I can't decide,there's too many to pick from!! Let's kill Hitler was truly awful especially after the build up from a good man goes to war. It was such a let down. Personally I didn't like Paranorica Opens/Big Bang either as never been a fan of "timely wimey" episodes. Altogether series 5-7 was difficult for me as a fan. He made the show almost unbearable and I really went off it during Matt's era however series 8 so far has been really good and I'm starting to fall back in love with it all
This. Not just the scripts Steven Moffat wrote, but all of seasons five, six and seven - none of those episodes appealed to me at all. I've been a fan of the twelfth doctor since day one, and after three seasons of not enjoying a single episode, it's nice to enjoy the show again. I look forward to new episodes now, and enjoy re-watching twelve's episodes - something I never did when eleven was the doctor - I don't think I re-watched any of his episodes, watching them once was excruciating enough for me.
I thought Smith was a terrible doctor - irritating, child-orientated and pathetic, and looking back now, I think he was the reason I disliked seasons five, six and seven as much as I did, cos it's weird that Moffat's gone from writing three of the worst seasons to date, to writing season eight, which is my new favourite season. I don't think the scripts have changed much since Smith was the doctor, but the show is much more enjoyable (certainly for me anyway) now that Capaldi is the doctor. So, yeah, in regards to the question, all of seasons five six and seven are Moffat's worst episodes, but I think that's because Smith was a terrible doctor, rather than anything else.
This. Not just the scripts Steven Moffat wrote, but all of seasons five, six and seven - none of those episodes appealed to me at all. I've been a fan of the twelfth doctor since day one, and after three seasons of not enjoying a single episode, it's nice to enjoy the show again. I look forward to new episodes now, and enjoy re-watching twelve's episodes - something I never did when eleven was the doctor - I don't think I re-watched any of his episodes, watching them once was excruciating enough for me.
I thought Smith was a terrible doctor - irritating, child-orientated and pathetic, and looking back now, I think he was the reason I disliked seasons five, six and seven as much as I did, cos it's weird that Moffat's gone from writing three of the worst seasons to date, to writing season eight, which is my new favourite season. I don't think the scripts have changed much since Smith was the doctor, but the show is much more enjoyable (certainly for me anyway) now that Capaldi is the doctor. So, yeah, in regards to the question, all of seasons five six and seven are Moffat's worst episodes, but I think that's because Smith was a terrible doctor, rather than anything else.
I have to agree with you there on all points, I have no desire to watch any of series 5 , 6 or 7 ever again, apart from 11th hour, which wasn't too bad.
I think The Snowmen is the best xmas episode since Christmas Invasion. (imo)
It is beautifully shot and has a lovely 'feel' to it. Clara is a wonderful character in it and I just wish it had been this Clara that became the companion and the whole 'Impossible Girl' thing was dropped. Imagine the story arc of Victorian Clara discovering the universe throughout series 7.
The Great Intelligence is rather lacking as a villain, as he was for the series 7B big bad, but apart from that I think it is an absolutely gorgeous episode.
I'd give it 4 Freetime thumbs up out of 5. (One for the kids there:D)
The Snowmen is a lovely episode, IMO too. Although preferred A Christmas Carol to Christmas Invasion. And Smith was wonderful, as per.
At a risk of opening old wounds id say big bang was utter drivel and his worst effort
Worringly moffat himself thinks its his best ever script... so thats his ultimate standard..
I agree. And the sad part is that The Pandorica Opens was so good. It was such a good setup ruined by a horrible "Back to the Future 2 (stacking)/Clap for Tinkerbell and it will all be good (wishful) conclusion". It was like biting into a chocolate (when the outer chocolate is so good) only to find that it has that horrible coconut stuff inside. What do you do? You spit it out and grab a different piece of chocolate.
Still, it was better than that heaping pile of excrement known as The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe.
that heaping pile of excrement known as The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe.
Easily Moffat's worst episode, though not all the blame attaches to him. Whenever Matt Smith says "I know" (which he does a lot), we are presumably supposed to think "Eleventh Doctor effortlessly demonstrates his wonderful natural rapport with children", but MS's delivery actually suggests "Mr Creepy Childmolester preps his next victim". I find the whole episode unwatchable on that account, although it is only the rancid icing on the chunky cake of Moffat's scriptwriting failures in the episode.
