I love Tennant like I love jacuzzis and chocolate and rainbows (ie A LOT!), but Eccleston's departure leaves me a snotty, dribbling, bawling wreck every time I've seen it... Every. Damn. Time.

As others have said, Ten's was indulgent and drawn out. Had it just been a case of stagger in to the TARDIS, start glowing, quick flashback of all his companions looking happy and then "I don't want to go", I'd have been an utter mess because Wilf's knocks pretty much destroyed me! (I got caught up in it, okay!!). It lost momentum with the Tenth Doctors Greatest Hits Companion Montage .

Eccleston took it like a man...

Tennant simpered like a boy...


But the whole idea of the Eccleston regen was that we weren't supposed to know about it. It was meant to be a surprise before his departure got mucked up by the BBC press department.

So...imagine not knowing that CE was leaving and watch that scene again...mindblowing, ain't it?

I think Tennant had the better farewell scene but I agree Ecclestone's was more traditional, tagged on at the end of the story. Though I could sort of see what RTD was trying to do with this regeneration, I didn't buy the whole Doctor getting upset at the end of his life purely because he'd never done so before. He just regenerated and then he got on with it, which was why in some ways Ecclestone's was better...but not for the final scene, loved Tennant's last scene as it had more impact as he'd been in the role longer.

I think some folk are pretty harsh about the Tennant regeneration. It was, like the ending of "The Return of the King", not just an ending to that chapter, but an ending to the entire 2005-2010 run. Sure, if the whole team had stuck with the show, if the companion was hanging on, if even the TARDIS were staying the same, we wouldn't have needed that last half hour of the show. But for me, "The End of Time Part Two" was all about saying goodbye to 5 years worth of stories, characters and adventures, sure in the knowledge we would never see a single one of them (SJA and pesky Eleven crossover aside!) again this side of a 50th anniversary reunion.

I'd be surprised if we don't see Capt. Jack return before then. Note: surprised, not heartbroken! He's rather like the Brigadier, I think. No reason not to bring him back once every couple of years or so.

Personally, 9.

PoTW has always been such an epic episode in my mind, he laughed, he joked, he had his quick appreciation moment for Rose (and himself for being so Fantastic) and got on with it. Plus I was in a bubble that time so I had no idea my first Doctor was leaving so soon ;(

10's... was glad by the time he regenerated because we weren't hearing the last of it. I still think the "I don't wanna go" line was written for the fans and not for the character, however. As David Tennant said himself, if The Doctor gets emotional, it just detracts from the moment. (Now DT fans can't slag me off for it).

For me 9, yes okay i preferred Ecclestone anyway, but it was so well played, he put a brave face on it, tried to make Rose smile knew his time was up and got on with again, i think when Dr Who is underplayed it can be so much more efefctive than the 'epic' and 'shouty' bits.

10, no question.

9's was over before you even had time to appreciate what was happening, and as a lot of people have said, doesn't really make sense why the vortex killed him when Rose didn't have much of a problem having it in her head for longer...

10's was a great farewell. Brought the house down.
Literally.

I like them both, but DT's for me as it was a story arc come full circle.

New Doctor shows up (CE) alone, meets companion, eventuality has a 'family around him, (DT) looses family in parallel world, finds a new companion treats her pretty badly, causes her family great hardship, she leaves. He then finds a new companion has great fun travelling with her but ultimalty has to wipe her mind.

Everyone one he has travelled with he has lost.

Doctor regenerates alone.

Can anybody answer a serious question? What is the current interest in comparatives? Rather than appreciate and enjoy aspects of DW for their own sake, people seem to want to know who (pardon the pun) is better than...what is better than...

...most of the time it seems like saying do you prefer tomatoes or coal? So why the apparent obsession?

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you've found somewhere new to live since.

Me too! and
Oh yes!

I think the 9th Doctor's departure was much the better, and partly because he had someone to talk to before he went. 10 was alone so no-one to flirt with, protect, rage at, etc. 10's regeneration was way too drawn out and had lost any impact by the time i actually ahppened. The best aspect of the whole sequence was the music!

Absolutely! I think the music was what won the argument for me to be honest. It was even more powerful than that used for Rose's departure in Season 2. It was absolutely the best music they could have used(not that I know any other! ) and the way it was executed was amazing, especially when it went quiet for a few seconds to allow Tennant to say his final words and the glow came up behind him accompanied by THAT music! Super stuff!

I really enjoyed David Tennant as the Doctor and was a fan of much of the RTD era as a whole, but I really didn't enjoy his end.
Christopher Eccleston went out in a blaze of glory but David Tennant's exit was much too drawn out and in my opinion that resulted in a loss of any real emotion. I liked seeing the ex-companions, but as part of a regeneration episode, I felt they got in the way and were distracting.
It did feel very much like a farewell from the whole Who team, rather than a regeneration of the Doctor - slightly self-indulgent in feel given that Doctor is and should be bigger than any incarnation or production team.

Ecclestones. It didn't take up half of the episode.

For me the better final eipsode was DT's as it felt much more epic.

But the best final scene must be CE's the words "your brilliant and do you know what... so was I" were just brilliant final words.

I think you mean...

"you were fantastic... absolutely fantastic! And you know what? So was I!"

That got me the first time. It just all took me so by surprise

i actually think it's the best dialog that RTD wrote in his tenure, really lovely stuff that was.

It's sad but uplifting. I think perhaps that is the contrast between Nine and Ten's exits actually...both sad but one ended on a positive note and the other a rather depressing one.

I think that very true. CE's was kind of a nod to what a brilliant series it had been and excitement about the future - with the 'I might have no head, imagine me with no head! And don't say that's an improvement' moment - bittersweet but brilliant.

I think DT's was always bound to be an anti-climax, I know there wasn't a lot that could be done about it but knowing well over a year before he was going at the end of the specials meant any suspense was wrung out for me.

Yes and all those self-satisfied farewells to people we didnt want to see made it very sickly indeed.

It was vomit-inducing by the time Piper was featured.

RTD kitchen-sink approach. Just surprised there were no sink plungers saying farewell too.

Are you still evacuating bile for no purpose? May I ask what you believe you are achieving?

Nines overall.

Tens was too dragged out.

Exactly right.

I would preferred 10 more minutes of high quality drama facing off the Timelords and sorting out the Master to those 10 excruciating overly sentimental scenes.

That the story was sacrificed to shoehorn that stuff in was no great surprise however.