The Tenth Doctor: Some Highlights
Jan. 4th, 2009 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakThis time next year, when we've actually seen our last of the Tenth Doctor and our first glimpse (in character, interviews don't count) of the Eleventh, I intend to write a proper Ten retrospective; right now I'm somewhat time-limited. However, I am in a wistful mood; and there is YouTube. So, here are some favourite scenes. By no means all of them; some weren't uploaded, or I couldn't find them in the available time. But some, who serve as good a demonstration as any why David Tennant's Doctor has made it up there with the Seventh and the Third among my favourite incarnations of the man.
So here I was, having seen the first season of New Who. Which I had liked, very much. Not passionately, but I was impressed, moved, delighted, what have you (and angry, about one episode, but hey, that happens with every show). I also knew, like most people on the net, that Christopher Eccleston would be only around for this one season, which meant the Doctor would have to regenerate. I hadn't heard anything about Eccleston's replacement. The last few seconds of Parting of the Ways weren't exactly enlightening as to whether New Guy (who supposedly was to appear in Goblet of Fire as minor villain Barty Crouch Jr. soon, but whom I otherwise hadn't heard of) could act, or what he was going to be like. Then came the Children in Need special scene:
He had me at his expression when Rose says yes, she'd like him to change back. I still had no idea whether or not I'd believe him as the Doctor, but yes, he could definitely act. I liked him well enough at the start of s2, but the episode where both the Tenth Doctor and David Tennant playing the part started to claim my fannish devotion was the third one, School Reunion. Looking back three years later, I don't think it's a coincidence; he has most of his scenes with Elisabeth Sladen and Anthony Stewart Head here, and DT is at his very best when you pair him up with actors either older or at least as old as himself. Doesn't mean he's bad with either Billie Piper or Freema Aygeman; but there is another level there. (And I'm not talking about romantic chemistry here, to clarify this.) Sadly, the swimming pool conversation with ASH's character isn't available, but the Doctor meeting Sarah Jane Smith again for the first time in many years is. If you're an Old Who fan, you'll notice that it some ways, it's a homage to their very first encounter, when they were also both undercover investigating, and the (Third) Doctor introduced himself as John Smith. If you're a New Who only fan, you still can't help but notice how absolutely happy the Doctor is to see this Smith woman. "Bedazzled" is the word that comes to mind.
(Incidentally, in DT's video diary on the fourth season boxset, there is a tidbit when he interviews Lis Sladen while they're shooting Stolen Earth/ Journey's End. He still sounds like that.)
Another season 2 episode I loved was The Girl in the Fireplace. For many reasons, most of which I outlined in my original review back then, but here's a minor one: the fake!Drunk!Doctor scene. Pretending to be harmless and doing something harmless while actually preparing the defeat of the monster du jour is a tried and true Doctor technique, but rarely done with as much flair as Ten does it here. (Complete with singing. Three would be proud.)
I've made no secret of the fact The Runaway Bride is my favourite of the Christmas Specials. I loved it from the moment I saw it. The Ten 'n Donna team-up is why, of course. Their relationship - and Donna - was going to be fleshed out and deepened in s4, but both the fast talking comedic give-and-take and the quiet understanding moments where there from the start. So here it is, my beloved roof top scene. (Also proof #1 to hit people on the head with when they claim Donna "screeched her way through TRB"). As far as the Doctor is concerned, it's a great example of him being switching between being considerate and being a prat, both of which he can be; one moment putting his jacket around Donna, the next getting into technobabble and casually insulting her, which she immediately puts an end to.
