Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 29, 2024, 07:52:11 AM

Login with username, password and session length

The Best And Worst Of Doctor Who... Ever

Started by Backstage With Slowdive, March 21, 2007, 08:21:52 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Backstage With Slowdive

This straddles both incarnations of the series, so it gets a thread of its own. I've been brooding on it for ages now. Can't remember if I've posted something like this before, please regard this as the up-to-date version.

My favourite ever DW stories are ones that have some extra little twist or quirkiness, just a special little idea or maybe a handful of them. I absolutely love all the other ones not mentioned in this list - stuff like Nightmare Of Eden or Seeds Of Doom - but my absolute favourites are the ones I've narrowed down on here.

#10: The Android Invasion
Yes I know the plot has terrible holes in it, but it's the sheer strangeness of those scenes in the mock village, and the spacesuited figures, and also the bit where the MD bomb goes off and it all wipes away to desert... makes this my favourite above the other Hinchcliffe stories, great though they all are.

#9: The Caves Of Androzani
This should be uncontroversial, a great R.Holmes story with multiple strands of double-crossing schemers.

#8: Black Orchid
Just perfect.

#7: Revelation Of The Daleks
The best Dalek story, because it's all utterly evil. Unrelenting dark and nastiness, with a great range of rancid characters.

#6: Inferno
Parallel worlds. An evil version of the Brigadier. Excellent.

#5: Warrior's Gate
It's not just the whiteout set, but also the wonderfully seedy Privateer crew, and spookiness of the journey through the gateway itself.

#4: The War Games
NOT overlong, but well-paced and with aliens that manage to be nasty and monstrous without actually dressing up in silly costumes. There isn't a wasted minute or a second of filler in the whole thing.

#3: The Christmas Invasion
Yes, really - the best "Earth invasion" story ever, combined with a brilliant regeneration story. I saw the repeat before last christmas straight after a bunch of Tom Baker stories on video and it easily won out as the most enthralling of everything that day. So in all honesty I have to rate it highly. And there is no doubt at all that Tennant is playing the Doctor, just as Baker was.

#2: Mawdryn Undead
This is... just genius. A great storyline, a return for the Brigadier, and the Doctor thwarts an evil force without ever meeting it.

#1: THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE
Oh yes. This distills all the things I loved in all the other stories on this list.



And the worst....
#10: The Romans
Just bad.

#9: Boom Town
Just... nothing. David Whittaker knew how to write proper filler.

#8: The Abominable Snowmen
This is actually hugely boring and confusing to listen to. Maybe it would help if there were moving pictures available for all the episodes. Web Of Fear is good though.

#7: The Dalek Invasion Of Earth
Nowhere near as good as the Peter Cushing film version.

#6: The Daemons
Nowhere near being good. A very boring story in which not much goes on other than UNIT have to turn up somewhere and wait for the Doctor to do his magic. It's clearly a generational thing that old fans (by which I mean anyone who started watching before Tom Baker was the Doctor) rate this as "a classic".

#5: Time Flight
A fantastic premise for a Who story pissed away after episode 1. Blame Saward or JNT for insisting The Master being added as the villain, when he wasn't in the original script. From the same writer who went on to do the sublime Mawdryn in the following season.

#4: The Mark Of The Rani
Also a great possibility, for a historical set in the Luddite revolts, utterly ruined by a terrible script. The bit where the tree's branch moves like an arm is the silliest ever DW moment, far beyond anything in the Hartnell or Troughton years.

#3: The Twin Dilemma
A terrible end to what had been otherwise an excellent season. A half-baked attempt to go back to what DW was like before JNT moved it on.

#2: The Leisure Hive
The first fruit of JNT's attempt to move DW on, was actually completey awful. But he got good later on.

#1: TIME AND THE RANI
I'm not being controversial here... it really was appalling, and it was the cause of me adopting a policy of only seeing the first episode of each McCoy story, and not bothering if it didn't work out. Thus it is that I've yet to see the whole of Delta And The Bannermen, The Happiness Patrol and Silver Nemesis, and thus couldn't put them in this list despite strong suspicions they belong here.

Uncle TechTip

Quote from: "Backstage With Slowdive"Can't remember if I've posted something like this before, please regard this as the up-to-date version.
Will do. *scribble*

JesusAndYourBush

Quote from: "Backstage With Slowdive"Thus it is that I've yet to see the whole of Delta And The Bannermen, The Happiness Patrol and Silver Nemesis, and thus couldn't put them in this list despite strong suspicions they belong here.
Silver Nemesis is ok but the other 2 are very poor so you needn't bother watching them.  I still don't know how they didn't get sued by Bassett's for completely ripping off Bertie Bassett in The Happiness Patrol.  Actually no, I don't see why someone else should get away with not watching them when I had to.  Go and watch them right now!

Dark Sky

Hurray, another Doctor Who thread!

Just wanna say that I agree completely with your list.

EXCEPT in regards to Mawdryn Undead, which is "urm...alright-ish", and The Christmas Invasion, which is absolutely utter drivel and the single worst episode of New Who they've made so far.  ('Dalek' and 'The Long Game' also earning the same title, depending on how I'm feeling.)

Oh, and also EXCEPT in regards to The Daemons, which is a classic (and I was born in 1984 so stick that up your arse and moan with pleasure), Boomtown (which is fantastically good, apart from the cop out ending), and The Leisure Hive is brill as well: if just for the long beach shot at the start, K-9 blowing up (yay!!!), the Doctor being visually ripped limbed from limb and screaming horribly (gruesome!), the reveal of the Fomasi, and the way the army of clones are all of different height, build, and sex.

I will add to the table:

THE BEST

The Chase

An amazingly fun, inventive, exciting, silly and wonderful romp, full of lots of brilliant locations, crazy characters, proper Daleks, and the perfect writing out of Ian and Barbara, complete with that wonderful montage of their arrival back on earth.

The Mind Robber

Doctor Who never got more inventively surreal than this!  Even the "quick we need to make an extra episode and only have some white cloth and robot suits from a different science fiction series at hand" episode is completely mystifying and engaging and has the single most terrifying and bizarre cliffhanger ever in the history of Who.  In fact, all the cliffhangers in this story (especially the unicorn and then the Medusa) have been burned onto the back of my retina since I was small.  From Jamie losing his face, the creepy but friendly Gulliver, Rapunzel, the clockword soldiers and Jamie and Zoe being engulfed in the giant book...just so many iconic images and sequences.  A brilliant story.

The Tomb Of The Cybermen

Only this and Earthshock remain the best reappearances of the Cybermen after the Tenth Planet, and this one beats the other two hands down.  I love the way the tension builds up so much as the explorers make their way through the tombs before uncovering the hoardes of Cybermen frozen away in that fantastic set, with such amazing music...  And don't forget the cute but deadly Cybermats, the imposing Cyberleader, and Toberman.  

