10 Most Controversial Doctor Who Episodes Of All Time

Shocking Doctor Who moments that are impossible to forget.
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[@applepye1353]

I think The Timeless Child should be #1 by far. It's seems to have split/upset the fandom more than anything else.

[@dannytkong3135]

By a country mile

[@marcoludema8876]

I'm still hoping Chibnall will give us a satisfying explanation in Series 13. Or am I just a tad too optimistic?

[@toughteddybear5777]

@@marcoludema8876 He's got one more series. He might ignore it, which might be for the best.

[@buckyball2003]

I think this might be partly just because it was recent though so we’d automatically rank it higher. Personally I’d argue that Talons of Weng-Chiang (I’m not sure if that’s how it’s spelled) should be top of the list because it was not just bad for the show, but offensive and damaging to the world as a whole

[@backtothefutureman1]

I don’t think the Doctor is the Timeless Child despite the episode saying that they are.

[@ZebitasMartinex]

My biggest problem with The Timeless Children is not so much whether The Doctor had more incarnations, it's an idea that has been toyed around in the past and the important thing are those who call themselves "The Doctor" Is more how The Doctor is now special and origin of all the Timelords instead of a rebellious one that went up to become special. Kinda ruins the perception of who The Doctor is

[@jesseszymcik3026]

I just don’t understand how so many Who fans take The Master at his word. The Valeyard is the Doctor- okay. The Doctor is a transdimensional alien and father of the Time Lords- okay. NO. We don’t accept the villain’s exposition of the hero. The bad guys lie.

[@OuroBoros_Games]

but the doctor is presented so many times being so "smart" that even really make not sense to a normal guy of Galifrey, at least he would be a truly genius even among their people. I think this helps to explain why is that special and why is tractate as an average guy. For me what makes not sense is the Master wipe out the entire of their race like if it was nothing.

[@na5567]

@@OuroBoros_Games A mad genius who ran away with a box is kind of the point. Now he's like... an alien god entity.

[@OuroBoros_Games]

@@na5567 this is only a joke, dont reflect the character at all, it is only a simplification of who is, "a normal individual" who did something crazy, reason never truly explained. Doctor who had so many stories on his back that a simplification of a set up character does not work anymore to describe him properly. Without timeless child he would be just a type of Rick Sánchez. And at least i do pref think he was a type of Tarzan, that a guy stupidly smart that powercreep his entire specie by no reason.

[@na5567]

@@OuroBoros_Games There doesn't need to be an explanation. HALF the fun of the Doctor is that so little about this ancient character we've followed for decades is actually explained. Giving him some weird god chosen one backstory is just annoying and weird. We didn't need a reason for why he stole the box. We didn't need a reason for why he was intelligent. Like his name, these are questions never to be answered. The timeless child doesn't even answer them by the way. It doesn't elaborate on anything, all it does is give the doctor infinite regenerations and an edgy backstory. The 11th getting new regenerations dealt with one problem and the time war was the other. This wasn't needed.

[@JoelMcVeagh]

The Dalek one you have for number one is probably the least controversial of them all

[@seangleeson8073]

Really? I remember when people complained FOR YEARS about the Technicolor Daleks.

[@jawstrock2215]

@@seangleeson8073 power rangers

[@TexasTimeLord]

Agreed. The Army Daleks were actually kind of cool

[@qwertyrobbo101]

@@seangleeson8073 I don't remember complain, I just remember a lot of mockery

[@jonnaughton]

Interesting fact about The Deadly Assassin - it was the first usage of the term “The Matrix” to describe the simulated/virtual reality (as we know the term today). It was 23 years before the film and 8 years before William Gibson popularised the term in Neuromancer.

[@francisboyle1739]

Also: "if you die in the Matrix you die in the real world".

[@alim.9801]

Oh man really??? I didn't know that that's cool as hell

[@SiliconBong]

The Deadly Assassin and The Talons of Weng Chiang* were some of the most well written of all time. edit-Terrence Dicks, if I remember rightly; who wrote a hellofalot of really good stuff for DoctorWho and pretty much kept TARGETBooks in business.

[@paulbeardsley4095]

It’s really not that remarkable. “Matrix” was the word used to refer to arrangements of data long before there was TV, let alone Doctor Who. Virtual reality featured in stories before there were computers, and VR that kills the players featured in Ben Bova’s The Dueling Machine in the 1960s.

[@NeilCWCampbell]

A matrix as in a net of information you mean??

[@MartinInBC]

The bit on the episode 'The Twin Dilemma' fails to mention that the twin actors playing the titular role came up with a performance so wooden a sonic screwdriver could not have touched it.

[@Frontmanfrg]

Totally disagree over the “worst” choice. Timeless Child far outstrips the multi-colored Daleks (which were easily just retconned into “just another aspect of the Daleks.”). Timeless Child was such a fanfic styled story that it just plain is insulting. While it can also be “fixed,” it just was a slap in the face of other stories.

[@alim.9801]

It was literally a fanfic I'm mad lol

[@Zaymont720]

The worst part about the Timeless Child setup for me was in Series 11 Episode 2 (i think, if that was the weird desert race one) how some random cloth/paper monster knew about it over a creature like the Daleks who are known for having the largest database.

[@drwfigureadventures]

I’d say the timeless children is definitely the most controversial...

