I wanted to do something to mark the anniversary of the
shows 50th but I didn’t want to write an overview of the series
(what a nightmare that would be, and because I have kind of done my own spin on
that with my ‘why I love Doctor Who’ article). Instead I thought I would
assemble my top 50 moments from the classic series and add to the piece, once a
day, leading right up to the anniversary. I would have included the new series
– but I have already completed a ‘favourite NuWho moments’ article here, and I
will include that at the tail end of this piece. The scenes/moments I have
chosen aren’t always the show stopping ones (although sometimes they are) or
the transitions between Doctors and companions (although sometimes they are)
but moments in the series that make it unique and magical for me. Originally I
was going to take the list and try and put it in some kind of order but that
was proving impossible, I couldn’t determine which of these choices should be
more important than the others so instead I have shoved the lot in a cup and I
am going to be pulling them out randomly. This will (hopefully) give an
interesting overview of the series. Feel free to agree or disagree but I hope
through this list you can see why I adore this crazy old cult TV show so much
and why I am so happy that it reached such a landmark birthday…
50 - The Five Doctors ‘I’m definitely not
the man I was…thank goodness’
One of those stories that it is impossible not to overlook
it’s scant faults and simply bask in the nostalgic glory of the piece, The Five
Doctors is a riotous anniversary party where every man and his dog from the
shows past turns up to celebrate.
I could have chosen so many scenes from this story, because
there are lots of lovely moments that make you beam with fanboy delight – the
first Doctor, Susan and the TARDIS in the same shot, the second Doctor and the
Brig with Cybermen recalling The Invasion, the third Doctor meeting the
Cybermen and tidying up that little gap plus his and Sarah’s magical meeting
with Ainley’s Master (lovely to see Pertwee and Ainley meet and Sarah only
missed a meeting with the Doctor’s arch enemy by three stories at one side of
her tenure and one story at the other), Susan seeing the Master is another
great moment as is the second Doctor, the Brigadier and the Yeti (the
conditions under which they first met), the first Doctor seeing the Cybermen is
like a portent of his own death, even though they are phantoms its wonderful to
see Mike Yates and Liz Shaw together only missing each other by one story in
the Pertwee era, the meeting between Tegan and Sarah is unfortunate however as
the dazzling past meets the unfortunate present (although neither of them is
especially good at pretend silent chatting), the Brigadier meeting Sarah and
Tegan shows how long his association with the Doctor has been and it wouldn’t
have been quiet right had Pertwee and Courtney not had a moment together…oh and
the Brig gets to punch the Master.
It’s a delightful story, but what I was waiting for was the
scene where the five Doctors all come together and wisely Terrance Dicks saves
that for the climax. After the battle of wills between Doctors 1,2,3 and 5 with
Borusa we are left with a plethora of characters all standing around waiting to
be dispatched to their proper time and place. Terrance Dicks thrives on this
kind of nightmare assignment and scripts a scene where pretty much all of the
characters interact in some way, dishing out witty lines and basking in the
sentiment of having so many collective Doctor Who treasures together for a
unique occasion. It would certainly never happen quite like this again (except
perhaps the upcoming Big Finish adventure, The Light at the End). Troughton and
Pertwee indulge in their comedy feud, Sarah Jane is confused, the Brigadier has
a sentimental moment being surrounding by so many versions of his closest
friend, Susan gets to see how her Grandfather turns out and the current team of
the Doctor, Tegan and Turlough get to play act the same sequence of events that
lead to the Doctor on Earth in An Unearthly Child. ‘You mean you’re
deliberately going on the run from your own people in a rackety old TARDIS?’
‘Why not? After all, that’s how it all started…’
49 – The Daemons ‘Fancy a dance, Brigadier?’
Often derided in recent years, The Daemons is a terrific
story that has something for everyone if you are a fan of the Pertwee era,
There’s action aplenty, terrific interaction between the regulars, great lines,
a powerful premise that stretches back to the creation of humanity, creepy monsters,
a stunning guest cast brought to life by stalwart British character actors. How
anybody can complain about a story that keeps giving baffles me (given that
most peoples complaints seem to rest solely on the naff conclusion, a fault of
so many Doctor Who stories). My chosen moment comes at the end of the tale
where the evil has been vanquished, the Master has been booed off screen
ignominiously and the celebrations can begin. Where most Doctor Who stories
would see the Doctor rushing off with his companions to avoid any awkward
explanations, he is exiled on Earth at this point in his life and has no such
option. Instead he basks in the joy of having won the day and enjoys a dance
around the maypole with his best friend. Many folk talk about the UNIT family
and the incredible chemistry this group of characters (and actors) shared and
nowhere is it more apparent than at the climax of this tale. Whilst the Doctor
and his pretty assistant dance a jig, Benton is swept off his feet by the local
white witch and the Brigadier and Mike Yates head of for a pint. It is twee but
for a show that doesn’t indulge in that sort of thing very often it strikes all
the right notes and leaves me feeling all snugly inside. At this point in his
life the Doctor is truly happy and has found a family (of sorts) to share his
life with.
48) The TV Movie ‘I thought you were a Doctor?’
‘I thought you were a Doctor!’
