The last 15 minutes or so of Doctor Who: The End of Time Part 2, from the moment that we hear Wilfred Mott knock four times on the glass door, I start to lose it. And let me just say that I had better have the Kleenex box at hand. And it doesn't matter how many times I watch I still end up a sobbing mess that no one wants to approach. I believe this is the mark of an excellent show, not that I ever doubted that Doctor Who was a fantastic series but the fact that it still makes me cry even when I know what will happen makes it that much better. Of course this scene is super special and it's emotional charged with the knowledge that it marks an end of an era, not only of David Tennant as The Doctor but also as Russell T. Davies as the head writer and executive producer. By the end David Tennant's 10th Doctor has regenerated into Matt Smith's 11th Doctor and Russell T. Davies has handed over his well crafted reboot of a show to fellow writer Steven Moffat. (Tennant having left his role in more capable hands than Davies, but that's neither here nor there.)
The first regeneration, from Christopher Eccleston to Tennant wasn't as emotionally draining as Tennant to Smith but it was still monumental. Now if you excuse a moment of recollection...I first heard about the series from a friend who was studying abroad in England for a year. She sent me a newspaper clipping of David Tennant and Kylie Minogue from the fourth series Christmas special and although I had know idea who these people were I kept it and it hung on my wall silently tempting me to watch it. I finally gave in one day, finding the series streaming on Netflix and I was hooked.
The first series was amazing. I love Rose and The Doctor. It was a science fiction show that wasn't too out there in science fiction terms and wasn't really bad, like some of the stuff they have on endless loops on Saturday television. I finished it quickly but then came the first regeneration and it was a hard one. Although it was a picture of Tennant's Doctor that got me into the show Christopher Eccleston was my Doctor. It was hard to say goodbye after such a short time. Even now when I've rewatched the first series several times I find it hard to move on. The first time around I remember I stopped watching for a few weeks, not wanting to see a new Doctor. Much like Rose, at the beginning, I wanted him to change back to his former self, but I got used to him. Now, he's my favorite Doctor but I still have a soft spot for Eccleston and I still don't want to give him up, even in repeated viewings.
The second series, the second time around isn't as impressive as I had remembered it. I don't enjoy the series as a whole as much as I do the first series and it's weird because I love Rose and the 10th Doctor but I think I know what's coming at the end of the series. Some episodes however, such as 'Love and Mosters' is much better the second time around. I didn't like it the first time because it wasn't centred on The Doctor and Rose and since I knew Rose was leaving I wanted more of them together but watching it again and knowing that Rose eventually comes back in series four, it's easier to watch. Plus Shirley Henderson is AMAZING! The end for Rose always comes too soon, and like Tennant's regeneration a Kleenex box is in order.
The next companion to come is Martha Jones, albeit with a bit of Donna Noble in between. Martha Jones has always been my least favorite companion (although Amy has been giving her a run for her money). Part of it comes from coming so close after Rose but it's more than that because technically speaking Donna comes directly after Rose and I absolutely love her so the question still remains, why do I hate Martha Jones? She wants to be Rose. She falls for The Doctor whose still caught up on Rose. She's too clingy and whiny. But besides that she doesn't seem to need The Doctor as much as either Rose or Donna. If you look at her circumstances, she has a loving family - father and mother are both still alive, she lives on her own and is in training to be a doctor. Rose and Donna are much more working class. Rose works retail and Donna is a temp. The pair of them feel much more down to Earth than Martha ever does. It makes series three a dread to watch and I would rather skip forward to series four, even though Martha appears in that as well!
Series four is my favorite with Donna and the return of Rose and it was the first series I bought. My enjoyment of it the first time around was most likely expanded by reading Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook's The Writer's Tale along side it which details the writing of the fourth series. And the last three episodes of the series are some of the best - super epic but amazing. 'Turn Left,' 'The Stolen Earth' and 'Journey's End' brought back everyone, including the Daleks which had been missing. Rose was reunited with The Doctor but at a price of Donna. Donna's story is extremely tragic but it is handle so well that it works. She really is the most tragic character of the series. She doesn't die physically but all of her memories are wiped and she can no longer be DoctorDonna which can arguably be worse than death. I never think I'm going to cry when she starts to repeat herself but she always gets me. Unlike Rose and The Doctor's regeneration, Donna's death brings on a sudden rush of tears that I hadn't realized was going to be released. The onslaught often catches me unguarded but it's okay because it's such a good story.
Then it's just the year of specials. 'The Water's of Mars' I thought was brilliant for it's twist at the end. By this point I had finally caught up with the series and could watch it while it aired which brings me all the way back to the beginning and The End of Time. Of all the television I've watched the end of Part 2 is the one piece of television I can actually remember watching for the first time. It was early in the morning and I was sitting at the computer in the kitchen watching The Doctor say his goodbyes to his former companions. I was bawling my eyes out as my dad came around the corner to witness my pathetic state. Since then my love of Doctor Who has struggle a bit with the change in writer and cast but I'll always have these five years to look back on and I hope for the best for the future of Doctor Who as I progress in my Doctor Who Marathon into the Matt Smith/Steven Moffat years.
Wish me luck!
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