Doctor Who S04 Wrap-Up

MarinesIt took us more than a year to finally get out of Series 4, partly because we tagged all the Tennant specials into this season, but mostly because we so slow. We did it though and the super struggle bus of getting here only makes this gif dance party celebration all the more earned:

WOOHOO! We did it! It comes with a side of having to say goodbye to beautiful Ten and also the best companion ever Donna (fight me), but so it goes when you are a Whovian. I think this was a really great and solid season despite our recapping struggles. Even while revisiting the episodes for this post, I realized that there were no true stinkers for me this time. Even the bottom of my list below consists of episodes I could say a handful of nice things about. Plus, the top of the list contains some true all-time classics if you ask me. It was just SOLID.

Additionally, Catherine Tate. I know I’m kind of repeating myself but Donna was a stellar companion who brought sass to the party but surprised me on this rewatch with how much she was the emotional center of this season. Her own journey of self-discovery and finding self-confidence played well in the back of the Doctor’s darker moments, when perhaps he was overly confident and overly sure of himself. Donna’s ending was truly heartbreaking and her role as the Doctor’s true best friend and sassy equal will be missed.

  1. Silence in the Library – Such a wonderful first part with multiple layers and mysteries and a creepy as hell alien of the week. Plus, River Song gets a great introduction and overall? Brilliance.
  2. Forest of the Dead – As much as I loved this two-parter, I’m giving the edge to the first part because we seemed to have a few more complaints about the follow-up. If I were cheating, I’d rank this together because River Song and library and FEELS.
  3. Midnight – I’m not saying that these episodes with mostly unseen aliens are doing the best for a reason, but… This episode was terrifying and well acted and I loved the threat was both alien and human.
  4. Turn Left – Probably doesn’t deserve to be ranked so high in an episode where not a lot happens, but it’s Donna-centric and heavy on the emotion so like it has my name on it.
  5. Planet of the Ood – I probably didn’t realize I liked this so much at the moment, but just seeing some of those gifs of Donna comforting the dying Ood brought back all the feels. All of them.
  6. Fires of Pompeii – This just edges out Partners in Crime because of the more serious moments and the phenomenal acting from Tate as we start to see how very much Ten needs his companions.
  7. Partners in Crime – I think this is one of the more memorable episodes of New Who, from Donna and the Doctor communicating from across a room through glass to the adorable weird fat aliens.
  8. The End of Time Part 2 – I don’t even care about the Master and Time Lords. Give me Wilf and the Doctor and his farewell tour all day long. I mean, yes, the Master and Time Lords sink this episode to middle of the pack, but just know that I still kind of love it.
  9. The End of Time Part 1 – Same as above, minus the farewell tour but still with plenty of Wilf and the Doctor.
  10. Journey’s End – It hurts me to rank it this low because my heart keeps going, “but Donna! And Rose! And the end!” but my brain knows that this episode had way too much going on for its own good. But… Donna! And Rose! And the end!
  11. The Stolen Earth – Mostly ranked so high for the return of everyone I ever loved and because it sets up the finale quite well.
  12. The Waters of Mars – What? A special ranked so high? I KNOW. But it was another episode where the alien was legit terrifying. I called it Pompeii but without Donna, for an added dose of feelings for our hero. It was a little long, to be sure, but it stuck with me after watching and I gotta give it credit for that.
  13. The Unicorn And The Wasp – I enjoyed the homage to Christie and the mystery genre and all the running around trying to figure out whodunit that it brought. Wasps were were, though.
  14. Voyage of the Damned – The longer episodes are always guilty of plot padding, but it had its moments.
  15. The Doctor’s Daughter – Solid episode that brought out some Doctor feels, though the sudden daughter was a little unsatisfying in the end.
  16. Planet of the Dead – I said in the recap that I had no major feelings about this which made it weird to rank. Because I was more neutral and I at least remembered having negative feelings about the Sontaran episodes (in parts) I put this here. I am very unsure. It was a romp episode with an unremarkable one-off companion. It was decidedly okay.
  17. The Sontaran Stratagem – First parters are weird, but bonus points for Donna and Martha.
  18. The Poison Sky – Another case of the second part episode coming in behind the first because in case of the Sontaran, too much of them was… too much.
  19. The Next Doctor – I liked the idea of this guy fancying himself a Doctor but the specials are overly long and kind of a mess. This got a little sloppy and the alien was terrible.

 

KirstiYou guys know by now that I’m trash for series 2 because I ship Rose/Ten five-ever. But series 4? Series 4 is hands down my favourite series of Doctor Who, forever and ever and ever. As much as I love the dynamic between Rose and Ten, I’m in total agreement with Mari that Donna Noble is the best companion of all the companions, hands down. Series 4 features the first episode of Doctor Who that I ever saw, and it features most of the episodes that I’ll watch over and over again. It’s got a solid overarching plot, a solid companion, a solid dynamic between Doctor and companion, and features episodes that are both funny and utterly heartbreaking.

