We've been busy

[altariel]

We have devised an infallible system for ranking and categorizing the episodes of Doctor Who. Argue as you might, you cannot be more utterly accurate than these.


The Utterly Utterly Accurate And Definitive Doctor Who Tiered Rankings

Genius
Girl In The Fireplace
Love & Monsters

Bloody brilliant
Gridlock
Utopia

Smashing
Bad Wolf
Blink
Empty Child / Doctor Dances
Human Nature / Family of Blood
School Reunion
Dalek
Smith & Jones

Luvverly
The End of the World
Rose
Parting of the Ways
New Earth
The Sound of Drums
Tooth & Claw
Unquiet Dead
Father's Day

Happy enough
Shakespeare Code
Boom Town
Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks
The Long Game
Lazarus Experiment

Yeahok
Christmas Invasion
The Impossible Planet / Satan Pit
Army of Ghosts/ Doomsday
Runaway Bride
Fear Her
Idiots Lantern

Oh dear
Rise of Cybermen / Age of Steel
Aliens of London / WWIII

Pants
42

Comments

[kerravonsen]

I can argue. For one thing, I'd put "The Impossible Planet" and "42" in "Luvverly" and "New Earth" in "Yeahok" and "Tooth & Claw" in "Pants".

Oh, and Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks also go in "Yeahok".

And swap "Love & Monsters" and "Blink".

But, yes, this season has been generally Smashing. 8-)

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

We seem to be in remarkably close agreement, except that I think I still rate Empty Child / Doctor Dances highest of all.

[kerravonsen]

I wouldn't argue with putting "Empty Child" higher, though probably not at the top.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

This season has been so good! Perhaps this is why '42' feels so 'meh' to me, it didn't sparkle in the way the rest of the season has.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

I don't agree with a lot of that -- I'd put "Gridlock" much lower and the Slitheen two-parter much higher, just for starters, and any ranking that doesn't put the execrable Dalek-New York two-parter at the very bottom is doing something wrong, as that was easily the nadir of modern Who.

Love the categories, though. *snorfle*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I have a long post about 'Gridlock' rattling around my head which I must get round to writing up, but I don't want to do it until the final episode, in case I get jossed.

I just love the Daleks "putting on the show right here!" Taking over the Empire State Building seems exactly the kind of insane scheme Daleks would come up with, like digging to the centre of the Earth so they can pilot it around space. Also, there was a dance number.

[kradical.livejournal.com]

I had no problem with the scheme, but the rest of the episode was crap. The Daleks had about fifteen opportunities to exterminate the Doctor that they didn't take because David Tennant's listed in the credits, they couldn't have gotten 1930s Manhattan more wrong if they tried (made all the more frustrating by how well they nailed 1910s Britain a few episodes later), and Sek was the lamest and most unconvincing Who villains since the raspberry tart creatures in "The Three Doctors."

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The Daleks had about fifteen opportunities to exterminate the Doctor that they didn't take because David Tennant's listed in the credits

*splutters* Ouch, I just snorted water up my nose!

mraltariel, over my shoulder, says: "Those are many of the reasons why I love it!"

[frankymole.livejournal.com]

They got 1940s Blitz-era Britain completely wrong in Series 1, too!

[kradical.livejournal.com]

BTW, did you get my note about "The Slave War"?

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Would take too long to reorder, but The Empty Child goes top, with Blink and maybe The Doctor Dances close behind, while The Long Game and New Earth are obviously bottom, and probably the only things keeping Love and Monsters</> from scraping the ground.

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

I have to agree. Love And Monsters was utterly pants. Empty Child beats all but (possibly) Girl In The Fireplace. Rise of the Cybermen has to go much higher up, too.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

We clearly need an extended viewing of 'Love and Monsters' where I carefully explain just how brilliant it is until you cave in and agree with me! ;-D

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

What, the same brainwashingtechnique used for explaining the brilliance of the B7 episode Animals? [shudder] Think I'll give it miss, thanks all the same...

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Sorry, should have mentioned that Tooth and Claw was utterly pants too.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I didn't rate it much on first viewing, but have liked it increasingly with every subsequent viewing. It looks terrific.

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

I thought it was damn good with certain reservations centred on a certain character. Rose, take your overused joke and use it as a gag over your mouth, please. It wasn't that funny the first time, and the repetitions didn't endear you or it to me...