[@rodneymarsden3003]

An attack upon the first Doctor played by William Hartnell? It was a disgrace.

[@daveshaw2342]

@@rodneymarsden3003 it's also the worse dr who episode ever

[@yussepig6629]

No one counts it as cannon so doesn’t even deserve a place in the chart. Chibnall is pathetic .

[@daveshaw2342]

@@yussepig6629 dr who finished with capoldi. Tried watching Whittaker but shes just terrible.

[@ryannoble8536]

@@yussepig6629 the biggest tantrum ever, plugging the ears and saying it doesn’t exist lalala.

[@Jauch09]

Honestly I’d rather take a big swing and miss then stay in a boring comfort zone, it’s better to try and fail then to never try at all

[@Neil070]

Agreed, but Chibnall took a swing, missed, then decided unilaterally to change the rules of the game.

[@eddherring3088]

Even better to have something really popular which most people like and carry on with that. For example you won't find Fosters changing the recepe of their lager. It works, it's popular and its liked by more people than dislike it.

[@madmanmark8387]

@@eddherring3088 yeah like Coke changing to new Coke in the 1980's. It tasted like Pepsi. Now for years they have to say original Coke hahaha.

[@lilymarinovic1644]

@@eddherring3088 Foster's? Bad example, the stuff is bilge and definitely SHOULD change its recipe, anything else would be better.

[@dougmhd2006]

Regarding "The Timeless Child": Remember when Missy gave Peter Capaldi's Doctor a set of co-ordinates that were supposedly the location of Gallifrey? The Doctor travels to the appointed spot, opens the TARDIS doors, and,...nothing. Missy lied to him. My point: when hasn't the Master lied to the Doctor? If there's one thing the Master loves doing, it's messing with the Doctor's mind. I see the whole Timeless Child story as just another example of that.

[@Croftice1]

Yes, and the Master is surely behind the Remnants as well. Because it's logical, that those two sources calling the Doctor Timeless Child must be connected in some way. There's no other explanation for them, or is it?

[@alim.9801]

Right I feel like that's a very believable turn of events!!!

[@stinchjack]

Yes! Rule one, the Master Lies

[@adarahenby5708]

This could actually be a really interesting idea for the next season (which I know has already started, but it doesn't hurt to hope). The Doctor trying to find out the true origins of the Timeless Child, doubting the Master and what he said while also trying to prove to herself that she isn't the Timeless Child. In the end, while she is put at ease that he was lying, it also leaves the true origins a mystery. Of course, I'm not a writer myself, so this idea probably has some major plot holes I've missed.

[@kaizoisevil]

@@adarahenby5708 if it’s not the Doctor, then the next candidate would be the Master.

[@karenhall4645]

I can't believe where they put The Timeless Child. As for Dimensions in Time, most American fans have probably never seen it. And as for the colorful Daleks, it wasn't the best idea but they went away very quickly and the Daleks were still the Daleks. The Timeless Child not only split the fans, but it totally changed the Doctor, the Time Lords, and over 50 years of canon. I actually liked Victory of the Daleks. Matt Smith losing it and beating up on that Dalek took me back to Christopher Eccleston's reaction to the Dalek in the episode "Dalek".

[@ericpavlat5121]

Huge miss to exclude both Vengeance on Varos, where a baddie falls into an acid pool, and especially Dark Water/Death in Heaven, with its implication that people could still feel everything when their bodies were being cremated (the BBC officially apologized after that one). Maybe also Can You Hear Me? which upset many people re. the Doctor’s supposedly-uncaring attitude toward Graham’s fears of his cancer recurring (I don’t agree, but many were upset)

[@zephodb]

Yeah... the bit with Graham's Cancer... it... just isn't how the Doctor responds to things. I would have put that low on the list, but... higher than a few of the examples we got.

[@zephodb]

@King Kong Jones 12 would have tried to distract Grahm so the Doctor didn't have to talk about it... Like 'oooOooooh... but what about X?!?' ...which would be more sensitive than what 13 did. >.>

[@BEE-oz7yd]

​@@zephodb well this is how the 13th doctor responds to things!🤷

[@zephodb]

@@BEE-oz7yd It... is not that simple, it wasn't 'this is just the way 13 is' and more a flop on the writing/directing. But if you look back, all the Dr.Who that Chibnall had a hand in were considered the worst episodes of their season... and this is a Doctor made by that person.

[@BEE-oz7yd]

@@zephodb no I don't think you understand. M, point isn't that that was a good direction to take the character in, that is entirely up to you to decide! However it was definitely an intentional Choice by the writing team and not an oversight!

[@benjaminjamesmiller5208]

It wasn't Graham Norton's fault that he made an appearance on doctor who

[@cst039]

That really pissed me off at the time.

[@stephenhumphreys9149]

The Timeless Child's many doctor issue could also arguably be traced back to a fourth doctor story, The Brain of Morbius, where the Doctor and the villain are having a mental battle that shows their older selves. The images of the Doctor's faces show far more than just Hartnell, Troughton and Pertwee. So realistically, if you want to 'blame' anyone, why not blame Philip Hinchcliffe and Tom Baker? To be honest, the only thing about the Timeless Child take on the matter that really jarred is that the Tardis still looked like a police box, when its chameleon circuit only got jammed in the first/second episode of the show.

