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Season Five: Matt Smith's first year and The Crack
Season Six: The Doctor's Death at Lake Silencio
Season Seven: Goodbye Amy and Rory, Hello Impossible Girl
(Day of the Doctor and Time of the Doctor should be included with S7)
Season Eight: Capaldi's first year and Missy
Season Nine: Goodbye Clara
My favorite was far and away Seven. I really liked that season, it had a lot of good episodes, and I really loved Clara from the beginning. And if you include the wonderfully excellent "Day" and "Time" it's no contest. Those two are my favorite stories from the Moffat Era.
Second would be Eight. I really liked Capaldi from the start, and most of the episodes were very solid. Aside from my intense dislike for Danny Pink I thought it was a really strong year.
Five, Six, and Nine were all mixed bags for me. They all had a lot of duds in them, and halfway through Six I actually started to lose interest in the show. But Five had a lot of bad episodes (the Silurian two parter, Vampires in Venice, etc).
I voted 5, with 6 being a close second. Moffat as a showrunner, to me, was at his best with the Doctor/Amy/Rory/and sometimes River dynamic. Series 5 had the best stories, best characters, best writing, etc. Sure, it had some problems (The Vampires of venice is probably the most boring, forgettable episode of NuWho), but besides that I'd say that every episode is at least good, with several being outright brilliant. Even TVoV wasn't terrible, just bland and boring. Series 6 is a bit weaker to me because I never liked the Silence or took them seriously, but it was still really good (especially as a fan of River), and A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite Doctor Who stories, period.
7A was also pretty good, but 7B drags the whole series down to average. Series 8 is, to me, the absolute worst series of Nu Who. Series 9 was pretty good. Not Series 5 or 6 level but still pretty good.
6. As much as I love 5, I felt like 6 had more of a story arch than 5. Plus I loved the whole Melody/River reveal, and the fact that Amy and Rory were married instead of being in ''wedding limbo.'' I loved the Silence as well.
The rest: 5, 7A, 7B, 8.
I can't include 9 because I stopped watching halfway through.
5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
And one last time for emphasis 5.
Take note: the one for emphasis is the 11th #5.
11=Matt Smith
Matt Smith=My favorite Doctor.
For me, the rest of the seasons/series follow in this order:
Seven
Eight
Six
Nine
9 hasn't impressed me and I'm sad about Clara leaving. That's why I make 9 last. The only episodes in 9 that impressed me were "The Magician's Apprentice" and "The Witch's Familiar".
With the exception of "Amy's Choice", which I find boring, 5 did a bases load, out of the park, grand slam homerun.
I just made a baseball reference. That proves I've been watching too much Star Trek: Deep Space 9 the last couple weeks. Baseball reminds me of DS9's Captain Sisko because Captain Sisko loves baseball. Any way, back to Doctor Who.
6 is one above 9 because it had about 5 or 6 episodes I like compared to 9's grand total of 2 episodes I like. But in the end, for me anyway, they both suck.
7 almost got my vote but "A Town Called Mercy", "The Angels Take Manhattan" "Cold War" and "Nightmare in Silver" knocked 7 into second place.
The only thing wrong with 8 is I just like 5 & 7 better. I think I know why I like 5 & 7 better--MATT SMITH. For any of you thinking it: NO! Matt Smith is NOT why 6 is above 9. If that were the case, 6 would also be above 8. 6 is above 9 and below 8 because it sucked less than 9 but more than 8.
Well, fellow Doctor Who fans, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
The Crack storyline reminded me a lot of the Bad Wolf storyline and that's something I want to see come back. Have something as a teaser in all the episodes leading to the finale. They've done that with Missy (The one thing I did like about Season 8) but I'm talking something a little more subtle. It was also coming off the high that was Stolen Earth/Journey's End and I was still excited for Doctor Who at the time.
Wow, I can't believe all the love for Five. It's full of so many terrible episodes. Vampires of Venice. Amy's Choice. Hungry Earth. Cold Blood. The bizarre disappointment of The Big Bang.
I instantly loved Matt Smith, but his early episodes were pretty bad. The only ones I loved were the Angel two parter and Pandorica Opens.
I would absolutely never describe Vampires of Venice, Amy's Choice, or The Big Bang as terrible. They are some of my go-to episodes whenever I rewatch the show.
