I could try explaining myself but you will probably think I'm only looking for excuses, so I won't. Lucky for you, tho I wrote a little list some time ago, that I didn't post anywhere till now. The list is about my favorite Doctor Who episodes, and it's because of a friend I post this here. He told me yesterday that I should mention people by their names in my blog, so his name is Boti (Congrats, you're the first one!).
Some time ago one of my friends (Ágota) kept talking on and on about the doctor. How she found the series was a mystery to me, tho now I can understand her excitement.
When I first started watching it – she brought around the first few seasons on a flash drive and sat trough it as well, just so she could be sure that it caught my attention – well, I have to say that it was a strange experience.
The first few episodes were a bit... unusual. (Here I have to mention, that we only watched the series starting with 2005). But even if it was weird, and not at all what I’m used to, I couldn’t stop watching. And of course I had questions. Lots of them, actually. But in the end, even if every episodes starts off a little bit fucked up, where you don’t really understand what is happening, in the end it all becomes clear.
And if you just look into it a little bit, every single episode has something to offer. A little bit of wisdom, some universal truth, or just plain old English humor (oh, how I love English humor).
But for now here are the episodes that I consider the best:
„The Empty Child”, and „The Doctor Dances” – set in London, at the time of The Blitz of the World War II
„The Girl in the Fireplace” – set in 18th century France, with Madame Pompadour
„Blink” – set in 2007, with the Weeping Angels
„Planet of the Ood” – set on another planet
„The Unicorn and the Wasp” - set in 1926, with Agatha Christie
„Silence in the Library” and „Forest of the Dead” – set in the 51st century, in a planet-sized library
„The Time of Angels” and „Flesh and Stone” – set in a museum in the distant future
„The Vampires of Venice” – set in 1580, Venice
„The Curse of the Black Spot” – set on a pirate ship
„A Good Man Goes to War” and „Let’s Kill Hitler” – set in Berlin, 1938
„The God Complex” – set on an alien structure disguised as a 1980s Earth hotel.
And the best of the best:
„Vincent and the Doctor” – set in 1890, Arles. You just HAVE to see this episode.
Well, since I managed to put down a few great and touching Doctor Who episodes that made the whole series worth watching, here are a few quotes that make the show shine...
1. “The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views...which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering.”
2. “There are worlds out there where the skies are burning, where the seas asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice...and somewhere else the tea is getting cold.”
3. "The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. Hey . . . the good things don’t always soften the bad things but vice versa the bad things don’t necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant. And we definitely added to his pile of good things."
4. “People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big bowl of wibbly wobbly timey wimey... stuff.”
5. “He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and can see the turn of the universe and... he's wonderful.”
6. Nazi officer: "What are you doing here?" Melody: "Well, I was on my way to this gay gypsy Bar Mitzvah for the disabled, when I suddenly thought, 'Gosh, the Third Reich's a bit rubbish. I think I'll kill the Führer.' Who's with me?"
7. "Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire, through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought, and a whole, terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities. You see these eyes? They're old eyes... and one thing I can tell you, Alex: Monsters are real.”
8. The Doctor: Between you and me, in a hundred words, where do you think Van Gogh rates in the history of art? Curator: Well... um... big question, but, to me Van Gogh is the finest painter of them all. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved, his command of colour most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world, no one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again. To my mind, that strange, wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world's greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived.
9. “You know when sometimes you meet someone so beautiful and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later they’re as dull as a brick? Then there’s other people, when you meet them you think, “Not bad. They’re okay.” And then you get to know them and… and their face just sort of becomes them. Like their personality’s written all over it. And they just turn into something so beautiful. Rory’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever met.”
10. "Correctomundo! I've never used that word before and hopefully never again."
