Doctor Who (2005, Series 1-10)

Doctor Who is a British science-fiction television program produced by the BBC since 1963. The program depicts the adventures of a man called "the Doctor", a Time Lord from Gallifrey who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the universe in a time-travelling space ship called the TARDIS.

The program originally ran from 1963 to 1989 before being cancelled by the BBC due to low ratings. There was an unsuccessful attempt to revive regular production in 1996 with a backdoor pilot in the form of a television film before it was successfully relaunched in 2005 by BBC Wales.

Why These Series Rock

 * 1) All the Doctors from this era are interesting and extremely well-acted, with the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) in particular being arguably the most popular Doctor in the franchise's entire history.
 * 2) Contains some great episodes, such as:
 * 3) * "Rose" (which started the revival off on a high note)
 * 4) * "The End of the World"
 * 5) * "Dalek"
 * 6) * "Father's Day"
 * 7) * "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances"
 * 8) * "Bad Wolf"/"The Parting of the Ways"
 * 9) * "The Christmas Invasion" (which started the tradition of Doctor Who Christmas specials)
 * 10) * "School Reunion" (which fully established the revival as being in the same continuity as "classic" Doctor Who)
 * 11) * "The Girl in the Fireplace"
 * 12) * "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel"
 * 13) * "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit"
 * 14) * "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday"
 * 15) * "Gridlock"
 * 16) * "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood"
 * 17) * "Blink"
 * 18) * "Utopia"/"The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords"
 * 19) * "Partners in Crime"
 * 20) * "Planet of the Ood"
 * 21) * "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead"
 * 22) * "Midnight"
 * 23) * "Turn Left"
 * 24) * "The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End"
 * 25) * "The Waters of Mars"
 * 26) * "The End of Time" Parts 1 & 2
 * 27) * "The Eleventh Hour"
 * 28) * "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone"
 * 29) * "Amy's Choice"
 * 30) * "Vincent and the Doctor"
 * 31) * "The Lodger"
 * 32) * "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang"
 * 33) * "A Christmas Carol"
 * 34) * "The Impossible Astronaut"/"Day of the Moon"
 * 35) * "The Doctor's Wife"
 * 36) * "The Rebel Flesh"/"The Almost People"/"A Good Man Goes to War"
 * 37) * "Night Terrors"
 * 38) * "The Girl Who Waited"
 * 39) * "Closing Time"
 * 40) * "Asylum of the Daleks"
 * 41) * "A Town Called Mercy"
 * 42) * "The Angels Take Manhattan"
 * 43) * "Cold War"
 * 44) * "Hide"
 * 45) * "The Crimson Horror"
 * 46) * "Nightmare in Silver"
 * 47) * "The Name of the Doctor"
 * 48) * "The Day of the Doctor"
 * 49) * "The Time of the Doctor"
 * 50) * "Deep Breath"
 * 51) * "Into the Dalek"
 * 52) * "Listen"
 * 53) * "Time Heist"
 * 54) * "The Caretaker"
 * 55) * "Mummy on the Orient Express"
 * 56) * "Dark Water"/"Death in Heaven"
 * 57) * "Last Christmas"
 * 58) * "The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar"
 * 59) * "The Zygon Invasion"/"The Zygon Inversion"
 * 60) * "Face the Raven"/"Heaven Sent"/"Hell Bent"
 * 61) * "The Husbands of River Song"
 * 62) * "The Return of Doctor Mysterio"
 * 63) * "The Pilot"
 * 64) * "Thin Ice"
 * 65) * "Oxygen"
 * 66) * "Empress of Mars"
 * 67) * "World Enough and Time"/"The Doctor Falls"
 * 68) The Russell T. Davies Era (2005-2010) is one of the greatest 2000s stories ever made, while the Steven Moffat Era (2010-2017) was truly epic!
 * 69) Most of the companions are very likable as well and mostly managed to avert the "damsel in distress" stereotype of the classic series companions. For example, Amy just meets the Doctor when he crash-lands in her garden, and Donna is teleported by mistake.
 * 70) The companions also go through compelling arcs throughout the show, and actually grow as people in ways that are believable and sensible.
 * 71) * For example, Rose goes from being a typical London girl who has a good heart but not much else to a person who saves the Doctor and other worlds many times throughout her tenure.
 * 72) * Martha goes from being a typical medical school student who tries her best to a person to a person who helps not only save the Doctor but also help him get over his struggle with losing Rose in the parallel world.
 * 73) * Donna Noble goes from an oblivious person who doesn't know much to a main companion of the Doctor that becomes slowly more and more intelligent, and goes through a compelling arc about learning about the universe. While she does ultimately lose her memory after absorbing Time Lord knowledge, her arc wasn't pointless, as she still saved the entire universe from being destroyed by Davros and the Doctor only wiped it to save her, so while on the surface her arc seems pointless, based on how much she did, it makes sense and is not a bad conclusion. Donna also managed to help the Doctor learn when he goes too far with a villain and helps him to be more merciful.
 * 74) * Amy Pond goes from being an odd Scottish girl in a small village and an aggressive but patient person to a more understanding and sensible person who gives others chances.
 * 75) * The reoccurring companions such as Captain Jack Harkness and Sarah Jane Smith. Not only does Sarah Jane Smith remain in character from "classic" Doctor Who, but we also get a compelling look with how the "classic" series has affected her in not only Doctor Who, but also in her spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures. The same goes for Jack, he makes a great supporting companion because he has a fun personality, is likeable and has an interesting case of immortality.
 * 76) The new version of the Doctor Who theme, composed by Murray Gold, is very catchy while still staying true to the core of the original theme song.
 * 77) All of the Doctors are very likable and outstanding (especially the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors), and each have their own unique personalities.
 * 78) * The Ninth Doctor was a gritty but very emotional incarnation of the Doctor due to having lived through the horrors of the Time War.
 * 79) * The Tenth Doctor was a more cheerful and geeky Doctor, but was less merciful towards villains and had an element of tragedy and depression after "Journey's End".
 * 80) * The Eleventh Doctor was the Doctor who had more excitement, was more relatable to people on Earth, was always up for adventure and had a positive attitude.
 * 81) * The Twelfth Doctor was someone who was fiercer and less understanding of others, but also well-meaning and caring.
 * 82) The seasons are faithful to the original show, and even build off of the original show and contains elements making it more important than it was on its own, such as seeing how the Time War affected the Doctor, and seeing Davros return.
 * 83) Interesting and creative plots that take advantage of the running time of the episodes, making you feel more invested in them, and come off feeling natural rather than force.
 * 84) * Some examples include the specials, such as "The Waters of Mars", "The End of Time" and "The Day of the Doctor".
 * 85) * Other episodes include the two-parter episodes such as "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances", "The Stolen Earth"/Journey's End", "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang", and many more.
 * 86) * Even most of the individual episodes, such as "The Girl in the Fireplace", "Vincent and the Doctor", "Blink", "Midnight" and "The Name of the Doctor" make the most of their runtime.
 * 87) Many of the classic show's most well-remembered villains (such as the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Autons) return, and are much more threatening than they were previously.
 * 88) The special effects, while still not great, are still a lot better than the notoriously low-budget effects from the original show.
 * 89) Most of the seasons strike a good balance between an interesting story arc and having episodes that stand up well by themselves, such as "Blink".
 * 90) There are some emotional moments that can (and will) make you cry, such as Rose being stranded on the parallel Earth, the conclusion of "Journey's End", Amy and Rory's deaths and the Tenth Doctor's regeneration (especially after "Time of the Doctor" revealed that he was just one regeneration away from dying permanently).

