Tenth or Fourteenth

[rushy]

Which version of David Tennant's Doctor do you prefer? 

Personally, even though I like the Tenth Doctor more than most here, I'm leaning towards the Fourteenth. I like that he's older and slightly more eccentric in his fashion choices, whilst still retaining a sense of gravitas. I love the blue coat, and the stubble (less vain than the original). The tartan vest hinting at Tennant's Scottish origin is really nice too. 

[rushy]

this reminds me, I really need to read 'Liberation of the Daleks'. I'm craving for good Fourteenth Doctor stories. The only one I felt was great all the way through was 'Wild Blue Yonder'. That's a bit depressing. As backwards as it is, I wish Tennant had stayed for a full season. No one can tell me he isn't better than whatever Gatwa's doing.

[burrunjor]

Apr 1, 2024 17:56:30 GMT rushy said:

this reminds me, I really need to read 'Liberation of the Daleks'. I'm craving for good Fourteenth Doctor stories. The only one I felt was great all the way through was 'Wild Blue Yonder'. That's a bit depressing. As backwards as it is, I wish Tennant had stayed for a full season. No one can tell me he isn't better than whatever Gatwa's doing.

Liberation of the Daleks is absolutely fantastic. Why it wasn't made into the 60th anniversary story I have 0 idea. Think Jurassic Park meets 60s Who, meets Inception. That's how insane and wonderful it is. 

Here it is. I loved this. 




Ludders you should check this out too. 

[iank]

Tennant's awful whatever they call him.

[Ludders II]

Apr 1, 2024 21:18:50 GMT iank said:

Tennant's awful whatever they call him.

I'm afraid NuWho has ruined him, no matter what else he does, I just see his NuWho cringe.
I saw a trailer for that drama where Tennant plays the Russian who got poisoned. As he was laid there in his skull cap with his trademark miserable expression, all I could think of was End of Time, I don't want to go, and Girl in the Fireplace, I'm a lonely old timelord. 
Here's a pic from the old days. 

[Cherry Pepsi Maxil]

If it was between having Tennant do a full series or having Ncuti Gatwa then yes, I would rather have the former. Gatwa is dreadful. I wanted to like him or at least be able to tolerate him, but he just makes me cringe.

[burrunjor]

Apr 1, 2024 23:19:27 GMT Cherry Pepsi Maxil said:

If it was between having Tennant do a full series or having Ncuti Gatwa then yes, I would rather have the former. Gatwa is dreadful. I wanted to like him or at least be able to tolerate him, but he just makes me cringe.

Wait are you not giving him the LOOOOOOVVVVVVIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNN?

[rushy]

If bi-generation is a myth, then I can easily headcanon that the Doctor didn't fully understand what it was, and it in fact makes Ncuti some kind of conjoined twin of the Doctor, rather than the real thing. He even takes the other TARDIS that the Toymaker's mallet made.

[Deleted]

I would say that Ncuti is a false Doctor created by the Toymaker, but the alternate Tennant is just as bad to be stuck with as the Doctor

[UncleDeadly]

They're both c*nts.

[burrunjor]

Apr 2, 2024 9:51:39 GMT rushy said:

If bi-generation is a myth, then I can easily headcanon that the Doctor didn't fully understand what it was, and it in fact makes Ncuti some kind of conjoined twin of the Doctor, rather than the real thing. He even takes the other TARDIS that the Toymaker's mallet made.

I have a better idea. Paul McGann wakes up in the Tardis and goes "Jesus what was that? Not having jelly babies before bed time again.2

[Cherry Pepsi Maxil]

14 allowed himself to be mocked savagely for not being a woman. The 4th Doctor would have told them to spack off and tripped them up with his scarf.

[burrunjor]

Well to answer this question seriously. No contest, the 10th Doctor. 

This version of the character may not have been my ideal take on a follow on from the original series (though he works brilliantly as a remade version like Christopher Lee's Dracula which he should have been.) Still Ten was objectively a much better character. 

It was nice having a hero that was nerdy, sensitive and used science, but who was charismatic, dashing, brooding, brave and sexy because of, not in spite of that. Unlike even Spider-Man who is a nerdy wuss in his real life, and only seems heroic when he covers that up in costume, Tennant's dorkiness was always there to see but again it helped to make him seem a bit more complex, thoughtful and his intelligence genuinely seemed like just as much of a weapon as any super power. 

He was a great, positive role model for little boys that way and I don't doubt convinced a lot of them to be themselves. Indeed this is something that actually doesn't get talked about enough with his Doctor. People always say that his appeal was just to little girls, but actually look among his fans and you'll find the most die hards are little boys who saw him as something of a more accessible role model because he was sensitive, but still strong and dashing. 

He also did star in a number of all time excellent stories like Midnight,  Blink, The Waters of Mars, the Satan two parter, Fires of Pompei, Tooth and Claw, Smith and Jones, The Lazarus Experiment, Shakespeare Code, The Next Doctor, The Library two parter and had one of the absolute best companions in anything, Martha Jones. In spite of the love story petering out, you'd be hard pushed to find a better, more lovable, cute, loyal and genuinely likable sidekick than Freema. I also loved Captain Jack too, and would have happily watched three series with that trio. 

