Rank Your Steven Moffat Stories!

[Dino]

Here is an alphabetical list of Steven Moffat written Dr Who stories that have already been shown.
A Christmas Carol, Blink, Curse Of The Fatal Death, The Doctor Dances, Flesh And Stone, Forest Of The Dead, The Beast Below, The Big Bang, The Eleventh Hour, The Empty Child, The Girl In The Fireplace, The Impossible Astronaut, The Pandorica Opens, The Time Of Angels, Time Crash and Silence In The Library.

Ok, I might have got something wrong in getting that list to in order, but how would you rank them? And we can come back to this list and put in bold future episodes of his when we see them. I'd rank them:

Blink
The Impossible Astronaut
The Empty Child
Forest of The Dead
The Pandorica Opens
The Time Of Angels
The Eleventh Hour
The Doctor Dances
A Christmas Carol
Silence In The Library
The Girl In The Fireplace
Flesh And Stone
The Big Bang
Time Crash
The Beast Below
Curse Of The Fatal Death

[Perry Vale]

You've missed out "Space" and "Time".

I'll come back and rate them later...

[J.R. Southall]

You're not going to list the two-part stories individually, surely...?

It might be easier to do them chronologically, as so:

The Curse of Fatal Death
The Empty Child
The Girl in the Fireplace
Blink
Time Crash
Silence in the Library
The Eleventh Hour
The Beast Below
The Time of Angels
The Pandorica Opens
A Christmas Carol
Space & Time
The Impossible Astronaut

The two-parters listed by the name of their first episode.

[Dino]

I did think of having them as one, but Forest Of The Dead is miles better than Silence In The Library so it seemed unfair to have alongside.
If you want to do them as individual episodes or two together you can do.
Just be interesting to read how other people would rank them.
This does leave the door open for "Rank Your RTD" and even "Rank Your Robert Holmes". The last one wouldn't be in this forum though.

[Rob McCow]

OK - here's the ones I'm prepared to rank! I'll need to see how I feel about The Impossible Astronaut in a week or two. I thoroughly enjoyed it on Saturday, but I'll try it again at some point without drinking champagne and be a bit more discriminating.

The Time of Angels / Blood and Stone - 10/10 Brought the Angels back, made them genuinely threatening rather than 'Send you back in time to have a nice life' and polished them off convincingly in a thrilling two parter.
The Eleventh Hour - 10/10 Brilliant introduction to the new Doctor and Amy.
Silence in the Library / Forest of The Dead - 9/10 Fabulous, thrilling and stylish Doctor Who story. As River Song picks up more mythology, it adds weight to this two-parter.
Time Crash - 8/10 A touching return for Davison and I love the way it was interjected in the middle of a scene!
The Beast Below - 7/10 Fun ideas, but lacked focus. The Smilers should have been a LOT spookier.
The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances - 7/10 There's nothing wrong with this story, but for some reason it wasn't a favourite in the first season.
The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang - 6/10 Great as a two-parter, but very disappointing at tying up the threads of the season. There are some huge gaps in the logic too - how does the Doctor suddenly know that the Universe is going to blow up?
Blink - 5/10 Sort of alright. It's supposed to be a 'spooky' episode, so if it doesn't scare you it fails. I didn't think much of Sally Sparrow either.
A Christmas Carol - 4/10 Bizarrely uninvolving. I just didn't care!
Space & Time - 4/10 Average filler.
The Girl in the Fireplace - 3/10 Tennant's most annoying performance, an unforgivable shelving of Mickey and Rose and a it also made the Doctor into a tart for one week. I think I'd have liked it if it had been Mickey falling in love with Madam Du Pomp instead!
The Curse of Fatal Death 0.5/10 - Sheer fan-hating dreck.

[SiHart]

In my opinion, The Eleventh Hour is the best Doctor Who he's ever written and Blink was the dullest and my least favourite. The others come somewhere inbetween. Really, I wasn't sold on him as Who writer until last year though.

