And none of your pedantry about the ‘teens’ starting in 2013, with the narrow exception of The End of Time Pt II, Doctor Who cleaves itself quite nicely into the 2010’s for the Smith, Capaldi, and (now the) Whittaker eras. With the days waning not only for the decade but in the run-up to Series 12 (and the Tour’s exclusive focus that will follow) we’re throwing in a sly reminder about some of the best stories presented in the decade that was.
It’s becoming an old saw for us here at the Tour to remind everyone that there is a considerable legacy of content in nu-Who alone, let alone the vast expanse of the original run, so it’s understandable that as memory recedes some stories might a booster shot to become indelible. We don’t claim these are the 10 best, just the most interesting.
Presented in the order they aired:
Amy’s Choice: A sneaky, sneaky beast. Quite likely not tilting towards the populist end of Doctor Who stories and instead into more of the esoteric, the first viewing of this story with it’s laconic pacing and lack of the “monster” per se was merely “whelming.” A second, and it has to be said, more alert viewing, brought all sorts of revelations, most notably the nifty plotting and the amazing performances of Toby Jones and Karen Gillan.
A Christmas Carol: A deft combination of Moffat-style timey-wimey as well as a neat turn of the Dickens classic. For this reason alone it stands atop of the Christmassy-ness of all the Christmas Specials to date. The fairy tale qualities of flying fish and masterpiece casting of Michael Gambon provided an amazing first Smithmas for us all. Any story which gets Tour Honchos a little misty at the end of the story is almost by definition a great story, and having watched it again quite recently only reaffirmed it’s ascension to #1 in our eyes.
The God Complex: An Oddball that Works!
The Day of the Doctor: The 50th Anniversary story had so much attendant weight attached to it but would have been understandable that it might be underwhelming. But it most certainly was not. Any list of this type which excludes it is being too clever by half.
Listen: The first really important story of the Capaldi era. A story about the building blocks of fear, and the anticipation of, in storytelling.
5 down, the remainder to follow before the 20’s roar.