[@Parker8752]

I'm fine with the doctor having many incarnations prior to the first; the time lords have been shown to meddle with people's regeneration counts before, after all. What I'm not fine with is the whole "The doctor is actually the first time lord, and all others are based on their genetic template". Hopefully Chibnall will actually do something interesting with this in his last season as show runner, but I really don't see where this could be taken that would be worth completely rewriting the doctor's history.

[@GC1CEO]

The hatred over the Timeless Child is mostly the issue with Jodie -- if it had been a Tom Baker or David Tennant episode there would be a lot less controversy.

[@stephenhumphreys9149]

@@Parker8752 Maybe - I believe back when they did a lot of Who novels there was a whole thing where the Doctor was the reincarnation of one of the original timelords, who formed their society along with Rassilon and Omega, so this is basically a simplification of that storyline really. And they've stolen ideas from the novels before - 'Family of Blood' was essentially just a simplified version of the novel 'Human Nature', so it really isn't as much of a departure from lore as people seem to think.

[@Parker8752]

@@GC1CEO Probably true, unfortunately. I actually liked Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor; I just dislike the premise of making the doctor more special than they already are.

[@stephenhumphreys9149]

@@Parker8752 They were hinting that even back in the old series. In one of the Seventh Doctor stories, it's hinted he was present during the creation of the Hand of Omega, which was when Gallifreyans first mastered time travel.

[@TheInternetHelpdeskPlays]

As a note, dimensions in time was shot weirdly because it was actually designed to be a new version of 3d that relied on a weakness in human eyesight. If you have one eye covered in a dark film, it processes what it sees slightly slower than the other, the movement in the episode caused a parallax effect in the eyes which made certain things appear further forward or further back depending on which way it moved. Have a sunglasses lens over your right eye when you watch it and you should see it in 3d. (Sort of)

[@ServantOfOdin]

My headcanon for Timeless Child is that the Master riled the Doctor, claiming them to be the Timeless Child. In fact, the Doctor is the explorer Tecteun (which would lead credence as to why the Doctor ended up chosing this name; to make up for the horrors they did tot he actual Timeless Child), who had a bit less reincarnations that they would have gotten otherwise. We know from the classic Brain of Morbius that the Doctor had previous incarnations before his Hartnells Doctor (means there were previous sets of reincarnations even already hinted at back then, as was with the Council of Timelords offering the Master a few cycle of regenerations in The Five Doctors). So maybe Tecteun had her set of 13 regenerations, spend them eventually realising her error of way and chosing to become the doctor, then some botched-up granting of a new cycle made her forget her previous incarnations, leading to the first incarnation of the second cycle believing themselves to be the first at all (i.e. William Hartnell). And now, after Matt Smith ended his second cycle, the Timelords saw the need to grant him a third cycle due to him being the only one who could save them from the lock they had been placed in at the end of the Last Great Time War. TL;DR: The Master is just being an arse who toys with the Doctor for some sick fun.

[@octaviusfooks7194]

The Deadly Assassin - well, that is the point of a cliffhanger; we don’t know whether the Doctor survives or not

[@jimfarrell5004]

The War Doctor's introduction into canon can't be solely laid at the Showrunner's feet. If Christopher E. hadn't been mistreated (or been offered more money or more of a leading role in the special) the War Doctor would not have been needed. It hasn't been made public what efforts were made to get all the new era Doctors to participate.

[@Firellius]

I don't really think you can beat the episode where the Doctor is retconned into implied homewrecking and incest. Timeless Child is absolutely the #1 most controversial episode.

[@JeremiahEcks777]

I hate Timeless Child but where is the homewrecking and incest?

[@curtismckenley8706]

Don't think it was fair to put Moffat above chibs

[@fadikhoory5350]

Due to the Hungerford Massacre in 1987, Paradise Towers would have received some controversy from the Rezzie's knives if it was broadcast first just days after the event. If the paving slab scene was deleted, the ending with Elton's speech how dangerous the doctor is and how the universe gets better would have received some praise.

[@bicko_07]

I don’t understand why people got so pissed at redesigned daleks. Ffs daleks had different colours all the time in the classic series and don’t give me any of that “it’s stupid how they all have different names and colours” shit because there was Dalek Sec and there were loads of different ways too distinguish ranks of daleks in the classic series.

[@triplejazzmusicisall1883]

I don't mind the colours at all nor the names - it is the hunchback design I hated. I had forgotten about Dalek Sec - in fact why wasn't he on the list. Now that was embarrassing. I liked the coloured Daleks in Planet of the Daleks (they were cool!)

[@brianartillery]

@@triplejazzmusicisall1883 - Do you mean the Dalek Supreme in that story? All the other Daleks were gunmetal grey. The Dalek Supreme was made out of odds and sods from other Dalek props. His eyestick was a Pifco torch, and he had jam jars (I shit ye not) over his head lights.