[J.R. Southall]

Very quickly (no time to write little reviews!), but here they are in order anyway:

1. The Girl in the Fireplace
2. Blink
3. The Empty Child
4. A Christmas Carol
5. Silence in the Library
6. Time Crash
7. The Eleventh Hour
8. The Pandorica Opens
9. The Curse of Fatal Death
10. The Beast Below
11. The Time of Angels

Not sure where The Impossible Astronaut is going to fetch up in that list, but judging by the first episode alone, probably somewhere alongside The Pandorica Opens.

I was so looking forward to last year's Weeping Angel two-parter, but the thing that sinks it right to rock bottom is that, on top of some pretty wishy-washy storytelling, it also included several unforgiveable sins: the cracks-in-time deus ex machina, the teleport deus ex machina, and worst of all, the Doctor leaving Amy behind because she'd be "safer" surrounded by Weeping Angels than she would by the Doctor and River's side. That's a big "ho hum" moment from the guy who wrote The Empty Child and Blink.

[Anthony Williams]

Equally quickly...

1. The Eleventh Hour
2. A Christmas Carol
3. The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
4. Time Crash
5. The Beast Below
6. Silence of the Library/Forest of the Dead
7. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
8. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
9. Blink
10. Time/Space
11. The Girl in the Fireplace

Ant x

[J.R. Southall]

Wow! I'm surprised at the lack of love for the RTD-era Moffat stories on here! (So far, anyway.) I thought the first three were classics!

[Rob McCow]

We're a bit contrary over here. Personally, I found Blink and The Girl In The Fireplace to be quite irritating in many ways.

[Ian Lethbridge-Stewart]

I like the weeping angels of Blink, but I wasn't that keen on the story. Plus I like my Doctor Who stories to actually feature the Doctor!
The fact is was the cheap episode doesn't bother me, as I adored Boom Town a couple of years earlier.

Girl in the Fireplace again had some good bits in it. I like the clockwork things and the whole setting was really interesting. Wasn't so keen on the Doctor/Madam Du Pomp thing, but then I don't suppose the ending would have worked without it.
It's an ok story for me.

I much prefered The Empty Child - that was more my kind of story.

To be fair I've only watched each Matt Smith story once (purely due to time constraints) so I'd need to look at some of them again before I attempt to rank them.

[Perry Vale]

The Eleventh Hour - Absolutely sublime, a perfect start for a new Doctor, and era.
The Pandorica Opens - Almost absolutely sublime, tied the whole season together so perfectly
The Impossible Astronaut - Halfway to being absolutely sublime, we'll see what this week's brings
The Empty Child - The first of the NuWho batch that felt like traditional Who, to me, it's all good and also features what is still probably my favourite cliffhanger resolutions of the new series
The Time of Angels - Loved it, enjoyed what he did with the Weeping Angels, and also preferred this use of a dead voice speaking
The Beast Below - Quite under-rated I think. Thought on first viewing I might still be in a post-TEH 'glow', but subsequent viewings have stood up
Blink - One of the best epiosdes of the Tennant era, which probably says a lot...
A Christmas Carol - Sublime, but in a Christmas Day sort of way
Space & Time - Lovely, lovely, lovely. Genuinely one of the funniest things I've ever seen on Comic Relief
Time Crash - Sublime, in a fanw*** sort of way
The Girl in the Fireplace - Diminishing returns
Silence in the Library - Just doesn't work for me on any level, really
The Curse of Fatal Death - Not sublime, and not a "proper" episode It's funny though

Wow! I'm surprised at the lack of love for the RTD-era Moffat stories on here! (So far, anyway.) I thought the first three were classics!

In my case, it probably illustrates my lack of love for the era as a whole.

[SiHart]

Wow! I'm surprised at the lack of love for the RTD-era Moffat stories on here! (So far, anyway.) I thought the first three were classics!

I'm notorious round these parts for being the fan who absolutely hated Blink! I didn't much like The Girl on the Fireplace because I just didn't buy into the central romance. It weas clever, but for me didn't work.

[Stuart Wallis]

I'm notorious round these parts for being the fan who absolutely hated Blink!

