Doctor Who: the rankings

[coalescent]

Based on the results of this, this and this:

1 2x04 The Girl in the Fireplace 95.2
2 1x09 The Empty Child 93.9
3 3x10 Blink 92.2
4 1x10 The Doctor Dances 90.0
5 3x08 Human Nature 88.5
6 2x12 Army of Ghosts 87.2
7 3x01 Smith and Jones 84.1
8 2x13 Doomsday 82.5
9 3x09 The Family of Blood 82.5
10 1x06 Dalek 82.0
11 1x03 The Unquiet Dead 80.8
12 2x03 School Reunion 76.2
13 1x02 The End of the World 75.0
14 3x11 Utopia 73.4
15 1x01 Rose 72.5
16 2x09 The Satan Pit 70.7
17 2x02 Tooth and Claw 69.0
18 1x12 Bad Wolf 68.6
19 2x08 The Impossible Planet 68.3
20 C1 The Christmas Invasion 67.4
21 C2 The Runaway Bride 66.0
22 1x13 The Parting of the Ways 65.4
23 3x12 The Sound of Drums 61.9
24 3x02 The Shakespeare Code 58.1
25 1x08 Father's Day 56.2
26 1x11 Boom Town 56.0
27 1x07 The Long Game 52.3
28 3x06 The Lazarus Experiment 50.8

<--------------- THE LINE OF TRUTH --------------->

29 2x10 Love and Monsters 48.7
30 3x03 Gridlock 47.6
31 2x07 The Idiot's Lantern 47.5
32 2x05 Rise of the Cybermen 41.5
33 3x07 42 37.7
34 1x05 World War III 35.3
35 2x11 Fear Her 34.2
36 2x06 The Age of Steel 32.5
37 3x13 Last of the Time Lords 28.1
38 2x01 New Earth 26.2
39 3x04 Daleks in Manhattan 26.2
40 1x04 Aliens of London 19.2
41 3x05 Evolution of the Daleks 6.2

Observations:

1. Steven Moffatt's four episodes take the top four slots comfortably; all his episodes have at least 90% GOOD; no other episodes do. For all the complaints about him, RTD has the next-highest number of episodes in the top 10.

2. Season three has the most episodes in the top 10, but has the lowest average score -- 56.7% GOOD, vs. 65.2% for season one and 60.0% for season two -- possibly because it also has the most episodes in the bottom 10.

3. These means exclude the Christmas specials, which both sit mid-table.

4. I'm a little surprised at how well the season two finale has charted; both parts made the top 10, much higher than either of the other finales charted.

5. Less than a third of episodes are officially BAD, which I guess means the show's doing something right.

Comments

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Amazingly given the absolutism of GOOD or BAD it makes general sense.

Like you I'm a bit surprised by the S2 finale doing so well. Must be all the Rose 'shippers. ;-). Likewise from S1 'Bad Wolf' was rubbish apart from the ending, which must have saved it (see also 'Utopia').

Bit surprised by some of the mid range too, like 'The Lazarus Experiment' and 'The Idiot's Lantern' coming off significantly worse than 'The Long Game', 'The Shakespeare Code', the Christmas specials etc. etc.

And my personal cause célèbre is that I hugely enjoyed 'Daleks in Manhattan', and only felt that the whole thing collapsed like a bad RTD finale soufflé in 'Evolution of the Daleks'.

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

I am surprised that Smith and Jones is above The Family of Blood.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I think it would make my top ten.

My top ten:

1. The Girl in the Fireplace
2= Human Nature/The Family of Blood
4= The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
6. Blink
7. Dalek
8. The Christmas Invasion
9. The End of the World
10. Smith and Jones.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

It's close:

'Smith and Jones': 53 GOOD 10 BAD
'The Family of Blood': 52 GOOD 11 BAD

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

The ranking of your favourites may go down as well as up.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Despite the Space Rhinos and the MRI of DOOM?

Also I quite enjoyed 'The Christmas Invasion' but again it didn't knock me out.

