Friday Favorites: Vol. 3 – Doctor Who Edition

Netflix became a little sadder a place a couple weeks ago. They removed all episodes of the hit BBC show ‘Doctor Who’, leaving fans like myself unable to get our Doctor fix whenever we want.

In honor of The Doctor, I bring you a special edition of Friday Favorites: DOCTOR WHO EDITION.
Now, I must first point out that I haven’t watched the original series. I tried, but they just didn’t hold my interest. My first Doctor is Nine, played by Christopher Eccleston. Any references I make refer only to New Who (2005 and on).

And now…… FRIDAY FAVORITES: DOCTOR WHO EDITION


Ninth Doctor memes courtesy of www.hypable.com

If you’ve never seen the show, you may not be aware that the actor who plays The Doctor changes up from time to time. As an immortal alien Time Lord (from the planet Gallifrey), instead of dying, The Doctor regenerates into a new body. Thus, we’ve had twelve incarnations of the doctor thus far, and twelve actors. They each bare some similarities to those who have come before them, but as all people are different, so are all incarnations of The Doctor.

 

FAVORITE DOCTOR:

This is a hard one, I loved Nine (Eccleston) because he was my first, and he just had such a wonderful childlike charm he brought to the role. I think Ten (David Tennant) has to be my favorite though. He was the perfect mix between goofy and serious, light and dark.

Doctor memes courtesy of www.hypable.com

 

LEAST FAVORITE DOCTOR:

I don’t really have a least favorite doctor, but Eleven (Matt Smith) took the longest for me to warm to (though in the end I did love him), and by the time Twelve (Peter Capaldi) came around, the storylines had strayed so far from the original concept of the New Who Era, I actually stopped watching….

 


 

FAVORITE COMPANION:

Ten and Donna sassing one another.

Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) is hands down my favorite companion.  She’s the first to not have any romantic feelings toward the doctor at all. I honestly hated her in the first episode in which she appeared (The Runaway Bride, S3, Christmas Special) but she grew on me as soon as she appeared as The Doctor’s companion in Season 4. Not only is Donna hilarious, she’s also so full of heart. The end of her time with the doctor is downright heartbreaking. (BONUS for her being the granddaughter of recurring character Wilfred, played by Bernard Cribbins!)

 

Runner up goes to Amy Pond (Karen Gillan). She was feisty and spunky. She flirted to no ends with The Doctor, even in front of her fiancé Rory (Arthur Darrell – I really loved Rory, too, but he was more Amy’s companion than The Doctors). She knew what she wanted and she fought for it. (BONUS: I can’t recall a time when Amy was not wearing a miniskirt and fun colored nail polish, no matter the situation, planet or climate! And she’s a Scottish ginger.)

Third place goes to Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). She was the first companion of the series reboot. A lot of people hate her because she fell in love with The Doctor and he had feelings for her as well, but I guess I’m just a romantic at heart. I loved that story arc. Plus, when she came back for those few episodes later on, she was super badass.

 

LEAST FAVORITE COMPANION:

Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman).
Nothing against the actress, she was in an earlier episode of Doctor Who playing another character and I had zero problems with her. But Martha Jones? She was just… annoying. She was so clingy to The Doctor and while her time with The Doctor had some great episodes, I hated her character. (Note: I didn’t mind her later on, when she appeared again, not as The Doctor’s companion. She was more confident in herself and held her own.)

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FAVORITE VILLIAN / MONSTER:

The Master (John Simm): Because he had a really cool story arc. And he’s a little crazy. Okay, a lot crazy!

 

The Weeping Angels: Because if you’ve seen the episode ‘Blink’ you’ll know! (I didn’t care for them so much the second time around.)

You’ll never look at angel statues the same way again…

The Lady Cassandra: She just wanted to be beautiful.  But she was sneaky and underhanded. I enjoyed her episodes.

Daleks: Because…. DALEK’S!

The Face of Bo: Not a villian, but sort of a monster. I almost cried the last time he sees The Doctor. So sad and tragic. 🙁

 

LEAST FAVORITE VILLAIN / MONSTER:

The Silence.
Seriously.
I can’t even re-watch that season because they’ll give me nightmares. They were not the fun kind of creepy for me, they were (are…) just scary. Honestly, I only made it through the first time around because my husband was watching with me! (Keep in mind, this is coming from the girl who is still afraid of E.T., okay?)


FAVORITE EPISODES:

Season 6 is where things got weird, and I’m not even going to go there…. So this is seasons 1 – 5 of New Who.