It's oft forgotten that I didn't like it either. I'ts not always the empty vessels that make most noise, that's probably why.

I'll reserve judgement on The Impossible Astronout til tonight, and I've not seen Space & Time. Otherwise:

The Empty Child
Timecrash
Silence In The Library

are the only ones I like.

The Girl In The Fireplace - decidedly average
The Curse Of Fatal Death - ditto

And now the real stinkers.

The Time Of Angels - disappointing finish
The Pandorica Opens - felt wrong as a Doctor Who story; tried to be too clever for its own good
The Beast Below - didn't get going
Blink - again, far too clever for its own good, and the monsters were just not interesting enough

The Eleventh Hour was the first Doctor Who story I wanted to turn off, A Christmas Carol was the first one I actually did.

[Dino]

Day Of The Moon
The Impossible Astronaut
Blink
The Empty Child
Forest of The Dead
The Pandorica Opens
The Time Of Angels
The Eleventh Hour
The Doctor Dances
A Christmas Carol
Silence In The Library
The Girl In The Fireplace
Flesh And Stone
The Big Bang
Time Crash
The Beast Below
Curse Of The Fatal Death

What a turnaround!!!

[FlyingBeastie]

Blink- (6/10) I love the lonely angel monsters, but I'm not a big fan of Sally Sparrow. Again, Moffat's supporting characters are quite lackluster and the main character tends to be pretentious and too clever for their own good. Some of Sally's quotes can even get confused for something Tennant would've said.

The Impossible Astronaut- (9/10) I was excited, what can I say? I thought he was gonna turn things around.

The Empty Child- (10/10) Eccleston's performance, Capt. Jack, everything about this episode was marvelous.

Forest of The Dead- (8/10) It was enjoyable, but it was right around this time I started getting irked by Moffat's penchant for not wanting people to die and emphasis on cool names and one liner's- "Hey Who Turned Out The Lights?" anyone?

The Pandorica Opens- (2/10) And it's just cos of the way it opened with the Queen from Starship UK. I knew the ending of this episode before it even started because I already sussed out it was a prison for the Doctor. So it was just a load of 45min of waiting to me. Along with that awkward Amy death scene where I got up to get my dinner. I really was beyond caring at that point.

The Time Of Angels- (3/10) He ruined the angels. Again, if it weren't for the cool idea of the church having their own military and the image of an angel idea it would've been a one. Not only that, but River and The Doctor going on about the Aplans and finally noticing the statues had one head was beyond stupid- and the fact he covered up their ignorance with the perception filter excuse STUPID!!!

The Eleventh Hour- (10/10) I was so hopeful and so excited...

The Doctor Dances- (9/10) Beautiful, simply enjoyed it.

A Christmas Carol- (1/10) Didn't care. And the shark didn't help.

Silence In The Library- (10/10) Interesting, suspenceful- LOVE the shadows eating people idea (even though, that wasn't Moffat- RTD had it in Love and Monsters first.)

The Girl In The Fireplace- (9/10) I still well up at the end of this episode. Thought it was beautiful and I love the chemistry between Ten and Pompodour. The only thing off with the episode were Rose and Mickey, really. And I thought it was reckless of The Doctor to leave them behind- especially compared to how he feels in general about leaving Rose stranded. It was out of character.

Flesh And Stone- (2/10)

The Big Bang- (1/10) The big snore.The big load of nonsense.

Time Crash- He wrote that? I remember enjoying it.

The Beast Below- (2/10) Booooooring. I love the idea of the star whale, but the whole thing condones animal cruelty. The star whale is comparable to a battered wife that stays with their abusive husband because she's afraid to leave.

"If you were very old, and very kind, and the last of your kind- you wouldn't stand by and let a child cry."

HELL YEA I would. Pfft, if U'm the last star whale in existence I wouldn't put up with that crap. I'd take my big fat whale ass and swan off with my middle flipper in the air.

Curse Of The Fatal Death- I only saw the ending and thought it was funny.

Time/Space- (0/10) Forgot about this one. But I saw it. I want my 8 minutes back please.

