This is one for me to look forward to, then. I’m loving ‘The War Doctor Begins’, but am taking it slow to savour.
Ah so you haven’t listened to the John Hurt boxsets first? I’d be interested to know your thoughts as you go through them.
I’ve listened to the War Doctor stories in release order - I did do a relisten straight through after Enemy Mine came out and it was a fun thing to do. Going from Carley to Hurt does highlight how great Carley actually is. Not completely identical but definitely so close as to be a superb younger version
Enlightenment. When the old sailing ship that the TARDIS crew are on, turns out to be sailing in space.
I’m definitely with you on this one, I felt a bit let down almost with the Missy reveal in Dark Water - I found it too obvious, who else would she be? There was so much focus on getting a woman Doctor at the time, so having the Master show up as a female incarnation after Capaldi became the Doctor, I was kind of expecting it.
The “O” reveal in Spyfall took me completely by surprise, and Sacha Dhawan totally blew me away as the Master. Best version of the Master in the revival for me.
A twist I really loved was how Steven Moffat managed to make the very last word of the Day of the Doctor novelisation a twist. So well done considering when the book was published
That shifting around of the letters (and changing some) to spell Sutekh was so hamfisted it totally ruined it for me.
And when absolutely everyone gets dustified two minutes into the second part it is just a wait for a Big Friendly Button to appear and reverse everything (and that death + death = life… Very, very RTD finale - very, very not for me)
YANA is the one time I think (apart from Bad Wolf which was almost fully improvised on the fly) that Russell has managed to pull of something as cool and impactful as it actually was in his head when he thought of it.
For me, Dot And Bubble has multiple extremely nasty twists in it that do great work for the episode. Lindy choosing to kill her buddy is the first big one, and then like the entire final eight or nine minutes literally subverts everything we know about what Doctor Who is supposed to be.
I took a big break from Big Finish and got way behind for a while. Basically, lost a lot of my old CDs when I moved house a few years back. Disaster! Plus, I struggled to pay attention to storylines whilst driving (which was my main Big Finish listening time).
In the last 18 months, I started to catch back up and switched to listening at home via headphones. Much better experience for me and I’ve never enjoyed them as much as I am right now… but aware that I have a heck of a lot of good stuff still to discover!
This is an excellent twist and one I hadn’t considered when I started this thread. Enlightenment is one of my favourite Davison stories (and, possibly, one of my favourites full stop). Such a defining moment in that story. I love it so much!
Speaking of Davison, the twist in Omega is also outstanding.
I bet you don’t see this twist coming…
… I agree with @Tian, River Song was an amazing twist!
In a series full of mysteries, plot twists, and talking points, I loved how Moffat weaves in the mystery of River, who she is to the Doctor, and who she is to Amy and Rory.
I also got really hyped up about The Name of the Doctor, leading all the way to the reveal of the War Doctor and the amazing Day of the Doctor which had the big twist that Gallifrey was never lost!
Oh how I miss those Moffat days. This was when ordinary people - family, friends, coworkers - would come up to me and ask me about my Doctor Who theories! It was a water cooler chat topic! I don’t think we’ve ever had that since Moffat left, and I miss it.
I miss you Moffat
“Introducing John Hurt as the Doctor” was an amazing twist!
Surprised nobody’s said this yet
Also all three NuWho Master reveals are fantastic, and all in different ways
Yes, although this is a TV thread so maybe there’s a need for an audio thread in the same vein? Especially since this is the second audio to get a mention.
Good point! Yes, one of those very rare moments where the show really managed to blindside us with a genuinely unexpected development.
Oh, I adore Dhawan’s Master. He’s wonderful! And, yes, I agree with you that it was a worthy twist. I know not everyone was sold on it, but that was the moment (for me) that the story suddenly kicked up into top gear.
Absolutely! This is why, unexpectedly (because I strongly suspected that Dot and Bubble would be the mid season filler episode), this story became an instant favourite for me. It had it all! Loved the monsters yet, more than anything, loved the deliciously dark twists which all led us to that scene with Ncuti.
Ooh! Another twist that the show (going back to the classic series) managed to keep under wraps and genuinely cause a stir with at the time…
…surely the Cyberman reveal at the end of episode 1, Earthshock!
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned the absolute banger twist in Day of the Doctor that Moffat somehow kept secret:
“No, sir! All thirteen!”
I pretty much yelled at my TV in surprise when that one hit!
I’d managed to avoid the news of John Simon’s return for World Enough and Time, so his reveal was an excellent twist for me.
You were not alone in that, my friend!