Mmm! Gridlock! Forgot - that’s my favorite.
Okay, Gridlock. Isn’t that the one with cat-people in cars or something?
I recall it as being one of the worst things I’d ever seen!
Yep, that’s it. Gridlock is interesting because it starts out a silly satire, gets more and more bizarre as it goes along, and then turns a corner and becomes one of the saddest, most profound episodes in the series.
Hm… maybe I didn’t finish it then.
And it’s got a happy ending! Well, sort of kind of. At least a renewal of sorts.
And I loved the brief interactions the Doctor had with the different people in the cars.
Blink, for the obvious reasons.
Gridlock should have been terrible but I ended up enjoying it immensely - the different cultural microcosms in each car, the hymns, the “sky” opening and the ending really made it for me.
Turn Left, not only for the Cribbins/Colasanto exchange but for the whole idea of what would have happened in the Doctor’s absence.
I realize that two of those are Doctor-light episodes but damn, they’re good.
And while big chunks of Midnight are fantastic (the simul-talking bit in particular), I thought it didn’t hold together and there were some clumsy moments that ruined it for me.
Seconding this list. Also disagreeing with all of the love for “Midnight” - one of the most annoying episodes ever!
Turn Left is fantastic, but I don’t think it would have the impact for a newb.
“what would happen if the Doctor wasn’t” isn’t a good premise for somebody who doesn’t know what happens when the Doctor IS.
The Girl In The Fireplace
Blink
Midnight
I’d say “Turn Left”, but it doesn’t really feature Tennant/The Doctor very much (even less than “Blink”), and is fairly heavy on continuity.
Yay! Converts!
Interesting fact about the Family of Blood episodes - the story wasn’t originally written for David Tennant’s Doctor, but for Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor. Human Nature is a book by Paul Cornell, featuring the 7th Doctor disguising himself as a human professor, wiping his memory, and falling in love with the school nurse while while his companion (Bernice Summerfield) has to save him from invading aliens. When Cornell started working as a writer for the new series, he adapted it for the 10th Doctor.
I just learned about this the other day, and thought it was interesting.
I just ordered the box set of every David Tennant episode!
Yippie!
Another fun fact. I was surprised when I went back and watched it again that Viserys Targaryen played Son of Mine.
Girl in the Fireplace
Blink
School Reunion