Series 3

Series 3 is regarded as being one of RTD's better series. but what is your stance on it?

My second favourite NewWho Series, and one that I can stand by saying that I love. A part of it is nostalgia, as it was my first exposure to the franchise, but there's just stuff in it now that I love now that I'm older.

Smith and Jones is a perfect opening story for a newcomer. Martha in her first story already feels much more likeable than Rose did, and Tennant feels much more comfortable in the role, ditching the smugness that 10 had in Series 2 and actually plays an eccentric alien all the way through. Besides that, the concept feels imaginative and the direction feels slick and fresh. Bland design aside, I even like The Judoon and it's inclusion in its story. Really like this one.

The Shakespeare Code is another underrated story. I really enjoy the fairytale gothic atmosphere of the late 16th century, the CGI is considerably better than how it was in Series 1 and 2, Dean Lennox Kelly brings a subtle performance as the whimsical Shakespeare, 10 and Martha already prove to be a likeable team and don't feel anywhere near as smug as 10 and Rose. Once again, the ideas are imaginative and the dialogue feels witty. Really underrated story.

Gridlock is another great story. A fleshed out world that doesn't feel rushed, despite being 45 minutes. The highway is visually striking, with side characters feeling memorable and great atmosphere. I don't even mind the inclusion of The Macra, it's incarnation is certainly inferior to The Macra Terror, but at least they have an explanation as to why they are the way they are, and they still manage to be effective monsters. Love this one.

The Dalek Two-parter is definitely the weakest out of Series 3, but I still enjoy it for what it is. I really like Lazlo and Frank as side characters (can't say the same for Tallulah though), James Strong brings some truly atmospheric direction, both in the New York camps and especially in the sewers.

The Lazarus Experiment I tend to be a defender of. When I was 7, I was scared shitless of the Lazarus monster for 2 years (odd that I wasn't afraid of the Weeping Angels, but this was the 'behind the sofa' moment for me), and to be fair, while I don't think that the CGI ages it gracefully, I still think that the design is great. I get more pissed off at End of Time because his character here and his philosophy on spending as much time as possible is great here. Tennant and Gatiss bring such ferocity in their performances against each other, and the first 15 minutes as well as the last 15 are tight in pacing.

42 is just plain fun. Whilst I thought Harper's direction in Series 2 was stilted all things considered, his direction here manages to be dynamic and frantic, adding on to some great cinematography. The lighting and atmosphere is stunning, add on to some great performances such as Tennant, Agyeman, Flanagan and Colins. It may not be the most intelligent or imaginative story, but I think that it gets its job done with adding tension.

Human Nature/Family of Blood certainly has its flaws, I won't deny that, but I tend to overlook them because the positives outweigh the negatives and then some. Phenomenal performances from Tennant, Harry Lloyd and Jessica Hynes, stunning direction, with comfortable yet unnerving location work and brilliant cinematography, particularly when the boys are forced to 'murder' the Scarecrows. Harry Lloyd as Son of Mine is utterly chilling, both in character and performance. I quite frankly prefer this version of the story to the VNA'S version. This story is just simply outstanding for me.

Blink is certainly an overrated story (in fact, I wouldn't even call this a good introduction to the franchise), but there's certainly great things to talk about in this. The concept feels wholly imaginative and different from any other Who story, with some creepy atmosphere, particularly in the garage and the abandoned house. Sally Sparrow is a well written character and I could totally buy into her in terms of believability. Love this one, even if I prefer the Series 5 Weeping Angels story.

Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords has it's big issues (seriously, fuck the Doctor Space Jesus resolution), but I still find this to be the best Tennant finale by a long shot. The inclusion of Captain Jack makes the Tardis team feel more alive than it already is. Earth in Utopia feels truly alien and has atmospheric set design. Derek Jacobi as both Yana and The Master are stunning. The Sound of Drums's direction truly feels frantic, exciting, climactic and explosive. And even though the resolution to Last of the Time Lords was completely shite and I much prefer the other two stories, the first 40 minutes still manage to be effective drama. So yeah, I still like this story overall.

