Ranking Every 13th Doctor Episode from Worst to Most Adequate

My full Doctor Who critique is out! Click here to go see it: • The Fall of Doctor Who

[@MistbornTaylor]

22:30 “it does have that weird moment where the doctor says that she wouldn’t be accused of witchcraft, if she were a man” men were accused of witchcraft. The majority were women but still.

[@declanhugors]

Exactly and they legit SAW her "doing witchcraft" like bruh u can't just pull social justice out of ur *ss but Chibnal's reaching all in there for political opinions

[@TroyBlackford]

Yeah it was by far mostly women but still tons of men were accused of witchcraft and it's such a horrible stain on history, among all too many others. I'm so furious about all those women and many men's lives destroyed by such a ridiculous and manipulative practice. I'm sure it was very easy for people to hurl meaningless accusations against anyone who bothered them, or they owed money to, or whatever other petty reason. People got caught up in a mass hysteria and it's shameful how little they cared about the results of their accusations. Sorry to get all worked up. I have red hair and a birthmark, they would have killed me at birth! Haha

[@GuiSmith]

@@TroyBlackford That’s pretty much exactly how it went in Salem and Italy.

[@calemr]

More Weight.

[@nathanjora7627]

« The majority were women » Past a certain period. Just pointing out that what makes this hypocrisy even worse is that not only were man also relatively frequently accused of witchcrafts, they were the majority of targets for a very long time, so it’s just absurd and insulting to say nonsense like that.

[@4203105]

The biggest problem with Rosa for me is how extremely they misrepresent the actual history. This is a program that was originally made solely to educate children about history and is still watched by families. And they couldn't even get it right that it was a strategic decision by the civil rights movement who to put on that bus and if it hadn't been parks it would have been somebody else? Or did the writers just not know because they did no more research than remembering their 8th grade history report?

[@StyxTBuferd]

It also would've been better as a pure historical. Time travelling space racist was about the most caricaturized villain they could come up with to represent racism, which removes all the nuance of what racism is and why it's a problem. Pretty much all of 13's era tries to pander to those engaged in social justice while failing to actually respect or understand the underlying issues driving the social justice movement. The result is an era that falsely justifies the sexism of the anti-femdoc idiots and gives the alt-right an easy strawman to point to to exemplify how ridiculous they think the left is. It's more than bad television- it's destructive television.

[@GayAnnabeth]

the simple two word response to this comment is: chibnall's white

[@leonmayne797]

@@GayAnnabeth Not sure what that's supposed to mean but good luck with Clarisse I guess.

[@StyxTBuferd]

@@GayAnnabeth I think it’s more that Chibnall is ridiculously untalented. It’s not like his episodes pre showrunner were particularly interesting either. In fact they were mostly garbage.

[@calemr]

@@StyxTBuferd This is a pretty good description of what "Woke" has come to mean. This ultra-simplistic, utterly detached from the real problems, BS made by marketers and committees. It's the new "How do you do, fellow kids?", Only, as you said, dangerous to society. And it divides people who probably agree with each other. I see tons of people labeled "Anti-feminist" or "Racist" or whatever for speaking out against this shit, when they're just recognizing how this Doesn't solve anything, and just Promotes division and stands Against discussion. I know I have. And I'm left wing by European standards, let alone American ones. Jay's been on EFAP, I'm sure that's all it takes for them to get accused of it too.

[@greghawkins59]

Tesla might not be very famous but i feel like he's well know enough for it to be weird that none of the fam know him, especially with the tesla cars being so prominent

[@TheNoonish]

If that episode was made 15 years ago, then perhaps it might make sense that none of them know Tesla. But his name is freaking everywhere these days. Everyone knows that he was involved in early applications of electrical currents. You may not know everything, but none of the Fam knowing about Alternating Currents is a serious indictment of their education. It would be nice if they'd been a bit more insightful about him. It wasn't just that he never wanted to sell his ideas-he was actively trying to sell his remote control technology to the military. He just had a very weird personality; quite definitely OCD, and perhaps even greater psychological issues given that he fell passionately in love with a pigeon. It was his strange personal quirks that hindered his ability to market himself, not some great sense of altruism concerning his inventions. (Though Edison really was a dickwad)

[@dradel2050]

I learned about Tesla at goddamn school!

[@TroyBlackford]

@@TheNoonish This is an insightful post. Agreed, though I am sure I know less about Tesla than you do, so my opinion is less valuable. Very great points and interesting facts.

[@retro2103]

That's something that bothered me. Chibnall is out of touch. Most schools and current media today touch on Tesla. And the most annoying thing of all is that he's clearly lowered the bar because he imagines Doctor Who mostly as a children's television program that should educate kids about these sorts of things as well. But it's done by someone who would've made for a very poor and unlikable substitute teacher.

[@jamodonnahan610]

I can somehow believe that they have never heard a Tesla, those are quite silent, aren't they?

[@TheNoonish]

When it comes to historical details concerning people like Tesla and Rosa Parks, it would be nice if the show focused on getting the information mostly right. It's not hard, and it's not like their attempts to be historically accurate will make for a worse story. Given all the money they have to throw at each episode and how easy it is to get some of the details right, it just feels like pure laziness.

[@TroyBlackford]

It isn't just laziness, it smacks of exploitative laziness. If you're going to use a historical figure of more than moderate importance as a character in a fictional story, I think it's really important to get it right and be hyper-respectful of people who are deserving of respect. I don't mind making Edison look like a greedy pig, but don't just use Nikola Tesla, let alone Rosa freaking Parks, haphazardly to give your story an air of "depth." I am just not convinced that they took these concerns as seriously as I personally feel they should have.

