Every Doctor is as different as the one who came before, but the Ninth Doctor took it to an elevated level. Fresh off the cataclysmic Time War, this Doctor was damaged, spiteful and aggressive, but he never lost his sense of wonder and charm, either. In between lamenting the fall of his race and his own failures, he still found time to take Rose for romps through the galaxy to new and unforeseen places.
Here are the top 10 quotes ever uttered by the Ninth Doctor, played brilliantly (and shortly) by Christopher Eccleston until his departure at the end of the first season of the rebooted Doctor Who.
ROSE
"It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning, and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go? That's who I am."
Rose's first encounter with the Doctor involved a battle against the Autons and the Nestine Consciousness, and it was enough for her to question who this crazy new stranger was. When asked the question, the Doctor responded with allegory in an attempt to help her understand the gravity of his lineage, his wisdom, and his experience.
THE END OF THE WORLD
"You think it'll last forever. People and cars and concrete, but it won't. One day it's all gone, even the sky. My planet's gone. It's dead. It burned, like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before its time."
The first glimpse into the cataclysmic Time War came via this quote from the Ninth Doctor, signaling that he was a changed man from the one audiences grew up watching. The big reveal wouldn't come until later in the season, but it was enough for Whovians to realize that something terrible happened to Gallifrey. While many suspected that the Daleks were the culprit, they would later be shocked to learn the full truth.
THE UNQUIET DEAD
"I saw the fall of Troy! World War Five! I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party! Now I'm gonna' die in a dungeon...in Cardiff!"
While it's not certain if the Doctor's disdain for Cardiff spans the ages, it was certainly on full display during this episode when the Doctor and his crew find themselves up the creek while a group of ghost-like aliens threatens to take over the population. It's rare to see the Doctor poke fun at a specific time or place, but hopefully, Cardiff residents took it in stride.
ALIENS OF LONDON
"Ricky, if I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?"
The Ninth Doctor wasn't afraid to be more pompous and insulting than some of his more radical predecessors, and Mickey Smith was the perfect target. Despite getting his name wrong (then staunchly refusing to correct himself), the Doctor also took great joy in pointing out Mickey's limited ability to understand the subtle nuances of the time-traveling TARDIS. His relationship with Mickey would turn on a dime when he regenerated into his Tenth persona.
DALEK
"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them! You're about as far from the stars as you can get!"
The Doctor was quick to criticize the uber-powerful Van Statten after his prized captive Dalek escaped and killed hundreds of people. After Van Statten tried to come up with a dubious excuse for his behavior, the Doctor tore a strip off of him, bringing him down to the appropriate level by telling him exactly what kind of man he was, despite his power and wealth.
THE LONG GAME
"The thing is, Adam, time travel is like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guidebook. You've got to throw yourself in! Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers! Or is that just me?"
When the Doctor took Rose and new companion Adam over a hundred thousand years into the future, they were greeted by a very different Earth that had become part of a massive intergalactic hub. While Rose had some experience with time travel, Adam was thrown in head-first, and given some sage (if not wonderfully careless) advice about living in the moment.
FATHER'S DAY
"Rose, there's a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before. An ordinary man! That's the most important thing in creation! The whole world's different because he's alive!"
When the Doctor took Rose to see her long-dead father when she was only an infant, she used the opportunity to save his life, which triggered a catastrophe. When she tried to argue her actions by referencing how ordinary a man her father was, the Doctor was quick to respond by informing her that ordinary people are far more important to the flow of time than the extraordinary. It was another example of how prepared and experienced Time Lords were when it came to time travel, and why other races should not be permitted the technology.
THE EMPTY CHILD
"1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing, until one tiny, damp little island says "No. No, not here." A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. I don't know what you did to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me!"
This memorable, creepy episode found the Doctor in the middle of the London blitz, trying to solve a mystery involving a young boy in a gas mask who seems to have frightening powers. In the midst of the chaos, the Doctor strikes up a conversation with a young woman named Nancy who fears for Britain's future and gives her some warm reassurance.
BAD WOLF
"No! 'Cause this is what I'm gonna' do! I'm gonna' rescue her! I'm gonna' save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet, and then I'm gonna' save the Earth, and then, just to finish off, I'm gonna' wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!"
The end of season one was a huge reveal for longtime Dalek fans who thought their favorite monster had been done away with for good. When a new Dalek armada threatened the life of Rose in an attempt to blackmail his surrender, the Doctor refused, lighting things up with the boldest threat he'd ever made.
THE PARTING OF THE WAYS
"Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I!"
The Ninth Doctor saved Rose's by drawing the energy of the Time Vortex out of her body and mind, causing his current form to suffer a fatal blow. Within the safety of the Tardis, he tried his best to make light of the situation before his regeneration kicked off. When the process began, he did his best to express his appreciation for her as a companion, while giving himself a nod in the process.