I love it. I vividly remember watching each and every episode except Human Nature which aired when I was on holiday in Spain. I met a really cute girl from Birmingham while I was there. The other thing I remember from that holiday was my brother throwing my Batman Gameboy cartridge out of the window of the hotel we were staying at. I wonder where it is now...

Probably the best Tennant season, but it's still New Who so fuck it.

Like Season 2 it had a lot of potential excitement and variety of adventure to offer, but for me it's spoilt by the Doctor being a massive dick who can't get over himself about Rose. Worse the season seems to treat much of the how and the adventure as a joke, *except* for the mourning of Rose, which makes it supremely difficult to care most of the time this season.

Daleks in Manhattan, 42, Human Nature and Blink are probably the only ones I'd willingly return to.

Ultimately of course the Simm Master finale was a horrible disaster that made it pretty much impossible to care about the show's stakes ever again, and frankly I'm amazed the show survived it and that the general public didn't stop watching after that. Again it just seemed to be RTD turning the show into a bloody cult of toxic sentimentality.

It's not as downright annoying as S2. Martha as a character is infinitely preferable to Rose. It has a couple of half decent stories in Human Nature and Blink, but because they're not as teeth grindingly bad as most NuWho, people tend to over rate them.
I don't mind the Dalek story. It has a certain comic strip quality to it. But Time Turds was a really serious body blow, and even worse than anything in S2.
The other stories I've not mentioned are beyond bland, and are for me literally forgettable in all but the vaguest of terns.
Yes, I'd put this season above series 2, but my tolerance for Tennant is so low that I wouldn't think of watching any of them again, except for the Dalek one which I will rewatch as part of a Dalek marathon which I have in mind for next year.

I like series 3. Its first half is terrific. Smith and Jones is tremendous fun, the Shakespeare Code is a great story, Gridlock is the only one of the year 5 billion stories worth anything and the Dalek two parter is criminally underrated. I love the setting, the more low key nature of it, the development of the Cult of Skaro and the way it sets up the next story.

The Lazarus Experiment is also a great mish mash of Marvel and Quatermass with Mark Gatiss giving a great performance. Sadly however it hits a bad patch with the dire 42 and the awful Human Nature two parter, which is one of the worst DW stories ever made. Its arguably the biggest assassination of the Doctors character pre Capaldi comparing Missy's victims to a bacon sandwhich.

Blink meanwhile is as good as everyone says, whilst Utopia is a classic. The Sound of Drums is a great follow on, but Last of the Time Turds is one of the worst finale's of all time. Really its a toss up between Last of the Time Turds, End of Time, Death in Heaven and Hellbent for the worst finale's or indeed worst episodes of all time.

Still in spite of its clunkers series three is much better than series 1 or 2. Martha is so much better than Rose, and there is considerably less soap opera in this series than the previous 2.

As will all RTD episodes, I think you need to be incredibly stupid to find any enjoyment in it. We're talking stupider than someone who can't wipe their own arse after spending 10 years of toilet training.

I don’t really understand why this season receives acclaim at all, to be honest. It’s bright spots are tremendously overrated, whilst its lows are staggeringly low in every way. It’s less shit than series 2, though this ultimately says little.

Smith and Jones is more tolerable than New Earth, but still lacking in any semblance of tension, intelligent humour or actual pace, and simply comes across as incredibly camp and lightweight with little in the way of imagination or substance.

Unlike what many here seem to think, The Shakespeare Code is largely crap as far as I’m concerned. The period atmosphere is OK, and it looks good, but it’s completely undermined by the constant popcultural references (specifically to Harry Potter amidst many others) which ensure that this story will date tremendously (coming from someone who actually quite likes the Potter films), and the depiction of Shakespeare is just fucking ridiculous. It’s clear that the position of playwright was scorned upon during this period (hence Shakespeare’s envy of court poetry, and those within such a position, evidenced by his patronage and possible love to Henry Wrothiesely during the era), so Shakespeare would be interpreted as stereotypically mainstream and unchallenging during his time to some extent, but for the episode to depict him as an absolute twat with an uncanny resemblance to a contemporary pop star makes no sense and only showcases NuWho’s anti-art and intellectual streak all the more.