[@joelsoetendorp3279]

It felt like they were going to recreate the Hartnell era historicals and they lost their bottle

[@nifralo2752]

@@TroyBlackford at least they had a real Yugoslav for the role not some Nrit doing some Boris Carlof impersonation

[@lProN00bl]

@@TroyBlackford Also it's super fucking obvious they were just trying to wide the wave of people recognizing Tesla....years before that. By the time Dr Who brought him up, so many other shows and media had started bringing up Tesla already. I

[@ltloxa1159]

I actually disagree. It is not their duty to get history right any more than it is to get the science. Yes, doing it right will make it more enjoyable for people who know the field, but if they don't think it serves the story, or they just don't wanna bother with it, thats fine. Heck, there's time travel. Why would the past even be the same? It only gets bad if they f up something so bad that it contradicts the average viewers basic knowledge.

[@johnmaguire7695]

The Doctor identifies the gun that almost assassinated Tesla as an, "Alien Weapon". From the Silurians. The weapon is "not terrestrial". The Silurians... Are not from Earth. Did no one read these scripts out loud? Does Chris know?

[@rddrecon9741]

He was the one who wrote their return episodes as well

[@GuiSmith]

Oh my god I forgot about that. What in fresh hell...

[@woodfur00]

He wrote The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood!! That was his only good one too!

[@DoctorWhoHugh]

Chris didn't write that episode, he wasn't even the script editor. It was a small mistake which I don't hate. I'm assuming it was a gun, made by the Silurian's off world, therefore the weapon would be non-terrestrial

[@midastheunwise2423]

@@woodfur00 I disagree that it's good, it suffers from all of the writing inconsistencies you see now. Near the end of the first part, the Silurian scientist is shown to have literally vivisected the child's father, and nearly does the same to Amy before he's interrupted. It's stated that the vivisection was un-anaesthetised, so our introduction to this character is something akin to Josef Mengele. By the end of the story, the man he vivisected is running around with him, The Doctor says something along the lines of 'I wish there were more people like you', and in general the horrific acts he performs are completely ignored after that scene ends. In pure Chibnall fashion, he obviously wrote the character's introduction to be that of an evil scientist for scares and to give us a cliffhanger where Amy is about to be vivisected, and then in the second episode wanted him to be the character who saves the Doctor and allows them to escape, resulting in a 'noble' sacrifice. There is no consistency, the character just changes on a dime because the plot demands it.

[@alexlee4154]

Im imagining the benny hill music playing as the doctor has to keep going back in time to bring rosa parks back to her own time while the space racist keeps shooting her.

[@leonmayne797]

And eventually she just gets tired and shoots the space racist.

[@GayAnnabeth]

jay out here complaining about a war against sheep but forgets that australia literally lost a war against emus

[@declanhugors]

Underrated comment. Except the sheep thing has to be played for laughs cuz it's just too stupid and intentional to actually be meaningful

[@cordyceps182]

The Emu War was more of a failed extermination than an actual conflict like the Doctor implies

[@localdingus6788]

Emus are modern day velociraptors there’s a difference.

[@ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502]

The difference is that emus are dangerous creatures that can sponge a bullet or two and still have enough energy left to take you down with it and are great at working together to escape from aggressors. Sheep, on the other hand, can get killed by their own food sources and they eat plants.

[@SorowFame]

We didn’t lose, we merely failed to win. Also the Emu’s didn’t cause enough damage that a time traveller would be afraid of them because of the war. You should be afraid of Emu’s but not because of the Emu War.

[@spluff5]

The only possible explanation for the Doctor's tasting scene is that she ate some alpaca shit.

[@TroyBlackford]

I love how you sound like a hip substitute teacher forced to get strict when you call out people spamming your stream.

[@SJ9001]

As if Erik's decisions in "It Takes You Away" aren't messed up enough, they don't even work within the plot. He decides to stay in the alternate universe without going back for Hanne because, in his own words, "I kept thinking, what if I go and I can't come back?" But if he was too worried about returning home, how and when was he able to set up all the traps? And if he did manage to make at least one return trip, why not take Hanne with him?

[@KayAvalon]

Also, ive never quite understood why he set up the traps? Cause, his daughter is blind. Why would she be randomly going into the woods anyways?

[@Problembeing]

Timeless Children should be last, because no matter how bad the other episodes were, nothing, absolutely nothing, has done more damage than that contemptuous atrocity.

[@JRexRegis]

I just don't get _why_ the Doctor has to be the timeless child. She's _already_ special by virtue of BEING THE DOCTOR! The entire show, from the very beginning, has been about an unlikely hero travelling and helping out. He was nothing special among his people, really, he was quite unremarkable - the Time Lords think him a weirdo and a creep for interacting with the humans so much, for example. But despite that, despite The Doctor's insignificant heritage as a nobody, he still manages to become this great legend. And now, Timeless Child has destroyed that heritage. Turns out the Doctor wasn't an unlikely hero at all, they were just *_genetically superior,_* and that's why they got out of scrapes and had the wit they had to boot.

[@Problembeing]

@@JRexRegis yup - it’s pretty, how shall we say... ‘problematic’. Chibnall has now created a sort of ‘übermensch’ out of The Doctor. Genetic supremacy out of our hero akin to eugenics much loved in the 19th and early 20th century, adopted by people like Helen Keller, HG Welles, George Bernard Shaw, Jacques Cousteau, Nikola Tesla, Bertrand Russell, and prominent bad people in Germany in the 1930s...