So, as you can see, I preferred Moff during RTD's era. I get the sense RTD said "No" to a lot of things Moff is getting away with now, and added explanations and resolutions to things where Moff just left it blank or had a convoluted resolution to.

[Anthony Williams]

And updated to take into account last night's episode:



1. The Eleventh Hour (10/10)
2. A Christmas Carol (9/10)
3. The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone (9/10)
4. Time Crash (8/10)
5. The Beast Below (7/10)
6. Silence of the Library/Forest of the Dead (7/10)
7. The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang (7/10)
8. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (6/10)
9. Blink (5/10)
10. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon (3/10)
11. Time/Space (1/10)
12. The Girl in the Fireplace (1/10)

Ant x

[Si Hunt]

1. The Empty Child (8/10), The Doctor Dances (4/10) - A truly sinister and chilling story to start with. The gasmask children are an inspired idea, as is setting it in WW1. This caught the imagination of the whole country, with "Are you my mummy?". Sadly it's also filled with some writer-obsessions and some stuff designed just to annoy the fans. A roll-call please for the wretched bananas and the stinking great metaphor with the Doctor "dancing". Also Episode 2 takes an early bath so everyone can stand around in the TARDIS chatting for a bit - this story regretably runs out of steam, rather than ends. Some good set peices, though.

2. Girl In The Fireplace (7/10) - Lots to love here - the horse, the sinister robots, the lovely sad ending. Unfortunately the "romance" is fan baiting and awful. "I've just snogged Madame De Pompedour" is one of the worst lines in the series, turning the Doctor, our hero, into some wretched Ibiza holidaymaker, and the "drunk" scene is still uncomfortable, even if it turns out he was pretending. There's a worrying tendency to imply that all famous people from history were secretely Time Lord-esque geniuses - Albert Einstein maybe, but here some French prostitute woman is able to mind-read a Time Lord and then instruct the audience that after 45 years, our sexless intellectual hero is ready for some "rumpo" simply because the writer wants to annoy the fans. Cheers, for that. A shame, as the ending with the funeral cart is lovely and there's an exceptionally gorgeous score from Murray Gold, even if some bits like the twist with the name of the Space Ship, don't really come off. Why would time travelling robots trawl time to find a historical person just because their ship was named after her? The last shot is supposed to make us go "Ah!" but instead it's just a bit of a "What?!?" moment.

3. Blink (9/10) - A superbly made episode, very scary, beautifully shot and genuinely makes you jump. Let's not forget that all the playing with time was a novelty at this point, and very clever. I adore the scene where Sally meets the policeman as an old man minutes after he's asked her out on a date as a young detective. "It's the same rain... these are old man's hands. How did that happen?". That always makes me cry. The only problem with this episode is the massive flaw in the premise - basically you could keep one eye closed and one eye open and then just switch eyes. But the scene where a transcribed conversation from the past is read while it's still being had is a great Doctor Who thing.

4. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead (8/10) - I adore the character of River Song, and her turning up already knowing the Doctor is a great idea. The Vashta Nerada are also good. This story really picks up pace in the second episode, which is unusually better than the first - Donna's "dream world", skipping years in a moment without realising, is great and the moment when Miss Evangelista pulls back her veil to reveal her fragmented, distorted face is somehow THE most terrifying thing in the series, despite such a simple effect, and her cowled form prowling outside Donna's house in the dark earlier in is chilling too. I love the end, where Donna sees her perfect man is real, but thanks to his stutter he can't call out to her. So why only 8/10? Well, the first part is a little lingering, and Steve Pemberton gives a bit of a one-note performance. It's good, but there's perhaps not quite as much in the establishing material that's worth re-watching as in other episodes.