He also had a great rogues gallery too. Indeed the best of any new who Doctor. The Cult of Skaro were a brilliant addition to Dalek lore and my favourite arc in all of New Who, the Cyber King was also badass, Davros was brilliantly played by Julian Bleach with a kickass new variation of his classic design, even the Master whilst again I don't think Simm works as a follow on, unlike Missy he is still at least a legit threat, and Jacobi was excellent. Also this marked the last time the Sontarans were a threat, and Christopher Ryan as always was the best Sontaran since Kevin Lindsay (though I don't think he quite matched him.) Also it must be said that Tennant was the only time they created new monsters that actually did manage to catch on with the public in new who. 

Weeping Angels, the Beast, the Midnight Entity, the Flood, the Vashta Nerada, all classic monsters, who ironically they didn't utilize enough and instead carried on with vandalized versions of classic era villains in later years. It's still a shame that the Beast didn't get that season as a main villain. 

That said however Ten did suffer a bit from he and Rose. Even though they were intentionally written as an arrogant schmoopy couple, that was still a mistake in my opinion. I'm also not the biggest fan of Donna, though admittedly it's more to do with RTD making her a creators pet. I don't mind Donna as a companion in episodes not written by RTD like the Library two parter and Fires of Pompei. She's an okay, mid level companion in those with decent chemistry with Tennant, but when RTD shows up he has to make her the single most important person in universe, undermine the main hero and because he doesn't take it seriously, he also makes Tate play it as a comedy actress, and he also writes her as a Cathy from Two Doors Down type (clearly his idea of an amazing person LOL.) 

Still overall Ten like him or hate him is an iconic character and has his place. 

14 meanwhile? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.  This is basically like Michael Keaton coming back for the Flash. An icon from people's childhoods who comes back as a shell of his former self and whose whole purpose is just to get shat on from a great height. To be honest though it's worse. At least Keaton does get some badass moments, and also the original plan before egomaniac Gunn came along was to feature Keaton in two more movies which would have been awesome. 

Here however Tennant was brought back entirely for cheap nostalgia points, and he spent those three specials just being a shell of his former self, getting abuse from his companions for his gender. All of his episodes were tired, unoriginal mid tier at best, and his villains were unimaginably lame. 

Let's see able bodied Davros that spits on the character and his creators Terry Nation, Bob Holmes, Philip Hinchcliff who are now smeared as bigots against the disabled, a cuddly toy that's twist is it looks cute but is evil, two bland generic ill defined creatures from outside the universe, who are too silly to be scary, too dark to be silly and finally the number 1 Amy Winehouse hater as the Toymaker whose goal seems to be to embody as many ridiculous stereotypes as he can from ZE GERMAN VASTUURD" to the gossipy, bitchy gay man who dances to pop music and spends all day chatting on the phone. (Also again his casting alone sticks in my craw as this version was made by Disney who blacklisted the best female action star of all time for supposedly offensive behavior, yet think corpse cakes are fine and dandy?) 

Also 14's supporting characters are awful. Kate being as bland and ill defined as ever, the one likable supporting character they had being fired petulantly by RTD, and in her place is the worst companion from classic who, and a woman with wheelchair rockets that looks like a gag from Rick and Morty. Also UNIT are just as useless as ever and contribute NOTHING to the plot. 

Donna meanwhile is even worse than before. All the worst elements like being an obnoxious Cathy, being a misandrist and undermining the hero are there in full. Her husband is the most pathetic, cucked, laughable excuse for a male character (and coming from me a guy who day dreams of Amazonian masterhood that's bad LOL.) Rose is also an embarrassing attempt by an aging writer to show he's radical and with it and comes over as an ironically an offensive take on having a trans character. Not only does it ensure that a trans character must be defined by that, but it compares trans people to weird, funky, creepy shapeshifting aliens. 

Then to top it all off we have 14 literally splitting the character into two, with his story not even coming to an end. He's literally just dumped and in a way that further undermines him even when he's off screen. Like Sutekh for instance destroying the entire world whilst he is off shopping at ASDA LOL. 

14 along with Keaton's comeback in The Flash are perfect examples of why it's better to leave some things as just a memory. 

[Deleted]

I feel for Shaun. The guy was on minimum wage before winning the lottery, then Donna goes and gives it all away behind his back, forcing him once again to work a menial job just to get by. And he's still with her? I'd be on my f*cking bike, because that is a crazy woman.

[RobFilth]

Apr 1, 2024 23:19:27 GMT Cherry Pepsi Maxil said:

If it was between having Tennant do a full series or having Ncuti Gatwa then yes, I would rather have the former. Gatwa is dreadful. I wanted to like him or at least be able to tolerate him, but he just makes me cringe.

Must confess I agree with this.

I might have lasted longer than 2 episodes of the recent series with Tennant.

Possibly up to 3 or 4 episodes before I decided I couldn't handle anymore.