The Beast Below is good tbh, should be a bit higher!

92

 

The Power of Three

 

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This should not be as low as this. By far and away one of my favourites from series 7. Despite it being a rushed script from Chris Chibnall to fill a gap left in the series, it somehow (miraculously) managed to be a million times better than one he had actually spent a great deal of time writing trying to perfect ('Dinosaurs on a Spaceship'). The main focus of the story was obviously Amy and Rory's home life away from the TARDIS, how they were living two lives, and how the Doctor can come and interrupt them at the most inconvenient of times (as we had seen previously in both 'Asylum of the Daleks' and 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship'). The whole mystique surrounding the cubes was very entertaining. Once again, we could very well have done without Brian dragging the episode down just a tad with the whole "Brian's log" shenanegans that I still don't quite get the humour in.

By the end of this episode, I was left feeling very very emotional re. the upcoming departure of Amy and Rory. The inclusion of UNIT in this episode made it all the better. Kate Stewart's introduction was fantastic, and the call-back to the Brigadier was a lovely touch. Rory also looked semi-sexy in his underwear (y'all know the scene I'm talking about x). Anyway, yes, so much praise for this episode!

 

Average 6.091

Highest score 10 (Calum Hood)

Lowest score 0 (Regina)

 

Yeah not my favourite episode as I thought it was a bit lackluster.

 

Gutted that The beast below is not higher! One of the highlights of series 5 for me :wub:

I'm always bothered by episodes in a serialised show that take place over a disproportionate amount of time compared to the usual episode. I even have this problem with episodes on the likes of American Dad or Family Guy that take place over months or years and I KNOW those shows are supposed to make no sense timeline-wise. The main reason, because it implies that so much time is spent on one event and it makes all episodes after this one seem very disjointed from the ones before. There are plenty of examples of this throughout Moffat's tenure but this one sticks out because it leads to such a disappointing resolution and an entire year of in-story time gets 'wasted', so to speak. If the cubes were used for better things I'd forgive the contrivance caused to make them 'familiar objects'. Works much better when your trap is a real familiar object.

 

The plot is very unmemorable too. I'm surprised I remembered that much about it to critique. :lol:

I agree with Iz. Having just rewatched all the episodes from Partners In Crime onwards since doing this rate I'd definately change some scores. I'm very familiar with seasons 1&2 already so didn't need reminding of them but Power of 3 is incredibly dull. Matt Smith's tenure overall is much better than I figured although last season's treatment of Amy and Rory was appalling as the writers were clearly more interested in setting up Clara than winding up the pair. Tennant's on the other hand is weaker than I recall albeit with some brilliance) and they dragged out his feeling sorry for himself too long.

I'd definately bump up Hungry Earth/Cold Blood and a few others - The Beast Below included and I'd possibly drop Hide down one but overall I think I got it fairly right (for me).

last season's treatment of Amy and Rory was appalling as the writers were clearly more interested in setting up Clara than winding up the pair.

Would it not be more reasonable to put that down to bad character development though? None of the writers who wrote series 7 episodes with Amy and Rory in them (apart from Moffat) wrote for Clara at all; and even then Moffat was fairly set on giving Amy and Rory a massive send-off.

That episode was in general very unmemorable, I don't actually remember how the Cubes were threatening at all, but I do appreciate it mainly for this:

 

 

 

Would it not be more reasonable to put that down to bad character development though? None of the writers who wrote series 7 episodes with Amy and Rory in them (apart from Moffat) wrote for Clara at all; and even then Moffat was fairly set on giving Amy and Rory a massive send-off.

Yes it is that too but as I'm sure you're aware all the writers have to work as part of a team, to some degree, in order to keep continuity and for preservation of planned arcs, with Moffatt as chief writer/editor. So, whilst I stand by my point I do agree the main blame goes with Moffatt. He did ensure they got a good send off with Angels... but for every other episode a 'that'll do' attitude - however inadvertant - does seem to permeate the series, and the whole divorce set up just wasn't believable

Yes it is that too but as I'm sure you're aware all the writers have to work as part of a team, to some degree, in order to keep continuity and for preservation of planned arcs, with Moffatt as chief writer/editor. So, whilst I stand by my point I do agree the main blame goes with Moffatt. He did ensure they got a good send off with Angels... but for every other episode a 'that'll do' attitude - however inadvertant - does seem to permeate the series, and the whole divorce set up just wasn't believable

I do think 'The Power of Three' succeeded in terms of giving us an insight into Amy and Rory's home life and reminding us that their impending doom was just around the corner, so that was a job well done between Chibnall and Moffat, I'd say. However I do agree that it did seem Toby Whithouse adopted the "that'll do" attitude as he seemed to focus more on Amy as an individual entity with Rory, once again, being a mere background character there for added effect. It's how he was dealt with in nearly every episode he appeared in, so it's not surprising really that the lead-up to their exit wasn't as powerful as it could have been.

Pretty much all of these deservedly this low down, although I think 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship' is far from the worst Doctor Who episode ever ('Love and Monsters' has to win that accolade by a country mile.) Also, 'The Curse of the Black Spot' wasn't all that bad and neither was 'The Beast Below' - but I guess neither are particularly memorable. I really enjoyed 'The Power of Three' but the ending was enough to warrant it being considered one of the very worst.

