Top 10 Favorite Episodes of Doctor Who

Hello readers!  My Whovember celebration continues in this post.  I suspect by now all us Whovains have watched the trailer for the 50th anniversary episode over a thousand times, and all I can say is, "Is it Nov. 23rd yet?!"  I can't wait to see the Tenth Doctor again, and for him to meet the 11th Doctor just fills me with what can only be described as unimaginable excitement and glee.

Face of unimaginable excitement and glee.

Today I'm going to talk about my Top 10 favorite episodes from the show.  These are my personal favorites, the episodes I find myself going back to watch again and again when I have a spare hour to kill from reading Doctor Who fanfiction.  Now, I want to be very clear that I don't think these are the Top 10 best episodes, just my personal favorites.  I plan to do another list later on, of the Top 10 Best.  Also, I should state again, that for the moment, I still haven't been able to watch any Classic Who, so all the episodes come from New Who.  One day I will catch up with the Classic Episodes, and then I plan to re-evaluate all my lists. So no complaining that there isn't anything from the classic episodes please. ; ) If you have some favorite episodes from Classic Who, I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

Without further ado, let us begin the list of Top 10 Personal Favorite Episodes of Doctor Who! (Hooray!)

Honorable Mention: A Christmas Carol
Doctor: 11th

Now, as an American Whovian, I only recently discovered that not all Doctor Who episodes are up in Netflix, or available in the iTunes seasons.  So it was only these past couple of weeks that I realized that I had missed some of the Eleventh Doctor's Christmas specials.  Fortunately, my local Barnes & Nobles has them available on DVD, so I raced down to my store to procure them.  One of these episodes was A Christmas Carol.

I do believe I've stepped into a classic English  novel. Jolly good!

I liked A Christmas Carol immensely--it's a lighthearted romp of an episode, with a great guest star in Michael Gambon, and some hilarious scenes with the Doctor.  The spirit of Christmas is definitely present throughout, and I liked the images of the fish swimming in the air.  Overall, I found it a very fun and heartwarming episode.

#10: Partners in Crime
Doctor: 10th

Okay, I have to say this episode contains one of my favorite moments in the whole series, and that is when the Doctor and Donna meet up again after spending the episode just narrowly missing each other.  Them spotting each other through the windows, and their subsequent mime conversation is hysterical.  I love Donna Noble--she is by far my favorite companion, and it's the scenes like the one mentioned above that cement her status.  For this scene alone, this episode breaks my Top 10 favorite.  I don't care so much about the plot, but watching the antics of the Doctor and Donna as they separately work on the same case makes me smile, and then their banter when they discover each other is just fantastic.

Doctor: Mwahahaha...
Donna: Can't believe I want to hang out with a crazy alien.

#9: The Girl in the Fireplace
Doctor: 10th

I love The Girl in the Fireplace because it combines everything I love about Doctor Who--time travel, hilarious scenes, heartbreak, and a great guest star in Sophia Myles (She played Beth in another favorite TV show of mine, the cancelled-too-soon Moonlight).  Not only that, but it's an episode that takes place in the future and the past simultaneously, which is awesome, because I always like it when the Doctor goes to the past.  The episode is also frightening with the clockwork men, and the ship using human parts to make repairs definitely struck the right note of scary disturbing.  So much happens in this episode--the Doctor finding a horse, inventing the banana daiquiri, subsequently getting drunk (which leads to one of the best lines: Rose: "Oh look what the cat dragged in, the oncoming storm."), and crashing aforementioned horse into a ballroom and declaring himself a Time Lord. Just awesome.

#8: The Lodger/Closing Time
Doctor: 11th

Oh, The Lodger and Closing Time how I adore your hilariousness.  I'm counting these two episodes as one, because to me, they really sync together.  In The Lodger the Eleventh Doctor gets stuck on Earth and has to pass for human while solving a mystery in his landlord's house.  His poor, bemused landlord Craig is utterly baffled by this weird person who calls himself The Doctor and this is where the episode's comedy shines.  Then, in Closing Time the Doctor comes back for a visit, and we are introduced to Craig's infant son, who calls himself Stormageddon, which I think is possibly the best name for a baby ever.

Stormageddon: You will fear me.

I always enjoy it when the story is focused more on the characters than the spectacle, and that is definitely what The Lodger and Closing Time are all about.  And at the end of The Lodger when Craig tells the Doctor to keep a set of keys, it warms my heart.

#7: The Doctor's Daughter
Doctor: 10th

Where do I start with The Doctor's Daughter?  I love this episode because it gives us a glimpse of the Doctor's past, has both Martha and Donna as companions, and introduces the best wasted plot line of New Who episodes, in Jenny, the Doctor's daughter.  I really liked Jenny as a character, and it seems a shame that we haven't gotten to see her again so far. I also enjoyed how the episode shows the friendship between the Doctor and Donna.  It is so easy and natural between them, and I like that the Donna isn't afraid to speak her mind to the Doctor and tell him that he's wrong about not being able to care for Jenny.  It's a very heartwarming moment, when you think that finally the Doctor may be a bit happier, so it's made all the more crushing when Jenny dies.

I need a cookie or some chocolate or something *sobs*

But what's really cruel, is that Jenny isn't actually dead, but the Doctor leaves before that's discovered. ARGH! WHY?!  WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME SHOW?! SERIOUSLY!

Seriously, why?!

I really would love to see Jenny reunite with her Dad one day!  Come on!  It's not too much to ask. There are some great story possibilities there.

#6: The Shakespeare Code
Doctor: 10th

So, I was an English Literature major in college, and the Doctor traveled back in time with Martha to meet William Shakespeare.  Also, part of their plan to save the world involved quoting Harry Potter.  I feel that should be sufficient explanation on why this is one of my favorites.

HE MEETS SHAKESPEARE!!! *does the dance of joy*

So there are the first 5 of my Top 10.  Next Sunday, I will finish up the list. : )

Fun Fact of the Day: David Tennant is married to Georgia Moffet, who played his daughter in The Doctor's Daughter, but she is the actual real life daughter of Peter Davison who played the 5th Doctor.  Their child is the only child in the world who can say that both her Dad and her Grandfather are the Doctor.

TTFN! Ta Ta For Now!