For me, though Season 6 is my favorite. I love the storyline with the Silence and River Song, convoluted and timey-whimey as it may be. "A Good Man Goes to War" and "Let's Kill Hitler" are absolutely some of my favorite episodes of TV ever.
That said, the little 50th Anniversary trilogy of "Name/Day/Time of the Doctor" have also become some of my favorites. They tie a lot of things together, and they call back to the Silence storyline from Season 6.
I went with Six just because I love the absolute bonkers energy that series has and the second half has probably the most enjoyable run of episodes of the whole show for me, I think there's only the Gatiss one I don't like.
7B is probably the worst for me, redeemed only by Gatiss' two and Name of the Doctor, the others are quite dire. 7A I actually really enjoyed, even though Amy and Rory should have left at the end of S6. 5 is good but does have some ropey bits because they were still finding their feet; Eleventh Hour is a fantastic start for Smith and Moffat though.
There were individual episodes of series 8 I liked (in particular The Mummy on the Orient Express is brilliant, as is Listen) but on the whole I just couldn't get into that series, in fact I started to wonder if I'd fallen out of love with Who
Thankfully series 9 has been so much better! I'd probably go something like this:
Six
Nine
Five
Seven A
Seven B
Eight
Day of the Doctor was magnificent but I can't see it as part of a series so it doesn't count within the above.
The fifth season is the only one in which Moffat actually attempted to give a damn about cohesion and overall consistency. Not all eps were great, but at the end, the arc made sense (as much as it can under Moffat, anyway). And I'd argue the Clara portion of the seventh series had a decent, understated arc, but the seventh overall was a tonal mess. And not a lot of good episodes, either. The sixth series had the abominable River arc and the pointless Doctor's death arc, but at least it had a number of good episodes in it. The eighth and ninth.... ugh.
The ninth, to me, had the worst story arc in this run. Can you even call it an arc? Like 7, it was almost an afterthought. Just terrible.
Season 5 and 6 are pretty much a tie for me. Matt Smith's Doctor, along with Amy and Moffat's time-twisty, fairytale storytelling felt like just the perfect combination.
Season 7 had some great moments (especially if we're counting the 50th special), but it just didn't feel as cohesive and too many episodes were clearly way too rushed.
Season 8 in retrospect has a lot of really good stuff in it, but unfortunately the Danny Pink storyline drags the whole thing down a bit.
And Season 9 basically just had the four amazing Moffat episodes... and not much else.
I would absolutely never describe Vampires of Venice, Amy's Choice, or The Big Bang as terrible. They are some of my go-to episodes whenever I rewatch the show.
For me, though Season 6 is my favorite. I love the storyline with the Silence and River Song, convoluted and timey-whimey as it may be. "A Good Man Goes to War" and "Let's Kill Hitler" are absolutely some of my favorite episodes of TV ever.
I agree that "The Vampires of Venice," "Amy's Choice," & "The Big Bang" are great episodes. "The Vampires of Venice" doesn't try to reinvent the wheel or anything but the Doctor/Amy/Rory dynamic works great right out of the gate. "Amy's Choice" is on my short list of all-time favorite new series episodes. "The Big Bang" is far & away my favorite of all the season finales.
On the other hand, "A Good Man Goes to War" is the worst Matt Smith episode. It loses all of its rewatchability and is really only worthwhile for introducing Strax. "Let's Kill Hitler" is better because it's got a lot of great humor but I don't think it's very strong overall.
My overall ranking:
1. Season 5. The arc works beautifully. It's intricate without being convoluted. The Smith/Amy/Rory/River chemistry is the greatest TARDIS team since Troughton/Jamie/Zoe back in the 1960s. And when it comes to elite quality episodes, there's more in this season than in any other season of the new series: "The Eleventh Hour," "Amy's Choice," "Vincent & the Doctor," "The Lodger." Even the worst episodes ("The Beast Below," "Flesh & Stone") still have a lot of fun moments.