The Two Doctors

This one will definitely be controversial, but I adore this story and find it absolutely terrifying...mostly because of Shockeye.  The actual plot involving the Sontarans is unimportant, but the setting and music give off such a wonderful atmosphere, and it's Shockeye who really does steal the scene all the way through.  And a marvellous turn from Troughton as well as he mutates into an Androgum.  Shockeye's murder of Botcherby is still the single most upsetting scene in the whole of Doctor Who, for me.

Vengeance On Varos

Cruel, sadistic, brutal, and just plain nasty, this one...which makes it wonderful.  Plus the marvelous Sil, and again a truly superb cliffhanger!  So many great bits, from the TV viewers arguing and their reveling in the sadistic viewing, Peri being turned into a bird, the Doctor being executed, all the tricks and traps in the maze, the cannibals...  A great story and very much overlooked (as is most of Colin Baker's reign, sadly, because he really was a great Doctor).

Remembrance of the Daleks

My all time favourite Who story!  Flying coffins, creepy girls, postmodern TV announcements, Daleks battling DALEKS!, unlimited rice pudding, etc, etc!  Again it's the cliffhangers which are amazing; the Dalek going up the stairs, Ace being surrounded by three chanting Daleks...  Plus great music, great special effects, the biggest explosions the BBC had ever done on Doctor Who, and Sylvester on top form, blending mystery with his slapstick.

Ghost Light

One of the oddest and creepy ones...it just gets under your skin.  Even though it's incomprehensible on your first ten viewings or so, the tone and atmosphere and wonderful music by Mark Ayres are almost hypnotic.  Memorable moments include the servants appearing mechanically at the strike of six, the hypnotised policeman in the drawer, "Rat King!", Light turning people into stone, that guy who turns into a gorilla, that guy whose skin all peels off, Ace running around screaming "Professor, what's going on?!"

Survival

What an epic to go out on!  So wonderful that the last ever Doctor Who story had such a good mix of what made Doctor Who so wonderful (and which has pretty much served as a template for New Who).  The creepiness of the deserted London suburbs contrasted with the classic point of view monster killing off the residents has always haunted my memory (Survival is the only Doctor Who story I can definitely remember watching when it was first broadcast).  The beautiful costumes for the Cheetah people and their elegance contrasting with their brutalness... Wonderful atmosphere on the decaying planet with the howling of the Cheetah people and the evocative rock score...  Again, wonderful cliffhangers, the Master suddenly even more desperate and nasty (especially his murder of Kara), and the perfect closing monologue.  Absolutely classic story.


THE WORST

There's so many clunkers but if I had to list a few which stand out for being appalling they'd probably be...

Rose
The End of the World
Dalek
The Long Game
The Christmas Invasion
School Reunion
Love and Monsters (wonderful idea but it didn't gel, sadly)
The Silurians
Attack of the Cybermen
The Sontaran Experiment

It's difficult listing bad ones as there's not many that I've seen that I would object to watching again, (though those ones listed there would come close).  I may add to the "worst" list if I think of some more I've blocked from my mind.  But even Time and the Rani is at the very least entertaining...

Alberon

Quote from: "Backstage With Slowdive"
#9: The Caves Of Androzani
This should be uncontroversial, a great R.Holmes story with multiple strands of double-crossing schemers.

Yeah, it is impossible for me to argue with that one. Great characters, especially the evil businessman and his asides to the camera. Also liked the cliffhanger where the Doctor and Peri are about to be executed by firing squad and instead of having the credits role before they fire instead having it end on them all firing before the end titles role.

I also agree with you on Warrior's Gate and The Girl in The Fireplace.

One of my favourites is City of Death. A story full of humour while never crossing over the line into parody. The exchanges between The Doctor and Romana and Duggan are just fantastic.

I'd add Terror of the Zygons, despite the awful puppet Loch Ness Monster. The Zygons had a huge affect on me as a kid and it's a shame they're not coming back in the third series of the new Who as rumoured.

I'd also add The Unquiet Dead which was the first episode of the new Who I loved unreservedly.

I always liked the gothic horror part of the Tom Baker era, so I'd like to give The Talons of Weng-Chiang an honourable mention.

And The Tomb of the Cyberman as Dark Sky said back from when the Cybermen were dangerous (as opposed to having whole squads knocked out by a girl with a catapult and a bag of gold coins).

As for the worst...

Quote from: "Backstage With Slowdive"#4: The Mark Of The Rani
Also a great possibility, for a historical set in the Luddite revolts, utterly ruined by a terrible script. The bit where the tree's branch moves like an arm is the silliest ever DW moment, far beyond anything in the Hartnell or Troughton years.

To this day I can remember wincing when I first saw that bloody tree.

No sane person can argue with including Time and the Rani either.

From the new series, I did hate the farting slitheen, but the one that really really angered me almost to the point of kicking the television in was Love and Monsters.

Not for the lack of the Doctor and Rose. In fact, the episode worked best when they weren't around and when Peter Kay's character was pretending to be human. I've nothing against humour in Doctor Who (see City of Death above), but this ran brazenly over the line into parody. When The Doctor and Rose were doing the Scooby Doo chase at the beginning I just wanted to hunt down RTD and gut him like a pig.

Dark Sky

Quote from: "Alberon"When The Doctor and Rose were doing the Scooby Doo chase at the beginning I just wanted to hunt down RTD and gut him like a pig.

You're kidding?!  That Scooby-Doo chase has to be one of the greatest parts of New Who for me!

It's just such a shame that after such a brilliant start the rest of the episode went from "meh" to "meh".  

A great idea but so lousily thought through and made.

Angst in my Pants

Quote from: "Alberon"From the new series, I did hate the farting slitheen, but the one that really really angered me almost to the point of kicking the television in was Love and Monsters.

Not for the lack of the Doctor and Rose. In fact, the episode worked best when they weren't around and when Peter Kay's character was pretending to be human. I've nothing against humour in Doctor Who (see City of Death above), but this ran brazenly over the line into parody. When The Doctor and Rose were doing the Scooby Doo chase at the beginning I just wanted to hunt down RTD and gut him like a pig.
Like a lot of people, I was really dreading watching "Love & Monsters" the first time around, and it ended up being even worse than I feared.

It was repeated recently, and on that day I'd been in an exceptionally happy mood, which I couldn't attribute to anything in particular - I was simply feeling great.  Flipping through the channels for something to watch, this repeat had just started and such was my optimism I thought - hell, let's give this another go.  Maybe it wasn't as bad as I remembered.

