Best New Dr. Who(2005-now) episode in your opinion(possible Spoilers)

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Currently I am re-watching the new (2005-2010, because Stephen Moffatt has lost it in the new new series imo) series of Dr. Who, and it got me wondering as to which episode the Escapist Community considers to be the best, or rather, which episode(s) the individual Escapists consider to be the best.

The Criteria:
-The new series is anything from 2005 to now, including the Stephen Moffatt series(the Matt Smith episodes).
-Two-parters/variations thereupon also count, as do the specials.
-You should say why you consider it to be the best, although this last part is optional
-BONUS: which episode(s) do you consider to be under-appreciated/over-appreciated, or the worst?

I personally think that it's a close tie between the Three-part(Utopia, The Sound of Drums and Last of The Time Lords) season 3 finale and The End of Time Christmas Special.

Partly it's because John Simm is stellar as the Master, and partly because I feel that the Master is the only foe that The Doctor has ever faced that he actually had trouble defeating because he was such a perfect arch-nemesis; he lacks compassion, will not be taken as a prisoner and is ruthless, also it was refreshing to see the Doctor helpless for once.

As for the End of Time, well, it's because of the send-off that they gave Tennant, feels were all over the place, and it was nicely poignant.

BONUS: worst episode has to be Power Of Three, the basis of the episode was interesting(how the Doctor affected Amy & Rory's personal lives, and how they had to juggle the normal and "the Doctor lives", but it was cut off around the midpoint to unravel the frankly stupid mystery behind the cubes, only to be resolved nigh-immediately at the end.

As for under-appreciated; The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit because it touches on the idea of "does an entity such as The Devil actually exist?" and because again, the Doctor was out of his depth and very vulnerable in it.

Over-appreciated, Army of Ghosts/Doomsday: the fun of seeing the daleks converse with the cybermen was a bit downplayed, and the "war" was pushed into the sidelines from a purely visual perspective, the episode is still good, but it felt lacking.

 

[Sleekgiant]

Personally I loved the Waters of Mars movie with Tennant, dunno it just always tugs at my heartstrings :s.

Ehh but I love all the episodes to bits, in fact might just go rewatch all of them.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Personally I loved the Waters of Mars movie with Tennant, dunno it just always tugs at my heartstrings :s.

Ehh but I love all the episodes to bits, in fact might just go rewatch all of them.

Oh, I forgot about that episode, it was quite cool.

I liked how weary he seemed at the end and just went "SCREW IT, I AM CHANGING HISTORY".

 

[SuperFrankieLampard]

The 2 parter with Matt Smith and The Weeping Angels with The Waters of Mars a close second.

 

[FinalDream]

The Fires of Pompeii (Tennant) is currently my favourite of the new series, it was The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit (Tennant), then The Doctors Wife (Smith), then The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang (Smith), I watched it recently and the story holds up for me, and that ending. Oh that ending always gets me...

The most under appreciated episodes are for me Midnight (Tennant), a lot of people say it's boring because they are trapped in small spaceship most of the episode but it's a great character study on the best and worst of the human race. Also Vincent and the Doctor (Smith), a nice story with relatively little action but a nice stirring ending.

The worst is Love and Monsters (Tennant). There is simply no doubt about that. It really is a stinker that has possibly the worst villain ever created for the new series.

To be honest after rewatching all of Smith's episodes, I'm surprised how many of them are really, really good.

 

[Gizmo1990]

Snip

Damn, ninja'ed by the OP. I love Utopia, The Sound of Drums and Last of The Time Lords because as you say John Simm kills it as The Master. I hope that when Moffat chooses to bring back The Master, they bring in John Simm to do a regeneration, I would hate for it to happen off screen.

I also liked the end of series 2 for 2 reasons. VFirst it had 4 daleks simply kicking all of the cybermens arse at once and 2 it got rid of Rose, if only for a little bit.

Out of series 1 my favorite is the episode where the Doctor is up against 1 Dalek in a bunker as it was the first time I saw a dalek.

I have none for Matt Smith as I have fould most of the episodes he has been in boring. But that is more the writing than Matt Smith's Doctor. Hated Amy and Rory though.

 

[DyqstARD]

Would have to be Doomsday with Tennant, one of the first episodes I watched.

 

[TheFunPolice]

Midnight (Tennent) has to be my absolute favorite...Mainly because of how it still manages to terrify the absolute shit out of me

I mean seriously though, that episode was terrifying..

 

[GrimTuesday]

My favorite episode, or two part episode as it were, is The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. I think that people grossly underrate Christopher Eccleston's time as the Doctor, mostly because he was only the Doctor for one season and was followed up by David Tennant who is easily the most popular of New Who Doctors. The Ninth Doctor was angry, and in so much self imposed pain (obviously he blamed himself for what went down in the Time War, and is inflicting upon himself a terrible punishment, though he tries to hide it) that when, in the end, everything turns out ok, He's so happy just because he finally gets a win after all he's gone through.

