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Moffat's Best Episode
JohnnyForget
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There is currently another thread called "Moffat's Worst Episode", so I think it's only right that there should also be a "Moffat's Best Episode" thread.
My favourite Moffat episode is undoubtedly "Blink", which is sure to be many others' favourite too, but I think that most of what he's written has been excellent, while his only below par episodes have tended to be his Christmas specials.
Your comments please.
My favourite Moffat episode is undoubtedly "Blink", which is sure to be many others' favourite too, but I think that most of what he's written has been excellent, while his only below par episodes have tended to be his Christmas specials.
Your comments please.
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Probably a three way tie between The Eleventh Hour,The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang and The Empty Child/Doctor Dances.
Edit: B*gger it, I'll add A Christmas Carol and The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Giant Egg. ;-)
Silence in the Library
The Eleventh hour
The Christmas Carol
The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
Day of the Doctor was just such a phenomenal episode of Who, loved it from start to finish and more with every single rewatch.
The 50th was amazing and definitely gets a mention from me. Brilliant story and spared no expense. Loved it. Really wish I got to the cinema to see it.
Silence in the library/ forest of the dead
Blink
But I also really enjoyed Listen, A Christmas Carol, Deep Breath, The Pandorica Opens and The Eleventh Hour, and Blink, obviously
I don't much like Girl in the Fireplace as it's mawkish and I don't like Eccleston (or kids) so The Empty Child isn't a favourite although I appreciate that it's a good story.
Most of his 'big' episodes from series 6 onwards, including his Christmas Specials, have been woeful.
For more discussion on his woeful episodes please see the other thread
Two very different episodes which could have gone in two very different ways.
Listen- probably my favorite episode of New Who already. Utterly perfect. Would only have ever worked with Twelve. Jenna puts in the best companion performance in the history of the show. Samuel Anderson is heartbreakingly doe eyed as both Danny and Orson. And the best thing is that having spent most of the episode providing some of the best and fearless proper scares we have seen since the show returns Moffat pulls the rug out from under everyone and reveals his true purpose. Because scaring people is easy. What Moffat does at the end of Listen is less so. In a world where our media tells us to live in fear and always be afraid- you're too fat/youre top thin/you can't dance/you can't sing/the immigrants are coming to get you!/someone's stealing your jobs/someone's stealing your liberty/the ice caps are melting/zombie lesbians on benefits are coming to get you/beware of Isis/fear your neighbour/beware of Ebola/BE AFRAID!!! AND BE AFRAID OF BEING AFRAID!- Listen takes you by the hand and says its ok. Don't worry. Don't let fear make you an bastard. You're never alone. In a good way. Its less a night terror and more a lullaby. Its a genuinely beautiful and humanistic piece of television. And for that alone Moffat is a genius and always will be.*
*still doesnt forgive The Wedding of River Song though*
*joke. I forgive
I guess I was viewing it with totally fresh eyes, but I loved the setting, the freaky children, the mystery, the plucky guest stars, and I found the resolution to just be incredibly clever. I'd never watched Who till that point - I grew up in the 'wilderness years' and all I'd seen of the revival was farting aliens, which seemed to play to type. But the Doctors "everyone lives" moment was just so joyous, it undercut my cynicism and plastered a massive grin on my face as I decided that this punchline of a sci-fi show could actually be a little bit brilliant.
The Eleventh Hour/Pandorica Opens/Big Bang were all great. The best of the bookends.
But the Day of Doctor was probably my favourite of the lot, particularly given the scale of the task he had.
I completely agree with you about Listen, I think it's breathtakingly lovely. My favourite Moffat DW episode.
Other Moffat favourites: The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, The Night of the Doctor, The Day of the Doctor, Deep Breath.
Are you in the TARDIS or in my head ??
Exactly these episodes. River was an epic character when first introduced, self sacrifice, timey wimey character from the future, great. Listen -> absolutely bloody fantastic.