 

It's sad that just as Doctor Who is getting shiny and slick (Series 7), it is producing output that many believe is the worst since the return of the series in 2005 - not that I can disagree, as it was patchy at best. (How one series can produce such highs as 'The Name of the Doctor' at the same time as so many lows gives me SOME hope for Series 8.)

 

 

91

 

The Hungry Earth

 

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This was possibly one of the most controversial story choices Moffat and the production team could have chosen for their opening series considering it would involve a species that we hadn't seen since the classic series' of the show. The Silurians were a great choice to return, I think (even if a lot of people seemed to be screaming out for the Zygons a lot more - let's thank Moffat for 'The Day of the Doctor' then, shall we?). Both of the main antagonist characters portrayed by Neve McIntosh - Alaya and Restac - were fantastic (although we'll speak more about Restac when we get to the 'Cold Blood' commentary). I feel as if Mo, Ambrose and Elliot served as nothing more than plot devices during the episode, leading up to the revelation that there was a whole Silurian civilisation beneath the ground that Nasreen and her friends were digging into. This is probably my favourite Chris Chibnall script, purely because of how emotional things got. But once again, that's more for 'Cold Blood'.

 

Average 6.182

Highest score 8 (Calum Hood, JosephStyles, Severin)

Lowest score 3 (Regina)

 

90

 

Cold War

 

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Despite coming from the second best series of the show (like, ever), this is one episode I'm glad to see drop out sooner than anticipated! It should have been absolutely fantastic considering one of the most-wanted returns for a villain - the Ice Warrior(s) - was actually happening. But it all fell a bit flat in the hands of Mark Gatiss and we weren't treated to what could have been a truly brilliant return for them. One Ice Warrior was trapped on a submarine. Okay, the enclosed setting and the fact that the whole thing was happening underwater made it slightly terrifying (to say the least), but the rest of what was going on... It was all a bit of a shambles. There's always the one scene where we're in one place and then suddenly we jump to Clara waking up, soaking wet. Deleted scene with a bad edit or what? Things I can praise about the episode however: it allowed time for Clara to develop as a character. She really shone through in this episode, I think. Getting to know her a tiny bit better, her being the one to communicate with Skaldak, etc. And then of course there's also the strapping young lad in the pre-titles sequence. I rather loved him.

 

Average 6.227

Highest score 11 (Severin)

Lowest score 1 (Regina)

 

 

89

 

A Christmas Carol

 

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This definitely does not deserve to have finished as low as this. A lot of people say they dislike it, but it's one of my favourite episodes from Moffat. I didn't quite like it that much at all the first time I watched it, but since the DVD's been spun a few times, it really is quite something unique and exquisite. The last time I saw Katherine Jenkins on my television was in a special episode of Emmerdale when Len died (she was good in that), and her character was absolutely fantastic in this. A great one-off. The story itself was very dark (with a few funny parts here and there). When it got near the end, it was quite chilling and devastating that there would only be one more night that Kazran and Abigail could spend together. And then Amy and Rory safely landed just as the end credits were about to play... I feel the episode could have benefited a great deal without their presence at all, if I'm honest. The sub-plot of them being stuck up there while Kazran was controlling the cloud belt, meh, it was all a bit secondary and meaningless.

 

Average 6.273

Highest score 10 (Michael!)

Lowest score 3 (April)

 

Really like The Hungry Earth, fab episode, got the urge to watch that two-parter now :kink: Cold War is good also, one of the better moments of series 7. A Christmas Carol is just very MEH. I didn't get it entirely.

Fear Her is AMAZING

A Christmas Carol was so boring. The terrible thing is, it's not the worst Christmas special!

I'm shocked and appalled at you all for placing Hungry Earth and Cold War so low. Especially considering some of the drivel yet to appear.

88

 

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

 

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After watching this a few times now, I have mixed feelings about the episode on the whole. On the one hand, it has all the ingredients to make an outstanding episode and one of the highlights of the show since it returned in 2005, but at the same time there are so so many things that degrade the episode's whole appeal. Let's start with Ashley Walters. I don't really like him in anything he appears in. He doesn't seem to be able to differentiate his characters at all. They all speak in the same tone, same manner, same depth. Same everything really, and he's just really wooden. A horrendous choice of casting for an episode like this where the relationship between three brothers was a key part of the story when we finally discovered one was not who they thought they were. And although visually it was all rather stunning, most of Clara's discoveries to hidden depths within the TARDIS seemed really pointless. More or less to make a statement that says 'turn left to reach the library', 'exit right at the next roundabout to find the swimming pool'.

Although I wouldn't have liked this episode to turn out so similar to 'The Doctor's Wife' when we go deep into the TARDIS, I still think there should have been an element of eeriness about what (as in the environment, how the TARDIS itself can be terrifying) exactly lies at the TARDIS' core, not who or the things that inhibit it. Overall though, it's probably one of the highlights of the second part of series 7 for me. It was a bit more steadily-paced than a couple of the other episodes, and when the Doctor and the repetition of scenes and when the jigsaw was finally pieced together and Clara discovered that the 'zombies' were what they all were to become, agh, it was all just stunning drama.

 

Average 6.273

Highest score 10 (Calum Hood, Chez Wombat)

Lowest score 0 (Regina)

 

Journey is rather fabulous, watched it the other day, easily a highlight of series 7 and very low here.

The story's biggest problem is using the reset button. Always a cop out. It could have been good but a feeble supporting cast and cliched 'actually human' concept was also poor.