Horror of Fang Rock from old Who. Starts off as quite atmospheric but completely underwhelming and some of the performances are unbelievably awful.

Girl in the Fireplace from new Who. Those bloody clockwork things count as one of the least threatening villains ever and the rest seemed an unpersuasive homage to Tennant's Casanova turn.

Listen:

Why does every single episode of Doctor Who have to have a visible 'monster'? I often find that the worst elements of the stories are the shoe-horned 'monsters'. I like to see the occasional episode that attempts something different, like 'Listen' or 'Forests of the Night'. The latter wasn't particularly successful but 'Listen' was interesting. They tried to use suspense, instead of visual horror, something they haven't really done enough of. The only real example I can think of previously is 'Midnight'. 'They' didn't 'forget' anything; they had a concept and saw it through.

As for 'Listen' not making sense?!?!? What? Really? What? I can see it being a divisive episode, not to everyone's taste (it's not actually one of my favourites), but no no no; don't try and say that was a badly written episode. The only weakness is Danny's supposed descendant looking identical to him but I think that's passable in drama. Other than that it's masterfully written. It's okay to not like it, but to say it made no sense... no writer would say that of it, that's for sure. It's in fact very neat and clever.

Fang Rock: I used to regard it as one of the most over-rated Doctor Who serials, with some terrible guest actors, a ridiculous 'monster', and Tom Baker in a vile mood, but it's actually grown on me and strangely I now regard it as one of the most watchable Doctor Who serials. I guess that has to be down to the atmosphere triumphing over the above issues. And also, Tom Baker's seeming bad mood probably brought out some of his best moments, such as the 'we're all going to die' line. The Rutan is still absurd though. It says that it 'no longer needs the form' of the lighthouse keeper, changes into it's natural form and then promptly struggles to get up the stairs! This idiotic species is a major inter-galactic threat to rival the Sontarans?!

This is beside your point, but I actually think it was a clever idea that wasn't well executed. The flippancy in the writing really damaged the suspenseful tone it was going for.

But you're right, the answer as to whether or not there was a monster wasn't a flaw, it was part of the appeal. Interpretation an'all that.

"Bad Wolf" / "Parting of Ways": I don't just dislike, I DESPISE these episodes!!!
I hate the fact that all the "contemporary culture" references (Trinny & Susanna, Weakest Link, Davina on "Channel 44,000" etc.) went out-of-date so soon after it was made. So parochial and short-sighted of the writers!
I actually threw away my DVD's of these episodes! That's how much I hated it!
Its a shame, because I do like the regeneration sequence at the very end.

"Caves of Androzani": 100% AGREE with what others have said.
Might've worked better as Tom Baker's finale as originally intended.

"Let's Kill Hitler": Silly plot and unbearable guest character.

"A Good Man Goes To War": Messy, incoherent storyline.

"Turn Left": Find Donna annoying at best of times, so a Donna-focused episode is beyond endurance for me.

"Father's Day": Several reasons... First, 'Nine' was WEAK doctor. Actors like Baker, Smith, Capaldi or Tenant could dignify weak stories; Eccleston sometimes dragged down potentially interesting stories. Second, the CGI flying creatures are inexcusably bad. 2005 wan't THAT long ago! Third, it wasn't moving to me. I don't care about Rose's irresponsible father.

"End of Time": Does this count as a 'popular episode'?

"Time of the Doctor": Matt Smith was fantastic and deserved a better finale than this convoluted mess.

Every-Big-Overblown-End-of -Season-Episode: Especially the Tennant era Master episodes.

Oh, I love it partly for that reason! Today, we're always reviving gameshows. Who's to say in the far future we won't be doing the same? Big Brother, Trinny and Susanna, The Weakest Link... they'll probably be called "retro" or something in the far future. It's all part of the fun!

(You don't hate The End of the World because of "Toxic" being played as a 'classical ballad' on an 'iPod' [jukebox] do you?)

It wasn't short sighted either. They also use modern day weapons in the future, and RTD has said choices were deliberate, whether we're a fan of it or not. (Many of RTD's future stories feature modern day clothes/weapons rather than silly space weapons and lasers and bizarre clothes.) Plus, it's easy to assume there are more gameshows than what we hear about on the Gamestation. Also, the games don't really take up much of the story to be honest. Maybe 20-25 minutes or so within the whole 90 minutes so to hate it all on that basis is a little... odd? And as for it going "out of date"... everything dates anyway, even stuff that doesn't reference contemporary pop culture. And that's fine - cos everything is a product of its time. (All imo of course.)

