Ranking the NuWho seasons (updated)

[rushy]

GREAT
Series 1
Series 3
Series 4
Series 5
Series 10

ACCEPTABLE
Series 2
Series 7

KILL IT WITH FIRE
Series 6
Series 8
Series 9
Series 11
Series 12
Series 13

[burrunjor]

I'm sure I've said this before LOL, but I always enjoy it.

1/ Series 5

Best in every way to be honest. Best Doctor and companions (though I admit Amy I think took a while to get right. Whilst Karen Gillan was always a good fit and her chemistry with Matt worked from the beginning, she was a bit too much of a guys fantasy at first, and I HATED her wanting to bang the Doctor. She settles in by the vampire one I think which is an excellent story.) It also had the best episodes, best visuals and really was the revival at its most healthy and enjoyable. This is on a par with some of the best of Old Who. I don't think I'd quite rate it on the level of seasons 7 and 26, which are quite exceptionally great bits of tv, but it's certainly a classic season nonetheless.

2/ Series 3

Some of it like the finale and the Chibnall episode are awful, but overall a great and diverse batch of episodes, with Tennant having settled into the role more and Martha being the sexiest companion of all time. Also its highlights like Blink and Utopia in particular are among the best DW stories ever made. Also I know he is persona non grata, but f*ck it I liked Jack this year. He had better chemistry with Martha and Ten. Honestly I wish he'd come back sooner rather than Torchwood and we'd had those three going on wacky adventures for a year. Would have been lots of fun.

3/ Series 4

I'm surprised this one is so hated round these parts? I think maybe the finale and the opening episode perhaps sour it for people? Again this year has a nice diverse range of stories, and some real stand outs like Midnight and the Library two parter. The Vastha Nervada and the Midnight Entity are absolutely horrifying creatures and I know if I'd seen them as a child they'd have stayed with me. Also the Sontaran two parter is a brilliant UNIT adventure. It harks back to the Invasion in some ways, with that little obnoxious prick being a young Tobais Vaughan, though I like the way he is so pathetic, unlike Vaughan who at least had some charisma.

4/ Series 7

This one was shat on to a ridiculous degree by fandom. I still don't get it after all this time? Its story arc though a bit muddled is one of the best, with a very strong lead villain in Richard E Grant, Clara and Matt have fantastic chemistry together and I LOVE the Paternoster Gang who actually ARE something only DW can do. People always use that excuse for everything, but the Paternoster Gang are an eclectic bunch of characters brought together from different periods and genres that you could have never done otherwise and again visually I just love this year too.

5/ Series 6

Let down by a weak arc, a dreadful finale and a terrible main villain. The Silence's endgame is stupid, and though Frances Barber is a good actress (who gave a hilarious performance in another sci fi classic as Jenny Mutant in Red Dwarf.) Kovarian is an awful villain with no motivation and a pathetic, but not in a good way death.

Still it has some great stand outs like the Girl Who Waited, the Hotel Episode with that gorgeous Rita woman, and one of the best TARDIS teams of all time.

6/ Series 10

A really good solid series with a lovely companion in Pearl Mackie who is so much a better fit for Capaldi than Jenna ever was. Also Missy is so much better this year. She's still not even close to being the Master, but they give her more of a story and let Gomez put some nuance into it. I'd say this season saved Missy for some to be honest. I also do love the Cyberman two parter, and others like the David Suchet episode. Still that said you can see the show is kind of on borrowed time, as the overt politics are beginning to creep in, and Missy whilst more tolerable sadly is still a parody of the character and designed to set up Jodie.

7/ Series 2

Not my favourite year by any means. Rose and Ten are an awful TARDIS duo. I know they were meant to be, but that was a mistake in my opinion as it mean a season of them being obnoxious. Still the actual stories this year aren't bad. It had the best finale of New Who all things considered, some classics like the Satan Pit and the Werewolf episode. Though it also does have the single worst, most mean spirited story with Love and Monsters, so yeah not a good year.

8/ Series 1

Sorry but I just don't like this year. Eccelston is awkward in the role. Whether he is miscast or he was being mistreated, probably a bit of both, he just doesn't feel comfortable. I also think this season has too many jokey, silly moments. I don't mind sci fi comedy, but I don't think it works in DW. This is not the same as City of Death however, which has a light tone, and witty lines, but still has a serious villain and plot. The comedy in these episodes like Lady Cassandra, the Anne Droid, Trinny and Suzannah robots and the Slitheen turn the episodes into outright parodies. Only thing I like really are that the Daleks are a big deal again.

9/ Series 9

It's a pretty poor series all around with a dreadful finale, but it has a few gems squeezed in there like the Ghost episode and Heaven Sent. Plus Capaldi really does give it his all.

10/ Series 8

Again a bad, bad season with the worst finale of them all, and really the point at which New Who could never go back. Still even with that there is the odd gem like Into the Dalek and the one with the creatures coming from another universe, so it's not a total waste.