[@Neil070]

1) the fact that the Paradigm Daleks were different colours was not the issue. We've seen black Daleks, red Supreme Daleks, and a gold Emperor, as in the 1960's TV21 comic strip by Terry Nation himself. As a kid, I went to see Peter Cushing and the (multi coloured) Daleks and we loved them. The colours here were too garish. It was a blatant merchandising ploy, but looked like Joel Schumacher had designated the colour palette. More muted colours might have worked. The real problem is the design of the Daleks. We all know short people can be scary. There was no need to make the Daleks bigger to make them scary. People are afraid of spiders and snakes irl. And the profile from the side resembled a Victorian woman wearing a bustle. Apparently this was to house some "super weapon" but they haven't needed one very often and the Special Weapons Dalek served that purpose. Imagine these huge, bulky, ungainly lumps "elevating"? Also they would be unable to follow nimble, slim humans into narrow passages crevices, meaning easy escapes à la "climbing stairs" of early Who. A retrograde step and a new source of mockery. I still maintain the Paradigm Daleks were purely a merchandising gimmick that failed

[@Neil070]

@@brianartillery Going back to the 60's, the first Daleks were literally equipped with sink plungers and whisks for guns. The budget was tiny. Then we had the Zarbis and Mnemoptera (spelling?) By today's standards, they made the Absorbaloff seem a masterpiece of costuming

[@bicko_07]

@@Neil070 how are the colours garish. They’re regular colours. It’s not like they’re some horrible brown colour. Scripts can easily accommodate new designs. They weren’t made bigger to be scarier that’s just how the props were designed.

[@anthonyhyde7325]

I love “love and Monsters “! Shows the impact The Doctor has on the people of Earth.

[@briangoodwin7503]

Watching those clips of Dimensions in Time reminded me of how little Jon Pertwee changed over his lifetime, compared to the other Doctors. He's like Patrick Stewart; looked pretty much the same for thirty years.

[@speakz6935]

The Talons of Weng Chiang is one of the best Doctor Who stories.

[@IshmaelSkyes]

Superbly written, acted and directed, and John Bennet does a very good job of playing Li Hsen - who does come good in the end.

[@IshmaelSkyes]

And (now I come to think about it) Greel is Caucasian, and posing as a Chinese god; in the context of the story, the Chinese characters are misled by a white guy.

[@Lumibear.]

For me, the issues with the telly tubbie Daleks were two fold: 1. Drastic changes in design that seemed to serve no purpose 2. They looked plastic Once they got that hump adjusted and a metal paint job, they looked much better.

[@eweccah.k.9996]

To be fair to "Victory of the Daleks", the Daleks have a history of trying out new things, then later abandoning them in fits of genocidal rage. For examples, see what happened to Dalek Sec in 1930s New York, and the innovative armour designs in "Remembrance of the Daleks" (well, remembrance of those Daleks anyway - we didn't see why they stopped showing up, but we can guess...)

[@jonathanfraser6738]

I liked the victory of the Daleks. OK the real Churchill didn't use the Daleks-but his desperation to come up with unconventional inventions and discoveries in his attempt to defeat the Nazis was real. Thats why we had mulberry Harbours Pyecrete and the bouncing bomb. and ww2 was ended by the most unconventional weapon of all. -2atomic bombs.

[@cybermatstrikes7557]

Talons of Weng Chiang controversial? More like a triumphant classic.

[@brianartillery]

No complaints at all when it was originally broadcast. At the time, there were very, very few Asian actors on UK TV to choose from, and to be fair, John Bennett gives a superb performance as Li H'Sen Chang, and was taught stage magic for the role. It did not seem at all unusual in the 1970's. If the production team had been accused of racism then, I'm sure that they would have been mortified.

[@derekp308]

This is not a Worst list. “The Deadly Assassin” is also a memorable tale, but it did freak out anti violence groups, considering that DW is a family show. Yet I noticed this list left out “The Two Doctors”, which featured cannibals, a stabbing, flesh melting, and the Sixth Doctor killing Shockeye by suffocating him.

[@cybermatstrikes7557]

@@brianartillery exactly my point, only controversial to cancel culture types in 2016 BBC. DVD release never had trigger warnings.

[@patrickmccurry1563]

It was so over the top yellow face, that watching it when it aired, child I didn't even consider that the character was supposed to be human.

[@potsdam28]

@@brianartillery they should have made him that white magician who pretended to be Chinese his entire life. Yellowface might’ve been justified then.

[@TwineLightMedia]

I don’t care what anyone says the timeless children should and for always and forever be the number one worst episode ever written of Doctor Who

[@aw-h3875]

Except for 'Timelash'

[@jabello]

The Deadly Assassin is one of my favorite episodes because it was so dark for its time and different for the show

[@danthemeegs8751]

I'm not ashamed to admit that I LOVE THE NEW PARADIGM DALEKS! THEY LOOK LIKE SKITTLES, WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?

[@finalmidnight]

I too like the new, modern, gay Daleks.

[@katarinabrunk8698]

I adibly laughed at "they look like Skittles" lol 🤣

[@madmaninabox3638]

You forgot to add .. literally every episode of Jody Whittaker’s Doctor. 😅😩😬

[@ladycplum]

I put down the "Half human" bit to regeneration trauma. As much as I adore Peter Capaldi, Kill the Moon was a truly awful episode, and I wanted to slap Clara right out of the TARDIS when she had her little temper tantrum aboard the ship. Love and Monsters was also just so, so godawful. Timeless Children-don't even get me started. Dimensions doesn't really count as Who canon, so why is it on here? And the New Paradigm Daleks were obviously made with nothing more than merchandising in mind. And Daleks are not supposed to be tall! Go back to the very first Dalek story and Carol Anne Ford is a good bit taller than all of the Daleks. And she's tiny!

