Why David Tennant is the Greatest Doctor Ever, and One Hell of an Act to Follow

by Josh Roth @ 1:08 am December 15th, 2008

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Sorry I haven’t posted so long, but it took some grim news on the sci-fi front to shake me out of my blogging coma. A few weeks ago the BBC officially announced that David Tennant was leaving Doctor Who after the pitifully short 4 episode “season” in 2009. I’ve been mulling over how I feel about this news over the past few weeks, I tried to be optimistic and say that Tennant’s reign had to come to an end eventually, but I’ve concluded that this is grim news indeed. David Tennant encompasses everything wonderful about all previous incarnations of the Doctor. He is and will always be my Doctor. His performance inspired and wowed me time and time again, I started wearing canvas and navy converse because of him (geeky I know). Tennant’s Tenth Doctor is curious and enthusiastic in ways we haven’t seen in the Doctor before. I’m not saying it will be impossible to best Tennant’s Doctor, but whoever takes the reigns best be prepared.

Rumors of David Tennant leaving Doctor Who started to gain tractinon when Russel T. Davies announced he was stepping down as showrunner, shortly there after it was announced that Steven Moffat would be taking over. Frankly I was excited by this news. I was sad to see Russel leaving, we have him to thank for the series existing in the first place, but if ever there were a suitable replacement to take over the show it’s Steven Moffat. Moffat’s scripts have been the highlight of the new series, each episode he wrote stole the spotlight from those around them.

His first two parter was The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, which were some of the best episodes of the first season. Next was The Girl in the Fireplace, the first Moffat written episode starring Tennant, and it was spectacular. Tennant took Moffat’s dialogue to new levels of awesome, his range as an actor was realy challenged by Moffat as a writer. In season 3 we had Blink, a ‘Doctor-lite’ episode, which are usually the weakest episodes of the season, but Moffat’s Blink was stellar. The Doctor only appeared in passing, mainly through cryptic video clips and flashbacks, but Sally Sparrow and the Weeping Angles were more than enough to keep our attention. Not to mention Blink is one of the most frightening episodes of all Doctor Who. His latest work was the Slience in the Library/Forest of the Dead two parter from last season, another perfect test of Tennant’s acting ability. It introduced us to the mysterious River Song, a new (but also old) love interest for the Doctor.

The prospect of seeing Tennant work under Moffat’s guidance for an entire season was so enticing that I ignored all the rumors of Tennant’s departure, even though I knew full well that he would leave eventually. I suppose it was the optimist in me imagining that Tennant would be playing the Doctor until he was old and gray, after all he did say it was his dream job. Oh well, I’m certain I will continue watching Doctor Who until I’m old and gray, even if Tennant won’t be sticking around. Steven Moffat will do wonderful things with the Doctor, I think we are all confident in that. There are only two things that really worry me: Will the Eleventh Doctor pale in comparison to the Tenth? And will Tennant’s final bow be worthy of his spectacular performance as the Doctor?