But no, even in my happiest of happy moods I cringed and grimaced throughout.  Truly, truly awful and hands-down the worst Doctor Who episode I have ever seen.

My boyfriend is a much bigger Doctor Who fan than I am, and he's recommending some oldies I should try based on the ones I've loved so far.  There have been a fair few surprises - he hates Meglos which I tried anyway as I liked the look of a spikey Tom Baker, and as bizarre as it is I did enjoy it.

More votes for Caves of Andorozani & Talons of Weng-Chiang here.

I really enjoyed the whole Trial of a Timelord series.  Sure, it drags a bit now and then, but I love the risks they took against conventional storytelling and the whole mind-fuckage with the Valeyard in the last episodes.  I stopped trying to work out how and when The Doctor first met Mel for fear that my brain might turn into blancmange.

I think the majority of my other favourites are all obvious choices - Genesis of the Daleks, Logopolis, Terror of both the Zygons and the Autons if you please.

Great thread idea - I've been intrigued by War Games before now and after the comments above I'll definitely hunt it down.

biggytitbo

I like most of your choices Backstage... Mine would be

Best

10 Ambassadors of Death
Probably the most serious and grown up Doctor Who story - superb location filming, one of Pertwees best.
9 The Visitation
A classic period romp, I actually like Davison's annoying companions and he's as great as ever in this.
8 Empty Child
Almost perfect new series episode, would be number 1 if it wasn't for some really irritating forced comedy scenes in the second part.
7 City of Death
Brilliant  romp in Paris, one of the most stylish who episodes due to the superb location filming and music. Would be higher if I hadn't seen it so many times.
6 Spearhead from Space and Terror Of the Autons
These early Pertwee episodes are just amazingly atmospheric, due to the large amount of location filming and lurid pulp fiction content.
5 Mawdyn Undead
This is probably the best Davison episode. Great plot, great Doctor and great companions.
4 Seeds of Doom
A real epic Tom Baker story going from the north Pole to the a country mansion. Basically the same plot and the Thing but brilliantly done.
3 Terror Of the Zygons
My favourite Tom Baker story, the Loch Ness monster aside this has the best production values of any old series episode, a great mystery story and the best doctor and companion.
2 Girl In the Fireplace
This is the most stylish and sophisticated Who episode ever. An incredibly clever concept with brilliant dialogue and characters. It's also very moving in a way most Doctor Who episodes have never really touched before. Only slightly let down by a couple of misjudged scenes with the Doctor(the bits where he's pretending to be drunk)
1 Parting of the Ways
This is just gut wrenchingly brilliant. RTD, for all his faults hit perfection with this one, epic (the dalek attack on the space station),  sad (Eccleston tricking Rose into the Tardis and back to earth) and whimsical (Mickey trying to open the Tardis with a Mini) at the same time. The Best who episode ever.

Worst

10 KInda
I can appreciate it but its incredibly boring
9 Warriors of the Deep
Probably the only example of a Doctor Who episode where the production genuinly completely ruins a good story
8 The Mysterious Planet
Not bad, just incredibly boring.
7 Warriors Gate
Another one that isn't bad just boring, slow and pretentious.
6 Creature from the Pit
A ludicrous story, one of the worst examples of Doctor Who becoming a piss take in the later Tom Baker episodes
5 Plater of the Dinosaurs
Its a good story, if far too long, but ruined by truly awful effects, even by the standards of the program
4 Terminus
So boring I've never been able to sit through it
3 Attack of the Cybermen
Incoherent nonsense, even for fans of the show its likely to make no sense.
2 Idiots Lantern
I liked Unquiet Dead but this was terrible with some awful undoctorish moments from Tennant.
1 Fear Her
Makes any of the dross served up by the old series look like Star Wars. firmed for about 50p, awful script, terrible direction, embaressingly awful ending. Utter Shit.

difbrook

Oh, alright then. I'll have a go at this as well. This is how it stands at the moment, but it's subject to change - frequently, as I keep revisiting stuff and finding new bits of loveliness.

10 Image of the Fendahl
For any number of reasons, but mainly for the great supporting characters (Ma Tyler, that security guard who calls her "a loony old trout", Max, Fendleman, Adam Colby...

Wonderful, brooding atmosphere, great cliffhangers (glowing skull, something nasty in the hallway, etc...)

Tom effortlessly straddling the divide between silly and scary I'd say this is the absolute line between where Hinchcliffe ends and Williams begins, as it features all the best aspects of both approaches. I mean, just look at that little sequence where Ma is driven into catatonia because of something that "were hungry... hungry for my soul", and then just look how Tom brings her out of it, by deliberately getting a recipe for fruitcake wrong. That's the sort of thing that you don't get in any other series.

9. The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
At the time, I loved this to pieces. I have some reservations now, but not enough to prevent me hoisting it into the top ten. The opening "shall we get back into the Tardis and go somewhere safe? Snork" moment still chaffs - it's so astonishingly smug - but there's a lovely little bit later where Ten gets antsy over proposed domestic bliss that I rather like, and which undercuts all the "you hang up. No, I hung up first last time. Mwah" bollocks that drove me crackers last year. It does feature my single favourite Tennant moment to date - "just tell her... tell her... oh, she knows."

It's genuinely eerie, looks grimy as hell, has a feeling that everything's going to go to hell (ho-ho) at any moment, although I'm not best pleased that they got rid of Scooti so early. Such a waste. Oh, and how lovely to have a Doctor Who story where everyone just goes "oh, hello. I'm such and such, who are you? Lets get on with it", instead of accusing our heroes of murder and locking them up.

Gabriel Woolf may or may not reappear further down this list.

8. Inferno
Sometimes, padding isn't necessarily a bad thing. The parallel earth storyline here turns a good story into a great one, with a "you're all completely *fucked* atmosphere that doesn't exist anywhere else in Who. Here, the threat's real, and in at least half of the story, there's *nothing* anyone can do. That cliffhanger to episode 6. Oh, that cliffhanger to episode 6... Pertwee's at his absolute best, despite some unfortunate gurning in the first episode. Two of my favourite supporting turns turn up in this story - Greg Preston and Keith Gold. Christopher Benjamin in particular turns in a performance that is often unfairly overshadowed by his other grandstanding turn as Henry Gordon Jago. Turn, turn, turn. What a lot of turns in the preceding couple of sentences.

7. Fury From the Deep
Up until recently, I'd dismissed this as a bit overrated, but I just sat through a hi-quality telesnap recon of it last week and my word, but it flies along. If you stop for a moment to think about it, it's all a bit silly - killer seaweed, masses of foam, and not much else - endless scenes of the Harrises calling each other "darling" while Victoria has a bit of a tizz and Robson flies apart at the seams. But as with almost all Troughton, it's the conviction that holds it together. Look for a performer in this who isn't taking it seriously. You won't find it. With the possible exception of Mr Oak's "I'm sorry Madam, the procedure must be carried out immediately, Controller Robson's instructions", delivered all at the same pitch, in the same tone.

