Caddickisms

First, the confession: I’ve been a Doctor Who fan since I was about 8 years old. Sitting and watching those episodes (Tom Baker, at the time) with my Dad is a great memory for me.

I started to lose interest in the Colin Baker years and didn’t watch Sylvester McCoy much either. Apparently neither did anyone else, and they shut the show down in 1989.

But they finally revived it in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston in the title role. Sorry if you don’t know this yet, but he left after one season and was replaced with David Tennant.

Both men have done an excellent job, and Billie Piper was excellent as his companion, Rose Tyler. The show has more episodes with a light tone than I remember from the old versions, but overall the writing and acting are great. The special effects have seen the most improvement in this new version, but there is still some cheese to be had from time to time — and I think that’s the way it should be, since the show was always known for its low budget effects in years gone by.

They made a few big changes with the Doctor for this new series. For one, his is literally the last of the Time Lords. He was involved in the (mostly unexplained) Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks, and apparently did something that wiped both sides out of existence. That left him, in the 2005 season, with quite of bit of anger and lonliness beneath the surface that made for some interesting moments. At times you got a hint that he might have actually gone mad. But Rose manages to help him, and once he regenerates at the end of the season, he seems to have left some of that behind. David Tennant’s Doctor is a bit more upbeat, and less maniacally so than Eccleston’s.

Both seasons have seen some great episodes that really excited and touched me. There were of course a few duds as well, but they pass from memory quickly, as duds will, and I’m left remembering the excellent episodes. Both seasons had plot threads that ran through the entire seasons and came to fruition in the season finales to great effect.

I just finished watching the 2006 season finale, and I have to say that I think it beat out the 2005 finale for emotional impact - and that’s saying something. That’s probably because it draws on some of the best points from the full 2 years we have with these characters and the send-off is well done. That’s not to say that the episode was perfect — there are, as usual with Doctor Who — some rather convenient plot twists and last minute reveals, but it hits the right notes at the right times and I felt fully satisfied at the end.

The few episodes that make my “must watch” list:

• Father’s Day (2005)
• Dalek (2005)
• The Empty Child 2-parter (2005)
• Season Finale 2-parter (2005)
• Christmas Special 2005
• The one where Sarah Jane Smith comes back (2006) [episode 3 - can't remember the title]
• Mid-season Cybermen 2-parter (2006)
• The Girl in the Fireplace (2006)
• Season finale 2-parter (2006)

There were other excellent episodes, but those are the ones that simply can’t be missed.

I’d have to say that overall, the series is a bit more kid-focused than I remembered (but then I was a kid with the old ones), however it retains and updates its charm and excitement for a new generation.

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Tags: doctor who, Reviews, tv

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 9th, 2006 at 11:57 pm and is filed under Movies & TV, Reviews, Sci-fi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.