• Published November 20, 2015

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As some of you might know I have a small* obsession with Doctor who (*it is bigger on the inside)

This week I, The great and ever powerful Pyro, bring you the 10 Commandm…. no… okay it isn’t. The Top 10 list of my favorite Doctor Who Episodes!

Just a heads up there are some new episodes on the list. So in the words of River Song:

1 – The Rings of Akhaten

Still not quite able to explain just who she is, the Doctor and Clara set off on their first adventure. He takes her to see the Rings of Akhaten and its famous pyramid. The residents of the 7 planets rotating around the same sun all believe the pyramid is the source of all life in the universe. There are quite a few visitors there for the Festival of Offering and Clara and helps a young girl, Merry, to have the confidence to perform an important ceremony to sooth and keep the Old God asleep. When Merry is drawn into the pyramid the Doctor and Clara go after her. When the Old God awakens, it’s no match for the Doctor…or for Clara for that matter.

2 – The Day of the Doctor

The 77-minute episode shows the last day of the Time War, in which the War Doctor (John Hurt) chooses to kill both Daleks and his own race of Time Lords to end the destructive conflict, paralleling this with a present-day choice by paramilitary organisation UNIT to destroy London rather than allow an alien invasion. Revising the back story, the Doctor succumbs to Clara Oswald’s plea to change his mind; and instead, at the last instant of the Time War, he hides his war-racked home planet in time, rather than destroy it. Unfortunately, the time distortions incurred leave his past selves with no memory of his changed decision. As the episode celebrated fifty years of the programme, it referenced and alluded to various concepts featured throughout the show’s run. It has been described by series producer Marcus Wilson as a “love letter to the fans” and by the controller of BBC One, Danny Cohen, as an “event drama”.

3 – The Witch’s Familiar

In the pair of episodes, alien time traveller the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) battles his old enemies the Daleks and attempts to save his companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman). Julian Bleach reprised his role as Davros and Michelle Gomez reprised her role as Missy, the current incarnation of the Master.

Several different designs of the Daleks from across the series’ history reappear in the episode, alongside their creator, Davros, and their home planet, Skaro.

4 – Listen

In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) attempts to track down a creature with the perfected ability to hide, while his companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) struggles with her relationship with her boyfriend Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson).

5 – Empty Child

In the episode, alien time traveller the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and his companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) arrive in 1941 during the London Blitz, where they find that the city has been terrorised by a strange child in a gas mask repeatedly asking for his mother. The episode marks the first appearance of John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness, who would become a recurring character and star in the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood. “The Empty Child” was watched by 7.11 million viewers in the UK. The two-part story has been cited by critics amongst the best of the show, and it won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

6 – The Waters of Mars

The story is set on Mars in the year 2059 where the Doctor encounters the first human colony, Bowie Base One. This is commanded by Captain Adelaide Brooke who turns out to be a pivotal character in the history of humanity. The Doctor must decide whether to use his knowledge of her fate to change history. According to Doctor Who writer and producer Russell T Davies, the special is closely linked to the next two episodes but is not the first part of a three-part story. The special was dedicated to Barry Letts, the former writer and producer of Doctor Who who died in October 2009.The episode won the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

7 – Midnight

The episode placed much more emphasis on the role of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor than in the rest of the fourth series, with the Doctor’s companion, Donna Noble (played by Catherine Tate) playing only a minimal role. For this reason Stephen James Walker has described this episode in his book Monsters Within as being “companion-lite” (in his analysis of this episode’s successor, the “Doctor-lite” episode “Turn Left”).

8 – The Parting of the Ways

The Doctor comes face to face with the Dalek Emperor but manages to rescue Rose. They return to Satellite 5 to prepare for the invasion with Captain Jack organizing the armed resistance and the Doctor rewiring the station to produce a deadly Delta wave. The Doctor had always promised to take care of Rose and knowing that the Delta wave will destroy everything, he forces her to return to Earth on the TARDIS. With Mickey’s help, she finds a way to return to Satellite 5 and acquires a great power, one that will be the end of the Doctor as we know him.

9 – Partners in Crime

The episode reintroduced comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who had previously appeared in “The Runaway Bride”. Donna and the Doctor (David Tennant) meet while separately investigating Adipose Industries, a company that has created a revolutionary diet pill. Together, they attempt to stop the death of thousands of people in London after the head of the company, the alien Miss Foster (Sarah Lancashire), creates the Adipose, short white aliens made from human body fat.

The episode’s alien creatures, the Adipose, were created using the software MASSIVE, commonly used for crowd sequences in fantasy and science fiction films. The episode is stylistically different from other Doctor Who episodes; “Partners in Crime” has no clear antagonist, and the creatures are in a different style to Doctor Who‍ ’​s regular “big scary” monsters.

10 – Blink

In the episode, the Doctor—a time travelling alien played by David Tennant—and his companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) are trapped in the past and try to communicate with a young woman, Sally Sparrow (Carey Mulligan), to prevent the Weeping Angels from taking control of the TARDIS. Sparrow and her best friend’s brother, Larry Nightingale (Finlay Robertson), must unravel a set of cryptic clues sent through time by the marooned Doctor.

Article Tags: BBC · Blink · doctor who · Empty Child · featured · Listen · Midnight · The Day of the Doctor · The Parting of the Ways · The Rings of Akhaten · The Waters of Mars · The Witch's Familiar

Article Categories: Editorials