I think the best RTD finales add a cost to the reset. Whether it's trapping Rose in an alternate universe, wiping Donna's memories, or killing the Ninth Doctor. The Doctor has to lose something, and it has to come with, at least, the threat that he won't get it back. That makes the deus ex machina far easier to swallow.
Even as a certified clara apologist, hell bent escaping the bottom 3 after all these years is a wilder plot twist than anything in any of these finales
It's great to see Vera finally coming around as a Hell Bent fan, even slotting it in her top 10 best Doctor Who series finales list ❤ In all seriousness though, I think this really goes to show how uncommon it is for a NuWho series finale to stick the landing
I'm not going to claim Hell Bent is a great episode, it messes too much up for that but I don't dislike it like many others. It has several things I like, most notably the story the Doctor tells Clara in that under area (cloisters?) which often seems to get overlooked.
@@Elwaves2925 Yeah, after rewatching it recently I'm pretty torn on it, it has a lot of really interesting concepts that I love while also completely disregarding concepts that could've been great. I think Clara's death in Face the Raven was treated more respectfully than I remembered (until the final few scenes, that is :P ), though Me saying "it was sad and beautiful" was a bit egotistical on Moffat's end lol
@@WiloPolis03 Yeah, I'm a big fan of Moffat's era but that line was a bit too much. While it was great to see Me back, I think she was also wasted and it would have been nice to see her more integral to the plot, seeing as she started the whole thing that led to Clara's 'death'.
@@Elwaves2925 It's possible that this is just another instance of Steven Moffat setting up too many things for the series finale and not being able to do all of them justice. I love his era as well (series 7 & 8 are pretty bad but the following seasons make up for it imo) but he has a recurring issue with this. I think part of the reason Series 10's finale worked so well was because it was just paying off one simple plot arc in a storyline that's otherwise mostly self-contained
@@WiloPolis03 I can agree with that, sometimes he does put too much into the mix so whatever resolution there is feels weaker or wasted. I think that can apply to so many TV writers, not just for DW. They get all this time, fill it with stuff but without thinking about how it ties in to the end.
I agree with basically everything you've said about Empire of Death, but I still get mad at it. Not for the contrivedness, not for the weird stakes, but for Russell dangling a mystery box carrot in the viewer's face all season and going "HAH FOOLED YOU IT WAS ACTUALLY NOTHING". Masterful gambit Russ, now I have no incentive to care about anything you try to set up from this point forward hooray.
The really sad thing is that I don't think RTD intended it as a middle finger, but it definitely came off that way to many people and that's what matters. Had they not hyped up the mystery so much, it wouldn't have been a problem, but they did, and thus it makes no sense. For me, I just thought Sutekh was a waste and the episode was poorly paced.
If the episode count was longer per season and the finale was more thought out, Sutekh would have felt like a huge threat I genuinely believed he was in the first half. His reveal was genuinely chilling to me, but the ease and speed in which he gets defeated in the end is gonna make me never feel the same about the reveal again. I loved Ruby meeting her mom as that was the highlight, but the plot just falls so flat. And yeah why did they hype up the mystery around Ruby so much when it’s just like “idk cause her mom is just a regular human”? Huh?… i even like that idea, but they really should have not hyped up the mystery to be some huge surprise. And maybe explained the snow? That never gets explained? I’m just frustrated in the 8 episode count, I really think a Doctor Who season works best with 12 or 13 episodes a season, and the disney+ streaming model just doesn’t allow for that. It’s cool that there’s a bigger budget but honestly I would be fine with less impressive visuals if we got more connective tissue than we did. I adore 73 Yards and love Boom, but they would be even better with more standard romps like Rouge to better develop 15 and Ruby’s relationship, and make the more out there or dark episodes shine more in comparison. I love the out there standout episodes and the fun romps, you need a good mix of both for a Doctor Who season to fully work, for me at least. Anyway wow i rambled on I wasn’t trying to lol, cheers if you read it all!
For me, it goes: 14). The Timeless Children (S12) 13). The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (S11) 12). Empire of Death (S14) 11). Death in Heaven (S8) 10). The Vanquishers (S13) 9). Hell Bent (S9) 8). The Name of the Doctor (S7) 7). The Wedding of River Song (S6) 6). Last of the Time Lords (S3) 5). The Big Bang (S5) 4). Journey’s End (S4) 3). Doomsday (S2) 2). The Doctor Falls (S10) 1). The Parting of the Ways (S1)
I LIKE DANNY PINK, TOO! Thank you for saying that. He does absolutely bring out the best in Clara and her desperation for wanting him back in this finale was so sad and intense and amazing. I was devastated the way Danny Pink died, I thought it was brutal and wow. And like....Missy in this episode is peak Master. Absolutely brilliant. Capaldi is on fire. I LOVE DEATH IN HEAVEN!!! I just rewatched it recently. Really so much energy and true Doctor-yness...
7:00 My mind immediately went "Madame Kavarian".... the fact I can't remember the last time I watched that finale (or any of the relevant Series 6 episodes) but immediately remember that probably shows that my mind is too hyperfocused on Doctor Who doesn't it?
My ranking would probably go like this: 1. World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls 2. The Stolen Earth/Journey's End 3. Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways 4. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang 5. Dark Water/Death in Heaven 6. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday 7. Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords 8. The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death 9. The Name of the Doctor 10. Hell Bent 11. The Wedding of River Song 12. The Timeless Children 13. The Vanquishers 14. The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
About "Death in Heaven", I get the feeling you didn't watch old "Doctor Who", because the most heartbreaking part is the return of the Brigadier. It's the Brigadier who is the resolution to Officers and Soldiers: he is both, always has been. He has never asked his men to risk themselves in ways he never would, and he was always there for the Doctor. "The earth's darkest hour, and mine ... where else would you be?" I liked Danny Pinkman too, but the Brig fits the role even better.
1. World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls 2. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday 3. The Stolen Earth/Journey's End 4. Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways 5. The Name of the Doctor 6. Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords 7. Dark Water/Death in Heaven 8. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang 9. The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death 10. The Wedding of River Song 11. The Vanquishers 12. Hell Bent 13. The Battle of Ranskor Av Kolos 14. The Timeless Children
I like that Big Bang isn't a story in itself but just the ending of the season story, (with young Amelia praying to Santa). It felt like a good finale to me 🤷🏻
Parting of the Ways will always be my favorite due to it also being (for me) the perfect Regeneration episode, at least in NewWho. It's short, sweet doesn't drag on for an entire episode all a long ass speech that kinda takes away the fact The Doctor is meant to be dying. Actually has there been a ranking for Regenerations/Finales for every Doctor?
This is definitely a hot take. I actually really like the wedding of river song. Matt smith was my introduction to doctor who. I love the 11th doctor, river , Amy and Rory. There is a lot going on (maybe too much). But what can I say I like a little Chaos.
Capaldi's monologues are amazing and the two best ones are "I am an idiot" and "And above all it's kind". When the Doctor says "Because it's right" I got really worried because I hate that as a reason to do anything, but then he says "And above all it's kind" and that is a very good reason to do something.
I love your insights into the show and am particularly pleased and impressed that you're one of the very few UA-camrs to actually pronounce Peter Capaldi's last name correctly. He's my favorite of the NuWho by light years. (Jon Pertwee is my permanent number one, but then again I met him and even spent time with him.)
Probably true 😅 Bringing a dead character to life makes people angry, especially after beautiful Heaven Sent where her death was very impactful. you must really like Clara to forgive that, and be happy she's still alive (kinda, between 2 heartbeats?)
I like Clara and I don't dislike Hell Bent but I wouldn't class it as a great, or even good episode. It has several things I like in it though, despite the mess and waste of most of the episode.
I don't like CLARA the same amount the doctor does to go to those extremes, but i watch and frame it in context of my life, and there are people that i would go to said extreme for.
I must admit, I LOVE the Wedding of River Song ahah - it's fun. I'd definitely put the finale of Flux beneath it, personally. I'm also a big Hell Bent and Big Bang stan ahah. Empire was disappointing for me.
Empire of Death is my favourite of Russell's finales. Sutekh's end in this mirrors his end in Pyramids of Mars. The Doctor drags Sutekh through the time vortex to be sure he dies and doesn't find a pocket to hide away in. Timeless Children is good. The Doctor's arc from anger to acceptance is good, though it should have extended to the end of series 13. Hell Bent is good. Battle of Ranskor Av Kolos just needs a hug and some loving hands to work on it and she's right as rain. I'd love to see what Chris Chibnall wanted it to be. He took the hit so his team could fly. Admirable. 😊
Glad you enjoy what many do not, that’s cool. While I am not the biggest fan of those finales like many seem to be, I also find it hard to hate Doctor Who! I’m catching up on what I’ve missed, nearing being done with the 13th doctor’s run, and while it definitely is more flawed than what came before, I don’t dislike or hate it like many people tend to (except for Kerblam!, its terrible moral message completely ruins any enjoyment I had of it before its conclusion. Why in the fresh farts is it trying to say that the universe’s stand in for Amazon is the good guy and would ever be actually for the workers????? Anyway rant over, and that’s the short version LOL)
I have mixed feelings on Hell Bent, but what I like about it isn't Clara (she's actually pretty badly written in this episode imo), but how the 12th Doctor reacts to and plays off her. The idea of a Doctor that's been tortured by the Time Lords for this long and is now just breaking all of his own rules and going off the deep end, to the point where the only way he can be redeemed is by wiping his memory - that's awesome. Bringing back freaking Gallifrey for a grand total of about 5 minutes of screentime, however, absolutely sucks
My ranking would go as follows! 14. The Timeless Children: Plotholes within plotholes. 13. Hell Bent: Somehow made Galifrey seem boring. 12. The Vanquishers: I lost track of how many different story arcs were going on after about 5 minutes of airtime. 11. The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos: The most forgettable episode ever to air. 10. The Name of the Doctor: Despite the title the story doesn't half seem to resolve around Clara. 9. Empire of Death: RTD's worst finale by a country mile, which is a shame because he's usually good at writing finales. 8. The Wedding of River Song: Needed at least another episode to unpack the whole converging timelines thing. 7. Death in Heaven: Fairly horrifying concept, but they could have went much further with the idea. 6. Journeys End*: Kudos to RTD for somehow managing to juggle this many characters without it appearing bloated. 5. Doomsday: The ending made me cry as a child. 4. The Big Bang: Did Moffat write a messy script? Yes. Did Matt Smith's performance make it work? Also yes. 3. The Parting of the Ways: Controversial opinion, but I find the Emperor Dalek to be a much more effective villain than Davros is (at least as far as New Who is concerned) 2. The Doctor Falls: Capaldi's Doctor finally breaks down and shows his vulnerable side, and you can empathise with him all the way. 1. Last of the Time Lords: Unlike in Empire of Death the stakes felt earned, and John Simm gave the performance of a lifetime.
