Just a bit of fun to pass the time between series... which, in your view, is the best post-2005 series opener? (Let's include The Bells of Saint John too given the fact that it was pretty much a fresh start and was near enough publicised as if it were a new series opener.)

I think Matt's entrance and his 'I am the Doctor' speech still tops the list for me, but it doesn't mean I think the others aren't good.

My favourites in order of most liked to least are:

1 The Eleventh Hour

2 The Bells of Saint John

3 Deep Breath

4 Asylum of the Daleks

5 Partners in Crime

6 Smith and Jones

7 The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon

8 Rose

9 New Earth

I enjoy Rose - it certainly sets up the show well and is fun to watch, but there are stronger episodes. New Earth, again, fun but tonally all over the place and a bit of an oddball. Deep Breath is good after about the first half an hour, when the plot actually kicks in and the Paternosters are less. The Bells of Saint John, I quite like, but it's not really anything new and I didn't like all the new changes brought in with it. Asylum of the Daleks is pants, and the weakest of the lot if you ask me.

So... for me, it's between Smith and Jones (even Moffat has said this is the a fantastic series opening episode), Partners in Crime, The Eleventh Hour and The Impossible Astronaut.

I went for Partners in Crime in the end though, mainly because I was blown away by Catherine Tate and I liked the 'romp' comedy feel they went for, and I just felt it kicked off Series 4 brilliantly. A mix of everything, with Tennant at the top of his game, and there was a real confidence to everything.

If I were to try and rank them, today I'd go...

1. Partners in Crime
2. The Eleventh Hour
3. Smith and Jones
4. The Impossible Astronaut
5. Rose
6. Deep Breath
7. The Bells of Saint John
8. New Earth
9. Asylum of the Daleks

For me, Partners in Crime is one of the best nuWho episodes. Its just hilarious and heartfelt too. But Rose is brilliant too. Here's my list:

1. Partners in Crime
2. Rose
3. Smith and Jones
4. New Earth
5. Deep Breath
6. Asylum of the Daleks
7. The Impossible Astronaut
8. The Eleventh Hour

I don't personally count 'The Bells of Saint John' as a season opener any more than I would 'Let's Kill Hitler'.

And to this day I don't understand why so many DS members rave about The Eleventh Hour. But, hey, each to their own!

1. Rose
2. The Eleventh Hour
3. Partners in Crime
4. Deep Breath
5. Smith and Jones
6. The Impossible Astronaut
7. Asylum of the Daleks
8. New Earth

Yeah, I wouldn't count The Bells of Saint John in that list either.

But my listing would be...

08 - Smith and Jones (Series 3)
07 - New Earth (Series 2)
06 - The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon (Series 6)
05 - Deep Breath (Series 8)
04 - The Eleventh Hour (Series 5)
03 - Rose (Series 1)
02 - Partners in Crime (Series 4)
01 - Asylum of the Daleks (Series 7)

Smith and Jones was dull and boring to me, with a villain who was interesting enough but a cheap and terrible premise... a woman in a nightgown with a straw, and not the slightest hint she was anything more.

New Earth was a camp romp at best, but I enjoyed it for the final scene with Cassandra, very poignant.

The Impossible Astronaut story was an interesting idea, but also the point where the Eleventh Doctor became a caricature of himself, spouting catchphrases over and over. The resolution at the end of Series 6 was a let down and didn't do the story any favours.

Deep Breath gave us some great scenes, but as a whole the story was kind of flat and one of my least favourites from Series 8.

The Eleventh Hour was interesting and did a good job at setting the new tone for the story. In fact it was a shame this vision of Leadworth wasn't used again... it all lost its way after that.

Rose is a pretty bog-standard episode, but just what the Doctor ordered ( ) to get a new generation of viewers into the show...including myself.

Partners in Crime was a brilliant reintroduction for my favourite companion, and the Adipose were adorable - which in itself was an interesting and original direction. A relatively harmless and even cute alien posing a threat... it was quite novel and I liked it. It was a lot of fun, kicking off a fun series, and even had the brilliant Rose cameo.