Critically slammed for it’s indefinable conclusion and
Americanisation of the show, The TV Movie exists as something of a curates egg
for most Doctor Who fans. One thing that most can agree on is that Paul McGann,
a man with an unscaleable mountain to climb, managed to make a remarkable
impression on the audience with only two thirds of the movies running time to
do it. He was so successful in the role he re-energised the brand, sending both
the books and audios on a fresh new path and countless riveting adventures in
the wilderness years. McGann is compelling to watch in his scant running time
(I still think it was a terrible mistake to waste a third of this adventure on
a has been Doctor rather than kick starting with McGann blazing from the TARDIS
in style…but I digress); romantic, adventurous and wonderful. A Doctor for the
nineties. Together with Daphne Ashbrook (on fine form as Grace Holloway, his
one off companion for this adventure), they make an engaging duo and Matthew
Jacobs fills them to bursting with witty interplay. It is their relationship
that makes the Movie such an experience, developing from incensed Doctor and
loony patient to firm friends with a soft spot for each other. There’s a
delightful moment at the heart of the blockbuster where the Doctor goes jogging
off in his new shoes and Grace stares straight out at the camera like she is a
cartoon character asking the audience whether she should follow him or not. Of
course I was screaming ‘Yes!’ Their final moments to together are my
favourites, a surprising choice by Grace to not travel with him and embracing
the life that she has on Earth and the Doctor justifiably proud of that
decision. Their kiss, a subject of much consternation at the time but
practically softcore compared to the lustful eleventh Doctor of late, is
delicate and rather beautiful. Had it been a one off it would have been a
rather wonderful one-off for the most romantic Doctor of all.
47) The War Games ‘Will we ever see you again,
Doctor?’ ‘Now Zoe, you and I both know that time is relative, hmm?’
The word epic gets bandied around too often (and far too
often on this site if I’m honest) to suggest a ‘slightly larger scale than
usual’ tale but in the case of The War Games it is an entirely appropriate
watchword. This story is the very nature of epic, an adventure that gets bigger
in scale with each passing episode until the Doctor is literally running from
the Gods at the climax. It’s an astonishing piece of work with Terrance Dicks
and Malcolm Hulke (two very good writers individually so imagine the magic they
can produce together?) furiously scribbling out ten episodes worth of material
and somehow in their panic turning out some of the most frightening,
educational, amusing, shocking and entertaining viewing in the shows long
history. Packed full of terrific set pieces brought to life with an expert eye
by David Maloney, brilliant performances by Troughton, Hines and Padbury in
their swansong and with stunning revelations that change the Doctor’s life
forever, The War Games is a lynchpin in the series develop and truly impressive
piece of work. The story may have haemorrhaged viewers at the time for its
bloated length and lack of monsters but has been re-appraised by a critical
audience and put high on the mantelpiece and justly lauded.
My moment of triumph (or rather defeat) comes at the end of
the story and features the unfairness of Jamie and Zoe having their memories
taken away from them. They are an infectious trio; like three kids bounding
around the universe and even in the seasons less successful moments (The
Dominators, mostly) they still make the show a joy to watch with their
hilarious rivalry (The Doctor/Zoe especially, where he becomes a gloriously
petulant teenager) and bantering. They have so much fun in stories like The
Mind Robber, The Invasion and The Seeds of Death that you never want their
adventures to end. You certainly don’t want it to it end in the unmerited
wiping of their memories so they go about their lives in their proper time and
place with no record of their experiences with the Doctor. He has taught both
Jamie and Zoe to cut loose and enjoy their lives and they have offered him a
family away from home and not only is that cruelly taken apart by his people
but they ensure that as far as the kids are concerned that it never happened in
the first place. It’s Dicks and Hulke being remarkable cruel to the characters
and the audience by making the point that the Times Lords have incredible
powers and really are to be feared. The whole goodbye sequence is so
understated that you may just have a lump in your throat before its over and
his quiet acceptance that his best friends wont remember anything beyond their
first adventure is a real kick in the gut. There are more revelations just
around the corner in this story about the Doctor’s exile and regeneration but I
have chosen the injustice of this moment to show just how much the Doctor’s
companions mean to him and us. Like Frazer Hines admits, had the Time Lords
(let’s call them Troughton’s wife and Hines’ agent) got involved, they would
still be knocking around the universe together like a bunch of teenagers on a sugar
high.
46) The Caves of Androzani ‘Fire!’
Cliffhangers in
Doctor Who are a double edged sword, sometimes astonishing (The War Games nine,
The Deadly Assassin one), sometimes cringe-worthy (The Stones of Blood one,
Snakedance three). They are so prolific in Doctor Who that the chances of
stumbling across both is very likely, sometimes in the same story. Occasionally
they are simply a pause in the action, other times they are edge of the seat
moments of jeopardy, or a shocking piece of information that diverts the story
in another direction or sometimes, or an amazing reveal of this story’s biggest
selling point (usually the monster). They can be all things and they are one of
the joys of the show, one of the many things that separate Doctor Who from the
rest.
45) Dr Who & the Silurians ‘But that’s
murder…’
What a task season eight had after the universally praised
season seven. Or should I say universally praised in hindsight. I am
still a firm believer (and I have discussed this elsewhere in the blog) that
the more colourful, entertaining season eight was what secured Doctor Who’s
future and not the four serious to the point of straight drama tales that
populated the previous year (seven haemorrhaged at least a third of its
audience by its conclusion whereas eight gained at least that much as it went
along). However, that is not take away from how stunning those four stories
were and how taken as a quartet, they are probably the single strongest run of
adventures in the shows long history. It may not surprise you to hear that
three of my top 50 moments are chosen from this season. The tone is cold, crisp
and realistic, the characters have rare depth and distinction, the production
values take a massive shot in the arm with some impressive action sequences and
location work, the Doctor is a pompous ass and his assistant a living,
breathing scientist with her own life away from him and UNIT are a newly formed
and realistic military taskforce with more resources than they could possibly
require. It was an exciting time for the show; bursting with colour, marrying
the domestic and the extraterrestrial and with some memorably frightening
moments.