The only popular story, old or nu, that truly makes me want the ground to open up and swallow me is The Doctor's Wife, I can't think of a single nice thing to say about it. (Which is a shame, as I like Suranne Jones.)

I am the only person within my circle of friends who doesn't like midnight, I can't pinpoint the reasoning behind my dislike of the episode.

I will try re-viewing it later and share my thoughts when I can be more specific

Love Genesis. Too long but love it. The edited 90 minute version they used to show on UKGold quickened up the story and made it more watchable.

I agree about it generally being a bad idea to date an episode so badly but it's worth remembering the context: they didn't know at that point if there would even be a second season, let alone that there would be a lot of people watching and analysing it in ten years time. All they were thinking of with that first season was grabbing the contemporary audience. They weren't thinking of the long-term legacy of the episodes. And they were very successful in grabbing that audience so it has to be seen as the correct approach. I honestly doubt that RTD would regret anything about that episode, even if he himself felt it now seemed dated. It was right at the time.

And even ten years on it is still popular: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-...n-your-top-ten

Personally, I feel like you with regard to my personal feelings about the episodes but in the context I agree with what they did. I definitely wouldn't say it was short-sighted. All that was important at the time was that the relaunch was successful.

The Doctor's Wife - completely overrated

So's Fear Her. While some people actually like that story, I DON'T! Neither do my parents. It has to be one of the worst scripted stories of the last ten years.

I mean, a young girl singing about a bird in a tree? Rose digging up tarmac? The Doctor eating jam out of the jar with his fingers? A poster advertising Shayne Ward's Greatest Hits? As if Shayne's going to release that! He's only had about 3, maybe 4 singles since winning The X Factor. Plus, it's been three years since 2012.

Fear her is boring. The only redeeming feature of the story is The Doctor lighting the Olympic Flame, and the party at the end.

Edna Doré wasn't bad either.

Some of the violence I don't like either in both stories. Sarah being sadistically dangled of the edge of the gantry by the man from 'All Allo!' in Genesis and the some of the deaths in Talons were a bit OTT as well.

The End of Time

Love and Monsters
Midnight I'm not overly keen on.

A particular scene in New Earth where Casandra is able to jump into the body of the doctor and take over. Sorry but a human taken over the doctor??? please.

I was going to say that, also anything with Missy in. can't stand that character.

I don't like The Pyramid Of Mars. The Mummies are unintentionally hilarious, Sutekh is useless and the 4th Doctor is too dark throughout. Crack a smile will you, Baker!

Same here. Midnight was terrible.

I would say Love & Monsters but I believe it's universally hated by pretty much everyone apart from a minority.

You're confusing 'useless' with imprisonment by unseen powers. I'd also say he was far from useless from the evidence the Doctor showed us when he travelled forwards in time to show us what the Earth would be like now that events had taken a turn. With the pressure already on with the imminent return of the mighty Sutekh, is it any wonder why the Doctor was foreboding? I wouldn't be happy either. I'm not sure if you 'get' the core of who and what the Doctor is.

He just sat on a throne and did nothing. I found it hard to believe he was 'credible' enough to cause the apocalyptic future 4 showed Sarah.

Believe it, it happened, it was shown on screen.

That doesn't mean I have to find Sutekh convincing as a villain.

The reasons you list are among the worst things about it. But on the contrary to your opinion, I think the Doctor/Olympic Flame thing is the biggest annoyance of all about the episode. It was everything about the too-oft smug Tenth Doctor I didn't like, and made a big deal out of a rather small (and pointless) episode. It probably doesn't help that Love & Monsters through to Smith and Jones was a six-episode run of contemporary Earth stories (contemporary London at that) and it holds the weakest story of all six.

Do you own The Three Doctors on DVD? Omega was a very similar enemy, 'imprisoned' by the Time Lords yet capable of immense power. Did he not convince you as a villan either? What about The Great Intelligence?

Omega was great because he actually did something. He felt like a genuine threat. The Gel Guards were much better henchmen than the Mummies in the later Tom Baker Era serial IMO. Same with The Great Intelligence.