Dark Water is such a fantastic concept that could be an entire show on its own. I adore it, but that means that the more standard cyberman story of Death In Heaven, while very good, doesn’t hit as hard for me. It’s like Heaven Sent/Hell Bent, but less of a drastic quality difference (i don’t mind hell bent but obviously bc Heaven Sent is some of the best modern Who has to offer). Where the second half and finale builds off a mysterious episode that stands on its own quite well, and brings in more standard doctor who enemies and trappings
"Doomsday" is definitely a gut punch, it even works if you haven't watched every episode before that ( which was the case for my first viewing), because the acting and directing sell it so well. You don't have to know the entire history of their relationship to get it.
For me New Who's finales are mostly underwhelming: 14. Wedding of River Song: Mostly just exposition and suffers from a lack of emotional connection between the leads (specifically in this story) 13. Battle of Ranskor: Just a bit boring 12. The Timeless Children: Outside of the Master is also really boring. 11. Last of the Time lords: Jumps the shark and establishes how pointless ending the world finales are. Sound of Drums worked so well because of how grounded it felt. 10. Name of the Doctor: mostly just a clip show, but 11 and River do have good chemistry this time. 9. Hell Bent: A mess but as a 12/Clara fan it somewhat works for me. 8. Death in Heaven: Solid ending, the rest is filler. Wastes so many cool ideas which Dark Water rushes through. 7. The Vanquishers: A fun mess. 6. Empire of Death: Some decent character moments and I like that the Doctor and Ruby work together for the whole story. Gets by on meeting my expectations. 5. The Big Bang: Is held together by the chemistry of the cast. 4. Journey's End: depends on the day, it's either great fun or superficial. 3. Doomsday: Fun but I don't care for the Doctor and Rose romance. 2. Parting of the Ways: Perfect send of the Eccleston 1. Doctor Falls: Might be the Greatest episode of the entire show, for me at least.
Empire of Death does the same things other RTD finales have done, i agree. It just takes no time to SELL it. that's the difference. that's kind of the difference between Season 1 and RTD's previous series as a whole. it hits a lot of the same beats, but the work isn't put in to really sell it. it's not enough to tell us something matters, you have to actually make it matter.
Pretty bang on list. Maybe, *maybe* there would be specific episodes in a different order. but break it down into thirds and there wouldn't be any crossovers between them.
The Doctor Falls is definitely the best for me, but Eleven's messy finales are the ones i enjoy rewatching the most 😂 what can I say. I love River, so she just elevated everything for me lol.
My favorite parts of Doomsday were the trash talking between the Cybermen and Daleks, and the scene of Yvonne still fighting “for Queen and country” even after being cyber-converted.
You have perfectly encapsulated a lot of the stuff that frustrated me with Moffat's writing, but also some of the strengths. When he got it right it was spectacular, but too often it was too clever for its own good. The Doctor Falls and death in Heaven are perfect, simple ideas done well.
17:59 I don’t know if this is part of the change in how you (or anyone else) saw _The Name of the Doctor_ at the time vs now, but I can tell you why my opinion of it has changed: because it set up something really cool and then never followed up on it. So at the time my opinion was sky-high in part because of a _really_ interesting idea, but now I know that it won’t actually get explored, so that part is no longer the start of something interesting, but is instead the start of something disappointing. I’m talking, of course, of the idea that fragments or echoes of Clara are scattered across the Doctor’s timestream, helping him out, often at the cost of their own lives. What they _should_ have done for the rest of Jenna Coleman’s time on the show is have her show up as a new echoClara every few episodes, the Doctor never knowing what specific event she’s there to prevent or fix, trying to protect her and outsmart the echoes of the Great Intelligence, only for her to either leave after her task was done or die saving the Doctor. That was _obviously_ [i thought] what they were setting up, but instead we just got the same Clara we’d had for most of a season at that point, and the echoes out there undoing the Great Intelligence’s meddling were never brought up, let alone shown, again.
I'm not surprised to see Doomsday being so high on this list. I'm one of the few who never liked the 10th Doctor. I loved the chemistry between Piper and Eccleston, and the one between her and Tennant just didn't work for me, so I never watched that season. But my best friend made me watch Doomsday anyway. Boy am I glad that she did. Great episode in all its heartbreaking ways.
Not up to doing a full list, so here's some random thoughts: Ranskoor: Can't hate this one, as I really like the moments between Graham and Ryan and I appreciate the attempt at creating a new villain for the 13th. Marriage of RS: it's a mess that doesn't effectively tie things up and Amy saving the Doctor by wishing really hard never worked. Vanquishers: good ideas but those bad guys are so bland, they had me missing Tim Shaw. Hell bent: clara is awful but because she's a Moffatt magic girl, she gets rewarded for being awful. Empire: first part was brilliant. This stumbles so badly and undermines its own story with stuff that doesn't make sense. All the stuff with Mel is really nice though. Doctor Falls: Perfect choice. The episodes leading up to Capaldi leaving are probably the strongest of all of new Who.
I really don't like Name of the Doctor but I find it hard to explain why. I think it's just because literally the only thing of consequence about the whole thing is the last 10 mins (from when the GIT jumps into the time stream, to the end). It one of the most nothing-ist episodes ever, and being a finale makes it worse. (I did like the Strax turning against Vastra bit). I think I'd have liked it more if the GIT jumped into the timestream early into the episode, and we saw a lot more of how The Doctor not being there affected things (a bit like Turn Left, but on a grander scale).
The big problem with Name of the Doctor for me is that his friends all stood around and watched him be tortured by the Great Intelligence and did nothing. The Doctor begged them for help and they stood there. There wasn't a story reason in the episode why they couldn't rush to his side. They were not restrained or threatened or anything like that--I rewound and checked more than once. They simply just waited for Clara to do it without explanation, for, you know, plot points. I love Steven Moffat's work on Doctor Who overall but he needs someone to be that reality check for him...and there are times when it's clear that no one is.
14: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos 13: The Timeless Children 12: The Vanquishers 11: The Empire of Death 10: The Wedding of River Song 9: Death in Heaven 8: The Last of the Time Lords 7: The Big Bang 6: Name of the Doctor 5: Hell Bent 4: Journey’s End 3: The Doctor Falls 2: Doomsday 1: Parting of the Ways
You know season finales have been bad when Vera puts Hell Bent on her top 10. Honestly I kept expecting it to get said but we Chibnall saved it with some assist from Moffat himself. As for ny ranking, atleast the top 5, it is; 5)Death in Heaven (carried mostly by Doctor and Clara "breaking up" at the end) 4)Name of the Doctor 3)Journeys End 2)Doctor Falls 1)Hell Bent Yes I love Hell Bent. Why? Because it is a finale soley reliant on the relationship between Doctor and Clara(they are my favourite pair in the whole show) so I love it. I love the idea of the Hybrid just coming down to Doctor being unable to let go of someone. Do I get why some people not like that? Yeah. Do I think Moffat executed it well? Definitely not. But hey it is a favourite list and I am baised, very much so and I am grown up enough to admit it
My problem with Empire of death is that it felt like they were building up Ruby to be something super important and when it was just that she was a teen mom it kinda felt like a let down. It’s not terrible and there are good scenes but it just felt like a letdown.
Do you think there is a reason why you seems to have a higher opinion of the first episodes than the finales? Do you have a general preference towards pilots or is it as simple there just more good series openers?
The top 3 are no doubt the best three finales in the new era. For me, switch up 2 and 3, though. I thought The Parting of the Ways was a better episode than Doomsday. It has a lot to do with the fact that I prefer Eccleston as the Doctor to Tennant, and I really was tired of the Doctor and Rose being smug and couple-y by the time Doomsday rolled around. Did I cry? Heck yes I did. But overall, the Doctor's willingness to sacrifice himself and send Rose to safety, plus Rose's determination to not let him do that... it just says so much about who each of them are. If The Doctor Falls weren't as perfect as it is, I'd have Eccleston's finale at number one (and I might, depending on how recently I've watched each one). The Parting of the Ways was such a catharsis moment for the Doctor, and Rose's deus ex machina as Bad Wolf had repercussions for the entirety of the new series so far, and gave us a whole spin-off in Torchwood (which had its own share of ups and downs, but I enjoyed it a lot). I don't actively dislike any of the finales, and each of them for me was amazing on first viewing, because first viewing is pure emotional reaction for me, unless something takes me out of the episode because it just goes so far off-tone (Orphan 55, looking at you. And you, Waters of Mars). And with one glaring exception, I've yet to actively dislike an episode of Doctor Who.
