Update of things.

[elisi]

All hail the Moff and Twelve. DW magazine did a poll of best Doctor Who episodes, and well... go look!

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I posted Chapter 3 of All Breakages Must Be Paid For. <3

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The Netflix series of Avatar: The Last Airbender has an Official Teaser, and it looks incredible!

Watch on YouTube

(If writing/acting etc lives up to the visuals, it will be stunning.)

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I updated my Good Omens S2: The Big Tumblr Meta Post with yet more links! ^_^

Comments

[sea_thoughts]

I really hope Moff feels proud because he should. Particularly happy to see World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls up there and Blink is still punching hard almost 20 years later.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, that's very cool! Human Nature aside, it's a Classic Who/Moffat line-up there, which is, frankly, how I like my Who best, really. XD

[astrogirl]

I really, really do not see the need for a new version of ATLA, because the original was pretty much perfect and still works great, but I have to say, that does look freakin' amazing.

And that is 100% the correct answer for the all-time best DW episode.

[greensword]

Huh! I actually had to look up which episode Heaven Sent was. It's funny that so many people like an episode I barely remember, but I bet some of my favorites are less memorable to others.

What would your 10 be? I think mine would be something like (in chronological order, I can't order by favorites, that's too hard):

Inferno
Genesis of the Daleks
The Five Doctors
Curse of Fenric
Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
Blink
Midnight
The Waters of Mars
Eleventh Hour
Asylum of the Daleks

[promethia_tenk]

I'm tempted to undertake this exercise as I enjoy being judgmental and disagreeing with people on the internet *g*, but I have to admit that, despite my deep and abiding love of the Classic series and begrudging affection for Rusty's first run, it would just be a bunch of Moff-written or Moff-overseen episodes, and I don't know how interesting that would be . . . I can't help it. Moff just does things to my brain.

(Thirteen . . . uhhhhh, sometimes I remember that era happened.)

You've got a solid list. Bit dark, on average, for my tastes, but good picks, all. Can I ask what you like so much about Asylum of the Daleks? I enjoy that episode a whole lot, but I don't think I've ever seen it on a best of list . . . . ever?

[greensword]

Caveat that I haven't watched most of these episodes in a decade or so.

Can I ask what you like so much about Asylum of the Daleks? I enjoy that episode a whole lot, but I don't think I've ever seen it on a best of list . . . . ever?

I think I put it there because I really like Clara, and wanted an episode of hers, and I thought she had a really good introduction episode. I actually only remember the Clara/Owin bits of Asylum of the Daleks, but I remember being so excited to find out she wasn't a one-off character and was coming back. But then in the longer run, there were a lot of things I disliked about Clara's arc, so her intro episode became a bit of wistful "what might have been". And I liked the idea of a dalek who didn't know they were a dalek. Also the episode has some good body horror.

Bit dark, on average, for my tastes, but good picks, all.

I find it hard to pick favorites from among the less dark ones, because there are so many good, fun romps (I picked Eleventh Hour! and the Five Doctors!) but not many that I remember as being especially good compared to the other fun romps. What are your favorite "lighter" episodes?

[promethia_tenk]

I'm still in stock. The Doctor Falls owns my soul, I didn't even know anybody else was still watching at that point.

[promethia_tenk]

Caveat that I haven't watched most of these episodes in a decade or so.
Yeah . . . Well, I've watched everything more recently than that (literally everything), but I know my judgement could be swayed if I watched this or that again right now. For example: I know that Evil of the Daleks rocked my world when I 'watched' it. Can I remember what happened in it? Ummmm . . . no. So where do I put it on a list?

I think I put it there because I really like Clara, and wanted an episode of hers, and I thought she had a really good introduction episode. I actually only remember the Clara/Owin bits of Asylum of the Daleks, but I remember being so excited to find out she wasn't a one-off character and was coming back.
It's strange how you forget how these things hit back when they first happened, but her reappearance really was fire.

But then in the longer run, there were a lot of things I disliked about Clara's arc, so her intro episode became a bit of wistful "what might have been".
*nods* I really appreciate the later parts of her run, but I admit that it's a bit of an academic appreciation, and that I enjoy watching her far more with Eleven . . .

I find it hard to pick favorites from among the less dark ones, because there are so many good, fun romps (I picked Eleventh Hour! and the Five Doctors!
Yeah, I'm working on my list now, and I can pretty immediately pick out my true favorites, and they're all really weighty. Not outright dark, but it's a pretty comprehensive list of what I think are the most important episodes for the Doctor's character development. When it comes to the fun ones, though . . . why can't I have all of them?