Asylum of the Daleks was a wonderfully self-contained story that looked the part, stepped the acting game up and was one of the few Series 7 episodes I considered to actually be well written (ignoring the pointless infertility bit from Amy). Jenna Coleman debuted here as well, in a tragic turn as a sort-of-Clara. Oswin was a highlight of Series 7.

The Eleventh Hour. Sorry Mulett, I think it's a wonderful introduction to my favourite (so far) C21 Doctor. Very fond of most of the other episodes too, although think 'New Earth' is a bit ordinary. Probably vote Partners in Crime second because of my beloved Donna and it's great fun,and TIA/DOTM third because it's really well filmed, written and acted. As I said, fond of the others too. Asylum.....is great.

For me, it's:

1. The Impossible Astronaut/Day Of The Moon
2. Asylum of the Daleks
3. The Eleventh Hour
4. Partners In Crime
5. New Earth
6. Rose
7. Smith & Jones
8. Deep Breath
9. The Bells Of Saint John

I voted for The Eleventh Hour just pipping Rose

My viewing of Classic Who was quite limited. I watched Rose mainly out of curiosity but was immediately hooked.

It was close, but Partners in Crime just beat The Eleventh hour.
They're both great, but I just think Partners really captures the spirit of Doctor Who.
Rose is excellent too; great reintroduction into the show.

New Earth, Bells of Saint John, Smith and Jones and Deep Breath are all perfectly fine.
The Impossible Astronaut was a great hook.
Always thought Asylum was dire.

From most to least favourite:

1. Deep Breath
2. Smith and Jones
3. Partners in Crime
4. Rose
5. New Earth
6. Asylum of the Daleks
7. The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
8. The Bells of St John
9. The Eleventh Hour

(Again, I'm not a big fan of The Eleventh Hour, but they're all excellent to good episodes IMO.)

For me, it has to be Rose. A great introduction to an even greater Character. Plus it was the very first episode of C21 Doctor Who. Seeing the Earth going round, then zooming in on England and London was cleverly done. Also Rose 'nearly' getting captured by the Autons before the Doctor says ''Run!'' was also just as good.

My second choice is The Eleventh Hour. Matt's introduction was well done, as was his first series. Shame DW seemed to go downhill slightly after that.

It has to be with Steven Moffatt's over use of 'Timey-Wimey'. There seems to have been a lot of 'Timey-Wimey' moments since the beginning of Series 6 four years ago.

1 Smith and Jones
It was a toss up between this and 'Eleventh Hour' but 'Smith and Jones' just pips it because... well... it's absolutely bonkers. It's ridiculous. A hospital...on the moon... space Rhino Cops... a straw sucking granny vampire alien..and a little shop... !!!!! Yet it all works. It is told at such an energetic and fun pace with sharp witty dialogue it's hard for me not to like it. And Doctor Who is the only show that could pull off such nonsense with such relish.

2 The Eleventh Hour
Matt Smith hits the ground running. The Eleventh Hour really should have been the base/template for the Smith era. A wonderful secondary cast that would have been welcome to make reappearances. Jeff...in the Tardis....Mrs Angelo as Amy’s confidant. The people of the village all knowing Amy’s time travelling secret but having her and The Doctors back at all times. It's such a no brainer, imo, to use Leadworth as a recurring ‘touchdown’ base for our protagonists.

3 Rose
A wonderful introduction. Does exactly what it should do without cramming 40 odd years of baggage down the new viewer’s throat. Rose's first Tardis moment is still one of the best.

4 Partners in Crime
Daft as a brush, a bit irritating in places but still enjoyable.

5 Asylum of the Daleks
Take out the Amy/Rory guff and the hammering home of 'souffle girl' this would be higher. Looks gorgeous and the Dalek/Clara twist is one of Steven Moffat’s finest.

6 New Earth
Another bonkers episode. It doesn't all quite hang together but I always end up enjoying it more than I thought I would on a rewatch.

7 Deep Breath
Great turn from Peter Capaldi, some wonderful dialogue and scenes, notably the restaurant and Clara in peril scenes. A bit too overlong though with the Paternoster gang becoming more than tiresome.

8 The Bells of Saint John
RTD esque fast paced episode. Not a lot wrong with it but it doesn't quite hit that sweet spot.

