Ten Days to a Tenth Anniversary, 5: Favourite Episode
Continuing our countdown to the tenth anniversary of NuWho via the New Who Anniversary Celebration Countdown Challenge posted to the comm by ibishtar:
March 21st: Favourite Episode
I'm actually going to cheat with this one, as there is absolutely no way in this or any other universe that I am going to manage to narrow myself down to just one. Or if I did I would have changed my mind by next week, or possibly tomorrow. So, I'm going to list my various favourites for each series. Because I'm a wimp. ;)
Series 1 - I remain unmoved even on several re-watches by at-the-time fan favourite Father's Day, but Dalek is the bee's knees if you ask me, if only for Eccleston's astonishingly committed, spittle-spewing performance. I don't think I'm alone, though, in thinking of The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances as the crowning glory of that first season, genuinely scary at the time and still a bit scary on the umpteenth re-watch, as well as introducing Captain Jack in all his glory. Nine, Rose and Jack together make one of the great Team TARDISes, alas not for very long - and perhaps mainly for that reason I retain a certain regard for The Parting of the Ways/Bad Wolf which is also a great send-off for Eccleston's Doctor. The Oncoming Storm indeed.
Series 2 - I'll confess, my least favourite season of NuWho. I should like School Reunion because Lis Sladen is kind of great in it and it ultimately begat my beloved Sarah Jane Adventures, but I still feel it badly misrepresented the actual circumstances of Four and Sarah's parting in The Hand of Fear in the interests of generating angst. The Girl in the Fireplace leaves me cold, I'm afraid. I'd have to go for the two-parter The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. It's as creepy as hell (no pun intended) with a great assemblage of guest actors/supporting characters, good turns by the regulars and Gabriel Woolf Sutekhing-it-up as the mellifluous voice of the Beast. Brrr.
Series 3 - I really like Freema Agyeman as Martha, although I feel she was badly served by many of the scripts she got during this season. A lot people really like Gridlock, and I recognise it as a good story but for whatever reason it doesn't constitute a "favourite" for me. I do think, though, that the whole of the second half of this season is a run of really strong episodes. I worship at the altar of Human Nature/Family of Blood, possibly Tennant's best ever single performance as the Doctor (it's that or Midnight), with some good supporting actors too. What can I say about Blink that hasn't been said by others? Still the real deal. Utopia is a gem, for Derek Jacobi's performance and for the fact that the big twist completely blindsided me the first time I saw it, and The Sound of Drums builds on it. Too bad the season falls at the last hurdle with the underwhelming finale in Last of the Time Lords. Even better than these episodes, though, for me, is the epic trailer they aired at the end of 42 for the second half of the series - Simm drumming on the table du-dumm du-dumm, du-dumm du-dumm, "Don't blink!", all of that stuff. Stoked I was, at the time. ;)
Series 4 - Midnight and Turn Left are two bleak, nasty, spiky little treasures showing the dark, pessimistic side of Russell T Davies's worldview (also to be seen in Torchwood: Children of Earth and many of the other non-Doctor WHo things he has written), as well as being great showcases, respectively, for David Tennant and Catherine Tate. I'd probably have to flip a coin between those two to be honest. One story from this season that has grown on me hugely in the intervening years and on subsequent re-watches is The Unicorn and the Wasp - hilariously funny, in my mind, and with some great interactions between Ten, Donna and the guest characters: "Too salty!" This season's finale is, I think, about three quarters of a good two-part NuWho story. If I could just keep The Stolen Earth an all but the last twenty minutes or so of Journey's End (with a new ending added, I suppose) I would be very happy indeed. Davros is really good in it, though - they have to get him back at some point and have Julian Bleach playing him again.
The Specials - Waters of Mars, all the way. Interesting characters, good performances and using the Ten!angst for good rather than evil...kind of. Too bad that The End of Time did not build upon it or even acknowledge it at all.
Series 5 - My favourite NuWho season, and I waxed lyrical about it sufficiently, probably, in yesterday's post. All I will say now, by way of summary, is that The Eleventh Hour is a great opening, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang is a great finish, and there are some great in-between bits, of which the pick, for me, would be The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone with honourable mentions going to Amy's Choice and The Lodger.