[@maximusthedude8305]

The only thing I liked was the CyberLords… but a) there is no way that the the Master should have been able to acquire more than a handful of timelord bodies if any, and there is still no explanation about how he razed Gallifrey. b) having a ‘kill all CyberLords’ button is a very lame way to deal with that threat. Yes, it’s undeniably the most tried and true method of dealing with Cybermen of any kind, but it’s still just a waste of an interesting concept. Besides, they’ll probably just come back next season anyway, so what’s the point?

[@alexcooke4856]

@@maximusthedude8305 At the end of the episode, I think it's a close-up of the guy pushing the death button, you can hear the Master in the background say something like "you lot, in here" so I'm guessing both the Master and the Cyber Lords got in a TARDIS and will be back

[@Gpatrick2]

Literally, timeless child physically hurts me when it gets revealed. Its not a good plot and it wasn’t even revealed to the doctor in a good way?! It literally screwed with the whole storyline and I hope Davies can sort it out when he comes back.

[@eddiefenton6309]

Lol I love that idea of Tesla and the Doctor having a season

[@eriol_mits3121]

I remember Rosa getting alot of praise when it first came out. Still I like to compare Rosa to the Star Trek Deep Space Nine Episode, "Far Beyond the Star" both stories are centred around racism, and both take place in the 1930's. Where Far Beyond the Stars, follows a fiction writer named Benny Russell you get to see the affect of racism first hand, how it affects him and how the people he works with are complaint. By the time Avery Brooks delivers his speech at the end of the episodes. You have developed this connection to who is essential a new character he is playing for this one episode. Where as Rosa wants to highlight obviously what Rosa Parks did but falls into the same trap Demons of the Punjab does. As its a historical episode based around real events your stung on what you can and can't do with your main character. You can't have the main cast do anything that overshadow, or been seen to influencing what the historical figure did. So you never build a connection with Rosa as a person before the bus. You're told about it, your told about how bad racism is but you never really experience it from Rosa perspective. Your essentially watching the main cast, watch something happen while seeing them relegated to a B plot in there own episode. If you have never watched Star Trek Deep Space Nine or seen that episode go watch Far Beyond the Stars and then Rosa back to back and you'll see a world of difference between how both shows essential present the same issues of racism in the 1950's.

[@krisjorstif]

My main criticism of Rosa is something I don’t hear anyone talk about so maybe I’m wrong about it. I would have thought that the bus incident would be a fixed point in time so wouldn’t it not happening cause similar problems to what happened in that episode where Rose saves her dad?

[@chefboyardee2223]

I mean the doctor has done pretty much whatever he wants so i dont think it really matters.

[@klop4228]

The main problem in Father's Day was not only that they changed the past, but that they did it in front of their past selves (without having recalled seeing themselves doing it). The Doctor even says that the fact that there are two versions of them there makes it a weaker point in time.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

The thing with events in history is that it's completely random what's fixed and what isn't. The Doctor has mentioned that the Time Lords did attempt to learn what they could faff with, and can sort of tell naturally, but they're not any good at it. They just sort of do what feels right for them.

[@klop4228]

Just thought I'd chime in again cos I just rewatched Season 6 - The Wedding of River Song is what happens when you screw with fixed points in time. All time happening at once but also nothing changing. Father's Day is (again) changing events in your own time stream while your past self (from the unchanged time stream) is present.

[@4203105]

Logically everything should be a fixed point in time. But that wouldn't make for enjoyable television so the writers decide by what is convenient.

[@thomasrhodes787]

chibnall was hired because steven moffat chose him. steven specifically told chibnal that “i’ll leave in season 10 if you take over for 11”. the worst thing moffat ever done to the show

[@ampersandcastle1091]

Great for his own reputation though. Everyone hated Moffat but now everyone wants him back lol

[@retsim-rellim1223]

The only point I'll argue against is the recon dalek. It is a special type of dalek, the first to leave Skaro, given all these weird abilities to perform its job under all circumstances, being able to be dead and revived by UV light and so on. Plus after being dead for centuries it's no surprise it's gone a bit insane and egotistical. It doesn't effect other daleks of the series, since it's a separate entity, much like in "Revolution" normal daleks are called into to take out the recon clone daleks. Showing that the recon dalek doesn't negatively impact all daleks before it in any way.

[@declanhugors]

True. And honestly the very presence of Daleks just makes me enjoy the episode every time

[@lillith7257]

I think a good way to argue against that Is that much like other episodes It feels like a parody of past examples It doesnt feel like it's own thing Much like the whole soil tasting misses the point So does this one

[@declanhugors]

@@lillith7257 I think that the majority of the Chibnal Era's episode are just as unique as previous era episodes. They're just trash

[@klop4228]

I agree, though I do find it silly that essentislly a scout is one of the most competent Daleks we've ever seen, even compared to versions that _should_ be stronger.

