There will be spoilers for ALL EIGHT SERIES' of the New Doctor Who in this one. So if you are not caught up and you wish to view without my opinion clogging your perception and enjoyment, this is your warning to back out now while you still can. If you are caught up and/or don't care about spoilers, then feel free to go on and scroll down while I review the eight aired series' of NuWho from least-stellar to best. Please note that this list is subject to my personal preferences and opinions. I do not claim to be the ultimate authority. I merely give my observations.
9: Series 7b
This series suffered from two things: bland, boring characters and dull, delusional writing. Poor Matt Smith. He did not have a good final series. The loss of the Ponds was the final nail in the coffin for this struggling series and poor Clara was never given any character development outside of 'cute' or 'feisty' or 'The Impossible Girl', so she remained very flat and one-dimensional and unable to carry a weaker plot due to emotional connection alone. I honestly cannot think of a single episode from this series that I did not either loath or look on with utter apathy. It was that bad. The supporting characters ranged from utterly boring to actively annoying and the stories only became more convoluted and pointless with every step taken towards the entirely stakeless finale. What a disappointment!
8: Series 2
There actually are quite a few good episodes in this series, so I debated to myself for a long time as to whether or not I could put it this low on the list. But then I remembered Rose sniggering about her 'first date' with The Doctor and I said yes. Yes I could. Because that was annoying as all get out and sucked a lot of the enjoyment right out of the episodes for me.
7: Series 7a
I have decided to divide Series 7 up into two parts, part 7b obviously being everything post Christmas Special with Clara and part 7a being everything pre-Farewell to Ponds. Series 7a was MARGINALLY better than its successor, most likely because the emotional connection of Amy, Rory, and family could carry us through some of the weaker writing, and because all of the side characters were memorable and well-fleshed-out. But that's not to say that it didn't have its share of stinkers too. Asylum of the Daleks was a HORRIBLE piece of contradictions and stupid choices and The Sign of Three, while starting out strongly, had one of the weakest and most out-of-left-field-and-not-connected resolution/climax I have ever seen in my entire life. Dreadful!
There actually are quite a few good episodes in this series, so I debated to myself for a long time as to whether or not I could put it this low on the list. But then I remembered Rose sniggering about her 'first date' with The Doctor and I said yes. Yes I could. Because that was annoying as all get out and sucked a lot of the enjoyment right out of the episodes for me. 7: Series 7a
6: Series 6
This was the year of River Song and, depending on your opinion of her, you either loved it or hated it. Personally I really enjoy the character of Professor Song (most of the time) and so I didn't take quite as much issue with it as some others may have, but I do agree that the writing was definitely weaker than its predecessor and only became worse as the series went on, making even Dr. Song herself INTOLERABLE in a couple of places and forcibly blasting plot holes into its own hull.
5: Series 3
Poor Martha always gets such a bad rap and, to this day, I don't understand why. She should be an absolute dream. A competent Doctor who didn't take any nonsense from anyone, but also was willing to blend in when needed, Martha did indeed suffer from her ill-fated crush on The Doctor...but in the end she did the smart thing and got out, so I think we can blame RTD instead of the natural progression of her character. What is it with females and falling in love with The Doctor anyway?! But I digress. If it weren't for the painfully melodramatic and stupid three-parter finale, this series would probably be higher on my list.
I have such mixed feelings on this. On the one hand I am very happy with Capaldi's less friendly and more prickly take on The Doctor. We've had the zany heartthrob from space for long enough. It was time for a change. I am also DELIGHTED with the character growth that was given to Clara this series. It was long overdue. Unfortunately, though, the entire series built up to an ultimately unsatisfying cop-out of a finale that did great disservice to the characters in question and literally spit on the graves of YEARS of Who lore and history. Honestly the only good thing to come out of that was Michelle Gomez as The Master.
3: Series 4
Whenever people say that it is about time to have a companion who isn't twenty-something, willowy, and looking for The Doctor to save her, I ask if they have met Donna. Because Donna was awesome and had a great character arc. Catherine Tate and David Tennant were THE DEFINITIVE TARDIS DUO of Ten's entire run. They just clicked perfectly and, together, created some of the best comedy and chemistry ever seen on this show. Donna's entire run is chock-full of excellent episodes as well, the only real clunker being the Sontaran two-parter. True things were a bit overshadowed with the return of Rose and the series finale ultimately turned out to be painful (on SO many levels) but the rest of the episodes pretty much make up for that. Donna was awesome. Never forget that.
Whenever people say that it is about time to have a companion who isn't twenty-something, willowy, and looking for The Doctor to save her, I ask if they have met Donna. Because Donna was awesome and had a great character arc. Catherine Tate and David Tennant were THE DEFINITIVE TARDIS DUO of Ten's entire run. They just clicked perfectly and, together, created some of the best comedy and chemistry ever seen on this show. Donna's entire run is chock-full of excellent episodes as well, the only real clunker being the Sontaran two-parter. True things were a bit overshadowed with the return of Rose and the series finale ultimately turned out to be painful (on SO many levels) but the rest of the episodes pretty much make up for that. Donna was awesome. Never forget that.
2: Series 1
I have no time for those who skip Nine... (Ha! See what I did there?) Seriously. WHY would you skip Eccleston's run? It had some of the best episodes, Nine was a master of sass, and Rose was actually tolerable half of the time. It built up to an excellent series finale too that put all of the characters to the test and remains, to date, one of the best television finales I have ever seen. Really my only problem with this series is Rose's persistent abuse of Mickey and the fact that sometimes the 'Bad Wolf' arc word could feel a bit...forced. Not as bad as 'The Medusa Cascade', but pretty close.
I have no time for those who skip Nine... (Ha! See what I did there?) Seriously. WHY would you skip Eccleston's run? It had some of the best episodes, Nine was a master of sass, and Rose was actually tolerable half of the time. It built up to an excellent series finale too that put all of the characters to the test and remains, to date, one of the best television finales I have ever seen. Really my only problem with this series is Rose's persistent abuse of Mickey and the fact that sometimes the 'Bad Wolf' arc word could feel a bit...forced. Not as bad as 'The Medusa Cascade', but pretty close.
1: Series 5
I have noticed that, since the revival of the show, most showrunners seem to run through a pattern with their series finales. The first series that they do is just about perfect. It will be epic and funny and heartbreaking and everything that you should wish for...and then the next ones will become worse and worse as they go along. That is what happened with Russell T. Davies and that is what I see happening with Steven Moffat. Because Moffat and Smith's first series was...well...I know the word is overused, but there's no better word to use. It was epic. The characters were well-developed, the stories were intertwined perfectly, and it all culminated into a finale that managed to be both cosmic and personal on multiple levels of intrigue and emotion. I honestly don't think that it can ever be re-created or topped. It was just that good.
I have noticed that, since the revival of the show, most showrunners seem to run through a pattern with their series finales. The first series that they do is just about perfect. It will be epic and funny and heartbreaking and everything that you should wish for...and then the next ones will become worse and worse as they go along. That is what happened with Russell T. Davies and that is what I see happening with Steven Moffat. Because Moffat and Smith's first series was...well...I know the word is overused, but there's no better word to use. It was epic. The characters were well-developed, the stories were intertwined perfectly, and it all culminated into a finale that managed to be both cosmic and personal on multiple levels of intrigue and emotion. I honestly don't think that it can ever be re-created or topped. It was just that good.
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