Just finished a twelfth doctor rewatch and here’s my ranking. Expect minor spoilers for some episodes.
An extremely shitty found footage horror movie that somehow made it onto Doctor Who instead of Tubi. What makes it even worse is that it’s surrounded by great episodes. This would of never been given the OK if Mark Gatiss wasn’t Steven Moffat’s bestie
I’m ok with some of the episodes with stupider premises, I love the angels take manhattan, but this takes it too far. The moon is a dragon egg? They genuinely choose to put the unborn dragon over every single life on earth? Also the kid is annoying and there is a weird pro-life metaphor running through this episode. TUMBLR MENTION THOUGH!
31. In the Forest of the Night
An episode that feels extremely long where absolutely nothing happens and then the problem resolves itself at the end without anybody doing anything.
People seem to like this one but I was annoyed the entire episode with how the doctor was depicted as an absolute idiot.
29. Extremis/The Pyramid at the End of the World/The Lie of the Land
The first part is amazing, it’s suspenseful and has a great twist, the second part is thoughoughly enjoyable though I almost felt as if it ignored the first part in some aspects? Like we entirely forgot about CERN and the whole Vatican thing which according to the previous episode should also be happening in the real world. The third one is where things really fall apart, it’s terrible, the entire episode has whack pacing, terribly unnecessary narration, a convoluted plot, a bizzare fake out regeneration that happens for no reason and the doctor is unnecessarily cruel to bill. The last episode needed a full rewrite from scratch.
Lame forgettable filler episode, except this one has children.
I think this one is a fun more lighthearted episode, my problem with it comes from the deux ex machine in the ending that brings Me back to life. The doctor can modify alien first aid kits so that they make anyone immortal? Why has he never done this before.
Rather lame, the only real reason this episode exists is to move forward the overarching story of the season to get to the finale. It does have some good moments though.
The main reason this is so low is because the guest cast are terrible actors except for David Shouchet. The script is fine, even if it makes no sense why so many people would be bunking together. The ending did feel a bit “how can we wrap this up”.
I was disappointed in this one, I did like it but I just expected more from Catherine Tregenna because I love her as a writer so much. I get what she was trying to do with this story but I think it just didn’t quite work as well as she hoped because that final scene with Me saving Sam Swift goes absolutely nowhere later on, and also It’s never explained what happened to Sam, is he still walking around hundreds of years later? We never see him again.
I enjoyed this quite a bit, just it was quite similar to the Torchwood episode Meat. Still very enjoyable though.
Mark Gattiss again, the persistent writer of just ok-bad doctor who episodes. This was his final episode for the show, and I liked this one even though I’m generally a Mark Gatiss hater, this is definitely his best episode he’s written for the show. It has a really fun premise that creates some wonderful imagery. The guest cast is a bit one dimensional but as a whole it’s a fun little very doctor Who-y romp.
Bill’s first trip in the tardis and a fun episode. I do like that in both this and thin ice they show bill taking a while to get used to the horrors that tardis companions have to see.
20. The Return of Doctor Mysterio
Really fun Christmas special that followed up from The Husbands of River Song’s storyline and giving the harmony shoal more of a spotlight. I don’t understand why people hate this one, it is very disconnected from the Doctor Who universe which I didn’t particularly care for, but it’s a silly Christmas special that’s never going to be referenced again so why does it really matter.
19. Dark Water/Death in Heaven
Ok, this is one I don’t know what to think about and it was borderline impossible to place. Great first episode. Some great character moments in the second episode. Missy is the best master. But the plot of dead corpses becoming Cybermen was way too nonesensical for me and I felt like it was a major mishandling of what the Cybermen are (which isn’t that uncommon).
Great twist, fun and silly Christmas special with some great character moments for both Clara and the Doctor.
Great introduction to this more abrasive incarnation and I loved the time it took on just how Clara reacts to the regeneration of the Doctor even when she was prepared. The steampunk aesthetic in this episode is wonderful and the pasternoster gang have there last appearance here.