The thing that really separates these finales for me is that a Doctor Who finale NEEDS CONSEQUENCES! Even if they are relatively small (I do like Death in Heaven, Clara and The Doctor lying to each other so the other can be happy, even if that gets reversed) there needs to be SOMETHING. That’s why the only RTD finale I can’t get behind is EoD. It ends uncomplicated and happy, and that doesn’t work for the finale for me.
This is my ranking Parting of the Ways Doomsday Death in Heaven Journey's End The Empire of Death Name of the Doctor Last of the Time Lords The Doctor Falls The Timeless Children Hell Bent The Wedding of River Song The Big Bang The Vanquishers Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
I’m still surprised empire of death was as high as it was cause it didn’t really payoff the major beats of the season cause the season basically wanted us to care about ruby’s mother like she would factor into the finale in some way but ultimately didn’t and it didn’t really need to retcon the whole series from pyramids of mars going forward also on the season 12 finale the master didn’t actually destroy gallifrey cause if he did there wouldn’t have been a matrix to show the doctor the timeless child information unless he managed to extract the information but it not being made clear he can do that just being able to manipulate the matrix as shown in trial of a timelord from the 80’s he pretty much committed mass genocide on the people of gallifrey including the timelord as well as converting the timelords into cybermen so gallifrey is probably the home of the cyberlords which possibly was the half robotic half organic planet we saw in power of the doctor
Thank you for the video, Vera! I understand how after a (at least) good season/series, a bad finale could let a "bad taste in the viewers' mouth". However, something to notice in the post-classic era of Doctor Who is: most season finales are bad (and I do not necessarily mean they cannot be still enjoyable). Usually, the big problem is the stakes becoming so high to the point of planetary/comic extinction that, at the end, the universe is fixed and returns to the status quo by using some "Deus ex machina" plot point. Personally, despite having a lot problems with the Flux serial, the story almost fixes this issue of consequences not mattering... except for failing in acknowledging part of the universe staying destroyed during the conclusion of the finale. Doing endings/finales is hard!
Suhtek ripped a hole from the time vortex to modern day London why isn’t this a spin off it would be like torchwood with objects and creatures coming through
As much as I love Death In Heaven with Danny and Clara and 12 and Missy where it felt like it was being much more critical of the military, the fact that Danny says "You will sleep safe tonight," and flies into the sky to explode the threat with his Cyberman body feels like propaganda, two steps removed from parody. Especially since no war has come to the UK itself in over half a century. Especially since the inclusion of "Turmezistan" and the "Truth or Consequences" Zygon movement in the following season was nothing but a hackneyed Islamophobic metaphor for racist fears about extremism being brought to England from "somewhere in the Middle East" EDIT: I like Danny as a modern take or continuation of Brigadier's story - he's an ex-soldier turned maths teacher - but let's not forget that the Brigadier blew up the stasis pods of the original Silurians, killing every last one. It's completely the wrong way to write these characters for their sacrifices to be noble and their sins to be absolved like when Danny resurrects the child he killed at war. If they wanted that to be an effective plot point then they should have made that child into an actual character, rather than merely a symbol of Danny's guilt I also feel like there's a lot of wasted potential when it comes to Steven Moffat turning companions into Cybermen in the last episode of their seasons. Maybe it's just me but I think it would be cool to have a Cyberman companion even for just a few episodes. Both Danny Pink and Bill Potts, and even Yvonne Hartman in season 2, were shown to be able to fight the Cyberman reprogramming, why not let them keep living a little longer? He's a doctor, after all
On reflection, I think I only really like 2 season finales. Parting of the Ways and The Doctor Falls are the only ones I really love. A few decent ones here and there but Doctor Who isn't great at finales...
I know how much you dislike Hell Bent, but I respect you more for your placement of it on this list, then just putting it at the bottom because you're on the side that dislikes it. I knew you'd have it low, but genuinely surprised how high it got.
For me, it's generally Moffet at the bottom but it's because I just _can't_ with his writing. It frustrates me at so many turns that as the viewer I feel I often come up with better developments for the story as I'm watching it than what happens. Some of the others are disappointing for various reasons, often feeling like they needed some extra drafts or to boil down elements and leave out extraneous things that go nowhere or add nothing. But those don't bother me as much. But I will say I like Whitaker, she just didn't have very good scripts to work with. I do sometimes ask myself if I actually am a fan of Doctor Who. I adored Tenant, of course, and Eccelston is often underrated. Matt Smith or Capaldi both had some really good individual episodes, and some of the _elements_ of story arcs were well done. But I just wasn't as into their portrayals, though bits of Capaldi's doctor were good as a sort of post-apocalypse genre character. Bitter, jaded and worn down in a world where things are falling apart ... not great for The Doctor, but a sci-fi character in a grim and gritty story, sure. And as a Clara-stan I actually had times where I _wanted_ her to somehow, in some way, become The Doctor, or at least a character of comparative stature in the fiction. I always felt she was being held back narratively, whereas in any other story she'd develop into something more. Though I suppose that's ultimately true of all companions. If not for the need of _maintaining IP_ for a _franchise_ so that a wealthy media company can keep churning out content for decades and decades while taking as few risks with the formula, it would have been great for Capaldi's doctor to be the last there ever was, and Clara is revealed to be _something else_ -- as I think would have been fitting -- and become the character who's adventures we center on. It could even then become a story that puts the entirety of Doctor Who to bed. A conclusion -- imagine that, a IP-Franchise story that has a final end -- that wraps it up. Then we can have a _new_ story about something else entirely.
Good vid as always, Vera! My list: 14. Journey’s End 13. Timeless Children 12. Wedding of River Song 11. Battle of RaK 10. Last of the Time Lords 9. The Vanquishers 8. Empire of Death 7. Name of the Doctor 6. Doomsday 5. Hell Bent 4. Death In Heaven 3. Parting of Ways 2. Big Bang 1. Doctor Falls Honestly, I like 11 and up.
It’s not the worst, but I always find “Last of the Time Lords” the most disappointing finale, just because “Utopia” and “Sound of Drums” were so much better.
I actually stopped watching Who after A Death in Heaven. I loved Danny Pink. I thought he was such a good character. His death felt mean. And I had gotten fed up with Moffat being cruel to his characters in order to give his stories weight.
I hope "season 2" of ncuti gatwa ends with consequences in where he wants to move away from humanity because someone or something break their hearts!,or i will be disapointed ,this is a season finale that still didn't happen
So in my list, I'm counting the final stories, not splitting up the individual episodes 1. Season 8 (Dark waters / Death in Heaven) Season 8 is my favourite season & the Missy reveal feels so good. Having her go full force, I legit couldn't predict her moves due to the crazy factor. The Twist with Clara appearing in the opening just felt nice. His "I am an idiot" speech is iconic & felt so refreshing from the big heroic speeches Moffat became known for. It also seems Moffat limited his usual shortcomings (I'll explain them when they become more prevelent) to make the better showcase. 2. Season 10 (World Enough & Time / The Doctor Falls) I love having a multi master story, having a threat where The Doctor is just trying to keep people alive. It made the Cybermen threatening again. The speech the Doctor gave says everything why I love this character. Capaldi is & forever will be my Doctor, this was a beautiful send off for him & if Moffat finished here, he would've finished on one of his best notes. 3. Season 1 (Bad wolf / Parting of the ways) RTD has a lot of issues with his finals. He introduces characters who basically just died for the sake of it, with an out there ending to resolve the issue & with big emotional endings which people end up forgiving the story more. Season 1 works best for me in this reguard because 1) I'm not sick of his tropes by this point & 2) Eccelstone is a gem, I wish he could've stayed & I love he's now in Big Finish. 4. Season 5 (The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang) Moffat has a habit of over-saturating his finals with so much stuff & it feels like a headache to keep track off. Due to the high energy of the story and the ludicros circumstances, as well as Smith being at his best, I like it. Its a fun, enjoyable watch which I'll keep coming back to when I need to just smile (basically S5 in a nutshell for me) 5. Season 9 (Face the Raven / Heaven Sent / Hell Bent) This has my two favourite episodes, its my favourite Doctor & it felt like a master class in dealing with grief. Its so powerful & is character driven, which usually makes for better stories imho. I could rewatch this over & over & keep discovering new details 6. Season 4 (Stolen Earth / Journey's end) While it has the RTD issues of finals, the ending for Donna still hits me hard & it felt like a love letter to the RTD 1 era. It just felt epic & I would love for it to return once more. 7. Season 2 (Army of Ghosts / Doomsday) Another one I'm surprised by, I'm not a fan of s2 (I consider it the worst of the revival), the way they made Rose a love sick puppy hurts me. But this ending was good. Like Vera says, its fun just bashing the toys together. I also wish we got more sass from the Daleks. Could you imagine them trash talking Sontarons? I need more of this. 8. Specials (End of time P I + II) While this has the same RTD issues, deux machania, loose threads left hanging (like the women on the tele) also Wilf is a treassure who is deeply missed. Its also a beautiful send off to the first show runner who brought the show back to life 9. Season 14 (Legend of Ruby Sunday / Empire of Death) This had the issues of RTD, all show runners have 'em, but it also suffered from the lack of episodes in the season, meaning its carrying more weight for the season. 10. Season 3 (Utopia / Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords) I'm surprised this is so high, mostly due to not being the others. It just gets worst as the episodes go on, loved Utopia but the Doc-Jesus moment & lack of reprocussions made it pointless. I loved how Martha left but she deserved better. 11. Season 13 (Survivors of the Flux / The Vanquishers) I'm more forgiving on Flux, as a whole. It was restricted by a global pandemic, & they tried something new. It still has the typical Chibbs issues but I still say its his best ending of a season. 12. Season 6 (Wedding of River Song) This has the same problem of other 1 part finals but with the references, it felt fun with how they were crammed together, which is why its higher then the other single enders. 13. Season 12 (Ascention of the Cybermen / Timeless Children) I loved the first part but that bombshell ending places this so low. It could've been so good if they focused on the lone Cyberman, maybe the Doc & gang chasing him down as he travels through time, causing mayhem 14. Season 7 (Name of the Doctor) This felt rushed & early Clara was uninteresting. River also felt wasted here 15. Season 11 (Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos) Do I need to explain this one? I thought not, just watch the video because what Vera says.... basically, same