[@rhodrage]

You say the boy who drew him was disappointed with the Absorbaloff. But his very own youtube channel says otherwise....

[@Jasonm25870]

I'm sory, I'll have to pull you on a couple of things. Anything that's pre-1996 like The Deadly Assassin or The Twin Dilemma are serials, not episodes. I'm always having to point this out to people. Takes me back to reading the Radio Times as a kid on a Wednesday afternoon. The Deadly Assassin, a four part story by Robert Holmes....PART ONE.

[@Sir_Gerald_Nosehairs.]

The thumbnail is from "Vengeance on Varos" an episode cited as a big reason for the show's nigh cancellation, and you don't include it?? Great serial by the way, if it were done today people would be fawning over it. Easily Colin Baker's best.

[@minissa2009]

I can't believe they're talking about excessive violence in The Deadly Assassin considering what barely gets a PG-13 today! And that "One thing you never put in a trap" speech was up there with "Don't blink" as a memorable Doctor speech.

[@qwertyrobbo101]

As the Dr himself has said, the past is another universe

[@matthewbray764]

Where is hell bent that has to be one of the most controversal episodes some liked Clara returning and some did not. I like the victory of the daleks even though the paradime daleks are not good.

[@Viking_Luchador]

I'm usually a Clara defender, but it did feel like a bit much. How many companions has the Doctor lost? He's always been hurt, but also accepted it and moved on. This time he was willing to endure millions (billions?) of years of torture, and for what? To spite the Time Lords? And they were willing to kill randomly in Face the Raven just because there was a possibility that the Doctor would eventually find out about it, and therefore walk into their convoluted trap? Side note, I really wish Rigsy had gotten a chance to be a full-fledged companion. And then he saves Clara, but can never see her again and even goes so far as to erase her appearance from his memory. And because the Ashildr/ME is immortal, and Maisie Williams is very much not, they can never reappear on the show. So it was all for nothing.

[@karlitatv]

whovians: * *likes the valeyard* * also whovians: * *hates the timeless children that perfectly explains the existence of the valeyard* *

[@andrewwilliams9599]

The Master: There is some evil in all of us, Doctor - even you. The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say you do not improve with age.

[@seymourbuns4620]

The Chibnall 'Revolution' Daleks are ten times worse-looking than the Victory Daleks

[@mrdr0161]

At least chibnalls are a one off and aren't the colours if the telly tubbies

[@Tymbus]

Terror of the Autons was controversial for its shocking elements, including deadly daffodils, a blank faced Auton policeman and a murderous doll leading to a question being asked in the Houses of Parliament

[@deborahcaputo3576]

The Autons were my “hide-behind-the-couch” monsters. Daleks and Cybermen were great TV monsters, but they weren’t something you saw every day. But there were mannequins in every department store and clothes shop. They and the giant maggots in Green Death terrified me!

[@VJacquette]

Even IF we accept that The Timeless Children changes the history, it's far from the only episode that does. But how much does it even change the history? It actually helps explain things like why #3 says he's thousands of years old, the Morbius doctors, etc.

[@william...1]

it doesn’t really change that about about what we know, just adds a chapter we never saw coming

[@VJacquette]

@@william...1 Exactly, which is why I've never understood why this episode was so controversial.

[@Croftice1]

@@VJacquette Because people only see the change, not what it stands for. It's like the Day of the Doctor. It seemingly changed history as WE know it. But in fact on the outside, it didn't change anything. Yes, Gallifrey was saved, not destroyed, like everyone thought originally, but for the rest of the universe, it still looked like Gallifrey WAS destroyed. Same goes for the Timeless Child. While it adds a lot of stuff before Hartnell, the Doctor doesn't remember anything of that, which still makes Hartnell the FIRST. People only see the change alone, not the whole picture and the consequences (which at this point are nonexistent anyway). They will cry about destroying the 50+ years legacy, but so far nothing of such sort happend. Like the addition of the awesome John Hurt's War Doctor, that still left the official numbering unchanged, the TC plot so far didn't really affect anything we knew about the Doctor. It only expands on what already existed.

[@andrewtaylor940]

"Previous resistance to these urges" While a bit more subdued and understated, were the Doctor and fellow Galifeyan Romona not a couple for awhile? I seem to remember some rather charmingly romantic picnics and such.

[@potsdam28]

1st Doctor was even briefly engaged.

[@oneofmanyintheworld]

I wonder, was the Twelfth Doctor still suffering post regeneration trauma even in Kill the Moon? If so, maybe that's why he was so ruthless to Clara

[@obadiahvondeath8048]

I love Twin Dilemma ! The story itself it dreadful but what makes it is Colin Baker ! He's fascinating to watch ! The 6th Doctor is off his rocker in that one and never quite gets back on it !

[@magic713m]

One positive of 6th Dictor's tenure on the show is, even with terrible stories, Colin Baker really gave his best charismatic acting, in spite of them.

[@benlevan5645]

I liked Moffat's new Daleks. And these were probably only the ruling Daleks since each had a specific role.

[@josephchambers2000]

I’ll rate all these episodes out of five stars Deadly Assassin ***** Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone ** The Movie *** Kill The Moon *** The Twin Dilemma * Love And Monsters ***** The Talons Of Weng Chiang **** The Timeless Children * Dimensions In Time * Victory Of The Daleks ****

[@willadeefriesland5107]

I always thought of the paradigm Daleks as the Mighty Morphin' Power Daleks. :)

[@deniseboldea1624]

I've said it before I'll say it again, the information provided to the Doctor was given to her by the Master, nuff said.

