8. The Long Game
Eccleston at his best in this one. For the first time in the new series, the Doctor felt alien again. Up until this point he'd run around saying 'I'm an alien' but not actually showing it. Here we see him in an alien environment and this allows the character to be the alien that he is. Simon Pegg is also a fantastic bad guy, evil because it pays which is a nice bit of tradition, something the Doctor even comments on. There is a lot of build-up in this one for little payout, but that's purely because the payoff comes later on in the series. Without this gem, Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways wouldn't be there and wouldn't be so epic in scale. This episode is perhaps less well remembered because its follow up is so good. This one shouldn't be pushed to the sidelines as a result though.