Victor Maddern? Astonishing. The ultimate refinement of the Troughton "unstable boss", "base under siege" formula. And no deaths.

I 'm usually quite fond of Who stories which end long before the episode does, giving us some decent character time, and this one shuts down about ten minutes into episode six, so everyone can have a meal and a wander about. I'm also grateful to it for getting rid of Vctoria. Never my favourite series regular, despite the obvious rapport the three regulars have.

Oh, and a really nice link to new Who as well, as Megan Jones shows up in "The Idiot's Lantern" as faceless granny.

6. The Massacre
Andre Morell, Eric Thompson. In Doctor Who. And they go and wipe it. Bastards. Forget all the Abbot of Amboise nonsense that this story is famous for, the real meat of the story is in what Stephen's up to, cut adrift with nothing but a cockney french girl and a couple of fops to keep him company. Peter Purves absolutely excels here, upholding my belief that there are very few people who never give a bad performance in Who (it's in single figures, actually). And he's one of them.

Again, it's doom-laden, I love that the action in each episode takes a single day, and the dialogue *sings*. "And tomorrow morning, this city shall weep tears of blood". I paraphrase, but you get the idea.

5. The Awakening
Fifty minutes of perfection. Davo (another on my list of perfect Who performers) clicking with Polly James to an extent that has me howling "keep her on, for god's sake! She's a great companion!", and delivering some humdinging dialogue along the way. "Stop the games? Are you mad? You speak treason!" "Fluently! Stop the games."

Dennis Lill turns up for his second appearance in my top ten, deliciously unhinged all the way to the end. There's a great bit in Eric Pringle's book which describes how the Malus sucks all the humanity out his head in one gulp towards the end, and Lill's performance certainly delivers on *that* particular concept.

Oh, and I still get the shivers at the idea of an alien hiding for centuries behind an old wall in a church crypt. What a monster, too. Best of the Davison monsters, by far. Just look at it. Evil in polystyrene.

4. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
There's no-one connected with Who irritates me more than Stephen Moffat does, as every time he opens his mouth he comes out with something aggravating. But christ, he can write. This is beautiful, from one end to the other.

The tape reel scene almost had me diving behind the proverbial sofa, it's got a catchphrase that Bob Baker and Dave Martin would have given all four of their bollocks to have written, it's *gorgeously* directed, it has an ending that brings a lump to my throat every single time, and...

... it's got Eccles at the peak of what so far as I'm concerned is still the best sustained performance of any Doctor. Even Troughton has an occasional mexican accent to contend with. Lawd bless him. I still love Nine with a passion that's probably indecent. It may not be in my top ten, but "Bad Wolf" has my single favourite moment in Who *ever*. Go have a look at the way Eccles plays the moment when the first Dalek fades onto the viewscreen. It's all in the way he squares his shoulders, sets his face and pulls on his jacket. Shortly before turning into Absolom Daak and having me cheering like a big daftie.

But yes, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances. "Well, there is a war on. Are you sure you haven't...miscounted?" And the real Captain Jack (not the idiot bastard parallel version that wandered about through Torchwood), wanders in, steals *every* scene he's in, and is currently leaving me wondering if there's going to be a piece of scenery in Cardiff left unchewed by the time him and Ten get through with it this year. There's no tv set in the world big enough to hold the pair of them.

3. Pyramids of Mars
A Doctor. A companion. A trapped alien menace that will bring about the end of the universe. Some moody locations. Some great, great music. And Paddy Russell, making this the best directed story in DW history. Everything clicks for the first three and a bit episodes. The ending's a bit flat, but it's not the only Who story to suffer from what someone once called "The Part Four plunge". It's also quite moving, as at the end of part three the Doctor decides to sacrifice himself. He knows there's no coming back, and indeed it's really just fluke that he does. The confrontation with Sutekh is up there with the best that Who has to offer. Gabriel Woolf's voice, some hissing sound effects, a green light, and you believe that our hero is absolutely powerless, for possibly the only time in his life. Helps that this is Tom as well, the superhero Doctor.

Deservedly adored, and who am I to buck the trend?

2. The Girl in the Fireplace
Someone on the Outpost called this "Hurl in the Fireplace" recently. Oh, my aching fucking sides. It really does seem to divide opinions like few other Who stories, this one. It's also a story that appears to completely negate my Critical faculties.  I actually don't care that there are probably plot holes you can drive a coach and four through, I don't care that Ten's at his second-most irritating at times (you've got to head straight for Army of Ghosts for his most buttock clenching moment - yes, you know the one I mean). What I care about is that it makes me cry, every single time out, and it's a key Mickey episode, just for that lovely moment of sensitivity at the end where he takes bunny-boiler out of the control room so's Ten can have a moment to himself.

There are real monsters under the bed in this story. I remember that was the moment where it started to click for me. And I see no reason to revise that opinion now.

Murray delivers his best ever score, Sophia delivers another of those performances you hope that guest actors in Who will supply, but so rarely do, and *the Doctor rides a horse through a mirror into a ballroom". That'll do for me.  

1. Revelation of the Daleks.
The perfect Doctor Who story. Which is odd, given that the Doctor's barely in half of it. I think what really makes this fly is William Gaunt's presence. I can't think of anyone who's ever been better in Who, and that includes all the series regulars. Colin almost matches him beat for beat as well. He's great. He usually is, more often great than he isn't.

It's been mentioned before, but this is a story where tiny glances make all the difference. Colin and Bill when they first meet, exchange an entire battle plan with just one look. Bostock letches over Kara in their first meeting in a way that makes me chuckle every time, and watch Hugh Walters after he's gunned down. Oh god, Who never got better than this.

I love the way Davros and the DJ watch and comment on the action, how Graeme almost manages to pull off that little effect where he tries to give the impression of a multi-level complex, how Peri and the Doctor take time out to fight and clamber over a wall, the way Clive Swift adjusts his toupee from time to time, only for it to fall off after he's been hypodermic'd by Tasambeker (and there's the only fly. A dreadful performance, in an otherwise perfect story. Is she really that bad an actress, or is she choosing to play it that way? Either way, it's rank. But, she does roar "I.... haaaaaaate.....you!!!" wonderfully shortly before giving Jobel the needle. )

The sequence that starts with "You're right... this place is gruesome" and ends with a character killing her own father, before being thumped in the stomach with the wrong end of a machine gun.... just isn't what you expect to see on a show that went out at 5:20 on a Saturday afternoon, but nonetheless, it's there, and it's the moment where all the wayward promise of Colin's Who crystallises into something that works. And I haven't even mentioned that this is the story where millions of people are turned into soup.

