So lately I decided that this is the right time to rank every modern story, from my least favorite to my most. But such lists can take a lot of time and energy, so I decided to breeze through that process and pull this together in the most cavalier, off-the-cuff, manner possible.
You can read my whole rationale for how I’m approaching this (including what I’m counting as a story, what I’m not including at all, and some reinforcement for how flippantly I’m approaching the decision making process here–plus that’s also where you’ll find the first part of the countdown.
And here is the most recent part (Part 15).
And now we move onto Part 16–the final part, the Top 10!
What stories are deservedly in the Which stories will have you nodding along in agreement at my rankings, and which will cause to fume with frustration at my clearly misguided opinions??!
Read on to find out!
10. Last Christmas
Twelfth Doctor – Christmas special (2014)
That’s right, you read that correctly. The Christmas special with Santa Claus is in the top 10, and Blink is not. And that’s because Last Christmas is massively underrated and huge amounts of fun. Even though there is little in the story that feels genuinely original, there is still a lot of creepy cleverness to appreciate with the “Dream Crabs” and the multiple levels of unreality that the Doctor and Clara have to navigate.
It’s easily the creepiest of all of the show’s Christmas specials, but it’s also both funny and heart warming. Santa and his elves are hilarious, Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are great as usual, and against all odds the story managed to give closure to Clara’s relationship with Danny Pink, even though he was dead and his presence in the story was just her character’s memories and imaginations of him.
Plus, Santa and his elves are hilarious.
9. The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon
Eleventh Doctor – Series 6 (2011)
I love this episode–it was such a great kick-off to Series 6. The Silence were an amazing new threat with a gimmick that the show had never used before. They were creepy, intriguing and I say without any irony, memorable. Indeed, I’d probably call them my favorite Doctor Who monster ever (especially if we discount their poor explanation from The Time of the Doctor).
And the Silence were a great antagonist for what became Doctor Who‘s most elaborate and complex story arc. The story showed us the apparently time-locked death of the Doctor, and tied it into the question of Amy’s possible pregnancy and the Silence’s enigmatic agenda. We also met the mysterious young girl who was stuck in the space suit, who is even seen regenerating at the story’s conclusion. We didn’t know yet that this had anything to do with River Song, but under our noses The Impossible Astronaut and The Day of the Moon significantly advanced one of the show’s biggest questions from its previous seasons.
And the episodes themselves were just fantastic–a gripping thriller told with tremendous style and panache. There were many great sequences, including Amy skulking around the creepy asylum, and the apparent take-down of the main cast at the beginning of The Day of the Moon. The Doctor’s final victory is one of the series’ great moments of showing the him brilliantly pulling out a victory from a seemingly hopeless situation.
The disappointing aspect of the story comes only in retrospect, where the rest of the season doesn’t necessarily make the sense out of all the mysteries this story establishes as well as it could have.
8. Silence in the Library / The Forest of Dead
Tenth Doctor – Series 4 (2008)
The Vashta Nerada–a swarm of microorganisms that hide in shadows and can devour flesh in an instant–were a terrifying new enemy that was introduced in this story. They took a blow in how good they are as monsters when they decided to limit themselves to spacesuits and stumble around like zombies. But even so, it doesn’t hurt the episode too badly–the Vashta Nerada are only one of the things that the two-parter has got going on, and it’s all great.
There is the Library itself–one of the best and most immersive locales the show has ever featured. There is a fun and colourful cast of guest characters (including the great Colin Salmon!). There is the intriguing mystery of the little girl who is apparently watching the Doctor’s adventures on television. And there is the absolute body horror creepiness of seeing Donna and others turned into living museum pieces in the Library.
And then of course there is River Song–a creation of Steven Moffat’s that became one of the most important features in his tenure as Doctor Who‘s showrunner. Alex Kingston sparkles as the irreverent archeologist, having a dynamic with the Doctor that is just unlike anything we’d ever had before.