The Runaway Bride also is the first time the Tenth Doctor's capacity for ruthlessness is really emphasized (not counting the earlier Christmas Special, because of regeneration circumstances). It's not that he should have let the earth be overrun by arachnoid omnivores bent on killing off the entire population, and he did give the Empress of the Raccnoss a choice; but the scene still emphasizes his alien-ness, and the side of him that is ready to kill if necessary to save a greater number of people. Even commit genocide. (Seven did it; we know Eight had to; Nine couldn't, which was ethical but would have meant death or Dalek rule for everyone on Future!Earth if not for the TARDIS-and-Rose as a dea ex machina. Ten might hate it, but he can and does do it.) It's the scene that spawned a thousand icons. Its aftermath is another great scene between Donna and the Doctor, and I love both the Oncoming Storm start and honesty of the goodbye:
Back then, I regretted Donna wouldn't be a regular companion, but was also curious about the new girl, who turned out to be the one and only Martha Jones. Of all of Ten's scenes with Martha in season 3, these are my favourites, from my favourite standalone s3 episode, Gridlock; someone thankfully combined them - the teaser and the tag scene:
Most of the Doctors are pretty verbose, but with Ten the talk more often than not manages to simultanously misdirect and reveal. Note that in the first scene, what he says to Martha - "why would I want to go home? It would be boring for me!" - would have been true before the destruction of Gallifrey. The lie here isn't just pretending there is a Gallifrey, but also pretending he's still his old self, playing truant from home. In the second scene, he does tell her the truth - and in both scenes describes Gallifrey partially quoting Susan's description from The Sensorites, a graceful little homage on RTD's part - but he still misdirects. It has been claimed that New Who ignores how badly the Doctor got on with his fellow Time Lords most of the time, but not if you pay attention. The Doctor's enthusiastic descriptions never, ever, are about the people or their society. He only raves about the beauty of the planet. Later in the season, when Jack asks "So how come the ancient society of Time Lords produced a psychopath? It sounds so beautiful!" the Doctor replies "Yes, beautiful to look at".
In its last three episodes, season 3 brought back the Master, and with him we got the slashiest in a long tradition of slashy Master/Doctor phonecalls. (Okay, so Ainsley!Master totally neglected the art, and we don't talk about Roberts!Master, but Delgado!Master and Three were really into it.) But you know, what makes this scene so outstanding isn't just the slashiness - though that's fun, and I maintain this is the hottest scene shown in four seasons of New Who, never mind all the kisses - it's the sheer emotional intimacy, the equality, the way the scene gets across both how connected they are and why they couldn't possibly work out without one of them essentially destroying the core of his nature:
And then we have the death scene. Flawed as Last of the Time Lords is, this kills me every time, no bad pun intended. And yes, in other scenes I can see the complaints about Murray Gold's musing being too intrusive, but here as we go from death-to-fire, the use of his This is Gallifrey theme is perfect. (BTW, in the Doctor Who Proms, it cracked me up that the images shown when they played this particular theme - still one of my favourites from the show - were basically a Doctor/Master vid.) The Doctor grieving for the Master the way he does is of course horrible to see for the people who suffered under the Master for a year. And yet - given their near millennium of a backstory and their entire convoluted relationship - it feels true.
After all this angst, we got an angst-free, literally breaking-the-wall Children in Needs special when Ten met Five and was delighted to be reminded of the time he was him. Again, I can see the complaints from some quarters about this being self-indulgent and too much like filmed meta ("you were my doctor" was as much both Moffat and Tennant speaking as anyone else), but call me easy: I love it. And the "you are... a fan!" cracks me up every time.
