Despite sixty years on TV, Doctor Who has not had highly successful movie adaptations and seems to have found TV to be the perfect format for storytelling. Still, the makers have produced a couple of movies that were forgettable, to put it kindly. Some were based on episodes of Doctor Who, with no connection or continuation to the show at hand.

The specials, however, are a different story. In the Russell T. Davies era, the showrunner made it a point to produce a special for Christmas every year. However, for the departure of David Tennant, a four-part arc was produced, which included a Christmas special and the finale ‘The End of Time’, which is a two-part episode. We will not be including the Christmas special and the final episode on our list.

From Peter Cushing’s movies in the ‘60s to David Tennant’s final hurrah, here are all the movies and specials of Doctor Who ranked.

The Daleks are one of the greatest sci-fi villains. The Xenophobic cyborgs who thrive on nuclear radiation have no mercy and are relentless in their pursuit of total domination, at times even killing off their own because they do not subscribe to the collective ideology. Terry Nation’s episode with William Hartnell, The Daleks, is one of the best episodes of the franchise.

Nation’s amazing episode, where we first saw the Daleks, was the basis for the 1965 movie Doctor Who and the Daleks. There is a reason why the movies of Doctor Who are largely not considered by fans as essential viewing. The 1965 movie was already an adaptation of the TV show episode and did not feature William Hartnell, who was the Doctor at the time.

Instead, Peter Cushing portrayed the Doctor, largely due to his popularity in America, which the makers figured would bring ticket sales. The movie is just a colorized version of the episode, with only Cushing shouldering the weight of making the acting work. The visuals are pretty good, and so are the special effects for the Daleks, but other than that, the movie is largely forgettable.

Peter Cushing’s second outing as the Doctor was as bad as the first one. Though there were some improvements from the first one, like a bigger scale, sleeker editing, and better action sequences, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. was again disappointing because of how little it had to do with the show and was just another adaptation of a Doctor Who episode.

It may be the problem of how IPs were seen in those days, but the movie adaptations alienated the fans and were possibly made only for a general audience. Despite some upgrades in special effects and production, the acting, apart from Cushing, largely remained hammy and cringeworthy, and the storytelling was lackluster.

Several production issues reportedly happened during filming, including Cushing’s ill health, which reportedly prompted rewrites to reduce his appearances. Stuntmen also got injured during filming (via Stardust). Despite the issues, the movie fared better than its predecessor in terms of handling the scale and storytelling, but it was a box office dud, canceling plans for a third movie.

Planet of the Dead was an Easter special with the Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant, who was on his way to depart from Doctor Who by the end of the series. Part of the four-part finale, Planet of the Dead is easily the weakest. Tennant does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to acting, with Michelle Ryan’s performance just not being good enough.

The episode marked the first time Doctor Who switched to filming in HD, and the visuals look pretty good, especially the desert shots in the Sands of San Helios scenes. But what makes this episode rank this low in the list is the potential. It had the potential to be great, but the classic Russell T. Davies complexity and convolutedness restrict it from greatness.

Planet of the Dead also suffered from a lack of material. There is a lot of fluff in the script that just feels like it is there for it to qualify as a 60-minute special. Many of these elements, like The Swarm, are just there to fill out runtime, and it just does not work. It is a dull special for an actor who defined the character for a whole generation of fans.

This one is rated higher on the list, not because it is good, but because it is one of those ‘so bad it’s fun’ movies. The 1996 TV movie Doctor Who was a continuation of the series that was canceled in the ‘80s, but was intended to be a backdoor pilot for an American-produced revival of the series. That did not happen, but we got the 2005 revival years later.

The movie is also the first we see of Paul McGann’s Doctor, who we will later see in the list for a brief appearance that won over fans. Both Peter Capaldi and Christopher Eccleston were reportedly offered the opportunity to audition, but both of them declined. Capaldi said that he did not think he would get it (via Kasterborous).

I didn’t go [to the audition]. I loved the show so much, and I didn’t think I would get it, and I didn’t want to just be part of a big cull of actors.

While it does have a halfway decent story and some great visuals, the 1996 Doctor Who is just too campy and corny, and despite McGann’s charming performance, it does not have a lot going to be actually good.

Unlike the previous special, The Water of Mars actually pulled off its huge ambitions. Again, a part of David Tennant’s farewell party, the hour-long episode sees the Doctor mess with the future again (like The Fires of Pompeii) by acting on his morality. Set in the future, the episode sees the Doctor explore the first human colony on Mars.

Russell T. Davies, while again complicating things, crafts some insane moments in this episode. The Bowie Base One crew members genuinely feel like sacrifices for a future that is brighter, and the deaths from the Flood are horrific. Each soldier, though not expanded, feels human, and their deaths are sad.

The episode also goes into bleak territory and triggers what will be the Tenth Doctor’s final journey after he saves Captain Adelaide and some of the crew from the explosion on Mars. However, Adelaide’s wish for her granddaughter to explore space (a future that the Doctor changed by saving them) leads her to commit s*icide, thus bringing things back in order.

The only complaint about the episode is the small moment of hubris the Doctor has, which seems inconsequential after the special. Tennant is at his cheesy best and performs the heck out of the scene. But it would have been great if the arc had been continued in future episodes.

The Night of the Doctor was one of those welcome surprises that Doctor Who fans loved. An almost seven-minute-long mini-episode that features Paul McGann (yes, from the aforementioned 1996 movie) as the Eighth Doctor and his regeneration story. Trying to help a rescue pilot named Cass during the Time War, the Doctor regenerates into a ‘warrior’ after failing to save her.

McGann shines as the Eighth Doctor, making fans hope that the American-produced Doctor Who series actually happened and we got more time with him. It also acts as a perfect prelude to The Day of the Doctor, which brought in past incarnations of the central character as Matt Smith’s version dealt with the Time War.

This was a Doctor Who fan’s dream when it aired back in 2013. This was Endgame before Endgame, and boy, did it deliver. The special, The Day of the Doctor, was conceived as a tribute to the series for its 50th Anniversary, and it brought in several elements of the show that fans knew and loved.

From Matt Smith’s Doctor getting ready for his regeneration, to the return of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, to John Hurt playing the War Doctor, it was all mayhem. Steven Moffat pulled off a Russell T. Davies-level extinction event and came out with flying colors. We also got Tom Baker in a brief cameo as the Fourth Doctor. It was just nerd heaven.

Does it bite off more than it can chew? Sometimes. It has many classic villains such as the Daleks and the Zygons (which didn’t make an appearance since 1975), and has companion characters like Rose come back. It has a lot of moving parts, but The Day of the Doctor is well-crafted and proves why Moffat may have been the show’s best showrunner.

While The Day of the Doctor has most fans impressed, do you think it deserves the top of this list? What are your thoughts on the non-Christmas specials of Doctor Who and their rankings? Write down in the comments below.

is available to stream on HBO Max.