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I just got my latest set of Dr. Who DVDs (The Horns of Nimon, Underworld and The Time Monster), and I got to thinking. This place is loaded with Dr. Who fans; what might be there favorite/stand out episodes from the original series. We all know that Erik Mona's fave episode is The Two Doctors, right? Yes, that was sarcasm. I'll start off with the ones that stand out in my mind (almost all of which are Tom Baker episodes).
The Terror of the Zygons. This one is not yet available on DVD and I haven't seen it in years.
The Hand of Fear. The episode that made me fall in love with Sarah Jane forever (Eldraad MUST live).
The Masque of Mandragora. Love this one.
The Image of the Fendahl. This one always makes me thing of The Masque of Mandragora (I don't know why).
The Seeds of Death (or is it Doom). The one with Harrison Chase and Scorby. And a really mean mulching machine.
The Pyramids of Mars. Sutekh and a really buggy-eyed old dude.
The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Classic.
The Horns of Nimon. Been years on this one as well....
State of Decay. Vampires!
The Curse of Fenric. Sylvester McCoy at his best.
The Caves of Androzani. Peter Davison makes me believe.
Earthshock. They killed Adric!
Battleground. Lethbridge-Stewart comes back.
More are to follow I am sure....
The very best ones for me are:
The Caves of Androzani - DOCTOR WHO at its most mature. Not one for the kids, but adult fans should love it. Dark, gritty and surprisingly bleak, with Sharaz Jek a particularly powerful, intriguing and well-motivated villain.
Genesis of the Daleks - The Daleks as Nazis, the introduction of Davros, and later retconned as the start of the Time War. Great stuff.
City of Death - The Doctor faces down an alien in Paris in an adventure written by Douglas Adams (of HITCH-HIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY fame) with a John Cleese cameo and some fantastic lines ("What a delightful butler! He's so violent!").
The Ark in Space - DOCTOR WHO does ALIEN five years early. Some atrocious costumes and special effects, but a gripping, tense story. Noted for the Doctor's 'Homo sapiens' speech ("They're indomitable! Indomitable!") referenced a few times by Tennant.
Day of the Daleks - One of the few times classic WHO actually used its time travel premise in the way Moffat has in the new series, with the Doctor trapped in a temporal paradox as time-travellers from the future try to avert a timeline where the Daleks have conquered Earth (again) only to cause chaos in the timeline. A particularly fine performance by Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, culminating in a UNIT-versus-Daleks battle that was vaguely impressive for 1972 (if hampered by the fact they only have two soldier Daleks they can use, and make feeble attempts to make it look like there's dozens of them).
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Battlefield. One of my favourites from the various nods to Who History, to the speech to Morgane at the end
The Doctor: If this Missile explodes millions will die. You will die.
Morgan le Fay: I will die with Honour!
The Doctor: All over the world fools are poised, ready to let death fly. Machines of death, Morgaine, screaming from above. Light brighter than the sun. Not a war between armies, nor a war between nations, but just death. Death gone mad! A child looks up into the sky, his eyes turn to cinders. No more tears, only ashes. Is this Honour? Is this War? Are these the weapons you would use?
to Ancelyn, "I am Ancelyn ap-Gwalimachi. And I do not talk to peasents." to Jean Marsh in all her glory.
The glory goes to the Brigadier.
Demon: Can this world do no better for a champion?
Alistare Gorden Lettbridge-Stuart: Probably *shoots six rounds into the demon with perfect calm* I just do the best I can.
Morgaine: A warrior no less! How goes the day?
Brigadier: I've had better.
Morgaine: I am Morgaine, the sun-killer. Dominator of the thirteen worlds and battle queen of the S'Rax. What say you?
Brigiadier: I am Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Surrender now and we can avoid bloodshed.
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart: Ace?
Ace: Yes Brigadier?
Bridagier Lethbridge-Stewart: I'm getting too old for this sort of thing. He's all yours from now on. I'm going home to Doris.