If we include the specials, there’s a whopping one episode in this series that I don’t like. But given that I tend to be pretty meh about the specials anyway (exhibit A: I forgot to watch the 2016 Christmas special when it aired on Boxing Day and still haven’t bothered to track it down), that’s probably not particularly surprising…

  1. Partners in Crime – For me, there’s just something utterly delightful about this episode. To come off the back of Voyage of the Damned, an episode that’s full of tragedy and Dark!Doctor tendencies and go into this ridiculous slapstick comedy where the Doctor and Donna hit their stride right off the bat and the monster of the week is adorable? Pretty effing great.
  2. Midnight – This was the first episode of Doctor Who I ever saw, and it sucked me in from start to finish. Basically, this was the episode that got me through the very rocky start to series 1 because I knew stuff this good was coming up. It’s compelling, it’s pretty damned terrifying, and it’s an episode where the BBC’s typical £2 props budget doesn’t matter a jot. Literally my only gripe is that there’s not enough Donna.
  3. Silence in the Library – When Steven Moffat is good (and has a woman editing his scripts – bless you, Helen Raynor), he’s very VERY good. This episode is creepy and funny and heartbreaking all at once. And it’s a pretty damned great introduction for River Song.
  4. Turn Left – The first time I saw this episode, I was like “?????”. It seems weirdly placed in the season, it’s a totally different pace from the episodes that lie either side of it, and it’s almost Doctor-free which can be very hit (Blink) or miss (Love and Monsters). But it does such an incredible job of showing how Donna’s changed over the course of this series, and the more I rewatch it, the more I love it.
  5. Forest of the Dead – Don’t get me wrong, there’s very little separating this, Turn Left, and Silence in the Library. But I had a few more gripes with the writing in this one that I didn’t have with the other two. So.
  6. Planet of the Ood – Is this episode utterly ridiculous? Uh, yeah. Is Donna utterly wonderful in it? YES. I love that the Ood get a happy ending after all the crap we’ve seen them go through.
  7. Journey’s End – This episode breaks my heart into a million pieces every time I watch it. Yes, there’s a hell of a lot going on here. But I don’t even care because LOOK AT THE LITTLE TARDIS FAMILY ALL TOGETHER EXCUSE ME WHILE I CRY FOREVER.
  8. End of Time Part 2 – Honestly? Huge parts of this episode are pretty fucking terrible. Timothy Dalton’s plan is stupid. The Master’s plan is worse. But the acting from David Tennant and Bernard Cribbins is astonishing, and getting to see all our old favourites one last time is the best way to end David Tennant’s run.
  9. Fires of Pompeii – Okay, look. The monsters in this episode are beyond ridiculous. They’re basically Transformers made out of volcanic rock. But this episode is the last of my “good episodes that I would rewatch a thousand times” episodes. Is that partly because Peter Capaldi is in it? Yes. Is that partly because I get to giggle seeing Caecilius and the rest of his family on screen after crawling my way through their less-than-exciting adventures in the Cambridge Latin course? Definitely. It’s ridiculous and Donna is incredible and I love it. Fight me.
  10. The Doctor’s Daughter – Look, the Hath are pretty silly, and they definitely take away from some of the seriousness in this episode. But the instant chemistry and dynamic between Tennant and Georgia Moffett is obvious, and the “this war has been going for generations but it’s only been going for a week” reveal was a mind bender. Petition to have Jenny come back for more episodes.
  11. The Stolen Earth – It’s always hard to judge part 1s without their part 2 to wrap everything up nicely, but this one falls firmly in the middle of the pack, despite the return of so many characters we know and love…
  12. The Poison Sky – Look, this one being this low is probably mostly a me thing because I really hate the Sontarans. Like, REALLY hate the Sontarans (do not even get me STARTED on Strax oh my God). But despite this one featuring more Sontarans than its first part, I liked it more?? IDEK.
  13. End of Time Part 1 – Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it took me two whole days to recap this, but oof. This took forever to get going, and the ending was really fucking dumb. Like…worst plan ever, bro.
  14. The Unicorn and the Wasp – Real talk, you guys: I do actually like this episode. It’s pretty fun to just sit down and switch off your brain in front of this. And I love having Agatha Christie as a character. But. It’s also a REALLY stupid monster of the week. The whole “40 years ago in India, I was impregnated by an alien who then drowned” thing is super weird. And the way the story plays out is bizarre. So, like, through a critical lens? This is at the bottom of the pack. But watching it for fun? Probably above The Doctor’s Daughter.
  15. The Waters of Mars – To be perfectly honest, this episode is both creepy and really effing stupid. Like, some scenes are terrifying. Other scenes (like the one where the monsters basically turn into water canons) are laughable. What saves this from a lower placing is a) the Dark!Doctor elements and seeing how this changes his attitude in the next few specials, and b) Adelaide and how she goes against the Dark!Doctor’s decisions.
  16. The Sontaran Stratagem – Like I said earlier: I hate the Sontarans. And I really REALLY hated the boy genius asshat in this episode. That said, seeing Martha be all in control was pretty great.
  17. The Next Doctor – Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Like I said at the beginning, the specials are always more miss than hit for me. This one was no exception. I loved the concept. But the whole King Cyberman thing? LOL NOPE.
  18. Voyage of the Damned – This episode had two good things for me: 1. Wilf, 2. Russell Tovey. Everything else was pretty boring, to be honest. Plus, it loses points for casting Kylie Minogue.
  19. Planet of the Dead – Easily the most pointless of the specials for me. The others at least give us Dark!Doctor tendencies and progression towards his final days. This one feels like they spent all their money on the trip to Dubai for filming and not enough money on an actual storyline. Add in Lady Christina and some ridiculously inaccurate museum security, and it’s at the bottom of the list for me.
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