Yes! What a great scene. The Cult of Skaro. The dialogue was just incredible, "A secret order, above and beyond the emperor himself. Their job was to imagine, think as the enemy thinks." Good call.
I've never understood or liked that one. It always felt to me like RTD just chucked it in on a whim, so as to make it look like there was a consciously planned arc spanning his first three series. For me, though, it goes nowhere and adds nothing to the story - not so much a plot twist as RTD throwing in a bit of arbitrary "cleverness" for the sake of it. I'm a big fan of RTD, so don't get me wrong, but I found Jack being the Face of Boe rather pointless and a little bit annoying.
I initially thought that he was going to be The Doctor's final incarnation, from his own personal future, The Doctor who dies in the war on Trenzalore, and was going to be the antagonist for the next series. Not evil per-se, but John Hurt's Doctor does something in this final form that the 11th strongly disagrees with. I thought the next storyline would be about the 11th not only trying to stop the War Doctor, but to also stop _becoming_ him. A seemingly impossible task being as the War Doctor _was_ the 11th, so therefore knows all his plans and has all of his memories, even the ones he, the 11th, doesn't have yet!
@@woodgatejack very interesting concept!! I always wonder if Russell T was asked by Moffat to include the Time War in the background of his stories so that Moffat could execute the 50th anniversary story, or if he just ran with the idea after becoming the show runner.
I really wish The War Doctor could have gotten more time. John Hurt was the perfect person for the job. Not to mention Paul McGann's Doctor. So many things those two could fill in and flesh out the series.
This would've been a much bigger reveal if Mels was introduced or even mentioned previously. Instead she was shoehorned into the series just minutes before this reveal, so it's not very impressive and feels forced and unplanned.
The Yana Master reveal was the most iconic Master reveal so far imo. I remember genuinely thinking "ohshitohshitohshit" when Martha tells the Doctor about Yana's pocket watch and he just PANICS
I loved John Hurt as the War Doctor- he was perfect as the character. And the episode pulled a one-two knock-out, too: first the reveal of Clara's influence on the Doctor's timeline, from the start of his adventures, and then the reveal of the one regeneration he doesn't acknowledge... Brilliant!
I'm sorry but Professor YANA being the master, Captain Jack being the face of boe, and the doctor repeatedly dying over 4.5 billion years should definitely be on this list!
I'd have included the minisode NIGHT OF THE DOCTOR, when Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor suddenly re-appeared after being gone for 17 years, and said the words that totally freaked out Whovians everywhere....'I'm a Doctor, but probably not the one you were expecting!' Now THAT was a surprise!!!
@Lauren Shirley...absolutely. I flew off my bed when I 1st saw "A Good Man Goes To War". I have it on my DVR & I still watch it every time it is broadcast on TV.
Bonus Baby A Good Man Goes To War is a great episode even without the River twist. My favorite episode of series 6 right behind the Impossible Astronaut
Really? No mention of Professor Yana was the Master the whole time?! Come the Tardis on.. That’s 5 times better than Amy being a ganger & Clara being a Dalek.
And it did give us a beautiful performance by the great Derek Jacobi. His Professor Yana is such a kindly, humble, yet heroic man - he seemed like a real person to me, and I missed him terribly after he opened the watch. I'm not taking anything away from John Simms' "Master" but did wish they could have kept Jacobi as Yana, too.
The Battle of Demons run has so many twists tho The big one: Melody is River The second one: Melody is a Ganger The third one: Melody is a Time-Lady Opening one: The speech where Rory is looking like the doctor The Start of The Battle: Doctor reveal
No professor yana, no the watcher, no captain Jack can't die, no the time Lords killed cara, no omega is alive but trapped, no rassilon the resserected..... So many twists that didn't even get an honourable mention....
What about Jack Harkness becoming immortal? It was well-done and had a real impact on the character and the show, as well as being a huge factor in "Torchwood". They did a great job exploring Jack's ambivalence towards being immortal, the responses from the people around him, and the usefulness of his particular version of 'playing dead'.
His immortality is Rose's fault because she brought him back to life using the energy from the heart of the TARDIS, and the Doctor dislikes him for being a time anomaly. But the details of that isn't really explored.