My next unforgettable moment comes at the end of the
Silurians where the Doctor merrily drives away from the situation knowing that
the prehistoric race that has recently awoken are back in their slumber and he
can revive them at his leisure and learn about their culture. Humanity can
learn about their culture and the two races can work together in peace and help
create a better planet. Or at least that is the idea in theory… The Brigadier,
acting under instructions from his superiors (although I don’t believe he would
think any differently given how many men he has lost to the Silurians), sets
explosives in their habitation dome and buries the creatures alive. Doctor Who
is not accustomed to twist endings like this (well they’re all the rage in
Moffatt Who but once a story was concluded in classic Who that usually meant
you could breathe a sigh of relief) and it comes as a total surprise. That’s
very season seven. The Doctor is furious with the Brigadier and makes sure that
he points out that what he has done is murder an intelligent species and not
simply exterminated some pests. That’s very season seven too. Liz doesn’t
condemn nor praise her superiors actions, she simply listens to the Doctor and
acknowledges his distress. Her ambiguity is what season seven is all about. It
is a mature, unforgettable ending to a mature, unforgettable story and a worthy
contender for a list that celebrates the moments when Doctor Who pushed the
boat out and tried something different. Inferno aside, it would be a long time
before the show made us this uncomfortable again.
44) Power of the Daleks ‘I am your ser-vant!’
What a risky venture this was. Replacing the leads in
television can be successful but it doesn’t usually go down with the hardcore
fan base (see The X-Files final two seasons for an example of both). Doctor Who
had been on a roll call of different assistants throughout its first seasons,
until it reached a point where the girls wouldn’t even last a single story
before they were written out and traded in for a new model. Come The War
Machines nobody was batting an eyelid, especially since it was an exchange of a
cardboard cut out character for a pair of gorgeous young things. However to
remove the lynchpin, William Hartnell, from the series and replace him with
Patrick Troughton was a massive shock to the system and a risk that the show
might not be able to recover from. Doctor Who always likes to be different and
so it doesn’t merely swap one character for another, it replaces an actor in
the same role and makes a big fuss about it. Inspired or insane, it was
certainly an eye opener. Troughton’s debut is a fascinating experience,
especially since he and Whitaker seems to want to make the transition from one
Doctor to another as uncomfortable as possible, refusing to give the audience
an easy ride. Polly and Ben are unsure whether this cosmic hobo is really the
Doctor and so is the series itself.
The deciding factor? The Daleks of course! Instead of
trundling out the creatures for another intergalactic showdown, Whitaker wants
to do something much more interesting with them. If the Doctor is going to act
so out of character then why not go the whole hog and have the Daleks do so as
well. Then by the end of the story and their masks are ripped away the status
quo can be resumed; the Doctor is the hero of the series and the Daleks are the
murdering bastards that massacre an entire colony. By having Troughton’s new
Doctor defeat the Daleks he manages to claim the series and own its title in
the same way Hartnell did. Before then we get the opportunity to witness the
Daleks are at their most nefarious in this adventure. Weakened and depleted of
power and resources, they decide to exploit this colony of fools by appealing
to their basest desires. They act the docile servants, ready to obey their
every whim and offering knowledge far in advance of their own. When they are
unveiled at the end of episode one, cobweb strewn and apparently dead, it is
one of the most potent images as yet seen in the series. However it is the end
of episode two that scores my magical moment; where the Doctor and a live Dalek
are finally face to face. You expect nothing more than a quick exterminating
blast so they can finish off their nemesis for good but instead the creature
turns to the camera and declares in a childish stutter ‘I…am…your…ser-vant…’
Absolutely chilling, the most evil race in the universe playing dumb and
casting the Doctor in the role of the villain. The show has been surprising and
clever before, but it has never quite played games with the audience like this
before. Who knows how this battle of wits will play out…
43) The Ultimate Foe ‘Did you just call him…the
Doctor?’
Doctor Who has it’s dry periods. Or seasons where the show
suffers from a decline in ratings and a wobble in public perception. I’m not
talking about their creative merits but just the general feeling from the
audience about the show. Season three, season six, seasons twenty-three to
twenty-six and the latter half of series seven of the new series would probably
all qualify. Remember I’m not talking about whether these seasons are very good
(as I admire them all) but how the series might be said to have become a little
tired. That’s fine though; with all shows there are moments when they rocket in
popularity and others where they wane and with a show with as long a history of
Doctor Who that is bound to zigzag with all the randomness of a polygraph.
Trial of a Time Lord is a season that suffers two crippling blows; not only did
the show lose over a third of it’s audience from the previous season (and it
was never to recover it) but it is also critically slammed by fandom in general
as one of the weakest years of the show. Piffle. I certainly don’t think it is
any better or worse than any of the other more average years of the show and I
do think it has become easy to jump on the bandwagon and point the finger at
the Trial as the reason that the show was eventually cancelled. I don’t buy it
and I never will. You have four above average stories in this season; a light
and fluffy Holmes adventure with great dialogue and characters, a dark and
twisted black comedy with a shocking ending, a traditional and twist-fuelled
monster romp and a surreal and hallucinogenic finale. All have problems but all
have much to praise about them too. The season as a whole has a stonking great
guest cast, some terrific production values (ranging from autumnal location
work in Mysterious Planet, stunning sets and musical score in Mindwarp, tense
direction and cliffhanger sin Vervoids and memorable imagery in The Ultimate
Foe) and is topped off with some very memorable twists and turns in the final two
installments. So memorable that two of them make it into this list.
