Why Tennant won't go down as a great Doctor

[davisonera]

We're pretty much halfway through David Tennant's first season of Doctor Who now. We've seen evil cat nuns, werewolves, Sarah Jane & K9, Clockwork robots and the return of the cybermen. The doctor under Tennant is sometimes fun and sometimes deadly serious. But he simply won't last. In future years will this doctor be remembered as one of the greats. I think it unlikely. Unfortunately he is likely to be the victim of poor stories and production problems. So far School Reunion and The Girl In The Fireplace have been the only good pieces of writing in this season. He shines when he has a good script but without one he simply fades away.

[Dominic Smith]

I think he suffers slightly from the backlash of Christopher Eccleston's brilliant performance, but I think he'll be memorable. He's so animated he really grabs your attention, although some of his cockiness and flirting is perhaps against his favor, he's still enjoyable to watch. I think what'll really cement whether or not he's remembered a a classic will be the season finale, he'll need to pull something special out of the bag to make an impact, just as Eccleston did in 'Bad Wolf'/'Parting of the Ways'

[Eryx]

I think Tennant's season got off to a good start but The Girl In The Fireplace and Rise of the Cybermen could have been better. The writing for both those stories was a little poor for me. New Earth and Tooth & Claw on the other hand were very well done.

I don't think he'll go down as one of the best, but he's far from being the worst.

[The Thinker]

On this subject I think Tennant is a very good Doctor. Humour and sillyness appeal to me to quite an extent. Also I found 'The Girl in the Fireplace' better than I expected. Though on the topic of faults why did the robots hesitate to carry her [Madame dePompedour] off to the ship?

[davisonera]

To johnlumicdavros: I'm not saying he's not good but I simply think in time he won't be very memorable.

To dominicsmith: Eccleston was rubbish.

To eryx: The Girl In The Fireplace was brilliant writing.

[The Thinker]

davisonera said:

To johnlumicdavros: I'm not saying he's not good but I simply think in time he won't be very memorable.

To dominicsmith: Eccleston was rubbish.

To eryx: The Girl In The Fireplace was brilliant writing.

To davisonera: Please respect other peoples' opinions.

[davisonera]

To johnlumicdavros: I'm not disrespecting their opinions I'm telling them mine in reply to theirs.

[Eryx]

I'm not offended, no fear.

As with anything, its different strokes for different folks. For me, The Girl In The Fireplace could have been better written, but I found the episode's pacing a bit too slow, and I'm putting it down to the writing. A nice try, and I did enjoy the episode, but it needed some more impact for my tastes.

[chapel]

I thought girl in the fireplace was quite a good story. New Earth was poor, but then Cassandra was a poor villian.
I`ll give Tennant the benefit of the doubt, unlike Ecclestone he didn`t look down on the show and had been a fan of it. Ecclestone will only be remembered because he revived the character.
At the end of the day thought its dependant on what they`ve got to work with storywise and so far the best of the bunch have been The Chrismas invasion, Tooth and Claw and The cybermen two parter.

[paulincanada]

The new season stories are not very good to be honest and Tennant does not seem to connect with me, or with the other characters on the show.

I also have to say that they are over-doing this sexual energy thing on all the stories which is spoiling them for me. The Fireplace story was interesting, but what did it add to have Madame de Pompadour fall in love with Tennant? Nothing. The Sarah Jane story was ruined by the sexual tension thing. If they are now trying to pretend that Sarah Jane was sexually charged for the third and fourth doctors and that was why she travelled with them, then all I can say is "no way".

I guess in the year 2006, sex sells. And they are trying to make it a sexy programme rather than an adventure or sci fi show. I just try to ignore that part and enjoy what I can. However it is not easy when they keep bringing it up over and over.

[The Thinker]

davisonera said:

To johnlumicdavros: I'm not disrespecting their opinions I'm telling them mine in reply to theirs.

Just to note down, it would look more like opinions to me if phrases like "I think" or "If you ask me" or even "In my opinion" were used. The way I saw you do it looked a bit like saying they're fact to me. Just a pointer and I have no meaning to be rude.

[Eryx]

paulincanada said:

The new season stories are not very good to be honest and Tennant does not seem to connect with me, or with the other characters on the show.

To tell you the truth, I agree to a point. I wasn't sure to start with but he really grew on me during The Christmas Invasion, New Earth and Tooth & Claw, but until The Idiot's Lantern I wasn't so keen. I mean I like his Doctor but sometimes he seems a little over the top.

The majority of this season's stories (thus far) have not been too great but I have hopes that will change as the writers get used to the persona they are now writing for.

[The Thinker]

Oh dear, I can see a lot of critiscism for Tennant's Doctor here from some people. I just hope it's not going to be Colin Baker all over again.

However I thought his stories to be quite good, even if the conclusion to 'New Earth' was a bit rushed.

[Eryx]

johnlumicdavros said:

However I thought his stories to be quite good, even if the conclusion to 'New Earth' was a bit rushed.

Interesting. I thought the wrap up for that story was about right.

[davisonera]

Tennant was good in The Impossible Planet but he's still a bit incosistent. It was so obvious that he was bored stiff in The Idiot's Lantern.

P.S. In my opinion.