Fourteenth Doctor
Fourteenth Doctor
Doctor: The Fourteenth Doctor
Companions: Melanie Bush, Donna Noble, Wilfred Mott, Kate Stewart
The Fourteenth Doctor era brings back David Tennant, and the justification why is shockingly shaky. However, David Tennant continues to show why he’s one of the best.
The Review
Here’s the scores for the stories
Wild Blue Yonder: 10/10
Liberation of the Daleks: 9/10
The Star Beast: 8/10
The Giggle: 8/10
So, RTD chose to bring back David Tennant, not just as the Tenth Doctor again, but as a full regeneration of the Doctor. Was it worth it putting Tennant’s face twice in the line-ups of Doctors? Honestly, despite the quality stories and I think the greatest Doctor costume of all time, I’m not so sure. The reason posited that this face came back was that the Doctor needed to go to rehab by living the quiet life with Donna while Gatwa has all of the Doctory-Doctor stuff covered. Despite paying as much homage as possible to the Moffat and Chibnall eras, the effect is that it appears the Doctor went through everything they did as Smith, Capaldi, and Whittaker…and chose to return to this form as Tennant. Simply too much revolves around Tennant in the show now, and unless the scales are balanced later, his figure looms so large that I think it creates too much issues. Still, I’m not that upset with it for one obvious reason: Tennant is such an exceptional Doctor. Him and Donna might be my second favorite companion duo only behind the unimpeachable heights of Capaldi/Clara.
Now, his best moments.
5. Got to give a shout-out to Liberation of the Daleks and the Doctor’s uniting of all the dream-Daleks and dismissal of Georgette at the end was classic.
4. Deducing the truth behind the eponymous giggle in The Giggle was some classic Doctor-detecting that was Tennant at his best.
3. In Wild Blue Yonder, the Doctor’s discussion with NotDonna revealing his trauma from the Flux and the Timeless Child gave me some faith in the second RTD era.
2. The Doctor having to bring back Donna thinking he’s going to kill her in The Star Beast is so heartbreaking and well-played by Tennant.
1. “Oh, I think you’ll find we’re really quite something!” The delivery of this line leading into the chase and first analysis of the Not-Things is excellent.
In the end, this ends up as the highest-rated Doctor era ever! Quality tends to win out. I just wonder if a decade from now we’ll look at the Fourteenth Doctor as an aberration, something that flowered into a beautiful re-opening of the show’s history, or an entertaining but ultimately wrong-hearted misfire. Time will tell, it always does…
8.75/10 The best Doctor Who era ever apparently!
Reviewing Doctor Who from Start to Finish 