The show really plays up its campier, creature-of-the-week aspects, which misdirect from the more-serious character study of The Doctor. The Ninth Doctor (Ecclesson) was a hard-bitten realist, a resurrection he seems to have chosen during the Time War, and in that form he drifted for who knows how long, alone. After travelling with Rose, he resurrects as David Tennant, a much sillier, clownish person, and in that, I really see him trying to shake off the memory of the War, the genocides he himself committed, and the friends he's lost. He is deeply in denial.
It doesn't work, and the reboot's major arc is him facing the reality of who he is, that by involving himself so much in these crises (and bringing normal people with him), he participates in atrocities. I'm not sure how he resolved that, internally, but it is fascinating--and inevitable.
It is all streaming on netflix (except a few from right at the end). Rewatch a few particularly arc-significant episodes, and see if you see what I see:
- Rose (episode 1.1), with lone wanderer Ninth Doctor
- Parting of the Ways (episode 1.13), resolution for the Ninth Doctor
- The Runaway Bride (3rd Christmas special), the Tenth Doctor needs someone to stop him
- Human Nature and the Family of Blood (3.8 and 3.9), the Tenth Doctor's normal life
- Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead (4.9 and 4.10), a glimpse of The Doctor's future
- The Waters of Mars (4.16), The Doctor finally tries to break the rules--especially interesting given future-Doctor's accomplishments in Forest of the Dead
There are others, too. I'll return to this topic, but I'm interested in your thoughts--some of which I am sure are worthy of their own posts.
Don't miss the amendments to the fourth season, which were provided as a sort of alternative to a full fifth season while the show decided on its next incarnation:
- The Next Doctor
- The Planet of the Dead
- The Waters of Mars
- The End of Time (pt 1 and 2)
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