As the Day of the doctor has brought in a shedload of new/older fans back and now we have many hopes lying on the shoulders of a new doctor alongside a writer whom many seem to hate, series 8 could quite possibly be the most important series since 5 for Moffat, and in that case the episodes need to be just the right balance in order to make a perfect series.

Because of they show's broad range of themes and settings the series requires a sort of checklist of episodes to do to make a variety of good episodes to keep it interesting, and here is my list of what makes the right style of a series:

. A historical episode: looking into earth's history and perhaps putting a spin on a popular historical concept e.g: vampires of Venice, Fires of Pompii, Vincent and the Doctor, The Emptychild/The Doctor dances.

.Sci-Fi episode: traditionally futuristic episode with tonnes of stereotypical Sci-Fi stuff. Eg. Gridlock, the Girl who waited, The End Of The World,

.a two parter: a classic of the Davis era that seems to have lacked with Moffat. Eg. Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, silence in the library/forest of the dead, human nature/ family of blood.

Monster/alien episode: some terrifying alien race on a hostile planet. Eg. Impossible planet/Satan pit, rings of Akhaten, smith and jones

Earth based episode: often an intro to a doctor or companion. Eg. The Bells Of Saint John, partners in crime,
School reunion, Rose.

Light hearted episode: can have any setting, but more of a fun approach with no attachment to the story arc at all: eg. Dinosaurs on a spaceship, the lodger, closing time.

Horror episode: now a trademark of the series is a horror themed episode. Eg. Blink (and every other weeping angel episode) the beast below, the empty child, silence in the library/ forest of the dead, the waters of mars

Finale: every series has to end with a Big Bang (literally in some cases). Eg. The Name Of the Doctor, The last of the time lords, the Big Bang.

Wildcard episode: every season brings something utterly unexpected. Eg. The Doctors Wife, the Girl who Waited, the lodger, the God Complex, dinosaurs on a spaceship.

So that's it I think, the catorgories I think should make up a series, which episodes I think they should take example from I'm not sure, though the examples I used were good episodes in my book.

As a person who in general prefer's the RTD era I will say that moffat does choose a good variance of setting's and hardly any are on modern day earth, compared to what it used to be like (which is a good thing)

This sounds good to me.

Don't forget the episode in New Zealand for Peter Jackson to direct (well here's hoping ..though its likely to be series 9 at the earliest IF it happens)

Ah, yes, the auteur episode.

I think a return to the kind of format we had in Seasons 1-4 and Season 5 is due, which was usually along these lines and I think is what a lot of people seem to be wanting...

Episodes 01-03: 1 Contemporary Earth setting, 1 Historical & 1 Futuristic

...Smith & Jones(ish), The Eleventh Hour

... The Unquiet Dead, The Girl In The Fireplace, The Shakespeare Code, Victory Of The Daleks

...New Earth, The Planet Of The Ood, The Beast Below


Episodes 04&05: 2-parter with a returning adversary, possibly from classic era*

Episodes 06&07: 1 historical or futuristic & 1 that references regeneration/Time Lords/TARDIS

...The Doctor's Daughter, Amy's Choice, Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS

Episodes 08&09: 2-parter*

Episodes 10&11: 1 futuristic or historical & 1 doctor-lite or companion-lite

...Utopia, Midnight


Episodes 12&13: 2-parter with returning adversary or new big bad

...The Parting Of The Ways, Doomsday, Journey's End(?)


...and of course one or more of the above tends to fit the description of...

...and there seems to be two ways that this works brilliantly, which is either a historical setting with an alien twist, or traditional horror themes placed in a sci-fi setting.

...though I'm not sure how necessary it is to force a...

... I think that's just a matter of juxtaposition with other episodes.

Thanks for this, mind if update the with your examples?

Thank god, thought it was going to get ripped to pieces over this!!

not at all

I definitely think one episode should be contemporary Earth and one story should a a two partner- especially the series finales.

A totally insubstantial assertion. Neither viewing figures or audience AI indicates a lack of popularity for Steven Moffat's writing. Quite the opposite: they show he is far and away the most popular author.

Some loud groups on the internet do not like him, and they are a tiny fraction of the audience. Do not confuse these two things.

Quite a few of them on the Sherlock thread at the moment. Nice quote from Camera_Obscura amidst the mayhem;

"Everybody run for your lives! The Doctor Who Forum has escaped!!!"

Made me anyway.

The Next Doctor got 13 million for BBC. Yet on here it is derided.

It just make you wonder if even being arsed to comment online marks you put as a bit of a ****wit

Unless you are Clackers.

I have missed the crap out of two-part finales.

The Pandorica Opens was the last, and it was brilliant - definitively the best series finale the show's produced. While I admire their ambition, Good Man, Wedding and Angels all felt a little cramped, and Name just plain didn't hang together for me. I appreciate it did for many others! Nothing but envy, would have loved to have loved it, but I think it's something of a curate's egg.

Finales haven't had gravity in a while, there's not a feeling that they're paying off thirteen weeks of build-up. In Series 6, the arc dipped in and out fairly erratically. For all people complain about the arc being dialled up, I don't think that was the problem. I think the problem was that the arc got stuffed into five tentpole episodes, and while the other eight did a bit of legwork - honourable mentions for the last few minutes of The Almost People and Closing Time - it wasn't anything like as deft and elegant as the series five story. Steven Moffat does a hard job very well, and I think every single one of his episodes is supremely entertaining with plenty to recommend it, but with the shopping list he had for series six, he was never going to write Silence in the Library. Structural flaws! Yes, something needs to be sorted.

I think one of Day of the Doctor's triumphs is that it was a perfect series of Doctor Who in microcosm. Even though it was this huge, gamechanging event, I was pleasantly surprised to find that at its heart there was a real, proper monster of the week story! Those zygons could have happily been an episode six, and the solution was incredibly inventive, Moffat at his best. It was set in the past, the present, and the future, there was a modern-day heist with UNIT at the centre, there were the enormous stakes of a series finale and the returning villains of an early-season two parter. It was an entire series of Doctor Who condensed into a form that made absolute sense. It wasn't cramped, but there was enough going on for it to be fascinating - I think it's everything that a series of Doctor Who should be, and that's wonderful on its anniversary. The writing team have still got it, it's just finding the format. I have faith that a thirteen episode run will once again be kind to it.

^^^This^^^

Some voices get a disproportionate amount of unquestioned respect based on their knowledge of things like what shape Robert Holmes liked his sandwiches cut into or what the special effects departments sellotape budget was for Series 17 :/

Let's leave that kind of schoolyard social hierarchy nonsense to GB shall we?

Cheers,
Shoppy