My first is one that shatters the idea of Doctor Who
continuity years before Steven Moffatt jumped on the bandwagon. Until now we
have only been introduced to each Doctor a regeneration at a time but with the
advent of The Ultimate Foe we are treated to a glimpse into the Doctor’s future
and it is a haunting and shocking example of a future life. Bear in mind that
we have sat through the twelve previous installments of Trial of a Time Lord
with the Valeyard trying to end the Doctor’s life by arguing his way through
his adventures and suggesting that he has become too dangerous to be allowed to
roam the universe. He’s proven a worthy foe, battling verbally with the sixth
Doctor. For the Master to turn up in the penultimate episode and blow the
whistle on this whole affair and reveal that (look away if you don’t want to
read any spoilers…all though don’t blame me because you are nearly thirty years
late to the party)…the Valeyard is the Doctor. It’s mind boggling,
totally unexpected and a glimpse into the future that the Doctor would never
ask for. In a moment of stunning direction, the Master explains that the
Valeyard is the darker side of the Doctor’s nature and Chris Clough chooses to light
Colin Baker’s face with one half lost to shadows. One of the few jaw-dropping
moments in the shows history, Doctor Who didn’t often go in for this kind of
twist in the classic series (it deploys them ad nauseum these days) and this is
definitely one of the finest examples. Not bad for the worst season of all
time.
Everything in this list is subjective, of course, but there
are some characters that the show gave rise to that just did not work. Either
through a fault in writing or casting, they failed to light up the screen.
Matthew Waterhouse has been the target of a great amount of bile over the years
for his unconvincing portrayal of Adric and I have to be honest this is one
time where I bow to fan wisdom and join in with the crowd. He’s an actor that
has difficulty making his lines work in a persuasive manner, who fails to
perform a simple function like walking across a set truthfully and someone who
even finds hitting his marks on the studio floor a mystery. As a character Adric
was doomed to failiure from the start unless he fell into the hands of a
confident, charismatic actor. He’s a boy genius for goodness sake, an SF cliché
that has to be very well thought through if it is going to appeal to the
audiences sensibilities (in many ways the suggestion is this is how we are or
at least how we are perceived by the outside world). Adric turned up during a
time of great optimism for the show and is fortunate enough to have a run of
stories that are considered some of their eras more compelling (Full Circle,
Warriors’ Gate, Logopolis, Castrovalva, Kinda, Earthshock). Unfortunately he is
the only blemish in some of these stories.
To be honest I was going to choose the moment in episode
four where Katerina sacrifices herself by flushing herself out of an airlock
and thus saving the Doctor, Steven and Bret from an early at the hands of the Daleks
on Kembel. The odds of drawing out two uber-dramatic companion deaths one after
the other are quite remote, especially considering their relative scarceness in
the show. The good thing about a story like The Daleks’ Masterplan is that
there are so many fantastic moments in it that you are almost overwhelmed by
choices. Should it be the terrifying moment when Sara Kingdom shoots her
brother in cold blood? Or the Doctor’s declaration that the Daleks have finally
won? Or the joyous sequence where he is reunited with the Meddling Monk? It’s a
virtual treasure trove of memorable scenes; as long as McCoy season but assembled with ten times
the skill.
To celebrate both The Daleks’ Masterplan’s ambition and
scope and the diverse nature of season three (where screwball comedies, shock
historical tragedies, surrealistic diversions and space epics all lie) I
thought it was only fair to plump for the finale scene. The Doctor and Steven
stand in the ashes of the planet Kembel, once a lush and verdant jungle but now
ravaged by the destructive powers of the time destructor, and look back on the
horror and tragedy they have witnessed in the past twelve weeks. It is rare for
a story to lingering on the emotional consequences but this has been such a
massive undertaking with everything but kitchen sink thrown in (the deaths of
two companions, more Daleks than you can shake a stick at, alien delegates, a
Hollywood movie production, a trip to Eygpt, witty swordplay with an old
enemy…) that it practically demanded some kind of acknowledgement. Until The
Tenth Planet you’ll never see the Doctor more physically and emotionally
exhausted than he is at this point (and you could say that his exposure to the
time destructor brought his regeneration forward significantly) and Steven is
aghast at the cost of their latest adventure (which would be paid off in the
next adventure). An astonishingly honest and poignant moment for a programme
that is usually happy to whisk us off to the next adventure as soon as
possible, the climax of The Daleks’ Masterplan is proof that Doctor Who was not
waning in the slightest during its third year.
Oddball. The dictionary definition is a person whose
behaviour is unusual and strange. However it is a word which has slipped into
fandom consciousness to describe stories which stray outside the template of a
standard Doctor Who story (whether that be historical/contemporary/futuristic).
They vary from the surrealistic (The Celestial Toymaker), jet black comedies
(Paradise Towers), fairytale adventures (Warriors’ Gate), literary exercises
(The Mind Robber) or fantasy dramas (Enlightenment). They are often greeted
with congratulations to stray outside the usual pattern and dare to do
something completely different and they often work extremely well as standalone
adventures. Another such adventure that I am much more on the fence about than
the masses is Kinda, an oddball tale from the optimistic year of the show that
is season nineteen. Don’t get me wrong I can see a great deal to admire in
Kinda; it’s elegant dialogue, the formidable guest cast, the stunning imagery,
a haunting score…but it has a number of flaws that hold it back from being a
standout in my book. Aesthetically it has some problems, especially in the set
design (you’d be hard pressed to find a less convincing forest set), I have a
problem with a script that hides it’s themes and ideas beneath such a layer of
metaphor and the climax is completely spoilt by a ruddy great pink snake that
might just be the single worst physical effect the show ever attempted. However
I do accept that this is a favourite of a great many and I think in a
collection of the shows best moments it does deserve some recognition, if only
for it’s attempts to probe a little deeper than the show usually dares.
42) Earthshock ‘Adric!’