[@mathieuleader8601]

fun fact demensions in time was originally going to be two very different stories Destination Holocaust of which all is known about the Doctor and the Brigadier gunning down Cybermen in a churchyard and then the next story is titled Endgame which saw the return of the Celestial Toymaker capturing the Doctors incarnations and 7 to rescue them but this episode was turned down due to Michael Gough not wanting to reprise his role of the Toymaker

[@darrendarren4492]

Can you please stop referring to stories as episodes. The Deadly Assassin and The Twin Dilemma are stories consisting of 4 episodes each and Talons is a 6 episode story.

[@neonWHALE002]

The controversial bit about Victory of the Daleks to me was that they returned to the old bronze design. I really liked the new design and wish they had stuck with it!

[@joaolevinsky]

My opinion on the list: 1) Let's not forget that Moffat himself said that he regrets that "Amy trying one night stand stuff with The Doctor". 2) Kill The Moon is a great episode. But the "moon is a egg" to me was lame. 3) Love and Monster could've been amazing but Abzorbaloff and that "I have a love life with a living brick" was bad. 3) Love the guts they have to make The Timeless Child. I don't mind at all. 4) Daleks got different styles and colors. It always had been like that.

[@na5567]

Guts and completely lack of respect or care for a property and its fanbase are 2 different things.

[@jtfbreedlove]

The '96 tv move was my first exposure to Who, still has my fav version of the console room.

[@acerumble4991]

Pastel Daleks were awesome and I will die defending that hill

[@obibraxton2232]

I swear if I see one more Love and war/blink reference or mention of that episode In a whoculture count down I’m gonna lose it 🤧

[@taker68]

#3 should be numbers 1 thru 10.

[@dansf2]

If it wasn't for The Seeds of Doom, I wouldn't be afraid to buy the wife flowers for our anniversary.

[@brianfretwell3886]

When it came to the VHS video release the main problem with Talons was due to the use of nunchucks in the fighting scene with the Chinese. The censors had that cut. And the look of Dimensions in Time was due to the gimmick use of a 3D technique that needed the camera to move as a steady speed in the same direction in each shot to work.

[@antonycornell6284]

Missed out the fury the formal robes in deadly assassin generated despite the fact they are obviously for use in events analogous to the state opening of Parliament where the lords dress in their ermine robes.

[@ArtDigitalMediaTV]

Dimensions in Time is essentially the Doctor Who version of the Star Wars Christmas Special. The episode that wasn't officially part of the show, but was so bad that everyone tries to forget it even exists.

[@xxxthestuffxxx]

Timeless Children should occupy all 10 spots in this list

[@Hawkeye26]

3:15 The Master says it first, definitely not just a throwaway line nor joke. The writers meant it.

[@rodneymarsden3003]

The writers wanted to rip up over 50 years of Doctor Who.

[@patrickmccurry1563]

@@rodneymarsden3003 Or they simply never watched Doctor Who and were working more off pop culture sci fi like Star Trek where everything can interbreed with everything else. I do remember only one original series episode where an alien and modified human planned of marrying and reproducing. The Doctor specifically told him how dangerous it was to mix species like that.

[@andrewwilliams9599]

But he could have been lying. It's not like The Master hasn't done that before.

[@drakkondarkspell]

I see your Dimensions in Time and raise you Star Wars Xmas Special in the pot of Things Not Wanted by Fans.

[@hermiona1147]

I feel like Ive seen this video already BTW where is the episode where dead people apparently suffer pain when cremated?

[@Deltaflot1701]

I've been trying to get through "Twin Dilemma" for the last two months

[@davidkirby9234]

"Love and Monsters" is one of my favorite Doctor Who episodes, even if it didn't feature the Doctor, and I especially appreciate the joke at the end. I agree that "The Timeless Children" is problematical, but I had the same problem with the War Doctor when he was first introduced. Nevertheless, I accept the War Doctor and hope that "The Timeless Children" somehow gets retconned. Maybe the Master was lying? It wouldn't be the first time, would it? (I'm not enough of a Doctor Who historian to know.)

[@Neil070]

The Master has lied more than Boris Johnson. (He's been Prime Minister too 🙂 ) It rankled with me that the Doctor simply accepted the absurd story without question or evidence. The Third Doctor said when the Master handed him the Seal of Rassilon as proof of his status as the envoy of the High Council "stolen, no doubt" (The Five Doctors), so there is no automatic belief or trust in what the Master says or does.

[@davidkirby9234]

@@Neil070 Thanks. Glad I guessed correctly.

[@Croftice1]

@@Neil070 And again is the Ghost Monument part missed, the one, where the Remnants (you know, those evil murderish blanket monsters) call the Doctor Timeless Child. Sure the Master isn't trustworthy, but with another independent source of the same information, I could safely bet, that he's telling the truth (at least this time).

[@onekie5787]

@@Croftice1 perhaps the timeless child is real. but not the doctor? and the master just bent the truth and told the doctor it was her when i first watched the ghost monument , i thought they were reffering to susan. i think that would be a good twist , it could work and it would lovely to have carole anne ford back in the show

[@jackhulbert5252]

I love dimensions in time. Sue me.

