A guest blog Hevy782

After a serious and broken Doctor, it was arguably time to get back to a more traditional one. David Tennant took a very different approach on playing the Doctor in his tenth incarnation. Becoming more fun loving and out there to enjoy the universe. But, through all this, you could still see that glimpse of the broken man that is at his heart. In his first story, The Christmas Invasion, he had to save the world from the invading Sycorax but also had to prove to audiences that he was the new Doctor. As a large chunk of the audience had no idea of the concept of regeneration, and were quite shocked when everything about the Ninth Doctor changed before their eyes. He started off being funny and silly but when things got serious, so did the Doctor. Turning on Harriet Jones for destroying the fleeing Sycorax and removing her from power, simply by whispering a couple of words in a man’s ear.

Rose was a companion from the twenty-first century, who met the Doctor in his ninth incarnation. She traveled with him until a deadly encounter with the Daleks which saw the Doctor regenerate. She then continued to travel with him in his tenth incarnation, facing Cybermen, the Odd and the legendary Cult of Skaro. But she could not stay with him forever. During a climatic battle with the Daleks and the Cybermen, she became trapped in a parallel world. But even that could not stop her returning for one last adventure with the Doctor, where they saved reality itself. After the loss of Rose, the Doctor met Martha, a young woman training to be a doctor. When the hospital was transported to the moon by a platoon of Judoon, she proved to him that she was companion material, and continued to do so over their travels. She left the Doctor to help her family and the rest of planet Earth after the year that never was. But it was not the last she’d see of the Doctor as they met again to combat a Sontaran invasion and once more to stop Davros’s master plan.

The Tenth Doctor also traveled with Donna Noble, a feisty temp from Chiswick who met the Doctor once before. She refused his offer to travel with him but later regretted it and sought him out. Together they freed the Odd from their human oppressors, met Agatha Christine and fought the Vashta Nerada in the biggest library in the universe. But during the confrontation between Davros and the Daleks, she became part Time Lord due to a metacrisis with the Doctor’s hand. But it was to much for her to take so her memory was wiped of her time with the Doctor and he took her home to her mother and grandfather, telling them that she can never remember him or it will kill her. Her grandfather, Wilf Mott, was an amateur astronomer who kept running into the Doctor. He had a kind heart and was an ex-soldier, although he never killed a man. He was with the Tenth Doctor on his final adventure where he helped save the world and time itself from the return of the Time Lords. But his kind heart was what got the Doctor killed and he took a radiation blast for him, saving Wilf’s life but causing him to regenerate.

The Tenth Doctor faced many enemies but none were more emotionless than the Cybermen, born on a parallel world and intent on upgrading everyone of both sides of the void. These metal giants were armed with electric hand and wrist mounted blasters, not to mention their shear strength. Another race of aliens the Tenth Doctor encountered were the Sontarans who are a clone race and wanted to turn the Earth into their new breeding colony. Their weakness is a probic-vent on the back of the neck, they was in which they intake energy. It also means that they must always face their enemies in battle, which they loved so much. To die in battle is a great honour for them, demonstrated by Commander Skorr’s delight when Colonel Mace shots and kills him in battle.

The story that followed was Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead where the Doctor receives a mysterious letter marked with a kiss so he and Donna go the the biggest library in the universe where the shadows are alive and hunting. Soon a team of archaeologists arrive and a swarm of Vashta Nerada hiding in the shadows pick them off one by one. It’s up to the Doctor to work out the many mysteries of the library and find out why the secret of CAL. Not only that, but he must also find out about the mysterious woman called River Song, who claims to of known him for a very long time, despite him having never of met her before in his life. He does not trust her at first until she whispers one word in his ear, one word that gets him to trust her completely, his name. Because it’s quite far away on the weekly episode guides schedule, I’m going to go into a fair bit of detail on these episodes.

First off, I like this more older and mature version of River Song. I find the younger and more flirtatious version a bit annoying so this more practical and mysterious woman is great to watch. Also, it’s nice going back and watching this after seeing the later episodes featuring River as you can see little hints which show that Moffat had set the seeds of this a long time ago and had it all planned out. Also, the monsters in this are very creepy, the animated space suits are chilling and the premise of the monster itself is great. Doctor Who monsters work great when the take something that you think you know, like shop window dummies or statues, and put a twist on them that makes you utterly terrified and you’ll never look at them the same way again. This story takes shadows and makes you think twice about walking in them.

On a bit more of a general note, I love the team of the Tenth Doctor and Donna, possibly the best companion Doctor relationship of the new series. It works great here in the first episode however they get split up in the second episode to give the Doctor and River more room. However, that doesn’t stop them from having a nice, funny and emotional chat at the end of the episode after they’ve been through quite an experience. Also, the bitter sweet ending between Donna and Lee is very well done. The general plot of this story is great however the everybody lives thing at the end kind of ruins it a bit as Moffat’s already done it once before in the Doctor Dances so it just feel a bit cheap.

Nevertheless, it’s a great story and quite probably my favourite from Tennant’s tenure as the Doctor. Great characters, great plot and loads of scary moments, what’s not to like? Tennant’s era has a lot going for it with quite a few amazing stories to enjoy like Blink and the Waters of Mars and some great companions like Donna and Martha. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but no Doctor’s era ever was and this one certainly grew better over time. Also, so did this Doctor. You grew to love him over time and accept him as the Doctor. Now Tennant is topping polls and rivaling Tom Baker himself in popularity. Ultimately, what Tennant did was take everything familiar about the Doctor but also add something new and unique to it that told you everything about who he was and what he’s been through and I will always remember him for that. Good episode or bad, he manages to shine through in it, and that’s what makes for a good Doctor.