True, but by the end of the Year That Never Happened he's become quite fond of Jack (more so, I think, than Nine was) and invites him to come along, which is what Jack initially wanted, but his sense of responsibility to 'that team of mine' and the fact that "Torchwood" was still in production meant that he had to say no, though he did show up again to help with "The Stolen Earth". I do wish he'd joined the Doctor more often!
Rose coming back and her showing up just here and there in the background of the show until her actual return killed me every time. I remember screaming when she showed up in Midnight
*_Honourable Mention..._* _This person you want to marry ... Black?_ *Yes.* _I'm a little more liberal than people..._ *He is.* Not really a plot twist but it was so beautifully executed. Makes me chuckle every time.
Killbot90K I thought that myself! It should have been number one! That one plot twist not only now defines the entire show and has kept it going for over fifty years, they would be hard pressed to out do themselves now. Sure, they have come close, there have been plenty of mind blowing moments, but NOTHING could have been more shocking than the first regeneration.
I figured-out #9 as soon as the Doctor asked "Where do you get the milk?" while he was talking to her from the Dalek ship. Knowing how the Daleks some times convert humans, that immediately clicked for me that she was a converted human, who managed to retain her mind.
Yeah, and later you find out that Oswin Oswald is a version of Clara Oswald due to her stepping into the time vortex in the Tardis. If I’m wrong, feel free to correct me.
I'd really wish they'd keep PC topics away from a show like Doctor Who, because if I wanted to watch a show about dealing with racism, I'd just watch a documentary.
Stardust Legacy Fighter Doctor Who hasn’t been the only child-friendly show that has dealt with adult-themed issues. They can do that without taking it too far. Be thankful the N-word (not negro) wasn’t directed at Ryan or any other person of colour in the Rosa Parks episode. Otherwise there’d be complaints from viewers. If they’re gonna tell a story about a civil rights activist and teach a topic like racism to a child-friendly audience, then they have to show how bad it was to a certain degree. There’s always a taboo when it comes to dealing with sensitive topics like these. Doctor Who was originally intended to be an educational show and it can still serve that purpose.
@@StardustLegacyFighter What documentary on racism would you recommend? The thing is, Science Fiction has _always_ had something to say about the social-political climate, ever since Mary Shelly warned us about playing God in _Frankenstein_. Most of us can't really deal with such questions, the answers to which often make us uncomfortable. So, often shows like Doctor Who give that bitter pill a sugary coating of adventure, monsters and spaceships. A common criticism of sci-fi and fantasy from those who don't like it is that it's "just escapism" or "male power fantasies". By dealing with issues like racism, war, bigotry, homophobia, colonialism, terrorism, corporate control etc shows like Doctor Who and Star Trek show that there are far more than merely "cowboys and indians in space".
There's a lot of bigger and better twists. Like the Daleks coming out of the void ship. Professor Yana being the master. Jack being the face of Boe. But I can forgive them not making the list. What should be at the top of the list however is the reveal that Wilfred is ultimately the one who brings about the 10th Doctors death. Also everyone knew about the war doctor. In the movie the 8th doctor decides he needs to become a warrior and regenerates. Then the 9th doctor has clearly just regenerated when we first see him. And obviously he didn't fight an entire war in just a few moments so there had to be one between 8 and 9.
When Doctor Who made you LITERALLY sit at the edge of your seat. The fast pace, the storylines, the story arcs, the BACKGROUND MUSIC. The minute you heard that one song you were like oooo shits about to go down. The MEMORABLE characters, the directing. Ughhhhhhh so good man. But series 11 made me wanna cry. Utter shit. Apparently it had the highest views, that doesnt mean it was good though.
@@butterflygirl5365 lol most the community figured it, it was obvious but not everyone thought about it lol but those that did got it easily cos missy obviously short for mistress and there was hype for female doctor so missy was a test run, which was ok but then we get an actual female doctor and we get a shit writer to ruin it lol
Not an overarching twist, but the gas mask kids being Nancy's son in The Empty Child/Doctor Dances two parter was an awesome twist in the episode that set the bar for the horror episodes in the new doctor. Or even everybody lives from that one. The Pandorica being a special made prison for the doctor. Going back into the old doctor, the first time a Dalek used stairs, while not technically a twist, would have been mind blowing at the time. The White Guardian is actually the Black Gaurdian in the Keys of Time saga.
