Which WHO season should you buy?

My friend from work just asked me that question. And it's a question that is very difficult for me to answer. I did, in the end, write her a long and wordy response, which I shall reproduce here. (With the addition of a few pictures and formatting changes.) I provide it for the benefit of those who are not yet indoctrinated by the WHO-vyness.

And also because I can. It's my blog. And it seems like something that really, really should be part of my blog.

Her exact question: "If I got the doctor who seasons, which ones would I want?"


The short (and most real) answer is: "All of them. You would want all of them."

BUT

Assuming that most people are NOT as completely, totally, and utterly dorky as I am, (which is a very safe assumption,) and they just want to buy one or two of the best, then here follows the information you need to make that choice. (These are the new seasons, but the old ones are good too. In other ways.)

**NOTE: At the writing of this post, only 3 episodes of season 7 have been aired, which is not enough information to make a judgement call, even if they had all three been mind blowing. Which they weren't.

So, the answer to this question really depends on what you want out of your viewing experience. Each season is great for different reasons.

1 & 2 

1 & 2 are special to me because I started at the beginning and went through chronologically. I adore Rose partly because she's cool, but partly just because she was my first doctor companion. There is also much emotional stress at the end of 2. So much.

WAAH!

But without that emotional connection, the actual episodes are good, but not amazing. (With a few really great exceptions strewn in.) So you could get 1 and 2 if you want the chronological completeness factor.

And also, 1 is the only season with the 9th doctor. Poor Chris gets forgotten a lot. He deserves a little more credit than he's usually given. Especially for pulling off a pretty great doctor on such a low budget and rather experimental basis. (At that point, no one really knew if a modern Doctor Who would be popular enough for anyone to care about it.) And you gotta love the leather jacket.






3 








I think 3 has the most good stand alone episodes. Blink, and the 2-part Family of Blood episodes come to mind. (The family one is SO SAD. AHHH!) By the time you get to 5 and 6, most of the episodes depend a lot on knowing things that happened earlier in the season, but 3 doesn't so much. They're just fun little one at a time deals, for the most part.

The Master comes back into things during the last few season 3's, (which are the only ones, really, that play off of the bigger story.)







If it makes any difference at all, Martha is definitely one of the most physically attractive of the companions. But some people really love Martha, and some hate her. Depends. I like her, but Donna is becoming my favorite.

Also, captain Jack. 

4







Speaking of Donna, season 4 is awesome. Doctordonna. Arguably the best combination ever made. But yeah, season 4. David Tennant (aka doctor #10) absolutely at his best. He is a fantastic actor, and he and Catherine Tate (Donna) have spectacular chemistry. She is hilarious always.


There are some super emotionally intense episodes, and the "End of Time" specials (Which, if you get 4, make sure you get those too.) are CRAZY. The doc gets into some really dark places, and David Tennant pulls it off beautifully. It also has one of the best soundtracks. If you get 4, I'd say the thing you get out of it is the best doctor in his lowest and highest moments.

(Most people like Matt Smith (aka 11) best, and he is good.Very good. But David has something extra that Matt lacks. He is and always will be my one true favorite.)

5 & 6

5 & 6 kind of go together. The have the same doc (Matt 11), the same companions, (Amy, Rory, and River), and a few running story lines through the whole thing.

Even though I love David the mostest, there are some really good pros to going with 5 and 6. One being, like I said, a vast majority of the world likes Matt Smith as their favorite doctor. My personal opinion on this is that he's their fav mostly because the episodes that he is in are some of the best. Not that he isn't good. He is. It's just that better funding, better writing, and a bow tie do tend to affect things.

Two, which goes along with that, is that by the time we get to 5 & 6, the WHO fandom has re-established itself, so the funding and the good writers really are both more prevalent. 5 & 6 have some of the most well written, most intense, most amazing and visually well done episodes. Seriously crazy stuff that totally blows your mind. Totally. Blows. Your. Mind.


And anyway, River Song is one of my most favoritest who characters ever. I want to be her. In fact, I will be, for halloween. Amy is awesome too. And Rory. They're just all great.




So anyway, if I personally were to choose only one season to buy, the answer would be that I'd probably die and be sad forever that I could only pick one. But if I did have to pick only one, I might go with season 4, just because of David, and Donna, and greatness, and so many, many things.


BUT, if I were to pick a season for someone else to buy who wasn't as nerdily and devotedly attached to David as I am, and also if I were keeping in mind the idea of "which things are most likely to get them to go back and watch the others and be obsessed with it all with me?" I'd go with 5. Or 6. Or 5. Or 6. Or both. It's hard to pick. There are crazy things in both. But one of those two. Probably 5, just because there are occasional things in 6 that make more sense if you know 5.

That was a very long answer to a not so long question. But something you should know about me is that I don't like making decisions. And typing vast paragraphs of explanation helps me to feel better about making arbitrary decisions for people. So that if you don't like my choice, in the end, you'll at least know why I made it. And also, if you want something different from your viewing experience, you have the necessary information to make your own, separate choice.

Oh, and by the way...

DON'T BLINK

UPDATE: I've figured it out. I've figured IT OUT. At last. The reason that David is a better doctor than Matt, despite the fact that Matt is so great.

One of the opening lines in season 7, episode 3. "It was about a man who lived forever, but his eyes were heavy with the weight of all he'd seen."

David pulls that off. David does Goofy McGooferton, but he also brilliantly manages the weight of the world.  It's genius.









 Matt is amazingly goofy. Funny. Hilarious. But when it comes to the serious parts, he's a bit lacking. Don't get me wrong. He's not bad... but not weighed down by 1200 years of tragedy and despair. Not like David.