[frankymole.livejournal.com]

The Cybermen origin story on a par with the farting Zygon ripoffs? No way. Give Graeme Harper some credit - also note the crew admit they hadn't a clue how to make New Who in block one...

Also "Fear Her" is obv bottom, GitF'ace should be an "Oh dear", and "Long Game" was the only Eccleston with any tension/suspense...

Agree with your placings of Runaway Bride (I'd maybe put it lower), and Idiot's Lantern...

Boom Town is very smelly indeed and should swap places with "42".

"Human Nature/FoB" are clearly genius and the closest things to classic Who in stature and sustained imagination - nearly on a par with the best stories (Web of Fear, Inferno, Green Death, Seeds of Doom).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Graeme Harper's direction is great on the Cybermen story, but sadly the story itself is rather rubbish. I like the storyline about the family in "Fear Her", but the Olympic stuff is a bit toe-curling.

"The Girl in the Fireplace" makes me weep every time I watch it. Spectacular piece of telly.

[frankymole.livejournal.com]

Here, I've fixed it for you. (http://frankymole.livejournal.com/87401.html) Even more terrifyingly accurate.

It was fun!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I greatly approve of your splitting 'The Impossible Planet' and 'The Satan Pit'. Because the first is really rather good, and the second makes no sense. Glad it was fun!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Pretty much what I think, but I'd move 'Blink' up to Genius and 'Idiot's Lantern' down to Pants. And I'm so glad there are others who also appreciate 'Love and Monsters'.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

'Love and Monsters' is so clever and funny and warm.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I liked 'Love and Monsters' a lot - until about 20 minutes in. But once Peter Kay started hamming it up it began a rapid pantward career. It probably averages out somewhere between Smashing and Luvverly.

'Blink' has been the highlight of the current series so far, with the Dalek two-parter the nadir - but perhaps that's partly because one expects so much more from Daleks?

I can barely remember 42 - which says it all, really.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I simply adore 'Love and Monsters': I never believed I would see My Life In Fandom dramatized so cleverly and honestly and warmly. Also, I think Elton's speech at the end is magnficent. Straight to camera, he says this magnificent thing to anyone of any age listening at home:

When you're a kid, they tell you it's all ... grow up. Get a job. Get married. Get a house. Have a kid, and that's it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It's so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better.

Worth every penny I've ever spent on the licence fee.

'Blink' is a beautiful, brilliant thing. My only misgiving about it (very tiny!) was that I didn't think it came from the whole heart of the writer. It's something written by someone at the top of his game, showing exactly how skilful he is. Which is absolutely wonderful and I'm not complaining at getting great telly! But 'The Girl in the Fireplace' is about how much the same writer knows and loves Doctor Who.

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

I never believed I would see My Life In Fandom dramatized so cleverly and honestly and warmly.

Ah. Explains much, for which I thank you, but still doesn't endear the story to me at all...

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

Alas poor 42.

I might quibble with some of that - Dalek and Parting of the Ways move higher for me, but only because they make me cry buckets.

I think you should colour code these as well. Y'know, just because.

It's a good system.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I wish they had done '42' more like an episode of Hyperdrive, it would have given it the sparkle that I thought was missing.

I was surprised where 'Parting of the Ways' in particular came out, but I think I pretty much at least tear up right the way down to 'Father's Day'. Damn, I love this show.

Mmm... colour coding...

[copracat]

Great categories! And in the spirit of things, I completely disagree on some and totally agree on others.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Absolutely in the spirit of things :-)

[pseudnik.livejournal.com]

Baiting Doctor Who fans seems like brilliant fun. You should post this on Outpost Gallifrey and then sit back and watch actual blood being spilled.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Baiting Doctor Who fans seems like brilliant fun.

Twenty years a hobby and it still hasn't palled!

[dberry.livejournal.com]

So I'm not the only one who disliked 42 after all! *celebratory dance*

The only one I'd disagree on is Idiot's Lantern, which is gloriously good fun. =]

[altariel.livejournal.com]

mraltariel truly loathed '42'; I thought it was merely dull.

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

I didn't care for 42 either - too much un-thought-out pseudo-science and not enough excitement. And that patronising moralising final scene... it could almost have been Star Trek! In fact... "It's life Jim, but not as we know it"?

[jomacmouse.livejournal.com]

I thoroughly agree, but I am also an eeeeevil Rose hater and any episode that sidelined her has got to have something extra from my point of view...