14. Season 1: Space Babies
“Space Babies” fails in being a season-opening episode because the true introduction to Season 1 came in the Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road.” That was when audiences got to know about the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday, and that was when many of the season’s arcs were established. “Space Babies,” on the other hand, had little set-up of any kind and was one of the weakest episodes all season. The storyline was derivative, and the dialogue was generally clunky and repetitive.
But rather than complain about everything wrong with it, I want to highlight three scenes that did work. The scene of Ruby stepping on a butterfly was fun and set up the reality-altering nature of this new era. The final scene built up the idea that Ruby was not what she seemed (even though the finale rejected that concept). But the best scene was when the Doctor talked with Captain Poppy, as it showed both his compassion and how this Doctor operates, especially with the context of the Timeless Child arc.
13. Series 13: The Halloween Apocalypse
“The Halloween Apocalypse” is unlike any other season opener because it was part of a season-long serial, rather than being the first distinct story within a standard season. Because of that, it didn’t need to fully answer every question it posed—but it should have at least answered enough for the audience to have some sense of what was happening.
This episode introduced at least eight new human characters, invented two new alien species, and brought back the Sontarans and Weeping Angels. Half of those characters only appeared in one or two scenes to say something confusing before the episode moved on to another plotline, a structure which made it nearly impossible to track the story. It successfully set the foundation for the rest of the season, but it didn’t function as a distinct episode.