I am running a number of polls to discover the favourite story for each Doctor. This one is for the Ninth Doctor.

Please note: The poll can sometimes take a while to appear.

This poll will be open for 7 days.

Dalek, although I have a soft spot for pretty much all of his episodes. But Dalek is simply the best, the scene where 9 first meets the Dalek is simply electrifying!

Another vote for Dalek. As someone who's watched since the mid-60s and had to endure the horror of the McCoy years, the tingle down my neck when that Dalek first appeared was incredible. I pretty much loved all of the Ninth Doctor's stories, though, and especially The Unquiet Dead.

I agree. This remains my favourite Dalek story of the New Series. It was made better because the Dalek did not care who it killed. If it was not for the fact Rose touched it (therefore changing its DNA), I have a feeling it would not have stopped killing and would have tried to kill the Doctor.

In recent stories - how long does it take for the Daleks to even attempt firing their death ray at the Doctor?

I completely agree. I still think The Unquiet Dead is Gatiss' best episode to date.

In series one the Daleks were properly scary. In both Dalek and Parting of the ways you know that they are evil and they won't stop killing for anyone. I think in series 2 and on they just lost their terror and were made just a little camp and silly

Why are we wasting our lives talking about this when we all know 'Aliens of London / World War Three' is going to romp to victory once the votes start flowing in?


Easily the best of RTD's time, with Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways being the second best, but I really like Asylum too and I don't care who knows it. It's trademark Moffat as tricksy set piece segues into tricksy set piece but no less enjoyable for it.

Forgot about Asylum, excellent ep but not as good as the Eccleston ones

Good series and wonderfully a hit so we're still here 9 years later...personally think it's Empty Child/Doctor Dances by a canter.

Much as I dislike the 9th Doctor, this Series had some really good episodes in it. Rose was a good opener, The Unquiet Dead was a hidden gem. Dalek and Father's Day were outstanding episodes. Plus in the days when Moffat knew how to write a decent uncomplicated script, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances were excellent too. Special mention for Boomtown as the humour in it always makes me chuckle and it's in this episode that The Doctor and Rose finally cotton onto the whole Bad Wolf thing.

For me though, it has to be Bad Wolf/Parting Of The Ways. A great finale, Daleks everywhere, the deadly game shows, Lynda with a Y and off course the first and still the best regeneration in the New Series yet for me. As I said in another thread this morning, none of this stretch it out malarkey, just go inside the TARDIS and regenerate.

Happy Days.

empty child/doctor dances. great setting, interesting story, and the introduction of captain jack

Just a thought for the OP, when all the polls are done are you gonna do a poll of the winners of each poll? Could be fun

Pretty risible comment from a usually well-reasoned poster


I would say 'The Empty Child' is the only Ecclestone I would ever really have the urge to re-watch, and that seems very slightly clunky now compared to Moffat's later scripts.

I enjoy 'Boomtown' until the cop-out ending. None of the others I'm really much of a fan of. The first two seasons of the relaunched show I don't really like much of, to be honest.

Dalek

I am indeed. Once all 11 polls have closed and the winners of each have been decided, the final poll will be to pick your favourite of the 11.

I see I am the only one who voted for The Unquiet Dead. So proud of it!

I voted for the Slitheen two parter Aliens of London/World War Three, as I think it's the strongest of the series.

Possibly Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways in second place followed by Dalek in third place.

It's tough for me. The Empty Child/Doctor Dances are definetley the best episodes in the series, but I don't ENJOY watching them. They scare me too much lol. So although I acknowledge how good they are, my favorite (the ones I enjoy watching most) are the final two episodes.

It's a just an opinion, I really think Moffat's work was far better during RTD's Era than his own and the Blitz two-parter was probably the best of the lot for me.


I love The Unquiet Dead. As I said above, it's a Hidden Gem. There are so many other stronger stories in the Series that it often gets forgotten unless discussing Mark Gatiss stories off course.

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. Very easy decision for this series.

Despite just one series this is still not an easy choice. I feel that the first series hit the nail on the head with how Doctor Who should feel...perhaps with the odd dialling down with some of the domestics.

The Unquiet Dead was a lovely episode, an absolute gem as others have quite rightly stated. For a long time it was the only Mark Gatiss script I thought was really stand-out, though he has since rebounded with the excellent The Crimson Horror and the wonderful An Adventure in Space and Time.

Aliens of London/World War Three is another decent story, which many would disagree with. But aside from the farting gags and the awkward cgi-prosthetic Slitheen transitions I felt there was a very cool story under it all...aliens faking alien invasions, it felt very original for the show.

Dalek was another absolute hit, a true classic. It did exactly what it needed to and put the Daleks front and centre of the bad guy roster for the show, and of course a whole new younger audience who perhaps had not seen Daleks before.

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances was yet another classic. I love this story to pieces and it's nice to see a slower paced story from Moffat who now churns out 45 minute finales and intense epics of timey-wimey proportions. Not to say I don't like a lot of what he does now, but I think his better ideas were back here.

Boom Town was a wonderful calm-before-the-storm type episode and Annette Badland was absolutely brilliant as Margaret in this. We don't get episodes like this any more - they'll never be the one that most people regard as their favourite, but they're the ones that deserve and get a special mention because they do something a little more poignant than usual. The episode ultimately boils down to a conversation in a restaurant (in Cardiff!) but what a conversation it was. It was great to explore The Doctor's morals and the consequences he usually runs from.

But for me, the best Eccleston story has to be the series finale. Largely down to The Parting of the Ways, Bad Wolf isn't without merit. The opening episode has the wonderfully creepy 'Controller' character at the heart of it all, and the trashy games are fun and tense in good measure. Then the story ups the ante in part two with what I consider to be the best Dalek story we've yet seen in the revival. Nine's exit was dignified and emotional without being too drawn out, and Rose's iconic Bad Wolf stuff was so vital that it became part of her return in Series 4 and was again part of the show for its 50th Anniversary. The episodes also mark the first named reference to Torchwood and also introduce Captain Jack's immortality - there's a lot here that makes this a defining story of Doctor Who and it still stands up well now as a gripping two episodes.

The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances. I'd never got emotional watching Doctor Who before I saw this!

This is the only Ninth Doctor story I can watch over and over.

Lots of great stories in one season but I went with Dalek. It put the Dalek back on top as the truly terrifying and unstoppable force it was always meant to be.

I thought it was a good season and loved the emphasis on character. It worked really well as family entertainment.

I just loved the whole scene in the episode Dalek when 9 meets it for the first time..his reaction is amazing.

I loved Dalek and the parting of ways..to be honest the whole series is good but these stood out for me.