My ranking would go as follows: 14) The Timeless Children: Even setting aside my distaste for the Timeless Child revelation and its implications, the underwhelming character moments, and the absolute nerfing of the Master's character arc and Gallifrey's fate, it's just sooooooooooo boooooooooriiiiiiiiiiiing; Jodie Whittaker stands in place for 40 minutes while Sacha Dhawan lore dumps on everyone - absolutely riveting. 13) The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos: I go back and forth between the bottom two, but I give this one the edge for it having an actual story and having less egregiously bad decisions; still a bad episode though, with terrible moral dilemmas, a terrible villain, and a generally anticlimactic feeling. 12) Empire of Death: Only slightly better than the previous two, mostly thanks to the great moments with Ruby and her mother; everything that comes before is dull, lifeless and lacking in compelling dramatic tension; even by Davies' rather spotty track record with finales, this is really bad; not even Gabriel Woolf's return as Sutekh can really save it. 11) The Vanquishers: Works better than the other Chibnall finales by virtue is being so fast-paced and energetic that it papers over its nonsensical story and unearned character beats with a great sense of chaotic style and personality; a terrible splattering mess of a finale, but still undoubtedly quite a lot of fun. 10) The Wedding of River Song: Talking about "messy but fun", that pretty much sums up this finale; highly enjoyable thanks to its madcap energy and visual creativity, even when the character beats don't really land and the narrative doesn't really come together as satisfyingly as possible; still has some fantastic moments though, such as the Brigadier scene. 9) Last of the Time Lords: Gloomy, over-the-top and featuring a totally nonsensical ending, but the strength of Martha's role in the story and the resolution of her character arc more than makes up for any of the script's many many flaws; also, John Simm is great here, and the Master's death scene is perfectly executed here. 8) Journey's End: Of all the "messy but fun" finales, this is both the messiest and the most fun; it barely makes sense narratively, but most of the character beats land, the narrative twists and turns are highly compelling, Davros is great to watch, and even with the knowledge that it would be undone 15 years later, Donna's departure scene still hits hard. 7) The Name of the Doctor: It may just function as little more than setup for the upcoming 50th anniversary special and Eleven's regeneration, but it's still a pretty solid episode in its own right; the dark funereal tone works really well, there's some great emotional beats, and it benefits from having both a great cold open and a phenomenal cliffhanger. 6) Death in Heaven: Quite an overhated finale in my opinion; not the best, and it does have its issues, but the character drama lands really well, it has both Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez hitting it out of the park with their performances, Rachel Talalay's visual style is exceptional, and it low key is one of Murray Gold's best scored episodes. 5) Doomsday: Perhaps a little overrated, banking on the strength of Rose and the Doctor's farewell, but it's still a great ending that tugs on the heartstrings pretty well, and the rest of the episode, while largely coasting on Dalek vs Cyberman action, is loads of fun to watch and provides some great visual spectacle. 4) Hell Bent: Yeah, I know it's not to everyone's taste, but it absolutely works for me - you mentioned that it seems to work better for those who connected with the Doctor and Clara's relationship, but since I fall into that group, having a finale be centred around their toxic co-dependent relationship was great, and despite its issues, it works really well for me; and that's alongside the great visuals, excellent score and powerhouse performances from Capaldi and Coleman. 3) The Big Bang: Sorry to see it didn't really work for you, but I absolutely loved this one; the emotional moments hit hard for me (the Doctor's speech at Amelia's bedside hits me every time), the score is just fantastic, Toby Haynes' direction is phenomenal, the performances are top notch, and I just love how it resolves everything that's been building over this series. 2) The Parting of the Ways: Easily the best of the Davies finales, without any contest in my opinion; loads of great Dalek action, impactful and gut-wrenching character moments, Eccleston on top form, the resolution to everyone's character arcs is just fantastic, tying up the Ninth Doctor's all-too-brief tenure in perfect fashion. 1) The Doctor Falls: Much like the bottom two, the top two are episodes I go back and forth with, but after my most recent rewatch, I'm giving this one the top spot; the action is fantastically staged (Rachel Talalay truly is the MVP), the performances from the five leads - Capaldi, Gomez, Simm, Mackie and Lucas - are outstanding, and the character beats are some of the most impactful and effective in the entire series, with the Doctor's big monologue standing out as the defining speech for not just this incarnation, but the character as a whole - say what you want about him, but Moffat really understood the Doctor as a character.
14: Timeless Children 13: Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos 12: The Vanquishers 11: Empire of Death 10: Dark Water/Death in Heaven 9: Name of the Doctor 8: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday 7: Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords 6: Wedding of River Song 5: Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways 4: Stolen Earth/Journey’s End 3: Hell Bent 2: Pandorica Opens/Big Bang 1: World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
Just an FYI that John Barrowman has somewhat addressed the comments made about his actions during his time on Dr Who, I'd say it's worth looking at them and making your own opinions on if it adds to your view if his time on the show is problematic or not. In my view, I am currently inclined to believe his take on events for the sole reason I've not seen anyone complain about how he behaved or said it was inappropriate, and surely, if anyone felt uncomfortable or that it was inappropriate what he was doing, even anonymously, they would have spoken out by now. It seems to me now he's added context it's only assumptions of what might have happened that put it in the light of being problematic.
@@CouncilofGeeks everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect yours, but he's spoken about it publicly in the last month or so. He said it was only around when the script called for him to be nude on set (which Dr Who did) and he was partly trying to lighten the tension he was feeling about doing something not normal (taking all your clothes off in front of your colleagues at work). So if we think people taking their clothes off at work is a bad thing maybe we should be blaming the writers who ask them to do it.
@@jennaking710 that’s still not ok. On set male nudity always involved a modesty garment, be it a thong or just a skin tone sock to put his junk in. If there’s going to be actual full on nudity on a set, that is on the day’s call sheet because cast and crew need to be warned and, if they so choose, opt out. It doesn’t matter how close to naked he was before showing full frontal nor does it matter his intent. If you feel this mitigates how harshly you think of him, that’s fine, but it does not absolve him. He did something that is known to not do on a set. And he did it on more than one show and repeatedly.
A playlist of videos covering the issues with the BBC and transphobic reporting: ua-cam.com/play/PLmWFOeT2jEofVIDW9X3OL7GqWuX3Dxopu.html
I like how most of the Doctors are serious in the thumbnail, except for Ncuti Gatwa, who just looks so happy to be there.
I think the best RTD finales add a cost to the reset. Whether it's trapping Rose in an alternate universe, wiping Donna's memories, or killing the Ninth Doctor. The Doctor has to lose something, and it has to come with, at least, the threat that he won't get it back. That makes the deus ex machina far easier to swallow.
Even as a certified clara apologist, hell bent escaping the bottom 3 after all these years is a wilder plot twist than anything in any of these finales
It's because pretty much a majority of DW's finales are some degree of bad lol
It's great to see Vera finally coming around as a Hell Bent fan, even slotting it in her top 10 best Doctor Who series finales list ❤
In all seriousness though, I think this really goes to show how uncommon it is for a NuWho series finale to stick the landing
I'm not going to claim Hell Bent is a great episode, it messes too much up for that but I don't dislike it like many others. It has several things I like, most notably the story the Doctor tells Clara in that under area (cloisters?) which often seems to get overlooked.
@@Elwaves2925 Yeah, after rewatching it recently I'm pretty torn on it, it has a lot of really interesting concepts that I love while also completely disregarding concepts that could've been great. I think Clara's death in Face the Raven was treated more respectfully than I remembered (until the final few scenes, that is :P ), though Me saying "it was sad and beautiful" was a bit egotistical on Moffat's end lol
@@WiloPolis03 Yeah, I'm a big fan of Moffat's era but that line was a bit too much. While it was great to see Me back, I think she was also wasted and it would have been nice to see her more integral to the plot, seeing as she started the whole thing that led to Clara's 'death'.
@@Elwaves2925 It's possible that this is just another instance of Steven Moffat setting up too many things for the series finale and not being able to do all of them justice. I love his era as well (series 7 & 8 are pretty bad but the following seasons make up for it imo) but he has a recurring issue with this. I think part of the reason Series 10's finale worked so well was because it was just paying off one simple plot arc in a storyline that's otherwise mostly self-contained
@@WiloPolis03 I can agree with that, sometimes he does put too much into the mix so whatever resolution there is feels weaker or wasted.
I think that can apply to so many TV writers, not just for DW. They get all this time, fill it with stuff but without thinking about how it ties in to the end.
