Series 8 Poll - Best Episode

[Rob McCow]

A bit of a different approach to the season polls this year - I'm going to do threads for different subjects, with a chance to vote on different aspects of the new series.

To start off with, let's see which episode was your favourite! If you need to remind yourself, check out Series 8 on BBC I-Player - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p023w977 or look at BBC America - http://www.bbcamerica.com/doctor-who/guide/season-8/

1. Deep Breath "Who frowned me this face?"

Writer: Steven Moffat

Director: Ben Wheatley

A slaughterhouse restaurant and a buried spaceship lead The Doctor into a confrontation with a long-forgotten foe...



2. Into The Dalek "Imagine the worst thing in the universe, and then don't bother because you're looking at it right now. This is evil refined as engineering."

Writer: Phil Ford and Steven Moffat

Director: Ben Wheatley

In the dying days of a bitter war, a beleaguered army has one last hope: a Dalek so damaged it has become good. But can it be trusted? To find out, a miniaturised team, led by The Doctor and Clara, embark on a fantastic voyage into the Dalek itself...



3. Robots Of Sherwood "There's no such thing as Robin Hood!"

Writer: Mark Gatiss

Director: Paul Murphy

In a sun-dappled Sherwood Forest, The Doctor discovers an evil plan from beyond the stars. But with the fate of Nottingham at stake (and possibly Derby), there's no time for the two adventurers to get into a fight about who is real and who isn't - which is probably why they do very little else!



4. Listen "What's that in the mirror, and the corner of your eye? What's the footstep following, but never passing by?"

Writer: Steven Moffat

Director: Douglas Mackinnon

What scares the grand old man of time? What horrors lurk under his bed? Ghosts of the past and future crowd into the lives of The Doctor and Clara; a terrified caretaker in a children's home, the last man standing in the universe, and a little boy who doesn't want to join the army...



5. Time Heist "Welcome to the bank of Karabraxos."

Writer: Stephen Thompson and Steven Moffat

Director: Douglas Mackinnon

The Bank of Karabraxos is the deadliest bank in the cosmos - only a fool or genius would tempt to rob it. Fortunately, for The Doctor, he's both. But nothing even The Doctor has encountered can prepare them for the Teller: a creature of terrifying power that can detect guilt.



6. The Caretaker "Human beings have incredibly short life-spans. Frankly, you should all be in a permanent state of panic. Tick tock, tick tock."

Writer: Gareth Roberts and Steven Moffat

Director: Paul Murphy

Clara has it all under control: her life at school, her life in space; her new boyfriend and her mad old Time Lord. Everything is humming along just fine, so long as everybody never actually meets. And then, one morning, just before assembly, Coal Hill welcomes a new relief caretaker with a Scottish accent.



7. Kill the Moon "The little planetoid that's been tagging along beside you for a hundred million years, which gives you light at night and seas to sail, is in the process of falling to bits."

Writer: Peter Harness

Director: Paul Wilmshurst

In the near future, The Doctor and Clara arrive on a decrepit shuttle making a suicide mission to the Moon. Crashing on the lunar surface, they find a mining base full of eviscerated corpses, spider-like creatures scuttling about in the dark, and a terrible dilemma.



8. Mummy on the Orient Express "Start the clock!"

Writer: Jamie Mathieson

Director: Paul Wilmshurst

Aboard the most beautiful train in history, speeding among the stars of the future, a legend is stalking the passengers. Once you see the Mummy, you have 66 seconds to live. Clara sees The Doctor at his most deadliest and most ruthless - and finally she realises she's made the right decision. Because this is their last adventure: it's time to say goodbye to the Time Lord.



9. Flatline "Look, your home isn't going anywhere. And neither is mine until I figure this out."

Writer: Jamie Mathieson

Director: Douglas Mackinnon

Separated from The Doctor, Clara discovers a new menace from another dimension. But how do you hide when even the walls are no protection.



10. In the Forest of the Night "D'you like the forest being in Trafalgar Square? I think it's lovely."

Writer: Frank Cottrell Boyce

Director: Sheree Folkson

One morning in London, and every city and town in the world, the human race wakes up to the most surprising invasion yet: the trees have moved back in. Everywhere, in every land, a forest has grown overnight and taken back the Earth.



11. Dark Water / 12. Death in Heaven "You betrayed me. You betrayed my trust, our friendship, and everything I've ever stood for. You let me down."

Writer: Steven Moffat

Director: Rachel Talalay

In the mysterious world of the Nethersphere, plans have been drawn. Old friends and old enemies manoeuvre around The Doctor, and an impossible choice is looming over him.



Read more: http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-w...#ixzz3JG9Gcz8s

[Andrew Curnow]

Hmm, needs some thought this I think. I can whittle it down by removing the few which didn't appeal quite so much, but still overall a very strong season IMHO. Hmm...

