Doctor Who Top 20 (v. ariich's Top 30 starts page 3 - NEW UPDATES AGAIN)

[masterthes]

It's one of Tennant's best moments as the Doctor

[Scorpion]

08. The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances (S1, Steven Moffat)

Even with his very first script for Doctor Who, Moffat shows that he is already one of the best scriptwriters in the game, with the awesome two-parter The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances. Set during the London Blitz of '41, this story combines many elements that Moffat likes - something really creepy based on something pretty simple, a creative explanation for the whole thing that is actually believable, and "Everybody lives!", which is actually introduced here for the first time.

What makes this episode so great? Well, a multitude of things, and the first of those are the genuinely scary... well, villains is probably the wrong word in this context, but you know what I mean. The child is really one of the scariest things that Doctor Who has ever produced, and definitely scarier than pretty much any other non-Moffat villain.

The second aspect that makes this one great is Captain Jack Harkness. While some people find him too Mary-Sue-ish, I just love his character. His flirtatious nature makes the whole episode pretty funny throughout, and he just an all-around great guy. I love how he interacts with Rose and, later, the Doctor - probably my favourite scene of this episode is where he and the Doctor talk about the Weapon Factories where he got his squareness gun from.

The third thing that makes this episode so great is how downright clever the whole thing is set up. There's never a point where it feels unconvincing, even though I doubted that there'd be a reasonable explanation of those happenings when I started watching it. The fact that one can actually work out was going on here before the Doctor explains it at the end is also something that I like, even though I didn't have a clue - but all the elements are there, and in retrospect it makes perfect sense.

Nancy is also a great character, by the way. I really like how she is obviously a criminal, but cares for good manners - it's a great contrast. That scene with "We're guests in this house!" is pretty hilarious. On the flip-side, she proves that she can be an utter bad-ass, in her confrontation with Mr. Lloyd, that had me snickering from the beginning. Eccleston is, of course, fantastic as well, and the interactions between the Doctor and Nancy are also pretty awesome.

All in all, Moffat could have hardly debuted with a better episode for the show that he is now running.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Oddly, I was just thinking about this one today. Downright creepy.

[masterthes]

Yeah, Empty Child is pretty damn special

[ariich]

I pretty much always love Moffat's stories, he just comes up with such fantastic ideas.

Those two episodes are great, and that moment of realisation when they are in the boy's hospital room is so so good, pretty chiling. As much as I respect RTD for bringing Doctor Who back in such a credible and popular way, and indeed some of his stuff in series 1 was great, I think this two-partner was what really put the show back on the map and said "hey, grown-ups, you should be watching this show too, it's pretty damn clever". I didn't even watch Doctor Who at all back then, but I remember the buzz going around about "the gas mask episode".

That said, I prefer all of Moffat's other RTD-era stories. Blink is incredible, Fireplace is beautiful, and Library is pretty much perfect sci-fi.

[wasteland]

I pretty much always love Moffat's stories, he just comes up with such fantastic ideas.

Those two episodes are great, and that moment of realisation when they are in the boy's hospital room is so so good, pretty chiling. As much as I respect RTD for bringing Doctor Who back in such a credible and popular way, and indeed some of his stuff in series 1 was great, I think this two-partner was what really put the show back on the map and said "hey, grown-ups, you should be watching this show too, it's pretty damn clever". I didn't even watch Doctor Who at all back then, but I remember the buzz going around about "the gas mask episode".

That said, I prefer all of Moffat's other RTD-era stories. Blink is incredible, Fireplace is beautiful, and Library is pretty much perfect sci-fi.

What you last said, Empty Child is overshadowed by the later pre-5th season Moffat contributions. Child < Fireplace < Blink < Library for me.

[Scorpion]

07. The Name of the Doctor (S7, Steven Moffat)

I can't really explain what I like about this episode that much, but I just love it to bits. First of all, the visuals of Trenzalore are stunning, and I think that's actually the first time that a finale doesn't take place on Earth for most of the time (though arguments could be made for The Stolen Earth / Journey's End as well, but that's really getting off track). Anyway, I just love the bleak look of the graveyard, and the Whispermen fit right in.

