Daleks, the TARDIS
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New Doctor Who Rated by Fans
Before the Mighty 200 from Doctor Who Magazine revealed what fans thought, broadly speaking, I put together this list of ratings from Outpost Gallifrey to see what the general opinions were about the new stories being made. I carried on this list from the thousands of ratings on Gallifrey Base.

Popularity Ratings of New Series Stories

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# Story Writer Director Out of 5
1 Human Nature / The Family of Blood Paul Cornell Charles Palmer 4.722
2 Blink Steven Moffat Hettie MacDonald 4.645
3 Dalek Rob Shearman Joe Ahearne 4.641
4 Army of Ghosts / Doomsday RTD Graeme Harper 4.598
5 Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead Steven Moffat Euros Lyn 4.576
6 Turn Left RTD Graeme Harper 4.543
7 The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances Steven Moffat James Hawes 4.542
8 Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways RTD Joe Ahearne 4.499
9 The Time of Angels / Flesh and Stone Steven Moffat Adam Smith 4.485
10 The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit Matt Jones James Strong 4.479
11 The Doctor’s Wife Neil Gaiman Richard Clark 4.457
12 School Reunion Toby Whithouse James Hawes 4.444
13 The Name of the Doctor Steven Moffat Saul Metzstein 4.440
14 The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang Steven Moffat Toby Haynes 4.424
15 The Stolen Earth / Journey's End RTD Graeme Harper 4.378
16 The Eleventh Hour Steven Moffat Adam Smith 4.370
17 Vincent and the Doctor Richard Curtis Jonny Campbell 4.350
18 The Girl in the Fireplace Steven Moffat Euros Lyn 4.331
19 The Unquiet Dead Mark Gatiss Euros Lyn 4.305
20 Father's Day Paul Cornell Joe Ahearne 4.293
21 Tooth and Claw RTD Euros Lyn 4.288
22 The Angels Take Manhattan Steven Moffat Nick Hurran 4.254
23 The Fires of Pompeii James Moran Colin Teague 4.249
24 The Christmas Invasion RTD James Hawes 4.204
25 Midnight RTD Alice Troughton 4.199
26 The Girl Who Waited Tom MacRae Nick Hurran 4.175
27 Waters of Mars Russell T Davies & Phil Ford Graeme Harper 4.159
28 The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon Steven Moffat Toby Haynes 4.146
29 Utopia / Sound of Drums / Last of Time Lords RTD Harper 4.104
30 Amy's Choice Simon Nye Catherine Morshead 4.100
31 Asylum of the Daleks Steven Moffat Nick Hurran 4.081
32 The End of the World RTD Euros Lyn 4.066
33 A Good Man Goes to War Steven Moffat Peter Hoar 4.064
34 The Age of Steel / Rise of the Cybermen Tom MacRae Graeme Harper 4.042
35 The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky Helen Raynor Douglas Mackinnon 4.008
36 The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood Chris Chibnall Ashley Way 4.005
37 The Lodger Garth Roberts Catherine Morshead 4.000
38 The Snowmen Steven Moffat Saul Metzstein 3.984
39 Planet of the Ood Keith Temple Graeme Harper 3.973
40 The God Complex Toby Whithouse Nick Hurran 3.938
41 Gridlock RTD Richard Clark 3.935
42 A Christmas Carol Steven Moffat Toby Haynes 3.930
43 Rose RTD Keith Boak 3.925
44 Hide Neil Cross Jamie Payne 3.914
45 Smith and Jones RTD Charles Palmer 3.913
46 The Lazarus Experiment Stephen Greenhorn Richard Clark 3.905
47 The Beast Below Steven Moffat Andrew Gunn 3.900
48 The Shakespeare Code Gareth Roberts Charles Palmer 3.877
49 The Wedding of River Song Steven Moffat Jeremy Webb 3.856
50 Let's Kill Hitler Steven Moffat Richard Senior 3.853
51 42 Chris Chibnall Graeme Harper 3.839
52 The Unicorn and the Wasp Gareth Roberts Graeme Harper 3.821
53 Cold War Mark Gatiss Douglas Mackinnon 3.7893
54 The End of Time Part One / Part Two RTD Euros Lyn 3.789
55 The Crimson Horror Mark Gatiss Saul Metzstein 3.748
56 The Rebel Flesh / The Almost People Matthew Graham Julian Simpson 3.734
57 The Doctor's Daughter Stephen Greenhorn Alice Troughton 3.698
58 The Next Doctor Russell T Davies Andy Goddard 3.678
59 Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS Stephen Thompson Mat King 3.655
60 Vampires in Venice Toby Whithouse Jonny Campbell 3.650
61 The Runaway Bride RTD Euros Lyn 3.657
62 Daleks in Manhattan / Evolution of the Daleks Helen Raynor James Strong 3.645
63 The Bells of St John Steven Moffat Colm McCarthy 3.638
64 Voyage of the Damned RTD James Strong 3.632
65 Aliens of London / World War Three RTD Keith Boak 3.629
66 Partners in Crime RTD James Strong 3.603
67 The Power of Three Chris Chibnall Douglas Mackinnon 3.599
68 A Town Called Mercy Toby Whithouse Saul Metzstein 3.593
69 The Idiots Lantern Mark Gatiss Euros Lyn 3.583
70 Closing Time Gareth Roberts Steve Hughes 3.561
71 Planet of the Dead RTD & Gareth Roberts James Strong 3.502
72 Dinosaurs on a Spaceship Chris Chibnall Saul Metzstein 3.498
73 New Earth RTD James Hawes 3.470
74 Boom Town RTD Joe Ahearne 3.411
75 Nightmare In Silver Neil Gaiman Stephen Woolfenden 3.401
76 The Long Game RTD Brian Grant 3.382
77 Night Terrors Mark Gatiss Richard Clark 3.369
78 Love & Monsters RTD Dan Zeff 3.292
79 Victory of the Daleks Mark Gatiss Andrew Gunn 3.280
80 The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe Steven Moffat Farren Blackburn 3.196
81 Fear Her Matthew Graham Euros Lyn 3.163
82 Curse of the Black Spot Stephen Thompson Jeremy Webb 3.144
83 The Rings of Akhaten Neil Cross Farren Blackburn 2.855

