It didn't bother me, it would have been nice to have a full series, there wasn't one. That is how I look at it, simple really.

Planet of The Dead aside I enjoyed the remaining specials, I thought Water Of Mars was up their with the best of the best, with Tennant on flawless form, (as he had been all through series 4 imo) and the more I view it the more and more I enjoy The End Of Time two parter, part two especially.


Could we have done without the specials altogether and have had a re jigged Journeys End Tennant's last episode, probably yes, it may have worked better we'll never know.

If we had had a year off with NO Who at all until Matt Smiths arrival I really wouldn't have lost any sleep over it to be honest.

I'm pleased we had the specials, I don't want to spend a year without Who. I didn't mind Planet of the Dead (a bit of a romp). I loved the Waters of Mars, scary, philosophical with excellent performances (I also loved the multi-cultural Mars team).

I'm still not sure about the two final ones. I have only watched them once fully. I will have to watch them again to make up my mind. There are some really good bits in it, but the end could have been different (it might get better with repeated viewing).

Me thinks you are overreacting a bit there to what he's saying....

I'm sure it's just a case of pointing out how tough it was back then to get the show onto the screens, and anybody who knocks it (how the show was back then) should perhaps be a bit kinder considering the conditions...

No, it didn't work for me. It was built up during Season 4 as the Dr's 'goodbye' to all his companions, and then he hanged around for 18 months beyond that.

The next Dr= normal Xmas affair
Planet of the Dead=pointless
Waters of Mars= good, but could just as easily have been fitted into say Season 4

End of Time-flabby and self-indugant.

I think the show lost some momentum, and Tennents protracted goodbye spread over 18ths had damaged it.

Exactly. People too readily criticise the old series and throw around expressions like the one about stories being 'churned out' earlier, without appreciating how much harder things were then and how much effort went into getting those shows made. If they'd the resources, technology and money in the sixties that they have now, yes they'd probably have looked very different. But they didn't, and yet that stuff is still amazing if looked at in the proper context.

Thing is, I sometimes wonder whether it might have been a better idea to have had the year long break right after Martha's series, then return with Donna's series as David's last hoorah! I mean when you look at Journey's End it was the perfect way for him to say goodbye!

That's not to say, mind you, that I didn't enjoy the specials stories either. Coz I did.

Maybe my sacrasm was OTT But it was after a long day of reading some odd things.....However I stand by most of what I said....there has been no denial on this thread at least that the people working on the classic series didn,t work in horrid conditions....and just because the new producers are being shown some love (not enough maybe) doesn't mean that the new team are whimps...that is over-reacting....




But technically they were....and that doesn't mean that the people "churning" out those episodes were doing so because they didn't care or didn't have any dedication.....just like people who are made to work in sweat shops...not that they don't put all their effort into making it....but that the external conditions/time limits meant that they had to literally "churn" out the product...while now, the BBC is willing to giveit a year off...which I would be very suprised if any of those who worked on the classic series wouldn#t have taken as a blessing in disguise. Basically taking a year on on airing the episodes does not make them whimps.

In the end New Who suffers many of its own production problems that new production styles bring in, because the demands of the show is not the same as other TV shows that are made in todays age. Its well known that series 1 really struggled with production, because it over threw them that they couldn't make Doctor in the same time limits and ways as ordinary TV drama. The fact that it gets the same budget as Waking the Dead....when like Moff says that it needs the budget that went into making the film Avatar. It even has to occasionally "churn" out stories....due to difficulties that may have befallen the show....the episode 42 was litrally last minute....

And with a whole new team....most of again like RTD and Co may have been involved in other productions, working on a show like Doctor Who is different...and they did have teething problems in this series too....for example Moff said in an interview that he learned for next time in what way the budget could be used...which it seems was used unevenly...

Calling the new production team whimps is a lot worse than describing the "churning" out conditions, but not denying that they still did a great job.....