Speaking of the Whispermen, they are some pretty great villains. You don't really understand their capabilities or limitations very well at all, making them all the more interesting than villains that are pretty much completely dissected during the course of their episode. The Great Intelligence is back, leading the Whispermen, having taken the form of Dr. Simeon from The Snowmen, and Hugh E. Grant plays his part here amazingly. His plot to fight the Doctor is amazingly simple, relying on the Doctor's compassion towards his friends, and it works out very well, and his actual actions against the Doctor can hardly be topped in terms of malevolence and destructiveness.

Like for every Moffat finale, River Song returns here, but this is probably that River's timeline will ever go - she's merely an echo now, the River that the Doctor saved a back-up of to the Library in Season 4. She gains form here through a conference call, after which she is mentally linked with Clara until the end, and yet the Doctor can hear her. The farewell scene between the two - which is, I gather, her final farewell for River from the man that she loves - is amazingly touching and one of my favourite scenes between Smith and Kingston.

Like I said before, the visuals here are stunning, and no scenes show that as much as the professional way that footage from the classic series has been changed to suit the purposes of this episode. I'm not really a fan of the classic era, but even I got slight shiver to see Clara and the First Doctor sharing a frame. Come to think of it, every manipulation of past material here is great, and it works together very well with the resolution of the Impossible Girl-thingy.

And of course, you can't talk about this without talking about the final scene. While there is one part that bothers me about it (Doctor: "I said he was me. I never said he was the Doctor!" - Two minutes later: Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor), it's a spinechilling revelation that does, as Moffat promised, change the past of Doctor Who forever. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the 50th Anniversary Special and how the whole Hurt-Doctor-storyline is explored.

[Heretic]

The Name of the Doctor might actually be my favorite episode, I'm sort of torn between it and a few others though. Definitely the best episode to set up the 50th anniversary, though.

[Scorpion]

06. The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang (S5, Steven Moffat)

This is, in my opinion, the best Doctor Who finale up to now (though, as you can see by the placement, it's quite close), and I think that it's partly due to the fact that it's the only two-parter-finale that Moffat has ever penned. While his other two finales, The Wedding of River Song and The Name of the Doctor work great in their 45-minute format and don't really suffer from their lack of length at all, the format of the two-parter gives The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang more room to breathe and to develop ideas, and it's done masterfully here.

For instance, the whole thing with the Romans. If this were a single episode, there could have never been devoted so much time to them and the mystery of who exactly they are would have to be resolved far earlier, but because this is a two-parter, the first part is basically completely devoted to that mystery - even though we actually don't know that they are a mystery at the beginning, but aren't those the best anyway? Similarly, the second episode focuses a lot of time on the concept of time being unwritten and things that actually happened having never happened, and this large space that Moffat can give ideas to develop here is largely due to the length of this story, which is nearly 105 minutes long.

Of course, the flip-side is that in a two-parter there must actually be enough ideas throughout so that the whole thing doesn't become boring, but a lack of ideas has never been Moffat's problem, and it isn't here either. We have the beautifully-done return of Rory, which the Doctor doesn't notice at first, the Doctor's permanent misunderstanding of what the Pandorica is (capped off by his beautiful speech in Stonehenge, which, in retrospect, must have sounded pretty funny to all of those guys of the Alliance), the appearance of the solitary Dalek in the second part, which is actually scarier than pretty much any of RTD's uses of Daleks, save for maybe Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways, and of course the whole amazingly emotional resolution of the cracks and the way that the Doctor comes back.

Like with every Moffat finale, River is back, but she doesn't steal the show for me here, like she does in other episodes she is in. She still has some great moments, with my favourite being her response to the Doctor's accusation of graffitying the oldest cliff face in the universe. Still, I like how her story develops independently of what the Doctor does here, with her actually taking the TARDIS to the fateful date that the explosion happened.

Of course, you can't talk about this episode without mentioning the amazing resolution. Throughout the series, two notions have been mentioned quite a few times: if something can be remembered, it can come back and that Amelia Pond is not a normal girl, and both of these become important during the end of this story. I love how the unwinding of the Doctor's time stream explains that weird scene in Flesh and Stone, making Moffat even more of a genius (if that's possible), and the Doctor's farewell monologue to a sleeping Amelia is nothing short of beautiful. As is the way that Amy brings him back, by the way.

All in all, this finale has everything: action, emotional stuff, wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey and a happy ending that makes it one of the most positive finales that the show has ever seen - and one that I doubt will ever be topped.

[ariich]

As much as I love The Name of the Doctor, and I agree with Adam that it is the perfect set-up for the 50th, the finale to series 5 is definitely my favourite of all the finales. It just brings that series together so perfectly, and is a huge part of why it's my favourite series. Amazing stuff!

