Awesome / Doctor Who Series 10

Going out with a bang — literally.

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"The Return of Doctor Mysterio"

• The Doctor dares Sim to shoot him, Lucy, and Nardole in the back, eliminating his ability to claim he shot them in self defense.
• The Ghost's entrance, effortlessly smashing a window that could withstand "force equivalent to four nuclear bombs", walking calmly through Doctor Sim's gunfire, and then handing Sim his posterior while still remaining true to his Thou Shall Not Kill mantra.
• The Doctor catches Doctor Sim in a mistake, when the latter states that they will enact the plan "when the time is right." Realizing that it isn't the right time for the plan, he triggers the alien bomb early.
• Grant catching the alien ship. One handed, no less.
  The Doctor: There! On you go. Take a look at him. That's why you don't stand a chance. You wanna know why? He's actually left handed.
  Grant: Sorry. Instinct. I couldn't let go of this. [revealing baby monitor in left hand]
• Grant defies Power Corrupts all because of his love of comic books and his desire to live up to the heroic ideals within.
• Living in a major city like New York, Grant is no doubt constantly busy 24/7 with fires, crimes, and all kinds of emergencies — but whenever there's any need, the Ghost will be there. And he has time to be a nanny on the side!
• Lucy gets more out of the Doctor with five minutes and a squeeze toy than Rassilon managed with 4.5 billion years and a bespoke torture chamber.

"The Pilot"

• Bill standing up the Doctor, and guilting him into keeping her memories, because she "know[s] what a mind wipe looks like".
• Heather follows Bill throughout time and space because she made a promise.
• How much have the Daleks improved in hunting the Doctor? They detect him as soon as he arrives this time! To make it even better? They're in the middle of a goddamn war with the Movellans when he turns up and they still manage to detect him and get in a few good shots too!

"Smile"

• The Doctor working out the tragedy that took place at the colony and pre-empting a war between the humans and the Vardy. Though he wasn't able to save everyone, he was able to cut the first battle short and lay the groundwork for peace by acting as a negotiator.

"Thin Ice"

• The Doctor punching out Lord Sutcliffe after the latter begins to racially abuse Bill.
• Moving Sutcliffe's explosives so that they free the sea serpent instead of doom the human crowds is another awesome moment for the Doctor.

"Knock Knock"

• Eliza usurping control of the insects from the Landlord is not only impressive in and of itself, but also in how quickly she gets a hold of it.

"Oxygen"

• The Doctor saves the day by tying his and the others' vital signs to the core's stabilizing systems, thus forcing the suits' puppeteer to not only back off, but give them extra oxygen. He does this while totally blind in both eyes.

"Extremis"

• The Doctor discovers that he and everyone else in the world is a computer simulation, but he can still use his Sonic Sunglasses to email everything he knows to the real Doctor, warning him of the simulation that he and everyone else on Earth was placed in. Facing a Monk, he firmly states that fake or real, he will still be the Doctor, and will do what he does best. The entire speech is one amazing Leaning on the Fourth Wall because of course the Doctor isn't real, he's a fictional character in a TV show — but that doesn't stop him from doing exactly what the Doctor wants to do — provide hope and inspiration to real people, encourage them to win without weapons, and show them all the wonders of time and space.
  The Doctor: Funny. I don't believe much. I'm not sure I believe anything. But right now, belief is all I am. Virtue is only virtue in extremis. I take it that your intention is to invade the Earth?
  Monk: The simulations have been run. The Earth will be ours.
  The Doctor: Well, consider this a warning on the eve of war. I am the Doctor. I am what stands between you and them.
  Monk: You are not the Doctor. You are not real.
  The Doctor: [feels his way around the desk to stand in front of the Monk] Oh, you don't have to be real to be the Doctor. Long as you never give up. Long as you always trick the bad guys into their own traps. And here's the trap you fell into. Your simulation, it's far too good. [picks up his sonic sunglasses and aims them towards the Monk] Do you see these? They're set to record. I'm blind, you see, so I'm psychically wired into these, so my memory print of the last few hours will still be intact on here. Information about you!
  Monk: You are not real. There is nothing you can do.
  The Doctor: There's always one thing you can do from inside a computer. Even if you're a jumped-up little subroutine, you can do it. You can always... [puts on the sonic sunglasses] e-mail! [presses the rim of the glasses, causing the words "Memory File: Uploading" to appear on his screen]
  Monk: What are you doing?
  The Doctor: I'm doing what everybody does when the world is in danger. I'm calling the Doctor. Pressing send! [activates his sonic sunglasses to email the recording, then smiles defiantly at the Monks until the simulation begins to end]
• A small one for Nardole. He figured out the world was a computer simulation without having to read the Veritas.
• The Doctor gets a group of would-be executioners to flee by telling them to look him up under the Fatality Index... under Cause of Death. Their Fatality Index sounds like it is shorting out trying to count how many fatalities attributed to The Doctor.
• Nardole insists on being a Human Shield for Bill because those were the instructions he received. Then he gives a Badass Boast to Bill about how he's "licensed to kick the Doctor's ass" and will kick hers as well if she doesn't stop interfering with his attempts to keep her safe. This comes complete with The Glasses Come Off. This gets him respect from Bill: "Are you secretly a badass?"
• The Doctor outwits the Enemies of Life by vowing to guard Missy's body, but does not vow to guard a dead one.

