Friday Favorites: The Ultimate Guide to New Who Story Arcs
Doctor Who is one of very few shows where it's actually okay to watch episodes out of order. In fact, for the most part, you can skip from season to season and back again with no problem. So for the newbie fan who just wants to get to the meat of it, rather than trudge through season 1...
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO NEW WHO STORY ARCS
THE MASTER ARC (including backstory so everything makes sense)
The Empty Child - Season 1
The Doctor Dances - Season 1
Bad Wolf - Season 1
The Parting of the Ways - Season 1
Human Nature - Season 3
Family of Blood - Season 3
Utopia - Season 3
The Sound of Drums - Season 3
The Last of the Time Lords - Season 3
Planet of the Dead - 2009 Special (not as important but makes End of Time make more sense)
The End of Time - 2009 Special
(There’s also Waters of Mars in between the last two which is really good but doesn’t pertain to the Master, I don’t think. It is important in its own way though, showing that, well, the Doctor’s off his rocker.)
THE ROSE ARC (including backstory)
Rose - Season 1
Father’s Day - Season 1
Bad Wolf - Season 1
The Parting of the Ways - Season 1
Rise of the Cybermen - Season 2
The Age of Steel - Season 2
Army of Ghosts - Season 2
Doomsday - Season 2
Turn Left - Season 4
The Stolen Earth - Season 4
Journey’s End - Season 4
(The 2009 specials all fit on to the end of this arc so it makes sense to watch them here as well.)
THE RIVER ARC
Silence in the Library - Season 4
Forest of the Dead - Season 4
The Time of Angels - Season 5
Flesh and Stone - Season 5
The Pandorica Opens - Season 5
The Big Bang - Season 5
The Impossible Astronaut - Season 6
Day of the Moon - Season 6
A Good Man Goes to War - Season 6
Let’s Kill Hitler - Season 6
The Wedding of River Song - Season 6
Also, once you’ve seen them all, it’s entirely too much fun to go back and watch them in the order that River experienced them instead which is as follows:
Let’s Kill Hitler - Season 6
The Wedding of River Song - Season 6
A Good Man Goes to War - Season 6
The Impossible Astronaut - Season 6
Day of the Moon - Season 6
The Pandorica Opens - Season 5
The Big Bang - Season 5
The Time of Angels - Season 5
Flesh and Stone - Season 5
Silence in the Library - Season 4
Forest of the Dead - Season 4
OTHER AWESOME EPISODES
The Girl in the Fireplace - Season 2
School Reunion - Season 2
Blink - Season 3
The Shakespeare Code - Season 3
The Doctor’s Daughter - Season 4
Midnight - Season 4
Amy’s Choice - Season 5
Vincent and the Doctor - Season 5
A Christmas Carol - 2010 Special
The Doctor’s Wife - Season 6
The God Complex - Season 6