Doctor Who: 10 Unpopular Opinions About The 10th Doctor (According To Reddit)

The Tenth may be one of the most popular Doctors on Doctor Who, but that didn’t stop fans on Reddit from having some unpopular opinions.

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Every one of Doctor Who’s titular heroes has their fans, and conversely, every one of them has their detractors as well. David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor helped to bring the UK show to a larger international audience, and he left his stamp on the character as the series moved forward without him.

Doctor Who has a massive online fan community and dissenting opinions abound surrounding every detail about the Whoniverse. Fans have been actively discussing Tennant’s tenure as the Time Lord on Reddit ever since he made his first appearance. Even more than a decade since his departure from the role, the Tenth Doctor has garnered some unpopular opinions from fans.

He’s Too Human

In the popular subreddit r/Gallifrey, Reddit user kane_t asserts that “Of the four modern Doctors, he’s the one that’s basically just a regular human guy.” A lack of alienness made Tennant’s doctor stick out from the others since the reboot.

Some fans though, see the Tenth’s humanity as a positive aspect of his character. Typically, the Doctor exists in limbo between a strange alien and a person with very real, human emotions, despite dealing with problems no human could fathom. Throughout the Tenth Doctor’s tenure, he is reeling with the emotional repercussions of the death of his race and that could explain his human-like emotions.

His Regeneration Was Bad

Reddit user Ged_UK writes of the Tenth Doctor’s regeneration that “It’s mawkish, overblown and arrogant.” The user goes on to say “I didn’t much care for 10 by the end of his tenure, and the regeneration sequence just summed it up.”

In the final episode of the Tenth Doctor’s run, The End of Time, The Doctor is reluctant to leave his companions behind and regenerate. Because of his reluctance, the Doctor famously exclaims that he doesn’t want to go. This reluctance was seen by fans as a big departure from the Doctor’s usual cool acceptance of his fate. However, there is historical precedence in the Doctor being reluctant to regenerate. Way back during the Second Doctor’s run, he is banished to Earth and is forced against his will to regenerate.

He Has No Character Development

On r/DoctorWho, Reddit user 23dfr says “Other than the ‘time lord victorious’ arc towards the end of Tennant’s run, I do not feel that 10 had the same level of character shifts and developments as other Doctor’s have had.”

It’s very easy to compare the different Doctors, but it would be unfair to compare story arcs. The Tenth Doctor’s arc is more subtle and must be looked at in retrospect, as opposed to in the small moments. Ultimately the Tenth Doctor’s character arc is one of self-destruction: his own actions eventually lead to his destruction and his punishment is regeneration. When he causes Harriet Jones to step down from her position as Prime Minister, it opens the door for The Master to take over.

He’s A Conventional, Mainstream Doctor

In r/DoctorWho, Redditor CyborgBee writes: “He will always be among the most popular because he was mainstream – he’s basically the only doctor ever to be a very conventional hero.” Indeed, the Tenth Doctor was something of a more traditional hero figure, and that status went a long way to legitimize the character.

However, the Tenth Doctor embodies a more traditional heroic form for the first time because he is dealing with forces far beyond his control. Historically, the Doctor was in control and the weekly monsters and aliens could do very little to vex him. But after the devastating war and the effect that it had on his character, the Doctor is put into his unique position.

His Performance Negatively Affected Future Doctors

Redditor DoctorOfCinema writes: “From what I understand, since he was so popular, there was occasionally a kind of ‘turning other Doctors into 10’ after him.” The user asserts that the impact that the Tenth Doctor had on the show negatively affected future performances. Because the Tenth Doctor was so popular and was such a fresh take on the character, it has been hard for fans not to attribute certain quirks to him. Fans of the Tenth Doctor love his humor and his frenetic energy and any time a subsequent Doctor exhibits such tendencies they draw comparisons with Ten. It is hard to deny that Tennant’s years on the show were some of the best ranked seasons and the quality of the show was elevated during that time.