Picking one from the Doctors?
First Doctor: An Unearthly Child.
Second Doctor: Really don't know him that well
Third Doctor: I'd say Inferno, or the Daemons, but that's primarily for the Brigadier. "Chap with wings, five rounds rapid!"
Fourth Doctor: So many... Hand of Fear (though I loved Sarah Jane long before this one) City of Death is good too.
Fifth Doctor: Hmm, Terminus for the fan service, or the Caves for same. ;-) but either Earthshock (Adric was the first companion killed I'd seen) Or Rememberance of the Daleks. That one always stuck with me for some reason.
Sixth Doctor: Time and the Rani (Sorry Collin, you were a good doctor in a bad time)
Seventh Doctor: Battlefield.
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good stuff
Oh no, don't misunderstand. I was in love with Sarah from the start (first episode I ever saw was The Ark in Space). She will always be my favorite companion. Loved her in The Time Warrior, in Genesis of the Daleks, in Brain of Morbius, in Planet of Evil. She had that gorgeous, cherubic face and exuberant spirit that stole my heart.
I often wonder if the Genesis song "Me and Sarah Jane" is about her.
Survival was a fairly limp way to go out.
As a story, yes, but the Doctor's final speech was brilliant:
"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold! Come on, Ace - we've got work to do!"
Second Doctor: Really don't know him that well
Hmm. Difficult as many of his supposedly finest stories are incomplete, with episodes missing from the archives. Amongst the complete ones, THE WAR GAMES is probably the strongest and certainly the most important historically, introducing as it does the Time Lords and the Doctor's homeworld, and dramatically changing the format of the show (although all of those elements are only in the last episode; the preceding ten are more variable).
Battlefield. One of my favourites from the various nods to Who History, to the speech to Morgane at the end
BATTLEFIELD is very, very cheesy indeed, but also great fun if you are in the right mood, or indeed drunk. Particularly notable for the stunt guys who get carried away and start doing elaborate somersaults when hit by explosions instead of just falling over, and Jean Marsh's magnificent cliffhanger speech as the Destroyer appears: "You shall be his handmaidens...IN HELL!", followed by approximately three hours of maniacal evil laughter. Marsh is such a good actress she pulls it off anyway.
For McCoy I think I have to go for REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS, simply as, for the first time ever, the Doctor orchestates a confrontation with the Daleks as part of a pre-emptive strike (and again retconned into the Time War), even if it doesn't entirely sit easily with his reluctance elsewhere to destroy the Daleks from all space and time altogether by committing genocide. You can ignore that for the still-impressive Dalek-on-Dalek battle sequences (they pretty much blew the entire Season 25 budget on the story), and the bit where the Special Weapons Dalek trundles out and starts annihilating chunks of London with its frankly ludicrous laser-megadeath cannon.
Watched the Tomb of the Cybermen and found it great fun as well as instrumental in things not to do when exploring an ancient crypt!
God I loved that serial!
The special edition version has an alternate scene extra and I find I never run out of exclamatives when watching that special weapons dalek taking out the front gate!
In no particular order, just as they occur to me.
The Keeper of Traken/Logopolis/Castrovalva was one of the ones that stuck out in my mind as a strong series. The Master
"It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for."
Great end of the run for the Doctor I basically grew up watching.
Also seconded on some of the ones mentioned above.
Earthshock, for the reason above. I was young enough at the time that Adric didn't annoy me as he did some fans. I remember just being stunned as I watched the credits roll in absolute silence. Well done.
State of Decay, classic episode. Effects and cosutmes that were well made and not overambitious.
Hand of Fear is the one with the fantabulous rock-babe, right? Man, she was nice.
City of Death
Duggan is about to clobber the bad guy with a chair
Doctor: DUGGAN, NO! That's a Louis Quinze!
