It’s a tie. Again. If I was doing this 4 years ago, there would have been only one.
Series 4
The 10th Doctor and Donna Noble are my favorite Doctor-Companion matchup in New Who and when ever they are together, it’s just wonderful. Put them in a good story, and that’s even better!
I remember when it was announced that Catherine Tate was going to return, and most fans weren’t that excited because most were “meh” about the Runaway Bride (“Pockets!”). I don’t remember having much of a feeling either way. But then the series started and with everyone getting more familiar with Donna, a large number of us fell in love with her. I like Runaway more after series 4 ended. But uuugh, that ending. Heartbreaking sad :'(.
Favorite episodes were The Fires of Pompeii, and The Unicorn And The Wasp.
Also up high are The Doctor’s Daughter and Silence in the Library/Forrest of the Dead, Turn Left, and the Christmas episode that year: The Next Doctor (I kept guessing the whole time if that other guy was really the Doctor or not). The rest are quite enjoyable (don’t care for Midnight all that much, though many people love it. Maybe because Donna wasn’t in it?).
I am looking forward to the steelbook of this series (already have 1-3, 9 and 10!)
Series 9
When I saw the trailer for series 9, I was not impressed. And then I heard that it would be mostly 2 parters, one of those stories being an “under siege” story. All which I hadn’t really cared for much in the past. So I had low expectations going in.
Then the opening scene happened,
And the boy tells the Doctor his name.
My jaw dropped and said “Nooo waaayy!”, and I was hooked. And later he comes out wearing Ray Bans, playing electric guitar (the Doctor Who theme, btw), on a rolling tank, to a crowd of people (did I mention this is happening during the Middle Ages?)
And Missy was fantastic! Clara and Missy forced to work together was wonderfully wicked. And I loved the second part, “The Witch’s Familiar”
Then “Under The Lake” started. This was the “under siege” story. And I feel in love with this one as well. IT was also nice to see a woman being in charge who also had to be deaf. And don’t even think about messing with her or her crew. And the cards scene shown below is adorable (I need cards like that!)
And Before the Flood started with the below scene and I was having a blast.
Which was immediately followed by the theme song, a special rock version with Peter Capaldi, the Doctor himself, playing the guitar.
There was actual time travel in this episode! Not only traveling back to the same spot many many years earlier, but then later traveling back again and seeing themselves and the Doctor having to tell the others not to be seen by their otherselves. I loved that!
The Girl Who Died/The Woman Who Lived were a disappointment, Didn’t totally buy into the way the reason was given for why 12 chose the face of Caecilius from the Fires of Pompeii story. And Ashildr wasn’t as strong as I was hoping. Good scene of her and the Doctor talking in her library/study. So much potential in this 2 parter, but fell flat for me.
The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion were very good. More Osgood is always good!. And that speech at the end! *GASP* So powerful.
Sleep No More gets an A for trying something new with it’s storytelling Falls kind of flat, but I liked what they were trying to do with it. But every single time I wipe my eyes, I think of this (CURSE YOU GATISS!!)
Face The Raven drives me batty with how much it doesn’t make sense – in a bad way. Loads of fans love it but I tried watching it again a couple month ago to see if time would change my mind, and I disliked it even more the second time than the first. One thing it had that I did like was similarities to a certain John Green book, Paper Towns, but in this episode it’s trap streets rather than paper towns. By coincidence(?), for the Doctor Who The Fan Show where they discussed this episode, one of the guests was Rosianna Halse Rojas who was/is John’s assistant. And I loved her Q&A 🙂 NERDFIGHTERS!) Well, the other thing I liked was the Doctor’s velvet coat. And the line “You’ll find it is a very small universe when I’m angry with you” was very, very good.
Heaven’s Sent was amazing with it’s successful different storytelling angle, much stronger than Sleep No ore. Wonderfully directed by Rachel Talalay.
And while many loved Face the Raven, it seems like just as many hate Hell Bent. And I love it. The repeating throughout the series of the Doctor’s “duty of care” of Clara (well, all of his companions, really) is very moving. And this story was also directed by Rachel Talalay.
I’ll end this here. One day, I might do a more analysis of the episodes from both series, but these are my major ones 🙂
Next in the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Theme Song