[snowking.livejournal.com]

cause célèbre

You've typoed "HORRIBLE BRAIN FLAW" there.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

Must be all the accents.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

While I think "School Reunion" and "Family of Blood" should be rated higher, I am also fascinated to note how low some of the Dalek episodes rate. Quite rightly, IMHO.

Also gratified to see low rating of "Love and Monsters".

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Well, to be honest I was scrabbling a bit for the last couple.

I do really like "The Christmas Invasion", though, because I think David Tennant's performance in the last fifteen minutes or so is hilariously brilliant.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

I think David Tennant's performance in the last fifteen minutes or so is hilariously brilliant.

Things you don't expect people to say. I suppose it's a strong opening performance, aided by the build up, but he's done better since.

My top ten would possibly go like this:

1. Blink
2. The Girl in the Fireplace
3. Human Nature
4. The Family of Blood
5. The Empty Child
6. The Doctor Dances
7. Dalek
8. School Reunion
9. The Parting of the Ways
10. Tooth and Claw

Not sure about the last two.

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

I can't argue with that, although I would probably dump one of the bottom two and put in School Reunion and possibly Doomsday.

So, Human Nature/Family of Blood versus Blink versus Company Man versus Five Years Gone for the Hugo?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I have an irrational fondness for the last thirty seconds of "The End of the World", it's true.

So, Human Nature/Family of Blood versus Blink versus Company Man versus Five Years Gone for the Hugo?

Yes. Vs. some episode of Galactica, presumably.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Things you don't expect people to say. I suppose it's a strong opening performance, aided by the build up, but he's done better since.

He has, but the mannerisms have also become more annoying since. In "The Christmas Invasion" they're still fresh.

I can't quite get behind "Blink" as Best Episode Ever -- the stupid montage at the end annoyed me too much, and the angels weren't actually scary. I notice you've rated the two "part 2" episodes as worse than their corresponding "part 1". Deliberate?

[fba.livejournal.com]

I'm actually not going to argue with you over the top seven (maybe order - TEC/TDD is still my favourite, possibly of the entire run). Not sure about your last three - I'd probably rate Tooth & Claw and Army of Ghosts/Doomsday over the bottom three...

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I suspect most people would have very similar lists, and I can see arguments for ranking other things higher than the gitface. But I still don't get the love for the s2 finale ...

[fba.livejournal.com]

Human Nature/The Family of Blood *should* win, but given how mainstream Heroes is in the US (and I assume that it will be mainly American voters despite Worldcon being in Japan) I'm not sure that Who has a high enough profile.

[fba.livejournal.com]

AoG/DD pretty much covers every element of Who fandom. You get the Goodbye England's Rose bit for the girlie shippers and you get Daleks v Cybermen for the people who have been playing out that battle in their heads since they were about 7. I watched it again at the weekend and it really is oodles of fun...

[pickwick.livejournal.com]

I'm just happy Dalek made the top ten.

But I'm surprised how high up Runaway Bride is. I mean, it's not actually high up, but I'd have it probably in last place...

[pikelet.livejournal.com]

Also gratified to see low rating of "Love and Monsters".

Wrong in the head!

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

the angels weren't actually scary.

Except for them being incredibly scary I completely agree.

I notice you've rated the two "part 2" episodes as worse than their corresponding "part 1". Deliberate?

It's simply that in each case I found part 1 to be slightly more effective, although it's a *much* closer call with 'Human Nature'/'Family of Blood' because there are so many great character and thematic scenes in part 2.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

(I wonder now if I'm rating them that way mainly because if they were Top Trumps cards Part 1 would have a higher Fear Factor. But don't tell anyone.)

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

Vs. some episode of Galactica, presumably.

Probably "Maelstrom" or the season finale.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Yes, although we do get the start of S4 before the end of the calendar year. (Of course, we also get more Heroes. And more, er, Torchwood.)

Wait! Life on Mars finale for a nomination?

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

It presumably had the same low profile last year, and yet "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" still beat BSG for the award.

Also, I'm not sure that Heroes's mainstream appeal is relevant given that the voters are Worldcon members.