I was thinking about 11th's regeneration - as he was supposed to be the last Doctor who has used his all regenerations, when he regenerated once again.
"Get out of the way!" I literally cheered when the Doctor and the Master each said that to the other at the crucial time. And Timothy Dalton as Rassillon? Just delicious icing on the whole damn cake.
great list, you missed professor YAna and Face of Boe, but i'm an American(yeah I Know (lol)) Fan of DOCTOR WHO december of 2009- never knew what it was and than broke my arm at work and had free time and Rose came on BBC america and I was hooked, then I watched series 1 to 4 and the specials 3 times before series 5 premiered in April of 2010, and have since watched the entire new who series at least 25 time and had watched a lot of classic who once, Doctor Who is tied for My all-time Favorite show with DEXTER
Yesterday, I thought "It would be great a top 10 plot twists in Doctor Who" Today, I search to see if it exists and big coincidence, yes it does, since yesterday
In the third Doctor's era the Master used continually disguise himself and the audience often saw it was him before the Doctor, but at the end of Frontier in Space it's revealed in the last scenes that he's behind the conspiracy and he's in league with the Daleks.
Seriously!? The best plot twist of all time you haven't even put in the Top 10. Professor Yana (You Are Not Alone) being The Master. It was simply THE most spine tingling chilling reveal of the entire Dr Who canon.
I actually think the Valeyard being a big twist should be No.1... just as the Master said "there is some evil in all of us", none of us are flawless. I like the addition of Adric's death... but I think the ratio of New/Classic seems a little imbalanced. I think that Fenric being responsible for Ace ending up in Iceworld is a big plot twist... as is the Daleks flying up stairs for the first time in 1988. Peri's sort of death (it's later revealed she's alive) in Mindwarp was a big plot twist too. Silver Nemesis begins a good one giving off that the Doctor is more than a run of the mill time lord. Classic era handled plot twists better imho... The Remembrance of the Daleks one from 1988 is a great one though... I could bang on and on about how in 1988 people before I was born must've jeered at the screen yelling "Jog on Dalek! Can't climb stairs can you?" only for the cliffhanger to show a Dalek flying up stairs and then reacting "Oh, so I guess that's us all buggered then...".
I am very late to the game here. However, having watched the death of The Ponds last night, I would have to say that I absolutely did not see that coming. And it broke me, completely.
the astronaut shooting the doctor and triggering his regeneration is a massive plot hole. How he was about to regenerate if by the end of Matt Smith’s era he mentioned he has run out of regenerations? If he was indeed out of regenerations he would not start regenerating when shot by the astronaut. Or I missed something?
# 07, I had suspicion that River Song was Amy's daughter from the end of the second episode of 6th series, and the ending of *The Almost People* confirmed my suspicion
did classic who fortell of the doctor getting more then the standard 12/13 regens? the master does say the valeyard is between the 12[peter and techincally matt] and his final regen so does that mean the vale is the metacriss gone dark and through a regen of his own? or a off shot of matt? or one we havent seen yet combined with 11 or 12?
@dr103 power ranger on wheels 😂 yeah they severally messed up with the colour Daleks. True...it was a good episode. Daleks are scary in enclosed spaces though when you are trapped. Down in dungeons and they move slow. Not when they are flying around and stuff
I live in Utah. So seeing this episode was freaking awesome, and everybody up there where they go to Utah. I used to have a shirt that said visit beautiful you are and have the Tardis on it.
I like the twist in Castrovalva episode 4 , particualrly the scene where the Doctor gets the inhabitants of Castrovalva to work it out for themselves. Castrovalva doesn't seem to get a lot of credit though.
In Netflix journeys end isn’t the final episode of season 4 there are 5 more episodes ending with the end of time part 1 and 2 with the master coming back from the episode utopia
Something kinda interesting that I just thought of is that the first time we see a version of Clara she has been transformed into a Dalek. And in another episode, i don't remember witch, Missy traps Clara inside of a dead Dalek's suit and the doctor thinks she is a Dalek. Just something I thought was interesting.