2. Season 6. More Smith/Amy/Rory/River goodness carrying over from Season 5. The Doctor's death in "The Impossible Astronaut" still stands out as Doctor Who's greatest WTF thriller. Unfortunately, it never quite figured out a satisfactory resolution to that storyline. And after teasing us with vague hints about River Song for the 2 previous seasons, Season 6 just dumps way too much info on us at once. The season has a couple of great episodes ("The Doctor's Wife," "The God Complex") but it's also got some really awkward episodes that are way too heavy on arc development ("A Good Man Goes to War," "The Wedding of River Song").
3. Season 8. Peter Capaldi is my favorite of the new series Doctors. Clara has better chemistry with Capaldi than she did with Smith. And while I love Clara, I've never quite loved her as much as I did Amy & Rory. Still, Season 8 has its fair share of great episodes ("Listen," "The Caretaker," "Mummy on the Orient Express") and fun romps ("Deep Breath," "Robot of Sherwood," "Time Heist," "Flatline"). But it also makes some major missteps, either by trying too hard to make the Doctor act like a jerk ("Into the Dalek"), relying on really preposterous science ("In the Forest of the Night"), or both ("Kill the Moon").
I don't think I can rank the remaining 2 yet. I need to rewatch Season 9 before my opinion of it really sinks in. After all, Seasons 5, 7, & 8 all improved with repeat viewings.
With Season 7a, as much as I love Amy & Rory, I don't think it was worth the effort to bring them back just for a lousy 5 episodes. Rory's father was fun in "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" & "The Power of Three" but that's about all I can say. "Asylum of the Daleks" wasn't scary enough. "A Town Called Mercy" had a great idea but kinda hammered on its themes a bit too hard. "The Angels Take Manhattan" was good but way too overwrought.
With Season 7b, I never really bought the chemistry between Smith & Clara. Some of the episodes work but none achieve greatness. "The Bells of Saint John" spends too much time reintroducing Clara, since we've already seen her in 2 other episodes. "The Rings of Akhaten" is a good idea but the ending doesn't quite work for me. "Cold War" is pretty good. "Hide" is a nice setup but the ending feels way too rushed. "Journey to the Center of the TARDIS" has some pacing problems. "The Crimson Horror" is a lot of fun but only makes sense if it's the backdoor pilot to a Paternoster Gang spinoff. "Nightmare in Silver" has some great acting moments from Matt Smith and uses the Cybermen fairly well. "The Name of the Doctor" is too much telling and not enough showing.
I kinda don't count "The Day of the Doctor" or "The Time of the Doctor" as part of Season 7. They're their own separate thing.
"The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar." An average Davros story bogged down by endless continuity porn. If they had cut out most of the filler in Part 1 and made it a 1-part episode, it would have been a lot better. The Clara/Missy stuff is fun but never really goes anywhere.
"Under the Lake"/"Before the Flood." A solid base-under-siege story combined with a nice time travel twist. I love the Doctor's rock guitar version of the theme song.
"The Girl Who Died." Fun but forgettable.
"The Woman Who Lived." A lot of fun but kinda suffers for tacking on a needless alien plot. It would have been better as a pure historical. (Are we ever going to get one of those again? )
"The Zygon Invasion"/"The Zygon Inversion." Part 1 is a lot of needless set up but Part 2 is incredible! Between the Doctor's big anti-war speech at the end and Clara's showdown with her Zygon doppelganger, it may be my favorite episode of the season.
"Sleep No More." It's a base under siege and it's found footage. Works for me!
"Face the Raven." I really need to rewatch this one. I hardly remember a thing about it other than Clara died and Me set up the Doctor somehow.
"Heaven Sent." Peter Capaldi's powerhouse one-man show! A strong contender for my favorite of the season.
"Hell Bent." Somehow, I thought the Doctor's return to Gallifrey would be bigger than this. But it works well for what it is. There's tons of cool moments, especially when the woman sees the Doctor in the barn.
The fifth season is the only one in which Moffat actually attempted to give a damn about cohesion and overall consistency. Not all eps were great, but at the end, the arc made sense (as much as it can under Moffat, anyway).
about Clara leaving. That's why I make 9 last. The only episodes in 9 that impressed me were "The Magician's Apprentice" and "The Witch's Familiar".
I just made a baseball reference. That proves I've been watching too much Star Trek: Deep Space 9 the last couple weeks. Baseball reminds me of DS9's Captain Sisko because Captain Sisko loves baseball. Any way, back to Doctor Who.
