This is my personal ranking of every doctors first full story (not necessarily post-regeneration story).
I’d love to hear everyone else’s rankings
An unearthly Child :ONLY PART 1 and it’s a perfect first story, introducing us to the doctor, TARDIS , and companions perfectly
The Eleventh Hour: a great jumping on point for new viewers, and Smith understood the role immediately and introducing us to Amy as well was done perfectly with a great story to boot.
Spearhead from Space: a new breath of life to the show and a fun, earth-based story which establishes what type of stories we will continue to see from Pertwee’s run moving forward. Pertwee is fantastic right off!
Power of the Daleks: the story that could have ended the show if done wrong, but Troughton and the daleks created an amazing story which kept the show going for so long
Rose: nostalgia might affect my views on this story but much like an unearthly child it has to introduce people to the doctor, companion, and TARDIS while having a good story. While the story isn’t as good, it’s still a dang good time and got me hooked when I watched it.
Deep Breath: I like this story more than most. I like how Capaldi questions his morality and has to figure out who he is more than any other doctor before him had. So much so that it ends up being his arc throughout his run. Plus I love the paternoster gang.
RoboT: Tom’s first story feels more like a lost Pertwee story, howeve that’s not to say it’s bad, but I’m glad that we get a nice transition from Pertwee’s earthbound era to Tom’s time and sapce era
Doctor Who (the movie): once again I like this story more than most. McGann is great as the doctor and the “who am I” scene gives me chills every time. Of course the story itself is not great, but I enjoy it.
Castrovalva: nothing inherently wrong with this story, but I kind of feel like Davisons post-regeneration trauma was a bit drawn out so we didn’t get a proper taste of his doctor. But I love the look of the story and Ainley is fantastic as well.
The church on Ruby Road: it’s fun. Ncuti steals the scenes he’s in and immediately felt like the doctor, I actually like that we don’t get the traumatic post-regeneration for him as some time has passed since the giggle. The story itself though is quite generic
The Woman Who Fell to Earth: again, not inherently bad, I just enjoy others more. Jodie I feel was great for her first episode and the stunt on the crane is one of the best “I am the doctor” moments for a post-regeneration doctor
The Star Beast: a fun return to form with a rushed third act. Tennant was great to have back and you really felt like this doctor was different just because of little things he did. The story was good for the first two-thirds, but then it got rushed and deus-ex-machina’d the meta crisis.
The Christmas Invasion: yeah I don’t really care for this story. I feel like having the doctor absent for most of it doesn’t work for me when it’s his first story. That being said when he does wake up, Tennant was fantastic and immediately felt like the doctor
Time and The Rani: this story’s bad but I LOVE IT! I just love how campy and ridiculous it is and Sylvester was not as bad as people say in this story. Plus I feel he can work that multi-color coat.
The twin Dilemma: When you have your new doctor’s first action be strangling their companion, it’s hard to see past that and makes them completely unlikable. The story itself is not as bad as people say (definitely not the worst of classic who) but it’s still pretty bad. Plus putting this at the end of a season rather than the beginning was a very bad choice.
This is just my list and my opinion. I did not count “Day of the Doctor“ of “fugitive of the Judoon” as they are more debatable.
