Well, when the season is as bad as it was, that’s not very difficult…
9 Likes
I actually prefer Space Babies to The Devils Chord
10 Likes
I need to rewatch both of these. I still think it was a mistake to broadcast them back to back and feel the series really picked up from Boom onwards. But there is loads of good stuff in both those stories and I always urge people to go back to stories and watch them when they’re no longer ‘the latest episode’. I honestly think we, as fans, put way too much stall in every ‘new’ episode being as good as it can possibly be.
But Boom, 73 Yards and Dot and Bubble - and Legend of Ruby Sunday on its own - stand up as easily as good as any Doctor Who episodes that have come before.
12 Likes
Finished Terror of the Autons (4/5). Now on to The Mind of Evil.
10 Likes
4 episodes into The Mind of Evil. So far it’s as ‘meh’ as I remember it being.
7 Likes
The Mind of Evil is a good one. My favorite of Season 8, ngl.
9 Likes
Well that just shows what a sensible individual you are 
The Devil’s Chord is a bottom 3 story in the entire Whoniverse for me…
10 Likes
I was just going here to say this. I just rewatched TDC and I am not that big of a fan of it. Probably my least favourite 15 story.
9 Likes
I completely agree with the first three episodes you mention but I honestly think Legend of Ruby Sunday was the worst Doctor Who episode I’d seen in years.
And that’s taking into account the weight we put on new episodes as you mention, something I’m acutely aware of. Episodes and stories settle into the canon over time as classics, duds and okays, in personal opinion as well as consensus. New episodes come along and even an okay can feel like a disappointment because we’re always wanting a classic. Then the dust settles and they’re all just entries in the same show.
But honestly, I can’t tell you how infuriating I found The Legend of Ruby Sunday. It really wasn’t a case of weight of expectation, it was just finding it very nearly irredeemably awful.
And I realise with it not being paid off well with Empire of Death (a slightly superior episode for me but only slightly, it still sucks a big one) that because that’s the note I left the series on I have such little enthusiasm for the special (still haven’t watched the clip) combined with what I’m hearing about the immediate future of the show and I feel so very indifferent.
Which is heartbreaking because I love Doctor Who and I liked more of the season than I didn’t. I just currently don’t have any faith.
I really hope it returns with Joy to the World. Actually, that’d be really fitting!
13 Likes
I understand that feeling - although I don’t think I’ve ever got to ‘irredeemably awful’ with any Doctor Who story - bored rigid with a couple - but never awful. Legend had enough in it to keep me gripped - Mel, Morris, Susan Triad and the build up to that cliffhanger and of course Sutekh. I also liked the memory window stuff. It was Empire where it fell apart because I don’t think any of the resolutions worked and were certainly not earned with the way the rest of the season had been written.
But however much I might like or dislike an individual episode, I’ll always be there for the next one no matter what because, as I’ve said many a time before, there will always be something to enjoy - even in my most disliked episodes - and more often than not I re-evaluate and find more I like. It does happen that a rewatch just solidifies my dislike for something (The Return of Doctor Mysterio for example) but it’s pretty rare.
12 Likes
Exactly this - the new season didn’t do a whole lot for me at all to be honest, and I was left pretty cold by the finale, but I really think at this point there isn’t a single force in the universe that would make me stop watching the show
12 Likes
I think that there is some problem with the ordering of the episodes. I feel like Devils Chord might fit better a bit later in the season. I feel like Boom would have been a better second episode. I also think that it was a bad idea to put both Doctor Light episodes in a row. I also think that the two-part season finally doesn’t work as well when you have a shorter season (especially with two Doctor light episodes). The 60th shows that you can do big epic episodes with only one episode.
11 Likes
Quoted for truth! Doctor Who is far from perfect, and a lot of the time, it can be “meh” or “boring”, but every story has a silver lining.
I’m famously not a fan of The Web Planet, but even I cannot dispute the fact that the production values on the serial are fantastically ambitious and mostly successful!
But those also had longer runtimes, and more time to develop the stories, whereas the Season 1 episodes were the standard length.
11 Likes
Definitely. There’s no story with no redeeming factors somewhere within.
Weeeell, okay I have one two-parter in mind that might just be completely irredeemable in my mind… 
9 Likes
Let me guess: The Rescue???
8 Likes
How did you guess? 
Koquillion man
Sarcasm might have been used in this post…
9 Likes
I know you too well, my friend!
But don’t worry, disliking The Rescue isn’t the end of the times if you know what I mean 
8 Likes
I think Boom would be great second, but I also don’t think Space Babies into Boom would be the best showing off the show for new viewers
As much as I’m not a fan of Space Babies and Devil’s Chord, I think the ‘RTD Openning Trifecta’ of one present (Rose, Smith and Jones, The Church on Ruby Road), one past (Unquiet Dead, Shakespeare Code, Devil’s Chord), and one future (End of the World, Gridlock, Space Babies) is a really solid way to introduce a new audience to the show.
Also I think Rogue works better as a later season episode too.
If the reordering were up to me, I’d probably go:
- Devil’s Chord
- Boom
- 73 Yards
- Space Babies
- Rogue
- Dot and Bubble
- Legend of Ruby Sunday
- Empire of Death
At least, that’s my thoughts after like 3 mins, ask again when I’ve had more time to think and some things will definitely get swapped around
7 Likes
Interesting! I think that Devil’s Chord would work badly as an opening. It is not a typical Doctor Who adventure with more magic and less science (it is also why I don’t think it works as a second episode). I think Space Babies is definitely the best first episode.
I have voiced this opinion here before but the thing this season lacks is a good second episode in style with Fires of Pompei or Beast Below where Ruby sees that the Doctor doesn’t always do the right thing and that there are consequences.
10 Likes
I think in a normal season I’d agree with you, but with them basically putting The Church on Ruby Road as the first episode of the season, and the fact they dropped the first two episodes at once, I think it’d be fine.
If you’re watching through after the fact, you get The Church on Ruby Road as an opener which works really well. If you’re watching as they release, you get Devil’s Chord straight into Boom as your opening stories, showing the more fantasy aspect that RTD seems to be leaning towards a little more, and then bringing you back into the sci-fi focus with Boom
8 Likes