Doctor Who Season 2 (2006)

Doctor Who Season 2 is the first season in which David Tennant, who took over from his predecessor Christopher Eccleston, fully inhabits the role of the Tenth Doctor. The entire season traces the journey from the confusion immediately following his regeneration to the completion of his own Doctor. My rating is ★4.0. The imaginative power of the sci-fi drama, the chemistry between the actors, and the emotional weight of the final two episodes are the basis for that score.

What it’s about — the Tenth Doctor and Rose’s journey through time and space

Doctor Who is a long-running British BBC sci-fi drama. It follows a Time Lord known as the Doctor, who travels through time and space in a time machine called the TARDIS and goes on adventures — a franchise that began in 1963 and continues to this day. Season 2 began airing in April 2006 and consists of 13 episodes. Written by Russell T Davies, with David Tennant as the Doctor and Billie Piper as companion Rose Tyler.

Direction — the Dalek and Cybermen finale

The strength of Season 2 is its balance between episodes. Light, humorous episodes and heavier ones are well distributed, keeping viewing fatigue low. The mid-season two-parter dealing with the return of the Cybermen shows blockbuster-level direction of a large-scale threat, and the finale — in which the Daleks and Cybermen appear simultaneously — is among the most ambitiously designed final episodes in the series’ history. Russell T Davies maintains throughout the season a consistent approach of weaving sci-fi concepts together with deeply human emotion.

Performance & characters — Tennant completing his own Doctor

David Tennant completes his own Doctor character in this season. The Tenth Doctor — light-hearted and full of humour, yet capable of sudden deep sadness and rage — remains to this day the Doctor fans love most. Billie Piper portrayed Rose as a figure who brings the Doctor out into the world, and she makes the role thoroughly compelling. The farewell scene the two face at the end of the season produces an emotional crescendo rarely seen in a sci-fi drama.

What the work says — immortality that must lose its companions

The core theme of Doctor Who is consistently loss. The structure in which a near-immortal being must repeatedly lose his companions is what sets this series apart from a simple sci-fi adventure. Season 2 addresses that theme most directly through the relationship with Rose. The approach of building up how important the Doctor and Rose are to one another across the entire season, then severing that relationship in the finale, is emotionally very effective.

Ratings & reception

TMDB score for the Doctor Who series overall: 7.6. IMDb score: 6.0. Among individual Season 2 episodes, the finale Part 2 — “Doomsday” — is remembered by fans as one of the episodes in the series’ history that has caused the most tears. It is widely considered the season that established a solid fandom across North America and Europe for a British drama.

Weaknesses

Several of the 13 episodes amount to little more than standalone adventures. The “Fear Her” episode is frequently singled out as the weakest link in the overall season. There is also criticism that the ambitious setup of a combined Dalek-Cybermen threat is not fully realised in the finale. Additionally, the Doctor’s abilities and limitations are inconsistently defined from episode to episode.

Verdict

Doctor Who Season 2 is the season that opens the David Tennant era. Tennant’s performance and the emotional completeness of the final two-parter are memorable by the standards of the series’ entire history. My rating is ★4.0. If you enjoy British drama or the sci-fi genre, there is no better entry point to Doctor Who than this season.

More on Season 2

One of Season 2’s often-overlooked strengths is the self-contained quality of its individual episodes. Most standalone episodes resolve their own plots, meaning the series rewards episodic watching. “School Reunion” is a tribute to fans of the classic series and a fresh illumination of the Doctor’s loneliness through an older character. Even without being a long-time fan, the reunion between the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith is moving. “The Girl in the Fireplace” is considered the season’s outstanding standalone episode. Set in 18th-century France, it uses time-jumping and the Doctor’s solitude to demonstrate the possibilities of this series as no earlier episode had — a perfect fusion of sci-fi and period drama. Doctor Who continues regardless of which actor plays the lead, which makes it unlike any other drama. Season 2 is the season that best demonstrates the emotional potential of that distinctive format.

Recommended for

• Those looking for their first introduction to British drama
• Those who enjoy light, humorous sci-fi involving time travel
• Fans of David Tennant, or those who want to see his acting for the first time