On to season 4, aka my favourite New Who season, featuring my favourite New Who Doctor/Companion team. As an episode, Partners in Crime was lightweight compared with Smith and Jones, but unabashed fun. Drawing out the moment of reunion with the Doctor and Donna missing each other all the time was shameless audience teasing fun, and all constructed for the big pay-off, the first time they do see each other and communicate through miming. Which will never stop being glorious:
The DoctorDonnaFriends combo wasn't the only reason I loved season 4, though. Among various others was that it contained an experimental episode which to me was one of the scariest of the show, Midnight. Midnight offered an acting tour de force by Lesley Sharpe (who never needed special effects like black eyes or make-up) and David Tennant, and used a simple trick - the repetition of words - to absolutely chilling effect. Words turning against this very verbal Doctor, as the humans do, showed him at his most vulnerable. So here are two clips from Midnight. First the talking in sync:
And then the horror of losing his voice and any ability to move, with only the expression in the eyes conveying what is happening:
Finally, the is the Christmas special that was just broadcast. Sadly, the only clips I found were of the teaser, not of the later scenes, and I wanted those. Ten is at his best with Jackson Lake, going from initially being delighted at the idea of meeting a future regeneration to figuring out there is something wrong and that this man can' be himself, while always being sympathetic to Jackson, gently leading him to the truth at his own pace. While these scenes aren't around, someone already made a Jackson 'n Ten vid, so it shall be my conclusion:
So here I was, having seen the first season of New Who. Which I had liked, very much. Not passionately, but I was impressed, moved, delighted, what have you (and angry, about one episode, but hey, that happens with every show). I also knew, like most people on the net, that Christopher Eccleston would be only around for this one season, which meant the Doctor would have to regenerate. I hadn't heard anything about Eccleston's replacement. The last few seconds of Parting of the Ways weren't exactly enlightening as to whether New Guy (who supposedly was to appear in Goblet of Fire as minor villain Barty Crouch Jr. soon, but whom I otherwise hadn't heard of) could act, or what he was going to be like. Then came the Children in Need special scene:
He had me at his expression when Rose says yes, she'd like him to change back. I still had no idea whether or not I'd believe him as the Doctor, but yes, he could definitely act. I liked him well enough at the start of s2, but the episode where both the Tenth Doctor and David Tennant playing the part started to claim my fannish devotion was the third one, School Reunion. Looking back three years later, I don't think it's a coincidence; he has most of his scenes with Elisabeth Sladen and Anthony Stewart Head here, and DT is at his very best when you pair him up with actors either older or at least as old as himself. Doesn't mean he's bad with either Billie Piper or Freema Aygeman; but there is another level there. (And I'm not talking about romantic chemistry here, to clarify this.) Sadly, the swimming pool conversation with ASH's character isn't available, but the Doctor meeting Sarah Jane Smith again for the first time in many years is. If you're an Old Who fan, you'll notice that it some ways, it's a homage to their very first encounter, when they were also both undercover investigating, and the (Third) Doctor introduced himself as John Smith. If you're a New Who only fan, you still can't help but notice how absolutely happy the Doctor is to see this Smith woman. "Bedazzled" is the word that comes to mind.
(Incidentally, in DT's video diary on the fourth season boxset, there is a tidbit when he interviews Lis Sladen while they're shooting Stolen Earth/ Journey's End. He still sounds like that.)
Another season 2 episode I loved was The Girl in the Fireplace. For many reasons, most of which I outlined in my original review back then, but here's a minor one: the fake!Drunk!Doctor scene. Pretending to be harmless and doing something harmless while actually preparing the defeat of the monster du jour is a tried and true Doctor technique, but rarely done with as much flair as Ten does it here. (Complete with singing. Three would be proud.)
I've made no secret of the fact The Runaway Bride is my favourite of the Christmas Specials. I loved it from the moment I saw it. The Ten 'n Donna team-up is why, of course. Their relationship - and Donna - was going to be fleshed out and deepened in s4, but both the fast talking comedic give-and-take and the quiet understanding moments where there from the start. So here it is, my beloved roof top scene. (Also proof #1 to hit people on the head with when they claim Donna "screeched her way through TRB"). As far as the Doctor is concerned, it's a great example of him being switching between being considerate and being a prat, both of which he can be; one moment putting his jacket around Donna, the next getting into technobabble and casually insulting her, which she immediately puts an end to.
