Completely - the first episodes needed to introduce the Doctor from scratch, and better that, they made him behave much more distinctly different from previous Doctors, so even the long-time viewers had to re-question their assumptions about him.

I think this is my major problem with new-era. RTD strived to make it modern (much to the annoyance of the old dyed-in-the-wool fans) and Moff is taking the opposite approach and just playing to the gallery.

I wasn't really talking about being 'modern' - that would be a given no matter what way they did it. Production-wise they have to create it to the level that people are used to in genre shows.

I mean the way they forced Rose to be the viewpoint, with this strange other man dropping in, and have the Doctor not just act 'quirky', but downright aggressive and scary. We know now that he's a pussycat, but it was quite unsettling to begin with.

Not too different from An Unearthly Child, where the 'normal' Ian and Barbara started out as the focus. First they discuss this strange girl, then they meet her rather unsettling grandfather and his impossible police box, and so on...

Excellent point. The Doctor was prickly and unpleasant in both cases.

In what ways do you think the show is now more like the 60s/70s version than it was under RTD? Because I watched the show in the 70s and I just don't see it.

I know you didn't ask me but... Moffat has dropped the soap opera that comes with the companions family, he's given us multiple companions, the Doctor spends less time on contemporary Earth again.

In terms of story style the series is its darkest since the first few Tom Baker years. I think the same is true of scares too. Starting from the 80s DW became less about scares and more about being flashy sci-fi.

Quirkier Doctor who gets excited about silly things like food and sweets, doesn't try to hump his assistants, is slightly distracted in a "mad scientist" way and doesn't have all of the answers in advance of the problem.

Oddly, despite being so young, Matt Smith's Doctor is also "older" than either Eccles or DT's - they played the Doctor as being their own age - if you didn't already know the Doctor's back-story, you'd be hard-pushed to guess that they were supposed to have 900 year's worth of experience.

That's not a criticism - I loved Eccles take on the war-weary Doctor and DT's flirty Doc was fun but Moffat's dropped a lot of the baggage about the Time War and much of the quasi-religious frippery in favour of making the stories more important than the man.

The "lonely warrior" persona who couldn't get over Rose was interesting but it didn't fit with previous versions - the Doctor has always shaken himself down and moved on and he's never been that self-absorbed. As a new take on the character it was laudable and I'm glad RTD gave us that Doctor but all the previous incarnations were more mercurial in nature - assistant leaves - get another - assistant dies headbutting a planet - get another.

Matt/Moffat's Doctor could have followed straight on from Pertwee or Tom Baker and nobody would have batted an eylid - if they'd tried that with DT's Doctor, they'd have had a real struggle to get people to accept him.

Thanks for the answers, both of you. I'd been thinking more in terms of the rather complex ongoing story, which of course we didn't have in the 70s, other than the much simpler Key to Time series.

RTD did at times have multi-companions (Mickey, Jack and even Adam).

I full imagine the upcoming episode will have some of that baggage, and I for one am looking forward to it!

Me, too!

I also like the flirtiness which seems to have made a comeback this series. The 11th Doctor seems to have learned how to do it now.

And yet is completely uncomfortable with kissing. (Loved those wavy arms at the end of Day of the Moon!)

Presumeably he'll get better at it as he gets more practice (with River).