By a massively significant margin, his worst episode is The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe. It didn't even feel like Doctor Who!
The supporting cast were wasted like never before, the kids were annoying (particularly the boy), the resolution flat, the story unengaging, even Matt Smith didn't impress me with this one. After the big song and dance at the end of Series 6 about The Doctor being too noisy, and then he shows up here blowing up a spaceship above wartime England. It was utterly awful.
The Bells of Saint John is nowhere near as bad, but I consider it another big offender. It exemplified the poor pacing and resolution to most of the stories in the back half of Series 7, and was a sign of things to come. The whole thing took Doctor Who from acceptably mad and whimsical into the realms of the unacceptably ridiculous. The Doctor confronted the villain for about thirty seconds, again wasting the guest cast and not allowing for much in the way of decent character development.
And though it wasn't necessarily badly written The Day of the Doctor was a poor concept, and so in that regard is for me one of the worst Moffat stories. It totally tried to eclipse all that had come before, undermining the hard acting work (from Eccleston, Tennant and Smith predominantly) and viewer investment in the Doctor's emotional story by undoing the events that had come before. Moffat had already caused damage to the show by removing the threat of death so much, and now he was removing the threat of consequences. If The Doctor is able to rewrite his own life, then why the hell should I have any investment or sympathy for his character? I just don't care. Additionally, the Zygon story was dull and everything else just felt like one big gimmick...for a show with the ability to travel throughout the whole of time and space this episode was lacking in innovation, creativity and wonder on the writers part. A greater shame because the whole thing was beautifully acted, wonderfully shot and brilliantly produced. Thankfully Series 8 is also all of those things, and dare I say it has so far been written a bit better as well.
By a massively significant margin, his worst episode is The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe. It didn't even feel like Doctor Who!
The supporting cast were wasted like never before, the kids were annoying (particularly the boy), the resolution flat, the story unengaging, even Matt Smith didn't impress me with this one. After the big song and dance at the end of Series 6 about The Doctor being too noisy, and then he shows up here blowing up a spaceship above wartime England. It was utterly awful.
The Bells of Saint John is nowhere near as bad, but I consider it another big offender. It exemplified the poor pacing and resolution to most of the stories in the back half of Series 7, and was a sign of things to come. The whole thing took Doctor Who from acceptably mad and whimsical into the realms of the unacceptably ridiculous. The Doctor confronted the villain for about thirty seconds, again wasting the guest cast and not allowing for much in the way of decent character development.
And though it wasn't necessarily badly written The Day of the Doctor was a poor concept, and so in that regard is for me one of the worst Moffat stories. It totally tried to eclipse all that had come before, undermining the hard acting work (from Eccleston, Tennant and Smith predominantly) and viewer investment in the Doctor's emotional story by undoing the events that had come before. Moffat had already caused damage to the show by removing the threat of death so much, and now he was removing the threat of consequences. If The Doctor is able to rewrite his own life, then why the hell should I have any investment or sympathy for his character? I just don't care. Additionally, the Zygon story was dull and everything else just felt like one big gimmick...for a show with the ability to travel throughout the whole of time and space this episode was lacking in innovation, creativity and wonder on the writers part. A greater shame because the whole thing was beautifully acted, wonderfully shot and brilliantly produced. Thankfully Series 8 is also all of those things, and dare I say it has so far been written a bit better as well.
I'm glad someone else was less than impressed with 'Day of the Doctor'. I thought it was a huge disappointment and was marred by many of the things that irk me most about Moffat's writing. It annoys me when the production team put in so much effort only for all their work to be scuppered on the jagged rocks of a crappy script.
I'm glad someone else was less than impressed with 'Day of the Doctor'. I thought it was a huge disappointment and was marred by many of the things that irk me most about Moffat's writing. It annoys me when the production team put in so much effort only for all their work to be scuppered on the jagged rocks of a crappy script.