When it first came out, Silence in the Library and The Forest of Dead were a standalone adventure–we had no idea that River would ever reappear in the show, or that the Doctor she’d describe would be someone that the series would actually feature. But a couple of years later, and we got to see it all. In retrospect, it seems like the most normal thing in the world, but as we saw it play out in real time, it was something special.
7. The Day of the Doctor
Eleventh Doctor, Tenth Doctor & War Doctor – 50th Anniversary Special (2013)
Putting The Day of the Doctor so close to the top of this countdown is a little like saying that Avengers Infinity War or Endgame is one of your favorite movies—it feels like you have fallen victim to the lure of purely popular entertainment. And the truth is, you kind of have, but that’s okay. Endgame is a big bombastic superhero film, but it’s a good movie. Similarly, Day of the Doctor is big adventure preoccupied with celebrating everything that makes the series cool, but it’s also a good episode.
The Day of the Doctor had been set-up over the show’s whole 50 years, but especially since 2005 when the revived series kicked off. At that time, the show had introduced the Time War, an off-screen cataclysm that provided The Day of the Doctor a massive event to build its story around. The whole thing is woven together very cleverly, especially as the episode also had to do the work of basically establishing a new, heretofore unknown incarnation of the Doctor. Fortunately, that new Doctor was played by John Hurt, so he was of course awesome. The casting of such a distinguished actor was a great choice, as it helped to give the character weight to balance out the excitement of seeing Matt Smith and David Tennant interact.
In general, The Day of the Doctor is very impressive. In addition to being the best celebration of the show that one could reasonably hope for, it also created an opportunity to go legitimately deep with our main character. It makes great use of the opportunity afforded by having multiple incarnations of the Doctor involved to explore how he his response to his own shame in the Time War has changed–taking the character from deep regret, to willingly forgetting out of emotional necessity, to arriving at a place of unexpected hope and newfound freedom. It’s actually quite beautiful.
As a small extra, Clara’s “Impossible Girl” story arc had finished in the previous episode, which freed up the character to start developing more naturally. I usually cite how much I prefer her with Capaldi than I do with Matt Smith, but really that improved depiction starts off here.
Plus, Tom Baker makes a cameo, so what more do you want?
6. Human Nature / The Family of Blood
Tenth Doctor – Series 3 (2007)
I’ve heard some people talk about how much they dislike Joan Redfern, and presumably her relationship with the Doctor, but I don’t get it. I think she’s great, and the romance between Joan and “John Smith” is believable, inviting, and ultimately heart-breaking. The Tenth Doctor desperately needed to be taken down a peg or two from time to time, and Joan calling him out for all the violence and death that has taken place, and her refusal to go along with him at the end, is one of the show’s best examples of this.
The story is rich with theme and character. “John Smith” allows us to see a side of the Doctor we don’t normally get to, while still being a fully developed personality in his own right. The so-called “Family of Blood” are creepy and arresting, and the movie has got a lot of interesting things to say about war, violence and the military–commentary that is far more nuanced than the show often gives us.
This is perhaps my favorite performance from David Tennant during his two tenures as the star of this show–he does an excellent job distinguishing the two personas we are watching in this story, and he effortlessly makes John Smith a much more likeable guy than the Doctor. It’s also a great story for Martha, allowing the companion to sit at the heart of the adventure in a way that was pretty unique.
5. The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang
Eleventh Doctor – Series 5 (2010)
Series 5 was a great year for Doctor Who, and the two-part finale was a great way to wrap it up. It’s one of the most bizarre and out-there stories as far as time travel shenanigans go, but in general that’s the kind of thing I enjoy–especially at this stage of the show, early on in Steven Moffat’s showrunnership.
The story is full of clever plotting. The Pandora Opens raises an interesting mystery and then pays it off excellently with the reveal that the creature inside the ancient trap is the Doctor himself, and that the enemy behind what is going on is…well, basically everyone. Then it builds to one of the very best cliff-hangers the show has ever given us, with the entire universe basically becoming undone.
