Moffat Penned Episodes - Yay or Nay

[Takeru]

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
Nay - The Pandorica Opens
Nay - The Big Bang
Yay - A Christmas Carol
Nay - The Impossible Astronaut
Nay - Day of the Moon
Nay - A Good Man Goes to War
Nay - Let's Kill Hitler
Nay - The Wedding of River Song
Nay - The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Yay - Asylum of the Daleks
Nay - The Angels take Manhattan
Yay - The Snowmen
Nay - The Bells of St John
Nay - The Name of the Doctor
Nay - The Night of the Doctor
Nay - The Day of the Doctor
Nay - The Time of the Doctor

12 Yays, 15 Nays but most Yays are in the RTD era when Moffat apparently still had time to write a good script and I was excited when his name popped up in the credits.

I almost gave Night of the Doctor a "Eighth Doctor" Yay, but ultimately I decided on Nay because of the fact that the Doctor died for real until he was revived 5 minutes later and got a magic potion that let him chose his regeneration. it was more about justifying Moffat's "not a doctor" War Doctor than it was about anything else. That's also the reason Day of the Doctor received a Nay, I kinda liked it also suffered from the regeneration limit crap. There was no reason the role of the War Doctor couldn't have been filled by Paul McGann.

 

[VDCNI]

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
Nay - The Eleventh Hour
Nay - The Beast Below
Nay - The Time of Angels
Nay - Flesh and Stone
Nay - The Pandorica Opens
Nay - The Big Bang
Nay - A Christmas Carol
Nay - The Impossible Astronaut
Nay - Day of the Moon
Nay - A Good Man Goes to War
Nay - 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
Yay - The Snowmen
Yay - The Bells of St John
Yay - The Name of the Doctor
Yay - The Night of the Doctor
Yay - The Day of the Doctor
Nay - The Time of the Doctor

 

[Malformed]

By the time the Crimson Horror was over I felt like I had a couple of few pints too many.
I hadn't touched a drop, not even a wee dram. I cannot bring myself to watch it again. First time ever.

 

[Skellington]

The Empty Child - Yay.
The Doctor Dances - Yay.
The Girl in the Fireplace - Yay.
Blink - Very much a yay.
Silence in the Library - Moderate yay.
Forest of the Dead - Moderate yay.
The Eleventh Hour - Yay.
The Beast Below - Yay.
The Time of Angels - Yay (though it starts much better than it ends).
Flesh and Stone - Yay.
The Pandorica Opens - Yay.
The Big Bang - Yay.
A Christmas Carol - Yay. Maybe my favourite.
The Impossible Astronaut - Yay. Great fun, and Smith and Kingston finally have chemistry.
Day of the Moon - Yay, but not as good as part one.
A Good Man Goes to War - Yay, but maybe misfires a bit.
Let's Kill Hitler - Yay, but it was walking a tightrope.
The Wedding of River Song - Yay.
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe - Nay. Not terrible, just unremarkable.
Asylum of the Daleks - Yay.
The Angels take Manhattan - Yay, but that exit needed a little work.
The Snowmen - Yay.
The Bells of St John - Yay.
The Name of the Doctor - Yay, despite being nonsense.
The Night of the Doctor - Doesn't count if the other minisodes don't, but I'd give the writing a lukewarm yay.
The Day of the Doctor - Yay. Best of the crossover episodes by far.
The Time of the Doctor - Yay, but a qualified one. Doesn't really fit together as a story and arguably squanders some opportunities, but it has some fine individual scenes.

 

[Starkers]

Figured I’d finally better put down my thoughts. Overall there hasn’t been a single Moffat episode that I’ve disliked, but a few have come close. Several are a little meh, but to be honest if I did the same with RTD’s episodes there would have been several outright Nays so for me Moffat is still the far better writer, even if he is his own worst enemy sometimes by overthinking the plumbing—though ironically the weakest of his episodes is arguably The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe which is also perhaps his most straightforward!

