I’ve been thinking about something lately: modern Doctor Who seems consistently great at season openers but a lot less consistent when it comes to finales.
So I thought it could be fun to put that idea to the test with some community voting.
The plan is to start by voting within each season, pitting the opener against the finale to see which one people actually prefer. But instead of letting those results just sit there, we will turn it into a full tournament. Each season’s winner will move on to face the next season’s winner, and so on, until we end up with an overall champion.
I needed 16 seasons to make this a proper tournament, so I included the 60th anniversary specials. In a poll a couple of weeks ago, you voted them as the most “season-like” non-season, so they’ve earned a place in the bracket.
This is my first tournament, so I hope you enjoy it.
15 Likes
Season 1!
Let’s start of with season 1 and the Ninth Doctors only season! But what episode was best!
- Rose
- Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways
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Great idea for a tournament @Tian 
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This is one of the seasons that actually have a good finalie but I love the opener of this season even more!
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Rose is a strong opener but nothing compared to the finale. I fear this will become a recurring pattern until a certain point for me.
7 Likes
I think I’m in the minority here when I say that Rose isn’t an amazing episode. Not to say that it’s bad - it does what it needs to do pretty effectively, and it’s a fairly solid episode, but it doesn’t stand out as anything beyond a 7/10.
That finale though? Very strong. I rated the episodes as 8/10 and 7/10 respectively on my last rewatch, but I remember it being stronger than that, so it might even go up from there when I eventually rewatch them.
7 Likes
Ooh I’m excited for this tournament. I often find with two part finales (being most of them) that one episode is massively better than the other, so I’m intrigued to see where I’ll end up voting
5 Likes
Fun idea! I’m so tempted to think about all the match-ups now and decide, but I know it’ll be more fun to wait and make spur-of-the-moment decisions
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I’ll always have issues with deus ex machina finales. In this instance it was planned from the start, but it still feels like a cheat. That said, I think it works well, but my bias is enough to give my vote to Rose.
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Rose may have gotten me into the show but parting of the ways solidified my love for it
The ninerose kiss still makes me a lil feral
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Rose is a great opener. Moves at a decent pace. The finale is good, but just doesn’t do a lot for me. The Earth stuff goes on for ages. deus-ex-Rose just irks me a bit. But I will say the last scene is a 5/5.
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I think finales tend be better, or at least ought to be, since they have the ability to finish off a big linking story that’s developed across the series, tying back to the rest, inherently having more potential in some ways than the opening, which generally is a simpler introductory piece. Having said that, in many cases I prefer the first to the last story.
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My theory is not off to a great start seeing that Rose is not getting the votes in the first round but we still have 15 seasons to go!
Series 2 stars David Tennant and Billie Piper and is to me a bit underrated (at least on this forum). But that is not what we are here for. This is the vote of the day!
- New Earth
- Army of Ghosts / Doomsday
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Doomsday took my heart and tore it to pieces 
Can’t watch it without tearing up
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I’m not even that much of a Rose lover and I have to admit that that finale was pretty good. I also think New Earth was a bit weak, so this was an easy pick.
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I don’t actually like either of these options, but the finale at least has Torchwood & Yvonne, so it gets my vote.
9 Likes
I can’t believe we’d disagree like this (!)
It comes down to the fact that I cannot stand 10 and Rose in New Earth, and I hate all the soap opera bs that RTD insists on adding into his Doctor Who in the finale, especially since it takes precedence over the Dalek/Cyberman conflict
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Same, I’m not a huge fan of either, but the finale was notably “less-worse” for me. Personally, the only real reason I don’t particularly like AoG/Doomsday is because of how much I dislike romantic relationships between the Doctor and humans, especially companions — otherwise it’s a good story (sorry, I know people won’t like that take!).
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But that is what makes the characters interesting and fun!
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