To be honest after that I don't really care to rank the Jodie seasons as they all just blend together for me. I've only seen them once mind you, but I just couldn't take her seriously, the stories were bubblegum sci fi at best, the damage they left behind was inexcusable so sorry they're all at the bottom for me, though whichever one had the Timeless Children has to be the bottom of the barrel.

[burrunjor]

Blimey have I been the most positive about New Who in this thread LOL.

[Deleted]

Series 4
Series 2
Series 3
Series 1
Series 10
Series 5
Series 6
Series 7
Series 8
Series 9
Series 11
Series 13
Series 12

[zarius]

1. Series Five
2. Series Four/2009 Specials
3. Series Nine
4. Series Three
5. Series Twelve
6. Series One
7. Series Two
8.  Series Eleven
9. Series Eight
10. Series Six
11. Series Thirteen
12. Series Ten
13. Series Seven

[iank]

Series 5

The rest


I'm kinda done with it all tbh.

[Deleted]

I do agree as well that Bill was a better companion for Capaldi. Clara was great in Series 7 with Smith (an underrated duo for sure) but I kind of felt her story was over after Series 7.

[mott1]

I think nearly all of them, except s5, have some truly horrendous moments - most seasons have an average of about 1 or 2 stories that rise above the murk, so I guess I'd put all bar s5 in Kill It With Fire!

Real shame what they did to Smith after a strong start, but with those showrunners not a big surprise...

[Deleted]

Series 3 is still the best and I can sort of separate it from the awful people in charge and enjoy it as childhood nostalgia.

[cyberhat]

The decline of Moffat Who begins with Rory getting sassy

[ClockworkOcean]

1) Series 5
2) Series 6
3) Series 4
4) Series 3
5) Series 10
6) Series 7
7) Series 1
8) Series 2
9) Series 8
10) Series 9

Chinballs and Fatterhead don't count.

[burrunjor]

Dec 4, 2023 5:37:46 GMT cyberhat said:

The decline of Moffat Who begins with Rory getting sassy

When did that happen? He always came over as a henpecked husband who made Arthur Pewtey look dynamic. Honestly between him, a Doctor who begs Clara to look after him because she doesn't like that he's reached the horrificly old age of 56, and lets her slap him all the time, and apologises for having testicles and Shaun who happily let his wife give up 150 million pounds and continue to work as a f*cking cabbie, and Tennant just sitting there and being told that if he was a woman he'd understand, New Who is shocking for having bad role models for young boys. Far more so than Classic who at its worst was for having role models for young girls. Whilst JNT may have had an insane vendetta against feminists in the 80s to the point where he botched two actresses characters, at least he never actually insulted them for being women in the show. At no point is Peri made out to be an imbecile because she's a woman and she also doesn't thank the 6th Doctor for talking down to her the way Capaldi and Tennant do to Clara and Donna. FFS Capaldi after being smacked in the face so hard he almost falls off his feet, says to Clara "did I really never pay you to be my assistant" a min later which is followed by a smug "You could never afford me.". Peri meanwhile calls 6 porky, says it's a shame she has to look at his face, and best of all actually mouths what an asshole on screen at him in the Two Doctors LMFAO. 

Again I think the Fitzroy's awful undermining men is just them overcompensating for their own misogynistic beliefs. Steven Moffat and Paul Cornell were both filthy shaggers in their own words. They don't sound like the Joey from Friends type either, a guy who just loves women and can pick them up that way. I'm NOT saying they were abusive to be clear, but they sound more like the just shag them and leave them, have sleazy affairs in the office, and boast about it in misogynistic ways to your friends type. I base this on Moffat's own words saying he shagged his way around the office like a mechanical digger and Laurence Miles comments about Cornell, boasting about his conquests and shaming other men for not shagging as many people (Which btw Cornell did ALL the time, calling people virgins and losers etc) 

Meanwhile RTD to me comes over as one of these gay guys who hates women. It's not common, but there is a cliche of a gay man who is really bitchy to women. Jack from Will and Grace was an example of this, the way he always hated on Grace and was prejudiced against Lesbians. Neil Patrick Harris is also this too. His Amy corpse cake shows that alone. I say this again based on RTD's own work. Queer as Folk is extremely misogynistic. Even tv tropes which normally kisses RTD's arse shames it for this. 

Here are its exact words.

Far from being a bastion of empathy and enlightenment, the show's characters are often quite rude about women (especially lesbians) and non-whites.

Also, the way the men often talk about women (especially lesbians) would be seen as rather misogynistic and bigoted were they straight.

This coupled with the fact that they are middle aged men who do come from a time where there were less female heroes and leading characters I think leads to them overcompensating in the awful way they do. Shame some people have been duped into thinking that they write great female characters, though not many it would seem. 

[rushy]

iirc Rory does have a backbone in series 7

[iank]

And Lynda Day is one of the best female characters even put on screen.

[burrunjor]

Dec 5, 2023 20:39:10 GMT iank said:

And Lynda Day is one of the best female characters even put on screen.

Who?