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.
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...
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
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...
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.