ten Finest Contemporary ‘Doctor Who’ Episodes, Ranked
There is possibly no far more iconic British show than Physician Who. In each of its incarnations, classic and modern day, the frequently camp and usually enthralling sci-fi series capabilities an iconic host of other-worldly creatures, not least the titular character himself whom we have all grown to really like.
From the universe’s most significant library haunted by unseen creatures to a 51st-century spaceship attached to 18th-century Paris, the beauty of Physician Who lies in the capacity of the show to very actually do something, top to a choice of episodes that quite a few contemplate to be masterpieces. Considering the fact that the revival of the series for a 21st-century audience in 2005, audiences have been privileged adequate to witness not just some of the greatest episodes in the whole series, but some of the greatest episodes of tv of all time.
ten “The Girl in the Fireplace”
Season two, Episode four
Steven Moffat‘s time as a showrunner is regarded a mixed bag, despite the fact that, in the Russell T. Davies era, his run of written episodes stands as some of the greatest in the whole series. Case in point: “The Girl in the Fireplace”, an episode inspired by Audrey Niffenegger‘s novel The Time Traveler’s Wife. With Mickey (Noel Clarke) now on board the TARDIS, he, Rose (Billie Piper), and the Tenth Physician (David Tennant) land on a derelict spaceship in the 51st century and are instantly met with an intriguing puzzle. Behind an obscure fireplace on the spaceship is a direct hyperlink to 18th-century Paris, in specific, the bedroom of a single Madame de Pompadour (Sophia Myles).
Inspired by his function on the period drama Casanova, one more collaboration with Tennant, Davies usually dreamed of setting a sci-fi tale in the pomp and fancy of 18th century France, with Moffat taking that notion and wrapping it up in his customary thoughts-bending narrative style to make an episode that is equal components beautiful and believed-provoking. Showcasing the accurate dangers of a man who can travel in time and these he will leave behind, a poignant precursor to this season’s finale, “The Girl in the Fireplace” far more than earned them 2007 Hugo Award for Finest Dramatic Presentation, Brief Kind.
9 “Globe Adequate and Time/The Physician Falls”
Season ten, Episodes ten and 11
The fate of Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) nonetheless haunts fans to this day. With Season ten coming to a close, the unlikely student/teacher bond of Peter Capaldi‘s Twelfth Physician and the aforementioned companion had grabbed the hearts of the audience, which tends to make the early events of this two-parter just harrowing. Attempting to answer a distress contact in space, the Physician and co. land on a ship that is spiraling toward a black hole, leaving a single finish moving slower in time than the other. Just after Bill is shot by a crew member and taken away to be cared for, her life moves quicker than the rest, which signals alarm bells when it quickly becomes clear that her carers are not at all what they appear.
For the initially time in Physician Who‘s history, a multi-master story was on the cards with each Michelle Gomez and John Simm‘s incarnations of the iconic villain sharing the screen. With each actors two of the greatest to ever do it on the show, this meant a recipe for achievement, and, combined with Rachel Talalay‘s superb path and Murray Gold‘s usually-breathtaking score, a finale for the ages was born. On the other hand, Gold’s score was intelligently selected to not be present throughout the story’s higher point, with Capaldi delivering a superbly written and effortlessly performed monologue to each of the Masters, as he does not just try to convince them to do the proper factor, but generally lays out the whole mission statement for the character of the Physician in just a couple of minutes.
eight “Father’s Day”
Season 1, Episode eight
Season 1 of Physician Who was intent on telling human stories sprinkled with sci-fi, with this episode the fantastic encapsulation of Davies’ new intentions with the classic show. Now possessing been on board the TARDIS extended adequate to earn her stripes, Rose requires the leap and begs the Physician (Christopher Eccleston) to let her go back in time to see her father (Shaun Dingwall) who had died when she was just a infant. Promising she would just watch and not intervene, feelings get the superior of Rose as she tackles her father to the ground and out of the way of the extremely car or truck that was supposed to kill him, setting in motion a course of actions that will at some point lead to the demise of quite a few and time operating out.
In classic Physician Who, camp monsters and far-flung planets had been the order of the day, with quite a few complaining that the intricacies of time travel had been hardly ever unpacked in their truest type. Step up “Father’s Day”, which forgets the out-of-this-planet norm of Physician Who and replaces it with a touching drama that offers its lead female character a possibility to shine. Each Eccleston and Piper are painfully brilliant in this episode. Nonetheless, it is guest star Dingwall as Rose’s father, Pete, that steals the show, with the slow, heartbreaking realization that his death is essential to save the planet juxtaposed by his possibility to meet his future daughter. This nuanced dichotomy tugs at the heartstrings of viewers.