I agree with basically everything you've said about Empire of Death, but I still get mad at it. Not for the contrivedness, not for the weird stakes, but for Russell dangling a mystery box carrot in the viewer's face all season and going "HAH FOOLED YOU IT WAS ACTUALLY NOTHING". Masterful gambit Russ, now I have no incentive to care about anything you try to set up from this point forward hooray.
The really sad thing is that I don't think RTD intended it as a middle finger, but it definitely came off that way to many people and that's what matters.
Had they not hyped up the mystery so much, it wouldn't have been a problem, but they did, and thus it makes no sense.
For me, I just thought Sutekh was a waste and the episode was poorly paced.
If the episode count was longer per season and the finale was more thought out, Sutekh would have felt like a huge threat I genuinely believed he was in the first half. His reveal was genuinely chilling to me, but the ease and speed in which he gets defeated in the end is gonna make me never feel the same about the reveal again. I loved Ruby meeting her mom as that was the highlight, but the plot just falls so flat. And yeah why did they hype up the mystery around Ruby so much when it’s just like “idk cause her mom is just a regular human”? Huh?… i even like that idea, but they really should have not hyped up the mystery to be some huge surprise. And maybe explained the snow? That never gets explained?
I’m just frustrated in the 8 episode count, I really think a Doctor Who season works best with 12 or 13 episodes a season, and the disney+ streaming model just doesn’t allow for that. It’s cool that there’s a bigger budget but honestly I would be fine with less impressive visuals if we got more connective tissue than we did. I adore 73 Yards and love Boom, but they would be even better with more standard romps like Rouge to better develop 15 and Ruby’s relationship, and make the more out there or dark episodes shine more in comparison. I love the out there standout episodes and the fun romps, you need a good mix of both for a Doctor Who season to fully work, for me at least.
Anyway wow i rambled on I wasn’t trying to lol, cheers if you read it all!
Im not sure how id rank them all but Parting of The Ways Journeys End and The Doctor Falls are top 3 (in what order idk it varies lol)
Of those three, worst to best, I'd say Journey's End, Parting of the Ways, The Doctor Falls.
For me, it goes:
14). The Timeless Children (S12)
13). The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos (S11)
12). Empire of Death (S14)
11). Death in Heaven (S8)
10). The Vanquishers (S13)
9). Hell Bent (S9)
8). The Name of the Doctor (S7)
7). The Wedding of River Song (S6)
6). Last of the Time Lords (S3)
5). The Big Bang (S5)
4). Journey’s End (S4)
3). Doomsday (S2)
2). The Doctor Falls (S10)
1). The Parting of the Ways (S1)
I LIKE DANNY PINK, TOO! Thank you for saying that. He does absolutely bring out the best in Clara and her desperation for wanting him back in this finale was so sad and intense and amazing. I was devastated the way Danny Pink died, I thought it was brutal and wow. And like....Missy in this episode is peak Master. Absolutely brilliant. Capaldi is on fire. I LOVE DEATH IN HEAVEN!!! I just rewatched it recently. Really so much energy and true Doctor-yness...
I agree as well.
7:00 My mind immediately went "Madame Kavarian".... the fact I can't remember the last time I watched that finale (or any of the relevant Series 6 episodes) but immediately remember that probably shows that my mind is too hyperfocused on Doctor Who doesn't it?
haha, same😂😂 it might be a problem...
My ranking would probably go like this:
1. World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
2. The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
3. Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways
4. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
5. Dark Water/Death in Heaven
6. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
7. Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
8. The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death
9. The Name of the Doctor
10. Hell Bent
11. The Wedding of River Song
12. The Timeless Children
13. The Vanquishers
14. The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
ah yes. the Pandorixa
About "Death in Heaven", I get the feeling you didn't watch old "Doctor Who", because the most heartbreaking part is the return of the Brigadier. It's the Brigadier who is the resolution to Officers and Soldiers: he is both, always has been. He has never asked his men to risk themselves in ways he never would, and he was always there for the Doctor. "The earth's darkest hour, and mine ... where else would you be?"
I liked Danny Pinkman too, but the Brig fits the role even better.
1. World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
2. Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
3. The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
4. Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways
5. The Name of the Doctor
6. Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
7. Dark Water/Death in Heaven
8. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
9. The Legend of Ruby Sunday/Empire of Death
10. The Wedding of River Song
11. The Vanquishers
12. Hell Bent
13. The Battle of Ranskor Av Kolos
14. The Timeless Children
I like that Big Bang isn't a story in itself but just the ending of the season story, (with young Amelia praying to Santa). It felt like a good finale to me 🤷🏻
Parting of the Ways will always be my favorite due to it also being (for me) the perfect Regeneration episode, at least in NewWho. It's short, sweet doesn't drag on for an entire episode all a long ass speech that kinda takes away the fact The Doctor is meant to be dying.
Actually has there been a ranking for Regenerations/Finales for every Doctor?
Vera has ranked their favourite regenerations a while ago.
5 regenerating into 6 in The Caves of Androzani is their favourite.
I love the longer regeneration speeches but hey that’s just me. But 9’s is also, well, “fantastic” :)
This is definitely a hot take. I actually really like the wedding of river song. Matt smith was my introduction to doctor who. I love the 11th doctor, river , Amy and Rory. There is a lot going on (maybe too much). But what can I say I like a little Chaos.
I love your sweet messages in the outro ❤️ always puts a smile on my face ☺️
This is why I watch you channel. No one does reviews better than you.
Capaldi's monologues are amazing and the two best ones are "I am an idiot" and "And above all it's kind". When the Doctor says "Because it's right" I got really worried because I hate that as a reason to do anything, but then he says "And above all it's kind" and that is a very good reason to do something.
what's something that's right but unkind?
Agreed! Although I would add the Osgood boxes speech to round out the top three 😊
I love your insights into the show and am particularly pleased and impressed that you're one of the very few UA-camrs to actually pronounce Peter Capaldi's last name correctly. He's my favorite of the NuWho by light years. (Jon Pertwee is my permanent number one, but then again I met him and even spent time with him.)
"People who like Hell Bent seem to really like Clara."... I feel EXTREMELY called out! 🤣
Probably true 😅 Bringing a dead character to life makes people angry, especially after beautiful Heaven Sent where her death was very impactful. you must really like Clara to forgive that, and be happy she's still alive (kinda, between 2 heartbeats?)
I like Clara and I don't dislike Hell Bent but I wouldn't class it as a great, or even good episode. It has several things I like in it though, despite the mess and waste of most of the episode.
I don't think it's worth getting angry at the destruction of Gallifrey in the TC. If someone wants to bring the Timelords back, they will.
Invasion of Time is crap for many reasons. Why bother being angry about any failed story. On its own The Timeless Children is utter shit. 💩
I don't like CLARA the same amount the doctor does to go to those extremes, but i watch and frame it in context of my life, and there are people that i would go to said extreme for.
I must admit, I LOVE the Wedding of River Song ahah - it's fun. I'd definitely put the finale of Flux beneath it, personally. I'm also a big Hell Bent and Big Bang stan ahah.
Empire was disappointing for me.
Oh this new premier countdown is dramatic
I love it
Empire of Death is my favourite of Russell's finales. Sutekh's end in this mirrors his end in Pyramids of Mars. The Doctor drags Sutekh through the time vortex to be sure he dies and doesn't find a pocket to hide away in.
Timeless Children is good. The Doctor's arc from anger to acceptance is good, though it should have extended to the end of series 13.
Hell Bent is good.
Battle of Ranskor Av Kolos just needs a hug and some loving hands to work on it and she's right as rain. I'd love to see what Chris Chibnall wanted it to be. He took the hit so his team could fly. Admirable. 😊
Glad you enjoy what many do not, that’s cool. While I am not the biggest fan of those finales like many seem to be, I also find it hard to hate Doctor Who! I’m catching up on what I’ve missed, nearing being done with the 13th doctor’s run, and while it definitely is more flawed than what came before, I don’t dislike or hate it like many people tend to (except for Kerblam!, its terrible moral message completely ruins any enjoyment I had of it before its conclusion. Why in the fresh farts is it trying to say that the universe’s stand in for Amazon is the good guy and would ever be actually for the workers????? Anyway rant over, and that’s the short version LOL)
I might be dumb but im confused by the intro lol, "you may finish strong, but you dang better end strong"
Yeah… I meant to say “you may begin strong”… I didn’t catch that in the edit
I have mixed feelings on Hell Bent, but what I like about it isn't Clara (she's actually pretty badly written in this episode imo), but how the 12th Doctor reacts to and plays off her. The idea of a Doctor that's been tortured by the Time Lords for this long and is now just breaking all of his own rules and going off the deep end, to the point where the only way he can be redeemed is by wiping his memory - that's awesome.
Bringing back freaking Gallifrey for a grand total of about 5 minutes of screentime, however, absolutely sucks
Capaldi as 12 definitely carries a LOT of Hell Bent on his shoulders.
@@nekusakura6748 100%. Gosh he was so freaking good, he carried *every* episode he was in
Please do a review of Wallace and Gromit. Vengeance Most Fowl when it comes out
My ranking would go as follows!
