Surprised The Beast Below hasn't been mentioned as thought that was rather unpopular generally. I like that too.
Beast Below wasn't outstanding but I found it interesting enough as a story and Smith had yet to develop those infuriating tics. And it's not shrill, which is an accusation I could level at quite a few Moffat stories.
Let's Kill Hitler was an infuriatingly misleading title, in that Hitler's role was a brief plot contrivance, nothing more. I went into the episode thinking and hoping that it might be a meaningful historical narrative about the rights and wrongs of going back in time to remove an evil meglomanic. Instead, it was just another River Song episode.
I'm quite enjoying this opportunity to vent some spleen, as for the past couple of months I've felt overwhelmingly positive about series 8 and the 12th Doctor. I'd forgotten how little I enjoyed Matt Smith's era, with the exception of the excellent series 5.
And an appalling one at that. Almost totally bound to one set with River at peak smugness and 11 at his most 'whacky'.
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe is just dull and stupid and doesn't generate much feeling other than antipathy from me.
The last 2 seasons though have been..... difficult....... to watch personally. To me, Moffatt has created a Dr Who gumbo. A thick brown soup of ideas in which you see great ideas occasionally bob to the surface before being swamped back amongst the brown goo. There where lots of good ideas floating around, lovely visuals and nice performances but it just got so messy that even the good stories just felt disjointed and fouled up by horrible resolutions and timey-whimey plotting. Shame really.
The Wedding of River Song for it's just pitiful resolution and Let's Kill Hitler for style over..... actually scrub that. Just 'Let's Kill Hitler' for existing really. And then the mess of the Day of.... stories that kind of worked then didn't. Hard to explain really.
Moffat tends to have a 'and the kitchen sink' approach to writing in which he throws everything into the mix in the hope that some of it works. He's much better when he sticks to a single idea or plot line.
And an appalling one at that. Almost totally bound to one set with River at peak smugness and 11 at his most 'whacky'.
River Song was a big mistake on Moffat's part.
Coupled with an older doctor like Peter Capaldi, stripped of her catchphrases ("spoilers" and "hello sweetie"), she might have worked. But alongside the baby-faced 11th Doctor with his manic arm-waving, it was just insufferable.
I know this is a beef with the characters rather than the episodes, but for me, the two are inseperable. If only the supporting cast between 2010 and 2013 had been better - more realistic, grounded characters. It would have made a huge difference to some of the episodes.
Beast Below wasn't outstanding but I found it interesting enough as a story and Smith had yet to develop those infuriating tics. And it's not shrill, which is an accusation I could level at quite a few Moffat stories.
The Beast Below is a taster of what was to come. A moral conundrum which is resolved with a cop out and no consequences to the decision actually made. Creepy villains which promise much and then don't actually do anything. The Dr getting all huffy with an assistant but all is forgiven straight away,etc. It's not too bad and makes sense (if you ignore the fact that a huge space whale that eats children might need more than the odd one now and again).
The doctor the widow and the wardrobe
Really didn't enjoy it
The wedding of River song another bad one
But probably I think one of the worst is the time of the doctor it's not as a bad as some other episodes but due to how long I had been waiting for it and the enormous build up it had I hated it and thought it was an awful end to the Matt Smith era.
The doctor the widow and the wardrobe
Really didn't enjoy it
The wedding of River song another bad one
But probably I think one of the worst is the night of the doctor it's not as a bad as some other episodes but due to how long I had been waiting for it and the enormous build up it had I hated it and thought it was an awful end to the Matt Smith era.
Think you mean Time of the Doctor.
Night of the Doctor was the fantastic mini-episode with Paul McGann!
Coupled with an older doctor like Peter Capaldi, stripped of her catchphrases ("spoilers" and "hello sweetie"), she might have worked. But alongside the baby-faced 11th Doctor with his manic arm-waving, it was just insufferable.
I know this is a beef with the characters rather than the episodes, but for me, the two are inseperable. If only the supporting cast between 2010 and 2013 had been better - more realistic, grounded characters. It would have made a huge difference to some of the episodes.
Indeed. Kingston and Smith never worked for me, and yet so much depended on their chemistry together. If you didn't buy into their relationship then almost everything else fell apart.
The doctor the widow and the wardrobe
Really didn't enjoy it
The wedding of River song another bad one
But probably I think one of the worst is the time of the doctor it's not as a bad as some other episodes but due to how long I had been waiting for it and the enormous build up it had I hated it and thought it was an awful end to the Matt Smith era.
