7 Reasons Why Doctor Who Season 10 Is The Best One In Years

There's been much to enjoy from Doctor Who's last few seasons - Peter Capaldi, Michelle Gomez, the odd standout episode here and there - but ultimately, it's been a bit scattershot in quality. It took a while for the Twelfth Doctor's era to find itself, which meant it lacked the cohesive quality of David Tennant and Matt Smith's eras. Seasons 8 and 9 were enjoyable TV, don't get us wrong, but not up to the expected quality of the show. With season 10, though, Doctor Who looks to have got its groove back. It seems that, as this is the final run for both Peter Capaldi and showrunner Steven Moffat, they've decided to go all out in making it a year to remember. Due to the erratic scheduling of the Capaldi era - there was no season at all in 2016 - season 10 has been the best run of the show in a good long time. Granted, we've yet to see the finale and, theoretically, it could be so bad as to retroactively cause the whole season to crash and burn. Still, going by what we have seen so far, we're going to go out on a limb and say that the finale will deliver in a satisfying way. Not convinced that season 10 is all that awesome? Let us try and change your mind with these seven reasons. 7) It's Pretty Much A Reboot Television rules tell us that when a series is drawing to a close - or, in this case, the end of an era - things are meant to get heavy-going and likely a bit darker as the plot wraps up. Instead, season 10 of Doctor Who has decided "to hell with that!" and has unexpectedly hit the reboot button a year early. With Jenna Coleman's long-running companion having left at the end of season 9, season 10 had to introduce a new companion anyway, which always gives the show a fresher feel. However, Coleman herself had joined Matt Smith in his last season in the role and that didn't mean it felt like a reboot. Instead, the whole tone of the show was reset. Clearly echoing the 2005 season with Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper, the focal point for this season switched back to the companion, as we followed Bill's point of view as she got to know the Doctor and jumped into his crazy life of time travel and monsters. The fact that Doctor Who reboots itself every few years is the key to its incredibly long lifespan, so it's always welcome when the show decides its time to freshen up both its cast and its tone. It also allows new viewers to hop in and lets us old hats feel like we're watching the series for the first time all over again. 6) Lighter On The Story Arc Something that's typified Steven Moffat's era as showrunner is the increased emphasis on extended story arcs. Whereas David Tennant's era had a concept or even just a phrase (e.g. "Bad Wolf") to link each season's episodes together, Matt Smith's tenure was full of complex, timey-wimey narratives. Peter Capaldi's era, meanwhile, has toned down the complexity and has tried to delve deep into the Doctor's character, asking questions that most fans don't want answered. For example, why did the Doctor really leave Gallifrey? This season, though, has really dialled down on the season-long story arc, which has for the most part allowed for the individual episodes to stand on their own. The first half of the season, in particular, had a fun mystery which the audience was asked to solve: who was the prisoner in the vault hidden under Bill's university? The second half, on the other hand, has switched to the concept of Missy joining the Doctor, which was bubbling under the surface until it was brought into focus with the penultimate episode. While a season-long arc with a heavier presence can produce amazing results, at its core, Doctor Who has to be an episodic show, so the ongoing storylines need to be pushed to the background for it to be at its strongest. 5) Fresh, Stripped-Back Stories Similarly, season 10 has really steamlined its storytelling on a microcosmic level as well, as most of the episodes this year have simply focused on being easy-to-follow tales that are well told. We'll say up front that there was the so-called 'Monk Trilogy' in the middle of the season - a trio of episodes which were linked by the consistent threat of some corpse-like alien monks - which muddies this point. However, on the whole, the show's mentality this year has been all about inclusiveness and making sure that anyone can jump in with any given episode. Looking at the first few outings of the run, in particular, the series really went back to formula, which is no bad thing. The season opened with an episode set in the present day, before the next forwarded to the far future and then the third went back into the past. Subsequent episodes included a classic spooky 'haunted house' tale, a dystopian alternate timeline story and more of an old-fashioned space-faring adventure. Put together, they make a great range of episodes that, on the whole, have been very enjoyable. As I said when talking about the season being a partial reboot, this has given the current run a welcome fresh-faced atmosphere, which was much needed after a couple of seasons which arguably were not that easily accessible for non-hardcore viewers. That's not to say, though, that there hasn't been much for the longtime fans to enjoy..... 