"The Pyramid at the End of the World"

• The moment the Doctor shuts down the Monks verbally.
  The Doctor: Planet Earth does not consent to your help, your presence, or your conquest. [imitates game show announcer's voice] Thank you for playing the big pyramid game. Bye, bye. See you again next week, hopefully not.
  Monk: Without our help, Planet Earth is doomed.
  The Doctor: Yes? Well, it's been doomed before. Guess what happened? Me!
• There's only a few minutes to find the event which is about to lead to the extinction of life on Earth, and the planet will have to be surrendered to the Monks if the Doctor can't find it with nothing at all to go on. His solution: after narrowing down the likely event to a biochemical plague, he shuts down the cameras everywhere such a process is being done, and then waits to see which one the Monks turn back on first.

"The Lie of the Land"

• Bill being key to defeating the Monks, as her memories of her mother overwhelm the Monks' psychic field, freeing the world of their control and forcing them to flee.

"Empress of Mars"

• Godsacre standing up to Iraxxa and being willing to die to save his men after executing Catchlove, redeeming himself for being a deserter.
• The peace between the Ice Warriors and humans is brokered by a member of each race deciding to find a peaceful resolution despite standing alone. Even better, the only role the Doctor plays in this is pointing out a peaceful solution was the best way.
• The show getting Ysanne Churchman back as the voice of Alpha Centurai, at 92 years old and a good four decades since she'd last played the role.

"The Eaters of Light"

• The Ninth Roman Legion marching off to Sealed Evil in a Duel with Kar the Gatekeeper.
  Lucius: Ninth Legion, advance!

"World Enough and Time"

• Before it all goes horribly wrong, Missy does a pretty great impression of the Doctor, and manages to keep her murdery urges under wraps.

"The Doctor Falls"

• The Doctor is tied to a wheelchair as the Master and Missy plot his demise. How does he turn the tables? He doesn't; he already altered the Cybermen's programming to, as he put it, "put [Time Lords] on the menu."
  The Doctor: You've forgotten; when you're winning and I'm in the room, you're missing something.
  • Although it's ambiguous, it's entirely possible that Missy knew he would do that all along, which is a total awesome moment for her as well, given how fast she calculated options and hid what she was doing.
• Bill managing to keep her mind after being converted, and survive realising what she's become. That takes a level of will few other characters have ever had.
• Nardole's "Is that windmill important?" demonstration, and the brainstorm of hacking the ship's gas lines that made the trick work.
• The Doctor explains why he does what he does to the Masters.
  The Doctor: I'm not trying to win. I'm not doing this because I want to beat someone, because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It's not because it's fun. God knows it's not because it's easy. It's not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it's right! Because it's decent! And above all, because it's kind! It's just that... Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stay and fight, some of them might live. Maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, you know, maybe there's no point to any of this at all. But it's the best I can do. So I'm going to do it. And I'm going to stand here doing it until it kills me. And you're going to die too! Some day... And how will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for? Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand is where I fall.
  • The speech manages to get through to Missy, who decides that if she's going to die, she's going out with the Doctor — best friends, together, at the end. Unfortunately, she is killed before she can help.
    • Missy takes 12's hand before she leaves with the Saxon-Master. The implication is that the Doctor felt the knife she had there, because it's the same hand, and knew what she was going to do.
  • Even though she dies too, Missy stabbing the Saxon-Master is fantastically cathartic after three seasons in total of him being a racist, sexist, abusive dickhead (even more so than usual).
    • Audio dramas later reveal Missy will survive by creating an Elysian field to "kick start a new regeneration cycle". The process of cryogenetic extraction destroyed her body but retained a copy of her consciousness before regeneration, meaning that the Master will live on and the Saxon-Master failed. Again.
• The Doctor versus a ton of Cybermen, both old and new. The Doctor wins, even if he dies in the process.
  The Doctor: Telos! Sealed you into your ice tombs! Voga! Canary Wharf! Planet 14! Every single time, you lose. Even on the Moon.
  [The Doctor gets zapped in the back by an early-style Cyberman.]
  The Doctor: Hello. I'm the Doctor.
  Cyberman: Doctors are not required.
  [The Cyberman aims its helmet weapon directly at his chest.]
  The Doctor: Argh! No, no. I'm not a doctor. I am the Doctor. The original, you might say.
  • Not only that, but after the entire floor goes down in a big explosion, Bill walks up, the last Cyberman standing. Meaning that she defeated all the Cybermen that attacked her, and found a way to shield herself before the explosion.
    • Said aforementioned explosion is because the Doctor decided: "Screw it, I'm dying anyway. Let's go out in style!" and detonated the floor as he died using his Sonic Screwdriver!

"Twice Upon a Time"

• This special opens with a monochrome clip of the First Doctor giving his speech to the Cybermen word for word...with the screen changing from the monochrome William Hartnell to the coloured David Bradley during the speech without missing a beat.
  William Hartnell!Doctor: Emotions. Love. Pride. Hate. Fear.
  (transition)
  David Bradley!Doctor: (leans forward) Have you no emotions, sir?
  • Also this text: "709 episodes ago".
• While the Glass Woman showing the first Doctor his future frightens him. It's amazing seeing all of his incarnations being heroic while the Glass Woman lists off some of his more famous nicknames, such as (the Imp of the Pandorica, the Shadow of the Valeyard, the Beast of Trenzalore and the Butcher of Skull Moon).
• Apparently, Rusty has access to more knowledge than the entire Gallifreyan Matrix.
• The Doctor returns the Captain to his own time as per the Testimony's wishes... then reveals he altered the time frame by a few hours, so that the Christmas Truce would start just in time to save the Captain's life.
• The Doctors themselves clearly consider the 1914 Christmas Truce to be a combined Awesome and Heartwarming Moment for the human species.

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