Doctor Who: Some Miscellanious Analysis
So, I was looking over lists of Doctor Who episodes since 2005 (because I do awesome, special things in my spare time) and I saw some patterns. I'm not claiming that any of this is new or revolutionary, but I found it interesting to think about...
ND = New Doctor
NC = New Companion
RB = Reset Button
So first of all, we've got opening eps:
Rose (ND, NC)
New Earth
Smith and Jones (NC)
Partners in Crime (NC - arguable, I know)
The Eleventh Hour (ND, NC)
The Impossible Astronaut
Asylum of the Daleks
Looking at it like that, we really haven't had a new companion in ages. No wonder I'm hearing more and more complaints about Amy from some corners - we've had her, at this point, for longer than any regular companion. That is, if you define a regular companion as one who's in every episode for a season, and therefore Rose only had two seasons while Amy is on her third. Rose's time was also broken in two by the Doctor's regeneration; season two feels very different from season one because of that.
Now we've got closing eps:
The Parting of the Ways
Doomsday
Last of the Time Lords (RB)
Journey's End
The Big Bang (RB)
The Wedding of River Song (RB)
Mystery season seven episode
For the purposes of this, I'm looking at season six as one whole thing, rather than as two sections. Three out of our six finales have had a reset button - season three, and then both of Eleven's - which has undone the events of the episode. The Master never ruled the earth, the universe never blew up, the parallel timeless Earth was never created. Well, at least from the perspective of your average person.
Okay, so now let's look at the seasons one at a time, and how they split up their settings. I had to draw some lines about how to classify them, so if anyone has any reasonable arguments to move episodes around I will happily do so.
Season 1
The World Today - 3 stories/4 eps (not counting Rose's trip home in the finale)
Future - 4 stories/5 eps
Past - 3 stories/4 eps
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 10 stories/13 eps
Season 2
The World Today - 3 stories/4 eps
Future - 3 stories/4 eps
Past - 2 stories/2 eps
Other - 2 stories/3 eps (The Girl in the Fireplace jumps from future to past, and Rise of the Cyberman/The Age of Steel is a parallel universe)
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 9 stories/11 eps (presuming you count The Girl in the Fireplace as Earth)
Season 3
The World Today - 2 stories/2 eps
Future - 2 stories/2 eps
Past - 3 stories/5 eps
Other - 2 stories/4 eps (Blink and Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords)
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 8 stories/12 eps (I'm including the finale because it's two earth-based episodes vs one non-earth-based)
Season 4
The World Today - 3 stories/6 eps
Future - 4 stories/5 eps
Past - 2 stories/2 eps
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 6 stories/8 eps
Specials (RTD era)
The World Today - 5 stories/6 eps
Future - 1 story/1 ep
Past - 1 story/1 ep
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 6 stories/7 eps (I'm counting Planet of the Dead as it's a mix, but not Waters of Mars because all the main action is on Mars)
Season 5
The World Today - 3 stories/4 eps
Future - 2 stories/3 eps
Past - 3 stories/3 eps
Other - 2 stories/3 eps (Amy's Choice has no time frame because, technically, it's set completely on the TARDIS and the Earth dream never actually happens - feel free to argue this in the comments! - and The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang jumps around)
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 8 stories/10 eps (I counted Amy's Choice this time as it spends a good chunk of the time running around an "alternate" version of earth, but I did not count The Beast Below)
Season 6 (A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler treated as individual episodes)
The World Today - 3 stories/3 eps
Future - 2 stories/3 eps
Past - 3 stories/4 eps
Other - 2 stories/2 eps (The Doctor's Wife and The Wedding of River Song)
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 7 stories/9 eps
Specials (Moffat era)
The World Today - None
Future - 1 story/1 ep
Past - 1 story/1 ep
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 1 story/1 ep
So, during the RTD era we had a total of...
The World Today - 16 stories/22 eps
Future - 14 stories/17 eps
Past - 11 stories/14 eps
Other - 4 stories/7 eps
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 39 stories/51 eps (Good lord. That's 51 episodes out of 60 total. I knew it was a lot, but...wow.)
Compared to the Moffat era so far...
The World Today - 6 stories/7 eps
Future - 5 stories/7 eps
Past - 7 stories/8 eps
Other - 4 stories/5 eps
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 16 stories/20 eps
Spot the Difference
To start with, Earth-based episodes? RTD did 51 out of 60, and Moffat has done 20 out of 28. I can't work out percentages (I'm an English Lit student for a reason) but that looks like a significant difference to me.
Moffat era also seems to be slightly more evenly spread between different time frames. This may, however, be partly because of the larger proportion of "other" - Moffat does love his timey-wimey.
So what?
So, as I'm better on the presentation of facts than the actual analysis (I had high hopes, but alas...), what are your thoughts? Did any of these facts surprise you? What do you think is better/worse/boring/annoying? What are you hoping for? What are you expecting from far-flung future episodes such as those in seasons eight and nine? And the question I find the most interesting, is it possible to do a season of Doctor Who where off-Earth episodes are the norm? Or are we stuck here forever?
