That Doctor, eh?
Spending a day in the train is curiously draining. It did give me the opportunity to rewatch some s2/28 episodes of Dr. Who, though, which was fun and relaxing preparation for the next part of the BSG saga. New Who (and old Who, God knows) is far from perfect, but there is so much to love about the show. The way it handles characters-of-the-week and recurring ones, for example. Whether it's the crew from Impossible Planet/ Satan's Pit or Jake and Mrs. Moore from Alt!Earth, or historical figures like Queen Victoria and Reinette aka Madame de Pompadour, the show brings them alive. As for Mickey and Jackie, I liked them in s1/27 already but really fell in love this latest season.
I tend to avoid debates about the Doctor/Rose relationship, mostly because I rarely 'ship in shows anyway, but also because of something I came to realize re: New Who this latest rewatch. The moments which tend to stay with me closests of this latest incarnation of the show aren't with the Doctor (either Nine or Ten) and Rose. They're of the Doctor with other people. Which might be a reason why, if put to a choice, I slightly prefer Ten. With Nine, the two most memorable moments to me were his conversation with Sabe the Tree Lady (aka the first scene that revealed to us the other Time Lords were all dead) in End of the World and the "Just this once, every body lives!" scene from The Doctor Dances. Which basically covers the two extremes of Nine.
The Ten scenes that come to mind if I'd be questioned about favourites, otoh, would be his unabashed delight in seeing Sarah Jane again and the farewell scene from School Reunion, but also him going goofy over K9 and cold (and slashy) with ASH's Headmaster in the same episode; the conversations with Mrs. Moore in Age of Steel and with Ida in Satan's Pit, where the focus is on them, not on him, which helps with the idea that the Doctor is interested in humans beyond saving their lives (and/or having intense relationships with a selected few), the hug with Zack in Impossible Planet, kissing Mickey on the head while running (no small feat) in Doomsday, the anger at gratitious deaths like the poor blackmailed henchman's of The Wire and of course Mrs. Moore's. (I know Tennant gets critisized for not playing the anger right, but while I'd concede you The Christmas Invasion, I'll defend his "You didn't have to kill her!" in Age of Steel to the death. The scene with Louis XV (and btw, kudos to the show for not making Louis into a caricature, which would have been easy), with both of them watching Reinette's coffin leave Versailles, in its still, quiet grief, not overdone, just right. And the unabashed admiration at the beauty of werewolves and automatons. And the ruthless and quite efficient way in which he manipulates Alt!Pete by using Jackie, which reminded me of my own absolute favourite incarnation of the Doctor, Seven. (Mind you, manipulation by itself isn't enough to make this admirer of Machiavellian guile approve; for example, when Nine did it with Rose in Aliens of London/WWIII, I just thought, good lord but he is damaged, isn't he? I guess the difference was that Nine wanted Rose to stay with him whereas Ten needed Pete to help saving the earth.)
I'm not sure whether I agree with iamsab, who in her Letter of Tennant praise, said: he's a fellow who's hop, hop, hopping for his life, in perpetual motion because if he ever stops, even for a second, he'll be forced to come to terms with the weight of his 900 years and all his angst and guilt , because I think if you locked Ten up and ordered him to contemplate the past he wouldn't necessarily brood as he would have done as Nine, he'd be more likely resort to some of his old skills and try and find out whether he somehow inherited Two's ability to play flutes. Nine was the one who had manic energy (and Eccleston does it beautifully); what Ten has is more like recovered joie de vivre, which isn't the same thing. But as incarnations of the Doctor go, I hope he'll stay with us for a while, until the inevitable Eleven comes along and makes us fall in love with another version of the Doctor all over again.
I tend to avoid debates about the Doctor/Rose relationship, mostly because I rarely 'ship in shows anyway, but also because of something I came to realize re: New Who this latest rewatch. The moments which tend to stay with me closests of this latest incarnation of the show aren't with the Doctor (either Nine or Ten) and Rose. They're of the Doctor with other people. Which might be a reason why, if put to a choice, I slightly prefer Ten. With Nine, the two most memorable moments to me were his conversation with Sabe the Tree Lady (aka the first scene that revealed to us the other Time Lords were all dead) in End of the World and the "Just this once, every body lives!" scene from The Doctor Dances. Which basically covers the two extremes of Nine.
The Ten scenes that come to mind if I'd be questioned about favourites, otoh, would be his unabashed delight in seeing Sarah Jane again and the farewell scene from School Reunion, but also him going goofy over K9 and cold (and slashy) with ASH's Headmaster in the same episode; the conversations with Mrs. Moore in Age of Steel and with Ida in Satan's Pit, where the focus is on them, not on him, which helps with the idea that the Doctor is interested in humans beyond saving their lives (and/or having intense relationships with a selected few), the hug with Zack in Impossible Planet, kissing Mickey on the head while running (no small feat) in Doomsday, the anger at gratitious deaths like the poor blackmailed henchman's of The Wire and of course Mrs. Moore's. (I know Tennant gets critisized for not playing the anger right, but while I'd concede you The Christmas Invasion, I'll defend his "You didn't have to kill her!" in Age of Steel to the death. The scene with Louis XV (and btw, kudos to the show for not making Louis into a caricature, which would have been easy), with both of them watching Reinette's coffin leave Versailles, in its still, quiet grief, not overdone, just right. And the unabashed admiration at the beauty of werewolves and automatons. And the ruthless and quite efficient way in which he manipulates Alt!Pete by using Jackie, which reminded me of my own absolute favourite incarnation of the Doctor, Seven. (Mind you, manipulation by itself isn't enough to make this admirer of Machiavellian guile approve; for example, when Nine did it with Rose in Aliens of London/WWIII, I just thought, good lord but he is damaged, isn't he? I guess the difference was that Nine wanted Rose to stay with him whereas Ten needed Pete to help saving the earth.)
I'm not sure whether I agree with iamsab, who in her Letter of Tennant praise, said: he's a fellow who's hop, hop, hopping for his life, in perpetual motion because if he ever stops, even for a second, he'll be forced to come to terms with the weight of his 900 years and all his angst and guilt , because I think if you locked Ten up and ordered him to contemplate the past he wouldn't necessarily brood as he would have done as Nine, he'd be more likely resort to some of his old skills and try and find out whether he somehow inherited Two's ability to play flutes. Nine was the one who had manic energy (and Eccleston does it beautifully); what Ten has is more like recovered joie de vivre, which isn't the same thing. But as incarnations of the Doctor go, I hope he'll stay with us for a while, until the inevitable Eleven comes along and makes us fall in love with another version of the Doctor all over again.