The Dalek Invasion of Earth: The Fourth Doctor was a lot of fun to watch, but I never really felt like he was threatened by his enemies. He made fun of the Daleks by disabling them in the most trivial ways (hat over the eye stalk, daring them to climb a rope). Since I grew up watching Baker, I never really thought the Daleks were all that threatening and didn't understand the cliché of kids hiding behind couches. Then I got a bunch of old tapes and saw the Daleks facing the Hartnell Doctor. I understood, in The Dalek Invasion of Earth.
Tomb of the Cybermen: Same as the above. The scene with the Cybermen breaking out of the pods gave me chills.
I liked a few of the less popular 5th Doctor episodes, like King's Demons and Black Orchid. I'm told most people consider those weak stories, but I rather like them.
I never really got into the McCoy Doctor, although I realize now that they were trying to add a depth to the character, the idea of what it really MEANS to be effectively immortal and so powerful in this universe. But it was years after I'd watched the 3-5th Doctor on PBS, and never saw the 7th til I got them on VHS. And the first story I saw him in was just terrible. Dragonfire. Awful, awful thing. I finally saw Survival just a few months ago, actually. Some poor technical executions on a concept that could have been pretty solid. And for the first time I remember on the show, the companion's pre-Doctor life mattered. Looking at this episode, I saw that what they started with Ace they finally got to finish with Rose.
I don't recall watching any of the 6th Doctor stories beyond the first, but I remember not liking him. I felt he dressed too much like a clown, and that damaged the gravity of the character to me. But I just got a few (Trial) on DVD, so I'll give him a shot now.
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Hartnell: Well obviously there's the Daleks. The Edge of Destruction was an interesting one. As far as I know the only episode set entirely in the TARDIS.
Troughton: Pretty limited selection but Tomb of the Cybermen
Pertwee: Like Baker there's a lot to pick from here. For now, I'd say the Time Warrior, gave us Sarah Jane and the Sonatarans.
Baker: A lot of them have already been mentioned. I'd add Robot was a solid story introducing a new Doctor.
Davison: Caves of Androzani was probably his best but Enlightenment was another fun and imaginative episode from the era.
Colin Baker: ... sorry nothing really memorable. Definitely the low point of the series. While Baker wasn't the problem he wasn't helping either. Maybe the Dalek episode for the Alexi Sayle cameo?
McCoy: Ghostlight was a fun one even if it has its weak points.
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Don't know Dr's-1-3 Well enough to have an opinion.
Baker: City of Death
Davison: Caves of Androzani
Colin Baker: Nothing. He is my least favorite doctor. However, I felt sorry for him in that the controller of BBC1 at the time was dating his ex wife.
Mccoy: Curse of Fenric My two favorite Dr/Companion pairs are the Baker/Lala Ward and Mccoy/Sophie Aldred.
All the best,
Kerney
I find the love for BATTLEFIELD shown here somewhat heartwarming. It was absolutely ripped apart by the fans when it was originally broadcast, although I always liked it.
The special edition version has an alternate scene extra and I find I never run out of exclamatives when watching that special weapons dalek taking out the front gate!
There's an excellent story about how the BBC sfx guys went totally overboard on the gate explosion and set off every car and house alarm for five streets in all directions and filled the whole street with smoke. The police and firefighters turned up to see armies of Daleks advancing out of the smoke, to their bewilderment before they realised what was going on.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I find the love for BATTLEFIELD shown here somewhat heartwarming. It was absolutely ripped apart by the fans when it was originally broadcast, although I always liked it.
The special edition version has an alternate scene extra and I find I never run out of exclamatives when watching that special weapons dalek taking out the front gate!There's an excellent story about how the BBC sfx guys went totally overboard on the gate explosion and set off every car and house alarm for five streets in all directions and filled the whole street with smoke. The police and firefighters turned up to see armies of Daleks advancing out of the smoke, to their bewilderment before they realised what was going on.
Wouldn't it have been funny if they'd opened fire?
And who can't love Ace beating the snot out of the Daleks with a magic baseball bat?