The new season (or if you speak British, the new series) has begun of the long lasting Doctor Who. The first half of this season marks what I hope will be the beginning of the end of the second phase of the contemporary series. The first phase was the Russell T. Davies era and the second was the Steven Moffat era. There are thematic and stylistic differences between the two that extend beyond just a different Doctor and companions. Which of the two is better is as much a battle as Kirk vs. Picard, so I'll try to stay objective. Each one has different things to offer.
Davies' Ninth and Tenth
The re-introduction of Doctor Who into modern culture began under Davies. The series was cut from more traditional sci-fi elements. Problems and solutions relied on techno-babble in order to work and the Doctor, having just lost his entire race, had the attitude of casually traveling through the universe. Davies approached his audience with a very even approach. The science may be incomprehensible, but the story and the drama are very real and down to Earth. He also created a strong narrative within each series with an episodic buildup and payoff.
Series 1 was the testing of the waters. All the episodes focused on time travel rather than space. In fact, for the entire season, the TARDIS never left the Solar System except for an off screen field trip to Raxacoricofallapatorius. Most of the buildup was around the mysterious Doctor as we learned his race and the last survivor of a great Time War. The Daleks and Station 5 were also introduced for use in the season finale, along with the recurring "Bad Wolf" phrase. Series 2 introduced Torchwood, the Cybermen, and alternate realities, all of which came into play in the finale with a surprise bonus of the Daleks. Series 3 foreshadowed Harold Saxon, and a 2nd surviving Timelord to set up the Doctor's three part showdown with the Master. Series 4 was probably the weakest, with hints of Rose's return, the missing planets, and the fate of Donna Noble, all culminating into an epic crossover from three shows.
The strengths of the Davies era were a well introduced storyline for each season and episode stories that the audience could easily pay attention to. Unfortunately, Davies overextended himself. While working on Doctor Who, he created and produced two concurrent spinoffs, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures and acted as head writer for all three shows. It's no wonder, with that workload, he decided to step away after a few short years. While Doctor Who went on, and Sarah Jane stayed strong until Elizabeth Sladen's death, Torchwood suffered greatly. The overly mature tone hurt its ratings and often had the episodes fluctuating between pretty good and dismally bad. Miracle Day didn't do it any favors either.
Moffat's Eleventh
Davies, Tennant and a few others left the show in 2010 and gave Moffat a clean slate to reinterpret the character with the young Matt Smith at the lead. Smith's age was ideally suited to the more post-modern style that the show took. From the first episode The Eleventh Hour, the series has had the tone of a child's fantasy or dream. The Doctor's relationship with his companion, Amy Pond, was that of an imaginary friend who came to life and took her on a grand adventure. His TARDIS was extesively redecorated with multiple levels and vibrant colors to be reminiscent of a playhouse. The Doctor also encountered children with a slightly greater frequency than before.
Smith's Doctor doesn't seem out to travel simply for the sake of it, but to actually experience things with a sense of wide-eyed wonder. The experiences on his travels began to blur. More often, there has been a question of what is reality and what is imagined, such as in Amy's Choice and The God Complex. As a result, things don't make sense as often. That's not a criticism per se, after all things usually don't make sense in childhood fantasies; it's just a part of the show's tone. The tradeoff is that the Doctor spews less techno-babble than before. The audience can understand him more often, but understand the circumstances less so. It requires a greater leap of faith to get lost in it all.
Now for the actual criticisms. Because less things happened because of science and more on emotionality, the solutions had to follow. Many times the day was saved simply from the power of good feelings. For example, in the series 5 finale, the Doctor was literally wished back into existence by Amy Pond. His noble self-sacrifice for all of creation was undone by a simple memory recall. This was done again in Closing Time when Craig reversed the assimilation process of the Cybermen when he heard his son crying. His parental power was so strong that it reversed the mechanisms holding him down. A sonic screwdriver is not the currency of power anymore, instead it's the power of good.
As part of this issue, I also feel that Moffat is a little weak on his climactic deliveries. His finales aren't as clean as Davies's, where everything tied together. Instead, the plots seem to come so far out of left field that it takes something unexplainable to make them work. Both The Big Bang and The Wedding of River Song featured an alternate timeline and ended with the Docter appearing to die, but not, in order to save the day. Both the Doctor's resurrection and wedding happened because it said so in the script. Logic is not the primary force in Moffat's scripts, for better or worse.
Change? Yes He Can
The Doctor is due to change companions this season and that is what I hope will lead to other changes in the show's style. After all, the Doctor won't be the imaginary friend who came alive anymore. He will, presumably, have a completely different relationship with the new girl. While I don't expect the wide-eyed persona to go away, it would be nice to see the Eleventh Doctor to face something a little more mature to challenge his young-at-heart personality. I would also like to see something surprising in the finale. For Davies's first two finales, he used the Daleks as surprise villains, then for his third, he changed things up and threw the Master at us instead. I would like Moffat to do something that doesn't involve alternate timelines and fake Doctor deaths. Surprise me.
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