What starts out as fanfic fare from maverick writer Steven Moffat (all the pokes at the 80s era, the 5th Doctor's tropes and the fans, the name dropping, etc. etc.) turns magical in the last minute when Tennant breaks that fourth wall for us and calls Davison's Doctor, HIS Doctor.
I'm not particularly interested in knowing if that's David Tennant's opinion or Moffat's, but it is SOMEone's. It might even be mine. After all, I could only watch Who in repeats here in Canada, and stations would usually run the adventures of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Doctors and ignore the rest. Maybe you'd get a Hartnell or a McCoy from time to time, but these seemed like anomalies. My first Doctor was the 4th, yes, but the story seemed to end with the 5th's. So until the 1996 TV Movie, Davison was my "last" Doctor. And since the TVM wasn't picked up as a series, Davison remained firmly in position until BBC World started churning out DVDs from across Classic Who, and then of course, the new series.Time Crash acknowledges the idea that every Doctor is SOMEONE's Doctor. Fandom sometimes tends to be divisive about which Doctors are good and not, and which eras are good and not, but your rubbish might be my gold. I know I'm in the minority when I say Sylvester McCoy is close to the top of my favorites' list. I can now say without restraint that the 5th Doctor's era was most often pretty terrible, and yet I have an emotional investment in that version of the character. And depending on when you grew up, or when you discovered Who, you might love any of them the same way - apologetically perhaps, but no less intensely.
Tennant also gets to acknowledge his debt to Davison, since he did in part model his performance on the energetic, youthful 5th Doctor. It's what Doctor Who now does best: One minute you're laughing and the next, you're holding back the tears. I LOVED this. And I can't wait for this year's Christmas special, Kylie Minogue and all.
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