Last week, we brought to you a comprehensive 'Top 5' list ranking the best stories which Doctor Who's last showrunner, Russell T Davies, brought to us during his reign on the show in 2005-2009. With that in mind, it's now time to fast-forward to the present day. Steven Moffat's own reign on Who has been divisive to say the least, just as his predecessor's was, which means that come the end of Series Eight in 2014, when the Moff will presumably pass on his proverbial baton, his departure will be met with mixed reactions.
Nevertheless, we here at the blog know that Steven Moffat has created some truly memorable adventures for the Doctor both before and during his time as the series' executive producer. Today, then, let's provide a retrospective on the Man With A Plan's finest hours, ranking his Top 5 Best Stories (in this writer's personal opinion) right here...
5. THE TIME OF ANGELS/FLESH & STONE (2010)- We'll kick off this list with Steven's first two-parter working as the head honcho on Doctor Who. One intrinsic element of the show introduced since Season One (2005) was that of its developing season 'arc', most of the time dealt with through various references to an oncoming threat built up over thirteen episodes. What perhaps makes Time of Angels/Flesh & Stone so compelling, then, is its writer's refusal to stick to the status quo with regards to its season's arc, instead introducing the central threat to time and space right in the core of its narrative. Having the Doctor interact with one of the cracks from his TARDIS' future explosion this early on came as an immensely satisfying surprise, and when combined in tandem with a 'sequel' to Blink that works as well as Aliens did for Alien, reigniting our fear of Moffat's most prized creations and deepening our knowledge of River Song's identity, we're ultimately left with a stunning adventure that shows as early on as Season Five's fourth and fifth episodes that fans are in truly safe hands during this era of the programme...
4. A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2010)- The art of the Doctor Who Christmas Special has always seemed to be something of a point of contention since the festive episode's introduction with the show's return in 2005. Indeed, to me most of Russell's Christmas Specials were either inherently flawed or didn't befit their seasonal placement, with his final Winter endeavour The End of Time feeling particularly out of place in a Christmas setting. Thankfully, as with many other beneficial changes in his era, Steven Moffat saw fit to shake up the dynamic here, sending viewers into truly festive territory with a pseudo-adaptation of Dickens' classic tale A Christmas Carol. Casting Michael Gambon as a Scrooge-like miser and Katherine Jenkins as his doomed love-to-be, the Moff weaves another diabolically cunning time-travel based narrative around a storyline of love, hope and redemption. While some fans question the accuracy with which the Eleventh Doctor can pilot his TARDIS through time, only to be unable to do so through space to the incoming cruiser heading for a crash landing, to spend too much time thinking about minor logistical niggles is to rob A Christmas Carol of its great success in bringing song and goodwill to Doctor Who at a time of year when those elements are most prominent!
3. THE ANGELS TAKE MANHATTAN (2012)- My opinion on the best episodes of Series Seven can often shift at a second's notice, but right now, the mid-season finale which signalled the demise of the Ponds remains Moffat's finest hour within the context of this season. Angels Take Manhattan is a fascinating noir 1930s America piece which revels in the vast strands of continuity which its helm had developed over the past two seasons, reviving the Weeping Angels while equally placing a firm focus on how the Doctor's greatest allies would fall at the hands of his deadliest foes. As if it wasn't harrowing enough for fans to witness Amy and Rory seemingly commit suicide to enable a time-shifting paradox, we were then forced to see them literally killed before the Doctor's very eyes, as the Angels forced them back in time a single time and in doing so forced the Time Lord to stand over his friends' broken bodies at their grave. Toby Whithouse's words in The God Complex where the Time Lord speculated such a resolution of his time with the Ponds were haunting enough, yet to see Moffat use these words in such a literal and visual manner was more effective still, providing a fitting finale to some of the most beloved companions in the show's history.
2. BLINK (2007)- It's little wonder that when Doctor Who Magazine asked its readers to rank the first 200 stories of the show back in 2009 (i.e. the year of the final four David Tennant adventures), the Moff's acclaimed third story since the programme's revival came at a mighty 2nd place to The Caves of Androzani. Despite the absence of its titular protagonist, Doctor Who can still clearly surprise, thrill and terrify the viewer in great measure if it's left in the right hands. Enter a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey romp that introduces the Weeping Angels in an incredibly intelligent manner, pitching them as Lonely Assassins whose only mercy comes in 'killing you nicely'. That's not to forget, of course, that Steven introduced us through his lovable construct Sally Sparrow to the talented Carey Mulligan, who thanks to this episode's screenplay dazzles as its human hero. We're given the ultimate glimpse here of how the best of humanity can shine with only a gentle helping hand from the Doctor, and it's for this reason amongst so many others that Blink remains a classic entry amongst the Doctor Who Hall of Fame.
1. THE IMPOSSIBLE ASTRONAUT/DAY OF THE MOON (2011)- I have little doubt in my mind that this two-parter's placement on the throne of our awards list is going to be more than a little controversial. To justify it, then, The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon represents a supreme feat accomplished in the most spectacular way, finally unravelling and disintegrating the challenge of writing a compelling two-parter without ever losing narrative momentum. As well as being presented with some extremely dramatic and arguably game-changing moments such as the 'death' of the Doctor, the emergence on the Silence and the Time Lord's first romantic fling with River Song, the viewer is offered a whole menagerie of glorious subtle scenes which prove just as effective dramatically. Whether it's the morally ambiguous discussion of whether a man deserves to know his fate in the depths of the TARDIS, the Doctor's sly jest to Nixon- "Say hello to David Frost for me"- or simply the masterfully handled re-introduction of the 200-year younger Doctor in the Utah cafe moments after his supposed demise, this two-part masterpiece is a visual and dramatic tour de force of the distance in scope and quality that Doctor Who has come in half a century.
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