What is this fool doing spreading such damning propaganda
during a listing that is supposed to promote the virtues of Doctor Who, I hear
you ask? Well, my point is that Doctor Who can surprise sometimes even when the
odds are entirely stacked against a character. Adric might have failed as a
companion (half the time he’s the Doctor’s nemesis, siding with the villains)
but he sure managed to wave goodbye to the series in the most riveting fashion.
So good is his leaving story and so memorable his curtain call that it leaves
you scratching your head and wondering how it could have been different had
this much passion been injected into the scripting and performance all along.
The Cybermen return in dazzling style in Earthshock; with strength in numbers,
a snazzy redesign and a dramatic (and almost entirely nonsensical) plan to
destroy the Earth with a freighter (or a bomb, whichever sticks). They’ve
already scored a great psychological victory over the Doctor by proving that he
will concede to their will be threatening his companions and now they are going
to prove how damaging it can be if he loses one (although he really doesn’t
mourn for long, soon suggesting a trip to the Great Exhibition to his remaining
companions mind off their loss!). Adric is left on the freighter that is
heading for the Earth trying to decode the alien computer that is putting them
on a destructive trajectory towards the planet. He’s almost done when he is
dragged away from the vessel but manages to slip away from the escape pod at
the last minute, certain that his genius is of a standard that can save the
day. Unbeknownst to Adric the freighter has travelled back in time to a point
when the dinosaurs were wiped out by a large body impacting with the Earth.
Their extinction. With crushing anxiety the audience realises that this was
always meant to be, that the lad has no way off the ship (the Doctor is busy
dicing with Cybermen in the TARDIS) and that Adric’s time is up. He stands
before a smoking console destroyed by a rogue Cyberman and admits defeat,
grasping the belt of his dead brother as the freighter plunges head first into
the planet. A jaw-dropping sequence that is worthy of a melodramatic silent
credit sequence.
Doctor Who is the only show that I know that would take a
companion that really didn’t work and give him possibly the finest exit of any
character in the entire show. And certainly the most memorable one. How did
Polly & Ben leave again? And Harry? And Ace? There’s a good chance that you
might not know but I would be very surprised if Adric’s dramatic exit from the
show hasn’t been seared into your memory.
41) The Daleks’ Masterplan ‘What a senseless
waste…’
40) Warriors’ Gate ‘We are in the theoretical
medium between the striations of the continuum!’
Who are your favourite companions? There have been a wealthy
of allies come the 50 year mark for the series that this is a whole section for
debate amongst the shows ardent fans. Is it Ian and Barbara’s humanistic
influence on the Doctor that floats your boat? Or the thought of seeing what is
under Jamie’s kilt? Are you prone to intellectuals like Liz Shaw and Nyssa? Or
do you prefer cocksure types like Tegan, Ace and Donna? I’ve never made any
secret that Sarah Jane is the second love of my life and people can point out
all the moments where she trips over, overreacts and generally behaving like a
big kid and it doesn’t matter to me one jot. That just makes her more human.
Donna would an easy second, a tempestuous temp that shared exquisite chemistry
with David Tennant’s mockney dude Doctor. But the third position is more
contested but after much inner debate (of the sort only a Doctor Who fan can
experience with such a wealth of material to spool through) I whittled it down
to one very special character that had the difficult task of following two
equally successful companions. Whether she was played by the gorgeous Mary Tamm
or the witty and erudite Lalla Ward, the ‘bit too smart’ (TM JNT) Romana
was a companion for all seasons. When she was an occupant of the TARDIS it was
a jolly time for the show and the adventurous spirit of the series was at an
all tie high. Both actresses shared a delightful chemistry with Tom Baker, but
especially Ward given the turbulent behind the scenes romance that was playing
out.
Romana was not your typical companion. She was smart, witty,
resourceful, fashionable and at times took care of saving the universe whilst
the Doctor was too busy larking about. Take a look at her in The Horns of
Nimon, not the highest regarded of stories, but one which allows Romana to take
charge completely and become the go to girl whilst the Doctor is playing
cricket ball TARDIS. Come her last story she has outgrown her mentor and there
is talk of her going her own way to continue his work but in her own inimitable
style. My fortieth choice is Romana’s dazzling scene confronting Rorvik and his
crew outside the TARDIS simply because this is the best example of how she has
practically superseded the Doctor at this stage and become the star of the
show. The Doctor’s off discovering the secret of the gateway in great Gundan
expository gulps and so it is left to Romana to take care of Rorvik’s bilious
crewmembers. She steps from the ship in commanding form, bamboozling them with
technobabble and witty observations about their lack of intelligence and
generally behaves in a very Doctorish manner. If you ever wanted to see what
the series would be like if it was led by a female actress in the title role
then look no further.
39) Kinda ‘It’s the end of everything!’
39) Kinda ‘It’s the end of everything!’
My standout moment belongs to the lead up to the climax of
episode three. It encapsulates everything that is weird and wonderful about
Kinda (plus features three of it’s greatest assets – Peter Davison, Neyrs
Hughes and Mary Morris) and highlights the star contributor to this tale,
director Peter Grimwade. Not a popular man amongst the actors (but then if you
take the time to watch all the documentaries on the DVDs all of the better
directors never were, obviously too busy trying to make the show as good as
possible to stroke the actors egos at the same time) but producing four
unforgettable tales, Grimwade might be mostly remembered for his action epic
Earthshock but I would argue that his most creative work can be found in Kinda.
