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Top Ten Best Doctor Who Episodes (Part 2)
It’s hard to believe that Doctor Who has been back for five years already. After going through no less than three new faces in the short time since the Doctor returned, it’s high time we stopped and had a look at the show. This is part two of our rundown of the very finest episodes from 2005’s Christopher Eccleston to 2010’s Matt Smith.
5: The Girl in the Fireplace
Series 2, Episode 4
Writer: Steven Moffat
There wasn’t that much particularly great about the second series. Tennant was still adjusting to the Doctor’s shoes, Billie Piper’s Rose was about to bugger off and there was even an episode that featured the devil (WTF?) Thankfully, the run of fairly average episodes was lightened enormously by this one, a masterpiece of character, wit and time.
It’s such a simple idea: the Doctor, Rose and Mickey end up on a spaceship in the fifty-first century that’s slowly shutting down. For reasons they don’t understand, the power is being sent into a series of windows in time that all seem to be focussed on Madame de Pompadour. Every time the Doctor walks through one of them, he meets the future wife of King Louis XV at another stage of her life.
Essentially, it’s a love story, albeit one told through the power of time travel and with weirdly creepy clockwork soldiers for enemies. The Doctor’s interactions with Madame de Pompadour are wonderful, the enemies sufficiently unsettling and Rose and Mickey’s continuing frustrations are enjoyable to watch. It’s one of the best scripted episode of Doctor Who of all time.
Best bit:
The final minutes. The Doctor realises that he’s stayed on the other side just slightly too long to ever be able to say goodbye to the one woman he truly feels something for. Heartbroken, dejected, the time travellers leave… and then the viewers realise why the clockwork androids were after Madame de Pompadour all along. Brilliant.
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1) Rose - still my favorite because it is the 1st and billie piper is still the best.
2) The End of Time Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 - get story line and the end of the best Doctor yet, David Tennant.
3) The Girl in the Fireplace - great story with a Sophia Myles.
4) The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang - great story with lots of fun. the new Doctor (Matt Smith) at his best so far.
5) A Christmas Carol - laughed and smiled and felt good all the way through.
I'll tell you why. 5 had an excellent self-contained plot, tremendous acting and is probably the best example of Moffatt's writing. 4 Doomsday utilised the real world and London in an all out Doctor Who festival of villains past, cementing the high concept nature of New Who. 3. Probably the greatest ever introduction of a new doctor, with pace, wit and absolutely nothing wrong with it (fish custard anyone?) 2. The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit - from concept to execution it is perfect. Perfect who and misses out on the top spot simply because the emotional resonance it generates is not quite as good as 1 but not by much. The Doctor fights the Devil on an impossible world, has his faith in his worldview shaken and accepts death to destroy an ancient,possible the original, source of evil. Great acting, great pace, great production values, total lack of bullshit, high concept piece. Brilliant. 1. Human Nature - an old novel of the 7th doctor turned into an episode for the 10th. Everything about this, from the acting of the wonderful Jessica Hynes, whose resolute and modest feminine fortitude colour this beautiful picture of a bygone Britain with a bittersweet and sometimes melancholy immersion for the viewer.
Its the best also for having so many concepts within it. War. Peace. Moral authority and the nature of bravery. Cowardice. Compassion. Betrayal. Revenge. Mortality. Growth. Education. Free will. Hierarchy. Authority. Bravery. Grief. Bereavement. Murder.
As well as being a tour de force of acting for David Tennant and Jessica Hynes, as well as a sterling supporting role for Freema Agyeman, it has probably the most memorable and, thankfully, original villains in the role of the family who are memorably original. It touches on almost every aspect of human strength and frailty sometimes in the same scene. It is a massive insight into the 10th Doctor's personality and perspective. And the ending...he was being kind.
Perfect.
Honourable Mentions:
1 The Master's Trilogy at the end of season 3 which was also awesome.
2 Smith and Jones - which was a great little episode.
3 The Idiot's Lantern for being original
4 Blink - a one track pony cleverly produced.
5 Midnight - an excellent episode, original and psychologically astute.
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