14. The Timeless Children: Plotholes within plotholes.
13. Hell Bent: Somehow made Galifrey seem boring.
12. The Vanquishers: I lost track of how many different story arcs were going on after about 5 minutes of airtime.
11. The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos: The most forgettable episode ever to air.
10. The Name of the Doctor: Despite the title the story doesn't half seem to resolve around Clara.
9. Empire of Death: RTD's worst finale by a country mile, which is a shame because he's usually good at writing finales.
8. The Wedding of River Song: Needed at least another episode to unpack the whole converging timelines thing.
7. Death in Heaven: Fairly horrifying concept, but they could have went much further with the idea.
6. Journeys End*: Kudos to RTD for somehow managing to juggle this many characters without it appearing bloated.
5. Doomsday: The ending made me cry as a child.
4. The Big Bang: Did Moffat write a messy script? Yes. Did Matt Smith's performance make it work? Also yes.
3. The Parting of the Ways: Controversial opinion, but I find the Emperor Dalek to be a much more effective villain than Davros is (at least as far as New Who is concerned)
2. The Doctor Falls: Capaldi's Doctor finally breaks down and shows his vulnerable side, and you can empathise with him all the way.
1. Last of the Time Lords: Unlike in Empire of Death the stakes felt earned, and John Simm gave the performance of a lifetime.
You put parting of the ways twice, I think u meant journeys end
@jumbojaba1235 You're right lol. Good catch!
Dark Water is such a fantastic concept that could be an entire show on its own. I adore it, but that means that the more standard cyberman story of Death In Heaven, while very good, doesn’t hit as hard for me. It’s like Heaven Sent/Hell Bent, but less of a drastic quality difference (i don’t mind hell bent but obviously bc Heaven Sent is some of the best modern Who has to offer). Where the second half and finale builds off a mysterious episode that stands on its own quite well, and brings in more standard doctor who enemies and trappings
I remember watching your original rankings of the finales when I was like 14
Yep - Capaldi for the win! Especially with Bill.
Your rankings are quite far from what mine would be, I think, but it's always enjoyable to hear your take. Good stuff!
"Doomsday" is definitely a gut punch, it even works if you haven't watched every episode before that ( which was the case for my first viewing), because the acting and directing sell it so well. You don't have to know the entire history of their relationship to get it.
I don't really know why but I find Empire of Death to be one of my top 5 series finales
The Last of the Time Lords is muuuch higher than I thought it would be.
For me New Who's finales are mostly underwhelming:
14. Wedding of River Song: Mostly just exposition and suffers from a lack of emotional connection between the leads (specifically in this story)
13. Battle of Ranskor: Just a bit boring
12. The Timeless Children: Outside of the Master is also really boring.
11. Last of the Time lords: Jumps the shark and establishes how pointless ending the world finales are. Sound of Drums worked so well because of how grounded it felt.
10. Name of the Doctor: mostly just a clip show, but 11 and River do have good chemistry this time.
9. Hell Bent: A mess but as a 12/Clara fan it somewhat works for me.
8. Death in Heaven: Solid ending, the rest is filler. Wastes so many cool ideas which Dark Water rushes through.
7. The Vanquishers: A fun mess.
6. Empire of Death: Some decent character moments and I like that the Doctor and Ruby work together for the whole story. Gets by on meeting my expectations.
5. The Big Bang: Is held together by the chemistry of the cast.
4. Journey's End: depends on the day, it's either great fun or superficial.
3. Doomsday: Fun but I don't care for the Doctor and Rose romance.
2. Parting of the Ways: Perfect send of the Eccleston
1. Doctor Falls: Might be the Greatest episode of the entire show, for me at least.
Agree, Death in Heaven is so overlooked.
Empire of Death does the same things other RTD finales have done, i agree. It just takes no time to SELL it. that's the difference. that's kind of the difference between Season 1 and RTD's previous series as a whole. it hits a lot of the same beats, but the work isn't put in to really sell it. it's not enough to tell us something matters, you have to actually make it matter.
Pretty bang on list. Maybe, *maybe* there would be specific episodes in a different order. but break it down into thirds and there wouldn't be any crossovers between them.
The Doctor Falls is definitely the best for me, but Eleven's messy finales are the ones i enjoy rewatching the most 😂 what can I say. I love River, so she just elevated everything for me lol.
My favorite parts of Doomsday were the trash talking between the Cybermen and Daleks, and the scene of Yvonne still fighting “for Queen and country” even after being cyber-converted.
She did her duty.
Beautifully put. Thank you.
You didn't mention the biggest failing of "The Vansquishers": they didn't squish a single van.
You have perfectly encapsulated a lot of the stuff that frustrated me with Moffat's writing, but also some of the strengths. When he got it right it was spectacular, but too often it was too clever for its own good. The Doctor Falls and death in Heaven are perfect, simple ideas done well.
17:59 I don’t know if this is part of the change in how you (or anyone else) saw _The Name of the Doctor_ at the time vs now, but I can tell you why my opinion of it has changed: because it set up something really cool and then never followed up on it. So at the time my opinion was sky-high in part because of a _really_ interesting idea, but now I know that it won’t actually get explored, so that part is no longer the start of something interesting, but is instead the start of something disappointing.
I’m talking, of course, of the idea that fragments or echoes of Clara are scattered across the Doctor’s timestream, helping him out, often at the cost of their own lives. What they _should_ have done for the rest of Jenna Coleman’s time on the show is have her show up as a new echoClara every few episodes, the Doctor never knowing what specific event she’s there to prevent or fix, trying to protect her and outsmart the echoes of the Great Intelligence, only for her to either leave after her task was done or die saving the Doctor. That was _obviously_ [i thought] what they were setting up, but instead we just got the same Clara we’d had for most of a season at that point, and the echoes out there undoing the Great Intelligence’s meddling were never brought up, let alone shown, again.
I'm not surprised to see Doomsday being so high on this list. I'm one of the few who never liked the 10th Doctor. I loved the chemistry between Piper and Eccleston, and the one between her and Tennant just didn't work for me, so I never watched that season. But my best friend made me watch Doomsday anyway. Boy am I glad that she did. Great episode in all its heartbreaking ways.
Please also rank all the first halfs of series finales? that would be interesting too
Not up to doing a full list, so here's some random thoughts:
Ranskoor: Can't hate this one, as I really like the moments between Graham and Ryan and I appreciate the attempt at creating a new villain for the 13th.
Marriage of RS: it's a mess that doesn't effectively tie things up and Amy saving the Doctor by wishing really hard never worked.
Vanquishers: good ideas but those bad guys are so bland, they had me missing Tim Shaw.
Hell bent: clara is awful but because she's a Moffatt magic girl, she gets rewarded for being awful.
Empire: first part was brilliant. This stumbles so badly and undermines its own story with stuff that doesn't make sense.
All the stuff with Mel is really nice though.
Doctor Falls: Perfect choice. The episodes leading up to Capaldi leaving are probably the strongest of all of new Who.
YES, THE PERSONALISE TOUR OWN SONIC MAKES AN APPEARANCE!!! WOOOOOOOOOO
No offence, but your hair looks really pretty in this video
Why would that offend me?
@@CouncilofGeeks I didn’t wish to undermine the substance of your content by fixating on your appearance.
I laughed way too much at the selected screenshot of The Last of Time Lords
Death in Heaven is the most underrated final! Im glad it managed to hit at least 4 in this list!
I really don't like Name of the Doctor but I find it hard to explain why. I think it's just because literally the only thing of consequence about the whole thing is the last 10 mins (from when the GIT jumps into the time stream, to the end). It one of the most nothing-ist episodes ever, and being a finale makes it worse. (I did like the Strax turning against Vastra bit).
I think I'd have liked it more if the GIT jumped into the timestream early into the episode, and we saw a lot more of how The Doctor not being there affected things (a bit like Turn Left, but on a grander scale).
The Battle Of Ranskoor Arv Kolos is truly a bag of shite
The big problem with Name of the Doctor for me is that his friends all stood around and watched him be tortured by the Great Intelligence and did nothing. The Doctor begged them for help and they stood there. There wasn't a story reason in the episode why they couldn't rush to his side. They were not restrained or threatened or anything like that--I rewound and checked more than once. They simply just waited for Clara to do it without explanation, for, you know, plot points. I love Steven Moffat's work on Doctor Who overall but he needs someone to be that reality check for him...and there are times when it's clear that no one is.
So agreed on your choice for worst. ANd it makes me sad because I loved almost everything else about that season. But the final was just bad.
Hard disagree on the Wedding of River Song, though. Love that episode.
i dont think wedding of river song is worse then hell bent, i think that was a bit harsh. btw my favorite finale is name of the doctor
14: The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
13: The Timeless Children
12: The Vanquishers
11: The Empire of Death
10: The Wedding of River Song
9: Death in Heaven
8: The Last of the Time Lords
7: The Big Bang
6: Name of the Doctor
5: Hell Bent
4: Journey’s End
3: The Doctor Falls
2: Doomsday
1: Parting of the Ways
You know season finales have been bad when Vera puts Hell Bent on her top 10. Honestly I kept expecting it to get said but we Chibnall saved it with some assist from Moffat himself.
As for ny ranking, atleast the top 5, it is;
5)Death in Heaven (carried mostly by Doctor and Clara "breaking up" at the end)
4)Name of the Doctor
3)Journeys End
2)Doctor Falls
1)Hell Bent
Yes I love Hell Bent. Why? Because it is a finale soley reliant on the relationship between Doctor and Clara(they are my favourite pair in the whole show) so I love it. I love the idea of the Hybrid just coming down to Doctor being unable to let go of someone. Do I get why some people not like that? Yeah. Do I think Moffat executed it well? Definitely not.
But hey it is a favourite list and I am baised, very much so and I am grown up enough to admit it
My problem with Empire of death is that it felt like they were building up Ruby to be something super important and when it was just that she was a teen mom it kinda felt like a let down. It’s not terrible and there are good scenes but it just felt like a letdown.