The problem with Time of the Doctor (one problem of many) is that it really felt when you were watching it that Moffat had basically sat down and just thrown together all the loose ends and made the entire thing up as he went along. It was a garbled, rushed hot mess.
Series Ep: Let's Kill Hitler - a cringe-fest of a wasted opportunity and the underlined the end of my interest in the River/Amy storyline. A farcical end result for what could have been so much more. Take off your clothes.
Yes another vote for the Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. It actually had many of the same flaws as that bloody forest thing we had to put up with on Saturday. Mind you I nearly always dislike the Christmas episodes and they have got even worse under Moffat.
But I really enjoyed Lets Kill Hitler. The usual overkill towards the end but in general it was jolly good fun.
There are very few of the Moffat era stories that I have watched a second time. A lot of people have mentioned 'The wedding of...' that woman!! But to be honest it must have been so bad that I've actually erased it from my memory. I can't remember a thing about it! Such a shame really as I've been hooked on this programme since 1973.
In all fairness I haven't seen a Moffat episode I haven't liked to some degree. Though I still haven't seen The Wedding of River Song or The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe yet. I gather they're not enormously popular...
I know The Beast Below gets a lot of stick but I rather like it - I think it's flawed but interesting. I really like Liz Ten. Matt (never my favourite Doctor TBH but I think he's a very good actor) is amazing in the scene where he loses his temper. And I think the pre-titles sequence is properly spooky.
So probably my least favourite Moffat episode out of the ones I've seen is A Christmas Carol. It looked very pretty but the only thing I remember clearly about it is the phrase 'fishy-wishies', which put me in a bad mood for hours after watching.
rather predictable though, everyone would just say 'Blink'
I wouldn't - never really enjoyed that episode - but I do agree on the choice of 'villain'; I'd say 'The Time of Angels'.
For me, the worst of Moffat's work is 'Time of the Doctor', though to be fair, it's not as bad as some other episodes, such as 'Fear Her', which I watched twice - the second time to convince myself it was as bad as I thought.
I've never particularly enjoyed any of the Christmas specials as I've always gotten the impression that in order to get the extra length, aspects of the scripts that would otherwise have been cut remain and there's quite a lot of padding - such as the Doctor's drawn-out fight against all comers on Trenzalore.
The Beast Below is a taster of what was to come. A moral conundrum which is resolved with a cop out and no consequences to the decision actually made. Creepy villains which promise much and then don't actually do anything. The Dr getting all huffy with an assistant but all is forgiven straight away,etc. It's not too bad and makes sense (if you ignore the fact that a huge space whale that eats children might need more than the odd one now and again).
A very accurate synopsis - what was with the clown things? As far as I can remember they actually served no purpose. They appeared to be a monitoring device, but we never saw any results of their monitoring. I think they were just thrown in for good measure along the lines of 'this is an interesting idea, I think I'll use it' without having a clue what to use it for.
The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe by a country mile. One of the very few episodes I have never been able to watch again.
The other episodes listed here such as The Beast Below (too harshly judged I've always felt) or Let's Kill Hitler to name but two listed in other posts all had points of interest or strengths or ideas which although not executed perfectly (or contained characters who grate for some) for me these episodes at least had ambition and attempted to tell a story worth investing the viewers time in.
I'd rather watch an episode that over-reaches itself (and has a cop-out ending) or fails to execute a great idea as well as it could than one which is bereft on anything to stimulate the brain or is a flawed idea that should not have reached the screen.
One of the strengths of the show is that is isn't formulaic like a crime procedural or medical show and as such will attempt different types of stories even if sometimes it results in a duff episode like last week for example.
One poster said that Moffat throws too much stuff into some episodes and there is something in this as his best work for me has been predominantly in the two-part stories where there is sufficient room for the ideas and the characters to breathe.
The Doctor in Narnia makes me feel ill. So does The Time of the Doctor, to a lesser extent. I'll never watch them again, unless someone ties me up and forces my eyes open. And gags me to stop my screams drowning out the dialogue.
Sadly, as it was Christmas, a time for togetherness etc, I watched these episodes with people who don't normally watch DW and was cringingly embarrassed because they assumed all DW was like this.
The Beast Below was certainly bad, for reasons stated by previous posters. The Big Bang was a huge disappointment after the perfection of The Pandorica Opens.
But I did like River. The Wedding made no sense but I liked it. And the Hitler one made me laugh.
The only episodes I don't like are boring ones where the plot itself is very thin on the ground. If the idea ensnares me then I can get on board with whatever twists or turns or plot resolutions are thrown at me.