Gridlock has a fairly reasonable premise, but is undermined by some decidedly poorly conceived humour throughout (nose picking humour is the pinnacle of comedy, isn’t it Russell?), and many nauseatingly mawkish scenes typical of the era which only seek to patronise the viewer all the more. See Rob and Rani’s discussion of Gridlock for more information (and a laugh).

Daleks in Manhattan isn’t as bad as many say, to be honest. There’s a reasonable amount of atmosphere to it, the Daleks are fairly well written and aren’t just depicted as shooting the fuck out of everything (see Doomsday and Journey’s Bellend for key examples of the era doing this), and Tennant is actually pretty good here bar the odd clunky moment. The American accents are a bit crap, but I don’t see this as a major issue in the grand scheme of things. It does fall flat during the second episode due to the rather anti-climactic ending and some very contrived story elements, but it’s still not as bad as many say.

The Lazarus Experiment is a serious waste of potential and a pile of shit by its conclusion. A waste of a potentially philosophically interesting narrative, which declines into an idiotic and very poorly directed runaround as soon as Gatiss turns into the poorly rendered CG Lazarus Monster, and a redundant final 10 minutes which seem shoehorned in purely because the plot itself had already concluded by the 35 minute mark. A few references to T.S Eliot are nicely done, but don’t compensate for the episode’s overall mediocrity.

42 is about as forgettable as conceivably possible- a rip off of Planet of Evil, albeit without any of the gradual build up and suspense of that tale, and none of the literary influence either (no allusions to The Tempest or Jekyll and Hyde here). I also find myself flustered by its pace- it’s so frantically edited and put together that I have little time whatsoever to become remotely invested in the story’s characters or the scenario at hand. And yes- although Harper’s direction is better here than it was in series 2, it’s still not a patch on Caves or Revelation, although Chinballs certainly isn’t a patch on either Holmes or Saward at their best.

I’ve already discussed Human Nature at length elsewhere, so won’t repeat myself here. It’s probably not as bad as I made out in my review a little while back (there are some clever bits of editing concerning the motif of gunfire) , but it’s lofty reputation is baffling for so many reasons, and its character assassination of the Doctor does not help its case either. It’s mostly well acted, mind, with little in the way of immature humour, which makes it appear richer than many other stories of the era on the surface, but it’s problems are more fundamental and rooted in the narrative.

Blink is pretty good, if tremendously overrated in that its appeal dwindles on repeat viewings (and I don’t think Gold’s score suits it at all). Still, it’s generally very well paced and acted, with a well realised and cleverly constructed narrative on the whole.

Utopia is likewise overrated, in that similar to 42, the editing is all over the place, and the tone is often inconsistent as well (not to mention how endlessly noisy it all is), but the Jacobi Master reveal is very good indeed, and I wish he’d stayed in the role as opposed to Simm. The Sound of Drums lacks any kind of tonal consistency (the scene where Vivian Rook is killed and screaming at particular comically timed intervals as the Master opens and closes the door repeatedly is an awful use of bathos), and Simm’s performance is even more camp and akin to a 1960s Batman villain than Ainley ever was, but it barely gets by. Last of the Time Turds is a fucking disaster of an episode, and the clearest indication up to this point of NuWho’s lack of appreciation of narrative logic, believability, active audience spectatorship, or respect for said audience. As I discuss on the ‘worst fandoms’ thread, the Doctor being restored into a God-like entity is a blatant definition of bad art, whilst the rest of the episode is equally suspect (how, in any realistic scenario, would Martha be able to spread the word of the Doctor across the world over a timespan of just one year and with limited transport or communication?). Just awful.

A largely poor season as far as I’m concerned, though not as bad as the previous two years. The shocking thing is that I would still place this season above every season from series 7 onwards, which just tells you how overwhelmingly poor so much of NuWho truly is.