I also Loved the Family of Blood arch under Tennant, but the Empty Child and The Doctor Dances are just too beautiful.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

The Fires of Pompeii (Tennant) is currently my favourite of the new series, it was The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit (Tennant), then The Doctors Wife (Smith), then The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang (Smith), I watched it recently and the story holds up for me, and that ending. Oh that ending always gets me...

The most under appreciated episodes are for me Midnight (Tennant), a lot of people say it's boring because they are trapped in small spaceship most of the episode but it's a great character study on the best and worst of the human race. Also Vincent and the Doctor (Smith), a nice story with relatively little action but a nice stirring ending.

The worst is Love and Monsters (Tennant). There is simply no doubt about that. It really is a stinker that has possibly the worst villain ever created for the new series.

To be honest after rewatching all of Smith's episodes, I'm surprised how many of them are really, really good.

Yeah, Love & Monsters was bad, but I still enjoy it in a "bad movie" sort of way.

But yeah, the plot and the monster were really bad, I didn't mind Elton all that much, but the ridiculousness of the Absorbalof and the way that he was defeated were what made that epsiode bad(seriously, the ending is close to Closing Time when it comes to bullshit ways to defeat the villains)

 

[Kotaro]

Best episode: "Blink"
The Angels are horrifying, the premise and story are unique and interesting, and the way the story is told (with the Doctor stuck in the past leaving clues for this character in the present to find) is downright ingenious.

Runner-up: "The Girl in the Fireplace"
This episode needs to explanation for why it's great. Everything about it is excellent (except for Rose).


Worst: "Love & Monsters"
For one, the writing is horrendous. For two, the characters, while likable, are one-dimensional. For three, the monster is goddamn stupid. For four, the Doctor is barely in it. For five, when the Doctor finally does show up, he's completely out-of-character. For six, they made this episode instead of a planned one written by Stephen Fry. And that's just criminal.

Runner-up: "Fear Her"
Uuuugh, so stupid...


I know these are all Tennant episodes (even though Smith is my favorite Doctor), but of all the "new" Doctors, Tennant really had the highest highs and the lowest lows. The show has had a lot of great episodes and a ton of bad ones, but these are the ones that stand out the most to me.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Best episode: "Blink"
The Angels are horrifying, the premise and story are unique and interesting, and the way the story is told (with the Doctor stuck in the past leaving clues for this character in the present to find) is downright ingenious.

Yup, Blink, hands down. Not so good on re-watches though.

And then they ruined the angels when they brought them back.

Worst ep: Too many to choose from. Though the one about the Silurians, for me, is up there. Not only do they more or less re-do a classic story and get it completely wrong...the Doctor decides that Amy can represent the entire human race. Then she, a white British person, turns around and says that the advanced race can have the outback of Australia to live in, cause nobody important is living there.

*headdesk*

 

[takemeouttotheblack]

I think The Girl in the Fireplace is probably my favourite, but I also like The Family of Blood pair, Gridlock, The Doctor's Daughter, The Stolen Earth and the End of Time. In the Matt Smith Era, the Doctor's Wife is quite good, and I quite like the Eleventh Hour and the Beast Below.

For worst, I really disliked The Curse of the Black Spot.

 

[ISearchForTraps]

My two favourite episodes have to be 'Dalek' and 'The Parting of Ways, some of Eccleston's finest in my opinion. Dalek really was a great return for the Daleks, and I felt if it was the only time we saw a Dalek in the 'New Who' series, it'd have been a great way to give them a fitting sendoff after all these years of them being easily defeated. We actually got to see one as something besides a monster in a space dustbin, and saw it actually feeling alone and lost. Easily my favorite episode just for those scenes where we see it in a vulnerable position.

The Parting of Ways is great too because you genuinely feel the terror everyone has for the Daleks, being trapped on Satellite Five, slowly being hunted down and exterminated, the situation getting more grim and desperate. The scene where the contestants face down the Daleks and come to the horrifying conclusion that their bullets don't work (very well) against the Daleks is genuinely gut-wrenching and sad. And of course The Doctor actually failed to defeat the Dalek Emperor, only Rose's timely intervention saved him. And of course Eccleston had a Fantastic sendoff and we got to see the debut of Tennant.

 

[Lincoln Keane]

Runner-up: "Fear Her"
Uuuugh, so stupid...

That episode did have the best TV show catch phrases ever in it.
"Crime crackers, cracking down on crime!"
Other than that it was god awful.

