Tenth Doctor Summary

The Tenth Doctor was a real up and down case, due mostly to the whims of Russell T. Davies. He is probably the darkest of all the Doctors and one of the quickest to resort to lethal violence. More than that, he seems to relish the violence once he has been tipped into it. It can go to a further extreme when you also contrast it to the very bubbly and happy personality that he tries to keep on most of the time. All of which make for an interesting and complex character that draws you in to his world.

But you also have some of the dumbest and most self-aggrandizing stories at the same time. You have to deal with the Tenth Doctor-Rose relationship which not only is the most annoying in terms of the romance but also with their smugness. There is the pining of Martha to deal with, which undercuts some rather good story premises. It's really not until Donna that the Tenth Doctor settles in to just having adventures and even then there is the constant joke about them being a couple.

As annoying as the romance can get, the real problem with the Tenth Doctor is the Jesus moments. Before the era of the Tenth Doctor, the Doctor was just a guy bumbling around the universe, exploring and trying to help out. This ultimately became a quest to save everyone from every evil imaginable and his legend began to take on messianic tones. This is both contrived (the messiah metaphor is overused in many forms of media) and washes out the character of someone who just gets caught up in things.

But on the other hand, there is excellent writing with the Tenth Doctor. There is also genuine drama, apart from the series finales, in most episodes. RTD, in contrast to Steven Moffat, didn't seem to have a problem taking well liked characters that passed through the show and either killing them or giving them terrible resolutions. A viewer when then be invested in the peril of the character because there was a real chance that the bad thing would stay bad: Rose was left in the alternate dimension, alternate universe Jackie stayed dead after being converted, most of the likeable characters on the Titanic died in their escape attempt, etc. One of the great complaints against the various series enders and the end of the Tenth Doctor in general is that RTD went back and tried to undo some of his most dire consequences.

As far as overall feel goes, my watching of the Tenth Doctor era depends on my mood. For darker, more dramatic stories, definitely the Tenth Doctor era. Good adventure runarounds and the occasion psychological thriller, also good for the Tenth Doctor. Not great if you want something lighter and comedic and the era was not immune from shake your head silliness either. But overall, I like the Tenth Doctor and his era a lot. It's fun, engaging and a good balance between what the show is capable of, even if it does fall on it's face here and there.

Highest Rated Story: The Waters of Mars - 5.0

Lowest Rated Story: Last of the Time Lords - 0.5

Average overall rating: 3.26

The Christmas Invasion
New Earth
Tooth and Claw
School Reunion
The Girl in the Fireplace
Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel
The Idiot's Lantern
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
Love & Monsters
Fear Her
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
The Runaway Bride
Smith and Jones
The Shakespeare Code
Gridlock
Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks
The Lazarus Experiment
42
Human Nature/The Family of Blood
Blink
Utopia
The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
Voyage of the Damned
Partners in Crime
The Fires of Pompeii
Planet of the Ood
The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky
The Doctor's Daughter
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
Midnight
Turn Left
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
The Next Doctor
Planet of the Dead
The Waters of Mars
The End of Time