[Scorpion]

Before I go into the Top 5, here's some episodes that just barely missed the cut, but could possibly make in the future.

Gridlock (S3, Russel T. Davies)

Many people aren't that taken with this one, but I really like it. The idea behind the whole thing is interesting, as is the fact that there's no real villain (you might have noticed that I really enjoy these kind of stories), and the visuals are pretty sweet as well. Nice to see a return of the Macra as well, their integration into the episode makes perfect sense. Also, that moment with the hymn is sooo cheesy, but it works perfectly and never fails to send chills down my spine. The closing scene between the Doctor and Martha is great as well.

Amy's Choice (S5, Simon Nye)

This story has two main things going for it: the great Toby Jones as the Dream Lord, one of my favourite Doctor Who villains, and amazing character development. The story isn't that good, but it's not really at the forefront here either and it's not bad either. The resolution feels a little like a cop-out, though, which prevents this from climbing higher than this, though I still really really like it.

The Girl Who Waited (S6, Tom McRae)

This is perhaps the counterpart to Amy's Choice, effectively being about Rory's Choice. Karen Gillain plays the older Amy exceptionally well and the scenes between the two Amy's and Rory are some of the most heartwarming scenes of the series. Also, at the end of the episode, you really hate the Doctor, but it's masterfully done - especially Rory's "You're turning me into you!" line is pretty great. Definitely one of the high-lights of Season 6.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Both Amy's Choice and Gridlock would probably be in my Top 20, were I to make one. So, good choices.

[bout to crash]

I love Gridlock! But I don't know that hymn so it didn't do much for me.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that part. "The Old Rugged Cross" is actually one of my least favorite hymns, but I thought it worked really well in context.

[Scorpion]

Entering Top 5!

05. The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit (S2, Matt Jones)

This is far and away the best thing of Season 2, and while that one is my least favourite season by about a nautical mile, that does not diminish the brilliance of this two-parter in the slightest. Matt Jones really delivers a fantastic job with this script, beginning to end - it's a shame that he hasn't contributed more to the show.

Anyway, what is this one about? The Doctor and Rose land on a planet that shouldn't exist, as it is in orbit around a black hole. There they find a human expedition, trying to find the power source that enables this orbit, to use it on Earth, if possible, which is actually quite a great idea - I mean, it's probably what we would do if we found out about something like that. It's actually quite a shame that the power source is never revealed, though I understand the reasoning - nothing could probably fit the criteria of such a power source without being utterly ridiculous.

One of my favourite characters here is Toby, the villain (well, sort of) of this story. The way that he switches between maniacal grins and scared looks to fool the rest of the crew is great, and that scene with him standing outside without a space-suit is probably one of the creepiest scenes ever, on Doctor Who. The Beast, as the main villain, is also quite good, but Toby's performance, playing the possessed archeologist, is what elevates the villain here beyond the typical Doctor-Who-fare.

This episode is also the first one to introduce us to the Ood, which are a pretty interesting species. They also make great villains, though they are, like Toby, not really villains at all - just the playthings of the Beast. I absolutely love their look, though, and the translator ball - which is explained in the Season-4-episode Planet of the Ood makes a pretty frightening weapon.

What I really like about this episode is that the Doctor is, for once, not the one charging ahead, but rather, he's the one that's always a step behind the beast - well, until the end. His scenes with Ida below the base, and then in the pit, are masterfully played and show us a side to the Doctor that we rarely see - the Doctor that has no idea what the hell he is doing. He does redeem himself at the end, though, though the fact that he just happened to stumble across the TARDIS in the pit smelt a little of Deus Ex Machina - not that it bothered me a lot, mind you.

Another cool thing here is that there are a lot of things that are unexplored here and will probably stay that way. Who exactly is the Beast? Was he really trapped before time? How is that even possible? And what happened to the Beast at the end? A lot of questions aren't answered at all, but that just adds to the creepy and mysterious note of this episode, making it not only a great watch, but also a very satisfying rewatch, because there still plenty left to think about.

While I pretty much love this episode to death, there are a few minor points of criticism. The first is that the Doctor's "Humans are brilliant" schtick is really starting to piss me off here, and it only gets worse every time I watch it. The second is that a few of the crew are a little underdeveloped and one-dimensional, like Mr. Jefferson and don't really serve a point aside from cannon fodder for Toby and the Ood. Still, that's just minor stuff that in no way detracts from the brilliance of this episode.

