Doctor Who Season 4 (2008) Review

Season 4 surprised me. It had it's silliness of course, but I enjoyed it a lot.

ALL PREVIOUS SEASONS/SPECIALS MAY BE SPOILED BELOW

World-Building: Great - Awesome
Characterization: Awesome
Plots: Mostly strong and well-rounded

I did not expect to enjoy this season at all, but I was pleasantly surprised. My main concern was Donna - I really hated her in the Christmas special "Runaway Bride" and was expecting this season to be a disaster with her as the Doctor's companion. I was wrong. Catherine Tate did an excellent job as Donna and her interactions with the Doctor were excellent to watch. One of the best things about her character is that we don't have a love story between her and the Doctor. This was very refreshing.

The stories this season were also very strong in general. There wasn't anything that I just hated and there were a couple of very strong ones. Nothing as Strong as Blink or some of the other gems of past seasons, but still some excellent stories overall.

Russel T Davies tried to tie up the entirety of the past four seasons in the three part finale and it actually worked. I was apprehensive after the disastrous season 3 finale, but this three-parter was much better than that one. The season wasn't without its plot holes, but it worked overall.

Again, there are many repetitive elements and the Doctor and Donna find themselves stuck on Earth for too much of the season, but we also got some new things. For example, we got to visit the planet of the Ood. Last time we saw them I really didn't like them, but this time around they were great and they were used to further highlight the commentary on human nature that we often get in Doctor Who. We also got the Sontarans and, thankfully, no Cybermen this time around. Silence in the Library was an excellent two-part story that widened the scope just a little bit more and introduced us to a whole new setting. Midnight was also a different story with a new, and very creepy villain.

Overall, season 4 is an excellent one. Not one to be missed. If you're hesitating about this or not sure about Donna as the companion don't worry! She is excellent and not as annoying or screechy as she was in Runaway Bride. I was honestly sad to see her go and this season finale felt like an end of an era with both her and David Tennant leaving.

Look out for my detailed and spoilery episode rants sometime soon.

(I will review the various 2008-2010 Christmas Specials separately.)