Doctor Who: 9 Years Retrospective Look At The Ninth Doctor
9. The Time War
In caveman times (that's 2005 for Doctor Who fans, by the way!), the Time War was dubiously mentioned, yet never really explained. Back then, all fans really knew about it was that there had been a great war between the Time Lords and the Daleks, one which ultimately resulted in the destruction of the Doctor's home planet, Gallifrey, along with the Time Lords and Daleks, too. Pretty climactic stuff, really. As for the Doctor's actual involvement in the war, it was mainly just hinted at throughout Series 1. He had become a bone fide mystery again - a masterstroke by new head writer Russell T Davies. However, in retrospect, that mystery has been all but solved in The Day of the Doctor. Fans now know a lot more about the Time War, and most importantly, that the Doctor didn't really destroy Gallifrey after all. Hurrah! Despite this, the Ninth Doctor doesn't really lose any of his original impact. The scene in Dalek in which the Doctor tortures the weakened metal monster even takes on a whole new meaning with the added knowledge of the 50th anniversary special (and if you've read the book Engines of War even more so). The active hatred that the Ninth Doctor conveyed had never before seen in the titular Time Lord before and it's credit to Eccelston's performance.
Matthew Quayle was born in 1994 in Queensland, Australia. He mostly spends his time watching TV, playing games and being opinionated. Now that he has a job writing at What Culture, he's getting paid to do it too.
