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[Dave]

After the disappointing season 6, the next season isn't going to air for a full 12 months. So I figure it's time to go back and rewatch the highlights of the Tennant seasons (2, 3, 4, 4.5). Episodes that sucked or did not advance the storyline much, I will skip. Feel free to suggest an ep I should not have skipped.

Started with an episode from season 1: Father's Day. This will be the only episode I'll watch from season 1. End of the World wasn't bad, but I think Father's Day is necessary to really get in the spirit of the Rose-family-centric season 2. So despite all the bad cgi, melodramatic overcompensating score, dodgy logic (people popping in an out of existence), it still hits all the right notes for the characters. There's that scene where Rose makes up all the stuff her dad did during childhood, and the dad--rather self-consciously--realizes she's describing traits he's incapable of. The bracketing scenes of Jackie telling the story of dad's death to a young Rose--and the story changing at the end--worked very well.

After that, I flipped to the end of Parting Ways to see Eccleston killed off. Sweet.

Next up: Christmas Sycorax. Whatever it's called.

[Dave]

I went with this lot for season 2:
The Christmas Invasion
New Earth
School Reunion
Girl in the Fireplace
Rise of Cybermen/Age of Steel 2-parter
The Idiot Lantern
Impossible Planet/Satan's Pit 2-parter
Army of Ghosts/Doomsday 2-part season finale

Skipped the others. The werewolf one, which explains the origins of Torchwood, could've helped for continuity's sake, but I thought that was an easily skippable episode.

The Christmas Invasion - It's shot weird. The lighting inside the Tyler home is a bit off. Too orange and soft. The episode doesn't really get going until Tennant wakes up. When he does, he creates a memorable Doctor very, very quickly.

New Earth - One of the things I really liked about this is the whole concept: hospital using clone-slaves to cure every disease in the universe. Just solid sci-fi. And the compassionate resolution to Cassandra's death rounds out the Doctor's moral compass as aligned earlier in the ep.

School Reunion - Lame villains, but the examination of the Doctor's companions--both femaile and canine--was amusing and characterful. We get to see the consequences of the Doctor finding and leaving companions. The interaction between Sarah Jane and Rose is very good; their transformation from competitors to gossipers with a common foil was cool. Mickey comparing himself to the dog was, of course, awesome.

Girl in the Fireplace - Love story told in a condenced way. Very cool. After the season finale, this episode comes to mean a lot more. It's the actuality of what the Doctor has been warning Rose about: he doesn't age; she does. I didn't get the same long-term foreshadowing at first.

Rise of Cybermen/Age of Steel 2-parter - I'm not particularly fond of these two, but they're necessary for continuity for the season finale. The Rose and Rose's dad business was handled well and avoided predictable melodrama. Mickey finally came into his own as a character. I thought the guy was a terrible actor until these episodes.

The Idiot Lantern - This was a great example of taking a sci-fi premise and tying it in to both a historical event (the coronation, and, separately, the notion of informants) with mundane family drama. Ultimately, it plays into the Rose/father thread throughout the season.

Impossible Planet/Satan's Pit 2-parter - Really good build-up. Small let down. The end doesn't quite justify the build-up.

Army of Ghosts/Doomsday 2-part season finale - Good stuff all around. I covered this when I posted about the second season.