Favorite Doctor Who Season Since Revival

[Mr. Smith]

With the return of Series 12, how has Doctor Who done so far?

Cliche as it might sound, I'm going with Series 5.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I'll also go with Series 5 as the best season considered as a whole.  But I'll add an asterisk that the last half of Series 3 (starting with Human Nature) is the best run of episodes in the revived show, and maybe the classic one as well.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Honestly, the first one. Eccleston is the most compelling actor to have played the Doctor with the possible exception of Sylvester McCoy (although all the other new series Doctors except arguably Smith are great actors too), and Rose doesn't start to get on my nerves until partway through the first Tennant season. The Donna season is a close second because Tennant and Tate are one of the best comedic duos in television history, but I really don't like the way that season ended.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I absolutely love both 3 and 4, and I keep going back and forth on which one I prefer. Both have most of the greatest episodes to date. Season 1 and the 2009-2010 specials (which should have been included in the poll) are also fantastic. Really, the RTD era was a step above anything that came after (although Moffat improved a lot later in his run, and Chibnall is off to a very good start).

I'm absolutely baffled that season 5 is winning so far, but to each their own I guess...

[scutosaurus]

9, easy.

[afleitch]

Honestly, the first one. Eccleston is the most compelling actor to have played the Doctor with the possible exception of Sylvester McCoy

McCoy is 'my' doctor simply because I was old enough and cognitive enough to have seen it first time round. Both McCoy and Eccleston have got the doctors alien personality spot on.  Jodie Whittaker too and for me her first season (the last one) for me is one of the most solid, especially with the historical episodes.

I agree with Donna possibly being the best companion; her losing her both her memories and her personal growth as a person is and remains heartbreaking. I'm also a fan of Martha because she left on her own terms.

I absolutely love both 3 and 4, and I keep going back and forth on which one I prefer. Both have most of the greatest episodes to date. Season 1 and the 2009-2010 specials (which should have been included in the poll) are also fantastic. Really, the RTD era was a step above anything that came after (although Moffat improved a lot later in his run, and Chibnall is off to a very good start).

I'm absolutely baffled that season 5 is winning so far, but to each their own I guess...

Season 5 is technically perfect in structure and storytelling. It's peak (literally in terms of viewers/reach) Doctor Who. But it's jarring because of that and it's really hard to re-watch. Moffat had used up his arsenal by the time it ended.

I think my favourite season has to be Season 4 and has been since it aired.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Season 5 is technically perfect in structure and storytelling. It's peak (literally in terms of viewers/reach) Doctor Who. But it's jarring because of that and it's really hard to re-watch. Moffat had used up his arsenal by the time it ended.

I think my favourite season has to be Season 4 and has been since it aired.

I'm not sure what you mean by structure and storytelling exactly. If you mean the seasonal arc, I personally was more invested in the seasons 3 ("there's this mysterious powerful guy pulling the strings behind the scenes and we have no idea who he is - turns out it's the Master") and 4 ("THE STARS ARE DISAPPEARING - it's the Daleks") ones than 5's ("there's a box that's going to open at some point - oh it's to keep the Doctor in"). If you mean the individual episodes, I'll grant you there are some very well-written ones (including perhaps the best companion introduction in "The Eleventh Hour"), but there are also some fairly bog-standard ones. And the finale is a bloated mess that introduces all the worst tropes that would plague Moffat's run (masturbating over how great and fearsome the Doctor is, big armies of villains that accomplish nothing, trying to up the stakes with big numbers, paying off a setup in the most contrived and nonsensical way). I guess it gets a pass because season 6 was so much worse, but all the warning signs for the abomination that would be the """impossible astronaut""" arc were already there in how the Pandorica arc was concluded.

Just my jao, of course.

[Mr. Smith]

Hmmm

12. Series 7B/2013 Specials (Clara and No. 11 just didn't work at all. And yes I do consider the episodes after "Angels Take Manhattan" effectively a new season.)
11. Series 8
10. Series 11
9. Series 2
8. Series 9
7. Series 7A (Amy and Rory were long in tooth by this point)
6. Series 3
5. Series 4 / 2009 Specials
4. Series 10
3. Series 6
2. Series 1
1. Series 5