[@Mecharnie_Dobbs]

Daleks don't tend to like "special types of dalek"

[@achromat666]

I feel like with historical episodes like Rosa and Demons of the Punjab you need to achieve a few things: 1. Respect the subject and time period 2. make the villain/foil appropriate either for the time and the Doctor 3. have the villains plight make sense. That having been said, of the 2 episodes I mention, Rosa is much worse for one primary reason: the villain. Future alien greaser racist doesn't make internal or external sense in the story at all. Why would an future alien hate black people? Why would you write a story about a future alien that hates black people and not explain the reason? Nothing about the character works, and having the guy that slaps Ryan at the beginning as your villain, or the rampant racism of the time would have worked far more effectively. A female Doctor would have to think on her feet to avoid being lynched for defending black people, Graham would be directly confronted with a conflict of loving his grandson in a time where race mixing would get you killed, and there's no telling how they'd actually treat Yaz. Even if you don't go as extreme as to portraying the actual plight of black people, you could take any one of those elements and create a more compelling narrative than white future alien time travels to put black people (and no other race) in their place. It's just so very dumb. As for Demons, The aliens are also the least interesting part of the episode. The closest the revival era has come to doing a pure historical before this would probably be Vincent and the Doctor, and the silly villain in that episode is a perfect reflection of the torment Van Gogh deals with on a regular basis. It manages to tell a lovely story without preaching and doesn't shoehorn a villain that is completely out of place.

[@tovarischkrasnyjeshi]

I honestly kind of enjoyed some of the contrivances of the Moffat and RTD eras. But they knew how to dress them in a kind of magic or storybook whimsy that made the contrivances feel like there was some higher force at work. And to be fair the contrivances often backfired, spectacularly - some of 11 is difficult to watch for me, because it's almost cringey in how it tries to mix the children's hero stuff with the adult themes of Amy and Rory or River. Or with 12, Shoot the Moon went way too far in what was acceptable suspension of disbelief and if you saw the abortion metaphor it just absolutely crashed out as garbage. But the little things that gave the Doctor those little "everybody lived" moments were just great, and the way the Moffat doctors were interwoven into their companions lives were great. But Chibnall just doesn't seem to have figured out how to do the magical part of magical realism - I can't think of a single story that effectively had the surreality of the previous eras. Even like, what the show's taking inspiration from and how it's shot are more like cop procedurals (also, a super paint-by-numbers genre) than what I like in Doctor Who. Thinking about it, even his previous episodes are like that. Less leaning into the fantasy aspects of sci-fi, more cop show/gritty realism with sci fi threats and technology. A lot of the Doctor's out of character moments even feel like she's a displaced Law and Order character, like whatever happened to her morality in Kerblam. And that might be part of why the fam are so poorly characterized - Law and Order shows rarely develop their characters beyond the surface traits or depict morality as more complicated than "cops make mistakes but are always the good guys" and because the draw of the show is the morbid intrigue around murder everything's basically a set piece for the gimmick of the week. There's continuity sure, but it's not really challenging because it's basically made to be syndicated and played out of order, and maybe mistaking what works in the Doctor Who story formulas for what works in Law and Order leads to misapplication of the latter's tropes to the former.

[@swiftlymurmurs]

Actually the comparison to cop procedurals is pretty interesting because Chibby was previously mostly known for making the (quite good) whodunnit detective show Broadchurch. Generally, a small town detective story will mostly consist of a limited set of characters hanging out in a quite small setting talking about their feelings a bunch. This might explain why in S11 and S12, Chibby constantly has the urge to have episodes with limited locations in which the plot stops for a few characters to just talk about their feelings for a bit, completely forgetting that this is not Broadchurch

[@Jack_Ss]

What “childrens hero stuff” was there in 11?

[@tenhayz1889]

@@Jack_Ss Moffat resurrects a lot of people for no reason, that sounds childish to me. Also his portrayal of the trio Amy/Rory/11 sometimes damages my brain, by making them behave like stupid horny teenagers, mostly in season 5

[@4203105]

I think we can all agree that Kerblam is atrocious. Might even be the worst episode of the bunch.

[@declanhugors]

Tbh tho I don't think it was intentional but that "robophobic" thing got a laugh out of me and same with the whole theme except that was just plain stupid that it was funny.

[@dannymccrea9642]

I actually quite enjoyed Kerbalm as a shut off my brain and enjoy the ride sorta episode.

[@cookieface80]

It should've just been a dumb fun episode about killer robots.

[@frde2190]

Everyone seems to say that one is the best for some reason. Don’t know why, it was garbage

[@chefboiarby304]

@@frde2190 I think people like it, because the world building and pacing was more similar to that of the RTD era. I found it more entertaining than the episodes before it for similar reasons.

[@Problembeing]

Funny how Chibnall didn’t address Tesla’s germaphobia or his penchant for eugenics.

[@monstroazul3989]

Finally someone who doesnt put episodes in good tier. None of them are good

[@greghawkins59]

If you did go on twich, still upload those streams onto here afterwards because i would never be able to catch the streams on time.

[@Mecharnie_Dobbs]

I don't have Twitch and I'm not going to install it. I have too many apps and I don't know what they're doing with my data.

[@greghawkins59]

@@Mecharnie_Dobbs yeah exactly, too many apps to think about.

[@darynvoss7883]

Your top three there are Diodati, Rosa, Witchfinders. All three of these eps were written by women. I wonder whether they should have chosen a female showrunner for the Chibnall era.

[@ampersandcastle1091]

Yeah I definitely think that the Doctor being a woman is a problem - because of the way Chibnall writes women. I think if Thirteen were a man then he wouldn’t have made her so passive and scared all the time. Somehow he even botches the Doctor’s empathy, a stereotypically ‘female’ trait. It’s a shame because her new gender could’ve been really interesting

[@g.c.h7055]

The title of this is the funniest thing, ever.