Not far behind that, we find a companion who actually clubs a character to death, which is followed by this humdinger of an exchange.

"I killed him. And he forgave me! Why did he have to be so nice about it?"
"YOU had no choice. Come on".

Oh, and those Daleks are *meant* to sound like that, RT Forum whingers. They're bits of human beings inside those casings, which is why they don't sound like normal Dalek voices. Is that so hard to understand?

Anyway, that's quite enough from me. Depending on whether anyone can stand it, I may return to do the bottom ten...

Bingo Fury

Can't do a Top Ten rundown. Have to break it down by Doctor:

Billy
An Unearthly Child - but only part one.
The Daleks - still has the feel of a classic piece of television history.
The Aztecs - definitive time travellers' dilemma - could have been a stand-alone drama.
The Time Meddler - just an enjoyable yarn, really.

Patty
The Mind Robber - charming, quirky ... Troughtonesque. Love the way every line Gulliver utters is taken verbatim from the book.
Invasion - too long by about a third, but this was from before invasion of Earth stories had been done to death, and Kevin Stoney is one of the most memorable villains.
War Games - way better than I'd been led to believe. Doesn't get that flabby in the middle. What's the betting that this will be the final, ultimate release to complete the Dr Who canon on DVD?

Jonny
Spearhead From Space - call that a reboot? This is a reboot!
Inferno - nothing more I can add to what everyone else has said.
Carnival Of Monsters -wonky effects but delightful Bob Holmes script.
The Green Death - overlong, but a surprisingly good story. Closing scenes are actually fucking brilliant - old Who could occasionally do emotion.
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs - that the titular dinosaurs are only a small part of a far more interesting plot is a nice, clever twist.

Tommy
The Ark In Space - like Spearhead, filled with a sense of reinvention and potential.
Genesis Of The Daleks - doesn't stand head and shoulders above the rest of Doctor Who the way I used to think it did, but still essential.
Talons Of Weng-Chiang - Bob Holmes. I'll repeat that: Bob Holmes.
Horror Of Fang Rock - third Doctor and Leela at their most extreme, bouncing around the universe like a pair of loose fucking cannons.
The Pirate Planet - a silly riot, just the thing to cheer yourself up, plus one of Tom Baker's greatest indignant outbursts.
City Of Death - wittiest Who ever. And Lalla Ward is a goddess. In a schoolgirl's outfit, no less.

Petey
Caves Of Androzani - not a fan of this era, but this is a grim, nasty and effective story. I wonder who wrote it?

Some Bloke
Actually managed to sit through The Trial Of A Time Lord in its entirety, and I've been assured Vengeance On Varos is good. Oh, and I promise to give that Dalek one another chance. Seriously, it looks good(ish).

Sylv
Curse Of Fenric - a recent convert to this story, but very impressed. Complex, but thankfully lacking the offputting stylised presentation of Ghost Light.

Chrissie
The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
Bad Wolf/Parting Of The Ways
Dalek

Davo
The Girl In The Fireplace

Further to what some people were saying above:

- I've spent the last year and a half scouring eBay for old Dr Who stories I haven't seen since their original transmission, and Zygons is one of the most disappointing stories I've purchased, despite the high fan approval rating. Tried it again the other night and couldn't get past the first episode. Mind you, I don't suppose The Green Death is especially popular in Wales...

- The Long Game gets too hard a time. It's solid if unspectacular, which put it on a higher footing than, say, Fear Her or The Idiot's Lantern.

- I'd take Love & Monsters over Meglos any day. Sorry.

- Nice to see someone else who rates The Parting Of The Ways, which gets a terrible drubbing.

- Greg Preston? I got all excited there and had to go and check. It's actually Greg Sutton.

difbrook

Greg Preston. Oops! You're absolutely right. In my defence, Carolyn Seymour had just turned up in something I was watching earlier in the day, and obviously my mind went off on another track. Dearie me.

difbrook

as threatened, the worst. A least so far as I'm concerned.

10 Time and the Rani
"A New Face, a new physical form, and a journey to an altogether more farflung shore", said the continuity announcer. And I thought, "yeeeeees!" This is going to be brilliant. And then Sylvester woke up. All downhill from there. The Loyhargil, pot-bellied Tetraps, Mark Greenstreet ("gwon, Run. RUN! The areas.full.of.traps. As...well...you...no."); terrible music. Nice quarry, though. But then, Tomb's got one of them and you rarely see it on worst of lists.

09 The Time Monster
"My god, if they don't stop, I'll kill myself". There's a cutup video featuring the Daisiest Daisy scene from this cut with a Gilliamanimation which uses that line, and it's more or less my feeling on the whole story. What's really offensive about this is there's a ton of good ideas swimming about (time moving slowly, with only a time lord capable of swimming through it, the "gap between now and now", a creature that actually *eats* time), all bollixed by the execution. It's got a *fantastic* cliffhanger, as a World War II bomb is brought forward in time and dropped on the UNIT mob. And they escape without a scratch. This is the story that begins the Brigadier's descent into stupidity. The story where the Doctor has a nightmare featuring the Master pointing at him and giggling. The story where the Master begs for mercy, where he reverses the Doctor's speech as if it's a really clever thing. And it's got Benton in a nappy and a "dog barks and everybody laughs" ending. Oh, and Aidan Murphy wins my coveted "worst actor in Doctor Who history" in that he manages to be inept, but not just in a normal way, oh no. He manages to be worse than Ingrid Pitt, while wearing nothing but a tea-towel. Now, that takes skill.

08 The Sensorites
Relatively inoffensive, but so overacted by almost everybody that it's impossible to lose yourself in it. Everyone over enunciates, stumbles over lines (and in some cases, their own feet). The cliffhanger to part one is beautifully eerie and is completely negated by part two's reprise. It's got "It's a good job you didn't swap your sashes over. We'd never be able to tell you apart". Hugely dramatic music, then... "I had not thought of that!" The exposition fairy lands on everyone's shoulders, as information is dumped from a great height when we could really work it out for ourselves. Nice little Rocket Ship flashes on the Earth people's uniforms. Russ and Jackie are of course, exempt from any of this, as they're incapable of delivering a bad performance. Good job too, as Bill's all over the shop in this one. Doctor Who on the whole tends to veer towards Childlike. This one actually is Childish in the way people think Who is as a regular occurence.