Wardrobe was one of those episodes. The premise wasn't great and the idea didn't catch me at all. Add in a rather poor plot and acting and I just switched off.
The only big criticism I have of Moffat episodes of with the final act where it can take a bit of a stretch to swallow the ending (ie The Big Bang). The. You have episodes like Girl in the Fireplace where it all works perfectly.
No tv show hits the right notes all the time (or very few). Same with any writer or author.
There are three Moffat episodes which I have found unsatisfying:
The Beast Below, A Good Man Goes to War and Day of the Doctor.
The latter I find understandable because I felt the anniversary episode was a poisoned chalice that could never be fully satisfying.
The Beast Below doesn't have enough time to develop it's story or give proper due to the separate elements of it. I also find it's premise to be weak: I am not convinced that the emotional reaction to the plight of the 'star whale' would even come close to what it is portrayed as being and I think the human race would feel relatively guiltless. We are after all a species that has driven countless others into extinction (including our fellow hominids such as the neanderthals), sometimes knowingly and for sport, has domesticated (enslaved) numerous species for our own benefit and fail to extend a great deal of empathy even to other races of our own species when they are starving or when we are dropping bombs on them etc.
A Good Man Goes to War seemed a little pyhrric. I disliked the shift in characterization of both Rory and Amy Pond and just couldn't find Amy's response to her child and her situation credible. On top of that I thought the pacing was strange and the action somewhat confusing. Thematically I found the 'good man' idea a little strained.
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe is one of his weaker episodes for sure, but I was happier with it than the above ones. The script works, it is just nowhere near as elegant or as inspired as i expect from Moffat.
You should never really watch a Christmas special episode in the cold light of day. Only recreating the exact circumstances of the day beforehand (overcooked turkey, mountains of stuffing, a lake of vino) will do. And even then, The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe ain't great.
Other than that, I find lots to like in every other Moffat ep. Sure, some annoyances along the way, but always more good than bad. He can be quite ambitious, which can sometimes fall flat, but I'd rather stories go too far than don't dare to dream a little bigger.
The most infuriating thing about Moffat is his inconsistency. I wish he was either great all the time or crap all the time, then at least we knew where we stood!
Utterly diabolical -
The Doctor, The Witch & The Wardrobe (can it be erased from existence??)
Let's Kill Hitler
The Wedding of River Song
Time of the Doctor
Just bad -
A Christmas Carol
The Beast Below
A Good Man Goes To War
The Bells of Saint John
Comments
Beast Below wasn't outstanding but I found it interesting enough as a story and Smith had yet to develop those infuriating tics. And it's not shrill, which is an accusation I could level at quite a few Moffat stories.
Amongst all of its many faults, it commits the cardinal sin of any TV show, it was just plain boring.
It's the only episode I've ever wanted to switch off halfway through.
And an appalling one at that. Almost totally bound to one set with River at peak smugness and 11 at his most 'whacky'.
Moffat tends to have a 'and the kitchen sink' approach to writing in which he throws everything into the mix in the hope that some of it works. He's much better when he sticks to a single idea or plot line.
River Song was a big mistake on Moffat's part.
Coupled with an older doctor like Peter Capaldi, stripped of her catchphrases ("spoilers" and "hello sweetie"), she might have worked. But alongside the baby-faced 11th Doctor with his manic arm-waving, it was just insufferable.
I know this is a beef with the characters rather than the episodes, but for me, the two are inseperable. If only the supporting cast between 2010 and 2013 had been better - more realistic, grounded characters. It would have made a huge difference to some of the episodes.
The Beast Below is a taster of what was to come. A moral conundrum which is resolved with a cop out and no consequences to the decision actually made. Creepy villains which promise much and then don't actually do anything. The Dr getting all huffy with an assistant but all is forgiven straight away,etc. It's not too bad and makes sense (if you ignore the fact that a huge space whale that eats children might need more than the odd one now and again).
Really didn't enjoy it
The wedding of River song another bad one
But probably I think one of the worst is the time of the doctor it's not as a bad as some other episodes but due to how long I had been waiting for it and the enormous build up it had I hated it and thought it was an awful end to the Matt Smith era.
Think you mean Time of the Doctor.
Night of the Doctor was the fantastic mini-episode with Paul McGann!
Thanks
Indeed. Kingston and Smith never worked for me, and yet so much depended on their chemistry together. If you didn't buy into their relationship then almost everything else fell apart.
The problem with Time of the Doctor (one problem of many) is that it really felt when you were watching it that Moffat had basically sat down and just thrown together all the loose ends and made the entire thing up as he went along. It was a garbled, rushed hot mess.