Extremely underrated, I loved the dialogues between the Doctor and the Dalek, it was a fun and unique Dalek episode that really stands out against the others, the callbacks to Genesis were amazing. I don’t know why nobody ever talks about this episode.
Really underappreciated story, very engaging and suspenseful with a great twist. I really love it when time travel plays a role in the plot like this. Also, Clara in a suit….
14. Mummy on the Orient Express
Just a really solid bottle episode. The monster is great, I love the setting, the mysterious and open ended ending is interesting and I would like to see it be picked up someday.
This episode made me cry, what a sad companion exit, also set-up for two great episodes
12. Under the Lake/Before the Flood
I love this story because it’s one of the few doctor Who stories that really uses the time travel device to its most and has it become a factor in the actual plot. The twist is really great and the backwards storytelling is also something that I loved.
People seem to not care for this one but I love it, it’s a really lovely theatrical coda to The Doctor Falls. I do think it’s a bit odd that they chose to have the first doctor be so extremely sexist, but besides that the characterization isn’t that bad and I love the dynamic between the two doctors.
10. The Husbands of River Song
I thought this was a fun Christmas special and a great send off for River Song. Also uncle nardie was introduced here.
9. The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar
I love that this episode so deeply explored the Doctor and Davros’s relationship without trying to redeem Davros. This is probably my second favorite Dalek story behind Remembrance. Missy is great in it, so is her dynamic with Clara and it gives us some more time to fully explore Missy’s character.
8. The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion
The war speech is one of the most powerful moments in Moffat’s entire era. I think that’s what really seals this episode’s position as a great episode.
This is a really divisive one, I love it. Rachel Talalay gives the episode wonderful direction. It’s truely heartbreaking seeing the doctor doing everything he can to try to remember Clara when he’s right next to her. I broke down crying during this episode. The doctor and Clara’s final moments together on gallifrey and then in the diner are a wonderful send off for her.
Extremely poignant political episode, possibly the best in the show’s history. When this first aired it was very far fetched, but now, I could see this happening in the future with the direction things are going.
Top tier convoluted Moffat mindfuckery, an excellent twist twist at the end, the iconic opening. Such an amazing and absolutely terrifying episode.
This feels like rose 2.0, another introduction to the doctor’s world through the eyes of a companion. It has a really genius plot and idea for a “monster” if you can call it that. This episode made me fall in love with bill immediately and I feel like it would be one of the best possible introductions to doctor who for new viewers. The doctor going undercover as a lecturer for 50 years is an amazing idea that fits this incarnation perfectly. Just a very very well rounded episode.
Very simple, excellently paced monster of the week episode with great monsters. I love the spotlight it puts on Clara, it’s amazing having a companion who is an equal to the Doctor like that. The visual effects in this episode were amazing and really captured the uncanny valley ness of the creatures from the other dimension.
Rachel Talalay and Steven Moffat make one hell of the team. A lot of people consider this one the best doctor who episode of all time and for good reason. Phenomenal. Peter Capaldi gives what is probably his best performance in this episode, the ghostly apparition that follows him in haunting, the music is beautiful, the episode is so tight and perfectly written. It’s hard to not feel for the Doctor here with him being a small bird chipping away at a mountain.
1. World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
Absolutely phenomenal. Both Moffat’s writing and Talalays production are amazing. I feel like this is a spiritual finale to the series as a whole. It shows the Doctor doing everything he can to provide a few people with hope and maybe even save them against all odds, in the end we don’t know if the Doctor actually saved those people in the long term, but he gave a life of his for just the chance that he might of saved them. The second part acts as a character study of the Doctor and try’s to answer the questions who is the Doctor? And why does he do what he does? The first part manages to be a remake of spare parts while still being a very different and distinct story, it’s certainly some of the most disturbing stuff to ever come out of the show. I was also enamored with the contrast between the bleak and horrific first episode and the unabashed hope the doctor brings in the second episode.