[@killgriffinnow]

The Demons of the Punjab was supposed to educate me about what happened in 1948 but I cam away feeling that I knew less than when it started.

[@MrDarthT]

I will fact check you on the Dalek mutant outside its casing. Daleks have been seen surviving outside their armour before, notably in "Resurrection of the Daleks". Also, a Dalek's bite in that same story causes a person to go insane, so it's ability to puppeteer someone could be an extension of that.

[@4203105]

From a historical accuracy standpoint king James was very gay and pretty openly so. So I did appreciate him coming on to Ryan. However he was by all accounts very butch, a man's man in more than one regard. His straight son turned out to be the camp one. But this historical inaccuracy didn't vex me even nearly as much as the Rosa one, because it was a lot smaller and mainly the plot didn't hinge on this one, when it did with Rosa.

[@JRexRegis]

"but how can be gay without effeminate flamboyancy??????" ~Chris Chibnall

[@mostlyincompetent]

i’d love to see you rank some good seasons

[@pamsmith85]

It might be dumb af, but gotta admit I’d watch an episode where humanity goes to war with sheep, if only out of morbid curiosity.

[@ALookIntoTheEulenspiegel]

22:52 No, no, Jay, you got it all wrong. See, if they saw a MAN standing with a magic wand amidst a crowd of the risen dead, they would all be going: "Okay, my man, you can't just go practicing the dark arts like that. What is a woman sees you? Can't let them know about the dark magic Patriarchy we formed to oppress them." Then would have winked and left the Doctor alone.

[@PabloLomez]

Okay so, small brain moment. I misunderstood the title as meaning ranking every 13th doctor episode ... from each season. Why every 13th episode? Does every season even have 13 episodes? Oh wait.

[@klop4228]

"Ranking the finales for the first 7 seasons" lol. ...I mean, I'mma do it just for fun: 7. The Name of the Doctor 6. The Wedding of River Song 5. The Last of the Timelords 4. Journey's End 3. The Big Bang 2. Doomsday 1. The Parting of the Ways Are my biases obvious yet? (I might have ranked The Big Bang too high?)

[@doctorlolchicken7478]

I am impressed that you didn’t need a wider monitor or a “Complete Fuckingmonkeybollocks” level.

[@SeanS102]

Chris Chibnall was hired because he made Broadchurch and it really is as simple as that.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Boom Town is my favourite Christopher Eccleston episode. I love it.

[@frde2190]

The Haunting of Villa Diodati is in my top ten favourite episodes of dr who. It has a few flaws but it’s a super fun watch in my opinion.

[@hagridmary]

I think if you were to put it in any strong series of Doctor Who it would be one of the weaker episodes.

[@frde2190]

@@hagridmary i guess so, the only seasons I consider “strong overall” are season 1,4 and 9.

[@hagridmary]

​@@frde2190 Only series I consider strong overall are 1, 3 and 4.

[@TommyLednorMusic]

@@hagridmary 1,2,3,4 and tbh I rewatched 9 recently and I acc kinda liked the payoff a lot more than I did a year ago

[@marmeg5238]

Dang, y'all really sleeping on series 8 here

[@ChristopherJonesArt]

The story with the Thirteenth Doctor releasing the Daughter from the Family of Blood from her imprisonment was an audio story released during the Doctor Who Lockdown. It was written by Paul Cornell, author of the original TV episode and novel, so you can decide for yourself whether to consider it canonical.

[@maxenswlfr1877]

I had heard another one where the daughter escaped and freed her family but the doctor captured them again and put the daughter in a bottle Weird

[@TheWAYF]

Regarding Seasons 6 and 7 for weakest seasons, I would call 7 slightly worse for a few reasons: - Worse 2-part episodes - Clara's Impossible Girl mini-arc (ties in with a lot of production and workload issues leading up to the 50th anniversary) - Chris Chibnall wrote 0 episodes for Season 6 and 2 episodes for Season 7.

[@paulkielty8385]

What I want to know about Dr. Who these days is; how many "last" Daleks are there? They fall through time, they escape via Timelord technology, they hide in a corner of the galaxy and found a religion, they travel back in time to 1920s New York... so tired of this show reusing villains. Daleks, Cybermen, Weeping Angels, The Master... its dull.

[@klop4228]

I'm ok with reusing villains, as long as they're not overused (Cybermen _and the Master_ have had three finales of the last five, and, frankly, I think they - and we - deserve a break) and that they stop being killed off 'forever' because we know they're coming back. That said, the Master is often a character rather than a villain (at least Missy was a character who was semi-regular on the show, rather than a one-off (three-off?) villain like John Simm's Master - though even in that form he had character arcs in a way villains often don't get). The Weeping Angels are a special case, though, cos they're so obviously a one-time villain who then got reused twice. And the only way Moffat could find a way to keep them interesting was to add a bunch of extra powers on that just make their original episode make no sense.

[@4203105]

They have to use the Dakeks every season due to legal obligations. It sucks, but it is how it is

[@totallynotaferret]

Ever since "Victory of the Daleks" they have been fully brought back. There are no more "'last' Daleks", only Daleks. They're back, you better get used to it.

[@paulkielty8385]

@@totallynotaferret I don't even watch the show anymore. That third fella ruined it for me.

[@aredjayc2858]

Oh boy gonna watch another Dr Who vid despite never watching any Dr Who

[@insekki]

While there certainly was plenty of misogyny at the time, men were indeed tried and executed as witches, making the line even more stupid.

