Doctor Who and Episode Rankings
Guest contributor James Hill looks at how fans rate Doctor Who episodes.
A response was left to a recent comment of mine left on the 2007: Part One rankings article questioning my ‘negative’ reception to Series 3, specifically to the beginning of it. While in the grander scheme my opinion wasn’t quite as negative as the commenter initially thought, it got me thinking.
During the last week or so as a community we’ve had a chance to rate every individual episode of Doctor Who and will continue to do so over the coming weeks. There have been users that haven’t rated an episode under a 7, explaining most commonly that either a) those rankings are because of how good Doctor Who is in relationship to other shows or b) that they love the show and episodes too much to rate anything much lower.
Meanwhile, I, and other users, have used every single number on the scale. I daresay that almost of us also consider Doctor Who a very good show compared to other examples television and would indeed say that we love the show – otherwise we wouldn’t be here – and yet there are episodes that people, myself certainly included, rank very low and are very harsh towards. While I can’t speak for every user that has such “low” rankings by comparison, I can attempt to explain my own reasoning to those who may be confused or even saddened by such an apparently negative aspect towards aspect of a show they love, especially if that episode is considered a personal favorite.
In a sense, I’ve long considered myself a “critic” of sorts, and also a hopeful fiction writer. I majored in communication/journalism in college, have written media reviews, mostly film, for years in various places and bring that critical eye to most media. That hopefully doesn’t mean I’m overly snobbish or jaded, but just that I try to look as a wide range of what makes an episode tick and might make some obscure references every once in a while.
When it comes to television, I believe that essentially all shows, if they last long enough, will trend towards being “average”; if you rank every episode like we’re doing for Doctor Who, they’ll get closer and closer to a 5/10 collective ranking. Lesser shows may be slightly below average, better shows above, but I’d say that pretty much any show with a remotely full run (i.e. about 10+ episodes per series) will, if it lasts longer than about three series (this is a very rough and general estimate), rank on average between a 3 and an 8.
Doctor Who is no different; so far, Series 1 and 2 have averaged 7.5 and 6.57 from me, respectively. The best shows can trend higher, in the 7-8 range, overall, with maybe the occasional run of episodes – or, if you’re really lucky, series – above 8. However, that doesn’t mean those shows still won’t have duds, it’s impossible with that much output for any writer or group of writers to maintain that level of quality over 5 years, let alone ten for this revived show or 52 for the series as a whole.
But what keeps me and so many others coming back to Doctor Who over the years is that it has many more good and great episodes than other shows, and enough to more than balance out the bad. Plus, the fact that it’s managed to keep that momentum going for so long with such creativity and depth is astonishing, even with the occasional misstep.
In a sense, I may very well rank shows more harshly when I know that they are one of my “favorites”, because I know from prior experience that they can be truly great. When I’m teeing off on an episode, it’s because I’ve seen the heights this show can reach and judge it accordingly when it fails to reach those levels. Obviously, my opinions over what counts as a height and what counts as a “failure” will differ from many others, and that’s the brilliance of any ranking or criticism, brilliance made very clear through these polls and comments.
However, despite any frustrating series or perceived “failures” I’ve never considered walking away from the show in the relatively short time I’ve been watching it because any time I started doubting the quality of some episodes, a run of greatness occurred. That has stood consistent for at least 8 seasons and, judging by the fans still around from the classic series, has also stood consistent for 34, and I trust it will continue in the future. Sure, some of us might criticize certain aspects of the show for others, but any reviewer, whether someone simply leaving comments on an article or getting paid to write for a magazine, isn’t some robotic, unbiased observer but a fan with tastes and experiences that color their opinions, same as everyone else. Doctor Who has managed to survive that criticism with aplomb.
Ultimately, If the good episodes represent the Doctor’s best and the bad ones remind you of his monsters, we can all remember the words of Reinette from what might just be my personal favorite episode of Doctor Who, The Girl in the Fireplace, when she reminded Rose:
“The Doctor is worth the monsters.”
