Top Time Travel Episodes from Doctor Who
Ranking the 10 Best Time Travel Episodes from Doctor Who😍😍
We have a strange fascination with it. It makes us curious, intrigued, and ask a million questions throughout a stories’ journey:
Time Travel.
What is it about time travel? Maybe what it represents — the future, the past, the ability to go to places we wouldn’t be able to go otherwise. Maybe just the fact that it always makes for really great stories (oh gosh, if done well…please if done well!!)
On to…
Doctor Who. It’s actually quite challenging to narrow down the best time travel episodes from a show that’s entire premise centers around someone who can travel through all of time and space, but that being said, I truly feel the following is a satisfying and carefully calculated list, that brings you through a journey of time travel in various episodes of the Doctor Who universe
…and after all, some episodes are (to quote the 10th Doctor) a little more “timey-wimey” than others 😊
As I’ve told a lot of my friends: You do not have to necessarily watch Doctor Who in order. Repeat…You do not have to watch Doctor Who in any particular order. The beauty of Doctor Who is that a lot of the episodes don’t really need to be watched in a linear order because, well the show’s all about time travel so it’s kind of bouncing around already as is!
If you’ve never seen an episode of Doctor Who and know absolutely nothing about it then I’ll just catch you up to speed on a few things. All you need to know is that there’s a being called The Doctor. He’s the last of his race, but humans look pretty close to him so he spends a lot of time helping them since he’s lonely. He sometimes takes on a “companion” who goes on adventures with him in his time machine, the TARDIS. Oh ya and he can do this thing called regeneration so sometimes he looks different (and different actors can play him)
All in all, for some of the season arcs it’s good to watch relatively the same-ish episodes in a row, but for the most part I actually would argue you shouldn’t start off watching Doctor Who from the first episode on…There’s a lot to handle at first: farting aliens, low-budget production, etc…It might be better for you to start off with an episode that sounds the most intriguing to you and then give it a try from there (Fall in love first, go back and watch the farting aliens second) 😛
So go on, time travel within the time traveling world of Doctor Who and watch these episodes, in any order you fancy!
Isn’t it about time? 😉
I’m going to pick only the top episodes for you to enjoy that I feel are best suited for an ultimate time travel experience. I’m going to try and diversify with different selections from the various Doctors and companions, and I’m going to try and pick episodes that you really don’t have to have seen the majority of the show to appreciate…
10. The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances — Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 9 and 10 (aired 2006)
This is my favorite set of episodes from the 9th Doctor. Terrifying, heart-felt, and wonderful story telling. It’s actually the first episode Steven Moffat wrote (who later became synonymous with the show itself as he became Cheif Story Lead)
It’s an iconic story in the Doctor Who fandom and if you have a decent chunk of time to sit down and watch this one, it’s really a wonderful peek into the universe of Doctor Who.
Good ol’ American Captain Jack Harkness is introduced to us, mysterious monster-like characters come into play, and we get to see into the mind of of The Doctor, who has the heart and soul of a true time traveler.
9. Father’s Day — Doctor Who Season 1 Episode 8 (aired 2006)
This one deals with some cool aspects of time travel, namely what happens when time is damaged and the consequences of changing things that have already occurred in a certain way. It also deals with that raw human thought of, “hey if I did come across a time machine would I be tempted to change things that happened in my past?”
Get ready for some silly Doctor Who monsters (but with a really wonderful storyline to accompany it — all about, you guessed it, time!)
8. Listen — Doctor Who Season 8 Episode 4 (aired 2014)
The idea of childhood fears mixed with time travel is done in a really cool way in this episode. This one plays on that classic idea of a typical Doctor Who monster but with a unique spin as well 😊
7. Vincent and The Doctor — Doctor Who Season 5 Episode 10 (aired 2010)
One of the reasons Doctor Who was created in the first place was so that children could learn about history and historical figures (as The Doctor time traveled to meet them of course).
This episode explores some fun plot behind the paintings of Van Gough.
Tony Curran makes an amazing Van Gough too. He not only looks like Van Gough (from those self portraits we know him by today) but he portrays him with acting in an incredibly beautiful way as well.
6. Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead
One word: River.
Just for the sheer fact of her character alone this episode deserves to be here. The Doctor and River Song start an amazing journey together in this episode and the concept is brilliant…
Two characters meeting in opposite and random order from each other, because they are both time travelers…
It’s a unique and interesting concept of time that is very well done here 😊 And there’s also some other really cool and fun time stuff here as well with different characters like Donna, The Doctor’s companion.
5. Amy’s Choice — Doctor Who Season 5 Episode 7 (aired 2010)
This one is an interesting episode. I’ve shown it to a few people and their reaction is either one of extreme love or extreme hate. But I love the time elements in this episode and I guess being a lover of this episode, I highly recommend watching it. It plays on the idea of bouncing between two different realities of time very well and how the choices we make can possibly affect the nature of time itself.
All you have to know before watching this (which you might already) is that the Doctor loves to bring “companions” with him on his time machine, the TARDIS. Amy and Rory have been The Doctor’s companions and are a couple. Simple. Straightforward. Go. Watch. Now.
4. A Christmas Carol — Doctor Who Season 6 Christmas Episode (aired in 2010)
Ok so this one does have some of that cheesy Doctor Who stuff in it: flying fish 🐟 to name one thing 😜 But it really is a fun take on Charles Dickens classic tale A Christmas Carol, with The Doctor and his companion acting as the role of the Christmas ghosts in this episode! I always look forward to the Christmas specials in British TV and this one definitely doesn’t disappoint!
3. The Girl in the Fireplace — Doctor Who Season 2 Episode 4 (aired in 2006)
It’s always fun when the TARDIS goes back to in time through history, this time to France during the reign of King Louis XV. Insert some monsters, interesting plot, great acting, and time travel and you get a wonderful episode here!
The episode plays with a really interesting concept in time travel that I like a lot — to one person a time traveler never seems to age, because you see them throughout your entire existence, and yet to the time traveler your entire existence could just be one day in the long grand scheme of the universe.
2. Heaven Sent — Doctor Who Season 9 Episode 11 (aired in 2015)
This one is also another great episode to start off watching for your first time traveling with The Doctor 😉 You really don’t have to have watched much of the show to necessarily get this one. All you have to know is The Doctor can travel to other worlds and he recently just lost someone very important to him. Peter’s beautiful performance and Moffat’s impeccable writing make this episode a top time travel episode for sure 😊
In this episode mystery becomes beautiful plot and the time travel aspects do not disappoint!
1. Blink — Doctor Who Season 3 Episode 10 (aired in 2007)
This is the first Doctor Who episode I ever came across. I definitely think you do not have to have watched any of the Doctor Who series to enjoy this one. In fact, I think it’s actually better if you have never actually seen an episode (like I did) and know nothing about The Doctor! It makes his character SO intriguing! It works really well too because the main character we follow the whole episode knows squat about The Doctor as well. Great intro to a wonderful series - all about time travel 😍
Disagree with any of the choices or want to see any other episodes on this list? I’d be interested to hear — feel free to leave a comment below!
Also my fellow Whovian River Lee wrote a wonderful Top Ten for this subject as well! You can read it here:
AND my husband Jonathan Chew made a parallel list about Top Time Travel Episodes in the equally amazing show series, Star Trek! You can read his article here:
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