Doctor Who update

We have started the third season. The second season had its ups and downs. There are many opinions about David Tennant vs. Christopher Eccleston - certainly one can find people at every point on the spectrum between the two of them. In general David seems to be considered more of a cutie - younger, sexier, more accessible. He was actually a fan of the series as a child, and as a registered fanboy he is undeniably enthusiastic about the role. It seemed like Chris, in interviews, was very careful to say the right thing... however he was not in love with the role like David is.

There's David - he's pretty cute. As the Doctor they've given him this great, kinda punk hairstyle.

To my eye the relationship between the Tenth Doctor and Rose felt forced in the earlier and even midseason episodes. It felt like they were working too hard at the gaiety, although the fact that David and Billie seemed to become great pals in real life probably helped; by the later episodes their closeness felt so true and their devotion to each other unquestionable.

Honestly, I think a big part of the success of the third season is the emotional subtext - the fact that the Doctor is in a lot of pain and doing his best to hide it.

From Television Without Pity recaps:
"Season 1 of Doctor Who is the Hero's Quest -- a retelling of that human tendency to reach for experience of the divine, and the human tendency to reach it. Season 2 of Doctor Who is the same story told fourteen ways: the human tendency to fuck it up and forget what we're here for, and the human requirement to fall away from God and enter the real world again. And Season 3 of Doctor Who is a lot of things, but what makes it stand apart is the lack of Rose, and its resistance to substituting Martha for her. Season 1 was Rose's story; Season 2 was the story of all Companions, which is to say all people who have seen or wished for miracles, which is to say, all people. But Season 3 is a story about Doctor himself, and that is I think key to the season as a whole: just because the Companion was designed to be our entry point doesn't mean the Whoniverse is restricted to that lens."

One of the threads that I've noticed in this season is the Doctor's very tangible pain every time he might lose someone - companion or acquaintance. Even though he can't fully commit to Martha he is desperate not to lose her.

Also watching the first season of Torchwood, or "the sturdy Welsh girl show" as Ross would say. Torchwood is a Doctor Who spinoff set in Cardiff - very X-Files-ish. So far I haven't been blown away by the plotting, but the characters are all intriguing and I want to keep watching them develop.