The Doctor is dead, long live the Doctor

I didn't grow up with Doctor Who, thank goodness. I only had some vague recollection of Peter Cushing as Dr. Who but that was it. No TV stations around here ran the show and VCR's didn't hit big until I was in college and back then you were doing good to get movies that were made in the past ten years on video let alone some obscure sci fi show from the UK. I had no idea who Tom Baker was until my late 30's, which is good because I wasn't burdened with the memory of his portrayal of the Doctor like some of my friends are.

So when the new series hit a few years ago, I jumped in with not much background and no expectations. Which was a good thing.
I had some idea of who Russell T Davies was, I knew he created the highly popular show Queer as Folk, but I had never seen any of his work. But since he was gay and did a successful show about the lives of gays, it seemed to me that he'd do a bang up job on a show about an outsider who is always on the fringes of life. And I was right. I loved his Doctor Who shows right from the start. Christopher Eccleston was smashing as the Doctor and Billie Piper was pure fun as his companion.

I was hooked from the first episode because the scripts were good, the acting great, and the whole production was flat out entertaining. The way the episodes built on each other was a stroke of genius.
When Eccleston's contract was up they replaced him with David Tennant and the show didn't miss a beat. Sure Tennant took a bit getting used to and boy did he love to chew the scenery, but he jumped in without missing nary a beat. His relationships with his female companions and the way he saved the earth and other planets every week was engaging and fun.

I didn't care for the spin off Torchwood, but hey, to each his or her own. I know some of you love it so there you go.

But all good things must come to an end and both Davies and Tennant have left Doctor Who for other projects. Which will probably be seen as a good thing in time because the problem with staying with one show like that for so long is that one gets burned out and or the story telling begins to suffer because the quality slips after a while. I'm glad they tied up all the story lines and connected all the dots of the Davies/Tennant era in the last few episodes and they way they let Tennant's Doctor say goodbye to all his friends at the end of the last episode was kind of touching, it brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat.

Now we've got a new Doctor to look forward to:
And a new man behind the show, this time it's Steven Moffat. He actually wrote a few scripts for Doctor Who while Davies was producing the show so we know the man has chops when it comes to the character. He's also the man behind one of the funniest sitcoms ever written, Coupling, so we know he can bring the funny along with a deft dialogue touch to the Doctor Who franchise as well. I saw the trailer featuring the new Doctor and the show looks incredible. So, I'm not worried. The show is in good hands and unless they let FOX have the show and they cast Tony Danza as the Doctor, then it'll run for a long long time.

Long live the Doctor!