The Tenth Doctor is the most loved Time Lord among modern fans who never watched the classic series, and despite him being an outstanding Doctor, he's not the best, not by a long way. This has nothing to do with David Tennant himself, but more his fans. It baffles me why Who 'fans' disregard the Classic series she somewhat the Matt Smith era as they just go nuts over Tennant. It confuses me but that's the rant over, now onto Tennant's brilliance!
Tennant's reign begins in the 2005 Children in Need special where he has his brief introduction to Rose and aims to go to her home time. Feeling the effects of regeneration, this isn't as easy as it sounds. It's short and sweet and a good little prelude of Tennant's introduction.
The Tenth Doctor begins by saving the Earth in his pyjamas! Fighting the invading Sycorax, the Doctor finds out he's a no second chance kind of guy in this incarnation. The Christmas Invasion kicked off the Tenth Doctor's reign in style.
School Reunion came next and for the classic fans this was a humongous treat! Not only did the brilliant Sarah Jane return, but so did K9! The Krillitanes were excellent villains and the episode was just marvellous.
The first two parter of the series, Rise of the Cybermen/The Age Steel, sees the technical return of the Cybermen. Not quite the same as the Classic series, these metal monsters were from a parallel universe. It saw Mickey depart from the TARDIS, a new Cyber Controller and a fantastic two part episode!
The series went on in good standard with The Idiot's Lantern and The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. Two very good serials! The standard then sadly considerably dropped with the worst ever Doctor Who story, Love and Monsters, and the forgettable Fear Her. But if anything, the poorness of these two episodes made the finale even better!
For the first time ever, the Daleks and Cybermen encountered each other! Instead of forming an alliance they battled each other! A dream come true for all Classic fans. The Cult of Skaro were magnificent, characters returned from the parallel universe and it saw the most emotional departure of a companion ever. The heartbreaking exit of Rose made this serial even better in its quality! The Doctor clearly had a lot of feelings for his companion, something new to the Time Lord.
The Runaway Bride Christmas special was hilarious and outstanding! The introduction of Donna Noble was magnificent and the Empress of Racnoss was a great enemy and it was also marvellous to hear the first mention of Gallifrey in the new series.
Tennant's second season kicked off in style with Smith and Jones. Hospitals on the moon, rhino space police in the Judoon and the introduction of Martha as companion- this episode really was an eventful series opener.
The high standard continued in the season with the excellent The Shakespeare Code, which saw Shakespeare seen for the first time in 41 years in Who and Witches, and Gridlock, which saw the Face of Boe return with an impossible revelation and just a great episode!
Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks was an outstanding serial with the Cult of Skaro returning and even altering the blueprints of the Empire State Building! Dalek Sec even became human!
The Lazarus Experiment was sadly not a great serial dropping the high standard but then 42 really was unique! It seemed the sun was the villain!
Human Nature/The Family of Blood was simply sensational. Insanely good. One of my all time favourites, this saw the Doctor become a human and fall in love! The Family of Blood were outstanding enemies and I loved the Scarecrows!
Blink followed in more excellent style and with it barely featuring the Doctor and Martha, Sally Sparrow was a magnificent character who I feel had the credentials of a companion! The Weeping Angels made their debut and the concept of them is just amazingly good.
The triple episode season finally is another instant classic seeing the return of the Master who leaves the Doctor, Martha and returning Captain Jack stranded at the end of the universe, stealing the TARDIS and regenerating and then becoming Prime Minister! Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords was incredible and saw the sad exit of Martha Jones as companion.
Time Crash was a fantastic Children in Need special seeing the return of the Fifth Doctor! Comically brilliant as I mentioned in my 5th Doctor tribute, I adored this minisode!
Voyage of the Damned was pretty good but it was certainly the poorest Christmas special as of yet. Titanic in space was interesting but I wasn't too fond of the Heavenly Host, although Astrid Peth and Max Capricorn were good!
Season 30 (or series 4) kicked off in comically excellent form! Partners in Crime saw the hilarious return of Donna Noble, living cute fat and a shock cameo from Rose! It was great! The season was largely brilliant and The Fires of Pompeii followed in fantastic style.
Planet of the Ood saw a return to a part of the universe the Doctor hadn't been since The Sensorites and the Ood returning was very enjoyable! A very good episode!
The Sontarans marvellously returned in David Tennant's era and were outstanding, somewhat modernised for war and they were still at war with the Rutans! The Sontaran Strategem/The Poison Sky also saw the return of Martha Jones and UNIT and was just brilliant!
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead was excellent, featuring the introduction of River Song and the chilling enemy of the Vashta Nerada! Midnight followed and wasn't the greatest but it was just waiting for the season finale to come.
Turn Left was a brilliant prequel of sorts to the season finale. The concept was outstanding and the thought of no Doctor just proved his importance! Rose's return was great!
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End was an incredible season finale seeing the Daleks conquer Earth, Davros and Dalek Caan returning and basically all of the Tenth Doctor's companions featuring! It saw Donna emotionally depart as companion sadly suffering the same fate as Jamie and Zoe in forgetting her adventures in the TARDIS. It also featured arguably the greatest cliffhanger in history with what we thought was an early regeneration!
Tennant never did a full series again but he did have 4 specials left in his locker. The Next Doctor was incredible and I adored the concept and ridiculousness! The Cybermen brilliantly returned also!
Planet of the Dead and The Waters of Mars were both very good with excellent guest cast and what I call fill in companions. The latter was just lacking the return of the Ice Warriors!
The End of Time was a phenomenal send off for the Tenth Doctor. It really had it all! The Master returned and made himself every single human, then encouraged something that on first broadcast had my jaw dropped! The return of the Time Lords, right in the midst of the Time War! It was just an incredible serial and I'm certain that we saw the mother of the Doctor for the first time.
After paying one last visit to each of his incarnation's companions, the Tenth Doctor emotionally regenerated causing the destruction of the TARDIS interior! His era ended in style.
The Tenth Doctor was my first Doctor, but I consider Matt Smith to be my Doctor, but Tennant certainly was brilliant!
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