[@paulbeardsley4095]

Kill The Moon was not controversial, it was just stupid.

[@vitalspark6288]

I wish that Dimensions in Time, even if it's not canon in Doctor Who, could be canon in EastEnders.

[@STEPHENDANERD]

Crash of the Byzantium is a hilarious one, because from the outlook, the entire thing seems like it was written for some new monster and was never intended to use the weeping angels at all - they don't zap you back in time the signature weeping angel thing, they just outright kill you, they talk when weeping angels are silent, they gain a bizarre ability for coming out of pictures. (On top of all that, with so many of them, they should be looking at each other constantly, the thing that stopped them in the first showing) Notably both talking and coming out of pictures were abandoned traits after this. It would not surprise me in the slightest if the company just cheaped out and threw weeping angels in because they had them to hand. The end result being the weeping angels downgraded severely as a villain. And the last bit with Amy just nailed home the widely accepted opinion that Rory was far too good a man for Amy. Simple fix being give it the new monster it was clearly meant to have and cut the last part out entirely. Victory of the daleks was a brilliant move, fix the problem with small daleks by making them bigger... and then ruin it by making them the power rangers. Not to mention the implication that rainbow colours are on the bad guys... kind of suggesting LGBTQ are evil... And the lesser mentioned problem because everyone's screaming about the Daleks - the plane attacking the dalek ship should not have been a threat to it, the Doctor trying to threaten a dalek planet splitter, that only had it's satellite dish knocked off while it's shields were *temporarily* disabled, with a single jury rigged spitfire is beyond stupid. What should've happened: Doctor calls the spitfire off, it has no chance against the ship, Daleks say they're going to leave but to stop the Doctor following them, activates Gracewell, simple fix, better story. Also make the Daleks less ridiculous, the bronze helped them stand out and at best Daleks would use colour to denote primary function, the fantastic book "Prisoner of the Daleks" has all black daleks with twin guns, an intelligence commander with black and gold, prison guard daleks with restraining hooks... what's a blue dalek going to be for? Aquatic forces?! Yellow? Hazmat?! Orange? Idk, human Resources? (Well I suppose it'd be Dalek resources...)

[@disneyboy3030]

Interestingly this may actually expand upon something in a novel that told Galefrays history.

[@Annonymousoctopus]

If I may, I think what these videos forget is there was no internet or archive you could just go to research doctor who continuity. When they made the television movie, it had already been off the air for a considerable amount of time. You can forgive the continuity errors- try recalling something you watched as a child without the aid of the internet.

[@bgsather]

First thing my wife said after the video was "How much did Chibs pay WhatCulture?" and "Wonder how much WhatCulture is paying their newest employee Chris Chibnall?"

[@matthewkalasky2891]

Also for the Timeless Child: where did River Song get HER regeration abilities?

[@barryguff6893]

Stories, not episodes. Episodes are each separate part of a story.

[@stephennewton5697]

I think the Crimean War was also touched upon in the 2nd Doctors last story the war games. I think it was one of the battles that the warlords took a battlefield from.

[@Oogle85]

Talons is one of my favorite episodes

[@Jacobflamecaster]

I use to think that the angles only look like angles when we see them

[@Croftice1]

Exactly. As 10th explained, they are incredibly fast, so fast, that you won't see them coming. Blink and you're dead. The quantum lock is their defense mechanism. But no, now we know, that they are always stone and they move just like we do.

[@hadesmcgoat]

The Twin Dilemma isnt an episode. It is a serial. The Talons of Weng Chiang isn't an episode. It is a serial. If you're going to present yourself an an authority, learn the basics.

[@richardconnold5207]

Too right!!!!!

[@Elros04]

either my brain has a tardis or this is a reupload

[@antney7745]

What about when the Doctor abandons Susan in pre-space travel-era Earth in a timeline that's now probably been erased?

[@hgwells1899]

Erased when and how?

[@catolucettehiroki8902]

Did anyone catch number 3? I think the video and audio is broken :)

[@thegreygrappler6280]

The TV movie is absolutely ace. Paved the way

[@PelinAyter]

I'd place Timeless Children at #1. Nothing compares to that. I hope it will be retconned some day.

[@guimbelleaux]

I was just about to say the same thing.

[@danthemeegs8751]

Russell T Davies seemed to hint last year that he wasn't a fan of it. Hell, retconning it might've been part of his reasoning for taking the showrunning job

[@SubrosianDimitri]

@@danthemeegs8751 I'd actually be interested in him exploring the aftermath of it, but retconning also happens to some degree every time the show changes hands. At this point I think the only thing that hasn't been retconned in any way is the Master being able to come back from death with no explanation other than "Meh, got over it".

[@notchincorporated4824]

Matt and Karen were taller than the bronze dalek lol

[@TheChibiCrew]

Get your "early viewer ticket" here!

[@marcogenato1531]

Got it!

[@danielrussell3408]

Ok

[@TheChibiCrew]

@@marcogenato1531 Welcome To The Club!

[@TheChibiCrew]

@@danielrussell3408 Welcome To The Club!

[@anubis9633]

One please!

[@nicholi8933]

I am ok with sidelining the doctor, one of my favorite episodes is Blink, but Love and Monsters was just terrible. I hated it so much. As for the War Doctor being an extra incarnation I figured that the Time Lords wanted the Doctor's help in the war so they made a deal with him. They gave him an extra Regeneration to use During the war. That way he wouldn't use his actual ones. That was what I thought.

