It may be because some people immediately label episodes they 'love' or 'hate', rather than giving a structured argument, but does anyone think some episodes of Doctor Who get undeserved levels of hate or disapproval?
The show undeniably has its ups and downs, and while this statement is true, I don't think it is possible to hate every aspect of an episode. The ones that stand out to me as getting very bad vibes that don't deserve as much as they do are....

- Fear Her: admittedly a very bland story, and layered with cheese in some of the lines near the end, but at heart it is a very touching and simple story with a very dark undertone that comes across as 'not too shabby' when it is watched. By no means is it a highlight of the franchise, but I think it sometimes gets an unfair press. I will add that I did not like the whole scene with the Doctor and the torch- took the small and simple story on a power trip.

- Love and Monsters: warped sexual innuendos and 'peter--kay-in-skimpy-underwear-as-an-alien' aside, the episode has a very deep message concerning the likes of Elton and Jackie. Surely one pantomime villain and the last 5 minutes of the episode cannot formulate an argument for 'worst episode ever'. It remains my least favourite Nu-Who story but the episode seems to get a lot of slack for something relatively minor in my opinion.

- Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks: In my opinion, this episode fares worst of all in terms of unfair amounts of hatred. It really wasn't that bad. Again it was probably the least developed and possibly worst (I hate the word 'worst') of the new Dalek stories, but there is a high standard to reach when compared with the likes of Dalek, The Parting of the Ways and The Stolen Earth. By no means classic Doctor Who, but an enjoyable hour and a half, and dodgy aesthetics aside the Dalek Sec character was quite intriguing.

Does anyone else agree. Are there any other episodes that fare badly in this way? On the other end, are there episodes which get too much praise when they are really bog-standard affairs?

I have always lvoed Fear her. A lovely little story. Small scale and ordinary, with ordinary people in an ordinary situation. A lovely break from all the CGI OTT crap.

I have listed my love for L&M on another thread recently: lvoe it.

The Dalek story is poo though.

I won't say I hate Fear Her, as "hate" is a very stong word, but it is definitely my least favourite episode of Nu Who. I believe that Fear Her was a "reserve" story, only to be produced if a proposed Stephen Fry scripted episode didn't materialise, which it didn't. Fear Her very much comes across as a "reserve" story.

I consider the Daleks in New York two-parter to be worst Dalek story ever, and Fear Her and New Earth are the only Nu Who stories I like less.

As for Love and Monsters, well its hardly one of my favourites, but I don't really mind it at all.

Any episode with a big promise and wild speculations (especially those with Daleks) will always suffer hard, somewhat unfairly I think. When something with as much scope as Victory of the Daleks is announced, I suspect there's disappointment if people feel that it doesn't go in the direction they expect.

To answer the question, I can't think of any others.

But I did rather enjoy that Dalek story. The confrontation between Doc 10 and Dalek Caan was a milestone that showed how far the Doctor's character had developed under Rose's influence since 'Dalek'. Once again they were both the last of their kind, but this time the Doctor wanted to help the Dalek rather than kill him.

Admittedly it is easy to overlook that significant moment when you're neck-deep in pig slaves and grating accents. (It was also nice to see one of our old friends the Kaled mutants.)


Edit: Actually I did think of another. Last of the Time Lords takes a lot of abuse as well.

Yes, it was

But it is unwatchable, for me at least. I cannot STAND it. I despise Simms' Master and as for the 'everyone pray for the Doc' bullsh*t. My god, I think it's worse than anything in Fear Her or Love and Monsters.

I am no a big fan of the Dalek story....as it goes its not that bad at all...it has my favourite scene ever with the gossiping Daleks!!! But Tullalah character makes it hard to watch....but I certainly do not hate it...and in the end it doesn't matter if I don't loev it a lot....because I am happy with the fact that there are a bunch young girls out there who I once overheard on the bus saying that this was their favourite story. And that is all that matters!



I love Love and Monsters, and really like Fear her...and I love LOTTL as well. Not a big fan of Victory, and not TEH and Flesh And Stone. But I know I am in the minority of the latter two.

I don't mind FH & L&M but the Dalek episodes are, for me, the worst episodes of DW (old and new) ever made.

FH does have a couple of redeeming features. I like the idea of the scribble monster for instance but it's main failing for me is that I find it incredibly dull.

L&M is pretty good. I enjoy it more each time I see it.

Evolution and Manhattan are both adequate for passing the time but are let down by an atrocious performance by Eric Loren as Diagoras and the unconvincing attempt at creating Hooverville using 3 tents.

Fear Her was not great, but not horrible
The Last Timelord w. praying was CRINGE! And Utopia and the one inbetween had been good, and the prev two finales so.. disappointing.
Dalek in NY =.. bad.. sorry. Daleks evolving again. Stupid looking and acting human dalek, it was like spoof in parts.
quite liked the L&M.. compared to some anyways.. still not a fave

L&M and possibly VOTDaleks are two episodes I would not watch again.

Hearing and seeing the group play ELO was a high point I must admit. It really did have that feel good factor. Unfortunately that idiot had to turn up when he did.

Not so much praying as transcendental-meditation-telekinesis-positive-affirmation-thingy-electronic-weirdness I dunno what.

The Christlike themes were plain to see in Last of the Time Lords.... Martha going around Earth, talking about the Doctor as if she were preaching the sermon on the mount, the Masters mockery of prayer and then of course the "Doctor, Doctor" moment.. glory to the Doctor.

I once called the Episode "Doctor Christ" because as much as I like the episode, that's how I see it.

You have reminded me of how poor some episodes have been. But I'm always amazed that an episode I think is bad turns out to be someone's favourite and vice versa.

I really didn't like L&M, it probably was my least favourite one. However, crazzy gave me a summary of why she thought it was a brilliant episode, which sounded rather good. I will watch it again with fresh eyes, and hopefully change my opinion.

As much as I didn't like wrinkly doc, I thought the praying was well done, as the power of words had been highlighted in The Shakespeare Code, together with the introduction of the archangel network which the master had already been using to "hypnotise" the general public in voting for him.

Love and Monsters is my favourite episode. Ever. I love it.

Yeah, it's annoying that they had those thematic strands to draw from and didn't. Either they didn't think of it or it was too subtle for me to catch.

But surely they did say it was because of the Archangel Network's hypnotic influence that the "praying" worked.

Without this there would be no point in this forum, or the show really. The day we all like the same things is the day that humanity starts to devolve.

they did mention both, tuning into the archangel network, and the power of just one word.

Love and Monsters was truly awful. It's the only New Who episode I really didn't like, though DIH & EOTD were pretty bad too.

Fear Her was alright, but one of my least favourites along with The Idiot's Lantern.

I've always really liked Love & Monsters, however I'm not fussed on the others mentioned in the OP.