I think the worst thing was that as a viewer, I wanted to enjoy it so much. I'd managed to avoid overhyping myself, I'd accepted Eccleston (my favourite) wasn't likely to show up and I had set my standards at a rather average level...but was still disappointed by it. I'd watched An Adventure in Space and Time just before it and that was far more poignant and impressive.
I was never too keen on Tennant's Doctor, particularly when by himself, so his return meant little to me anyway. But having him show up with an immediate "Allonsy" just highlighted how Moffat can quickly turn characters into caricatures, and it's so annoying! Then there was his whole plot with Elizabeth I which both fizzled out and seemed utterly pointless.
The War Doctor was the biggest problem though, and at no fault of John Hurt who was superb. The concept of a hidden regeneration is an interesting one, but the reasons given were ridiculous - The Doctor has always been honest about his regenerative capabilities, and he's always been honest about the genocide he caused...so why would it even matter to anyone else which of those faces fought the war? This 'secret' was only a secret to the viewer, a nonsensical plot twist to shoehorn in a gimmick, and a high-profile actor into the role. Then Moffat makes the problem worse by having the War Doctor so likeable throughout, insisting he's not really The Doctor but then not conveying that on-screen. As a final kick in the teeth, they even hinted at a possible appearance from Eccleston by showing Hurt's regeneration...it was a very sore point for the story, given the attention that had been given to the whole will he/won't he appear in the build-up, and a bit unfair on the people who either enjoy his Doctor so much, or even were introduced to Doctor Who through him. It was awful. And such a shame as Hurt was fantastic, particularly alongside Billie Piper who also did a stunning job.
There was just so much potential for that 50th Anniversary, so many infinte possibilities and ideas. And for me it was outdone by The Night of the Doctor, An Adventure in Space and Time and The Five(ish) Doctors...all of which were much more inventive, surprising, fun, well-crafted and celebratory. Such a shame.
I think the worst thing was that as a viewer, I wanted to enjoy it so much. I'd managed to avoid overhyping myself, I'd accepted Eccleston (my favourite) wasn't likely to show up and I had set my standards at a rather average level...but was still disappointed by it. I'd watched An Adventure in Space and Time just before it and that was far more poignant and impressive.
I was never too keen on Tennant's Doctor, particularly when by himself, so his return meant little to me anyway. But having him show up with an immediate "Allonsy" just highlighted how Moffat can quickly turn characters into caricatures, and it's so annoying! Then there was his whole plot with Elizabeth I which both fizzled out and seemed utterly pointless.
The War Doctor was the biggest problem though, and at no fault of John Hurt who was superb. The concept of a hidden regeneration is an interesting one, but the reasons given were ridiculous - The Doctor has always been honest about his regenerative capabilities, and he's always been honest about the genocide he caused...so why would it even matter to anyone else which of those faces fought the war? This 'secret' was only a secret to the viewer, a nonsensical plot twist to shoehorn in a gimmick, and a high-profile actor into the role. Then Moffat makes the problem worse by having the War Doctor so likeable throughout, insisting he's not really The Doctor but then not conveying that on-screen. As a final kick in the teeth, they even hinted at a possible appearance from Eccleston by showing Hurt's regeneration...it was a very sore point for the story, given the attention that had been given to the whole will he/won't he appear in the build-up, and a bit unfair on the people who either enjoy his Doctor so much, or even were introduced to Doctor Who through him. It was awful. And such a shame as Hurt was fantastic, particularly alongside Billie Piper who also did a stunning job.
There was just so much potential for that 50th Anniversary, so many infinte possibilities and ideas. And for me it was outdone by The Night of the Doctor, An Adventure in Space and Time and The Five(ish) Doctors...all of which were much more inventive, surprising, fun, well-crafted and celebratory. Such a shame.
'The Five(ish) Doctors' was hilarious I enjoyed it a lot more than 'Day of the Doctor'. I hated the 10/Elizabeth thing. Absolutely hated it. Zygons, so boring. And the War Doctor/Doctor thing was a total mess.
Listen.
Tries way too hard to subvert expectation that it just becomes boring, and showing how fallible the points of view of the characters could be takes away all of the tension. Having a resolution that raises ten times more questions than answers and then just ending the episode is just plain bad writing.