Comments welcomed - but please do not spoil me for any future episodes of season seven (I don't even watch end-of-episode trailers). Much love :)
Hazel
ND = New Doctor
NC = New Companion
RB = Reset Button
So first of all, we've got opening eps:
Rose (ND, NC)
New Earth
Smith and Jones (NC)
Partners in Crime (NC - arguable, I know)
The Eleventh Hour (ND, NC)
The Impossible Astronaut
Asylum of the Daleks
Looking at it like that, we really haven't had a new companion in ages. No wonder I'm hearing more and more complaints about Amy from some corners - we've had her, at this point, for longer than any regular companion. That is, if you define a regular companion as one who's in every episode for a season, and therefore Rose only had two seasons while Amy is on her third. Rose's time was also broken in two by the Doctor's regeneration; season two feels very different from season one because of that.
Now we've got closing eps:
The Parting of the Ways
Doomsday
Last of the Time Lords (RB)
Journey's End
The Big Bang (RB)
The Wedding of River Song (RB)
Mystery season seven episode
For the purposes of this, I'm looking at season six as one whole thing, rather than as two sections. Three out of our six finales have had a reset button - season three, and then both of Eleven's - which has undone the events of the episode. The Master never ruled the earth, the universe never blew up, the parallel timeless Earth was never created. Well, at least from the perspective of your average person.
Okay, so now let's look at the seasons one at a time, and how they split up their settings. I had to draw some lines about how to classify them, so if anyone has any reasonable arguments to move episodes around I will happily do so.
Season 1
The World Today - 3 stories/4 eps (not counting Rose's trip home in the finale)
Future - 4 stories/5 eps
Past - 3 stories/4 eps
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 10 stories/13 eps
Season 2
The World Today - 3 stories/4 eps
Future - 3 stories/4 eps
Past - 2 stories/2 eps
Other - 2 stories/3 eps (The Girl in the Fireplace jumps from future to past, and Rise of the Cyberman/The Age of Steel is a parallel universe)
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 9 stories/11 eps (presuming you count The Girl in the Fireplace as Earth)
Season 3
The World Today - 2 stories/2 eps
Future - 2 stories/2 eps
Past - 3 stories/5 eps
Other - 2 stories/4 eps (Blink and Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords)
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 8 stories/12 eps (I'm including the finale because it's two earth-based episodes vs one non-earth-based)
Season 4
The World Today - 3 stories/6 eps
Future - 4 stories/5 eps
Past - 2 stories/2 eps
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 6 stories/8 eps
Specials (RTD era)
The World Today - 5 stories/6 eps
Future - 1 story/1 ep
Past - 1 story/1 ep
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 6 stories/7 eps (I'm counting Planet of the Dead as it's a mix, but not Waters of Mars because all the main action is on Mars)
Season 5
The World Today - 3 stories/4 eps
Future - 2 stories/3 eps
Past - 3 stories/3 eps
Other - 2 stories/3 eps (Amy's Choice has no time frame because, technically, it's set completely on the TARDIS and the Earth dream never actually happens - feel free to argue this in the comments! - and The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang jumps around)
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 8 stories/10 eps (I counted Amy's Choice this time as it spends a good chunk of the time running around an "alternate" version of earth, but I did not count The Beast Below)
Season 6 (A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler treated as individual episodes)
The World Today - 3 stories/3 eps
Future - 2 stories/3 eps
Past - 3 stories/4 eps
Other - 2 stories/2 eps (The Doctor's Wife and The Wedding of River Song)
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 7 stories/9 eps
Specials (Moffat era)
The World Today - None
Future - 1 story/1 ep
Past - 1 story/1 ep
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 1 story/1 ep
So, during the RTD era we had a total of...
The World Today - 16 stories/22 eps
Future - 14 stories/17 eps
Past - 11 stories/14 eps
Other - 4 stories/7 eps
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 39 stories/51 eps (Good lord. That's 51 episodes out of 60 total. I knew it was a lot, but...wow.)
Compared to the Moffat era so far...
The World Today - 6 stories/7 eps
Future - 5 stories/7 eps
Past - 7 stories/8 eps
Other - 4 stories/5 eps
Earth (or orbiting/alternate version) - 16 stories/20 eps
Spot the Difference
To start with, Earth-based episodes? RTD did 51 out of 60, and Moffat has done 20 out of 28. I can't work out percentages (I'm an English Lit student for a reason) but that looks like a significant difference to me.
Moffat era also seems to be slightly more evenly spread between different time frames. This may, however, be partly because of the larger proportion of "other" - Moffat does love his timey-wimey.
So what?
So, as I'm better on the presentation of facts than the actual analysis (I had high hopes, but alas...), what are your thoughts? Did any of these facts surprise you? What do you think is better/worse/boring/annoying? What are you hoping for? What are you expecting from far-flung future episodes such as those in seasons eight and nine? And the question I find the most interesting, is it possible to do a season of Doctor Who where off-Earth episodes are the norm? Or are we stuck here forever?
Comments welcomed - but please do not spoil me for any future episodes of season seven (I don't even watch end-of-episode trailers). Much love :)
Hazel