Ok, since Charlie Jane got me thinking about it, here’s something to distract us: name your favorite Doctor Who story and I’ll try to say something about it. Might be a fun fact, might be an opinion, might be anything. I’m stronger on the 20th century series, but I have watched everything. - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

tiptransformed.bsky.social • 123 days ago

Ok, since Charlie Jane got me thinking about it, here’s something to distract us: name your favorite Doctor Who story and I’ll try to say something about it. Might be a fun fact, might be an opinion, might be anything. I’m stronger on the 20th century series, but I have watched everything.

Comments

davidniallwilson.com•123 days ago

The Van Gogh episode.

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

https://bsky.app/profile/tiptransformed.bsky.social/post/3laatfiwmaz22

davidniallwilson.com•123 days ago

Brings tears.

halcyon42.bsky.social•122 days ago

Silence in the Library!

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

A really interesting monster, and, of course, the beginning and end of the Doctor’s relationship with River Song. And no, I don’t believe for a minute that Moffat had that relationship sketched out at that point!

pakelihe.bsky.social•123 days ago

My son who has watched everything gives his vote to Pyramids of Mars. He said The Empty Child is a close second for him.

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

Oh, such a good story! One of the very few to ever deal with the causality involved in the Doctor’s actions or inactions. A lot of people point out that the writer wasn’t so familiar with the characters (Sarah’s suddenly a crack shot?), but it works wonderfully. And Sutekh is magnificent.

pakelihe.bsky.social•123 days ago

He was so exceptionally happy when Sutekh showed up again this last season.

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

I yelled in surprise. It was so great! And Gabriel Wolfe read the lines!

earthenbiscuit.bsky.social•122 days ago

Thank you for this! Heaven Sent

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

Hmm. You’re far from the only person to have this as their favorite episode. It’s a really good, self contained puzzle box of the kind Steven Moffat excels at, and an acting tour de force for Peter Capaldi. I wish I had an interesting fact to tell you about it, but, alas! I got nothin’.

morganleslay.bsky.social•123 days ago

That bit in nuWho episode 2 with Cassandra playing the song of her people and it's Britney's "Toxic" will never not make me laugh.

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

It’s cute, yeah.

etheltheethel.bsky.social•123 days ago

Extremis

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

Wow, I had to look that one up to remember it. That’s not a judgement on its quality, it’s just not a story that stuck in my brain. The whole “running simulations” thing is pretty neat, as is the overarching story. I should probably give this one a rewatch at some point.

etheltheethel.bsky.social•123 days ago

It's one of my favorites for a reason. One of the most poignant episodes to me and Capaldi nails it.

"Virtue is only virtue in extremis."

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

I remember really loving that whole season, but I realize now I can’t remember most of the individual stories in it.

spacenettle.bsky.social•123 days ago

ugh my brain is so scrambled. the "Eldrad must live!" one

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

Hand of Fear! Such a weird one! It felt like two stories kind of smooshed together, but I’m glad Sarah Jane got the opportunity to get possessed one last time!

pineapplemac.bsky.social•122 days ago

Genesis of the Daleks

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

Hey, a second one? There’s so much I could write about GotD, it’s absolutely a masterpiece. Yeah, there’s some padding to get it to six full episodes, but the good so outweighs that.

And, given today, its examination of the dangers of fascism continues to be absolutely relevant.

pineapplemac.bsky.social•122 days ago

But isn't it scarily prescient, this one? Watching this as a kid [I'm now 59, so it's a while back!], I think I got a gentle but unmistakable lesson in real-world horrors and how something like fascism escalates. I feel like I couldn't watch it today :(

pineapplemac.bsky.social•122 days ago

Oh I'm greedy! I always go back for seconds :)

pineapplemac.bsky.social•122 days ago

Blink

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

Blink is an absolutely incredibly written episode that is introduces some wonderful characters who we love, but never see again. The Doctor on video scenes are masterful and the Angels are terrifying, but I do wish we could have seen those characters again!

pineapplemac.bsky.social•122 days ago

I think a possible reason why we didn't see the characters again was because this episode launched the career [and rightly so] of Carey Mulligan, putting her call-out fee beyond the budget of the Beeb.

dolari.bsky.social•123 days ago

Curse of Fenric

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

Scared the hell out of me. I saw it in 1989 or early 1990 (first PBS station in the US to get the season!), and I was 17 at the time. I’d loved the show for years, but it had never truly scared me until the two girls confronted Ace with “you should have come swimming with us.” Fantastic story!

dfarnitano.bsky.social•123 days ago

Terror of the Autons.