Surely as a fan....you should be greatful that one the BBC is showing it more care and attention than in the past...and the fact that for especailly, having a year off actually benefitted the show because it gave you the Doctor Who that you always wanted....

Have to agree.

While I did think Waters of Mars was good (though maybe not as good on a rewatch) I wasn't as impressed with the others and did find my enthusiasm for the show waning somewhat.

While I have enjoyed Series 5 I don't think my love of the show has quite regained the level it was before the Specials.

The opening of Planet of the Deadd was a rip off from Mission Impossible and I haven't wanted to watch any of the specials, including the two Christmas ones, except WoM (once) again. Series 1-4, I've watched over and over again, but it took Matt Smith's arrival to rekindle my interest. As has been said, we said goodbye to all the Doctor's friends at the end of series 4 so this could also have been his finale. As has also been said, the Doctor needs at least one companion. I really didn't like the Doctor Victorious. It would have been better for DT and RTD to go out on a high.

I was all for anything that allowed Tennent to do the work he wanted and still do Doctor Who but in the end I think they failed.

Not sure whether that was to do with the quality of the stories or the format they were delivered. Whatever the cause they didn't work for me. Which is a shame. I would have preferred DT to leave on a high.

I'm not. The actor should never be more important than the show-if he wanted to do other stuff, he should have simply left. But I don't believe that was the reason for the gap year anyway, more a consequence of it.

These actors aren't on permanent salary so they need to find work in the off season. The alternative to being flexible round your lead actors is to get new ones every season or to pay them a lot more.

Not sure either is a good idea.

If 2009 was a full series not a run of specials Tennant would have left at the end of the 2008 series!

He's admitted he only wanted to do 3 series and wanted to leave when RTD left. - The specials where a bonus.

Yep....they had planned to leave at series 4 as early as January 2006.....RTD was asked to stay on another series, but he didn't want to...and but agreed that he would do specails. And David would have left, but got tempted to stay for the specials.....as he was tempted by Series 5.....but this time stuck to his guns and left.

But some of us are saying that the specials were unsuccessful and that it would have been better for both him and RTD to have left at the end of series 4. RTD's put his major effort into CoD.

Darthbibble doesn't mean "bonus" in terms of a "reward"....but extra episodes he was asked to do because he basically refused to do a series....nothing to do with whether we personally found the specials a success or not....(which objectivily speaking were a success in terms of ratings and AIs, and the interst in the show didn't wane publically speaking, and certainly hasn't harmed the interest in series 5 either....)

David Tennant is a property millionaire in his own right. He didn't need to find work outside of his stint on 'Who'. It was more likely that he had a desire to try other things. Also the gap year was (in my opinion) more to do with RTD handing the reigns over to Ste Moffat - who tried in vein to retain David Tennant. Happily Matt Smith looks a better fit for the role if you are au fait with the classic series anyway

Or alternatively just get them to sign a three year contract...

I was looking forward to have Doctor Who on last year but I found all the Specials a bit of a letdown. I think if I was to be honest, every Special since Voyage Of The Damned had been weak. That story was just a poor remake of The Robots Of Death whilst The Next Doctor was interesting until we found out the truth about Jackson Lake then it went downhill.

So by the time we got to Planet Of The Dead, my hopes weren't really that high. It was probably the one of the four that I liked the best, but it was slow at times. The only good part of it was when the Doctor was warned about the four knocks at the end.

Waters Of Mars was my least favourite and I hated that side of The Tenth's Doctor's Character as opposed to his usual self.

The End Of Time, dragged out to two episodes, was very slow at times and sagged enormously in places. Enjoyed the regeneration scene itself though.

In hindsight I really think Tennant should have gone at the end of Series 4 and maybe we should have had a new series/specials with a new Doctor. If they'd been specials they may have been better as we wouldn't have had the a looming regeneration at the end of them overcasting them all. If it had been a full series with a New Doctor, that would have been a bonus.

Not only that, Journey's End would have been a nice point to have ended the Tenth Doctor's Era. All the companions were sorted in one way or another, a regeneration would have fitted in nicely to the end of the series, this time for real.

