As you most likely know, Steven Moffat is leaving Doctor Who next year, and even though we have a whole series plus two Christmas specials to go before he steps down as showrunner I decided it would be a good time to look at five reasons why his departure might not be a bad thing.
Disclaimer: This list is purely subjective. Difference of opinion is a beautiful thing.
5. Asylum of the Daleks
Now I must stress that I do not think this episode is a total disaster but it is just so disappointing! Airing in September 2012 (a whole 8 months since the last episode - the longest break since the show returned in 2005) the Series 7 opener was looking to be the most exciting episode of the show yet with ‘every Dalek ever’ appearing! How could you not get excited over that idea?
Except, that's all it was… an idea. I’m not even sure if every Dalek from the show’s history did appear and those that did were mere cameos and not worth the build up at all. Throw in a terribly forced divorce subplot for Amy and Rory (which by the way, went no where!) and Asylum of the Daleks is really nothing special at all. I would give it a couple of plus points for the way it introduced Jenna Coleman to the series but then I'd quickly take them away for introducing the ruddy awful instagram filtered title sequence and logo of the week…
*Shudders*
4. Let’s Kill Hitler
Another episode that I can’t say I hate (purely because of my love for River Song and how it expands on her story) but like number 5 it gets a spot on this list because of how disappointing it was.
A Good Man Goes to War ended with the reveal of the title of the episode which would open the second part of Series 6, and as someone with a keen interest in history and World War Two I couldn’t wait to see Doctor Who take on Hitler and the Nazi’s and give us another great war story… But no, only THREE MINUTES of the FIFTY minute episode actually have Hitler in them, and the rest of the time he is confined to a cupboard and never seen of heard from again.
3. The Wedding of River Song
Another story from Series 6 Part 2… I’m happy to admit that with the exception of The God Complex, I do not like this half of Series 6 - yes, even The Girl Who Waited…
The Wedding of River Song is just, I dunno, just such a drag to watch. I mean, it has River Song in which is nice and there is a very touching tribute to the late Nicholas Courtney but it's just overly convoluted (at least on first broadcast anyway - I can make sense of it now) and is frankly a bit of a mess.
2. The Caretaker
This one was co-written with Gareth Roberts so it's difficult to know just how much of it was Moffat’s doing, but I’m including it on this list because it’s just so bad! The Caretaker features a promising but terribly underused villain, weak ‘comedy’, unnecessary ‘I hate soldier’ comments (I get this is part of the story arc but surely there is a more mature way of handling this…), a forced confrontation between the Doctor and Danny Pink (I know the series would somewhat develop on this but it came out of nowhere) and a quick and easy resolution which was unsatisfying.
1. The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
I am one of those people who try and defend the Christmas specials for being more lighthearted (apart from Last Christmas… that was pretty dark actually) because it's, well, Christmas… The adults are drunk (I am at least) or stuffed full of Mrs Baddeley’s famous plum pudding - it just wouldn't be Christmas without one - and the kids are full of sugar, but this episode felt like it belonged on CBBC. It's not memorable, the supposedly sad scenes do nothing for me and the ‘comedy’ is just… like I said, CBBC.
The ending with Amy and Rory was nice though.
Do you agree or disagree with this list? Feel free to challenge and discuss below. Next time we count down Moffat’s top 5 best episodes!
Nick is a 2000 year old alien who travels through time and space, saving the good and conquering the evil... or so he likes to think.
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