The Top 5 WORST Conflict Resolutions in Doctor Who · 7:23pm Jun 18th, 2014
For those of you who have been following my blog for quite some time, it's probably not hard for you to guess that I'm one of the more optimistic and positive Whovian Bronies you'll find. However, there are still things that occasionally get under my skin, annoy me, or downright irritate me. Doctor Who is certainly a show with many great moments and awesome conflicts. But, sadly, some of those conflicts end on a not-so-high note and can leave the viewer wishing for better. So I've decided to go ahead and list my top 5 worst conflict resolutions of Doctor Who. Before I begin, I'd just like to state here that all of the entries on this list will be from the revived series. I'm sure the classic series has its fair share of disappointing resolutions but I can't really go into those as I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to watching Classic Who. So, with that said, let's begin!
#5: A Family Crying on Christmas Eve (The Snowmen)
I may love 2012's The Snowmen and proudly proclaim it to be my favorite Doctor Who Christmas special thus far; but I still found the way in which the Great Intelligence was ultimately defeated to be...well...pretty cheesy. Now, granted, this is a resolution that does make sense as the powerful emotions emanating from the children in response to Victorian Clara's death were able to affect the Great Intelligence due to said emotions being situated right in the heart of the Snowmen attack. But, still, it doesn't change the cheesiness of the whole thing and the line, "It's not raining. It's crying. The only force on Earth that could drown the snow. A whole family crying on Christmas Eve," still makes me cringe a bit. Crying being the answer to a conflict wasn't good when Spongebob Squarepants did it and, sadly, Doctor Who wasn't able to execute the concept that much better. Great Christmas special. Cheesy resolution.
#4: The Cybermen are Defeated by Love (Closing Time)
I fall into the party of people that actually enjoyed this episode for the most part but even I can't excuse the INCREDIBLY cringe-worthy way in which Craig overcame the control of the Cybermen. Now, like with the previous entry on this list, this resolution does make sense when you think about it and, in a way, it's sort of fitting. The Cybermen, creatures that see emotions as weakness, are defeated by emotions, which we see as strength. But, still, the whole "I've been foiled by the power of love" bit has been used so much in other forms of media that to see it happen to the Cybermen is pretty painful. It may show how determined of a dad Craig was but it didn't make that moment any less cringe-worthy for me.
#3: When You Wish Upon a Doctor (Last of the Time Lords)
If you thought the last two were cheesy then how about seeing the Doctor become a fairy and being wished back by every person on Earth? Are you telling me that everybody on Earth thinking about the Doctor at the exact same time (which takes some suspension of disbelief in its own right) combined with a network created by the Master could really give the Doctor the temporary powers and appearance of a god? The Doctor practically became freaking Tinker Bell in that moment. Out of all the resolutions in the RTD era, this was certainly the cheesiest. Still, this entry, nor the previous two, really make me angry so much as just make me go "meh" as they're only parts of a larger resolution. However, things really take a nosedive with these last two.
#2: Deus ex Sonic Screwdriver (The Power of Three)
I personally really like The Power of Three and find it to be a really good character episode for the Doctor, the Ponds, and Kate Stewart. However, the resolution to its main conflict is the definition of underwhelming. A third of Earth's population is dying from cardiac arrest because of the cubes. How does the Doctor go about stopping this? He aims his sonic screwdriver at a screen. That's it. He points the sonic, everybody's saved, the ship blows up, and everything gets wrapped up in a nice, little bow. This was the perfect example of the writer being written into a corner and taking the easy way out. Just use the sonic! It can fix anything! What a disappointing conclusion to what was a pretty interesting and suspenseful dilemma.
#1: The Fate of Ursula Blake (Love & Monsters)
Where do I begin with this one? Well, I'm going to try and just focus on this one aspect of the episode as it's definitely the worst. Shirley Henderson as the character of Ursula Blake was one of the few things I actually sort of liked about this episode. She was a nice woman who in no way deserved the fate she got at the end of things. In the end, she ends up absorbed by the Abzorbaloff and once he's defeated she fades away into a slab of cement. However, the Doctor uses his sonic to bring Ursula back...but not entirely. Instead of letting this poor woman die peacefully, the Doctor curses her to an eternity as a face on a concrete slab. Now, that would have been bad enough; but the episode had to go the extra mile to make this development all the more disgusting. I'm sure everybody who's seen this episode remembers these two pieces of dialogue that effectively pushed this episode into Doctor Who infamy.
Elton: "It's a relationship, of sorts, but we manage. We've even got a bit of a love life."
Ursula: "Oh, let's not go into that."
That's right. Ursula has now been reduced to a face on a concrete slab whose main fuction, aside from talking, is giving her boyfriend blow jobs. She has literally been transformed into a living fleshlight! To all of you out there who claim that Steven Moffat is some vile sexist, at least Moffat never had any of his female characters transform into the equivalent of a sex toy! This is, without a doubt, the most disgusting conflict resolution out of all of Doctor Who because I have a feeling that no bad resolutions within Classic Who ever reached this level of misogyny. And hopefully the show will never stoop this low ever again. This is why the fate of Ursula Blake is the absolute WORST conflict resolution in all of Doctor Who.
So...yeah. That's it for this list. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch a good Doctor Who episode and continue waiting for Series 8. Two months to go, people. Two months to go.
I agree with number one. It's too... love filled for a Doctor Who episode. But with number three, I disagree, I thought there was a lot of things going on in that scene. Mainly because the whole human race had a part of stopping the Master. But they're your opinions.
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And, in turn, I respect your opinion. Yes, a lot was happening in that scene and the following conclusion to the episode was better. I just personally found that one bit to be pretty cheesy.
My reactions/opinions: #'s 5 and 4 were some of the best parts of their respective episodes; #3 was kinda the Deus Ex of the list, hand-waving (literally) most of the problems away, and was a tad overreaching in the believability of the effects of the "reasonable" (in context) setup; #2 was what I immediately thought of when I read the title of this list, and as a matter of fact, the answers to the mysteries were almost as bland as the resolution, not to mention the weird nurse guys just disappearing, the Big Bad not even being on the ship that, along with the droid girl and the elevator portal, didn't have any actual security systems to navigate through or evade save that random exploding the hologram guy only used at the beginning, that I didn't see Amy and Rory saving all those other people along with Rory's dad—basically I'm being CinemaSins about this episode's ending; #1...I simply neglect to remember that one; and you should totally make a Top 5 Best Conflict Resolutions list now.
You know I was thinking the other day about how people don't really like cliches, but they don't really bother me. Then I realized I'm a very traditionally minded person in a lot of things. So, to me they're not cliches. They're traditions.
Why not?
Perhaps it didn't bother me so much because it reminds me of a book by one of my favorite authors Neil Gaiman called American Gods where all the gods of ancient myth were given life by the belief in them and now they're slowly dying off because the belief in them has waned to nothing.
About Number 1 though, I totally agree. It still boggles my mind to this day how they ever though that was an appropriate ending.
Did you mean "flashlight"? And what do flashlights have to do with this?
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As I said in the list, Numbers 5-3 don't necessarily anger me so much as just make me go "meh" because they're only little parts of the much bigger conflict resolutions of the respective episodes. If you guys like those resolutions and disagree with me, that's fine. I'm happy that you can enjoy those resolutions.
Oh, and Marius,
No, I didn't mean "flashlight". A fleshlight is...well...let's just say it's a device that helps people commit the sin of Onan. Just Google it (if you dare) to see what I mean.
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The Sin of Onan!