What are these scores?

After every episode, the forum known as Gallifrey Base (a reincarnation of Outpost Gallifrey) asks fans to rate the episode, and these figures have been compiled into the above table to give a strong indication of popularity for the new series episodes.

Comparison to other polls

The difference to Doctor Who Magazine's end of season polls is that about 95% of votes are registered immediately after broadcast, and therefore the survey isn't influenced by rewatching and subsequent reevaluation. These scores are almost all taken after a single viewing and thus provides a more visceral, emotional first impression.

Flawed Questioning

The questioning in the current poll system on Gallifrey Base is inappropriate, but still serves a purpose as it allows fans to rate out of ten. At present, viewers are asked to determine whether a story was a "masterpiece" or "average", etc.

The line of questioning needs to reflect the subjective nature of the process, and it should be "how much did you enjoy this episode" or "how did it make you feel?" To assume that something you love has to be a "masterpiece", or to assume that something you don't like must be "below average" is simply wrong.

There are certain stories which I respect, and I see why they are considered "masterpieces" and yet I do not derive much enjoyment from them. I can see that they are brilliantly written and superbly executed. I wouldn't chose to watch them and thus I wouldn't rate them highly, but I resent the fact that to do so means that these carefully-crafted pieces of TV drama have to be deemed "awful" in the poll, just to reflect my personal reaction. Conversely, there are stories which I love and watch repeatedly, but I would be wary to call them "masterpieces" or suggest that "they don't get much better than this". A rethink is needed on the grading system, but otherwise a very useful tool.