Series 6 - The Doctor's Wife. Just...the Doctor's Wife. I loved it then, I love it now. It's a love letter to Doctor Who, a great big Easter egg for all Doctor Who fans, and manages to be a game changer and a mould-breaker without actually telling us anything we didn't already know in our hearts. As well as being really nasty and messed-up and horrible, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I also really like - like really like - The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon - something about the combination of 1960s Americana and Eleven's plight as portrayed by Matt Smith really appeals to me. And I think Canton's ace - so sue me. ;)
Series 7 - Is better than received fan-wisdom might have you believe. I'd single out two stories in particular - Asylum of the Daleks is a genuine favourite for me, in no small part due to Jenna Coleman's great performance as not-really-Clara. Another thing like the twist in Utopia that came as a genuine surprise to me at the time of first watching - "wait, isn't that the new companion...already?" Except that it wasn't, exactly. And you get to see about one and a half seconds of the Special Weapons Dalek from Remembrance, which is obviously my real reason for rating this one so highly. From the second half of Series 7...he gets a lot stick from fandom, but Mark Gatiss's two efforts Cold War and The Crimson Horror are both great if you ask me. One is a too-trad-for-school base under siege with homages to Alien, The Thing and The Hunt for Red October, the other is a slice of Hammer Horror craziness with Gatiss going back to his League of Gentlemen roots and Diana Rigg loving the chance to play an over-the-top baddie - both are just great.
And of course between Series 7 and 8 we have the 50th anniversary hijinks of The Day of the Doctor followed by The Time of the Doctor, Eleven's swansong. Of these, The Day of the Doctor is clearly the superior article and very much my favourite. I mean, just for the Tom Baker cameo alone, but most of the other things about it are wonderful too. Still, enormous Eleven fanboy that I remain, I find that I can't dislike Time of the Doctor even though it's something of a plothole-ridden mess.
Series 8 - It's probably a bit too early for me to pick a favourite from NuWho's most recent season. The contrarian in me makes me not want to pick either of instant fan favourites Mummy on the Orient Express or Flatline, even though they were by any measure very, very good stories. Listen is really good as well, and has some very unsettling moments - the blanket bit is possibly the scariest thing I've seen in Who since the phone ringing in The Empty Child and...what were those things, vaguely glimpsed coming through the spaceship door? At the risk of sounding like some sort of Gatiss fanboy, though, I really loved the not-much-fancied Robot of Sherwood. It was silly and stupid and funny and none of those are bad things in Who as far as I'm concerned. And Ben Miller's Sheriff absolutely reeked of mid-period Anthony Ainley.
And I haven't even mentioned any of the Christmas Specials yet, but if we're counting them too, I still think A Christmas Carol is the best of the bunch, mainly as a showcase for Matt Smith. I also liked The Snowmen a lot, and the recent Last Christmas wasn't bad.
If you really pushed me, like held a Demat Gun to my head to pick a single favourite episode, I'd probably have to go with The Doctor's Wife. It's magnificent in a lot of different ways with some great performances and moments. However, there are lots of other magnificent stories out there - picking just one seems impossible to me.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the issue. Hopefully some of you will be a bit more decisive than I am - what would you nominate as your favourite episode(s) of the post-2005 era?
March 21st: Favourite Episode
I'm actually going to cheat with this one, as there is absolutely no way in this or any other universe that I am going to manage to narrow myself down to just one. Or if I did I would have changed my mind by next week, or possibly tomorrow. So, I'm going to list my various favourites for each series. Because I'm a wimp. ;)
Series 1 - I remain unmoved even on several re-watches by at-the-time fan favourite Father's Day, but Dalek is the bee's knees if you ask me, if only for Eccleston's astonishingly committed, spittle-spewing performance. I don't think I'm alone, though, in thinking of The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances as the crowning glory of that first season, genuinely scary at the time and still a bit scary on the umpteenth re-watch, as well as introducing Captain Jack in all his glory. Nine, Rose and Jack together make one of the great Team TARDISes, alas not for very long - and perhaps mainly for that reason I retain a certain regard for The Parting of the Ways/Bad Wolf which is also a great send-off for Eccleston's Doctor. The Oncoming Storm indeed.
Series 2 - I'll confess, my least favourite season of NuWho. I should like School Reunion because Lis Sladen is kind of great in it and it ultimately begat my beloved Sarah Jane Adventures, but I still feel it badly misrepresented the actual circumstances of Four and Sarah's parting in The Hand of Fear in the interests of generating angst. The Girl in the Fireplace leaves me cold, I'm afraid. I'd have to go for the two-parter The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. It's as creepy as hell (no pun intended) with a great assemblage of guest actors/supporting characters, good turns by the regulars and Gabriel Woolf Sutekhing-it-up as the mellifluous voice of the Beast. Brrr.