Do you think there is a reason why you seems to have a higher opinion of the first episodes than the finales? Do you have a general preference towards pilots or is it as simple there just more good series openers?
hey Vera, here's an idea for a New Who List.....top 10 Mic Drop moments of New Who????
The top 3 are no doubt the best three finales in the new era. For me, switch up 2 and 3, though. I thought The Parting of the Ways was a better episode than Doomsday. It has a lot to do with the fact that I prefer Eccleston as the Doctor to Tennant, and I really was tired of the Doctor and Rose being smug and couple-y by the time Doomsday rolled around. Did I cry? Heck yes I did. But overall, the Doctor's willingness to sacrifice himself and send Rose to safety, plus Rose's determination to not let him do that... it just says so much about who each of them are. If The Doctor Falls weren't as perfect as it is, I'd have Eccleston's finale at number one (and I might, depending on how recently I've watched each one). The Parting of the Ways was such a catharsis moment for the Doctor, and Rose's deus ex machina as Bad Wolf had repercussions for the entirety of the new series so far, and gave us a whole spin-off in Torchwood (which had its own share of ups and downs, but I enjoyed it a lot).
I don't actively dislike any of the finales, and each of them for me was amazing on first viewing, because first viewing is pure emotional reaction for me, unless something takes me out of the episode because it just goes so far off-tone (Orphan 55, looking at you. And you, Waters of Mars). And with one glaring exception, I've yet to actively dislike an episode of Doctor Who.
The thing that really separates these finales for me is that a Doctor Who finale NEEDS CONSEQUENCES! Even if they are relatively small (I do like Death in Heaven, Clara and The Doctor lying to each other so the other can be happy, even if that gets reversed) there needs to be SOMETHING. That’s why the only RTD finale I can’t get behind is EoD. It ends uncomplicated and happy, and that doesn’t work for the finale for me.
This is my ranking
Parting of the Ways
Doomsday
Death in Heaven
Journey's End
The Empire of Death
Name of the Doctor
Last of the Time Lords
The Doctor Falls
The Timeless Children
Hell Bent
The Wedding of River Song
The Big Bang
The Vanquishers
Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
Can't really argue with this ranking.
I’m still surprised empire of death was as high as it was cause it didn’t really payoff the major beats of the season cause the season basically wanted us to care about ruby’s mother like she would factor into the finale in some way but ultimately didn’t and it didn’t really need to retcon the whole series from pyramids of mars going forward also on the season 12 finale the master didn’t actually destroy gallifrey cause if he did there wouldn’t have been a matrix to show the doctor the timeless child information unless he managed to extract the information but it not being made clear he can do that just being able to manipulate the matrix as shown in trial of a timelord from the 80’s he pretty much committed mass genocide on the people of gallifrey including the timelord as well as converting the timelords into cybermen so gallifrey is probably the home of the cyberlords which possibly was the half robotic half organic planet we saw in power of the doctor
Can't really think of anything to disagree with here. Cheers!
Good list
Thank you for the video, Vera!
I understand how after a (at least) good season/series, a bad finale could let a "bad taste in the viewers' mouth". However, something to notice in the post-classic era of Doctor Who is: most season finales are bad (and I do not necessarily mean they cannot be still enjoyable). Usually, the big problem is the stakes becoming so high to the point of planetary/comic extinction that, at the end, the universe is fixed and returns to the status quo by using some "Deus ex machina" plot point. Personally, despite having a lot problems with the Flux serial, the story almost fixes this issue of consequences not mattering... except for failing in acknowledging part of the universe staying destroyed during the conclusion of the finale. Doing endings/finales is hard!
Series 6 couldve been almost perfect in my opinion if Closing Time didn't happen and The Wedding of River song was in two parts
Suhtek ripped a hole from the time vortex to modern day London why isn’t this a spin off it would be like torchwood with objects and creatures coming through
As much as I love Death In Heaven with Danny and Clara and 12 and Missy where it felt like it was being much more critical of the military, the fact that Danny says "You will sleep safe tonight," and flies into the sky to explode the threat with his Cyberman body feels like propaganda, two steps removed from parody. Especially since no war has come to the UK itself in over half a century. Especially since the inclusion of "Turmezistan" and the "Truth or Consequences" Zygon movement in the following season was nothing but a hackneyed Islamophobic metaphor for racist fears about extremism being brought to England from "somewhere in the Middle East"
EDIT: I like Danny as a modern take or continuation of Brigadier's story - he's an ex-soldier turned maths teacher - but let's not forget that the Brigadier blew up the stasis pods of the original Silurians, killing every last one. It's completely the wrong way to write these characters for their sacrifices to be noble and their sins to be absolved like when Danny resurrects the child he killed at war. If they wanted that to be an effective plot point then they should have made that child into an actual character, rather than merely a symbol of Danny's guilt
I also feel like there's a lot of wasted potential when it comes to Steven Moffat turning companions into Cybermen in the last episode of their seasons. Maybe it's just me but I think it would be cool to have a Cyberman companion even for just a few episodes. Both Danny Pink and Bill Potts, and even Yvonne Hartman in season 2, were shown to be able to fight the Cyberman reprogramming, why not let them keep living a little longer? He's a doctor, after all
I get having Ranskoor Av Kolos at the bottom, but for me Empire of Death is even worse.
On reflection, I think I only really like 2 season finales. Parting of the Ways and The Doctor Falls are the only ones I really love. A few decent ones here and there but Doctor Who isn't great at finales...
Sooo.... "The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos" is a "Mess-terpiece"? :D
I know how much you dislike Hell Bent, but I respect you more for your placement of it on this list, then just putting it at the bottom because you're on the side that dislikes it. I knew you'd have it low, but genuinely surprised how high it got.
For me, it's generally Moffet at the bottom but it's because I just _can't_ with his writing. It frustrates me at so many turns that as the viewer I feel I often come up with better developments for the story as I'm watching it than what happens. Some of the others are disappointing for various reasons, often feeling like they needed some extra drafts or to boil down elements and leave out extraneous things that go nowhere or add nothing. But those don't bother me as much. But I will say I like Whitaker, she just didn't have very good scripts to work with.
I do sometimes ask myself if I actually am a fan of Doctor Who. I adored Tenant, of course, and Eccelston is often underrated. Matt Smith or Capaldi both had some really good individual episodes, and some of the _elements_ of story arcs were well done. But I just wasn't as into their portrayals, though bits of Capaldi's doctor were good as a sort of post-apocalypse genre character. Bitter, jaded and worn down in a world where things are falling apart ... not great for The Doctor, but a sci-fi character in a grim and gritty story, sure. And as a Clara-stan I actually had times where I _wanted_ her to somehow, in some way, become The Doctor, or at least a character of comparative stature in the fiction. I always felt she was being held back narratively, whereas in any other story she'd develop into something more. Though I suppose that's ultimately true of all companions.
If not for the need of _maintaining IP_ for a _franchise_ so that a wealthy media company can keep churning out content for decades and decades while taking as few risks with the formula, it would have been great for Capaldi's doctor to be the last there ever was, and Clara is revealed to be _something else_ -- as I think would have been fitting -- and become the character who's adventures we center on. It could even then become a story that puts the entirety of Doctor Who to bed. A conclusion -- imagine that, a IP-Franchise story that has a final end -- that wraps it up. Then we can have a _new_ story about something else entirely.
Good vid as always, Vera!
My list:
14. Journey’s End
13. Timeless Children
12. Wedding of River Song
11. Battle of RaK
10. Last of the Time Lords
9. The Vanquishers
8. Empire of Death
7. Name of the Doctor
6. Doomsday
5. Hell Bent
4. Death In Heaven
3. Parting of Ways
2. Big Bang
1. Doctor Falls
Honestly, I like 11 and up.
I think it's unfair to ignore the first part of clear 2 part stories. You're chucking out half the story because of the forced intermission..
These feel less like rankings, and more like someone trying to find reasons to hate something.
Which is sad.
It’s not the worst, but I always find “Last of the Time Lords” the most disappointing finale, just because “Utopia” and “Sound of Drums” were so much better.
it's better to finish strong but better end strong?
Capaldi was the best actor to play the role in the modern era.
While I thought empire of death was good, I ain't gonna argue with those who don't like it
I actually stopped watching Who after A Death in Heaven. I loved Danny Pink. I thought he was such a good character. His death felt mean. And I had gotten fed up with Moffat being cruel to his characters in order to give his stories weight.
I hope "season 2" of ncuti gatwa ends with consequences in where he wants to move away from humanity because someone or something break their hearts!,or i will be disapointed ,this is a season finale that still didn't happen
So in my list, I'm counting the final stories, not splitting up the individual episodes
1. Season 8 (Dark waters / Death in Heaven)
Season 8 is my favourite season & the Missy reveal feels so good. Having her go full force, I legit couldn't predict her moves due to the crazy factor. The Twist with Clara appearing in the opening just felt nice. His "I am an idiot" speech is iconic & felt so refreshing from the big heroic speeches Moffat became known for. It also seems Moffat limited his usual shortcomings (I'll explain them when they become more prevelent) to make the better showcase.
2. Season 10 (World Enough & Time / The Doctor Falls)
I love having a multi master story, having a threat where The Doctor is just trying to keep people alive. It made the Cybermen threatening again. The speech the Doctor gave says everything why I love this character. Capaldi is & forever will be my Doctor, this was a beautiful send off for him & if Moffat finished here, he would've finished on one of his best notes.
3. Season 1 (Bad wolf / Parting of the ways)
RTD has a lot of issues with his finals. He introduces characters who basically just died for the sake of it, with an out there ending to resolve the issue & with big emotional endings which people end up forgiving the story more. Season 1 works best for me in this reguard because 1) I'm not sick of his tropes by this point & 2) Eccelstone is a gem, I wish he could've stayed & I love he's now in Big Finish.