[senecadawg2]

EXCELLENT episode. My favorite from season 2, ignoring the brilliance that is the Girl in the Fireplace.

[Scorpion]

04. Blink (S3, Steven Moffat)

You all knew that this had to be somewhere around here. No Doctor Who Top 20 would be complete without this episode, and for good reason. The Weeping Angels are one of the best villains that the series has ever produced and the execution is perfect here. While Moffat sometimes went a little overboard with the timey-wimey in later episodes, here, it works perfectly - it's complex, yes, but it actually makes sense.

What else is there to say about this one? The characters are great here, and that doesn't, for a change, include the Doctor, because he has little to no screen-time on this one. Carey Mulligan, however, delivers a fantastic performance as Sally Sparrow, a character that you really don't know for a long time but that you still love right from the get-go. Plus, she is pretty easy on the eyes. The smaller characters here, like Billy Shipton, are great as well and developed with amazing care.

I guess there isn't a lot more to say about this one. It's considered a classic, and there is no reason for it not to be.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Somehow I neglected to comment on The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit. That is a travesty, as it is a magnificent episode.

Blink is excellent as well.

[ariich]

Nice concise write-up there Scorp.

As you say though, this episode hardly needs explaining.

[wasteland]

A great episode, even though you rank it somewhat higher than I will probably do. Also, I LOVED Sally Sparrow. I wish she had become a more regular presence in the show, she had a certain potential (like Christina from Planet Of The Dead)

[ariich]

I dunno, Christina was kinda annoying, although she was hot.

Whereas Sally Sparrow was both hot and awesome.

Oh and sign me up to do a top 20 after Marco!

[wasteland]

You go ahead Rich, I've just started with the writeups and I don't have enough much time to complete them in the short time that's left until the tennis player is done with his list 

[ariich]

I'm not sure I'll be ready to go straight away either (I only just decided to sign up now, so don't even have a list yet), so if you have some write-ups done then you should definitely go first. You'll have some time to do the rest of the write-ups as you post updates.

[ariich]

When I do mine, would it be allowed if I did more than 20? I want to include a handful of episodes from the classic series as well but that's making really hard to get down to only 20. 30 would be ideal, but even 25 would be fine.

[Scorpion]

Sure! No limits, that's what I limited myself to, but you don't have to follow that.

In related news, update tomorrow. I'm a little drunk right now and I don't think that I could do #3 justice right now.

[Jaq]

Blink's too low.   

I say that mainly because if I made a list, Blink would be number 1 running away. It's not just the best episode of Doctor Who period, it's one of the best done episodes of television period.  That it accomplishes this with the stars of the show barely in it is a tribute to the sheer brilliance of Moffat's writing. Stunning doesn't begin to do it justice.

[Scorpion]

03. The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone (S5, Steven Moffat)

That opening sequence has to be among the best opening sequences ever. I love how timey-whimey it feels without being pretentious or unbelievable. River is amazingly badass here and that moment in the museum is great. "That's Old High Gallifreyan, the lost language of the Time Lords. There were days... there were many days, these words could burn stars, and raise up empires, and topple Gods..." "What does it say?" "... Hello Sweetie." I can't even exactly say what I love about that scene, it's probably the reluctant delivery of the last line, but it just works perfectly.

The rest of the episode is amazing as well, of course, otherwise it wouldn't be this high. It introduces some new stuff to the creepiness of the Angels, like the talking Angel Bob or the whole thing with the eyes. Speaking of the eyes, that scene with the Angel emerging from the screen in the first part has to be one of the most creepy moments of the show, period. I love how Amy defeats it as well - I generally love that about Amy, that she's able to think by herself and doesn't have to rely on the Doctor for everything, like here. The whole scene with the eyes closed creates an amazing tension and I like how it so very aptly reverses the whole "Don't blink" thingy.

What else? The introduction of the Time Cracks is amazingly done and adds a whole new dynamic to the whole story, as well as a believable way of resolving the whole problem of having an army of Angels, as well an Angel in Amy's eye. That inclusion of the scene of the Doctor going back during The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang is so masterfully woven into the storyline that you don't even notice it at first, that it's a different Doctor, but it all makes sense.

