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Moffat Penned Episodes - Yay or Nay

Mitty

Mitty

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So I thought it might be fun to go through the episodes actually written by Moffat. Don't rate them, simply say if it was "Yay" or "Nay". I'm actually curious to see how many I don't like, and how many I do. There seems to be a pretty general concensus in fandom that it's time for him to go, which doesn't look like happening any time soon now.

You can quote the below, and then add your "Yay" or "Nay". Note: He was Executive Producer on a lot of episodes as well, but I'm only including the ones he wrote. Of course your definition of "Yay" or "Nay" might be different to mine. EG I did like some bits of "Time of the Doctor" quite a lot, but overall I had to give it a "Nay". So I would request you consider your "overall" thoughts on the episode.

The Empty Child
The Doctor Dances
The Girl in the Fire Place
Blink
Silence in the Library
Forest of the Dead
The Eleventh Hour
The Beast Below
The Time of Angels
Flesh and Stone
The Pandorica Opens
The Big Bang
A Christmas Carol
The Impossible Astronaut
Day of the Moon
A Good Man Goes to War
Let's Kill Hitler
The Wedding of River Song
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Asylum of the Daleks
The Angels take Manhattan
The Snowmen
The Bells of St John
The Name of the Doctor
The Night of the Doctor
The Day of the Doctor
The Time of the Doctor

My ratings:
Yay - The Empty Child
Yay - The Doctor Dances
Yay - The Girl in the Fire Place
Yay - Blink
Yay - Silence in the Library
Yay - Forest of the Dead
Yay - The Eleventh Hour
Nay - The Beast Below
Yay - The Time of Angels
Yay - Flesh and Stone
Yay - The Pandorica Opens
Nay - The Big Bang
Nay - A Christmas Carol
Yay - The Impossible Astronaut
Yay - Day of the Moon
Yay - A Good Man Goes to War
Yay - Let's Kill Hitler
Nay - The Wedding of River Song
Nay - The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Yay - Asylum of the Daleks
Yay - The Angels take Manhattan
Nay - The Snowmen
Nay - The Bells of St John
Nay - The Name of the Doctor
YAY - The Night of the Doctor
Yay - The Day of the Doctor
Nay - The Time of the Doctor

Wow... more yays than I thought!
 
Mostly yays for me.

My nays:
Wedding of River Song
Angels Take Manhattan
Time of the Doctor
The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe.

Oddly, three of them suffer from the same problem: poorly done wrapping up of a story.
 
The only real Nays for me are Wedding of River Song and Time of the Doctor, which both had some cool ideas but unfortunately came off feeling like a bit of a mess.

And yeah Beast Below was pretty lackluster visually, but the story itself I thought was really strong and a lot better than people give it credit for.

And I'll never understand the criticism episodes like Asylum and Wardrobe get.
 
Yay for me on all of them, in fact, "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" is the only one that I don't love though I still like it quite a bit.
 
Most of the episodes were straight forward yays. I had to pause and ponder on 5 episodes but I ultimately gave them yays as well.

So the only episodes with nays are:
Day of the Moon
A Good Man Goes to War
The Wedding of River Song
The Bells of St John
The Time of the Doctor
 
The only definite nays for me are
-A Good Man Goes to War
-The Wedding of River Song
-The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe

But I could really go either way with
-Day of the Moon
-Let's Kill Hitler
-The Angels Take Manhattan
-The Time of the Doctor

Also, just to nitpick, if The Night of the Doctor is on the list, shouldn't Time Crash be on there too?
 
I think that Moffat is a far better writer than he is a show runner. Actually, I found the opposite to be true with RTD. But honestly since the show returned, I always found Moffat's scripts to be the best of the lot, especially in Seasons 1-5. But when it comes to Moffat crafting an ongoing plot through many stories (not just his own), that's where he loses me.
 
I'll include a "meh" category for episodes that are neither great nor terrible.

Yay - The Empty Child
Yay - The Doctor Dances
Yay - The Girl in the Fire Place
Yay - Blink
Yay - Silence in the Library
Yay - Forest of the Dead
Yay - The Eleventh Hour
Nay - The Beast Below
Meh - The Time of Angels
Meh - Flesh and Stone
Meh - The Pandorica Opens
Meh - The Big Bang
Yay - A Christmas Carol
Yay - The Impossible Astronaut
Yay - Day of the Moon
Yay - A Good Man Goes to War
Nay - Let's Kill Hitler
Nay - The Wedding of River Song
Meh - The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Yay - Asylum of the Daleks
Meh - The Angels take Manhattan
Meh - The Snowmen
Meh - The Bells of St John
Meh - The Name of the Doctor
Yay - The Night of the Doctor
Yay - The Day of the Doctor
Nay - The Time of the Doctor
 
I enjoyed most of these stories. I don't think it's time for Moffat to go and I wouldn't say that there is any kind of "consensus" about that.
 
C_Miller said:
I think that Moffat is a far better writer than he is a show runner. Actually, I found the opposite to be true with RTD. But honestly since the show returned, I always found Moffat's scripts to be the best of the lot, especially in Seasons 1-5. But when it comes to Moffat crafting an ongoing plot through many stories (not just his own), that's where he loses me.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. :techman:
 
I'm gonna add a "Meh" for middling between the yay and nay...