The Empty Child - Yay.
The Doctor Dances - Yay.
The Girl in the Fireplace – Just about a Yay though I think it’s overrated
Blink – So yay it’s untrue
Silence in the Library – Meh/Yay has its moments but the Vashda Narada never feel much of a threat and River was never more annoying
Forest of the Dead – Meh/Yay See above
The Eleventh Hour – Big Yay.
The Beast Below – meh/Yay.
The Time of Angels - Yay
Flesh and Stone – meh/Yay I’m not keen on the way the Angels are kinda side-tracked in favour of the crack. Still good but the first half was better.
The Pandorica Opens - Yay.
The Big Bang – meh/Yay. The first half’s a bit of a mess but the second half is brilliant
A Christmas Carol – Yay although it is a trifle too convoluted
The Impossible Astronaut - Yay.
Day of the Moon – meh/ Yay doesn’t quite follow up on the promise of the first part,
A Good Man Goes to War - Yay,
Let's Kill Hitler - Yay, loved every bonkers bit of it.
The Wedding of River Song - Yay.
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe – meh/ Nay it’s nice enough but a bit bland and forgettable aside from the final few minutes when he visits Amy and Rory
Asylum of the Daleks – meh/ Yay.
The Angels take Manhattan - Yay,
The Snowmen – Big Yay.
The Bells of St John – Meh/nay. There’s something very off about this, it has its moments but overall not a fan
The Name of the Doctor - Very much Yay,
The Night of the Doctor - Yay
The Day of the Doctor - Yay. A great anniversary story
The Time of the Doctor –meh/yay too much going on but it has its moments and kudos for giving Smith the opposite kind of exit to Tennant

 

[davejames]

Strange to me that most people are so unequivocally positive on his earlier RTD-era work, yet have such a huge problem with his newer stuff. Because I'm just not seeing much of a difference in his writing style at all. It's the same use of clever twists and playing around with time through all of it.

He may have dialed the twistiness up a notch for the newer stuff, and injected a slightly zanier Doctor, but it still feels to me like the same basic Moffat style.

 

[Relayer1]

Strange to me that most people are so unequivocally positive on his earlier RTD-era work, yet have such a huge problem with his newer stuff. Because I'm just not seeing much of a difference in his writing style at all. It's the same use of clever twists and playing around with time through all of it.

He may have dialed the twistiness up a notch for the newer stuff, and injected a slightly zanier Doctor, but it still feels to me like the same basic Moffat style.

True, and the show's all the better for it...

 

[Vyse]

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
Yay-The Big Bang
Yay-A Christmas Carol
Yay-The Impossible Astronaut
Yay-Day of the Moon
Yay-A Good Man Goes to War
Meh-Let's Kill Hitler
Nay-The Wedding of River Song
Nay-The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
Yay-Asylum of the Daleks
Meh-The Angels take Manhattan
Yay-The Snowmen
Meh-The Bells of St John
Yay-The Name of the Doctor
Yay-The Night of the Doctor
Yay-The Day of the Doctor
Yay-The Time of the Doctor

 

[I am not Spock]

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- Nay
The Time of Angels- Yay
Flesh and Stone- Yay
The Pandorica Opens- Yay
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- Yay
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe- Nay
Asylum of the Daleks- Yay
The Angels take Manhattan- Yay
The Snowmen- Yay
The Bells of St John- Yay
The Name of the Doctor- Yay
The Night of the Doctor- Yay
The Day of the Doctor- Yay
The Time of the Doctor- Nay

So mostly 'Yays' for me. I think he's done a good job

 

[I am not Spock]

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...

This. I've enjoyed the majority of Moffat's episodes.

RTD wrote some of the worst episodes in the series history. I don't understand the Moffat hate

 

[Darth_Daver]

Yay-The Empty Child
Yay-The Doctor Dances
Yay-The Girl in the Fire Place
Yay-Blink
Yay-Time Crash
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
Yay-The Big Bang
Yay-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
Meh-The Angels take Manhattan
Yay-The Snowmen
Meh-The Bells of St John
Yay-The Name of the Doctor
Yay-The Night of the Doctor
Yay-The Day of the Doctor
Nay-The Time of the Doctor

Is it just me, or is it used to be all yay, now it's much more divided? That's the real reason. He is still good, but he used to be better!