I would say its definitely between Name of the Doctor, Blink, Empty child, Eleventh Hour, Time of Angels, Silence in the Library, Let's Kill Hitler, Time of the Doctor, Asylum of the Daleks, A Christmas Carol, The Girl in the fireplace and Deep Breath! :P
Damn, I cna't choose, and since the title doesn't specify his best episode of which show let's jsut cheat and say it's A Scandal in Belgravia
Re: Girl in the Fireplace being mawkish: irrelevant. We're talking about 'best', not 'favourite'. Your taste is irrelevant. That script is masterful. It's a fantastic concept (sure, swiped from 'The Time Traveller's Wife' ) and it's fully realized and followed through. There's no cop-out, or magic fix, unlike msot episodes of Doctor Who. And damn it, it's like clockwork: every line resonates and every plot detail makes sense. I rewatched it last week, and it's an episode I appreciate more every time I see it. The final shot with the reveal of the name of the spaceship never fails to excite me. There are no flaws in that script. Not a single one. I say this as someone who doesn't even consider it one of his favourite Moffat episodes.
Saladfingers: I also rewatched Silence in the Library and you're totally right: for being the less talked about of Moffat's pre-showrunner episodes it's staggeringly right in nearly every department. It gets the Doctor Who formula absolutely right and balances all those different attributes into one proper piece of actual science-fiction that also has all of the character drama and romance anyone could want. Holy shit.
Honourable mentions to The Eleventh Hour and The Girl in the Fireplace.
I generally like almost all of Moffat's eps. There's another thread where I name the exception ;-)
After that it's a tight one between Asylum and Name of The Doctor.
Though I'd still love to know if Captain Jack is a Moffat invention that RTD saw mileage in, or RTD gave Moffat the task of introducing the character.
I think it's pretty established that it was the latter, although I know of no source. No doubt it's been discussed in Davies' book and commentaries and the like.
I was surprised there wasn't more raves about Name of the Doctor when it was broadcast and there still doesn't seem to be now. Before that episode was broadcast I was beginning to think that Doctor Who could no longer thrill me. If I was in the Caves of Androzani episode 1 cliffhanger and I had a red cloth over my head and they demanded I 'shout out! Now!' the title of Steven Moffat's best episode of Doctor Who I think there's a good chance I would call out that one.
A wonderful self contained episode. Perfectly structured and a superb cast taking the reigns of the show for one episode. Not an easy thing to do with an established popular show.
The whole Easter egg scenes that are placed throughout play out superbly in its conclusion.
As with Girl in the Fireplace, whenever I revisit Blink I cant help but see everything Mr. Moffat has tried to rehash with his own era as showrunner during series 5-6, but for me it was executed, written and structured far far better in these two episodes. I have no desire or need to ever watch series 5-6 again because in Blink and GITF..its all there. Beauty and the geek, little girl and the Doctor returns when she has grown up, timey wimey, structure, believable characters and it is all done to perfection.
Imo of course.
I nearly picked 'Listen' another perfecly structured story and Moffat at his best RTD era days. But the placing of Clara in the Doctors established history, again, left a somewhat bitter taste at the end of a superb episode. But I wait to see how, if at all that plays out or relates to the finale..if it does at all.
During his own era The Eleventh Hour stands out as the perfect introduction episode and The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang is my favourite finale. Hopefully Dark Water/Death In Heaven can top the lot.
The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon would be my other choice - such an ambitious series opener.
Blink
They're my top 2.
Then perhaps 'The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances' and 'Asylum of the Daleks'.
He's done some other pretty decent stories too such as 'Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead', and 'The Day of the Doctor' and 'The Time of the Doctor'.
Although I get the feeling that it isn't widely liked on here, I thoroughly enjoyed 'A Christmas Carol', which is easily my favourite Christmas Special. But I get the sense that I may be in a minority here.
As the poster said the stories he wrote under RTD tended to be very strong.
I do enjoy his stories featuring The Weeping Angels. Even if they aren't the very best they always tend to stand above the average episode.
I do agree with CAMERA OBSCURA above that many of his subsequent stories after The Girl in the Fireplace and especially Blink are often heavily derivative of elements of those two stories. He also used 'catchphrases' in later episodes which were derivative of "Are you my mummy?" from 'The Empty Child'. That's one of the reasons I rate his earlier episodes highly, as well as them being beautifully crafted stories.
Anyhow, best Moff scripts... lot's to choose from, but his best probably still remain the scripts he did under RTD. Blink is phenomenally good. I still to this day use it as an introductory episode for friends who've not seen any Who before, and it always goes down well. The two 2-parters he did under RTD's reign were also brilliant. Girl in the Fireplace to a less extent in my view - although still very good.
During his own era I think Listen from the present series is probably the first episode he's written that I think is of the same caliber as his RTD era stuff. I'd probably actually rank it a cut above Girl in the Fireplace.