My ratings on all the Doctor Who episodes

Feologild Oakes have you seen any Classic Doctor Who? I would be interested in seeing your ratings for that.

The ratings look fair.

My favorite Dr. who episode:



Okay, so it ain't canon. Sue me.

You put some real thought into those ratings and I congratulate and thank you for that. Generally speaking, I am pretty much in agreement with your number ratings within one number up or down. I do though, have a few comments.

Season One

Aliens of London-5\10
World War Three-6\10

I enjoyed this two-parter enormously and I don’t think I was the only one since fandom appreciated them so much that the Slitheen (one of them, at least) were brought for another episode. Both episodes: 8/10

Season Two

Tooth and Claw-6\10

A good example of how Our Favorite Show can go flat out action adventure. Another is “42” – see below. 8/10

Season Three

Human Nature-7\10
The Family of Blood-7\10
42-4\10

Human Nature/The Family of Blood: Greatness. I have watched this I don’t know how many times. 10/10
42 - Real time concept well done. Nonstop action packed. 7/10

Season Four

Silence in the Library-8\10
Forest of the dead-8\10
Midnight-7\10
Turn Left-7\10

More greatness. I have probably seen the two-parter Silence/Forest even more times than Human Nature/Family of Blood. 12/10

Midnight and Turn Left 9/10

Season Five

The Time of Angels-8\10
Flesh and Stone-7\10
The Lodger-7\10

Another unbeatable two-parter with Angles/Flesh. Watched many times 10/10
The Lodger? Absolutely abysmal. The Doctor is totally incompetent. He notices nothing. When the black woman is lured into the house to her death, she passes right by The Doctor’s door. When the middle aged woman dies, The Doctor is futzing around playing soccer. I have more choice words for James Corden’s next appearance below. 2/10

Season Six

The Girl Who Waited-8\10
Closing Time-8\10

I know you have “The Girl Who Waited” rated pretty high already but Karen Gillen does such great work here that I have to give her a 10/10.

“Closing Time” is James Corden again and the story (and Corden) are embarrassingly terrible. This episode features my most hated, hated, hated science fiction cliché: the “You can fight it” trope. Sure, Cybermen have converted planets full of people but Corden alone can mentally overcome their procedure by thinking about his newborn infant. Yeah, right. And I don’t care if that’s a spoiler because I don’t want anybody watching this anyway. 2/10 (and that’s generous).

Season Seven

From “Cold War” to the end of your list, I would bump your sevens up to eights. Otherwise, no comments.

Season Eight

Mummy on the Orient Express-6\10

A lot of fans consider the most recent series (#11) to be the weakest in writing and production (some of that may be political) but for me, that describes Season Eight, Capaldi’s first as The Doctor. I don’t think he really found his feet and his persona until the start of the next season. However, in “Mummy” with The Doctor’s 66-seconds of face time with the Foretold we have one of the very great “Doctor moments” of both New and Classic eras. Brilliant. 9/10

Season Nine

Under the Lake-6\10
Before the Flood-6\10
Sleep No More-5\10

I like the Lake/Flood two-part story for the script’s (written by Toby Whitehouse) careful way to give each person a distinct personality that rises above type. I watched it for a third time just a couple of weeks ago. 8/10

In a season of two-parters, “Sleep No More” was the only standalone. It ends with the Doctor leaving without solving what is going on (“I’m missing something here”). The story screams for a part two resolution which never comes. So, your 5/10 just because it is incomplete, otherwise a lot of good ideas wasted.

Season Ten

The Pilot-6\10
Smile-5\10
Thin Ice-7\10
Knock Knock-6\10
Oxygen-6\10
Exstremis-5\10

This series of titles, with the exception of Thin Ice, I would bump to 8.

Season Eleven

Rosa-7/10
Demons of the Punjab-6/10
The Witchfinders-4/10

The first three seasons of the classic era tried to be, at least in part, an educational children’s program. About every other story was a “historical” – a history lesson where the only sci-fi elements were that The Doctor and his companions were time travelers. Thus, you have story titles like “The Aztecs,” “Marco Polo,” and “The Reign of Terror.” Season 11 gave a nod to those “historicals” with these three tales except they did inject other science fiction story elements (it was just a “nod,” after all). The Witchfinders particularly distinguishes itself by that delicious performance by Alan Cumming of King James I. I give Rosa 9/10, Demons and Witchfinders 8/10.

Thanks again for your survey of the episodes.