The Empty Child - Yay
The Doctor Dances - Yay
The Girl in the Fire Place - Yay
Blink - Yay
Silence in the Library - Yay
Forest of the Dead - Yay
The Eleventh Hour - Yay
The Beast Below - Yay
The Time of Angels - Yay
Flesh and Stone - Yay
The Pandorica Opens - Yay
The Big Bang - Yay
A Christmas Carol - Yay
The Impossible Astronaut - Meh
Day of the Moon - Meh
A Good Man Goes to War - Meh
Let's Kill Hitler - Nay
The Wedding of River Song - Meh
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe - Fuck, Nay!
Asylum of the Daleks - Yay
The Angels take Manhattan - Meh
The Snowmen - Meh
The Bells of St John - Yay
The Name of the Doctor - Yay
The Night of the Doctor - Meh
The Day of the Doctor - Ultra-Yay
The Time of the Doctor - Fuck, Nay!

So, basically, Yays all the way up through the season 5, and after that he's all over the fucking map...
 
Mitty said:
There seems to be a pretty general concensus in fandom that it's time for him to go
Click to expand...

No, there's not a consensus on that. Fandom is split. Some do enjoy his work but others do think it's time for him to go. But, no consensus.

The Empty Child - Yay
The Doctor Dances - Yay
The Girl in the Fire Place - Yay
Blink - Yay
Silence in the Library - Yay
Forest of the Dead - Yay
The Eleventh Hour - Yay
The Beast Below - Yay
The Time of Angels - Yay
Flesh and Stone - Yay
The Pandorica Opens - Yay
The Big Bang - Yay
A Christmas Carol - Nay
The Impossible Astronaut - Yay
Day of the Moon - Yay
A Good Man Goes to War - Yay
Let's Kill Hitler - Nay
The Wedding of River Song - Nay
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe - Nay
Asylum of the Daleks - Nay
The Angels take Manhattan - Nay
The Snowmen - Nay
The Bells of St John - Yay
The Name of the Doctor - Nay
The Night of the Doctor - Yay
The Day of the Doctor - Yay
The Time of the Doctor - Nay

18 Yays and 9 Nays. However, the Nays are increasing in frequency as time passes. Some of the Nays are more Mehs though. Not downright awful but mediocre.

Mr Awe
 
C_Miller said:
I think that Moffat is a far better writer than he is a show runner. Actually, I found the opposite to be true with RTD. But honestly since the show returned, I always found Moffat's scripts to be the best of the lot, especially in Seasons 1-5. But when it comes to Moffat crafting an ongoing plot through many stories (not just his own), that's where he loses me.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but if he wasn't the showrunner it's doubtful he would have been writing as many episodes as he has, so personally I think it's worth whatever other issues there might be.

For me the main problem is just that his stories are usually so clever and ambitious that it kinda makes the other ones feel a bit flat and routine in comparison. Especially when most of the time they just consist of a monster chasing the Doctor and his companions around (yawn) yet another hotel/castle/boat/spaceship.
 
Well, here's my nay:

The Beast Below - The first really underwhelming episode of his.
The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon - Well, its certainly entertaining, and the Silence's first appearence is great... but the story is way too whimsical for its own good.
A Good Man Goes to War - And here's where the shit hit the fan... River Song is, as it seems, Amy and Rory's kid... COME ON!
Let's Kill Hitler - And not only that, she grew up WITH THEM, while they were all KIDS!!! And, as it seems, she's a "kid of the TARDIS", meaning regeneration capabilities.... What the fuck? How does that work?!
The Wedding of River Song - So-so, but ultimately extraordinarily dissapointing.
Asylum of the Daleks - Visally splendid, and the Clara mystery is neatly nested, but... The Rory-Amy seperation just simply makes no bleedin' sense.
The Angels take Manhattan - I love it, but its a nay because it doesn't make sense. Like, almost at all. I mean... a huge Weeping Angel? In New York City? Good luck explaining that away.

I kudos to Spocktatus for pointing out that Time Crash should be in the list, too - of his shorts, only that and Night of the Doctor are of real value (though the prequel to the 2011 Christmas Special is the most essential, so much so that it should've been in the episode itself), and can be semi-considered as stand-alone stories themselves. They're both that good.

And honestly, I do think Moffat has to go. I do wish he'll keep writing for the show, unlike RTD (who I hope will eventually write an episode of Capaldi, during that one's run), but as a showrunner, the show is a lot more... whimsical, for lack of a better word right now, and as a result, the series does feel fairytale-like, but at its own expense: The monsters can only be so scary and the villains so intimidating at such a stage. I honestly hope Capaldi's run will feel and be ostensibly different from Smith's, certainly on the tone of the show overally.
 
The only episodes I have beef with are The Beast Below (meh) and The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe (nay).
 
Let's face it, Moff's written most of the best episodes, including the three very best - Girl In The Fireplace, Blink and Empty Child.

Whereas RTD wrote most of the awful ones...
 
Last edited:
His only good ones were:

The Girl in the Fire Place
Blink
The Eleventh Hour
The Day of the Doctor (bits of it)

The rest were below par, and yes, it's time for him to move on. Or bring back RTD.
 
Yay on every single one, though I admit it sometimes took a second viewing to accomplish that. It's funny; many of Moffat's episodes I did not enjoy the first time through, but upon rewatch they have become my favorites.
 
I'll have to rewatch the later ones from season 5 to 7 before I can pass judgement. I only vaguely remember some of them.
 
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