What are your favorite "lighter" episodes?
Eleventh Hour is probably #1. I think it's the perfect introduction to the show. Otherwise, I admit a deep love for anytime they go super camp with it: Robot of Sherwood, The Lodger, Unicorn and the Wasp, The Time Monster . . . basically the entirety of the Three/UNIT years, The Romans, the Gunslingers, Partners in Crime, Spyfall. ETA: Spearhead from Space!

[promethia_tenk]

Alright, here is my list. I have arbitrarily limited myself to five Moffat stories. Realizing that my true criteria for choosing anything for this list is how important I find it to my conception of the Doctor's character, I have attempted to list them in order of 'amount of Doctor feels they give me,' with the understanding that I have completely changed my mind as soon as I hit post:

1) World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
2) The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
3) Enlightenment
4) Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
5) Day of the Doctor
6) End of Time
7) Human Nature/Family of Blood
8) Magician's Apprentice/Witch's Familiar
9) War Games
10) Kinda

A list in quality order would basically have all the Moff ones first, then Human Nature, the Classic ones, then End of Time.

[elisi]

Same here. As Promethia said, it's so weird to see the S10 finale love, it feels like a secret masterpiece?

[elisi]

Yeah, me too! ^_^ Not that the RTD years weren't fun, but Moffat has... more.

[elisi]

I really, really do not see the need for a new version of ATLA, because the original was pretty much perfect and still works great, but I have to say, that does look freakin' amazing.
IKR? I am very impressed.

And that is 100% the correct answer for the all-time best DW episode.
See I am tempted to put Day of the Doctor in the top spot, because it just does *more*. It was such an event. But I'm not objecting. *g*

[sea_thoughts]

*high five*

I love that two-parter so much. Simm!Master and Missy, Twelve and Missy, Simm!Master-Twelve-Missy, Twelve and Bill, Nardole and Bill, HEATHER AND BILL! Ugh. God, it's heartbreaking and beautiful.

[sea_thoughts]

Right? Of course S9 gets a ton of deserved love, Heaven Sent is the best episode on grief I've seen in my life (with much respect to The Body), but the S10 finale... I don't know if I have words.

[sea_thoughts]

*gives you the look that only people who appreciate the S6 opening two-parter understand*

[elisi]

Huh! I actually had to look up which episode Heaven Sent was. It's funny that so many people like an episode I barely remember, but I bet some of my favorites are less memorable to others.
Personal taste is such a funny thing! Looking at your list, then I never liked Midnight - I remember watching it and thinking 'Well, there's a dud in every season', and then woke up the next morning to see all of fandom raving and going 'Wait... what?' *g*

As for my own 10 'favourites' then, hmm... In chronological order:

The Ultimate Foe
The Silver Nemesis
Library Episodes
S5 Finale
A Christmas Carol
A Good Man Goes to War
Day of the Doctor
S10 finale
The Power of the Doctor

Now that is 9. The 10th slot could be... The Beast Below or the S1 finale or Enlightenment or TWoRS or the S5 Angel episodes or The Pilot or Thin Ice or the S6 opening two parter or something else again. ^_^

[elisi]

I mean, I tried.

(It's poetry.)

[promethia_tenk]

To this day I could wreck myself in two minutes flat by thinking too hard about The Doctor Falls. It is witchcraft in tv form.

[promethia_tenk]

I thought to myself 'I don't need a live action adaptation of Avatar . . .' But then I watched the trailer and realized I do, I really do.

In my case, I think my specific reason is that I love The Last Airbender as a story and a piece of world-building, but the characters don't really do as much for me as they seem to for other people. (I like them plenty well, but the crew in Korra mean a lot more to me.) But this is something I could actually see live actors remedying, to some extent? You can just get so much more nuance in a live performance.

[promethia_tenk]

I think they might actually be perfect television? Other episodes on that list have scenes that hit me harder, but TIA/DotM is just such ridiculous quality from start to finish. It does literally everything? If what you want from television can't be found in TIA/DotM, television is not for you. I can't even process how much happens in those two episodes. It's hysterical. It's massively creepy. It's got more genius ideas than Rusty had in four seasons. It has all the Pond feels, all the Doctor feels, all the shippy feels. It's gorgeous. It never lets up. It left us all dizzy and breathless. The only thing wrong with it is how much the rest of the season completely failed to live up to it.

If I was going to list things in order of what would I drop everything, right now, to watch, it would be #1.

[sea_thoughts]

I remember *sobs* it's so beautiful

[promethia_tenk]

I had to look up what The Ultimate Foe was to remember. Oh you . . .

[elisi]

I am still just sort of... in awe? I mean, I know I wrote it (co-wrote it), but it still feels more like something that just appeared.

[elisi]

Moffat Who 30 years early. <3

[elisi]

Did you ever read The Doctor, the Eye Doctor and Me?