The Runaway Bride also is the first time the Tenth Doctor's capacity for ruthlessness is really emphasized (not counting the earlier Christmas Special, because of regeneration circumstances). It's not that he should have let the earth be overrun by arachnoid omnivores bent on killing off the entire population, and he did give the Empress of the Raccnoss a choice; but the scene still emphasizes his alien-ness, and the side of him that is ready to kill if necessary to save a greater number of people. Even commit genocide. (Seven did it; we know Eight had to; Nine couldn't, which was ethical but would have meant death or Dalek rule for everyone on Future!Earth if not for the TARDIS-and-Rose as a dea ex machina. Ten might hate it, but he can and does do it.) It's the scene that spawned a thousand icons. Its aftermath is another great scene between Donna and the Doctor, and I love both the Oncoming Storm start and honesty of the goodbye:
Back then, I regretted Donna wouldn't be a regular companion, but was also curious about the new girl, who turned out to be the one and only Martha Jones. Of all of Ten's scenes with Martha in season 3, these are my favourites, from my favourite standalone s3 episode, Gridlock; someone thankfully combined them - the teaser and the tag scene:
Most of the Doctors are pretty verbose, but with Ten the talk more often than not manages to simultanously misdirect and reveal. Note that in the first scene, what he says to Martha - "why would I want to go home? It would be boring for me!" - would have been true before the destruction of Gallifrey. The lie here isn't just pretending there is a Gallifrey, but also pretending he's still his old self, playing truant from home. In the second scene, he does tell her the truth - and in both scenes describes Gallifrey partially quoting Susan's description from The Sensorites, a graceful little homage on RTD's part - but he still misdirects. It has been claimed that New Who ignores how badly the Doctor got on with his fellow Time Lords most of the time, but not if you pay attention. The Doctor's enthusiastic descriptions never, ever, are about the people or their society. He only raves about the beauty of the planet. Later in the season, when Jack asks "So how come the ancient society of Time Lords produced a psychopath? It sounds so beautiful!" the Doctor replies "Yes, beautiful to look at".
In its last three episodes, season 3 brought back the Master, and with him we got the slashiest in a long tradition of slashy Master/Doctor phonecalls. (Okay, so Ainsley!Master totally neglected the art, and we don't talk about Roberts!Master, but Delgado!Master and Three were really into it.) But you know, what makes this scene so outstanding isn't just the slashiness - though that's fun, and I maintain this is the hottest scene shown in four seasons of New Who, never mind all the kisses - it's the sheer emotional intimacy, the equality, the way the scene gets across both how connected they are and why they couldn't possibly work out without one of them essentially destroying the core of his nature:
And then we have the death scene. Flawed as Last of the Time Lords is, this kills me every time, no bad pun intended. And yes, in other scenes I can see the complaints about Murray Gold's musing being too intrusive, but here as we go from death-to-fire, the use of his This is Gallifrey theme is perfect. (BTW, in the Doctor Who Proms, it cracked me up that the images shown when they played this particular theme - still one of my favourites from the show - were basically a Doctor/Master vid.) The Doctor grieving for the Master the way he does is of course horrible to see for the people who suffered under the Master for a year. And yet - given their near millennium of a backstory and their entire convoluted relationship - it feels true.
After all this angst, we got an angst-free, literally breaking-the-wall Children in Needs special when Ten met Five and was delighted to be reminded of the time he was him. Again, I can see the complaints from some quarters about this being self-indulgent and too much like filmed meta ("you were my doctor" was as much both Moffat and Tennant speaking as anyone else), but call me easy: I love it. And the "you are... a fan!" cracks me up every time.
On to season 4, aka my favourite New Who season, featuring my favourite New Who Doctor/Companion team. As an episode, Partners in Crime was lightweight compared with Smith and Jones, but unabashed fun. Drawing out the moment of reunion with the Doctor and Donna missing each other all the time was shameless audience teasing fun, and all constructed for the big pay-off, the first time they do see each other and communicate through miming. Which will never stop being glorious:
The DoctorDonnaFriends combo wasn't the only reason I loved season 4, though. Among various others was that it contained an experimental episode which to me was one of the scariest of the show, Midnight. Midnight offered an acting tour de force by Lesley Sharpe (who never needed special effects like black eyes or make-up) and David Tennant, and used a simple trick - the repetition of words - to absolutely chilling effect. Words turning against this very verbal Doctor, as the humans do, showed him at his most vulnerable. So here are two clips from Midnight. First the talking in sync:
And then the horror of losing his voice and any ability to move, with only the expression in the eyes conveying what is happening:
Finally, the is the Christmas special that was just broadcast. Sadly, the only clips I found were of the teaser, not of the later scenes, and I wanted those. Ten is at his best with Jackson Lake, going from initially being delighted at the idea of meeting a future regeneration to figuring out there is something wrong and that this man can' be himself, while always being sympathetic to Jackson, gently leading him to the truth at his own pace. While these scenes aren't around, someone already made a Jackson 'n Ten vid, so it shall be my conclusion:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 09:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 08:00 pm (UTC)what it's, that makes The Doctor an interesting character for me, and why I am not sure that I like him as a person
It can
be found here" (http://flummery.livejournal.com/26300.html?page=1#comments)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 10:09 am (UTC)Oh I understand that very well! For a long time I had a few BtVS & AtS episodes I'd never seen. And, of course, I still have One to Eight to watch still. :) (The only old Who episode I've seen is 'Doctor Who and the Daemons' which I liked very much.)