The clerics aren't really developed very well, but I like their inclusion here, and the Doctor's explanation that the Church has moved on, turning clerics into soldiers. Octavian, on the other hand, is great, especially his death scene is amazingly touching. "I think, Sir, that you knew me at my best."

River is intriguing as always here, and I like that. I think I liked her better when there was still that air of mystery around her, even though I understand that it had to be solved eventually, so I'm not disappointed in the slightest - I just like her more when she's all intriguing and stuff.

So yeah, don't really know what else to say about this one. It's just perfect on every level, brimming with great ideas and executed about as well as you could want.

[ariich]

I love those episodes, but I'm not sure I'd place them so high. Maybe it's because series 5 is just so ridiculously good, but those ones feel like a pretty straightforward part of that series.

[bout to crash]

I agree with Rich. I also think Blink is great but slightly overrated. Don't hit me.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

My brain exploded when I realized the scene from Flesh And Stone was from The Big Bang.

[ariich]

My brain exploded when I realized the scene from Flesh And Stone was from The Big Bang.

I remember getting excited about that soon after Flesh and Stone aired, we were discussing it here and speculating that it would return, and what it might mean. If you look back in the Doctor Who thread, it's all there.

[Scorpion]

02. The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon (S6, Steven Moffat)

I know, I know. This will probably be an unpopular choice, because it's hard to seperate this from the Season 6 arc, and not many people are the biggest fans of that. But holy hell, this is an AMAZING opener. The pre-credits sequence is whimsical and light-hearted enough to lure you into a false sense of security, and then... you know, main character killed off, no big deal. When I first watched that, I think my mouth didn't close for a solid minute and I kept babbling incoherent stuff. Not much of Doctor Who can shock me, but that certainly hit me unexpectedly.

After that, the episode doesn't let up, delivering amazing comedy and action that keeps you on your feet the in a seamless blend. On one side, we have the amazing one-liners like "That's okay. You were my second choice for President." or "I'm going to need a SWAT team, street maps of Florida, a cup of coffee, twelve Jammie Dodgers and a fez!", or, my personal favourite, "That's my usual face." "Exactly.", on the other side we have the amazingly creepy scene with the Silent in the bathroom (though I did get how the Silence worked earlier on, thank you!) or the scenes in the warehouse, especially in the tunnels, which creep me out to this day, even though I know them by heart.

And while The Impossible Astronaut is amazing already, I think, if I were forced to choose, I'd take Day of the Moon over it, any day. The opening is mysterious and does actually make sense (well, to me) even though it isn't really explained, plus it just features some gorgeous filming. The scene in the orphanage is probably the centrepiece here, and it's probably the closest that Doctor Who has ever come to horror. When Amy sees her reflection in the orphanage window with the marks on her face, I nearly shat myself. The introduction of Madame Kovarian is amazingly handled as well. Props also to the owner of the orphanage (I forgot his name), who delivers an amazingly unsettling performance here.

But even that, to my mind, pales against what I'd probably consider to be my favourite Matt Smith moment EVER (though there is tough competition, like the speech in The Rings of Akhaten) - when he, Rory and River arrive at the headquarters of the Silence. From the beginning on, he commands the screen and just absolutely owns everything. The whole defeat thing of the Silence is AWESOME, and the whole speech that precedes it is something that Moffat has, in my opinion, not matched before or since. Despite a few comedic lines like "Okay, I lied. I'm not going to let you go that easily. Nice though, but it's not Christmas.", the Doctor is deadly serious here and Smith shows that with an astounding performance.

The closing moments are great as well. The kiss between River and the Doctor is as funny as it is heartbreaking, and it's nice to see that Amy has finally left the Doctor-shagging behind her, even though that metaphor "dropped out of the sky" does feel a little forced.

Oh yeah, and the ending? People, take note. That's how you do a cliffhanger.




Well, that's #2. Any guesses for #1?

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Excellent choice, I actually just watched those a few days ago. Fantastic, both of them.

Number 1? Silence In The Library/Forest Of The Dead. Or have you done them already?

[masterthes]

I love Time of Angels better than Blink. It was almost like Moffat was thinking, okay, we established them in Blink, let's make them really badass now. And yes, that opening is sheer brilliance

The Impossible Astronaut may just be my favorite season opener of Doctor Who

[ariich]

Another excellent two-parter! Aside from Black Spot, the first half of series 6 is so ridiculously good!

As for the number 1... impossible to guess really. Silence in the Library definitely feels like a major omission, but not everyone loves the same stuff.