5 Ways Steven Moffat's Doctor Who Is BETTER Than Russell T Davies' (And 3 It's Worse)

4. Worse: RTD’s Characters Felt More Like Real People

Earlier, I mentioned that Moffat wasn't afraid to have companions like Clara stray away from relatable archetypes - this is the other side of that coin. Amy, River, and Clara are brilliantly written characters, but they don't act or behave like like normal humans. They feel like Steven Moffat characters - hyper-competent and smart, constantly witty, and flirtatious in a dominant way. Moffat has a type, and he does not go to great lengths to hide this. Sure, you've got Rory and Bill who are a little more grounded as characters, but when you hear them talk, it's still Moffat's signature voice coming through - they've always got a joke or an answer lined up. 

RTD’s companions felt far more grounded. Rose, Martha and Donna all feel like people you could actually meet on the street. We see them living ordinarily lives, we don't have to imagine it. They've got human concerns like difficult families, relationships and jobs. They react to alien things in the way most of us would, at least at first - not with wide eyed wonder but often with an acknowledgement that the universe is hella weird.

When they are the instigating force in resolving the episode's problems, it's not because they were as smart as the Doctor, or as verbose and confident. More often than not, it's because of their humanity, or their ability to recognise the mundane, everyday details that the Doctor overlooks. RTD's era gives the impression that anyone can become a hero. Moffat's era suggests that sure, you can be a hero, so long as you fit into a fairly narrow 'strong, confident woman' archetype. To me, Donna is the ultimate example of why this approach to companion writing absolutely works. She is a triumph precisely because we watch her grow from 'nobody special' into someone truly remarkable. 

Some people bemoan the soap opera tendencies of RTDs 2005 run, but I think it understood the brief perfectly. The show had a public reputation to shed - it was considered silly, unrealistic and, in some cases, rather reductive of its female characters. Creating these grounded, realistic companions fixed one of Classic Who's more notable failings. I'm not the biggest Rose fan, but I must concede, I think that she might have been the single biggest reason that the reboot succeeded.