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

The first story really fully under the control of Letts and Dicks, since their predecessors had commissioned the entire previous series, it finally let the new team put their own mark on the show with the addition of three new regulars. Bob Holmes didn’t love writing it, but did a fantastic job!

dolari.bsky.social•123 days ago

The Beeb had them trailing the previous producer forever, and then they get the one serial, and the Beeb's all "GREAT, YOU'RE REASSIGNED GO FIX THIS OTHER SHOW."

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

Ha! Well, it’s more that Derek Sherwin had fought like hell to keep the show going. Dicks had helped with the setup, but Sherwin planned out the new format, commissioned the scripts, then left after Spearhead. So the machine was running—and it did save the show!

tluz.bsky.social•122 days ago

The Tomb of the Cybermen

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

One of my very favorites! I remember when it was found, I was over the moon, and I was not disappointed. So many wonderful moments, but the one that I always remember is the Doctor comforting Victoria, whose father had died in the previous story. “I close my eyes and I can remember them in my mind.”

tluz.bsky.social•122 days ago

I found that particular scene and speech by the Doctor very impactful this year following the passing of my mother.

tluz.bsky.social•122 days ago

It's because of those little moments that Patrick Troughton will always be my Doctor.

jayarden.com•123 days ago

The Doctor Dances!

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

I just answered The Empty Child for someone else! But yeah, as an old school fan, I was a little taken aback at first by the Doctor…dancing, but I realized it actually fits more of the previous incarnations than it doesn’t. The Third Doctor definitely danced. As did the First.

thesolitaryshrine.bsky.social•122 days ago

Listen! That one stuck with me for a long time and I had to look up the episode’s name again

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

Listen! It was a fun episode, definitely. One very much about the Doctor, but having a separate plot all its own.

I should really think about watching it again.

thesolitaryshrine.bsky.social•122 days ago

I really liked how it tied into the idea with 10 and how the doctor needs someone there for him, because he goes mad when he’s alone, but if the “listen” creature is real then he could take comfort in knowing he’s never alone… so he gets so obsessed with it, it’s fascinating

thesolitaryshrine.bsky.social•122 days ago

One downside though is that the descendant of Clara and Danny we meet can’t exist, idk if they thought that out…

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

My assumption is that they did not.

smoothunicorn.bsky.social•123 days ago

The Girl Who Waited! Probably my favorite episode of all of them.

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

Oh, that one is so good. It’s one of those few times that Moffat got the balance between clockwork puzzle plot and emotional heft absolutely correct. And it officially gave us our first Black companion traveling in the TARDIS—on TV! (We’re not allowed to count Sharon!)

violetdiscordia.bsky.social•123 days ago

rogue

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

Ha, I don’t have much to say about this one except it was fantastic and they better follow it up with something!

cliffchapman.bsky.social•122 days ago

The War Games

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

Hoo boy, there’s a lot I could say about this one. “The time the show was almost canceled for the first time,” “the one where another story fell through at the last minute, so the production team had to write a bunch more episodes,” but I think I’m going to go with an incredible triumph!

cliffchapman.bsky.social•122 days ago

Correct answer ;)

thesmithminute.bsky.social•123 days ago

The Sun Makers.

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

I appreciate this story so much more than I did as a kid. It is so funny when you think about how much Bob Holmes wrote it out of sheer anger at Inland Revenue. The story isn’t breaking huge new ground, but it’s fun to see Leelah do her thing, and I love the baddie. Haven’t seen it in a while!

nyxieneon.art•123 days ago

I cant remember the name, but yknow the one:

The Van Gogh Episode.

tiptransformed.bsky.social•123 days ago

Brilliance. Not completely accurate, in true Doctor Who tradition, but the story has a pure heart and is pretty much perfect.

datadivajf.bsky.social•123 days ago

And a brand new biography of Van Gogh came out since.

abominabledrh.bsky.social•122 days ago

"The Dæmons"

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

Definitely one of my favorites and probably the best “UNIT family” story of that entire era.

abominabledrh.bsky.social•122 days ago

Dr Who does folk horror 😍

tiptransformed.bsky.social•122 days ago

Yup!