The Beast Below isn't far behind.
I must admit, I am finding it difficult to believe people are still mentioning the *shudder* wardrobe *shudder* Christmas special.
Mainly because I personally collected every DVD, Blu-ray and Hard drive that ever held a copy of that disgusting facsimile of Doctor Who, and consigned it to the depths of Hell.
I also erased all memory of it, and destroyed all mention of the title on line.
I even went so far as to speak to Matt Smith and he admitted it wasn't even him that filmed that episode. He totally refused point blank to do it, as even he knew it was so cr*p. So Moffat decided to have his face digitally imprinted on another actor, same as they did for Terminator Salvation.
So as you can see, that episode whose name cannot be spoken, doesn't even exist anymore.
Absolutely has to be the Day of the Doctor for me - sure Wardrobe has bad, but it was bad in the sense that it felt more like a poor episode of the Sarah Jane Adventures than Doctor Who.
My main gripes with Dave the Dog Turd:
• Given all the build-up I thought that FINALLY we'd see, on screen, the Doctor fighting in the time war... instead most of the "action" took place in a deserted barn in the middle of nowhere and centered around the decision whether to push a button on a box. Why bother writing a story about the time war if you don't have the budget to do it justice?
• The side stories were flat, boring and unengaging - the Zygon's presence was totally redundant and as for the whole 10 / Elizabeth I thing, the less said about that the better.
• Although while we're on it, no offence to her , but Joanna Page as Elizabeth I is one of the most horrendous miscastings I've ever seen.
• The whole creation and presence of the War Doctor felt totally unnecessary - the Doctor knows and acknowledges that sometimes he has to do terrible things for the greater good - why did we have to trample over the character's established history just to have a shock reveal at the end of the Name of the Doctor? One feels that the only reason he's there is that Moffat didn't think two Doctors was enough for an Anniversary episode, and probably wouldn't have created him at all if Christopher Eccleston had done the decent thing and returned.
• No Eccleston wasn't Moffat's fault, however the ridiculous decision to show half a regeneration, was.
• The whole thing just feels like a total missed opportunity given the enormous range of possibilities, even with just DT returning. Deciding to tell the story of the time war was (without really telling it) was, IMO, a complete waste of an important Anniversary episode.
The one and only redeeming feature is Tom Baker's bittersweet cameo at the end - bittersweet as besides being in it for less than three minutes,and having not played the part on screen in over thirty years (DiT excluded), he managed to be a better Doctor than the other three combined.
Surprised at the Day of the Doctor comments - it wasn't perfect but I thought it did the job of being 'event television' quite nicely. The brief Jenna Coleman/John Hurt interactions were nice, it introduced the unfortunately briefly-lived Osgood, and I quite liked the 3D painting idea.
Agree with comments that The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe was very poor, but the Wedding of River Song might be worse simply because its position as season finale and resolution of multiple plot arcs means that it tarnishes a whole series. It captures everything that didn't work in series 6-7.
I'm surprised that in mentioning of best episodes that Silence in the Library hasn't been mentioned - it remains my favourite, AND the vashta nerada were a great monster of the week: surprised that they haven't returned yet.
BTW - v interesting thread and I can't believe that it's reached page 4 without people shouting each other down! Agree with many others that the negative comments shouldn't take away from the excellent episodes that Moffat has written.
Comments
This. Not just the scripts Steven Moffat wrote, but all of seasons five, six and seven - none of those episodes appealed to me at all. I've been a fan of the twelfth doctor since day one, and after three seasons of not enjoying a single episode, it's nice to enjoy the show again. I look forward to new episodes now, and enjoy re-watching twelve's episodes - something I never did when eleven was the doctor - I don't think I re-watched any of his episodes, watching them once was excruciating enough for me.
I thought Smith was a terrible doctor - irritating, child-orientated and pathetic, and looking back now, I think he was the reason I disliked seasons five, six and seven as much as I did, cos it's weird that Moffat's gone from writing three of the worst seasons to date, to writing season eight, which is my new favourite season. I don't think the scripts have changed much since Smith was the doctor, but the show is much more enjoyable (certainly for me anyway) now that Capaldi is the doctor. So, yeah, in regards to the question, all of seasons five six and seven are Moffat's worst episodes, but I think that's because Smith was a terrible doctor, rather than anything else.
