My favourite New Who moments

So, here's be my list of my favourite moments of the RTD era of Doctor Who. Please add to them/agree/disagree.

9 into 10
I loved the Ninth Doctor, I really did. And was quite sad to see him go. So much, in fact, that I hated David Tennant already even after him only having about 20 seconds of screen time. “Barcelona.” Shove off, new guy. But when I watch it now, it makes me smile a huge smile. And as a big emotional, but understated (as much as a regeneration can be anyway), moment you can’t do much better than this.



Ten makes his first ‘real’ appearance.
After being bedridden for most of his first full episode (The Christmas Invasion) Ten walks out of the TARDIS, just in time to save the day. It’s cheesy but it works. And that’s the moment when most of us knew Ten was going to be alright. The Lion King bit helped too though.



The end of The Girl in the Fireplace
Pretty much all of this episode is concerned with why these clockwork droid things are obsessed with Madame de Pompadour. And it’s only at the very end that the viewer is shown why. The ship itself is called the SS Madame de Pompadour. I still don’t fully understand it (I’d need to watch the episode again) but I always remember thinking that was a really beautiful moment.



The beach scene in Doomsday
This episode was never really about the Daleks versus Cybermen. This is what it was really all about. Everything from Rose nearly being sucked into the Void to Ten not getting to finish his sentence before disappearing is terrific viewing. It’s television designed to make you cry. And it does. NOTE: this isn't the actual real clip. It's a fan edited one omitting Donna at the end, but you get the jist.



Opening the roof in Gridlock
An episode that doesn’t get a huge amount of love (possibly due to Father Dougal being made up to look like a cat) but it does have another great moment. All of the released cars ascending through the roof and singing a hymn of thanks, ostensibly to the Doctor. It’s sounds really corny but in the context of the episode it’s a really powerful and moving scene.



The fake out in The Family of Blood
A terrific two parter this, filled with plenty of scary moments (the scarecrows) as well as emotional ones (The Doctor/John Smith after some DNA jiggery pokery, seeing visions of his future with Joan). But my favourite moment is when the Doctor, supposedly still as John Smith, going to The Family’s ship and pretending to be a bumbling fool. When he reveals himself as actually being The Doctor you can’t help but smile, and think “You guys are so screwed.” I also love the Doctor’s rage denouement, trapping each family member for an eternity.



The conversation with the DVD in Blink.
A slice of pure wibbly wobbly timey wimey genius. And it’s great because people that understand it just get it first time, and we can hold that knowledge over those that can’t wrap their heads round it. See also; Back to the Future 2. “The angels have the phone box. I’ve got that on a t-shirt.”



Working out what the Face of Boe’s message meant.
Brilliant, wasn’t it?



Martha saving the world in The Last of the Time Lords
Martha really got the short shrift in the world of Doctor Who I feel. She was basically the rebound companion for most of the series, in both the eyes of a lot of viewers as well as the Doctor. However, she did get her greatest moment in her last episode as a regular companion. After scouring the world for a year during the Master’s reign she tells everyone the plan that will help the Doctor become his normal self again (hard to explain that without using the word ‘regenerate’). It’s a brilliant moment, and a favourite of mine, as it’s not something blowing up something that fixes the problem but prayer (of a sort), and I really dug that.



Doctor and Donna meeting again in Partners in Crime
It’s funny; plain and simple. After having just missed each other at various points in the episode when they see each other it’s comedy gold. And it sold me on Donna (who I hadn’t been sure of before this) right there and then.



Oh, and the mime goes something like this: I came here, trouble, read about it, internet, I thought, trouble = you! And this place is weird! Pills! So I hid. Back there. Crept along. Looked. You. Cos they...And then they get caught out.

The switch in Midnight
An episode which is a master class in racking up the tension. And the moment it reaches its peak? After the entity possessing Sky has copied everyone in the shuttle, then spoke at the same time as them, then just the Doctor, and then when the switch comes it’s an incredible moment and sends shivers down my spine.



The fake regeneration:
The biggest shock new Who has ever pulled. No-one, and I mean no-one, expected it. And the massive TO BE CONTINUED made it the most infuriating moment on this list. We had to wait a week to see what would happen. A whole bloody week. The collective sigh of relief the following week was when Ten didn’t regenerate into Robert Carlisle, Jimmy Nesbitt or Richard E Grant.



He will knock 4 times
Actually, maybe this was the biggest shock of new Who. Poor old Wilf. Lovely Wilf. Poor old lovely Wilf. The person who caused Ten’s demise, (and not the Master like we all thought) and he does it through helping someone else. Gut wrenching, as Ten thought he had escaped the prophecy, only for Wilf to tap-tap-tap-tap on the glass. But of course the Doctor had to save him. That’s who he is; the person who would give his life to save one of us ‘ordinary’ people. Beautifully acted and one of the saddest moments in new Who.



“I don’t want to go”Not ashamed to admit this…I was so incredibly close to tears watching this. Ten, alone, in the TARDIS, scared witless and not really ready to regenerate. The visits to previous companions just before this really ramped up the emotion, as well as the fact that the line had a double meaning as we had all known for a while that David Tenant was leaving and that the line probably was half Doctor, half Tennant. As the end of Ten’s life as well as the RTD era, I think it was pretty much perfection.