all of #DoctorWho! 😄

Only in this show could the monstrous alien villain be little old Anne Reid in a nightdress, threatening people with a bendy straw. #DoctorWho

Gavin Winters

Martha gets one of my favourite ‘bigger on the inside’ moments, with the Doctor mouthing it along with her.

Welcome aboard, Miss Jones! 😀 #DoctorWho

The Shakespeare Code: you get a slight sense of the show expanding its visual capacity around this point, with the repeated CGI shots of medieval London. Even adding some tiny CGI people running about near the end. Just makes the scale a little grander. #DoctorWho

There’s still a tiny lingering worry that kids may not connect with an historical episode, so you get the Doctor’s quick summary of how “similar” everything is to the modern world - ‘recycling… global warming’, etc. #DoctorWho

They literally do the “there was only one bed” thing from fanfiction. 😄

Honestly Doctor, Freema Agyeman in bed next to you, looking longingly… and you go and ruin the moment blathering about bloody Rose…

You idiot! #DoctorWho

“Oh, 57 academics just punched the air!”

There it is - Russel’s favourite number! Is that the first time it was used in dialogue? #DoctorWho

To be honest, the technobabble (or bafflegab) explanation of how exactly the Carrionite technology works is a bit weak. It’s really just an excuse to have a fantasy concept like witches in #DoctorWho’s sci-fi universe. Best not to think about it too much and just enjoy the story.

Gridlock: always loved this one, definitely the best of the loosely-connected ‘New Earth’ trilogy. Very inventive how they just redress the same set for all the cars, but done so well you don’t really notice. And with such a crazy variety of different characters. #DoctorWho

Random Macra cameo! I suppose there is a thematic connection to their original appearance, with everyone refusing to accept their existence. #DoctorWho

One thing that RTD sometimes went slightly overboard with is having other characters becoming instantly besotted with the Doctor and start eulogising him. Brannigan’s known him about five minutes before breathlessly talking about how he’s “a little bit magnificent!” #DoctorWho

Tennant’s talk with Martha at the end, with his teary-eyed description of Gallifrey, is some of the best acting he’s done in the show so far. #DoctorWho

And it made this old fan very happy with the callback to Susan’s description of ‘silver leaves on the trees’…🥲 #DoctorWho

Daleks In Manhattan/ Evolution Of The Daleks: the first slightly iffy Dalek story of the modern run. Apparently RTD fell ill during production and it had to be completed without his oversight, and it shows. #DoctorWho

Where would time travellers be without random discarded newspapers to tell them what year they’ve arrived in? #DoctorWho

I’m sure fans of, er… certain niche adult entertainment were pleased with the design of this character… 👀 #DoctorWho

I know Talllulah is supposed to be a bit ditzy, but does it really take her that long to recognise Lazlo? Surely she’d recognise his voice straight away? #DoctorWho

I love the moment of the two gossipy Daleks, talking about Dalek Sec, with one checking behind him first to make sure they’re not being overheard. #DoctorWho

The bit about “Time Lord DNA” being conveyed down the lighting strike (?) is the point where the plot feels like its unravelling.

And the scene of the Doctor saving Lazlo seems rushed and almost improvised, sort of “oh, just do what you can with the available props.” #DoctorWho

The Lazarus Experiment: there was often a bit of a mid-season slump in the RTD years, and never more obviously than in season 3. There’s nothing too terrible here, there’s just much better episodes coming soon.

Still, a whole episode without a mention of Rose. Result! #DoctorWho

Hmm, so you conduct a dangerous and untested scientific experiment, in a huge spinning machine thingy… slap bang in the middle of a party with people having drinks and nibbles? Health & Safety nightmare! #DoctorWho

Tish comes across as incredibly shallow considering she was repulsed by Lazarus when he was a lecherous old man, but is suddenly all over him once he becomes younger. #DoctorWho