In order of season:

S1 E9: The Empty Child (part 1) AND…
S1 E10: The Doctor Dances (part 2)
– If you’ve ever been awoken in the middle of the night by a child staring at you blankly, you will appreciate these episodes. “Are you my mummy?” has new meaning. This is also our first introduction to Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman).

S2 E13: Doomsday (season finale)
– This was a sad episode where we had to let go of a friend. The season finale’s always pack a punch.

S3 E8: Human Nature (part 1) AND….
S3 E9: The Family Blood (part 2)
– This was just a really cool two part story arc. Two episodes where I didn’t mind Martha Jones so much, plus there are so many feels for The Doctor in this one.

S3 E10: Blink
– This was an episode featuring very little of The Doctor done right. Our first introduction to the Weeping Angels.

S3 E11: Utopia (part 1) AND…
S3 E12: The Sound of Drums (part 2) AND…
S3 E13: Last of the Time Lords (part 3) (season finale)
– This might be my favorite of the finales. A 3 part story arc and our introduction to The Master. Alternate time lines. Martha Jones undertaking a mission to singlehandedly save the world. It was epic.

S4 E7: The Unicorn and the Wasp
– The Doctor and Donna visit Agatha Christie. This was just such a fun “Whodunit” murder mystery episode.

S4 E8: Silence in the Library (part 1) AND…
S4 E9: Forest of the Dead (part 2)
– When I think favorite episodes, the first that come to mind are this two episode story arc and Blink. An abandoned library full of shadow creatures (Vashta Nerada) that will kill you. It was creepy and terrifying and amazing. (We also meet River Song for the first time.)

S4 E10: Midnight
– This is a single episode that adds nothing to the overall season story arc, but I love it as it stands alone. It’s very psychological. The Doctor on a broken down shuttle on the planet Midnight. A mysterious creature taking over one of the passengers. Very creepy and cool.

S4 E11: Turn Left (part 1) AND…
S4 E12: The Stolen Earth (part 2)AND…
S4 E13: Journey’s End (part 3)
– Doctor Who knows how to do a season finale. This one was one of my favorite. The only thing I hate is that we had to say goodbye to Donna Noble. However, it would lose so much of its impact if we didn’t have to say goodbye to her at this point in time.

Donna Noble meme courtesy of www.hypable.com

 

S5 E6: The Vampires of Venice
– The Doctor treats Amy and Rory to a trip to Venice. Except…. There are vampires??? This was a fun one. I’m a big fan of vampires, so of course I liked it.

S5 E10: Vincent and the Doctor
– If I could only choose ONE episode of Doctor Who to watch on repeat, it would probably be this one. It’s not very exciting, but the emotion is so raw. Vincent van Gogh was a tortured artist and seeing him interact with Amy and The Doctor was fun. The script was brilliant, Tony Curran as Vincent was amazing, and the bonus of Bill Nighy as the museum curator was beautiful.  This episode is full of feels.

S5 E11: The Lodger
– This episode introduced me to James Corden, and I fell in love with his geeky charm. I can’t picture anyone better to be The Doctor’s roommate while he’s stranded on Earth as Amy is stuck in The Tardis.

S5 E12: The Pandorica Opens (part 1) AND….
S5 E13: The Big Bang (part 2)
– Yet another season finale that goes out with a BANG – literally! More feels. Lots of villains. Etc, etc.

Nine Doctor memes courtesy of www.hypable.com

 

LEAST FAVORITE EPISODES:

As I stated above, season 6 is where things got weird, and I’m not even going to go there…. So this is seasons 1 – 5 of New Who.

In order of season:

S2 E7: The Idiot’s Lantern
– This one just didn’t hold my attention at all.

S2 E10: Love & Monsters
– This one barely featured The Doctor. I get that they were trying to show what the alien encounters on Earth are like without The Doctor around, but it just failed for me on so many levels.

S2 E11: Fear Her
– Another one from season 2. Apparently I didn’t enjoy much of that season. This episode was sort of interesting, but it just didn’t spark enough interest with me to care much to watch it again. I think, if memory serves, the little girl in this episode was just super annoying, so that might be why I don’t care for it.

S5 E4: Time of the Angels AND
S5 E5: Flesh and Stone
– I did not care for the reintroduction to The Weeping Angels. They were perfect in ‘Blink’. They should have been left alone!

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And now, for fun, a music video I found on YouTube, featuring a brief overview of ALL of The Doctor’s, including the ones I haven’t watched from the original series, minus the most current.

*Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the videos or images shared here. I gave credit where I knew credit belonged.

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