50 Greatest Doctor Who Moments

35. Amy & Rory Leave The TARDIS Forever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxrGUB5X-7Y The Doctor thought he'd lost Amy and Rory as they plummeted from the top of the Angels' battery farm. And then, he had his companions cruelly snatched away from him by a stray Angel. It's the darkness and the desperation of Eleven to beckon Amy back to the TARDIS, knowing full-well that they'd just leave Rory in the long-distant past. It's (finally) seeing Amy and River act like mother and daughter, when throughout the series, it had been the other way round. And it's this scene, where the Doctor has one last letter from his best friend, that ensures this will go down as one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the show's history.

34. "The Moment Has Been Prepared For..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnAubeOLBzY Tom Baker was the Doctor longer than any other actor. But everything has to end, or nothing will ever get started. And when he left the show, it was another poignant moment. It's one of the lasting images of the show, Four lying there helpless as his companions surround him, and the reveal of who the watcher was. And additionally, it's a fantastic example of the incredible electronic music that scored Classic Who for years.

33. The Reveal of River Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp4GlahYjeg We really should've seen it coming. Melody Pond, River Song. Why didn't we see it? It was one of the finest cliffhangers that a season (or half-season) had ever had. We'd waited so long. And it was staring us in the face all along. Again, Amy's face pretty much summed a whole fandom. Just jaw-dropping television, isn't it?

32. The Vincent Van Gogh Speech

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x120oui_vincent-and-the-doctor-vincent-van-gogh-visits-the-museum-doctor-who-museum-scene_shortfilms If you don't shed the smallest of tears over this, at least, you'd better check your pulse. The greatest painter who ever lived, never made a penny from his work, got to learn how loved he really was. Richard Curtis's portrayal of van Gogh and of mental illness was sublime, and this was just the icing on the cake. And the cherry on the icing? Bill Nighy's face when he's just hugged the man he was just praising.

31. The First Doctor Regenerates

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmXoHKzp4Lc It was quite possibly the biggest game-changer in television history. What on earth did audiences think when they saw this? This was it for Doctor Who: the sky was now the limit, and the show could last forever. But no Doctor's ever forgotten William Hartnell: the First Doctor, and the most important, whose legacy lives on through Five's brainy specs, Eleven's "we're just stories in the end" speech and Ten's weariness of growing old. This wasn't just the beginning of a new chapter for the show - it was the close of an old one.
Contributor
Contributor

Mark White hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.