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Posted by: Dexton 10th August 2020, 04:45 PM

Calling all Doctor Who fans! I’m currently rewatching the revived series for (maybe) the 4th or so time now and as per usual there’s a couple of episodes I find myself needing to skip. Whether it’s because they serve no overall purpose other than a “monster of the week” episode or just because I find it boring etc. I always end up skipping past at least one episode each series. I’ve been less strict this time around as I’ve been mostly watching whilst doing other things but still these are what I’ve skipped so far:

The Unquiet Dead
Fathers Day
The Girl In The Fireplace
The Idiots Lantern
Love & Monsters
Fear Her
The Shakespeare Code
The Doctors Daughter

It’s more than I thought I skipped tbh but there we go - a shocking amount of Rose actually which I was very surprised at considering Martha is my least favourite of the 10ths companions. I do normally skip Gridlock also tbf but I enjoyed it this time

Am I a true fan still?

Posted by: JosephStyles 10th August 2020, 05:05 PM

Most series have at least one skippable episode I find - I think that's generally the effect of a show taking risks and switching things up every single week, some stuff works and some doesn't! I think Love & Monsters is the only MAJOR clunker for me in the first four series. I used to dislike Boom Town and Gridlock but they've grown on me hugely, and stuff like 42 and The Long Game only suffer from being filler episodes really.

I disagree with you on Father's Day and The Girl in the Fireplace for sure, they're two of my very favourites! I like The Doctor's Daughter too, though I'd say it probably is the worst of series 4 (my favourite series!). I don't really mind Fear Her

The Moffat era was FAR more inconsistent for me and had some real stinkers throughout - Let's Kill Hitler, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, The Crimson Horror and Nightmare In Silver all really tarnish Matt Smith's era for me, while Capaldi got lumbered with In the Forest of the Night, Sleep No More, and the utter borefest of The Woman Who Lived. Then there's just the "forgettable" or "filler" episodes like The Rings of Akhaten, The Eaters of Light and Hide, the decent episodes ruined by terrible concepts like in Kill the Moon, and the fact that almost nothing happens in the entirety of The Magician's Apprentice / The Witch's Familiar despite top notch performances from everyone involved (I'm surprised I've not mentioned more than one series 6 episode here - I binged it this year with our own Haus and it worked SO much better like that, I've got a new appreciation for it! bar Hitler x)

Chibnall's era has been.... interesting so far and it feels like it's still getting into gear despite us being 2 series in now, but there's been some definite clunkers even if I think they all have some sort of redeeming quality - The Tsuranga Conundrum and Orphan 55 most notably. It's just poor writing that lets those down I think, small tweaks could easily improve both.

Posted by: Klaus 10th August 2020, 05:35 PM

i can never skip an episode

the next one on my rewatch is The Return of Doctor Mysterio which I think is a very strong contender for my least favourite episode. i think the whole concept doesn’t work, I have no investment in the leads and I still have no idea what all the actual plans are

In the Forest of the Night, The Woman Who Lived, The Eaters of Light, It Takes You Away and The Battle of Ranky Avlos are all really dull for me and ones where, if I was forced too, would choose to erase first

Posted by: Dexton 13th August 2020, 05:56 AM

QUOTE(JosephStyles @ Aug 11 2020, 01:05 AM)

Most series have at least one skippable episode I find - I think that's generally the effect of a show taking risks and switching things up every single week, some stuff works and some doesn't! I think Love & Monsters is the only MAJOR clunker for me in the first four series. I used to dislike Boom Town and Gridlock but they've grown on me hugely, and stuff like 42 and The Long Game only suffer from being filler episodes really.

I disagree with you on Father's Day and The Girl in the Fireplace for sure, they're two of my very favourites! I like The Doctor's Daughter too, though I'd say it probably is the worst of series 4 (my favourite series!). I don't really mind Fear Her

Posted by: HausofGhibli 5th September 2020, 07:21 PM

So I have just sat through 'In the Forest of the Night' and honestly, what did I watch? I couldn't even feign a smile at any of it. I want those 40 minutes of life back please xo

Also 'Let's Kill Hitler', 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship' and any association of the farting Slitheen x

Posted by: JosephStyles 5th September 2020, 07:23 PM

It was even worse than I remembered what even WAS the plot? So nothingy

Posted by: Klaus 5th September 2020, 07:30 PM

It’s so pointless! A complete misfire.

But omg you get to meet the.....erm... Gatekeeper of the Nethersphere next! You’re in for a treat (perhaps less so the actual episodes themselves)

Posted by: Calum 5th September 2020, 07:38 PM

no series 8 shade please, more Danny Pink shade please x

Let's Kill Hitler is great for letting us see how River Song comes to be, it gets a bit of a hard time (but it does have its cringe/bad moments too).