But considering that the show’s head writer departed when Tennant did, it is highly unlikely that there was any pressure to maintain the character’s status quo in subsequent renditions.

Tennant Is A Hammy Actor

In r/DoctorWho, Reddit user tonekejac says “Tennant gets in that foamy-at-the-mouth froth too often, loses the plot, just starts acting manic and hammy and hyperactive.” For some viewers, the over-the-top nature of Tennant’s performance turned them off from his run as the Doctor.

For some viewers, he was too much, but for others, David Tennant brought the right level of gusto to an over-the-top part. Though the show can often involve life and death storylines, it also has a fair amount of over-the-top science fiction moments. The Tenth Doctor is just as over the top as all of the events going on around him, which was something fans hadn’t seen in the character up until that point. Even so, Tennant was able to dial it back when the emotions of the scene demanded it, such as his tear-jerking separation from Rose. Whether it was some of the funniest, saddest, or scariest moments of the Doctor Who series, Tennant always rose to the occasion.

The Production Value Doesn’t Equal Quality

In r/DoctorWho, Reddit user cptjimshook observes that “Production value [has] far, far less to do with the overall quality of a show than, say, the writing or the acting.” Essentially, the writer is asserting that the special effects are of less importance than the crafting of a good story or performance.

Though not an uncommon opinion, it ignores the fact that science fiction and fantasy films and television shows often hinge upon their effects and many of the Doctor’s classic aliens were improved with a higher budget. Poor special effects can be a distraction from the story, as the viewer is trying to reconcile what they are seeing on-screen with what they are hearing from the characters.

Tennant Is Not Great In The Role

From r/Gallifrey, Redditor hermithome writes, “It’s not the flaws of the Doctor that bother me, so much. It’s that the flaws have to come from something, and in Tennant’s performance lacks depth, and so he’s too often just flaws.” The user, not being a fan of Tennant as an actor, believes that any weaknesses come not from the character but from who was playing them.

Popularity isn’t a measuring stick of an actor’s ability, but Tennant’s overwhelming popularity as the character cannot be separated from his talents in this case. His career, before and after his tenure on the show, has shown the tremendous amount of range he has. Tennant was able to build off of his success as the Doctor and appear in other large franchises, like the MCU. Tennant’s performance as the Doctor took the character from a stodgy alien to a layered, emotional being.

He’s An Egotistical Hypocrite

Reddit user knockturnal writes in r/Gallifrey, “If you want to see a Doctor who believes himself to be a brilliant hero, while pretending he’s not an egotistical hypocrite, see Ten.” The user couldn’t get past the character’s flaws and found the Tenth Doctor to be utterly unlikeable.

The idea of a deep and complicated Doctor was introduced with Nine and carried into Ten’s run. He is an arrogant person and that is one of the worst things about the Tenth Doctor, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The events of the Time War showed the Doctor that he was tremendously powerful and yet fragile at the same time. Because of this, the Tenth Doctor struggles with balancing this in his own head as he journeys through time. Often, a character’s flaws can be seen as a weakness in the writing, but in reality, they represent a robust story. A character without flaws is boring and it isn’t very exciting if the viewer knows that the hero is going to win every time.

He’s Only Popular For Being Many People’s Introduction To The Series

When answering why viewers prefer the Tenth Doctor, stoolydan writes “A lot of people started their experience with David Tennant, and there’s a tendency for people to associate him therefore with the initial honeymoon feelings.” They go on to say, “Even people who started with Eccleston (like myself) think of Tennant as kind of a standard of measurement because the show hadn’t hit its stride until Series 2.”

There is a common phrase within the community that “you never forget your first Doctor,” and sentimentality does play a large part in fandom. The user asserts that Tennant is so popular with fans because he was the first one they saw. Though it may be true that Ten was many viewers’ introduction to the series, the continued success it has had after his departure is proof that something else is at play.

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