[@lonellfletcher]

Maybe it’s because this has been discussed to death, it feels like this list has been done before

[@odinaconley1186]

I disagree with comments about the timeless child in that it shows the timeless child having its mind erased and it's regeneration count reset at the end of every 12 regeneration. Therefore the doctor may have had many many lifetimes each of which allowed him 12 regenerations. When they reset his account by basically erasing his mind and starting him over as a new person would be similar to a human dying losing all memory of their past life and then being reborn. At least that's what I took from it.

[@johnburnside7828]

Whitehouse was a real monster!

[@VictoriousCatholic]

The problem with Kill the Moon is the only man in the story leaves while the women-one of which is an underage girl-is left to decide whether an unborn child lives or dies

[@lRlMlGl]

2 HOURS!?

[@benji274]

Terror Of The Autons and Vengeance On Varos should probably be here

[@richardconnold5207]

Agreed. VENGEANCE ON VAROS is a stone-cold DW classic, that gets more prescient, with each passing year.

[@Pille22]

The 5 coloured Daleks always reminded me of Sailor Moon. ^^

[@michaelelandon]

In the name of the moon, EXTERMINATE!

[@patrickmccurry1563]

For me it was, Fischer Price toys for toddlers.

[@krystaltheyarnychicken]

Dont agree about any of the episodes with Doctors 9-12... Loved all these epidose, did not bother me. The way I see Timeless Children with the 13th Doctor was interesting. We dont know EVERYTHING that happened in the past for the Doctor and it is interesting to shake things up. I thought it was also interesting to see them crosssover with EastEnders as I love that show also. I also disagree, I liked the new reinvented Daleks.

[@ftumschk]

Good stuff, but disappointing that you had to jump aboard the sanctimonious Weng-Chiang bashing bandwagon. Far from being "unwatchable", it's one of the best stories of the Tom Baker golden era, and was a product of its time, reflecting the fact that there were very few strong Chinese male actors working in British TV at the time. Li-Hsen Chang is a demanding role that needed a good actor, and IMHO John Bennett played the part with commendable restraint and dignity. Chang is portrayed as an erudite, eloquent gentleman when he's off-stage, and his accent is only really "exaggerated" when he adopts his stage persona as a conjurer. This kind of caricatured stage performance is what Victorian audiences would have expected so, if anything, it adds a touch of authenticity. Furthermore, Bennett was the _only_ actor to use a Chinese accent and the _only_ one in yellow-face, so there was no "excessive use" of either, and all the other Chinese characters were non-speaking parts played by Chinese extras.

[@acerumble4991]

Agree that it is a well performed story and not created as intentionally discriminatory, but it is privileged and demeaning behavior of a white male such as yourself to express that people affected by the portrayal and stereotypes should not be offended by them.

[@ftumschk]

@@acerumble4991 Thanks for your ad hominem comment. As for saying that people of whatever ethnicity or sex should or should not be offended, I did no such thing. People are free to be as offended or unoffended as they wish, provided they do so based on facts, rather than misinformation; e.g. statements that there was "excessive" use of whiteface and "exaggerated" accents by non-Chinese actors, when there was only ONE such character in the entire production.

[@william...1]

@@ftumschk it was excessive when they could have hired an Asian actor to do it, but the production office refused to due to their own prejudices

[@ftumschk]

@@william...1 The previous Doctor Who production team had tried, and failed, to find a suitable Chinese actor to play a role in "The Mind of Evil" a few years previously. They auditioned several candidates for what was a fairly undemanding part, but they weren't up to it. In the end, they cast the owner of the specialist Chinese acting agency they consulted for the purpose, and even he wasn't particularly brilliant in the role. Yes, they had even gone to the trouble of using a specialist acting agency in their attempt to find a good Chinese actor... so much for "prejudice". There were then very few, if any, experienced Chinese/Asian male actors working in British Television, and we had to wait until the early 1980s before a young actor named David Yip made a breakthrough as the leading actor in a series called "The Chinese Detective". That was simply the reality of the time, and there was categorically no prejudice involved in the making of Weng-Chiang; not least because Doctor Who had cast black male and female actors in the past, and at least two *female* actors of Asian ancestry.

[@Neil070]

@@acerumble4991 Have you seen the way we Brits are sometimes portrayed in America ("he's not gay, he's British" Potentially offensive to Brits and gays)? Will and Grace and that episode of Friends? If we all took offence at silly stereotypes instead of mocking them, we'd be at each others throats continually

[@jacklawrence2212]

Completely unfair to class 'the deadly assassin' as one of the 'lows'. Controversial, violent, yes but it's a masterpiece.

[@participantparticipant506]

If it weren't for Mary Whitehouse's campaign against he "video nasties" soon after, I never would have known about most of those films. Free publicity, eh? lol.

[@sabertooth_shark5047]

Victory of the Daleks was a good episode.

[@william...1]

but when you compare it to Power of the Daleks, it’s a complete ripoff.

[@sabertooth_shark5047]

@@william...1 I haven't seen that one yet. I'll try to watch it soon and then compare.

[@ghostlightx9005]

Mary Shitehouse made Dr Who much more popular than it would otherwise have been.