After many years off of our TV screens, Doctor Who returned in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston at the helm in the titular Time Lord’s role. Billie Piper played the role of Rose Tyler, while a variety of new and old faces alike arose on both sides of the good and evil divide. There were some incredible standout moments in this season and some lower moments that didn’t quite meet the hype.
We’ve used IMDb to rank the thirteen series one episodes, from the weakest to the most thrilling.
13 Aliens Of London (7.0)
The first in the two-part story of the Slitheen was the most poorly received episode in the revived first season of Doctor Who. A few interesting ideas are at play at first, with Rose’s disappearance for an entire year kicking things off, before a modified pig driving a ship into Big Ben creates yet more mystery. The episode ends with the reveal of massive green aliens (Slitheen) who have compressed themselves into human suits and worked their way into the British government.
12 World War Three (7.0)
‘World War Three’ directly follows on from ‘Aliens Of London’ and continues to undermine the interesting ideas at play with downright stupidity. The Slitheen undermine the shock value that accompanied the Doctor Who monsters of old with childish attempts at comedy: they fart all the time, and the dramatic climax of the episode sees them killed with... vinegar.
11 Boom Town (7.1)
Rounding off the bottom three season one episodes is the third and final Slitheen episode of the season, and the final time the Slitheen would appear in Doctor Who. ‘Boom Town’ was a replacement episode, and it shows.
Mostly centered on the moral repercussions of the Doctor’s actions in the two episodes above, but fails to land. It does have the rather rare accolade of being an episode in which the enemy shows remorse and desires a second chance to be better, though.
10 The Long Game (7.1)
Back in 2005, Simon Pegg was a well-loved British comedy actor who had played fantastic roles in the likes of Shaun Of The Dead and Spaced. He hadn’t yet taken a huge role in Star Trek and become a worldwide name, and as such, he portrayed The Editor in this episode, which introduced Satellite Five and the ill-fated failed companion, Adam.
9 The Unquiet Dead (7.5)
Now that we had made it to episode three, the novelty of a return to Doctor Who had worn off somewhat and we were taken all the way back to Cardiff on Christmas Eve 1869 for a story about reanimated corpses and a gas creature known as the Gelth. This episode is notable for introducing Eve Myles as Gwyneth, an actress who would go on to play Gwen in Torchwood.
8 Rose (7.5)
‘Rose’ was the first episode of the revived Doctor Who that we ever saw. Rose Tyler was an ordinary girl working in a clothes shop in London before the Auton invasion and the presence of Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor. It showed us all of the comedic, campy moments to expect from later in the season, but it wasn’t yet perfect.
7 The End Of The World (7.6)
The second episode of Doctor Who season one introduced us to the absolute limits of crazy alien interaction. We were immediately zapped all the way to the day the Earth finally expanded and introduced to various colorful characters, including Lady Cassandra, ‘the last human’. With moments of genuine heartbreak, this showed a mature side of the show at times.
6 Father’s Day (8.4)
‘Father’s Day’ is remembered as one of the most challenging episodes of Doctor Who, as it tackled the truly harrowing topic of Rose’s father’s death. By going back in time and saving him, she altered time in a way it shouldn’t have been altered. It was brought down by some truly awful animation and a variety of plot holes that would arise when viewed in relation to later episodes.
5 Dalek (8.7)
The Daleks are the most iconic and long-lasting bad guys in all of Doctor Who. Back in the 60s, they would make children hide behind their sofas and their return to the forefront of Doctor Who evoked that same feeling.
This episode showed us just how far Daleks had come, though, with a sense of emotion and feeling creeping into their haunting presence.
4 Bad Wolf (8.7)
The penultimate episode of season one was centered on one of the most goosebump-inducing phrases in Doctor Who history: ‘Bad Wolf’. We returned to Satellite Five for some light-hearted parodies of British TV shows, before the Daleks made their way into the show once again.
3 The Doctor Dances (9.1)
Part two of one of the most famous storylines in Doctor Who history was a marvel of genuine horror and emotional writing. Russel T Davis gave the perfect pay off to the brilliance of ‘The Empty Child’, while furthering the intricacies of the bond between Rose and The Doctor.
2 The Parting Of The Ways (9.1)
The dramatic conclusion to season one brought many things. Rose became the physical embodiment of Bad Wolf, Captain Jack seemed to have died and we saw the Doctor regenerate for the first time in many, many years. On top of that, we got more from the Emperor Dalek and a truly exciting, emotional storyline.
1 The Empty Child (9.2)
‘The Empty Child’ is remembered for the titular child’s haunting call of “are you my mummy?” as he wanders the landscape of a war-torn London. We also met Captain Jack Harkness for the first time in ‘The Empty Child’ and were provided with arguably the creepiest scenes in Doctor Who history, even if the CGI wasn’t quite up to scratch yet. This deserves its title as the best episode of season one and its impressive 9.2 average.
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August 06, 2020 at 05:30AM