So no, the year out didn't really work for me but it could have done in the circumstances I have mentioned above.

Are you my long lost son? Well, Grandson, probably. I could have posted the above.

I actually haven't much liked any of the specials, the Christmas ones or the 2009 ones. I thought I was alone in not liking Waters of Mars, which to me seemed to have too rushed an ending, and didn't make much sense.

The 2009 specials were the only time when I wasn't convinced by Tennant's Doctor. I felt he was just going through the motions a bit, but perhaps that was just me.

I did like The End of Time, though, in spite of its faults. I thought DT was excellent in that and I loved the regeneration scene, but then I'm a sucker for all that weepy stuff

i liked the break - i think it was good to rest the show for a while and the specials did feel like 'event' tv. i am well in my stride in loving the new doctor and all i can say is gasp david? david who? love you matt smith. x

No, I don't think I am, my surname isn't McSmith, saying that it isn't Granny either.....

Well It's nice that someone agrees with me! I did like The End Of Time as well, but as i said, drawn out over two episodes, sure it could have been condensed into one 90 minute special, then maybe we wouldn't have had such a long drawn out scene at the end and arrived at the Regeneration a lot quicker than we did. Saying that, I dare say the Xmas day Schedules would have allowed that, but it still would have been nice anyway!

I don't know what it is about the Specials though, including the Xmas Ones. I was going to start a thread on them, but felt it was quite relevant to this thread so didn't bother.

I've only ever properly enjoyed The Xmas Invasion and to a degree The Runaway Bride, ruined mostly by Catherine Tate shouting too much(thankfully she calmed down slightly come Season 4).
I just wonder sometimes if the writers try too hard when they write these Specials, it must be a lot of pressure to try and come up with an episode that by the very definition that is a Special that they have to do just that-make it Special. Ultimately, though, they just never seem to work.

I thought also that maybe it was because the Specials aren't part of a theme that covers every Series, like Bad Wolf and The Crack In Time, but there are plenty of stories unrelated to the central theme in each Series(except Series 5 which had very few) and they are unaffected.

As for last year's Specials, the pressure must have really been cranked up with Tennnant leaving. Maybe with Moffat in charge and it being Matt Smith's first Xmas Special this year, we will finally get a good Special. let's hope so!

I didn't think he did mean 'reward'. A bonus is usually an extra (sometimes money) but the specials were an extra I could have skipped.

Fair neough....but in the end Darth's point had nothing to do with whether he felt they should have happend or not....he was just saying what happend....in regards to someone else talking about how Tennant doing other things and the spcails being made were connected. Basically the specials weren't made for the purpose to say goodbye to Tennant....the specials would have happend no matter what...even if Tennant had left in 2008, or stayed for series 5. RTD would have written them also no matter what because he was asked for those in return of not doing series 5.

So basically whether you could have done without them or not, doesn't matter in the long run....they were going to happen....and could have been a number of different stories....RTD had other story ideas too...and he just went for these that we got, especailly as Tennant got tempted to stay that bit longer.

I agree with you (again) I liked the Christmas Invasion, though I didn't see it until after I'd watched series 2, but disliked The Runaway Bride - because of CT's loudness - on first viewing. Later, when in spite of my initial misgivings CT became my favourite companion of New Who, I revised my opinion and decided it was OK.

But that illustrates your point about the specials being part of a story arc - I liked it more after I came to see it as part of the story of Donna and the development of her character. In the stand alone specials you don't get that involvement.

I also agree that the writers may try too hard with the specials to make them more special and it can be counter productive, because they cram too much in and it becomes OTT? They get "special stars" like Kylie and she isn't that great (imo).

Apparently for 2009 it was specials or nothing and I vastly preferred the specials to nothing, but I wondered then and I wonder now if a mini-series wouldn't have been better? Say 6 episodes with the regen at the end and Matt taking over at Christmas?

Anyway, it didn't happen, so speculation is fruitless.