Rise of the Cybermen

I'm an American viewer and a lifelong Doctor Who fan. Naturally I was very excited to learn that the Doctor was going to be brought back two years ago. I was relieved to see that the new series producers were taking the character seriously, and I greatly enjoyed season one. However, while I admire the way Davies & Co. have reintroduced the Doctor to a new generation, I still missed my favorite elements of the show. I missed the continuity from the original series, the eccentricity of the past Doctors, the planet hopping and "TARDIS family" of companions.

But with Rise of the Cybermen, Doctor Who, the real Doctor, can finally be said to be "back". A double length episode (of which this is only part one) featuring a classic enemy, familiar Whovian tropes (an Orwellian police state, underground revolutionaries), and an opening worthy of the most over the top Tom Baker adventure. But what I'm enjoying most about season two is: David Tennant. Chris Eccleston was excellent, but Tennant is the real deal. He obviously has an awareness of the Doctor's continuity, channeling different Doctors for different situations. Was I alone in detecting a touch of Hartnell in the Doctor's attempt to tell Rose & Micky to stay put & do as told? Speaking of Micky, I'm very glad to see the TARDIS-family concept restored. It just seemed kind of lonely when it was just the Doctor & Rose. Oh, and just for the record: bringing back K9 was almost as great as bringing Sarah Jane back!

Lastly, and I'm probably alone in this, but hasn't season two offered an inordinate number of episodes that would have been perfect for Sylvester McCoy? New Earth, Tooth & Claw and now Rise of the Cybermen - McCoy's Doctor would have fit into these stories very comfortably, I think.