07 Silver Nemesis
Like shooting fish in a barrel, this. How can three episodes seem to take so long to get through, when nothing actually happens? Anton Diffring Nazis about the place (still, at least he enjoyed Wimbledon, so that's alright then), the evil Cybermen are wearing split-crotch uniforms and explode if you look at them in a funny way. Lady Peinforte's plan makes no sense (and neither does her method of time travel). The skinheads, Mrs Remington, the attempt to make the Doctor "mysterious" again. None of it works. What does work is the ending - "Doctor, just Who are you?" "Sssh". Points to the very spot where Sylvester's credit fades in on screen. Clever. But that's about all that is.

06 The Chase
Sorry, despite the Mechanoids, despite the introduction of Steven Taylor (not forgetting Hi-Fi, the incredible time-travelling panda), despite the departure of two of the series greatest assets... this just doesn't work for me. There's something really flat and unengaging about it, and I can't get to grips with it at all. There's a really odd bit where Vicki blithers on about a ring in a field shortly before a constipated Dalek pushes itself out of some sand. Whole episodes are wasted on trips to a haunted house, to the Marie Celeste, to the Empire State building (still, at least that one brought Peter Purves to the production crew's attention). Hartnell has a *nightmare* on this one trying to hold himself and the story together and doesn't really manage it. Just doesn't work. Part six almost redeems it, as the Mechanoids are wonderful, and Ian and Barbara disappearing in a flurry of still photographs gives me a little lump in the throat. But otherwise... just, no.

05 Timelash
Or, how to patronise your audience while boring them at the same time. I want so badly to like this since the imminent dvd release seems to be regarded as the worst thing to happen to Who in a long time, and I'm contrary that way. But I can't. There's just so much that doesn't work here. Once again we're expected to believe through reported speech that the rebel hordes are just outside the door as opposed to the erm, two that are actually on screen. Peri spends the entire story in fear of being molested by a phallic dinosaur. The story runs out halfway through episode two, so Eric Saward has to pad it out with an endless Tardis scene (which is actually quite good, in that Baker and Bryant play it wonderfully, but it's got no right to be there). Sir Richard of Darrow the Third delivers the ultimate "what the hell are you *doing*?" performance in DW history. And of course, "I'll explain later", the tinsel timelash, and "nobody wants you. Nobody needs you. Nobody CARES!". Actually, all this sounds quite good. I'm rather looking forward to seeing it again now.

04 Time Flight
Amazing concept, no budget, nobody even trying (with the exception of Fielding and Sutton, who really do give the sense that they're working really hard). Even Davo's looking a bit shaky here. Although I defy anyone to keep a straight face when confronted with Anthony Ainley covered in green snot, muttering about Chaka Demus and Pliers. It really should have been strangled at the script proposal stage, as there's no way the BBC could make it and do it justice. Even now, they'd be struggling. Oh, the actress playing Angela Clifford gives Aidan Murphy a run for his money. She's best friends with whoever it was played Gallifreyan wuss Rodan in "The Invasion of Time", y'know. Theatres around the country must just tremble with mirth when those two turn up to audition.

03 Planet of the Daleks
"Somewhere on this planet are over ten million Daleks!" Oh, aye? Icecanoes. Invisible Daleks. Jo falls for another drippy blonde and then leaves him. That Pertwee homily about the horror of war, delivered not long after "you know, for a man who abhors violence, I rather enjoyed that". An escape *up* a ventilation shaft. Well, it's different to the usual, I suppose. Long, endless farting about getting nowhere, only to be repeated the very next week. It's the only story that even David Maloney can't save, although god knows he tries. This, lest we forget, is the story where the Doctor has arrived, in search of the Daleks. He's sent a message to the Timelords, saying he's going in search of the Daleks. And then the cliffhanger has him astonished. When he finds a Dalek. Of course, he might just be astonished at the dayglo spray job its sporting on the reveal, but even so...

02 Arc of Infinity
Or, watch out for the anti-matter chicken, never trust a man who plays with a biro but doesn't show his face, but above all, never trust a curly-haired ponce who carries an ostrich under his arm. He's probably after your job. Another Who story where the huge concepts can't be done justice on BBC money, I'm afraid. It's crammed to the gunnels with terrible performances, it has a travelogue sequence in part four that manages to be not picturesque and is actually terribly tedious, and Gallifrey is right in the middle of it's Habitat Sofa-Furnishings period. Awful, awful, awful. And it's got Omega. Crap in '73, crap in '83. At least he's consistent, even if he's being played by a different actor. Still, Nyssa's good in this one. Sarah always is, though.

01 The Dalek's Masterplan
Why people keep finding bits of this bastard is beyond me. I probably wouldnt be overly sad if they lost it all again. With the exception of "The Feast of Steven", which at the very least sounds dizzyingly stupid. God, I hate this story. Over enunciating aliens. Over enunciating companions. An over enunciating Kevin Stoney. Daleks at their most stupid (ooh, someone's hit the fire alarm! Let's all run about and leave the vitally important Taranium Core on this desk in plain sight!). It has more or less the same plot as The Chase, and it doesn't work here either, only it's got twice as long not to work in. Peter Purves, Nick Courtney and Jean Marsh sound like they're gritting their teeth with the strain of trying to pull it all together, but you can polish shite till it shines and it'll still stink. In sheer desperation, Dennis Spooner and Terry Nation take the Tardis to Lord's cricket ground, to Hollywood, to ancient Egypt, and then end up right back where they started. Still, at least the last ten minutes of it sound as if they might be special. But does it really justify eleven and a half episodes of tedious pissing about to get there? All in all, it's a good job it's a Douglas Camfield directors job because if it wasn't, this story would have nothing. Nothing, I say! So there.

Backstage With Slowdive

Both The Invasion and The Dalek Masterplan were on my "long list" of candidates for the top 10. Both have great performances by Kevin Stoney as a looney Earth renegade helping evil aliens.

I love The Two Doctors as well, and was tempted to put it in place of Androzani, but the unnecessary killing of Oscar still left a bad taste when I rewatched the story a few weeks ago and so it didn't make the cut.

The Chase is a total mess but I can't be cruel on it as it is virtually a panto half the time and that closing montage of Ian & Barbara back on Earth really does redeem it all.

I saw The Sensorites last week, it is certainly overlong and ponderous but there are some good ideas in there. And does it feature the only example of the camera following the TARDIS crew out through the door, rather than showing them walking out of the console room, and then cutting to them exiting the Police Box?

Planet Of The Daleks should be fully colourised and put out in a joint DVD edition with Frontier In Space. Yes the Daleks and their crap tactics are a hoot. Best bit is the constant references of everyone, including the Doctor, to "molten ice" - why oh why can't they just call it "WATER"????

