New Who for the non-Who fan
Apr. 26th, 2010 02:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrCam is a big Stephen Moffat fan, and was eventually persuaded to try some of his Dr Who episodes. He quite enjoyed them and asked me to give him a rundown of any other New Who episodes that are worth watching. And yes, I should label them "Season 34" etc but I'm not :P
Thus, my entirely subjective opinions. I'd be curious to hear other people's opinions, for a start I have a tendency to forget the crap bits of episodes that have one or two scenes I really like.
One star: should probably watch. Two stars: Awesome. I haven't marked many because Cam's standards are very high, YMMV :)
Season 1:
** "Rose": First episode, new doctor, new companion Rose. Reasonably good, gives backstory and characterisation which are very important for the next 2-4 seasons.
"The End of the World", "The Unquiet Dead": Fairly generic "Go to zany destination, something strange is happening, hijinks ensue" episodes. "The End of the World" has some subtle setup for later episodes.
"Aliens of London"/"World War Three": Alien invasion plot. Bits of it are cool, bits of it painfully crap (bonus fat hatred, yay!). Introduces some continuing plot and characters if you can be bothered.
"Dalek": Blah. I don't like the daleks. Cam watched this over my shoulder and was so put off Dr Who it took several years before he was willing to try it again. Does have some very important Doctor characterisation.
"The Long Game": Meh. Future..thing.
"Father's Day": I somehow missed this! I've heard mixed reviews. Has important parts of Rose's backstory.
** "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances": 1940s Stephen Moffat spookiness. These are pretty good. Introduction of Captain Jack.
"Boom Town": Strange things are happening in present day Cardiff. Has some Rose plot stuff.
* "Bad Wolf"/"The Parting of the Ways": Fairly broad satire of modern reality TV as scifi dystopia. A bit silly. Big dramatic season finale, VERY important stuff happens.
Between season's special:
* "The Christmas Invasion" First episode with new doctor. Has some nice characterisation but bits of it really bugged me.
Season 2:
"New Earth" I think I thought this was ok? Has some continuing plot.
"Tooth and Claw": Queen Victoria and werewolves. Ok. Has David Tennant's sexy real accent :D
* "School Reunion": Definitely worth watching if you are into the broader Dr Who canon and know who Sarah Jane is. Has some nice characterisation and a moderately engaging plot.
* "The Girl in the Fireplace": Pretty good time travel + 18th century France + love story (sort of). Won a Hugo!
* "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel": Mix of very good and not so good, kinda cool scifi. VERY important to Rose's plot.
"The Idiot's Lantern": Spooky strangeness in the 60s. Ok.
"The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit": Effectively scary grungy space station horror. Nothing very remarkable.
"Love & Monsters": Strangely meta story of a bunch of Doctor fans who get caught up in alien shenanigans. Bits are very effective, other bits are silly/annoying.
"Fear Her": Something strange is happening in Suburban 2012 London suburbs. I think I quite liked this one.
** "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday": Quite effective big season finale. Hugely important plotwise.
Between season's special:
* The Runaway Bride: Aliens are about to attack present day London on Christmas again. Introduction of Donna.
Season 3:
* "Smith and Jones": Introduction of Martha. Plot is ok alien thing.
"The Shakespeare Code": Silly shenanigans with Shakespeare.
"Gridlock" This was pretty good, and connects nicely with some of the earlier episodes (which you probably missed if you're following my guide, but hey :))
Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks : Meh. Daleks in the Depression.
The Lazarus Experiment: Has some stuff with Martha's family which is cool, but the plot is pretty meh.
42: Another scary grungy spacestation ship horror. Ok.
* Human Nature/The Family of Blood: I really liked these. The doctor for some reason thinks he's a human man called John Smith living in 1930s England.
** Blink: Brilliant! Cool time travel plot, introduction of some aliens that will come back later.
* Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords: Big complex epic end-of-season drama, starts ok, gets really awesome, becomes PAINFULLY TERRIBLE in the last act.
Between seasons special:
Voyage of the Damned: Meh. Silly Spaceship Titanic thing.
Season 4:
* Partners in Crime: Reintroduction of Donna as a companion. Pretty good plot.
The Fires of Pompeii: Something strange is happening in Pompeii. Ok.
Planet of the Ood: Follow on from "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit" because RTD realised that maybe a slave race was a problematic concept that needed poking at. I didn't like it.
The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky: Reasonably good present day scifi plot.
The Doctor's Daughter: Not very good "War is bad" future thing. Nowhere near as interesting as the title implies.
The Unicorn and the Wasp: Agatha Christie pastiche with a very silly conclusion.
** Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead: Very good spooky Stephen Moffat giant library scifi. Introduces continuing character.
Midnight: A group of strangers stuck in a space ship, something's trying to kill them. Meh.
* Turn Left: Flawed but interesting and has some important plot stuff. Remarkably racist.
*The Stolen Earth/Journey's End: Big epic end of season thing. Bits of it are kind of crap but the finale is quite satisfying and make a a satisfying end to the Russel T Davies run.
Specials:
The Next Doctor: Victorian man claims to be the doctor. Has a few good moments but..meh.
Planet of the Dead: Ok "group of modern day strangers stuck in a bus on an alien desert planet, something is coming to kill them." plot.
Waters of Mars: Stuck on a space station, something's trying to kill them! Ok, effectively tense, I found the ending annoying.
The End of Time (two parts): Oh god I HATED this. A lot. So over the top and stupid. Some people like it? Does tie up some loose ends but I was happy enough with "Journey's End".
Season 5:
** "The Eleventh Hour": New Doctor, introduction of new companion Amy.
The Beast Below: Something strange is happening on Starship UK. Has some cool ideas but doesn't follow through on them very well. Overall ok.
