These moments made us want to be wanderers in the fourth dimension.
Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be counting down the top 10 moments from “Doctor
Who.”
For this list, we’ll be looking at some of the greatest moments thus far in the Doctor’s
adventures through time and space.
With the show being on as long as it has, there are plenty to choose from.
The catch is that we’ll only be including one moment for each Doctor’s era, although
multi-Doctor stories and honorable mentions may double dip.
Also, we won’t be including regeneration scenes, as those are iconic enough to get
a list of their own.
Lastly, beware of spoilers!
Appropriately enough, our first entry is from the era of the First Doctor.
After landing in Mexico during the time of the Aztec empire, the Doctor’s companion
Barbara is mistaken for a goddess.
Having studied Aztec culture, Barbara decides to try to change their culture to fit more
modern ideals.
However, the Doctor tries to dissuade her, warning her about changing history and telling
her that even if she tries, she won’t succeed.
This moment is one of the first to reveal one of the rules of time travel, what the
revived series calls “fixed points,” and also hints that the Doctor is not merely a
traveler in time, but a defender of it.
We said there’d be spoilers.
Determined to stop a spaceship from crashing into prehistoric Earth, the Fifth Doctor’s
young friend Adric decides to stay behind; hoping to use his mathematics skills to break
the code locking the ship on course.
He is unsuccessful however, and dies in the explosive impact, leaving the Doctor, his
friends, and the audience in complete shock, with even the show’s ending credits music
being omitted.
“Doctor Who” had killed off companions before and has done so since, but it was usually
with a softer blow, or before we really got to know them.
Adric’s death pulls no punches, and that’s what makes it so effective.
The climax of this creepy Ninth Doctor two-parter sees the nanogene infecting gasmask-wearing
boy returned to normal by his long sought-after “mummy.”
The Doctor is then able to heal everyone afflicted.
Given how long he’s been alive and the kinds of situations he deals with on a daily basis,
death is something the Doctor lives with constantly.
So seeing him get to win without anyone dying, and seeing the hope that inspires within him
in this moment of absolute joy is, in a word, fantastic.
Time
travel has allowed the Doctor to meet himself on occasion during his lives, but the first
time is one of the best.
Beset by antimatter, the Time Lords call upon the Third Doctor’s former selves to assist
him in saving them all.
Besides thoroughly confusing his friends with their explanations, the Second and Third Doctors
both play off each other hilariously; with the former taking time for small talk and
the latter being exasperated at his younger self’s lackadaisical approach to the situation.
The pair only stop bickering when the First Doctor takes them to task, and insults them
to boot, all of which set the tone for future encounters between incarnations.
(“So you’re my replacements – a dandy and a clown.”)
While there are many standout moments in “The Tomb of the Cybermen,” like when the emotionless
cyborgs escape their titular tomb, we had to give our best Second Doctor spot to the
quieter moment when he comforts his young companion Victoria over the death of her father.
The conversation turns to his own family.
He tries to assure Victoria that her memories of her lost loved one won’t be sad forever,
and that she won’t have time to dwell on death, when there’s so much more to experience,
particularly on their adventures, although his advice can apply to everyone.
(“Our lives are different to everybody else’s, that’s the exciting thing – nobody in
the universe can do what we’re doing.”)
The Third Doctor and his companion Jo find themselves in a seemingly hopeless situation
when they are chained up and imprisoned by the Master in ancient Atlantis.
To cheer Jo up, the Doctor relates a moment from his childhood, his worst day, but also
his best.
Seeking the advice of a hermit near his house, the young Doctor hoped to learn the secret
of life and find solace on his day of despair.
The man points to a daisy-like flower.
This story encapsulates the best aspects of the Doctor’s character and is a stirring
message to his friend and the audience – no matter how bleak things may look, there’s
beauty and hope all around us.
We’re not crying!
You’re crying!
After sharing an adventure with an invisible monster and Vincent van Gogh, as well as witnessing
him battle his own invisible demons, the Eleventh Doctor and Amy bring the tortured artist to
a future museum.
There, the pair shows Vincent that, despite the ridicule and torment he experiences in
his own time, his art and his life are important, and are appreciated by generations to come.
Vincent’s tears upon discovering his legacy are as touching as his decision to still kill
himself is heartbreaking.
But as the Doctor says, every life is full of good things and bad things and adding to
someone’s good pile is worth it.
This standalone episode has a lot of standout moments, but its best happens in its final
act, when, after being stalked by angel statue-like creatures and given cryptic hints via DVD
extras, Sally Sparrow at last is able to communicate with the Doctor - in a roundabout way.
The Doctor explains his situation and that the Weeping Angels are only stone when you
look at them and that they’re so fast, they can move in the blink of an eye.
So when Sally and her friend then notice that neither of them is looking at the angel, it
leads to one of the most terrifying moments in the history
of the show.
There are few moments as iconic to the show or the character as this one.
Charged by the Time Lords with preventing the creation of the Daleks before they become
a threat, the Fourth Doctor and his friends find themselves in a position to destroy his
greatest foes once and for all.
But when the time comes to touch the wires together – he hesitates.
The Doctor considers the good done out of fear of the Daleks and how, if he kills them,
he becomes like them.
Although the Doctor is saved from having to perform genocide in this moment, the question
and its implications are things he continues to wrestle with to this day.
Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
Thrust back into the Time War, that he believes he ended by destroying both sides, the Eleventh
Doctor, and several of his prior selves, hatches a plan to alter the outcome and save his people
and planet.
To do so, they call on prior Doctors.
Seeing all the Doctors arrive in their TARDISes makes Whovian hearts flutter!
And just when everyone is ready to applaud this as the best moment ever, it’s revealed
that a then future Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, has also arrived to help!
Celebrating the show's 50th anniversary, the episode is packed with excellent moments,
but few are quite as triumphant as this one.