I have to agree with you there on all points, I have no desire to watch any of series 5 , 6 or 7 ever again, apart from 11th hour, which wasn't too bad.
The Snowmen is a lovely episode, IMO too. Although preferred A Christmas Carol to Christmas Invasion. And Smith was wonderful, as per.
Sorry, OT. Wrong thread. ;-)
I agree. And the sad part is that The Pandorica Opens was so good. It was such a good setup ruined by a horrible "Back to the Future 2 (stacking)/Clap for Tinkerbell and it will all be good (wishful) conclusion". It was like biting into a chocolate (when the outer chocolate is so good) only to find that it has that horrible coconut stuff inside. What do you do? You spit it out and grab a different piece of chocolate.
Still, it was better than that heaping pile of excrement known as The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe.
Easily Moffat's worst episode, though not all the blame attaches to him. Whenever Matt Smith says "I know" (which he does a lot), we are presumably supposed to think "Eleventh Doctor effortlessly demonstrates his wonderful natural rapport with children", but MS's delivery actually suggests "Mr Creepy Childmolester preps his next victim". I find the whole episode unwatchable on that account, although it is only the rancid icing on the chunky cake of Moffat's scriptwriting failures in the episode.
I rather liked Let's Kill Hitler.
The supporting cast were wasted like never before, the kids were annoying (particularly the boy), the resolution flat, the story unengaging, even Matt Smith didn't impress me with this one. After the big song and dance at the end of Series 6 about The Doctor being too noisy, and then he shows up here blowing up a spaceship above wartime England. It was utterly awful.
The Bells of Saint John is nowhere near as bad, but I consider it another big offender. It exemplified the poor pacing and resolution to most of the stories in the back half of Series 7, and was a sign of things to come. The whole thing took Doctor Who from acceptably mad and whimsical into the realms of the unacceptably ridiculous. The Doctor confronted the villain for about thirty seconds, again wasting the guest cast and not allowing for much in the way of decent character development.
And though it wasn't necessarily badly written The Day of the Doctor was a poor concept, and so in that regard is for me one of the worst Moffat stories. It totally tried to eclipse all that had come before, undermining the hard acting work (from Eccleston, Tennant and Smith predominantly) and viewer investment in the Doctor's emotional story by undoing the events that had come before. Moffat had already caused damage to the show by removing the threat of death so much, and now he was removing the threat of consequences. If The Doctor is able to rewrite his own life, then why the hell should I have any investment or sympathy for his character? I just don't care. Additionally, the Zygon story was dull and everything else just felt like one big gimmick...for a show with the ability to travel throughout the whole of time and space this episode was lacking in innovation, creativity and wonder on the writers part. A greater shame because the whole thing was beautifully acted, wonderfully shot and brilliantly produced. Thankfully Series 8 is also all of those things, and dare I say it has so far been written a bit better as well.
I'm glad someone else was less than impressed with 'Day of the Doctor'. I thought it was a huge disappointment and was marred by many of the things that irk me most about Moffat's writing. It annoys me when the production team put in so much effort only for all their work to be scuppered on the jagged rocks of a crappy script.
I think the worst thing was that as a viewer, I wanted to enjoy it so much. I'd managed to avoid overhyping myself, I'd accepted Eccleston (my favourite) wasn't likely to show up and I had set my standards at a rather average level...but was still disappointed by it. I'd watched An Adventure in Space and Time just before it and that was far more poignant and impressive.
I was never too keen on Tennant's Doctor, particularly when by himself, so his return meant little to me anyway. But having him show up with an immediate "Allonsy" just highlighted how Moffat can quickly turn characters into caricatures, and it's so annoying! Then there was his whole plot with Elizabeth I which both fizzled out and seemed utterly pointless.
