Welcome to Day 19 of my 47-day series about the revival version of Doctor Who (2005-present). I’ve come up with 47 topics / questions to answer, all of them basically positive and upbeat about the program. Each day (or as often as I can actually write these–so far so good!) I’ll pick one of them at random (using this convenient random number generator) and then write up an answer.
Why 47? It’s my favorite number.
Why Doctor Who? It’s my favorite show.
Why the modern day Doctor Who only? Simply because I remember it better.
Why only positive stuff? Because really, I write enough snark.
Today is Day #19, and around and around goes the Random Number Generator, and we get number 23, which means the topic of the day is this:
“Saddest Story”
I’m finding this one a hard one to decide. First of all, what do we mean by a sad story? We’re not talking about a sad moment here, and lots of stories have got sad bits while still ending triumphantly, for example the Silence in the Library or The Pandorica Opens two-parters.
But then, even when we accept that we mainly mean stories that still leave you sad at the end, regardless of the triumph, I find I have a hard time remembering a lot of the obvious ones, simply because it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them.
So, some contenders:
• The Girl in the Fireplace (Too late to see Reinette again)
• Doomsday (Farewell to Rose, on a Norwegian beach)
• Human Nature / The Family of Blood (Doomed romance)
• The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End (Donna’s sad fate)
• The Angels Take Manhattan (Losing Amy & Rory–man, a lot of these are “companion departure” episodes)
• Face the Raven (The final, absolute, irrevocable death of Clara Oswald. Well, sort of.)
But the winner is
The End of Time
If it’s not the saddest episode, it is certainly the episode with the most sadness in it.
Really, it’s hard to look past David Tennant for this category. That guy knows how to ooze sadness, so you want to pick him up, take him home, wrap him up in a big blanket and give him a lollipop. And nowhere does he do for longer than The End of Time, part 2. Not only does he get to give a big speech about how awful it is that he has to give his life for someone, but he gets and Russell T. Davies get to go on a tour together and wave sadly at everyone he’s ever known.
Click here for a master list for this series.
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