[@TheIbney00]

This era felt as though Reddit wrote the entire thing in the worst way possible

[@jacksim5759]

30 seconds in and this is the most relatable Dr Who episode ranking already

[@mahrinui18]

I really enjoyed Ranskoor av Kolos because it was so boring I fell asleep and I enjoy sleeping more than watching any episode of Chibnall Who.

[@MrBobthened]

I kind of like Resolution. It’s the first story to make the daleks seem actually dangerous since the end of the original RTD era. Moffat constantly treated them like a joke, with 11 scaring them off with a biscuit and 12 playing dodgems with them on Skarro.

[@tenhayz1889]

I have to agree with your point there, Moffat made the dalek and the cybermen not as menacing as they used to be. And the cybermen "evolution" (nightmare in silver) made them way too op

[@Witzke231]

There is no good. Just adequate and bad.

[@4203105]

The spider episode has among others the problem that insects much bigger than tarantulas can't breathe with the current oxygen content in our atmosphere, since they breathe through their skin. These spiders are supposed to just be bigger due to mutation, nothing supernatural about them. So there is no handwaving that away. Usually I could just ignore it. But they specifically mention one of the spider being to big to breathe when it should be all of them. It would be nice for the writers to not specifically point out the thing I'm supposed to ignore!

[@HyenaDandy]

I assume BBC hired Chibnall because he had history as a show-runner on a successful show. Of course, serialized cop drama and sci-fi adventure aren't the same thing...

[@abrr2000]

I just had to click on this video to say. "that title is both funny as all heck, and accurate"

[@countduke47]

I personally don't see season 5 as a "problem season", it has some really great episodes and even the weaker ones are not terrible. While yes it may have started the decent of Doctor who technically speaking it's a really solid season with some great episodes and a good doctor. Season 6 in my opinion is interesting. I like it overall but that is half bias because 11 is the doctor I grew up with, and half actual quality. 7 however, is overall bad with some good episodes sprinkled in.

[@SeanS102]

Series 5 is so obviously the best Series of the revival. I mean, that's just my opinion, but it's so not even close to a "problem season"

[@concon09090]

The problem is that nothing that series 5 sets up really goes anywhere; if it was just a standalone season, then the quality of the episodes in it would absolutely make it one of the show's best, but it's held back by the larger arcs that just kinda derail and fall into a ditch.

[@SeanS102]

I just think if Series 5's episodes make it one of the show's best then it's one of the show's best. I'd definitely disagree that it goes nowhere, everything set up in Series 5 is later touched upon, you might not like the later stuff, but that checkbox is filled.

[@klop4228]

@@concon09090 Which bits? 'Silence will fall' is covered in the next season, and the Crack comes back in The Time of the Doctor (which I'm not a big fan of, but it's not a Season 5 problem if Season 7's specials fail to resolve the arc properly). Season 6 also covers River's... existence... fairly thoroughly. I can't think of much else that was introduced in Season 5 and waa intended to carry over longer.

[@concon09090]

@@klop4228 I guess i don't mean that they're unresolved, they're just resolved in ways that I found poorly written and unsatisfying, so retroactively I can't help but resent S5 for getting my hopes up so well.

[@alicesophie123]

“Can you hear me?” More than being similar to “Amy’s Choice” with the dreams, I’d ver very similar to “The Nightmare Man” (don’t know if that’s the name of the episode or not) from Sarah Jane adventures! Again this episode is much better because you really understand the reasoning behind each characters nightmares! Luke’s scared of leaving his friends behind, Rani is scared of having to betray those she loves in order to achieve her dream, and Clyde is scared he’ll never achieve anything! Both episode have the near identical scene of the nightmare creatures standing in the street sending out the nightmares!

[@abigailcincotti9109]

I'm chill with ya moving to to twitch. I tend to watch more streams over there anyway.

[@vittovioletcreeper]

I’d prefer you stayed on KZbin instead of going on Twitch

[@mr.starwars8863]

Jay is the offspring of the Longman.

[@4203105]

Even after all you had to say about it, I still think demons of the Punjab is one of the better episodes. Of course that's not saying much. It's certainly a lot better than Rosa, which couldn't even get the historical part right.

[@sponceniau741]

The thing i love about Demons of the Punjab is the Aliens design, good god its fantastic

[@4203105]

@Mr Doctors13 just read about the real history on Wikipedia. I can't write a three pages comment.

[@sheridan5175]

If it takes you away was written be neil gaiman or smth it would have been sooo gooood

[@williamwatson4354]

I'm glad that Orphan 55 ranked as low as it did, but it was merely terrible and easily forgotten. Timeless Children devastated the show in far too many ways.

[@Nathan-qq3kv]

You'd think Ryan's actual nightmare would just be a room full of ladders, the fact that it's not that makes everything bad

[@4203105]

I would put spyfall 1&2 into atrocious for the cinematography alone. Somehow it manages to be even worse than the cinematography in the rest of the Chibnall era and that is hard to do. It was so bad it literally made me sick.

[@Jamestopboy]

The Haunting of Villa Diadati shows one thing: if you want to do scary shit, get Maxine Alderton to write it.

[@Acolyte_501st]

Although I largely agree with the rankings, I gotta say I enjoyed the bottom ranking episodes the most. They’re just so bad and parody like I can enjoy them as that, while I was bored out of my mind watching the higher ranking episodes

[@KeplersDream]

The most charitable thing I can say about this 'error' of Doctor Who is at least it was gracious enough to erase itself from my brain as I was watching it.