The Big Bang is where most of the crazier ideas get their airplay, but the episode balances that out with some richly emotional character moments. The Doctor’s trip back down his own lifetime is lovely to see, especially his speech to the sleeping Amelia. And then in response, Amy gets some great material after the universe is reset, and the sequence where she remembers the Doctor back into existence is a bit of a crowning moment of awesome, which brings the story to a close in a way that ties nicely into the themes of the whole season.
Incidentally, even though the Eleventh Doctor is usually the one that I consider to be my favorite, this wraps his presence on this countdown, with two other Doctors remaining.
4. Mummy on the Orient Express
Twelfth Doctor – Series 8 (2014)
There is so much about Mummy on the Orient Express that I love. It starts off with a train flying through space–one of the most bonkers, out-there and yet spectacular-looking ideas that the show has ever given us. It’s got one of the show’s most effective monsters, with the titular Mummy being incredibly well-designed. The script is tight and satisfactory, and keeps you gripped all the way through. And it’s a really scary story too–the way the Mummy makes his slow but relentless march toward its victims is just terrifying.
But what I love most about it is the way it goes deep with both the Doctor and his companion as characters, while at the same time being incredibly clever as a plot. This is the story where Clara and the Doctor are meant to be “breaking up” (after the conflict in Kill the Moon), but the story ends with her lying to them both and insisting the Doctor take her on more adventures–it’s a serious, serious flaw in Clara as a person that will eventually lead to her death, but in the meantime makes her a much more fascinating character.
And after a season of coming across as callous and uncaring, the Doctor takes the place of another and throws himself into the path of the Mummy so he’s finally got a chance to understand it, and ultimately defeat it. But as he later explains to Clara, he didn’t know if he could beat it, and there would be a good chance that the latest potential victim would also end up dying. “At which point,” he says, “I would have just moved onto the next, and the next, until I beat it. Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones. But you still have to choose.”
It’s great stuff, with both of our leads, both excellently performed, which deepens their relationship and deepens the show.
3. World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls
Twelfth Doctor – Series 10 (2017)
Almost the swan song of the Twelfth Doctor, almost Steven Moffat’s last story as writer and showrunner, almost the perfect Doctor Who adventure.
The thing that makes it not perfect is the way Bill goes off with the Heather-creature at the end and it’s treated as kind of romantic. The hint of a relationship between Bill and this sentient blob of oil that had taken the shape of someone it had accidentally killed was stupid in The Pilot, and it’s stupid here. Bill barely knew Heather at all, and she’d known the sentient blob of oil even less well, so the idea that there’d be this deep emotional connection between them is fanciful to say the least. At best, It actually gives off a kind of creepy stalker-ish vibe.
But aside from that, the two-part season finale is excellent. There are lots of neat ideas, and the plot is well-paced and in equal parts of horrifying, funny and, tragic. Nardole is used really well and gets a great farewell, and never before (or since) have the Cybermen been so unbelievably disturbing and scary. This is really the story where the potential of the concept is fully realized in the best way possible.
It’s also the best use of the Master in the entire revived series. Not only is this only time that the John Simm version of the character has actually felt like the Master to me, but the story is great finale to the Missy-storyline that the show has been telling all season. The Doctor’s speech to the two Masters about helping and being kind is the defining moment of his character. And Missy’s choice to stay with the Doctor, followed by the two Masters actually killing each other, is just a narrative masterstroke.
Incidentally, the marketing for this story spoiled both the presence of the Cybermen and the John Simm Master, which is really a shame. I was able to keep my kids from knowing about this (they watched the story a few years later) and it was incredibly satisfying to them see the story fresh and unspoilt.
