How much Who can you pack into a weekend?

Last weekend I was at a Doctor Who marathon. The episodes we watched (and number Doctor) were:

The Sontaran Experiment (Four)
The Pirate Planet (Four)
City of Death (Four)
Black Orchid (Five)
The Five Doctors (Five, technically)
Remembrance of the Daleks (Seven)
Boom Town (Nine)
The Christmas Invasion (Ten)
Human Nature (Ten)
Family of Blood (Ten)
Blink (Ten)
Utopia (Ten)
The Sound of Drums (Ten)
Last of the Time Lords (Ten)
Time Crash (Ten/Five)
Partners in Crime (Ten)
The Sontaran Strategem (Ten)
The Poison Sky (Ten)
Turn Left (Ten)
The Stolen Earth (Ten)
Journey's End (Ten)
Curse of Fatal Death

Not too shabby! It was very illuminating. There's such a drastic difference between classic Who and modern Who, but they were all a lot of fun to watch. It's just that watching classic Who involved a lot more mocking than watching the newer ones.

Watching the old episodes made me wonder a bit how exactly the show came to be such a beloved institution; but then, it's not fair to judge it by today's standards. The show doesn't necessarily hold up terribly well, but it was still so cool seeing the old Doctors. They maybe weren't as funny as the more recent Doctors (though Five seemed fun), but I still liked what I saw.

It was particularly interesting watching last weekend, just after David Tennant announced that he'd be stepping down as Doctor after the 2009 specials. Which way will they go with the next Doctor? Continue with the young, cute Doctors? Go back to an older Doctor? I will say that with Stephen Moffatt in charge, I can't imagine he'll be less funny.

My pick? Damian Lewis. Hey, the Doctor said he hoped he'd be ginger!