Watch as the Doctor and his one-off assistant Todd step into a hallucinogenic
prophecy of the future featuring some imagery so trippy that you might think
you have swallowed down an overdose of mind altering drugs. The Kinda flap and
panic as mist descends over the forest, clocks from all periods stand atop
plinths and count down to destruction, Panna oversees Armageddon with her arms
stretched wide and the Jester is gripped by a powerful unseen force which
laughs as it drags him down into the mist. It is a wildly unusual sequence for
Doctor Who but tells the story with little explanation through visual
description with some aplomb. The music is lingering, the pace furious and
Davison and Hughes express appropriate horror at the fate that awaits
them. Anybody who says that Doctor Who
cannot be visually startling on a budget go and watch this mindfuck of a
dreamscape and crawl back to your hole.
38) Ressurection of the Daleks ‘I’m not here as
your prisoner, Davros, but your executioner…’
Given what was to come, Peter Davison’s tenure on Doctor Who
has to be said to be the most stable period of the show whilst John
Nathan-Turner was driving the ship. He had no problems with his lead actor, the
show was performing reasonably well in the ratings, the shows 20th
anniversary garnered plenty of publicity smack back in the middle of the era
and there was a general feeling that the show was ambling along with a
realistic amount of achievement. That didn’t always reflect in the value of the
stories (from the era that brought you Four to Doomsday, Time-Flight, Arc of
Infinity and Warriors of the Deep) however and it is probably the first time
since the shows conception that there was such an alarming fluctuation of
quality from adventure to adventure. You could have something as sublime as
Enlightenment rubbing shoulders with an abomination like The Kings’ Demons. It
is also the first time that the companions truly felt manufactured by their
producer rather than a natural extension of the chosen actors personality,
right down to them all having personality quirks that they stick with (Tegan is
bossy and rude, Adric is a whiny traitor, Nyssa is an effete scientist and
Turlough is a shifty refugee) and a ‘uniform.’ However the one thing that
pretty much everyone can agree on that worked during the Davison’s era is Peter
Davison himself. He brought with him double the ratings from the previous
season in his debut year and took on the mantle of a role that he felt entirely
unsuited for and did his very best. He’s a consummate professional and a very
good actor and the net result was a Doctor who was consistent throughout his
entire era (not something you can level at practically any of the others,
except perhaps Troughton), like a calming anchor to the sea of publicity and
cheap tricks to get ratings that was going on around him.
I could have chosen moments from a handful of stories to
display Davison’s finest moment in the role (Earthshock, Enlightenment,
Frontios and Androzani were all contenders) but I wanted to celebrate a lesser
recognised moment rather than ones that are dragged out every time these lists
are assembled. It would appear that since the massacre on Sea Base 4 the Doctor
has grown a pair of balls and decided that he has had enough of senseless
killing and during the carnage of Ressurection decides to go right to the
source of the problem (Davros) and dispose of him once and for all. It’s a
shocking admission from the usually placid fifth Doctor and Tegan has to stop
him in his tracks and remind him that he is talking about committing murder.
When the scene comes and Davros is staring down the barrel of a gun held by his
nemesis, director Matthew Robinson refuses to let either the Doctor nor Davison
get away with this assassination attempt Scot free and closes in tightly on the
confliction that is going on inside the Time Lord’s head. What should have been
the elimination of one of the most evil men the universe has ever produced
turns out to be an assassination of the Doctor’s character with Davros pitying
the Doctor for being too soft to finish him off for good. Davison emotes
silently throughout this criticism, showing a man on the edge who is ready to
kill but cannot find it in himself to actually pull the trigger. In a story
full of noise and bluster, it is a quiet moment to reflect on the horror of
taking a persons life and exposes the ultimate difference between the Doctor
and Davros. Davison is sublime, given the chance to indulge in some real
acting for a change.
37) Day of the Daleks ‘Styles didn’t cause that
explosion start the wars! You did it yourselves!’
Sometimes a Doctor Who story can hinge on a terrific plot
twist at the last minute that quite takes your breath away. The Pirate Planet
is a great example, but that is one of my later choices (‘…you commit murder
and mass destruction on a scale that is inconceivable and you ask me to
appreciate it?’). One of my favourite scenes in all of Doctor Who comes in
the final episode of Day of the Daleks, a story that enjoys a reasonable
reputation but I think is one of the most perfectly formed four parters. It has
a little something for everybody; Daleks, aliens, quislings, an invasion, the
Doctor acting like a one man cheese and wine show, a flash of Jo Grant’s
knickers, action, excitement, UNIT…it really is the story that keeps on giving.
My golden moment comes when the paradox that the plot is
resting on is revealed and the Doctor states with absolute conviction that ‘Styles
didn’t cause that explosion start the wars! You did it yourselves!’
It isn’t often that the script is one step ahead of the audience like this and
is waiting to drop an intelligent bombshell at the eleventh hour but once it is
revealed it seems an obvious answer given all the evidence that we have already
seen. They way everything dovetails together is seamlessly handled, all brought
down to a very understandable level by a pitch perfect Jon Pertwee. By golly he
could ace these serious exclamations. The climax is proof that the future isn’t
set in stone, that free will isn’t an illusion and that we can make the world a
better place if we make the right choices. Although I would love to have seen
how Styles managed to explain to the other delegates about the terrorist attack
on the peace conference.
36) The Aztecs ‘You can’t rewrite history! Not one
line!’
Probably my most obvious choice on the list but some moments are seminal for a very good reason…because they are as good as fan myth claims. The Aztecs was something very special nestled away in the almost perfectly formed season one, a four part delight that whisked the audience off to an arid, exotic climate, plunged them straight into one of the most beautiful and vicious of cultures and gave them the opportunity watch the resulting moral dilemmas faced by the Doctor (whether to break the heart of the woman who he has fallen in love with in order to escape to the TARDIS), Barbara (she wants to change the path of The Aztecs so Cortez will only witness the finer elements of their culture when he lands), Ian (facing the impossible situation of having to escort a man to his death) and Susan (who is being told that she is going to marry a man who is soon to die). As a four part adventure it has everything you could possibly want from Doctor Who; it is informative without lecturing, funny, frightening, packed with beautiful dialogue, strong characterisation for all of the leads, a fantastic villain and a great location. It is also one of the few sixties adventures that refuses to flag, spacing out action scenes at all the appropriate junctions to ensure this is a fast moving historical.