Victory of the Daleks: The Daleks in WWII. Meh.
* The Time of Angels: First part of a double parter. Quite good, follows on from some previous episodes.
Thus, my entirely subjective opinions. I'd be curious to hear other people's opinions, for a start I have a tendency to forget the crap bits of episodes that have one or two scenes I really like.
One star: should probably watch. Two stars: Awesome. I haven't marked many because Cam's standards are very high, YMMV :)
Season 1:
** "Rose": First episode, new doctor, new companion Rose. Reasonably good, gives backstory and characterisation which are very important for the next 2-4 seasons.
"The End of the World", "The Unquiet Dead": Fairly generic "Go to zany destination, something strange is happening, hijinks ensue" episodes. "The End of the World" has some subtle setup for later episodes.
"Aliens of London"/"World War Three": Alien invasion plot. Bits of it are cool, bits of it painfully crap (bonus fat hatred, yay!). Introduces some continuing plot and characters if you can be bothered.
"Dalek": Blah. I don't like the daleks. Cam watched this over my shoulder and was so put off Dr Who it took several years before he was willing to try it again. Does have some very important Doctor characterisation.
"The Long Game": Meh. Future..thing.
"Father's Day": I somehow missed this! I've heard mixed reviews. Has important parts of Rose's backstory.
** "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances": 1940s Stephen Moffat spookiness. These are pretty good. Introduction of Captain Jack.
"Boom Town": Strange things are happening in present day Cardiff. Has some Rose plot stuff.
* "Bad Wolf"/"The Parting of the Ways": Fairly broad satire of modern reality TV as scifi dystopia. A bit silly. Big dramatic season finale, VERY important stuff happens.
Between season's special:
* "The Christmas Invasion" First episode with new doctor. Has some nice characterisation but bits of it really bugged me.
Season 2:
"New Earth" I think I thought this was ok? Has some continuing plot.
"Tooth and Claw": Queen Victoria and werewolves. Ok. Has David Tennant's sexy real accent :D
* "School Reunion": Definitely worth watching if you are into the broader Dr Who canon and know who Sarah Jane is. Has some nice characterisation and a moderately engaging plot.
* "The Girl in the Fireplace": Pretty good time travel + 18th century France + love story (sort of). Won a Hugo!
* "Rise of the Cybermen"/"The Age of Steel": Mix of very good and not so good, kinda cool scifi. VERY important to Rose's plot.
"The Idiot's Lantern": Spooky strangeness in the 60s. Ok.
"The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit": Effectively scary grungy space station horror. Nothing very remarkable.
"Love & Monsters": Strangely meta story of a bunch of Doctor fans who get caught up in alien shenanigans. Bits are very effective, other bits are silly/annoying.
"Fear Her": Something strange is happening in Suburban 2012 London suburbs. I think I quite liked this one.
** "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday": Quite effective big season finale. Hugely important plotwise.
Between season's special:
* The Runaway Bride: Aliens are about to attack present day London on Christmas again. Introduction of Donna.
Season 3:
* "Smith and Jones": Introduction of Martha. Plot is ok alien thing.
"The Shakespeare Code": Silly shenanigans with Shakespeare.
"Gridlock" This was pretty good, and connects nicely with some of the earlier episodes (which you probably missed if you're following my guide, but hey :))
Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks : Meh. Daleks in the Depression.
The Lazarus Experiment: Has some stuff with Martha's family which is cool, but the plot is pretty meh.
42: Another scary grungy space
* Human Nature/The Family of Blood: I really liked these. The doctor for some reason thinks he's a human man called John Smith living in 1930s England.
** Blink: Brilliant! Cool time travel plot, introduction of some aliens that will come back later.
* Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords: Big complex epic end-of-season drama, starts ok, gets really awesome, becomes PAINFULLY TERRIBLE in the last act.
Between seasons special:
Voyage of the Damned: Meh. Silly Spaceship Titanic thing.
Season 4:
* Partners in Crime: Reintroduction of Donna as a companion. Pretty good plot.
The Fires of Pompeii: Something strange is happening in Pompeii. Ok.
Planet of the Ood: Follow on from "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit" because RTD realised that maybe a slave race was a problematic concept that needed poking at. I didn't like it.
The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky: Reasonably good present day scifi plot.
The Doctor's Daughter: Not very good "War is bad" future thing. Nowhere near as interesting as the title implies.
The Unicorn and the Wasp: Agatha Christie pastiche with a very silly conclusion.
** Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead: Very good spooky Stephen Moffat giant library scifi. Introduces continuing character.
Midnight: A group of strangers stuck in a space ship, something's trying to kill them. Meh.
* Turn Left: Flawed but interesting and has some important plot stuff. Remarkably racist.
*The Stolen Earth/Journey's End: Big epic end of season thing. Bits of it are kind of crap but the finale is quite satisfying and make a a satisfying end to the Russel T Davies run.
Specials:
The Next Doctor: Victorian man claims to be the doctor. Has a few good moments but..meh.
Planet of the Dead: Ok "group of modern day strangers stuck in a bus on an alien desert planet, something is coming to kill them." plot.
Waters of Mars: Stuck on a space station, something's trying to kill them! Ok, effectively tense, I found the ending annoying.
The End of Time (two parts): Oh god I HATED this. A lot. So over the top and stupid. Some people like it? Does tie up some loose ends but I was happy enough with "Journey's End".
Season 5:
** "The Eleventh Hour": New Doctor, introduction of new companion Amy.
The Beast Below: Something strange is happening on Starship UK. Has some cool ideas but doesn't follow through on them very well. Overall ok.
Victory of the Daleks: The Daleks in WWII. Meh.
* The Time of Angels: First part of a double parter. Quite good, follows on from some previous episodes.
