Doctor Who: "Give thanks that Davies' Doctor Who finally regenerated."

[LINK] The Gallifreyan dust cleared by now on the final episode of the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who. And, after watching and digesting the final episodes of the David Tennant era, Davies couldn't move on fast enough for me. The two-part story, "The End of Time," was watched by 10 million in the UK -- flirting with a 50 ratings share. So, it's an undeniable success. It was also an undeniable mess of a story that proved unworthy of Tennant's swan song. Davies forever deserves credit for taking the street credit his successful work on series like Queer as Folk gave him and investing it in one shot from the BBC to bring back the network's crown jewel, Doctor Who. And he deserves credit for increasing the nerdy guy-friendly show's popularity with women by introducing "Buffy-ized" romance and humor. But, the hard truth is Davies isn't a gifted sci-fi genre writer. And it showed in "The End of Time." What irked me so much about Tennant's final adventure as The Doctor? Davies did everything during his tenure as executive producer to weaken one of TV's greatest heroes -- to corrupt him and make him less of a heroic figure. Maybe he wanted to humanize The Doctor. Or maybe Davies is cursed by too much cynicism to allow for heroes. But Davies really trashed The Doctor in these final tales. Why he would do that to a show he loved and wanted to bring back is beyond me. Yes, The Doctor fought back another alien invasion of Earth and bested The Master, but Davies sent The Doctor out crying like a petulant child. In what should've been Tennant's chance to finish up with nobility and heroism, he died whimpering under a layer of pretentious opera music. Suffice to say, I doubt very much the talented writer and new executive producer Steven Moffat will let the new Doctor (Matt Smith) go out with such a lack of fanfare.
Stephanie xx *I felt the same way until I thought it over. A time lord is not immortal. They've established that different regenerations have different personalities. I think Tennant's doctor loved life so much he would miss it. It didn't crystalize for me until the scene at the table with Wilf - it's still him, but he dies, and another man walks away with his life. And the irony that his current regeneration (and life) was about saving civilizations and time and that he died to save one "insignificant" man...yeah, you can expect maybe he'd have some...frustration or disappointment about that. Especially after Waters of Mars with the whole "Time Lord Victorious" thing - I think that that didn't have enough time to play itself out and was crammed in a little quickly, especially with Planet of the Dead not really touching on it at all. One of the things I enjoy about DW and RTD is that you don't get bogged down with the sci-fi technobabble that doesn't make any sense, and would just lower it into Voyager-level sci-fi. Don't forget, half of sci-fi is fiction...sometimes there's way too much science, and it can be way too easy to write yourself out of a corner with a magic wormhole or an alien machine that does whatever you want it to (*cough*immortalitygate*cough*). RTD wrote some awesome stuff - the first Master trilogy (the TARDIS as a paradox machine, etc.) and the Children of Time trilogy were complex and pretty great. I think you're really selling him short. I also think saying he did "everything" to "weaken" Tennant couldn't be farther from the truth - I mean after all, he created the Tennant Doctor himself. I've also read RTD say that the tenth Doctor would have been different if Tennant hadn't played him, so maybe some of the influence you're talking about is based on David Tennant. Again, I think you've really missed the mark here. And I think conversely, RTD managed to make all his companions pretty amazing - he managed to turn Donna Noble from a whiny (and to me, annoying) brat into the savior of the universe...and #10's best friend. RTD managed to handle each companion differently, with complexity, and really told a story - Rose's love, Martha's love for someone who didn't even notice her (perception filter :D) and Donna, the temp who saved the world. I will say though, I wasn't as thrilled with End of Time as I was the other series finales. It lacked an...epicness, I felt. It wasn't what I wanted...but then again, don't the best stories throw you a curve and make you think instead of just giving you what you want?