Barbara shows a strength of character that not many would go on to express, threatening to change an entire culture because she finds some of their rituals discomforting. They turn her into a Goddess and she forbids the human sacrifice, she wants to start the destruction of everything that is evil so everything that is good will survive and flourish when Cortez lands. It's a naive outlook but one that is easy to understand. Simon always tells me not to look back into history with contemporary morals in mind because you simply cannot judge people by the standards of today (and who's to say that we are right anyway?). Barbara openly defies the Doctor’s instructions and shows both great strength of character and naiveté. When the Doctor begs Barbara not to try and change history he sounds as though he has had to learn this lesson before (‘I know! Believe me, I know!’) which seems as ripe for Big Finish to explore as anything else (although I do like the idea of some gaps in Doctor Who's history never being plugged). His anger towards her after she ignores his warning and jeopardises their position is vicious and by all accounts Hartnell could explode with equal vigour behind the scenes if things weren't going his way. I love how he realises that he has gone too far and almost withers after all the energy he has spent shouting and apologises gently. Hartnell and Hill are magnificent here, proving just how well they cast the stars of Doctor Who right from the off.
Some Doctor Who stories are so good that they seem to exist
to populate lists like this with countless great moments. Genesis of the Daleks
is one such example, one of those stories that is never far from anybody’s top
ten listing and would, I daresay, top many as their favourite adventure. You
might have countless reasons for doing so; Maloney’s moody, brutal direction,
the script which has been fundamentally been written by ideas man Terry Nation
and given an extreme polish by Robert Holmes, the mouth watering combination of
Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter, the Daleks at their homicidal best and
given a delicious revisionist twist…but I am certain the primary reason for
most would be the star if the show and the series’ primary nasty, Davros.
What an astonishing gift to be handed so close to the 50th
anniversary. The return of one complete Troughton adventure and another almost
complete one. Stories long thought destroyed forever and existing in fans
hearts as soundtracks and reconstructions. To have them announced and available
to watch on the same night was a shock of the best kind, I woke up at 2.00 in
the morning and thought I would check my phone to see what had been announced
and as soon as my sleepy eyes drifted to ‘they can be purchased and watched
here…’ I leapt out of bed like a bullet from a gun and was at the computer
within seconds. I danced about with a strong coffee whilst it downloaded (I’ve
heard stories of it taking ages but both tales were ready for me to watch within
ten minutes) and then had myself an Enemy of the World marathon in the dead of
night. Simon woke up at about 4.00 to find out what I was doing up and when he
heard the news and saw how excited I was he gave me a massive hug and stayed up
a watched for a while. It was fantastic evening and I don’t think I’ll ever
forget it. The fact that the story was number two on my ‘most want discovered’
list just added to the thrill of it all. I have always loved Enemy of the
World, it was one of the few missing stories that worked extremely well on
audio because despite the odd dynamic action sequence it was a work of strong
dialogue, plot turns and sophisticated characterisation. To have more Troughton
is a delight (now over half of his episodes exist and the though of something
he starred in 45 years ago topping the iTunes chart gives me goosebumps) but to
get Enemy back, a story where he appears so much in his incredible dual role
and is so good, well it’s this fans dream come true.
Some partnerships in Doctor Who strike the right chord from
the world go (the Doctor and Vicki), start out brilliantly and but start to
fizzle out over time (the Doctor and Leela) and others, like the third Doctor
and Jo, take a little while to find their way but develop into something very
special indeed. It helps that Katy Manning is precisely the sort of Who girl
that Jon Pertwee was after, a pretty, diminutive but outgoing sort that he
could put his arm around to protect and explain the more complicated parts of
the plot to. I really liked how their amazing off screen chemistry so often
spilled into the stories and there was a sense that they were having a blast in
each others company. It really counts for something. Compare and contrast
Davison and Fielding, one of which considered Tegan too bossy and
unapproachable and the other who thought she was playing a caricature rather
than a character. There was rarely what I what call a sense of fond feeling
between their characters and it all springs from the actors approach to the
series. Stories such as The Curse of Peladon, The Time Monster and Carnival of
Monsters were sold on the gorgeous chemistry between Pertwee and Manning,
regardless of the quality of the stories themselves. If they were good then it
was win/win and if they were lacking then at least you could enjoy the byplay
between the Doctor and his lovesick assistant.
You’ll find fewer atypical adventures in Doctor Who’s long
history than The Mind Robber. It is one of those oddball Doctor Who adventures
mentioned above that most people adore and even those to whom it isn’t quite to
their tastes appreciate that it is pulled off with some confidence. A story
where an alien presence can enter the TARDIS and shatter it to pieces. Where
the Doctor can be said to have been sitting in the same chair dreaming for four
episodes. Where Zoe’s bum gets more exposure than an hourly news bulletin and
Jamie decides for one week only he will be played by a completely different
actor. A story that features Gulliver, Rupunzel, The Railway Children, comic
strip characters, Greek myths, Unicorns, White Robots, a Giant Brain and even
has time for a swashbuckling duels between D’artgnan, Sir Lancelot and
Blackbeard the Pirate. Surreal, stylish, creepy, literate and thoroughly
boners…we are so lucky that this blissful celebration of the shows imagination
was spared the flames.