The War Doctor was the biggest problem though, and at no fault of John Hurt who was superb. The concept of a hidden regeneration is an interesting one, but the reasons given were ridiculous - The Doctor has always been honest about his regenerative capabilities, and he's always been honest about the genocide he caused...so why would it even matter to anyone else which of those faces fought the war? This 'secret' was only a secret to the viewer, a nonsensical plot twist to shoehorn in a gimmick, and a high-profile actor into the role. Then Moffat makes the problem worse by having the War Doctor so likeable throughout, insisting he's not really The Doctor but then not conveying that on-screen. As a final kick in the teeth, they even hinted at a possible appearance from Eccleston by showing Hurt's regeneration...it was a very sore point for the story, given the attention that had been given to the whole will he/won't he appear in the build-up, and a bit unfair on the people who either enjoy his Doctor so much, or even were introduced to Doctor Who through him. It was awful. And such a shame as Hurt was fantastic, particularly alongside Billie Piper who also did a stunning job.
There was just so much potential for that 50th Anniversary, so many infinte possibilities and ideas. And for me it was outdone by The Night of the Doctor, An Adventure in Space and Time and The Five(ish) Doctors...all of which were much more inventive, surprising, fun, well-crafted and celebratory. Such a shame.
'The Five(ish) Doctors' was hilarious
Tries way too hard to subvert expectation that it just becomes boring, and showing how fallible the points of view of the characters could be takes away all of the tension. Having a resolution that raises ten times more questions than answers and then just ending the episode is just plain bad writing.
The Beast Below isn't far behind.
It felt like a complete rush job, had some truly cringey moments and is by the worst Christmas special we've had too.
Mainly because I personally collected every DVD, Blu-ray and Hard drive that ever held a copy of that disgusting facsimile of Doctor Who, and consigned it to the depths of Hell.
I also erased all memory of it, and destroyed all mention of the title on line.
I even went so far as to speak to Matt Smith and he admitted it wasn't even him that filmed that episode. He totally refused point blank to do it, as even he knew it was so cr*p. So Moffat decided to have his face digitally imprinted on another actor, same as they did for Terminator Salvation.
So as you can see, that episode whose name cannot be spoken, doesn't even exist anymore.
My main gripes with Dave the Dog Turd:
• Given all the build-up I thought that FINALLY we'd see, on screen, the Doctor fighting in the time war... instead most of the "action" took place in a deserted barn in the middle of nowhere and centered around the decision whether to push a button on a box. Why bother writing a story about the time war if you don't have the budget to do it justice?
• The side stories were flat, boring and unengaging - the Zygon's presence was totally redundant and as for the whole 10 / Elizabeth I thing, the less said about that the better.
• Although while we're on it, no offence to her , but Joanna Page as Elizabeth I is one of the most horrendous miscastings I've ever seen.
• The whole creation and presence of the War Doctor felt totally unnecessary - the Doctor knows and acknowledges that sometimes he has to do terrible things for the greater good - why did we have to trample over the character's established history just to have a shock reveal at the end of the Name of the Doctor? One feels that the only reason he's there is that Moffat didn't think two Doctors was enough for an Anniversary episode, and probably wouldn't have created him at all if Christopher Eccleston had done the decent thing and returned.
• No Eccleston wasn't Moffat's fault, however the ridiculous decision to show half a regeneration, was.
• The whole thing just feels like a total missed opportunity given the enormous range of possibilities, even with just DT returning. Deciding to tell the story of the time war was (without really telling it) was, IMO, a complete waste of an important Anniversary episode.
The one and only redeeming feature is Tom Baker's bittersweet cameo at the end - bittersweet as besides being in it for less than three minutes,and having not played the part on screen in over thirty years (DiT excluded), he managed to be a better Doctor than the other three combined.
Agree with comments that The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe was very poor, but the Wedding of River Song might be worse simply because its position as season finale and resolution of multiple plot arcs means that it tarnishes a whole series. It captures everything that didn't work in series 6-7.
I'm surprised that in mentioning of best episodes that Silence in the Library hasn't been mentioned - it remains my favourite, AND the vashta nerada were a great monster of the week: surprised that they haven't returned yet.
BTW - v interesting thread and I can't believe that it's reached page 4 without people shouting each other down! Agree with many others that the negative comments shouldn't take away from the excellent episodes that Moffat has written.