4) Lots Of Treats For The Fans It wouldn't be Doctor Who if the show didn't reward those of us who know the series upside down with a few exciting callbacks to the past. It seems that there have been more nods to days gone by than normal this year, however. Maybe Steven Moffat had a checklist of things he wanted to get back into the show before he vacates the showrunner chair? In "The Pilot," we caught a glimpse at the war between the Daleks and the Disco-headed Movellans - which was the focus of 1979's "Destiny of the Daleks." "The Empress of Mars," meanwhile, not only brought back classic monsters the Ice Warriors but also featured a cameo from cyclopean alien Alpha Centuari, a fairly obscure but fondly remembered character who made a couple of appearances in the Third Doctor's era. It's fair to say no fan ever thought they would make a return, which made it such an unexpected pleasure when they did. The biggest example of the show treating the fans, though, has to be the penultimate episode, as it featured the fan-favourite original 1960s models of the Cybermen and also the return of John Simm's version of the Master, after seven years away. Obviously fans aren't averse to completely new material, but Doctor Who is arguably at its most exciting when it marries the new with the old. 3) A Fun TARDIS Team As Doctor Who offers up a completely new story, setting and bunch of supporting characters every week, the central figures of the Doctor and his companion(s) become the all important factor in getting us invested in the show as a whole. Over the past couple of years, Doctor Who has been led by two pretty divisive characters in Peter Capaldi's Doctor and Jenna Coleman's Clara. The pair endured a very rocky, strained friendship which didn't gel with everyone. For season 10, though, the name of the game in the TARDIS this year is 'fun.' With Bill, the show has a new companion to see the Doctor's world anew and this has clearly helped the Time Lord rediscover his sense of fun as well. Their mentor/student relationship - the pair first met when he was posing as a university professor - also brought out a new aspect to this Doctor which we haven't seen before. As for the third member of the TARDIS team, Matt Lucas' Nardole won't be to every fan's tastes but it's hard to deny that the rubber-faced actor isn't an expert at what he does. Nardole is so cheerfully, harmlessly played that it's difficult not to like him and, on the flip side, there's a lot of fun to be had from watching the Doctor being unnecessarily cruel to him, in the classic Laurel and Hardy style. This trio perhaps don't match up to, say, the Tenth Doctor and Rose or the Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory as one of the show's greatest TARDIS teams ever, but it's definitely been a joy to watch these three roll around the universe for the past three months. 2) A Loveable Companion We might have just covered the fun dynamic of the TARDIS trio this year, but the Doctor's current main companion deserves a section all to herself. As played by the very talented Pearl Mackie, Bill Potts is a wonderful character and by far the most down-to-earth and relatable female lead the series has had since Catherine Tate's Donna Noble back in 2009. Much has been made in the media about how Bill is both the first POC female companion since Freema Agyeman's Martha Jones from 2007 and THE first ever lesbian companion the show has ever had. These two facets of Bill's character are excellent and show that the Doctor Who production team are clearly making an effort to diversify the series (ahead of a female Doctor, perhaps? Hey, we can dream). Still, what's most important about Bill is that she's portrayed as simply a very likeable person. In the early episodes, in particular, Bill was constantly asking questions about the Doctor, the TARDIS and his crazy, timey-wimey life in general. Mostly, these were the kind of trivial, arbitrary questions that we viewers think about as we watch the show, which really helped set her up as an audience identification figure. Likewise, Bill's status as a sci-fi fan and movie-savvy person is a lot of fun, too. If the show is ripping off a particular movie in one episode, Bill will hang a lampshade on it. Unfortunately, it seems that Bill's time in the TARDIS is already over, as she was shockingly turned into a Cyberman in the penultimate episode. We'd love to see her stay on, but if this is it for her, let's hope the writers remember what worked about Bill when crafting the next companion. 1) The Twelfth Doctor At His Best No one can deny that Peter Capaldi was the perfect choice to play the Twelfth Doctor. After two younger, so-called 'boyfriend' Doctors, it made sense to spice things up by going with an older actor. Not only that, but Capaldi himself is a tremendous performer who knows the character inside and out thanks to being an avid Doctor Who fan his whole life. That said, the Twelfth Doctor as a character has had his ups and downs. The decision in season 8 to characterize him as a potentially cruel and aloof man only put people off this Doctor. In season 9, the Doctor became much more likeable again but he was adorned with slightly gimmicky accessories - like his guitar and sunglasses. For season 10, though, the character has grown out of his earlier mood swings and gimmicks and Peter Capaldi has been finally allowed to simply play the Doctor. With oodles of gravitas, lots of sarcastic humour and a whole lot of heart, the Twelfth Doctor is now a fully cemented character who calls back to the Time Lords of old. Namely, the portrayals of William Hartnell, Jon Pertwee and a hint of Tom Baker. It's a crying shame that Capaldi has elected to leave Doctor Who after this season, as he clearly has much left to give the show, but at least we got to see him become the awesome Doctor we always knew he could be.