 

[VDCNI]

Strange to me that most people are so unequivocally positive on his earlier RTD-era work, yet have such a huge problem with his newer stuff. Because I'm just not seeing much of a difference in his writing style at all. It's the same use of clever twists and playing around with time through all of it.

He may have dialed the twistiness up a notch for the newer stuff, and injected a slightly zanier Doctor, but it still feels to me like the same basic Moffat style.

Maybe people are just bored of it now - clever twists aren't clever when we've seen them already. Previously they were a nice change of pace now they are all we get.

 

[Starkers]

I think he just has less time to work on scripts these days compared to before. Neil Gaiman’s said he found just working on one Who script hard work, so you can imagine how much work Moffat (and RTD before him) have to put in, especially when as show runners they have to do other stuff (and this is before you even get to Sherlock). Writers are human beings not robots so however good someone is, they are going to vary in quality every now and again, and the more stuff they have to write the more likely it is that they’ll do the occasional duffer.

I do think Moffat can’t win sometimes. People have a go at him for writing convoluted plots, but then when he does the opposite he gets similarly castigated. Take the Doctor the Widow and the Wardrobe or take a peek in the Sherlock thread in TV & Media and see how annoyed some people are at Sherlock’s straightforward solution to the Magnusson conundrum.

 

[CmndrSela318]

NAY=The Empty Child
NAY=The Doctor Dances
YAY=The Girl in the Fire Place
NAY=Blink
YAYx1000=Silence in the Library
YAYx1000=Forest of the Dead
YAY=The Eleventh Hour
YAY=The Beast Below
YAY=The Time of Angels
YAY=Flesh and Stone
NAY=The Pandorica Opens
?=The Big Bang
NAY=A Christmas Carol
NAY=The Impossible Astronaut
NAY=Day of the Moon
NAY=A Good Man Goes to War
NAY=Let's Kill Hitler
YAY=The Wedding of River Song
?=The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
?=Asylum of the Daleks
--The Angels take Manhattan
YAY=The Snowmen
YAY=The Bells of St John
YAY=The Name of the Doctor
NAY=The Night of the Doctor
YAYx2000=The Day of the Doctor
--Time of the Doctor

Let me explain mine.
? means it's 50/50. 50% YAY and 50% NAY.
YAY or NAY x 1000 or 2000 means one YAY or one NAY doesn't cover it.
-- means I haven't gotten around to watching any or all of it, yet.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Mostly Yays for me. His work is some of my favorite from the new series, especially seasons five and six.

I think it is fair to say that he is his own worst enemy at times. Honestly, I get the sense that he is bored. That is why his episodes keep getting more convoluted.

On the plus side, his characters are a lot more fun to watch than RTD's. Moffat Who is much funnier and less obviously emo.

So, again, mostly Yays but a few nays. More mehs than nays though.

"The Beast Below." Gets better with repeated viewing but the plot feels a little undercooked. (And, between this and "Children of Earth," I'm very concerned with the British government's eagerness to sacrifice "low value" citizens to assorted aliens.)

"Flesh and Stone." One of Smith's earliest performances and it shows. But I guess it's not moffat's fault.

"The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon." Great story but I don't care for some of the large time jumps. Still, it's got one of the best beginnings of any story ever!

"A Good Man Goes to War." Gets props for a great supporting cast but I don't much care for the overall River Song arc.

"Let's Kill Hitler." Ditto but damn it's funny!

"The Doctor, the Widow, and the Wardrobe." Weak plot but a few fine emotional moments. Passable.

"Asylum of the Daleks." This should be scarier.

"The Bells of St. John." Feels off. Don't know why. Not a big fan of the Great Intelligence.

"The Name of the Doctor." Mostly a lot of prelude and teasing for the 50th.

"The Time of the Doctor." A noble failure. Lots of interesting ideas being tossed around here but it never quite comes together. It tells more than shows. And it doesn't feel Matt Smithy enough to be a proper farewell for Smith.