In my opinion (and I’ve shown a complete lack of good opinions thus far), this is the best Capaldi season. It’s still not mind-blowing, but it’s definitely one of the most consistent seasons we’ve had. How would I rank the episodes?
You can read some of my other Doctor Who posts below:
9 – The Eaters of Light
Rating: C-
I don’t think any of the episodes this season are all that bad, but this one is definitely the most forgettable of the lot.
8 – Empress of Mars
Rating: C
It only took 10 seasons and 12 years, but Gatiss finally released a serviceable episode of Who.
The Ice Warriors are a formidable foe, and the Mars setting is a lot of fun too.
7 – Knock Knock
Rating: C+
I was quite excited for the episode when it came out – it seemed like the spooky episode of Who that was sorely missing from past seasons. What we got was a little disappointing, but still a decent episode.
6 – Thin Ice
Rating: C+
With Bill as the companion, there was always going to be a racially focussed historical episode. I actually thought this was OK, and it was great seeing the Doctor punch that guy in the face (that last bit only makes sense if you’ve seen the episode).
5 – Smile
Rating: B-
Possibly one of the stupidest premises we’ve ever had in the show (Emoji bots?!?), but it was executed quite well.
4 – Extremis / Pyramid at the End of the World / Lie of the Land
Rating: B-
The first three-parter since season 3 had a lot of hype surrounding it, and it kind of delivered.
I say kind of – the first two parts were great, but the final part was a bit anticlimactic. Chalk this one down to diminishing returns.
3 – Oxygen
Rating: B+
Space zombies and capitalism? Sounds like a weird episode, but Jamie Mathieson once again proves to be one of the better writers in the show’s history.
2 – The Pilot
Rating: B+
This was such a nice u-turn from seasons 8 and 9, having Capaldi’s Doctor become a university lecturer is a creative decision nobody was expecting but everybody loved.
Bill Potts also has a nice character introduction – it’s nice having a companion who isn’t the most important person in the universe, and the fact she’s going to the Doctor’s lectures for fun makes you instantly connect with her character. A great season opener.
1 – World Enough and Time / The Doctor Falls
Rating: A
I was so pleasantly surprised by this finale when it aired – Moffat hadn’t done a good finale since season 5, so an amazing finale took us all by surprise.
John Simm’s return as the Master was great to see, and the re-introduction of the Mondasian Cybermen provides a fantastic final villain to close off the season. I kind of wish this was Capaldi’s last story before his regeneration, as it would have been a perfect send-off.
Season Rating: C+
I did like this season when it aired – there are a lot of just OK episodes, but at least there were no terrible ones. Let’s see the stats for the season:
- 1 A (11%)
- 4 Bs (44%)
- 4 Cs (44%)
Very solid, not a single “bad” episode. Now let’s look at Peter Capaldi’s tenure as the 12th Doctor:
- 3 As (11%)
- 10 Bs (36%)
- 9 Cs (32%)
- 3 Ds (11%)
- 3 Es( 11%)
- 28 Stories
No too great, almost a quarter of his episode were pretty terrible, and only 1 in 9 were amazing (about one per season). Still, not bad having 79% of episodes above par, just not an ideal era to look back on.
Now for Steven Moffat’s tenure as show-runner:
- 11 As (18%)
- 19 Bs (31%)
- 16 Cs (26%)
- 10 Ds (16%)
- 6 Es (10%)
- 62 Stories
6 Es in 6 seasons isn’t a good record, and over a quarter of the episodes were sub-par. However, half of the episodes were at least good, so Moffat wasn’t the worst show-runner we’ve had (that accolade is still to come).
Next time, we look at a piece of garbage. In the meantime, you should check out some of my latest posts:
“Reality” Songs Ranked
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“Heathen” Songs Ranked
This album was the start of Bowie’s twilight years – the subject matter had become quite moody and melancholic, and somehow you get the feeling that Bowie knew his time was up on this planet. Does that make this album dreary and boring? Absolutely not. This is a huge breath of fresh air after aContinue reading ““Heathen” Songs Ranked”