[@katarinabrunk8698]

Oof lol 😂

[@tenhayz1889]

Tbh, watching this stream made me realise that, as much as I hate chibanll's era, I have very few memories of his episodes.

[@Julia33066]

Prediction: the timeless children is in Atrocius

[@TabbyVee]

I still just dont understand how few people know who Tesla is, the idea that none of the characters in the show knew who he was only served to lower my respect for them because they just sounded like morons.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

Going to twitch would be cringe please don't!

[@declanhugors]

Excluding Seasons 11 and 12, I probably would put 3 at the bottom because of how forgettable it is. Once Rose left, most people only thought of Rose instead of Martha.

[@g.c.h7055]

I remember a review of Series 3 in Empire at the time said "formula has set in".

[@klop4228]

Poor Martha doesn't get her due. The latter half of the season is filled with amazing episodes - Human Nature/The Family of Blood, then Blink, and then the Master three-parter. Just great TV, to be honest.

[@PetersonZF]

@@klop4228 Agreed, I love Martha - she's particularly good in the second half of the season. It sucked that RTD robbed her of her happy ending with the Paediatrician guy just so he could lazily have the 10th Doctor visit Martha and Mickey at the same time and establish a supposed romance that comes out of nowhere as a way of 'wrapping things up'.

[@joeespin4377]

is there really any BEST? are they not equally terrible?. watching 13 is like having a root canal without pain killer. it like being a constant labor. its like finding out after death that is there is no heaven opnjly hell

[@declanhugors]

Eh. Then why did u watch them? Except for the REALLY ATROCIOUS ONES (Exclusing two parters cuz those are usually important), I'd rather watch the episodes than not watch them. I guess the hope that they'll be better in the future kinda kicks in as I watch them too

[@samuelbarber6177]

Best is a relative term. It’s not always a marker of quality.

[@klop4228]

@@declanhugors it's hard to know if an episode is good or bad without watching it.

[@joeespin4377]

@@klop4228 normally i would agree with you but when you are considering the chibs era you really only have to watch two episodes a series to see that he and his fellow writers had no right to be anywhere near a position in the writers room of this or any other show, forever.

[@katarinabrunk8698]

I love how dramatic this comment is lol 😂

[@bananess_]

im here almost 3 years later just for you jay

[@cyl_genderfluid-furry]

She's transitioned better than I could ever hope to!

[@mushroom_e]

I am not on twitch at all, and would v much miss this content if it moved there :)

[@greyhood3447]

I'd quite like to see you cover the other doctors runs if you haven't already

[@FaultyTARDIS]

i've watched your 5hour video twice, considering you spent 6months on it :D

[@mertarican5456]

I think i watched it 8 times. It is like every time i watch i apretiate it more i am not a native speaker even then it is Easy to understand and really nice piece of art over all

[@Raxoris]

I take issue with Edison's portrayal in the Tesla episode. It's so hilariously black and white, portraying him as this terrible ruthless greedy man who shoots aliens because 'murican. I'm not exactly saying he was a nice guy, but the man was an animal lover and a vegetarian, is he really the type to pull out a gun and shoot aliens? Not to mention it glosses over Tesla's eugenic views to portray him as this faultless wunderkind. I don't expect Doctor Who to talk about that and that's fine but I would've appreciated they made it less obvious goodie and obvious baddie.

[@cookieface80]

Shocked Witchfinders is so high.

[@cashb5357]

35:57 ok but like in unicorn and the wasp he can the year by smell so his abilities are kinda always stupid

[@leonmayne797]

Villa Diodati should be knocked back up to good just for the premise of setting a Doctor Who episode in the Villa Diodati.

[@samuelbarber6177]

I personally think it’s one of the best episodes of the entire show, to be frank.

[@tenhayz1889]

I agree with the overall order of the episodes, however I would add a tier below "atrocious" named "insulting", and decrease every episode's rank by one. Only episode I'd change rank after that is Rosa down to very bad, the villain is so cringe and has the screen presence of an oyster.

[@KismetMulhaneski-to3wg]

That deployment of "adequate" as the high bar is a bit of a dagger!

[@stagelights_]

rosa was probably one of my least favorite episodes of 13's run, and i think it gets worse the more you know the actual history of the civil rights movement and rosa parks, because the episode basically just goes about the history the way the american school system teaches it, but that's not the actual history. rosa parks sitting on the bus wasn't just some random event like the episode claimed, and rosa was specifically chosen as a face for the movement for her clean criminal record. if rosa didn't sit on that bus on that day, it probably would have been someone else on a different day. in fact, nine months prior, people planned to organize around claudette colvin, who was arrested for the same reason as rosa, but due to her being pregnant they didn't find her to be an appropriate face for their cause. in addition, the fact that the final scene focuses on how the doctor and the fam are uncomfortable with having to be here more than anything else just feels really tone deaf. generally im not too bothered by historical inaccuracies in doctor who because they usually play it very tongue in cheek, but this episode both is very ignorant of the real history while trying to act like its teaching the audience about real history, and it comes across as really disrespectful. if this episode did do one thing, it did encourage me to go out and research the actual the history, if only because i wanted complaining about an episode about my favorite tv show

[@ChrisSchwally]

Jay your really pretty

[@declanhugors]

Yea Ima be totally honest if I ever feel attracted to a guy even though I am one its because they're crazy hot. But I actually almost feel gay for this guy cuz of his personality. He just feels like the most enjoyable person to be with for the nerd I am

[@swiftlymurmurs]

@@declanhugors Good news! She's trans! Now you can be attracted to her without questioning your sexuality

[@declanhugors]

@@swiftlymurmurs Another thing I like about Jay Exci is that he (I refer to trans as their seemingly original gender) is the only KZbinr I know who just acts like themself and never points out the fact that they're trans.