[Nyder]

This one's an easy choice for me - I think my Mummy would agree


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[SiHart]

Flatline for me I think

[Andrew Curnow]

I think I'm torn between Deep Breath, Listen, and Flatline. Oh, and Mummy on the Orient Express. But then, I really liked Robot of Sherwood too. Hmm...

[Rob McCow]

Oh Andrew!

I found it a bit difficult to decide, but went for Deep Breath. All of the others had something that annoyed me slightly in them. It would have been Flatline as my favourite, but I didn't like the 'I name you the Boneless!' line. Leave that out and it would have won.

[Andrew Curnow]

I think it's going to be Deep Breath. There's something about Capaldi in that one which is so utterly compelling - and the clincher is probably the bit at the end, where we get a first real sight of that more vulnerable side: "You can't see me can you - I'm standing right here, and you can't see me". Then there's the scene on the bridge, and on the riverside, and in the restaurant, and confronting the 'half-face man', and so many standout moments.

So, deep breath, time to vote!

[Perry Vale]

Flatline was the flat out winner, for me. The only episode where everything worked, and came together. A great concept (Tardis/Doctor in pocket) that unlike the others, took the show somewhere different, and had never been before. Delightful comedy, and the right amount of scary. Great monsters, too.

Deep Breath & Robot of Sherwood were both very enjoyable too, but I had problems with every other episode. Weakest Moffat season.

[Mike Saville]

Relatively easy for me. It comes down to a choice of Listen and Flatline. The others fell apart rather spectacularly and would not get in my all time top 30 stories. I shall ponder on it before tossing that coin though.

[Darren]

Deep Breath for me.

[Paul Clement]

I've enjoyed a lot of the season, but for me, Mummy on the Orient Express was a stood out head and shoulders above the rest.

[Stuart Wallis]

Are you my Mummy? It's the one I'm going for anyway.

[Diddy Doc]

Tough call between Listen, Flatline and Dark Water but in the end i went with Dark Water. For me it's the only episode this season where Capaldi even remotely came close to being the Doctor. Admittedly it all fell apart spectacularly with the resolution in Death in Heaven but that for me is a separate episode anyway.
Regards
Diddy

[Alex]

Mummy for me, it was head and shoulders above the rest, though Flatline would have been my 2nd choice, then Listen as my third. After that I'd really struggle to place them though.

[MacNimon]

I think Mummy tops my list, but only just, followed by Flatline. Then The Caretaker, Listen, Deep Breath and Dark Water are all close behind. Overall, a very good season despite a few dodgy episodes...and I can honestly say I haven't enjoyed a complete season as much as this since 1977. Yes, of course there have been better individual stories in those intervening years, but a complete season which was just so enjoyable from beginning to end (even including the poorer stories)...?

I just feel that the magic gradually disappeared from the series from the late 70s through till the end of the original series, and when the series returned, although it was enjoyable to watch largely the magic was still missing. It's back now though, for me at any rate...this is the series we should have had back in 2006 after Eccleston departed!

And Capaldi is easily the best Doctor since Tom...

[Si Hunt]

I think I'm torn between Deep Breath, Listen, and Flatline. Oh, and Mummy on the Orient Express. But then, I really liked Robot of Sherwood too. Hmm...

My favourites exactly Andrew! I think as absolute favourite I will choose "Flatline" like Si - very inventive, and stunning to do something completely different with Doctor Who. "Deep Breath" was a great and epic opener. If we don't see the Posternator gang again, this will be like the "Robot" of the Capaldi era! "Listen" was my second favourite simply for being spooky and weird, then "Robot of Sherwood" for being fun and sunny.

The worst stories for me were "Into the Dalek" and "In The Forest of the Night". The latter was bungled in execution and didn't make a lot of sense and I just didn't like "Into the Dalek" at all, which is odd as it was many peoples favourite at the time. It had the air of macho dumbness that "Ressurection of the Daleks" had and I'm still not really convinced why they had to go 'into the Dalek' anyway, or why the Doctor then cured it. All a bit rubbish and flim-flam for me.

I think "Mummy" would be my fourth favourite - lots of scaryness to enjoy but Frank Skinner missed the mark for me. It was like having Frank Skinner wandering around. But everyone seems so caught up in how nice it was for him, him being a fan and all, not to notice. Maybe we should let a few fans every episode wander through the scenes pretending to be involved?

"Kill the Moon" and "Time Heist" were somewhere in the middle - exciting and looked great, but a bit too confusing for my liking.

Doctor Science was a sporadic presence this year wasn't he really.

Si.

[Jonno]

Listen for me. Moffat can often annoy/frustrate me but this really worked for me on all levels.

A consistently strong series overall, my favourite since S4 (Tennant).

[Dirk Gently]

I went for Mummy. Flatline & Deepbreath coming in a close 2nd.


Could we have a least favourite episode poll as well?

[Junkyard]

After a lot of thought my vote goes to 'Mummy on the OE' but it only just nosed out 'Flatline'. 'In the Forest of the Night' was my least favorite on reflection. But on the whole a very enjoyable season.