2. Midnight
Tenth Doctor – Series 4 (2008)
Without a doubt, this is the best Doctor Who story that Russell T. Davies ever wrote. Unlike big, bombastic spectacles like Journey’s End or Doomsday, Midnight is a decidedly small-scale story–just the Doctor and a small group of guest characters, no companion (mostly), and almost entirely in a single location. And yet the results are unbelievably gripping. This is a story in which the tension ratchets up relentlessly (once the tension starts, at any rate) start getting tense, anyway).
I don’t think there is another story in the history of the show that makes me feel that the Doctor is in real peril in the way this one does. The episode achieves this by systematically depriving the Doctor of all the things that normally give him an advantage. He starts off without Donna by his side (or anyone else who would be naturally predisposed to to support him) and then brings the characters into a scenario where he suddenly loses his normal ability to engender trust. Every glib or self-assured comment which people either normally accept or at least tolerate becomes fodder for people’s paranoia and suspicion. There is a fantastic moment, for instance, where the Doctor suddenly realises that he is in real, legitimate danger, and it’s not from some terrifying new monster but rather because of the panic and fear of a bunch of ordinary people. And this is followed by an equally intense moment of terror when the Midnight Entity (what I normally call the episode’s evil threat) steals away the Doctor’s voice and sense of free-will and agency–rendering him more helpless than he’s basically ever appeared, either before or since.
Of course, it’s ambiguous what exactly is going on here. What exactly is the Midnight Entity? And are people’s over-the-top-reactions just their own emotional responses, or are they being manipulated and heightened by something about the Entity? Usually, refusing to make things clear is something I get annoyed by in a story, but here it works well and adds to the power of everything going on. What exactly is going on? I don’t know, but it sure is unsettling and scary!
Overall, it’s a great episode, and serious contender for Doctor Who‘s finest hour. A contender, but not quite the actual champion, because that is…
1. Heaven Sent
Twelfth Doctor – Series 9 (2015)
This was my top story in my previous ranking of favorite episodes, and it still has the number one spot today. It is, quite simply, as close to a masterpiece as any episode of Doctor Who has ever been, and represents a sort of perfect storm of creative forces coming together. Obviously there are a whole lot of people involved in this, but most notably one has to credit Rachel Talalay (the director), Steven Moffat (the writer and showrunner), and Peter Capaldi (the lead actor and almost the only member of the cast) for the success of this installment. All of these people are operating at the top of their game and contribute to making Heaven Sent the series’ best story.
One of my favorite things about Doctor Who in general, especially in the Moffat-era, is when the Doctor would earn his victories by being clever, and when the show would allow us to experience that cleverness in a way that we in the audience can understand, or at least to experienc. Heaven Sent is one of the very best episodes for this. It’s in this episode that we have the bit where the Doctor escapes being tortured by throwing himself out a window, only to figure out how he’s going to survive on the way down. And this is the episode where he see him figuring out he’s repeating the same events over and over again, and using that to his advantage to get out of a supposedly inescapable trap. It’s some of the best opportunities to watch the smartest and most quick-thinking guy in the universe strut his stuff.
In addition to how interesting the story is, Heaven Sent is also emotionally rich and thematically meaningful. Coming right after Face the Raven, as it does, it takes us deep into the Doctor’s psyche as he copes with the death of Clara. The slightly artificial image of her standing with her back to the Doctor in the TARDIS is the perfect visualisation for that sense of loss of someone so beloved, and the whole story does a great job exploring themes of mortality, death and grief. The cleverness is what makes the story exciting; this emotional core is what makes it deep.
If there is anything imperfect about Heaven Sent, it’s just that the story leads into Hell Bent, which is not bad but is not anywhere near as good. But taken on its own merits, Heaven Sent is extraordinary, and easily still my number one modern Doctor Who story.
And at long last, that’s it! What do you think of my Top Ten? Probably some that you agree with, and some that don’t. Would anyone else put Last Christmas in their Top Ten? Maybe not, but I don’t care–that story is great.
Whether you wholeheartedly agreed with me, or you think there’s no way I can be a true Doctor Who fan when I have opinions as crazy as these, thanks for joining me on the journey.