9 The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon.
I haven't all day to type out how this was the beginning of a rapid decline regarding my enjoyment of the show in it's then guise.

Genuinely think it's Asylum of the Daleks. That might go down as one of my favourite episodes ever. I loved the Eleventh Hour but I never really understood the hype with it. It was good and fun, but I don't know. I prefer Asylum, because it was absolutely awesome.

1. The Eleventh Hour (9/10)
2. The Bells of Saint John (8/10)
= Partners in Crime (8/10)
= Smith and Jones (8/10)
= The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon (8/10)
6. Deep Breath (7/10)
7. New Earth (6/10)
8. Asylum of the Daleks (4/10)
= Rose (4/10)

The good thing is that there is no a really bad episode. Even Rose is just 'below average'.

But then, isn't that the point? In so many DW stories, the villain is a somewhat necessary distraction. In this case, the nature of the threat is second fiddle to our new hero's reaction to it all. On that level it succeeds.

Indeed. The weakest element of Smith & Jones (and even the entirety of series 3 overall) if anything has to be Martha Jones IMO.

Ah, I can't agree. Here at least, she's awesome. She proves herself as a worthy equal to the Doctor, working out they have must have air somehow, and doing her bit in the circumstances when everyone's panicking. She really holds her own. That balcony scene on the moon is quite something. Freema's easily one of the best things about SAJ.

I don't know I was perhaps expecting something...more along the lines of say how Rosanna Calvierri in The Vampires of Venice is typically a woman in-show but has occasional glimpses of being a giant fish person. Or how the citizens of Sto in Voyage of the Damned are human in appearance all the way, but enough time is spent talking about their culture and homeworld that you can excuse it.

Not until the end of Smith and Jones with a small reference to the murder of a some kind of Princess did we even get a reference to this character doing something remotely non-Earthy.

I mean, it wasn't a big thing. It alone didn't spoil the episode for me, and this is the most I've ever even talked about it so it doesn't matter to me that much. The actress concerned did a good enough job as well. I just feel that when you've got the Judoon marching in and looking genuinely alien and somewhat intimidating, that in an episode so dependent on spectacle we don't get a hint of an impressive alien to face-off against.

The Doctor and Martha are both brilliant here though. I enjoyed their relationship earlier in Series 3 more so than later on, and The Doctor was hilarious here. I hadn't cared much for Tennant through Series 2, but from The Runaway Bride onwards I felt his Doctor had improved a lot.

I like Freema Ageyman (great actor and lovely tweeter) but I can't stand Martha in any episode she's in. She just grates on me.

Yeah, I can understand that. Even her henchmen were fairly bland - put a guy in motorbike gear and you're done. The Judoon were the principal antagonists in that story, I guess - in the same way as the Atraxi were in Eleventh Hour. In fact, in exactly the same way.

It just seemed odd that The Sarah Jane Adventures was able to do a Judoon story and feature two very distinct aliens (namely the Judoon and the Androvax) whilst this one only the one...and then grannies and bikers. I guess the bulk of expense for Smith and Jones actually went on depicting the moon?

Still it's all only minor issues I had. On the whole I find the episode watchable, it's just not one I personally look forward to watching. There's a few episodes around that part in the series I look forward to far more

My favourites in order of most liked to least are:

1 The Eleventh Hour

Hit the ground running. Terrific.

2 Asylum of the Daleks

Soufflé Girl and Chin Boy. And Daleks too! Wonderful.

3 The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon

TARDIS in the Oval office. Timey-wimey and River Song.

4 Rose

Great intro for new viewers. Run!

5 Partners in Crime

Brilliant re-introduction of Donna. Adipose? Meh.

6 Smith and Jones

Martha's great and I loved the timey-wimey bit with the tie.

7 The Bells of Saint John

Good story, but Jenna's acting was a bit flat for me.

8 Deep Breath

Yo-yo Clara didn't ring true for me.

9 New Earth

Meh. Good character moments though.

The Judoon were created for Smith and Jones though, so by the time the later episodes come around, most of the costume work is already done.

Partners in Crime.

Tennant and Tate's banter, that window scene, the near misses at the start; they all make up for the awfully cuddly villains, the adipose.

But I still love it nonetheless.

Rose was also a great opener for the series.