I'm quite fond of Arc Of Infinity, it was fucked over by JNT and his silly script ideas which meant Johnny Byrne had no chance of writing something sensible. It's ironic that Michael Gough was in it but wasn't playing the Toymaker, whilst Omega was the revived old enemy. It would actually have made more sense to have Gough as TCT (who really did survive his encounter with Hartnell, and swore to get his revenge) than bring back Omega, who was cleanly wiped out years ago.

I saw The Time Monster at Christmas and quite liked it, just for the looney ambition of the thing, and for it having the TARDIS-inside-a-TARDIS idea years before Logopolis, and also for the scene in which Benton susses out the Master's impersonation of the Brigadier "because the Brigadier would not refer to a soldier as 'my dear fellow' ". Oh, and that mental time-detecting thingy the Doctor makes out of corks and forks. It's actually a UNIT story script-edited by the spirit of Chris Bidmead.

I have now bid for Silver Nemesis on ebay but will pay no more than a fiver for it.

Backstage With Slowdive

Quote from: "Alberon"
Quote from: "Backstage With Slowdive"
#9: The Caves Of Androzani
This should be uncontroversial, a great R.Holmes story with multiple strands of double-crossing schemers.

Yeah, it is impossible for me to argue with that one. Great characters, especially the evil businessman and his asides to the camera.

Played by John Normington, who played a pensioner in last week's episode of Casualty.


Backstage With Slowdive

Quote from: "sick as a pike"And whose agent is my girlfriend.

Where does he rate Androzani in the DW canon?

difbrook

A bunch of mates and myself met John Normington once, as we fled for fresh air during a break at a convention (I think it was Panopticon '93, probably just after Janet Fielding had done her legendary panel). He was wandering past the venue, walking his dog.

I remember him being wryly amused that the biggest DW convention in this country in years was being held about two minutes from his house, and he hadn't been invited to it. Top bloke!

I went to see him in a play at the Tricycle in Kilburn reasonably recently.  Afterwards he was lovely and was off to get the bus home though bad scary areas, completely unconcerned.

Still Not George

Bestest in no particular order:

Rose - I'm probably unique in absolutely loving this ep. There's too much chav bollocks, of course, but every time I watch it I remember the total and unbridled joy in my heart when Eccles first shows up and gives that wonderful "I'm the Doctor, by the way. Run for yer life!" line.

Sticking with Noveau Qui, Dalek was way better than most people give it credit for. Certainly the whole "oh, oh, I'm all human, oh woe is me!" thing annoyed me, but still... the best Dalek stories get across the unstoppableness of the beasts. The old series did that by swarming them around, while this... this had one indestructible kick-ass Dalek, and no way out. Fucking ace.

Curse of Fenric - My parents stopped putting Who on after The Happiness Patrol, so the next one I remember is this meaty motherfucker. McCoy at his very best, here - better than Ghost Light, even, as Ace always pisses me off in that.

Inferno - Well, yeah. S'Inferno, innit.

Image of the Fendahl, pretty much for the reasons someone already explained above. Fendleman finally catching on about an hour late is a real highlight.

Genesis of the Daleks - basically because you have to. I mean it's Genesis of the fucking Daleks.

The Invisible Enemy - Contact has been made, yo. I saw this on a scratchy VHS some years ago and loved it. It's incredibly silly, but fun with it.

Empty Child/The Doctor Dances - Probably my favourite of the new series. The only thing that stops it being my favourite Dr Who story of all time, in fact, is that it's still got Pob in it, who fucking ruins every scene she's allowed to infest. Richard Wilson is brilliant, and I love the whole "This once, just this once, nobody dies!" thing at the end - there's something so melancholy in the middle of that elation.

What, you want 10? Ah, fuck off. I'm going to bed.

Dark Sky

Oh, difbrook!  How can you be so spot on about Revelation of the Daleks (except am I the only person who loves Tasambeker's pitiful whining?!), and yet ruin it all by insulting The Chase?!  Oh, how you play with my emotions, so!

Just to beef out this post, I'm not too crazy about seventies Who, especially all the tedious six and eight parters featuring Jon Pertwee down caves, but recently I saw Inferno for the first time (I think I read the novelisation when I was little and found it a bit over my head), and found it absolutely incredibly breathtaking from start until finish.  Seven parts, and stupidly exciting.  And Threads-style bleakness.  Brrr.  But so good.  Especially the way it finishes on a (literally) rubbish joke.

(Although it did annoy me how they're there shouting "oh no, the fire extinguisher is running out!!!", and you can see about five fire extinguishers attached to the walls of the set in the background, which apparently they were oblivious to...)

Backstage With Slowdive

Quote from: "difbrook"Janet Fielding had done her legendary panel

Explain...

difbrook

Quote from: "Dark Sky"Oh, difbrook!  How can you be so spot on about Revelation of the Daleks (except am I the only person who loves Tasambeker's pitiful whining?!), and yet ruin it all by insulting The Chase?!  Oh, how you play with my emotions, so!


ah, I'm such a tease. I'm afraid the Chase just doesn't hang together at all for me. Although in its defence, it does have Vicki - who always reminds of Mel Giedroyc for some reason, and is almost always gloriously good. It's got that bit with Ian and his "far-fetched SF book" and his schoolteacher dancing shortly after that.

At the other end of the story, my hero Ste(v)phen Taylor - I can never remember how to spell the bloody thing - appears, and it all brightens up. But in between, it loses me completely. Sorry!

difbrook

Quote from: "Backstage With Slowdive"
Quote from: "difbrook"Janet Fielding had done her legendary panel

Explain...

It was all very tense and confrontational. We're right in the middle of a massive "Doctor Who is 30! Yay!" celebratory convention. Every single guest beforehand had come on and had ranted on about how much of a shame and disgrace it was that the series wasn't still in production, how it made more than it cost to produce, how it was a flagship programme for the BBC, you know the sort of thing.

And then Janet came on. Stood right on the lip of the stage, and announced that no, she thought the series should stay right where it was, well and truly out of production. When asked why, she stated in a very emphatic manner that it had always been an appalling role model for young women, and that there was no place for attitudes like that in the nineties.

You could have heard a pin drop. For a moment, anyway, and then the sound of muttering and people shifting in their seats became louder and louder.

She expanded on this theme at great length, covering all the usual bases - screaming bimbos, clothes-horses, have to be rescued by the male hero. She cited her own personal example of this, as the script for Castrovalva dictated that she ended up having to climb up the side of a rock formation while wearing high heels and an air-hostesses uniform.

Various people from the audience kept on trying to get her to cite positive things about her time in DW, and she wouldn't shift from this one theme.