And re Tennant's best scenes, then I - thanks to the children - re-watched the S2 finale yesterday, and Doomsday (the end in particular) is just stunning. Especially when he walks away from the wall - the look on his face is just incredible, like he's frozen. I'm reminded of a description of Wesley and his ability to just stand there and silently *exude* pain. The Doctor has that down to a fine art. There is also the moment on the beach when she translates the name, and he smiles their little in-joke smile and it just KILLS me! (And I'm not what you'd call a 'shipper...) I'm going to miss him so, so, so much. He *is* the Doctor!
Anyway, to help me deal I wrote an extremely silly little ficlet, with a few tiny bits of meta hidden deep down, if you're in the mood for some fluff. (AU fluff I should probably mention. Although that's sort of the point.)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 09:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 09:50 pm (UTC)Yay! That's what it was supposed to do! *g*
Mind you, the bit about the Master brouht these serious questions to mind...
Bwahahahaha! Fantastic! (I've just got myself a new Eleven icon which I think is very appropriate.)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 09:05 pm (UTC)Oh, I love him. I love that first CiN scene so much, and would gladly choose it over Christmas Invasion proper which I hate a bit. And I'd forgotten how excellent Sound of Drums is, and just how creepy MidnIght and TENNANT, DON'T LEAVE ME. *clings*
I WAS FINE BEFORE, but I just leaned about Smith today and four more specials are just not enough, and LOOK HOW AWESOME HE IS IN THAT MIDNIGHT CLIP and MIME and SO'S YER DAD.
Ahem. In short: a re-watch of his era (HIS ERA OMG) is clearly in order, and I'm clearly taking my first regeneration with quite some flailing, and clearly Big Finish also need to get David Morrisey whenever they get Tennant. Clearly.
*flails* This is a post of love, thank you.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 09:20 pm (UTC)You and me both, sister. It's my least favourite of the specials, though I do like individual scenes. (And wrote meta disguised as fanfic partly based on it.)
And yes, so awesome. I know he's not to everyone's taste, but whenever people say DT can't act or has no expressions I remember scenes like these and go "What?!?" (in proper Tenth Doctor fashion). (And then I also remember being in Stratford and feel smug.)
David Morrissey: yes, Big Finish must. Clearly, once they get the license, they can do all sorts of missing adventures for both Ten 'n Donna and lots of Ten visiting Jackson and adventuring with him.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-04 11:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-05 07:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-05 01:45 am (UTC)I'll miss Tennant, but Dr Who is nothing without change and I'm excited to see what the new guy will be like.
And thanks for the 10 and 5 clips, I had no idea that special exissted. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-01-05 07:01 am (UTC)Change: absolutely. I've enjoyed so very different periods like the Seventh and the Third Doctor's reign, and they wouldn't have happened without it. (I still missed them when they were gone. Comes with the attachment territory. Looking forward and simultanouly missing, I mean.)
10 and 5: you're welcome. Have a photo of their real first encounter, too (aka Peter Davison was nice enough to show up when they were filming The Christmas Invasion:
no subject
Date: 2009-01-05 11:58 am (UTC)This is a lovely reminisce about all the things I loved in Ten's run.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-06 11:36 am (UTC)