7 “Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead”
Season four, Episodes eight and 9
Alex Kingston‘s River Song is a character beloved by millions, and this, her introductory story, is extensively regarded to be her greatest. Summoning her ‘sweetie’ to the biggest library in the universe, Song and her group of archeologists call for the help of the Physician and Donna (Catherine Tate) to attempt and resolve the puzzle of the library, why it is seemingly connected to the thoughts of a youngster, and fight the flesh-consuming monsters that lurk in the shadows.
Moffat tends to turn the each and every day into horror, preying on the audience’s most visceral of fears in his episodes. This two-parter is no distinctive, with the notion of shadows all of a sudden becoming the topic of the audience’s nightmares. With a swirling narrative complete of twists and turns prepared to preserve you on your toes, this two-parter is sci-fi at its heart-pumping greatest. On the other hand, the highlight of this story hangs in the unquantifiable connection among Song and the Tenth Physician, with the audience hanging onto each and every word attempting to unlock the secret to their previous, with this a plot thread that would spend off more than numerous years.
six “The Empty Youngster/The Physician Dances”
Season 1, Episode 9
Physician Who and horror go collectively like salt and pepper, with this initially-season two-parter managing to make war even far more frightening than it currently was. Landing in 1941 in the middle of the London Blitz, the Physician and Rose will have to fight to obtain the identity of the monster that terrorizes the locals, not realizing that it would come in the type of a fearful gas mask-wearing youngster who seemingly just desires to obtain his mummy.
Boosted by the greatest cliffhanger in the whole series, and a terrifying moment of CGI that shockingly holds up to this day, “The Empty Youngster” and “The Physician Dances” are Physician Who at its extremely greatest, blending a historical setting with sci-fi horror to make an unforgettable viewing encounter. Add into the mix the initially, and possibly greatest, look by John Barrowman‘s suave former time agent Captain Jack Harkness, and there is very actually a thing for every person, with writer Moffat even managing to sprinkle in a bit of his comedic roots throughout some of the lighter scenes in the story.
five “Vincent and the Physician”
Season five, Episode ten
Eyebrows had been raised when it was initially announced that Richard Curtis would be writing for Physician Who, with quite a few questioning whether or not the rom-com writer would be in a position to transition seamlessly into sci-fi, despite the fact that this was some 3 years prior to the release of About Time. How incorrect individuals had been, with Curtis picking out to use his penchant for emotionally resonant and really like-fueled storytelling to inform the tale of the iconic Vincent van Gogh (Tony Curran) and his sad battle with mental illness as the Physician (Matt Smith) and Amy (Karen Gillan) travel to 1890 to attempt and obtain the supply behind an ominous figure in the back of a single of van Gogh’s paintings.
By some distance, this episode is the most tear-heavy of the modern day era of Physician Who. Curran’s overall performance as the Dutch painter is nonetheless arguably the greatest guest overall performance in the whole show, with his capturing of a face only history remembers and turning him into a character we all really feel inside ourselves is just genius. This is no far more clear than in the episode’s closing scenes, with the Physician and Amy taking van Gogh to present-day Britain to witness an exhibition of his art, with the man himself confident his function would by no means be remembered. A tearjerking Bill Nighy monologue and intelligently spinning path by Jonny Campbell later and there is not a dry eye in the home, produced even far more resonant when the Physician admits that, in spite of this moment of unadulterated joy in the life of a man so rid of such wonder, his mental illness would nonetheless overcome him. For each and every image van Gogh painted, it is this image of heartbreak in spite of happiness and ‘good factors not outweighing terrible things’ painted by Smith’s Physician that tends to make this episode as opposed to any other in the show’s illustrious history.
four “Human Nature/The Loved ones of Blood”
Season three, Episodes eight and 9
What would come about if the Physician became human? This is a query fans had extended wondered, and they would lastly get their answer in Season three of the modern day era. Chased by the titular malevolent force, “The Loved ones of Blood”, the Physician and Martha (Freema Agyeman) hide in 1913 England at a public college, with the Physician implanting his Time Lord identity inside a fob watch and turning himself human to escape their clutches.