 

[MrTwo]

Oh God I just went to wikipedia and got sooo nostalgic about all them old ones. OK I can't decide on just one so I'll rank 'em up:

1. Blink (Terrifying as hell, and very clever with the way it uses the time mechanics)

2. Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords (Simm is very good as a maniacal psychopath, although the ending is a bit deus ex machina, but stylistically very nice. It's a shame The End of Time, his return, was pretty rubbish apart from the very end).

3. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead (I actually like River in this one, and the Vashta Nerada are a sufficiently scary monster. Also, a pretty good revelationary moment when it all comes together at the end.)

4. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit (Pretty heavy subject matter, freakin' scary and also depicts the Doctor as totally helpless [or so we think]).

5. Human Nature/The Family of Blood (A very clever concept, and human Tennant is heart-wrenching at the end. It was a nice break from all the alien worlds and whatnot).

6. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon (The Silence are pretty freaky [a shame they were overused], and it's just a fun episode that leaves you wondering what the hell happened at the very end).

The order isn't quite downpat but those are definitely my 6 favourite episodes. Also, special mention to The Unicorn and the Wasp seeing as I love reading Christie and there are soooo many references in it to pick up on.

As for worsts, for the people saying Love and Monsters was bad, yeah it kinda was, but to be fair I'm pretty sure it was from a competition, initially written by a kid. And it's OK in a B-Movie kind of way, as somebody already said.

My worsts would have to include The Power of Three (that ending, ughhhh), The Rings of Akhaten, and The Next Doctor.

 

[Rylot]

I get that you're not a huge fan of Moffat or the Smith Era (neither am I) but I've got to say that the last ten minutes of 'The Eleventh Hour' (Smith's first full episode) is probably my favorite ten minutes in all of Doctor Who.

All my favorites have been mentioned. But I'm seeing a lot of praise for 'Waters of Mars' and that episode didn't work for me on so many levels:

Spoiler

-Right off the bat the infected continuously leaking water from their mouths just looked too silly. Not even going into how a virus could continuously create that much water the 'monsters' just looked too ridiculous for me to take seriously.

-I'm not a hundred percent sure why but for me Tennant's usually good acting fell apart at the end. The transition from passive 'let history take its proper course' to 'I'm now all powerful and history is my *****' felt really jarring.

-I get that having Adelaide die on Mars would make her a martyr and inspire future humans to explore space but how does finding her dead in her house from a suicide with no explainable reason when she should be on mars do the same thing? Not to say anything about how the other two crew members explained their return to earth. This ending just didn't work in any way for me.

 

[MoltenSilver]

I'm pretty sure all my favourites have been ninja'd, but
-Human Nature/Family of Blood (Loved watching 'John Smith' argue that what The Doctor and martha had arranged essentially amounted to an execution)
-Waters of Mars (Loved watching Tennant go from 'oh crap I can't interfere' to 'The Time Lord Victorious')
-Rings of Akhaten (Not a great episode overall but I absolutely loved the hell out Matt Smith's utter mauling of the scenery for his epic speech, complete with Manly Tears and a look of complete weary exhaustion after and backed up by an amazing score)

 

[LittleWings]

Sontaran Stratagem/Poison Sky. Man, I love these two. For me they're brilliant examples of New episodes that call back to the Old series style, with all the improvements you'd want in terms of visuals. The plot was exciting, UNIT were back and doing their thing, it had nice continuity call backs (The Brigadier, The Valiant, Martha etc) and although I've heard people say the ending was a bit too "deus ex machina", I think that it was sufficiently well built up to, and the story was about the discovery not the resolution that I think it works just fine. Plus David Tennant is on top form.

I've always said that Series 3 is underrated, I love Martha as a companion and even the "bad" episodes weren't really bad, and at the very least watchable.

Specific episodes for me that don't get enough love are:
The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit (I think this one's already been mentioned)

Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks (Ok please calm down I understand that this was the worst episode of series 3 but as I've said above it's not even that bad, and if I'm honest I feel the story suffered from lack of budget and it felt like it had been written in chunks/not by the same author all the way through. Basically what I'm saying is the idea behind it was really interesting, and led me to think we could have seen another Dalek civil war)

Vincent and the Doctor (I'm not a fan of Smith's early run on DW, but I love this episode for its balls to head on tackle mental illness and keep the aliens to a minimum (Cause although it's a sci-fi show, He's in a Time Machine))

There's more but I'd need to rewatch a lot of them to remember why I think they're under appreciated (!)

Anyway Worst? Erm, tricky. I agree with the OP on Power of Three, but there's so many episodes in Matt Smith's (particularly early) run that don't sit right because of reasons. Pandorica Opens springs to mind...