From the tense landmine of Boom to uncovering the events of the night that Ruby was born in Empire of Death, this season of Doctor Who certainly had it all – but which episode was the best?
Well, we posed that exact question to RadioTimes.com readers, who have responded in their droves.
With the likes of Space Babies, The Devil’s Chord, Dot and Bubble and all the other season 14 episodes to choose from, there was one clear winner.
After more than 4,000+ votes in total, [redacted] was the winner of the best episode in our exclusive poll.
Results
- 73 Yards - 1,290 votes
- Boom - 1,040 votes
- Rogue - 595 votes
- Dot and Bubble - 487 votes
- The Legend of Ruby Sunday - 374 votes
- The Devil’s Chord - 217 votes
- Empire of Death - 127 votes
- Space Babies - 37 votes
I can’t rank 73 yards that high because too much was unexplained. That it was future Ruby was obvious, but how was she able to maintain exactly 73 yards? What was she saying to make people freak out so badly?
We’ll never know I guess…
Rogue. Rogue is my #1 this season.
Different strokes, I guess. To me the discomfort of the unexplained in 73 yards is the source of (mild, child friendly) horror that drives the episode, and makes the story stick with you. 🤷
Rogue was a terrific throwback to fun, slightly bizarre period romps, but apart from introducing a new love interest for the Doctor I think it sits nicely in a third place? Now, if it had had full body holograms of all past Doctors gyrating to “Can’t get you out of my head” along with 15 I’d rank it higher…
I’m curious why The church on Ruby Road wasn’t included in the poll as it so clearly was a part of this season’s storyline — and I wonder where it would have landed in the ranking.
The result of the poll is fairly similar to my own personal ratings. OTOH I’d swap 2 and 4, as well as 7 and 8 — mind you, that’s as subjective as it is going to fluctuate with rewatches.
Edited to add:
You know what, here is my ranking of the moment. I added in the christmas special and rewatched a couple of episodes I was uncertain about.
- 73 yards
- Dot and bubble
- Rogue
- Boom
- The church on Ruby Road
- The devil’s chord
- Space babies
- The legend of Ruby Sunday
- Empire of death
I guess it reflects my disappointment that one quarter of the season was pissed away on a story about a Bad Dog being taken for walkies during Avengers: Endgame. The more standalone episodes worked much better for me than the “arc” this year.
I despise ranking things, as I find it reductive.
That said, I think “Boom,” “73 Yards,” and “Dot and Bubble” were all-timers, with every other episode being sone degree of “fine,” in my opinion.
“Space Babies” probably comes in last.
Having rewatched the series, I think Space babies actually stands up pretty well despite all the “for all you new viewers out there” lore dumps. The babies are adorable if slightly weird, the snot monster is … just the right amount of disgusting, and the fart joke is perfectly Doctor Who to me.
Does it have Mel, Kate or Morris Gibbons? No, but storywise I’ll rank it higher than Empire of death for now.
I rank Space Babies pretty highly too, because while I really enjoyed the episode, my daughters LOVED it. They’ve been obsessed with Doctor Who after seeing it –– my five-year-old made me call her Captain Poppy for a full week.
Aww! See, that’s how you cultivate a new audience! And while our hero Eric is hard to beat, Captain Popsicle was my MVP after the latest rewatch.
Christmas episodes are generally their own thing.
Yeah, in terms of seasons they’re sort of in between. My point is that Ruby Road was Ncuti’s first proper episode, our introduction to Ruby, and really is the beginning of the season’s story arc (unless you want to go back to Wild blue yonder for the salt and superstition seeding).
