Prompted by the other “What’s the best twist?” thread, but BIGGER!
Genuinely curious to see what people come up with here. We have 61 years (and counting) of Doctor Who on TV now. Which plot twists or ‘complications’ have people most delighted in over the years? This is for televised stories only (though a similar thread on audio would also work).
Note: This doesn’t have to be restricted to the best twists that also stick the ending. There are some moments that are so great, they deserve to be recognised even if the ending of their particular story doesn’t quite work out to people’s satisfaction. Those real TV moments if you will. Perhaps these twists should be considered ‘honourable mentions’?
One that comes straight to my mind would be The Time Meddler and the reveal that the Monk has his own TARDIS. I know this came up in the Gamechanger thread, but it surely has to be one of the greatest twists of all time! That cliffhanger, when they enter the Monk’s TARDIS for the first time. I can’t imagine how that must have blown the minds of viewers in 1965. I already knew there were other Time Lords when I saw the story for the first time, but for people with no other context than that the Doctor was a mysterious traveller in time and space, this must have felt seismic!
I know it was a controversial reveal, and that a lot of people were unhappy with the way that Amy and Rory just got on with their adventures as if little had happened after the events of A Good Man Goes to War, but it certainly changed things. It’s impossible to see River Song in quite the same light after that. It doesn’t diminish her in the least, but it does change her (or, at least, the audience’s perception of her).
As the creator of the aforementioned Susan Twist thread, I feel inclined to reply.
For me, two twists which genuinely surprised me were (I don’t have to spoiler tag this, do I?) the classic Doctors appearing in The Power of the Doctor, and Sutekh’s reveal in The Legend of Ruby Sunday.
I never saw any of the Sutekh theories, so I was so shocked by this! At the end of an excellent episode, we have one of the most exciting moments of Doctor Who ever, and on the three times I watched this, I couldn’t help but have a massive grin.
I would have liked to be surprised by the John Simm Master reveal in World Enough and Time, but it had been spoilers for me beforehand, not least with the Next Time trailer!! Can anyone tell me why this happened?
The best twist takes us back to 1963, and the end of episode 1 of An Unearthly Child.
Ian and Barbara force their way into the blue police box where Doctor Foreman holds Susan captive … and they notice, to their (and our!) surprise, that it’s vastly bigger on the inside!
It’s not a big twist for modern fans since we know how the show works, but it must have been huge back in the day when people first watched the show.
Couldn’t disagree more. I think it was fairly obvious by the time Dark Water came around as to who Missy was. But ‘O’ completely blindsided me. I loved that reveal (and Dhawan’s whole performance).
I just really hate the fact that entire reveal is just:
“Why can’t you run fast, I thought you could run fast”
“Welp, looks like you got me Doctor.”
And then they proceeded to introduce my literal least favourite character in fiction.
I just remember watching this going ‘please don’t be the Master, please don’t be the Master, please don’t be the Master, please don’t be the Master, please don’t be the Master’
I really wish I got what others did out of the Sutekh reveal. I thought that episode (and the subsequent one) were so bad that the Sutekh reveal suffers greatly by being the halfway point in a story I find difficult to bear.
In answer to the thread though, some great suggestions and I struggle to think of any that haven’t been mentioned so I’d go with an audio one.
The twist in the War Doctor story The Neverwhen is pulled off supremely well