Series 3 - I really like Freema Agyeman as Martha, although I feel she was badly served by many of the scripts she got during this season. A lot people really like Gridlock, and I recognise it as a good story but for whatever reason it doesn't constitute a "favourite" for me. I do think, though, that the whole of the second half of this season is a run of really strong episodes. I worship at the altar of Human Nature/Family of Blood, possibly Tennant's best ever single performance as the Doctor (it's that or Midnight), with some good supporting actors too. What can I say about Blink that hasn't been said by others? Still the real deal. Utopia is a gem, for Derek Jacobi's performance and for the fact that the big twist completely blindsided me the first time I saw it, and The Sound of Drums builds on it. Too bad the season falls at the last hurdle with the underwhelming finale in Last of the Time Lords. Even better than these episodes, though, for me, is the epic trailer they aired at the end of 42 for the second half of the series - Simm drumming on the table du-dumm du-dumm, du-dumm du-dumm, "Don't blink!", all of that stuff. Stoked I was, at the time. ;)
Series 4 - Midnight and Turn Left are two bleak, nasty, spiky little treasures showing the dark, pessimistic side of Russell T Davies's worldview (also to be seen in Torchwood: Children of Earth and many of the other non-Doctor WHo things he has written), as well as being great showcases, respectively, for David Tennant and Catherine Tate. I'd probably have to flip a coin between those two to be honest. One story from this season that has grown on me hugely in the intervening years and on subsequent re-watches is The Unicorn and the Wasp - hilariously funny, in my mind, and with some great interactions between Ten, Donna and the guest characters: "Too salty!" This season's finale is, I think, about three quarters of a good two-part NuWho story. If I could just keep The Stolen Earth an all but the last twenty minutes or so of Journey's End (with a new ending added, I suppose) I would be very happy indeed. Davros is really good in it, though - they have to get him back at some point and have Julian Bleach playing him again.
The Specials - Waters of Mars, all the way. Interesting characters, good performances and using the Ten!angst for good rather than evil...kind of. Too bad that The End of Time did not build upon it or even acknowledge it at all.
Series 5 - My favourite NuWho season, and I waxed lyrical about it sufficiently, probably, in yesterday's post. All I will say now, by way of summary, is that The Eleventh Hour is a great opening, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang is a great finish, and there are some great in-between bits, of which the pick, for me, would be The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone with honourable mentions going to Amy's Choice and The Lodger.
Series 6 - The Doctor's Wife. Just...the Doctor's Wife. I loved it then, I love it now. It's a love letter to Doctor Who, a great big Easter egg for all Doctor Who fans, and manages to be a game changer and a mould-breaker without actually telling us anything we didn't already know in our hearts. As well as being really nasty and messed-up and horrible, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I also really like - like really like - The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon - something about the combination of 1960s Americana and Eleven's plight as portrayed by Matt Smith really appeals to me. And I think Canton's ace - so sue me. ;)
Series 7 - Is better than received fan-wisdom might have you believe. I'd single out two stories in particular - Asylum of the Daleks is a genuine favourite for me, in no small part due to Jenna Coleman's great performance as not-really-Clara. Another thing like the twist in Utopia that came as a genuine surprise to me at the time of first watching - "wait, isn't that the new companion...already?" Except that it wasn't, exactly. And you get to see about one and a half seconds of the Special Weapons Dalek from Remembrance, which is obviously my real reason for rating this one so highly. From the second half of Series 7...he gets a lot stick from fandom, but Mark Gatiss's two efforts Cold War and The Crimson Horror are both great if you ask me. One is a too-trad-for-school base under siege with homages to Alien, The Thing and The Hunt for Red October, the other is a slice of Hammer Horror craziness with Gatiss going back to his League of Gentlemen roots and Diana Rigg loving the chance to play an over-the-top baddie - both are just great.
And of course between Series 7 and 8 we have the 50th anniversary hijinks of The Day of the Doctor followed by The Time of the Doctor, Eleven's swansong. Of these, The Day of the Doctor is clearly the superior article and very much my favourite. I mean, just for the Tom Baker cameo alone, but most of the other things about it are wonderful too. Still, enormous Eleven fanboy that I remain, I find that I can't dislike Time of the Doctor even though it's something of a plothole-ridden mess.
Series 8 - It's probably a bit too early for me to pick a favourite from NuWho's most recent season. The contrarian in me makes me not want to pick either of instant fan favourites Mummy on the Orient Express or Flatline, even though they were by any measure very, very good stories. Listen is really good as well, and has some very unsettling moments - the blanket bit is possibly the scariest thing I've seen in Who since the phone ringing in The Empty Child and...what were those things, vaguely glimpsed coming through the spaceship door? At the risk of sounding like some sort of Gatiss fanboy, though, I really loved the not-much-fancied Robot of Sherwood. It was silly and stupid and funny and none of those are bad things in Who as far as I'm concerned. And Ben Miller's Sheriff absolutely reeked of mid-period Anthony Ainley.
And I haven't even mentioned any of the Christmas Specials yet, but if we're counting them too, I still think A Christmas Carol is the best of the bunch, mainly as a showcase for Matt Smith. I also liked The Snowmen a lot, and the recent Last Christmas wasn't bad.
If you really pushed me, like held a Demat Gun to my head to pick a single favourite episode, I'd probably have to go with The Doctor's Wife. It's magnificent in a lot of different ways with some great performances and moments. However, there are lots of other magnificent stories out there - picking just one seems impossible to me.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on the issue. Hopefully some of you will be a bit more decisive than I am - what would you nominate as your favourite episode(s) of the post-2005 era?