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The series went massively downhill after Series 11.
 * 2) Series 6-8, while still much better than Series 11 onwards, stand out as a weak point in this era:
 * 3) * Series 6 has a lot of great individual episodes (including "The Doctor's Wife" and "The Girl Who Waited"), but the main storyline involving River Song and the Silence is nearly incomprehensible and has an unsatisfactory resolution.
 * 4) * Series 7's first half feels like the writers are just treading water until they can get rid of Amy and Rory. The second half is better, but not all that memorable (though it does include the 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor").
 * 5) * Series 8 makes the Twelfth Doctor a bit too unlikeable, and Clara Oswald turns into an annoying Mary Sue who practically steals the show away from the Doctor.
 * 6) Some bad episodes, such as:
 * 7) * "Love and Monsters"
 * 8) * "Victory of the Daleks"
 * 9) * "In the Forest of the Night"
 * 10) * "Sleep No More"
 * 11) * "Twice Upon a Time"
 * 12) * To be fair, none of these episodes retconned the Doctor's past (unlike Series 12's "The Timeless Children"), though they are still not very good.
 * 13) Some of the pop-culture and political references in the early seasons can feel dated, albeit not so much that they make the episodes harder to follow.
 * 14) Series 1-4 contain a lot of heavy-handed pro-LGBT messages that haven't aged too well. It can be partly excused due to the time period, good writing and the characters staying in character, but said messages would be considered SJW propaganda if they aired nowadays.