[@swiftlymurmurs]

@@declanhugors Well it saddens me that you don't want to recognise Jay's identity, and I would point you to her (or his or their, she goes by all pronouns currently) twitter where she is much more vocal about her identity

[@declanhugors]

@@swiftlymurmurs Oh I only watch Jay on KZbin

[@greghawkins59]

Resolution starts the same way as ghost monument

[@somefatkid-ql8ce]

Are you my mummy?

[@angeladkins3257]

If the 13th doctor goes to germany during wwii wouldn't that also mean that her and the 9th doctor are in germany roughly the same time due to the empty child episode?

[@ryderfreeman5688]

9th Doctor was in Britain during The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances

[@klop4228]

11 was also there during Let's Kill Hitler and Victory of the Daleks. They're just all there in different locations and times so it doesn't really matter.

[@lloydjones11]

Wasn't they in Paris?

[@DoYouReadSutterCane]

I am just now starting this video, but as someone who more or less enjoys Chibnall's era I figured I'd post my ranking of his episodes from best to worst and see how it matches up Demons of the Punjab The Haunting of Villa Diodati Fugitive of the Judoon Spyfall Rosa Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror The witchfinders (carried solely by the raw charisma of Alan Cumming) Can You Hear Me The woman who fell to earth It takes you away Praxeus Resolution Ascension of the Cybermen The ghost monument The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos Kerblam Arachnids in the UK The Timeless Children (the reveal doesn't really bug me but even outside of that it's a dreadful episode) The Tsuranga Conundrum Orphan 55 (in fierce competition with Fear Her for worst new who episode. In fact ot think it may have surpassed it)

[@totallynotaferret]

why wasnt the timeless atrocity at the bottom

[@tarponpet]

I personally loved Demons of the Punjab

[@MissTelevision]

Shame Cartoonshi didn’t arrange it

[@leikfroakies]

Most needs to be moved goes to Rosa. I'd put it in very bad at best

[@robinthereanimator5400]

Orphan 55: a thirteenth doctor episode that tries to be cutting edge while having a message that would have already been trite in a third doctor episode

[@birdrun4246]

The other problem with Arachnids in the UK is that's it's literally just The Green Death again but worse.

[@Divertedflight]

There were at least two episodes where the "Fam" introduce each other to guest character/s in completely different scenes after meeting. The Tesla one was the worst for this. So they encounter each other, (then they must have walked to train station, bought a ticket, waited for the train, got on the train) and only in then in the carriage introduce themselves? What the hell!

[@blackgradientman7265]

ive just started series 11 and am contemplating drinking bleach just after 2 eps

[@Problembeing]

Resolution... The Little Dalek That Could.

[@killgriffinnow]

The Rosa parks episode was a disgrace. It was not an individual squabble between 2 individuals as it was portrayed as the essentialpivot of the story. If it had not been her, the organisers would have chosen someone else and the bis driver was not an individual racist. He was enforcing the actual law. THAT WAS THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT! In the Uk we have people that are racist & laws to stop them - in Alabama they had laws that actually enforced racism. The people responsible for this episode should hang their heads in shame at betraying the strugglle of a community who were not prepared to take it anymore. They know nothing aboui the anti-racist struggle. It was Marjorie Blackman & Chibnal! Dammit! Was she drunk? (Chibnal is evidently a half-wit anyway).

[@azaleacolburn]

7 is by far the worst season of Dr. Who. How dare you insult my beloved season 6!

[@davidgraham8299]

Most adequate? You're giving them too much credit.

[@noneofyourbusiness4133]

Do not make a twitch. >: ( I honestly don’t watch anything there. Just make another channel.

[@alwaysbored1700]

44:20 basically they needed to have the daleks featured in an episode, if there wasnt daleks for the first time in the reboot they would’ve faced even more backlash

[@disposable157]

Jay ranking series 3 and 4 above series 5 hurts my soul

[@4203105]

Villa diadati might have good elements and actual characters, but I found those actual characters to be annoying and the overall plot to be boring. For me it is a clear case of "bad". When I then think about the fact that for this bad episode they burned the amazing setting of the year without summer and Mary Shelly writing Frankenstein in the same villa with multiple other literary legends, it goes down to "very bad".

[@bradkaitting8990]

I'd argue that "Rosa" is atrocious. The historical subject matter is incredibly important and worthy of dignity and solid writing/performances; this episode ruined any chance of directing meaningful new attention to it by introducing a laughable villain to suit an ideological trending narrative of white males being the continuing root cause of all bigotry in humanity (a Caucasian futuristic prison space racist? Really?!), and cringeworthy remarks made by Ryan (ie "Thank you, MARTIN LUTHER KING!" and " Yes, ROSA PARKS?"). It took a pivotal and powerful moment in our history, and made it an agenda-driven cringe fest. I've been a deep-dyed WHOVIAN for over 45 years ... the Whittaker/Chibnall era is not at all in the spirit of the program. It's awful.

[@roguexxrenegade]

Agreed

[@davidagnew6191]

I agree, Rosa is awful. The cringe factor is off the scale.