5. The Eleventh Hour (6/10) - I was rare in not loving this at the time, and I'm still not quite sure why. Today, it has plenty to recommend it - some beautifully shot scenes of Leadworth (glad they ditched the tedious sequences panning out from the Doctors 'eyeshot' though), the flashbacks of the Doctors, the joyous TARDIS crashing... but it all felt a bit uneven. I didn't like the scene of the Doctor eating fish fingers and custard and other assorted foods - it went on for way too long, and the big Space Eye and Prisoner Zero wern't the best monsters in the world. It all feels less like a story, more like a breathless yomp towards the end, and the extending running time really didn't help. Matt Smith makes a stunningly mad debut as the Doctor, though I like my stories a bit more structured. It all somehow felt a bit like showing off, and Anette Crosby was criminally underused.

6. The Beast Below (8/10) - Even Moffatt now fails to love this, but this was the story I really liked. The Smilers are a great idea and very sinister, and I love the traditional nature of the adventure. Starship UK doesn't QUITE work - the set looks oddly cheap and thrown together, and it seems absurd that the Queen of England would sit constantly with dozens of glasses of water on her floor just so she could see if one of them quivered - an easier way to check if the engines had stopped, surely? But a good, scary, straightforward adventure. I'd love to see the Smilers back! I would!

7. The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone (9/10) - Epic and great. There is a slight lack of logic here - suddenly the Angels do something completely different, and the cliffhanger is a duff one; it's not clear what's going on, which is not the reaction you want. Pacing, overlong pre-credits sequences and cliffhangers are basic Doctor Who skills and Moffatt getting them consistently wrong was one of the surprises of this year. But it's a big, great adventure story with so many fresh ideas and dramatic sequences - the Angel coming out the TV screen, the cavern of dormant Angels, River on top form, the Angels coming down the airlock. Best thing is the gorgeous pre-credit sequence where River escapes her guards by speaking a message the Doctor then picks up in the TARDIS in the future, and materilises to catch her in space - the shot of her flying out in her high heels is iconic! The scene where Amy has to fight through a forest of Angels without opening her eyes this time is the worst, and makes very little sense, feeling contrived. Yes, he rode rough-shod over "Blink" but it was probably worth it for this.

8. The Pandorica Opens (9/10)/The Big Bang (7/10) - A mixed bag. The opening episode setting things up is brilliant - the spooky cavern, the dismembered Cyberman (a wonderful sequence) and the twist with the Pandorica. Alas assembling ALL the Doctors foes in one place was an idea they just couldn't afford to get right, and it fails dismally, resembling a showcase of the costumes they had in the cupboard, and cheapening about a dozen Doctor Who alien races in the process. Some of them have no right to be there, others are glaringly missing and there's no attempt to knock up anything we haven't seen before. Just why would every alien race since 2005 (even Earth Reptiles!) rock up! Never mind the issues with the previously xenophobic Daleks now being happy to stand about with everyone else. The last episode is a different kettle of fish entirely. Almost incomprehensible, it appears to re-write the entire history of the Universe, which is either genius or absolutely idiotic. The scenes from throughout the series are a nice idea, but quite rightly the liberties with time are pushing it. As has often been pointed out, you simply can't have the Doctor escape a quandry by having his future self pop back and free him - isn't that the most awful fudge? There's the suggestion that by doing everything so big and beautifully, it excuses you fundmentally cheating with the plot. There is LOTS of good stuff here, the set peices are really good and it's all lots of fun. But does that excuse it not really making any sense? The jury's sort of out. Worst moment is the Doctor standing on a rock shouting at a sky full of spaceships - he's egotistical and horrid. No more of this, thanks.

9. A Christmas Carol (8/10) - not quite up there with the fun "Voyage of the Damned" but still probably the SECOND best Christmas Special. Did you know Big Finish did a Christmas story that month featuring a giant fish flying about the air? Bad luck eh? The stuff with time is clever and welcome, and it actually feels Christmassy without being contrived. On the downside, the adult Kazran isn't half as good looking as he should be and like all Christmas Specials, it's hard to rank something that only really works on one day of the year.

10. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon (9/10) - Quite amazingly gutsy and horrendously complicated. We have it forever to pick at and analyse, and as usual there are some great iconic images here - the child regenerating, the Space Man standing in the lake. I'm not sure I like seeing the Doctor undeniably destroyed though - it's a conceit too far. It means either the character ends (or changes being) or they've lied (and lied about lying in the press) so it's a no-win. How am I supposed to feel pleased about that? Also River Song's hair isn't quite up to the usual standard in this episode. The Silence work surprisingly well though, much better than the trailers suggested, and they seem to have made Amy much less annoying. It's a glorious, big, complex beast of an episode and if the series is ever put on hiatus again it'll take us the full 15 years just to work out if it all makes sense. America is a little superfluous plot-wise, but worth it for the publicity and it looks more georgeous on HD than Dubai did.

11. Time Crash (8/10) - It's a little self-indulgent, and fictionally there's not really any logical reason why the Tenth Doctor should suddenly start acting like a fan around his Fifth Incarnation. Also Davison seems oddly prickly and out of character. But it's still lovely to see him, and it's also a very funny little scene. Better it exists than not eh?

12. Time/Space (6/10) - While I accept that Matt Smith's episodes are by their very nature like a big time-twisting knot plotwise, this mini episode was a good excuse to remind us that Moffatt COULD do other types of story. It's a bit of a shame, therefore, that it's greeted with a "Oh not the spoons again!" type sigh, because if this was the first thing of his we'd seen, it'd seem really clever. Send it back in time to 2005!

Si.

[FlyingBeastie]

We forgot "Fires of Pompei"

I give that about a 7ish.

[Si Hunt]

He didn't write that!

Si.

[FlyingBeastie]

Really?

I keep hearing that he did. A friend told me this the other day, and I could've sworn someone told me the same thing a while ago.

Cool beans, bygones then.

[Awesome Wells]

1. Blink Still the best episode of Doctor Who ever, despite everything that has happened subsequently.

2. The Empty Child Just edged out by Blink for top spot: scary, moral and marvellous.

3. The Impossible Astronaut / Day Of The Moon Steven Moffat's Greatest Hits album and the best opening to a series of Doctor Who.

4. The Girl In The Fireplace I've got something in my eye...

5. The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang "Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue." Just wish he'd added a few more aliens to the coalition of new series bastards.

6. A Christmas Carol I've got something in my eye again...

7. The Eleventh Hour Amy, Amelia, Rory, men that talk like dogs, crap CGI and fish custard. Oh, and the best debut from a Doctor since the opening episode of House.

8. Silence in the Library / Forest Of The Dead More scary wondrousness. Donna's face has been assimilated.

9.The Beast BelowAn underrated gem. I've underrated it, too.

10. The Time of Angels / Flesh And Stone Lots of good bits - River, the clerics, the barren planetscape and some of the Angel elements - but seeing the Angels move, after the first OH-MY-DAYS-WHAT-THE-****-WAS-THAT moment, it kind of ruined them. The only Moffat New Who story that has even slightly disappointed me.

11. Space & Time Neat and tidy.

12. Time Crash A bit crap but I suppose, as it's got Peter Davison, in it's--- No, it's crap.

13. The Curse Of Fatal Death Mostly irrelevant and not at all funny. The only real blot on Moffat's gilt-edged copybook. Ironically the only story in this list that I actually own. It was a gift.

[Stuart Wallis]

Bit of a fan then...?

[Paul Clement]

The Curse of Fatal Death 6/10
The Empty Child/ Doctor Dances 9/10
The Girl in the Fireplace 8/10 (it's gone down in my estimation a little)
Blink 10/10
Time Crash 3/10
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead 8/10
The Eleventh Hour 7/10
The Beast Below 7/10
The Time of Angels/Flesh & Stone 8/10
The Pandorica Opens/Big Bang 6/10
A Christmas Carol 7/10
Space & Time 7/10
The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon 10/10

[Dino]

A Good Man Goes To War
Day Of The Moon
The Impossible Astronaut
Blink
The Empty Child
Forest of The Dead
The Pandorica Opens
The Time Of Angels
The Eleventh Hour
The Doctor Dances
A Christmas Carol
Silence In The Library
The Girl In The Fireplace
Flesh And Stone
The Big Bang
Time Crash
The Beast Below
Curse Of The Fatal Death