Doctor Who: EVERY Series Opener Ranked Worst To Best
How does The Robot Revolution compare to Doctor Who's previous series openers?
Doctor Who’s anthology format means that there are no shortage of perfect places to start watching the show. But like most television dramas, it’s ultimately designed to be watched chronologically.
To this end, each series must serve as a jumping-on point. And in order to do that, it needs a strong opening instalment – something that can both pique the interest of new viewers, and keep existing fans watching.
Sometimes that means introducing a new Doctor or companion. Sometimes that means becoming more serialised, or less reliant on continuity. And it also helps to have a half-decent plot!
Some openers have done this more successfully than others. But which has done it the best?
For this list, we’ll only be including modern Doctor Who openers, as they perform a slightly different function to their classic series counterparts. Likewise, specials don’t count (though The Star Beast deserves an honourable mention).
With that out the way, which of the past fifteen series has had the strongest start? And did The Robot Revolution do enough to crack the top ten?! Let's find out.
15. Space Babies
As the second story for Ruby Sunday and the third for the Fifteenth Doctor, Season 1’s opener was always going to feel a bit weird. It only really exists as a bit of filler, to plug the gap between the stories either side. In hindsight, making The Church on Ruby Road the actual episode one would've been a far stronger bet.
Even so... it still needed to be a much better episode than this.
The opening scenes are needlessly laden with forced exposition. The butterfly effect sequence is basically pointless. The Bogeyman twist is painfully obvious. And the phrase “Space babies!” is said far too many times.
More than anything else, it doesn’t set the tone for the following seven episodes. Yes, Doctor Who is a different thing each week – but was it really the best idea to open with distracting talking babies and a farting spaceship? In what was supposed to be the big Disney launch of this new era?
No, no it wasn't.
There is some nice stuff in there. Fifteen’s heart-to-heart with Poppy is a defining moment for his Doctor, and the flashback to Ruby’s mother is eerie and evocative (even if it never actually goes anywhere). But it’s not quite enough to save Space Babies from last place.