This two-parter does a magnificent job at displaying the alien fallibilities of the man that audiences saw devoid of fault, as the Doctor’s choice to hide Martha in a frankly racist historical atmosphere sets the tone for what is to come. Rather than show viewers each versions of the Physician, writer Paul Cornell, who penned the 1995 Physician Who novel this is primarily based upon, showcases what he would be like if he was human, and offers the audience a possibility to watch him make errors, fall in really like, and forge his personal path, top to a final choice among staying human and returning to Time Lord that essentially splits our hearts and minds. This is produced all the far more painful when the Physician, now John Smith, sees the life he was supposed to reside alongside Jessica Hynes‘ Joan Redfern and the kids they had been supposed to have. To decide on to drop that for the sake of the universe is a sacrifice not quite a few would make, with the Doctor’s now painfully clear complications resolved in a single fell swoop of commonly selfless action.
three “Blink”
Season three, Episode ten
Physician Who‘s most iconic episode barely even capabilities the titular Time Lord. “Blink” follows a pre-Hollywood Carey Mulligan‘s Sally Sparrow in present-day England as she is contacted by means of DVD Easter eggs by the Physician trapped in 1969, as he tries to cease the Weeping Angels from taking more than his TARDIS. As time closes in on her and her pal Larry Nightingale (Finlay Robertson), will they be in a position to save the day, cease the angels, and, most importantly, not blink?
It is undeniable that Moffat has a monopoly more than an intricate understanding of time travel, with the writer somehow in a position to take the laws of time and turn them into his playground all through Physician Who. This is no far more present than in “Blink”, with the man himself even mocking his personal skills, playfully referring to them as “wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff”. Such a extensive dedication to mastering the ‘time’ element of ‘time and space’, with other eras of the show pretty much exclusively playing with the ‘space’ notion, Moffat even won the BAFTA Craft award for Finest Writer for this episode, and carved with it some of the most iconic monsters in modern day Physician Who. Add that to a central overall performance from Mulligan that won her the Constellation Award for Finest Female Overall performance in a 2007 Science Fiction Tv Episode and you have 45 minutes of breathless horror that these who watch it will not be in a position to appear away from… and nor ought to they for worry of death.
two “Midnight”
Season four, Episode ten
Just, breathless. From the initially moment Tennant’s Tenth Physician methods foot on the touring automobile prepared to go to the planet Midnight, there is a rumbling sense of unease. Alongside numerous other passengers, the driver, mechanic, and hostess, portrayed by Rakie Ayola, the group quickly realizes that the planet they are going to, a single they all believed to be uninhabitable, is occupied. As the unknown entity gradually infiltrates their automobile, a single group member, Sky Silvestry (Lesley Sharp), becomes possessed by the creature, as she begins to copy the group’s words, at some point stealing the Doctor’s a single greatest asset – his voice.
The genius of “Midnight” comes in Davies’ choice to use our protagonist’s powers against him, not just with his words, but with his self-assurance. As the Physician tries to take charge of the group, his assuredness starts to be perceived as arrogant, as the Doctor’s regular capacity to encourage individuals to comply with him backfires. The deafening tension that was as soon as held among the creature and the group is now held among the group and the Physician, as the possibility of our hero getting killed by these he is attempting to save increases. Thanks to some of Physician Who‘s greatest ensemble performances and a single setting that crescendos into claustrophobic, “Midnight” manages to convince an audience that a mid-season filler episode may kill the show’s hero, which is a activity all but not possible for most other series.
1 “Heaven Sent”
Season 9, Episode 11
Possibly the strongest narrative arc in Season 9 was Clara’s (Jenna Coleman) desperation to come to be as robust and decisive as the Physician, top to her self-assurance turning to arrogance and her eventual demise in “Face the Raven”. Overcome with guilt and struggling to cope with the loss of his pal, The Physician awakens inside a water-locked castle, tracked by a methodical unstoppable force as he tries to break out more than the course of billions of years.
When all elements of a prime production come collectively, you get “Heaven Sent”. From Talalay’s detailed path to Moffat’s genius script, this episode combines the greatest of the greatest from this era of Physician Who, not least Gold, whose track “The Shepherd’s Boy” stands as a single of the greatest pieces of composition in the whole series. Beyond its technical elements, this episode’s highlight comes in its story, with the central discussion of grief and the lengths to which we have to fight to overcome it, some of the most life-altering tv quite a few fans have ever observed prior to or due to the fact. Capaldi, Moffat, Talalay, and Gold are all at their extremely greatest, with “Heaven Sent” proudly a single of the greatest episodes of tv ever place on screen.
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