Nicholas Briggs was interviewing, and sensing that things were perhaps not going in a direction that most of the audience might wish, or that at the very least there were a couple of thousand extremely restive people out there, mounted a valiant attempt to convince Janet that things had changed after she left, by citing Ace as exhibit A for the defence. Not that she was necessarily a hundred percent successful character, just that things *hadn't* carried on along the same lines. I note that he didn't mention Peri...

And Janet just looked at him and said "I never saw any of her shows, but I don't believe you" or words to that effect, and *continued* to stick doggedly to her argument.

The whole thing was absolutely electrifying. I've never seen anyone at a Who event so determined to stick to their guns no matter what the cost to their personal reputation. A lot of people left that hall absolutely hating her - not just for being so disparaging about the series, but also for "bringing the mood down".

To be honest, I left it respecting her a great deal. I wasn't particularly impressed by her refusal to accept any opposing point of view, but I did admire her absolute intent to get her point across.

Pepotamo1985

Doctor Who is a show that can inspire both rapt euphoria and projectile vomiting at the drop of a hat (or elongated scarf). I've yet to venture into New Who territory, and my knowledge of the late 80s incarnations of the Doctor is somewhat limited, so I'm approaching this debate with a less well stocked repertoire than almost everyone else, I suppose.

Worst (in no particular order):

Planet Of The Daleks

Brain meltingly dull, monotonous bilge. Yet another permutation on the classic Dalek serial formula, and essentially a basic rewrite of the original Dalek tale. It plods helplessly along, with very little happening, for nearly three hours. Fuck off.

Revenge Of The Cybermen

What is it about the Cybermen that fails to inspire even passable plots? Refulgent with clunking dialogue and a cretinous premise, Revenge Of The Cybermen amplifies everything that was ever questionable about classic Who. Scenes such as Tom Baker being massaged to death by a Cyberman and stock footage of a Saturn V rocket taking off (which was already used in Genesis Of The Daleks) are toe curling. The inhabitants of the ark know that the Cybermen are boarding by way of transmat (which, we are told, only works with human tissue), yet are surprised when they arrive. Cybermen, who are thoroughly susceptible to gold, beam down onto a planet made of the stuff, and gun down an entire Vogon squad. A spinning roll of 'lunar landscape' simulates the near miss of an asteroid. The Cybermen have flares. Flares, for fuck's sake. Revenge of the Cybermen leaves an indelible skid mark upon Baker's otherwise superlative opening season.

Destiny Of The Daleks

Gets off to a bad start with a heinous regeneration sequence, and goes rapidly down hill. The concept of the Daleks (ruthless bastard killing machines on wheels) being stuck in a combative impasse with the Movellans (shirt lifters with silver dreadlocks, bedecked in one piece space suits) just doesn’t wash (especially when it's revealed that those of the hoary dreads can be dispatched by removing a clip from their belts).  Nation knocks out the same Dalek formula he’s been pushing for 16 years with little or no evident enthusiasm, and then Douglas Adams whacks in some Hitch Hiker’s Guide references for some self-referential self-aggrandizing. The reappearance of Davros serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever, and Gooderson’s portrayal leaves a lot to be desired. We can thank Destiny for introducing Lalla Ward to the Whoniverse, so there’s that, I suppose.

Warriors Of The Deep

Just an utterly inconsequential story, but one that clearly had much potential. An aura of sterility pervades the entire serial, perhaps attributable to the large, overly well-lit sets. The supporting actors are appalling. The ‘new’ Silurian/Sea Devil costumes suck. The Myrka would have trouble intimidating a toddler. Peter Davison shines, but can’t save the story.

Attack Of The Cybermen

Too much needless back referencing, and an attempt to tie up antiquated loose ends by creating new ones. Why does Lytton need to solicit the services of some working class labourers when he could’ve just used his policeman accomplices? Why do the Cybermen want to destroy the surface of Telos? Why do the Cybermen leave the Doctor in a room packed with explosive? Why does a Cyberman try to extinguish his flaming arm by batting at it with his gun? The new tombs look rubbish, the new Cyber leader looks rubbish. Pap.

Jemble Fred

Have any of the Whovians on here seen Toby Hadoke's show 'Moths Ate My Dr Who Scarf'? I saw it last Friday, and despite not being a serious Who scholar, enjoyed it plentymuch. It was far more emotional and genuine than I expected, when I was more in the mood for non-stop laughs. But it should be a serious Who fan's must-watch.

mothman

You know, reading this thread (and the "Older DW" thread) has brought home to me how little of a Who fan/connoisseur I actually am - and I can remember the Pertwee era!

mothman

QuoteMoths Ate My Dr Who Scarf

I fucking did not!

Catalogue Trousers

Worst (In The Archetypal No Particular Order):

Colony In Space

Yeah, yeah, it's epic Cowboys and Indians in Space with a worthy message. No, no, it's three hours of trundling poor man's Mini-Mokes around in a gravel pit.

Death To The Daleks

The World's Poorest Cliffhanger award is shared by parts 1 and 3, the complete lack of story logic sinks the whole thing fast (just how does anyone build a city smart enough to kill them all and not realise?)...at least Planet Of The Daleks has a certain crassly epic quality - or attempts to.

The Dominators

"OBEYYYYYYYY!!!!!" Famous last words, Ronald. Crap monsters, a script straight from the reactionary old fart school of scriptwriting, and the most unconvincing young rebels you ever did see.

Horns Of Nimon

Oh, relax, it's a PANTOMIME!!!! Yeah, but even pantomimes can be fun and clever. This is neither, and the Nimon waddle about as though they've just shat themselves.

Androids Of Tara

The one good thing about this sorry mess is Peter Jeffrey. Other than that, a four-week waste of time and money. No, it's not charming, colourful, or vibrant. Limply camp is nearer the mark.

The Parting Of The Ways

Just bloody awful.

Oh, and The Girl In The Fireplace is not the worst story ever. However, it is bland, overwrought, and boring, all at the same time. Not to mention obvious.

Dark Sky

Quote from: "Catalogue Trousers"Not to mention obvious.

"Obvious"?  I don't understand that?

I mean, did you watch the "Next Time..." trailer and go, "oh well it's a spaceship called Madame Pompadour with robots on it creating time portals to various points in the life of the ship's namesake in an attempt to remove her brain for use in the spaceship and then at the end the Doctor rides through a mirror on a horse into a ballroom...it's obvious..."?

squinky

Can I chip in with some love for Planet of Giants? It genuinely made me bounce up and down with glee the first time I saw it. Which, I think, is what Doctor Who is SUPPOSED to do.

And my Proper Actual Favourite Episode Ever has got to be The Ark In Space. The Wyrrn! Harry Sullivan being stumbly and Sarah Jane being brilliant! And Tom Baker still taking it seriously, all with a fantastic script. Love it.