'Bring me knitting' - one of my favourite Moffat lines
Special: The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe.
(I liked Time of the Doctor
But I really enjoyed Lets Kill Hitler. The usual overkill towards the end but in general it was jolly good fun.
Don't be
I know The Beast Below gets a lot of stick but I rather like it - I think it's flawed but interesting. I really like Liz Ten. Matt (never my favourite Doctor TBH but I think he's a very good actor) is amazing in the scene where he loses his temper. And I think the pre-titles sequence is properly spooky.
So probably my least favourite Moffat episode out of the ones I've seen is A Christmas Carol. It looked very pretty but the only thing I remember clearly about it is the phrase 'fishy-wishies', which put me in a bad mood for hours after watching.
For me, the worst of Moffat's work is 'Time of the Doctor', though to be fair, it's not as bad as some other episodes, such as 'Fear Her', which I watched twice - the second time to convince myself it was as bad as I thought.
I've never particularly enjoyed any of the Christmas specials as I've always gotten the impression that in order to get the extra length, aspects of the scripts that would otherwise have been cut remain and there's quite a lot of padding - such as the Doctor's drawn-out fight against all comers on Trenzalore.
The other episodes listed here such as The Beast Below (too harshly judged I've always felt) or Let's Kill Hitler to name but two listed in other posts all had points of interest or strengths or ideas which although not executed perfectly (or contained characters who grate for some) for me these episodes at least had ambition and attempted to tell a story worth investing the viewers time in.
I'd rather watch an episode that over-reaches itself (and has a cop-out ending) or fails to execute a great idea as well as it could than one which is bereft on anything to stimulate the brain or is a flawed idea that should not have reached the screen.
One of the strengths of the show is that is isn't formulaic like a crime procedural or medical show and as such will attempt different types of stories even if sometimes it results in a duff episode like last week for example.
One poster said that Moffat throws too much stuff into some episodes and there is something in this as his best work for me has been predominantly in the two-part stories where there is sufficient room for the ideas and the characters to breathe.
Sadly, as it was Christmas, a time for togetherness etc, I watched these episodes with people who don't normally watch DW and was cringingly embarrassed because they assumed all DW was like this.
The Beast Below was certainly bad, for reasons stated by previous posters. The Big Bang was a huge disappointment after the perfection of The Pandorica Opens.
But I did like River. The Wedding made no sense but I liked it. And the Hitler one made me laugh.
Wardrobe was one of those episodes. The premise wasn't great and the idea didn't catch me at all. Add in a rather poor plot and acting and I just switched off.
The only big criticism I have of Moffat episodes of with the final act where it can take a bit of a stretch to swallow the ending (ie The Big Bang). The. You have episodes like Girl in the Fireplace where it all works perfectly.
No tv show hits the right notes all the time (or very few). Same with any writer or author.
The Beast Below, A Good Man Goes to War and Day of the Doctor.
The latter I find understandable because I felt the anniversary episode was a poisoned chalice that could never be fully satisfying.
The Beast Below doesn't have enough time to develop it's story or give proper due to the separate elements of it. I also find it's premise to be weak: I am not convinced that the emotional reaction to the plight of the 'star whale' would even come close to what it is portrayed as being and I think the human race would feel relatively guiltless. We are after all a species that has driven countless others into extinction (including our fellow hominids such as the neanderthals), sometimes knowingly and for sport, has domesticated (enslaved) numerous species for our own benefit and fail to extend a great deal of empathy even to other races of our own species when they are starving or when we are dropping bombs on them etc.
A Good Man Goes to War seemed a little pyhrric. I disliked the shift in characterization of both Rory and Amy Pond and just couldn't find Amy's response to her child and her situation credible. On top of that I thought the pacing was strange and the action somewhat confusing. Thematically I found the 'good man' idea a little strained.
The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe is one of his weaker episodes for sure, but I was happier with it than the above ones. The script works, it is just nowhere near as elegant or as inspired as i expect from Moffat.
Other than that, I find lots to like in every other Moffat ep. Sure, some annoyances along the way, but always more good than bad. He can be quite ambitious, which can sometimes fall flat, but I'd rather stories go too far than don't dare to dream a little bigger.
Utterly diabolical -
The Doctor, The Witch & The Wardrobe (can it be erased from existence??)
Let's Kill Hitler
The Wedding of River Song
Time of the Doctor
Just bad -
A Christmas Carol
The Beast Below
A Good Man Goes To War
The Bells of Saint John