4. Season 5 (The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang)
Moffat has a habit of over-saturating his finals with so much stuff & it feels like a headache to keep track off. Due to the high energy of the story and the ludicros circumstances, as well as Smith being at his best, I like it. Its a fun, enjoyable watch which I'll keep coming back to when I need to just smile (basically S5 in a nutshell for me)
5. Season 9 (Face the Raven / Heaven Sent / Hell Bent)
This has my two favourite episodes, its my favourite Doctor & it felt like a master class in dealing with grief. Its so powerful & is character driven, which usually makes for better stories imho. I could rewatch this over & over & keep discovering new details
6. Season 4 (Stolen Earth / Journey's end)
While it has the RTD issues of finals, the ending for Donna still hits me hard & it felt like a love letter to the RTD 1 era. It just felt epic & I would love for it to return once more.
7. Season 2 (Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)
Another one I'm surprised by, I'm not a fan of s2 (I consider it the worst of the revival), the way they made Rose a love sick puppy hurts me. But this ending was good. Like Vera says, its fun just bashing the toys together. I also wish we got more sass from the Daleks. Could you imagine them trash talking Sontarons? I need more of this.
8. Specials (End of time P I + II)
While this has the same RTD issues, deux machania, loose threads left hanging (like the women on the tele) also Wilf is a treassure who is deeply missed. Its also a beautiful send off to the first show runner who brought the show back to life
9. Season 14 (Legend of Ruby Sunday / Empire of Death)
This had the issues of RTD, all show runners have 'em, but it also suffered from the lack of episodes in the season, meaning its carrying more weight for the season.
10. Season 3 (Utopia / Sound of Drums / Last of the Time Lords)
I'm surprised this is so high, mostly due to not being the others. It just gets worst as the episodes go on, loved Utopia but the Doc-Jesus moment & lack of reprocussions made it pointless. I loved how Martha left but she deserved better.
11. Season 13 (Survivors of the Flux / The Vanquishers)
I'm more forgiving on Flux, as a whole. It was restricted by a global pandemic, & they tried something new. It still has the typical Chibbs issues but I still say its his best ending of a season.
12. Season 6 (Wedding of River Song)
This has the same problem of other 1 part finals but with the references, it felt fun with how they were crammed together, which is why its higher then the other single enders.
13. Season 12 (Ascention of the Cybermen / Timeless Children)
I loved the first part but that bombshell ending places this so low. It could've been so good if they focused on the lone Cyberman, maybe the Doc & gang chasing him down as he travels through time, causing mayhem
14. Season 7 (Name of the Doctor)
This felt rushed & early Clara was uninteresting. River also felt wasted here
15. Season 11 (Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos)
Do I need to explain this one? I thought not, just watch the video because what Vera says.... basically, same
I'm shocked that Hell Bent made the top 10. Out of 14, but still. 😅
Might I be agender? I don't really know what to feel like. I call myself a "guy'" not a man
I am surprised that hell bent is as high as 10
Watching this reminded me the show I love has a lot of terrible series finales.
I wanna argue how high empire of death is on this but the ones below it are just as terrible 😂
Even if I don't always agree, your takes are never without consideration.
I love comments like this. Means I’m doing my job well.
My ranking would go as follows:
14) The Timeless Children: Even setting aside my distaste for the Timeless Child revelation and its implications, the underwhelming character moments, and the absolute nerfing of the Master's character arc and Gallifrey's fate, it's just sooooooooooo boooooooooriiiiiiiiiiiing; Jodie Whittaker stands in place for 40 minutes while Sacha Dhawan lore dumps on everyone - absolutely riveting.
13) The Battle of Ranskoor av Kolos: I go back and forth between the bottom two, but I give this one the edge for it having an actual story and having less egregiously bad decisions; still a bad episode though, with terrible moral dilemmas, a terrible villain, and a generally anticlimactic feeling.
12) Empire of Death: Only slightly better than the previous two, mostly thanks to the great moments with Ruby and her mother; everything that comes before is dull, lifeless and lacking in compelling dramatic tension; even by Davies' rather spotty track record with finales, this is really bad; not even Gabriel Woolf's return as Sutekh can really save it.
11) The Vanquishers: Works better than the other Chibnall finales by virtue is being so fast-paced and energetic that it papers over its nonsensical story and unearned character beats with a great sense of chaotic style and personality; a terrible splattering mess of a finale, but still undoubtedly quite a lot of fun.
10) The Wedding of River Song: Talking about "messy but fun", that pretty much sums up this finale; highly enjoyable thanks to its madcap energy and visual creativity, even when the character beats don't really land and the narrative doesn't really come together as satisfyingly as possible; still has some fantastic moments though, such as the Brigadier scene.
9) Last of the Time Lords: Gloomy, over-the-top and featuring a totally nonsensical ending, but the strength of Martha's role in the story and the resolution of her character arc more than makes up for any of the script's many many flaws; also, John Simm is great here, and the Master's death scene is perfectly executed here.
8) Journey's End: Of all the "messy but fun" finales, this is both the messiest and the most fun; it barely makes sense narratively, but most of the character beats land, the narrative twists and turns are highly compelling, Davros is great to watch, and even with the knowledge that it would be undone 15 years later, Donna's departure scene still hits hard.
7) The Name of the Doctor: It may just function as little more than setup for the upcoming 50th anniversary special and Eleven's regeneration, but it's still a pretty solid episode in its own right; the dark funereal tone works really well, there's some great emotional beats, and it benefits from having both a great cold open and a phenomenal cliffhanger.
6) Death in Heaven: Quite an overhated finale in my opinion; not the best, and it does have its issues, but the character drama lands really well, it has both Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez hitting it out of the park with their performances, Rachel Talalay's visual style is exceptional, and it low key is one of Murray Gold's best scored episodes.
5) Doomsday: Perhaps a little overrated, banking on the strength of Rose and the Doctor's farewell, but it's still a great ending that tugs on the heartstrings pretty well, and the rest of the episode, while largely coasting on Dalek vs Cyberman action, is loads of fun to watch and provides some great visual spectacle.
4) Hell Bent: Yeah, I know it's not to everyone's taste, but it absolutely works for me - you mentioned that it seems to work better for those who connected with the Doctor and Clara's relationship, but since I fall into that group, having a finale be centred around their toxic co-dependent relationship was great, and despite its issues, it works really well for me; and that's alongside the great visuals, excellent score and powerhouse performances from Capaldi and Coleman.
3) The Big Bang: Sorry to see it didn't really work for you, but I absolutely loved this one; the emotional moments hit hard for me (the Doctor's speech at Amelia's bedside hits me every time), the score is just fantastic, Toby Haynes' direction is phenomenal, the performances are top notch, and I just love how it resolves everything that's been building over this series.
2) The Parting of the Ways: Easily the best of the Davies finales, without any contest in my opinion; loads of great Dalek action, impactful and gut-wrenching character moments, Eccleston on top form, the resolution to everyone's character arcs is just fantastic, tying up the Ninth Doctor's all-too-brief tenure in perfect fashion.
1) The Doctor Falls: Much like the bottom two, the top two are episodes I go back and forth with, but after my most recent rewatch, I'm giving this one the top spot; the action is fantastically staged (Rachel Talalay truly is the MVP), the performances from the five leads - Capaldi, Gomez, Simm, Mackie and Lucas - are outstanding, and the character beats are some of the most impactful and effective in the entire series, with the Doctor's big monologue standing out as the defining speech for not just this incarnation, but the character as a whole - say what you want about him, but Moffat really understood the Doctor as a character.
Peter Capaldi is also my favorite doctor.
I miss your hat.
14: Timeless Children
13: Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos
12: The Vanquishers
11: Empire of Death
10: Dark Water/Death in Heaven
9: Name of the Doctor
8: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
7: Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
6: Wedding of River Song
5: Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways
4: Stolen Earth/Journey’s End
3: Hell Bent
2: Pandorica Opens/Big Bang
1: World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
Just an FYI that John Barrowman has somewhat addressed the comments made about his actions during his time on Dr Who, I'd say it's worth looking at them and making your own opinions on if it adds to your view if his time on the show is problematic or not. In my view, I am currently inclined to believe his take on events for the sole reason I've not seen anyone complain about how he behaved or said it was inappropriate, and surely, if anyone felt uncomfortable or that it was inappropriate what he was doing, even anonymously, they would have spoken out by now. It seems to me now he's added context it's only assumptions of what might have happened that put it in the light of being problematic.
I addressed this notion years ago, and I stand by it: ua-cam.com/video/UDrVFmgvUzo/v-deo.html
@@CouncilofGeeks everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I respect yours, but he's spoken about it publicly in the last month or so. He said it was only around when the script called for him to be nude on set (which Dr Who did) and he was partly trying to lighten the tension he was feeling about doing something not normal (taking all your clothes off in front of your colleagues at work). So if we think people taking their clothes off at work is a bad thing maybe we should be blaming the writers who ask them to do it.
@@jennaking710 that’s still not ok. On set male nudity always involved a modesty garment, be it a thong or just a skin tone sock to put his junk in. If there’s going to be actual full on nudity on a set, that is on the day’s call sheet because cast and crew need to be warned and, if they so choose, opt out. It doesn’t matter how close to naked he was before showing full frontal nor does it matter his intent. If you feel this mitigates how harshly you think of him, that’s fine, but it does not absolve him. He did something that is known to not do on a set. And he did it on more than one show and repeatedly.