Best of Season 7.1

[SiHart]

So, it's all over now baby blue. The Ponds have gone, the Daleks have forgotten the Doctor and we wait for Christmas!

But which was your favourite of the five stories and why? Vote now!

[Anthony Williams]

A Town Called Mercy, by a country mile!

Why? Because it was the only one that felt like proper time and attention had been given to writing it - because it didn't seem like it was written around moments that "would look cool", and because it had the fewest plot holes.

I realise I sound like an old grump. Superficially, I quite enjoyed this half season. It's when I go back and start to think about the episodes that I realise that they seem to have been written in a hurry and (to me) seem to be half-baked.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship! The most fun episode we've had in yonks although I have really enjoyed all 5 episodes in different ways.

[duncan]

The Angels Take Manhatten. The Ponds have gone. What's not to like about that? Seriously, I was engrossed from start to finish.

A Town Called Mercy was a very close second.

[Nyder]

That's a real toughie!! I went for Angels, but I was also torn between Dinosaurs and Mercy. To be honest there wasn't a story I really disliked.

1. Angels
2. Dinos
3. Mercy
4. Asylum
5. Power

[Andrew Curnow]

I've really enjoyed this run, much more than last year for whatever reason. My favourite would probably be either Dinosaurs or Mercy, but I've liked them all.

[Si Hunt]

"Dinosaurs" for me. Fun, action-packed, thoughtful, just a whole barrel of laughs. The Ponds get their first good story at last.

Don't know what Ant is on about with "Mercy" having few plot holes though... other than why didn't the cyborg just march into the town and drag out the alien and then kill him. Granted, that's only one plot hole but it's such an enormous one that it's probably worth mentioning several times.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

"Dinosaurs" for me. Fun, action-packed, thoughtful, just a whole barrel of laughs. The Ponds get their first good story at last.

Don't know what Ant is on about with "Mercy" having few plot holes though... other than why didn't the cyborg just march into the town and drag out the alien and then kill him. Granted, that's only one plot hole but it's such an enormous one that it's probably worth mentioning several times.

Si.

What Si said. Dino's for me. Completely enjoyable.

[Stuart Wallis]

The Power Of Three - a decent story trying to get out, and the least worst of a bad bunch.

[J.R. Southall]

"Dinosaurs" for me. Fun, action-packed, thoughtful, just a whole barrel of laughs.

Thirded.

It's the story my childhood self has been dreaming of ever since the series came back, and it didn't disappoint.

[Alex]

1. Asylum
2. Dinos
3. Mercy
4. Angels
5. Power

For me. Not sure why, but that was my instant response.

[Anthony Williams]

Don't know what Ant is on about with "Mercy" having few plot holes though... other than why didn't the cyborg just march into the town and drag out the alien and then kill him. Granted, that's only one plot hole but it's such an enormous one that it's probably worth mentioning several times.

I don't know - at least there was an attempt to explain it, with the idea of the cyborg not wanting to harm innocents. Later on, when he does come into the village, he had given them fair warning that he'd be doing that unless they handed over his target. In my mind, it was fairly logical. Nothing gaping in the way in which it was in others.

As people are ranking them in order, my preference is:

1. Mercy
2. Asylum
3. Power
4. Angels
5. Dinos

[Nyder]

I love the wild variations in rankings. Vivre La Difference! Pardon my French.

[J.R. Southall]

The most curious thing is how the rankings are currently in stark contrast to those in the equivalent poll over on Roobarb's, where Dinosaurs is rock bottom and the two Moffat stories are way out in the lead.

[Richard Brinck-Johnsen]

I'm glad someone finally voted for Asylum as I'd probably put it 2nd place (just ahead of Angels).

[Si Hunt]

I don't know - at least there was an attempt to explain it, with the idea of the cyborg not wanting to harm innocents.

It doesn't make any sense though. Fairly easy to kill one man in a small town without harming anyone else, if you have forever. And you also have a teleport!

This would be a bad flaw if they made up the story as it was actually being performed and screened. They're supposed to read through the scripts a few times before they decide to make them.

