I don’t think it’s been mentioned, but one of mine is The Girl in the Fireplace (S2E4 Tennant).
Also, I loved the finale and the season as a whole. They have finally given Capaldi some good stuff to work with this year.
Finally finished my rewatch of Silence of the Library/Forest of the Dead. Interesting, at the end, when River is injected into the computer to live on in ‘Cal’ that River says: “You just can’t let it go” (or something like that…too many rum & eggnogs). Kind of an interesting parallel to Clara.
Watching Time of the Angels now. Quite an interesting jump from Donna and Tennant to Amy and Smith. This is definitely a ‘spooky’ episode. I love the Angels.
When seeing this, I had the nagging feeling in my head that although the doctor had been locked away for millennia, from the Doctor’s point of view, it was only 2 days or something! There was no memory persistence between when he dies and when he respawned, and the only reason he knew that he’s been there for any length of time was because the stars were different and something to do with the way he teleported, coupled with the fact that he’s a clever bloke who did the exact same thing each time, and each time he notices the indentation in the diamond-stuff wall and thinks “God I’ve been here a while”.
Also, given that he continually respawned, in a “ship of Theseus” kind of way is he even the same doctor? ;)
Well to be fair, is anyone in the series? Teleportation is fairly common in the universe.
I just wanted to thank you for this list. It’s definitely felt like ‘the best of’ episodes. Each one has been great even though I’m only halfway through so far. Continuity is maintained by my vague memory of the episodes I’m skipping and the ‘on the last episode’ show leader. After this list, I will voyage back to Eccleston times.
Always happy to help someone enjoy Doctor Who :)
OK, about to go into general re-run season, and some down time for the wife and I to do some binging. Our friends who like the same kind of TV we do love Dr. Who, but when we tried to just watch a random episode that was on, it was kinda hard to get into.
SO - if we want to give the show its best shot of hooking us, what season would you recommend we start with? I’m thinking just starting with Ep 1 of a season and watching the season all the way through. Looks like Netflix has complete episodes of seasons 1 - 8?
Most lists (and there have been many) would suggest that you start with Blink (season 3, ep10), which hooks you in the way that BSG does with its terrific initial episodes and doesn’t let go despite periods of mediocrity and cheesiness. Personally I would say to watch:
Blink
Girl in the Fireplace
Silence of the Library/Forest of the Dead
Then start watching from season 5
Go back to earlier seasons later once you run out, maybe (or just watch the recommend ones)
I started with Blink, then tried to get into the series by watching Tennant’s outing in The Christmas Invasion. My wife and I couldn’t get through it. I’m sure lots would disagree but I would think it tough to get through seasons 1-4 straight without some pre-existing fondness for the doctor (or a hefty tolerance for cheese.)
Seriously, just do the list above that starts with blink. I’m up to Asylum of the Daleks and it has been a ton of fun. Loving it so far.
Just watched the final 3 episodes of this season, talk about kicking a man in the feels. Also probably the best 3 episodes of the season. :)
The new sonic looks wonderful, I hope they make a replica for at home use. I would totally buy one.
I really enjoyed the Christmas special. It was great fun, and the writing at the end was lovely.
Totally forgot about the Christmas special!
I finally finished my Matt Smith arc ‘best of’ list mentioned earlier. I’ve now headed back and watched Eccleston in “Dalek”. I had totally forgotten about the feel he gives the series. It’s definitely more raw. It really turned around my flawed memory of him as the Doctor.
Eccleston was indeed fantastic, as he himself declares.
Watching the latest Christmas episode right now. I have fallen in love with Capaldi again purely for his “it’s bigger on the inside” speech.
I laughed hard on that one.
I had quite a grin on my face during this entire episode (well, minus the parts toward the end). Likely the best ‘fun’ episode in a long while.
This season really ended well.
Just finished the Zygon invasion. So far I’m rather pleased. First time since Moffat started that I could watch a couple of episodes in a row. What I don’t understand: Why all the aversion against Clara? Especially after all the raving about Amy and Rory, that I never understood. I think her acting is fine, she’s got more than one facial expression and I like how her character is written. All in all she’s just a fine companion that I enjoy watching.
Every companion gets hated on. Why? No idea, I guess there is always someone that doesn’t like them and then they talk about it.
I found Clara to be the best of them. Donna,of course, being second.
The longer they’re around the more people start to turn on them as well. I thought Clara started slightly weak, but then once Capaldi showed up became amazing. The interactions between those two were just perfect.
I grew to dislike Clara probably about as much as Rose by the end. The problem with Clara isn’t the actress, Jenna Coleman was fine, it was the writing. First they never fully deliver on the “impossible girl” story line, and IMO Clara’s two best stories are her first two before she is Clara proper. It really comes down to an issue of power creep, over time not only does Clara become more and more like the Doctor but she becomes more and more important to the lore of the Who universe. By the end of the run she not only was there at a bunch of critical times in the Doctor’s timeline, but also
since countzero hasn’t caught up yet
apparently indirectly is the reason the Doctor fled Galifrey in the first place with the whole prophecy nonsense. Then her “bad end” was to give her her own Tardis and make her effectively immortal as well, as we know she has to die on that street.
IMO the entire show needs a step back, the seasons stakes are routinely too high and the Doctor has become too godlike with too much control over the Tardis. While I don’t want a third Doctor scenario with him losing the ability to use the Tardis, I wouldn’t mind seeing the randomizer circuit get stuck on for a season or two. Heck they could have Missy do it, as that certainly seems like something she would do to mess with him.