Posted by: Klaus 5th September 2020, 07:44 PM

Series 8 is genuinely my underrated fave

On my recent rewatch I appreciated Danny a lot more than I have previously, I just think he’s an awkward fit for the show - perhaps too grounded in everyday life where the show is about escapism. The reactions from the Doctor are also completely miss the mark for me and are bad bits of writing.

Posted by: JosephStyles 5th September 2020, 07:54 PM

I like Danny too! Definitely a lot more rooted in the real world but it allowed for some great Clara development. Fully agree they missed the mark with 12's dislike of Danny, it didn't feel like the Doctor at all (and it's a shame as The Caretaker is otherwise a fun episode). There are other ways they could have provided contrast and development for 12's character than "lol he's a soldier I hate him go date the guy who looked like the last version of me."

No slander to the series 8 finale please Klaus!

Posted by: Klaus 6th September 2020, 09:37 AM

I like the finale! Dark Water a lot more, I think Death in Heaven does the usual Moffat thing of taking too much of a gear change rather than continuing along the line of what was built up in the preceding episode.

I just know that it is very divisive amongst fans!

Posted by: ElectroBoy 7th September 2020, 07:50 AM

QUOTE(Klaus @ Sep 6 2020, 10:37 AM)

Posted by: Dexton 18th September 2020, 04:00 PM

I really wish they'd add series 12 to Netflix already

I'm up to series 11 in my rewatch and I'm seriously struggling to watch tbh, more than I did when I watched it on release. I think coming off the back of a fantastic series 10 and Twice Upon A Time, then immediately jumping into series 11 I'm kinda sick of the series very quickly. I know theres some decent parts but getting to those is too much of a slog

On a sidenote, Clara has gone from being one of my very least favourite companions to arguably Top 2/3 in this watch. I'm not a fan of her and #11, the episodes themselves are okay but I'm just not into the chemistry between them. Whereas her and #12 are PERFECT together. Series 8 is a bit off the mark with the writing at some points I agree but as a whole it's not a major issue. Danny wasn't entirely needed but it did for once give us someone who was completely disinterested in travelling with the doctor and seeing that play out between them was a nice change of pace. Series 9 is by far my favourite since Series 4 however. Under The Lake / Before The Flood are the only weak points for me but I still enjoyed it.

Posted by: JSG 18th September 2020, 09:55 PM

I've always felt like any of season 4 with Donna and the doctor is my favourite season. Think my favourite episodes ever are Turn Left from said season, and then also... Blink is one of the all time greats in my opinion.

Oops.... I thought this was favourite episode ��

My least favourites are anything with the Cybermen or The Daleks. ��

Posted by: mick745 19th September 2020, 07:02 AM

Father's Day is a fantastic episode, exploring why things would change if you changed history, everyone he would meet from then on, everywhere he went etc would be changed, changing history for ever.

For a programme about timetravel it doesnt really explore time travel or paradoxes very often, this is why Blink is so fantastic.

Posted by: JSG 19th September 2020, 08:29 AM

QUOTE(mick745 @ Sep 19 2020, 08:02 AM)

Posted by: ElectroBoy 21st September 2020, 04:57 PM

I'm up to the Zygon Invasion (2-Parter) on my current marathon... but everything i've rated a 3 and lower (out of 10):

The End of Time (2-parter)
Time-Flight
The Twin Dilemma
Daleks in Manhattan (2-parter)
Underworld
Fear Her
In the Forest of the Night
The Web Planet
The Sensorites
The Time Monster
The Celestial Toymaker
New Earth

Although to add to that I disliked Ascension of the Cybermen (2-Parter), Orphan 55, Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, Arachnids in the UK and Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror so will probably join the list alonside Sleep No More

Posted by: mick745 23rd September 2020, 10:37 AM

QUOTE(ElectroBoy @ Sep 21 2020, 05:57 PM)

I'm up to the Zygon Invasion (2-Parter) on my current marathon... but everything i've rated a 3 and lower (out of 10):

The End of Time (2-parter)
Time-Flight
The Twin Dilemma
Daleks in Manhattan (2-parter)
Underworld
Fear Her
In the Forest of the Night
The Web Planet
The Sensorites
The Time Monster
The Celestial Toymaker
New Earth

Although to add to that I disliked Ascension of the Cybermen (2-Parter), Orphan 55, Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos, Arachnids in the UK and Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror so will probably join the list alonside Sleep No More