Si.

[Perry Vale]

If you'd told me before the start of this run that the pick of bunch was going to be a story written by the Chinball Wizard, I'd have laughed you out of town (or Mercy). Especially with two Moffat scripts alongside it. So another vote for Dinosaurs here. It holds together narratively, and is just bags and bags of FUN!

In order.....

Dinosaurs
Power Of Three
Asylum
Town Called Mercy
Angles Take Manhatten

I haven't enjoyed this anywhere near as much as the two previous seasons, so far, but I've been most disappointed by the Moffat offerings. Asylum was a load of nonsense, basically, with River Song's script duties being taken over by Soufflé Girl, whilst Angels unravels into an embarrassing mess with each subsequent viewing.

[Rob McCow]

OK, going on gut feel:

Dinosaurs On A Spaceship
The Angels Take Manhattan
Asylum of The Daleks
A Town Called Mercy
The Power of Three

The only one that was irredeemably rubbish was The Power of Three, everything else was enjoyable and fun.

And nothing this year made any sense whatsoever, so criticising stories on that basis is doomed to failure!

HOW DID THE DOCTOR KNOW THE TARDIS WAS ABOUT TO BLOW UP AND DESTROY THE UNIVERSE AT THE END OF THE PANDORICA OPENS?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!

[Dirk Gently]

Going on my enjoyment factor:-

Dinosaurs On A Spaceship
Asylum of The Daleks
The Angels Take Manhattan
The Power of Three
A Town Called Mercy

[Perry Vale]

HOW DID THE DOCTOR KNOW THE TARDIS WAS ABOUT TO BLOW UP AND DESTROY THE UNIVERSE AT THE END OF THE PANDORICA OPENS?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!

Because he'd already pulled a burnt fragment of it from a crack in time, and River told him that she wasn't in control and the Tardis was flying itself. What's not to understand there?

[Andrew Curnow]

But will we ever know why...?

[Perry Vale]

Silence will fall, or Silence must fall. I would guess that we will find out "at the fall of the 11th" on the fields of Trenzelor...

[Larry]

I'm glad someone finally voted for Asylum as I'd probably put it 2nd place (just ahead of Angels).

I think had we not been shafted and really did see every versin of Dalekever than I might of voted for that - but chances are I'ed of still voted for Dinos in Space - utterly bonckers stuff that was simply LOL every minute.

[Rob McCow]

It doesn't seem right that a TARDIS flying itself equals the end of the Universe. Yes, the TARDIS might be destroyed, but it just seems such a leap of logic that it'd destroy the Universe. (It's also a monumental design flaw - if my washing machine goes wrong, I hope it doesn't take the whole street with it).

I suppose we'll find out why the TARDIS was behaving like that next year. And who whispered 'Silence Will Fall'!

[Perry Vale]

It doesn't seem right that a TARDIS flying itself equals the end of the Universe. Yes, the TARDIS might be destroyed, but it just seems such a leap of logic that it'd destroy the Universe.

I'm not sure if you're having a laugh with us all here....

The Tardis flying itself didn't equal the end of the universe. No-one's said that, certainly not on screen. The Doctor had been told the Tardis would explode and cause the cracks in time. He was told, of sorts, in The Eleventh Hour and at other times , IIRC, and Vincent Van Gogh painted it for him. He'd already pulled a piece of burning fragment of it from a crack in time, and had worked out that it happens 'In Amy's time', that is to say her wedding day. When River was piloting it, and talking to him, she told him she was in Amy's time, and suddenly couldn't control the Tardis and it was piloting itself. It's all there on screen and in the narrative. The Daleks (and their costumes for hire partners) tell him this at pretty much the same time.

Did you really not get all that at the time, or are you having a swipe at Moffat's writing/style? I understand people's confusion and frustration as to who, or what, is the voice in the Tardis that says "Silence Will Fall", but everything else seems rather obvious to me.

And who whispered 'Silence Will Fall'!

I have some theories about that I have formulated using Occam's Razor...