There’s a reasons why several of the moments on this list
are situated in season three. Between The Myth Makers, The Daleks’ Masterplan
and The Massacre you have some of the most dramatic moments in the entire
series. It was a time of experimentation for a show that was just starting to
get the inkling of a formula and one story was long enough to play about with
different genres on a week-by-week basis for three months. Like the recently
discovered Enemy of the World, I think that if The Massacre was discovered it
would go through something of a renaissance. It is considered the pinnacle of
what Doctor Who can achieve in some quarters and a historical snooze-fest in
others. I’m in the former category and if I had to pinpoint my favourite
historical adventure I think The Massacre might just pip the top spot (although
Marco Polo and The Crusade would be vying it out for second place). A
remarkably sophisticated script which places the companion as the lead and
pushes the Doctor to the sidelines, introduces a sadistic villain that just
happens to look like the Doctor and delves into all manner of heavy themes from
religious persecution to the morality of being a time traveller. I would love
to see this play out because Paddy Russell’s other contributions to the show
(Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Pyramids of Mars & Horror of Fang Rock) have
all been peerless performance pieces and on audio you can hear the richness of
the cast that brought this story to life. Some scenes leave you breathless and
that is all down to the performances.
Some inconsistent Doctor Who stories earn extra
brownie points thanks to the sincerity of the performances of a committed cast.
Planet of the Spiders is Jon Pertwee’s swansong and features one of his most
honest turns as the Doctor, just outclassing his poignant interpretation of a
heartbroken Time Lord in The Green Death. Elisabeth Sladen states in the
commentary that Jon distanced himself from the rest of the cast for his final
story refusing to get involved in the ribald atmosphere amongst the actors as
usual to distance himself from a series that had made him a regular household
name. It informs his performance, which suggests a weary Doctor who is settled
during his sequences on the Earth despite having all of time and space at his
fingertips and comes to ahead with quiet acceptance when he has to face his
demons in the crystal caves and pay the price for his greed for knowledge. What
a humble way for the Doctor to die, entirely appropriate for Jon Pertwee.
One of the most accomplished cliffhangers from one of the
most lambasted eras. I am a huge fan of Vengeance on Varos and I don’t care who
knows it. Butt hen I’m something of a sixth Doctor apologist in general because
I think this is a rather fairly maligned period of the show, capable of being
as strong (Revelation of the Daleks) and as weak (Timelash) as many others.
Highly original, atmospheric and intelligent, Vengeance on Varos scores highly
for its Russian doll storytelling which sees a scary Doctor Who run-around
taking on much deeper context as we experience the politics of the planet that
is supporting sick entertainment and get to understand the people who enjoy it.
Colin Baker gives one of his strongest performances and has never felt more
commanding in the lead role, I was riveted by his character throughout.
Vengeance on Varos is a remarkably prescient Doctor Who story in that it
explores a television medium that enjoys watching people suffer – the sort of
reality television that has taken a grip over the schedules in recent years.
One of the things you have to love about classic Who is the
ambition of it’s creators. Here is a show that is often monstrously under
funded and yet that never seems to stop those who are making the programme from
thinking big. If they were sensible they would never have attempted to
pull of a story where the regulars are the only humans present and the rest of
the characters are an array of moths, ants and grubs. If they were smart trying
to pull of dinosaurs in Central London was probably a daft notion. If there was
an ounce of sense in the room then a planet sized globevore that goes about
swallowing up other planets and crunching them down for their minerals is a
concept that a feature film would have trouble realising convincingly. And yet
it never seems to stop them trying to push the show to the extremes of
imagination. It never stops them having a go. My husband told me something once
that has always stuck with me – Doctor Who might not always get it right, but
it is a brave show that is always trying and that counts for far more than a
gutless show that avoids risks. It’s one of the reasons that I prefer the
Williams era to the Hinchcliffe one. I recognise that the stories are of a
better quality during the Hinchcliffe era (although it is all a matter of
taste) but the producer openly admits to starting each story with the caveat ‘can
we achieve this realistically?’ It’s an entirely sensible way to go about
things but then you miss out on spectacular folly such as voyages through the
Doctor’s mind, a warren of tunnels created entirely from technological
wizardry, fairytale worlds obsessed by androids, a war trapped in a time loop,
men splintered across the centuries, giant penis shaped monsters and chases
around Cambridge on bicycles being hunted by whispering spheres. The
Hinchcliffe approach is the sensible one, the sort of one the show thrives on
today but the Williams one is the more fun, the more ambitious, the more out
there. It’s braver.
Bravery was never really an issue in JNT’s era. He would
charge on with ridiculously aspiring concepts regardless of whether the budget
was up to it or not. He was quite the expert at juggling finances but sometimes
even he couldn’t channel enough money to make Concorde landing in prehistoric
Earth look convincing or a giant sea monster barging his way onto a Sea Base
and slaughtering half the crew. However when he managed to match the right
script with the right director and hand them the appropriate means to execute
the adventure…well Doctor Who has rarely been finer. Warriors’ Gate is a great
example. Caves of Androzani and Revelation of the Daleks too. Enlightenment
comes near the end of quite an inconsistent season of Doctor Who (any season
that contains Arc of Infinity, Terminus and The Kings’ Demons can hardly said
to have been a roaring success) but is a shining beacon of hope that the show
hasn’t gone to the dogs under the (still reasonably new) administration. My
golden moment comes at the end of episode one, which has been set entirely on
an Edwardian sailing ship below decks, and in a breathtaking twist turns out to
be a spaceship. Not only a spaceship but one is the guise of an Edwardian
sailing ship. I don’t care if you prefer the original effects which were
perfectly serviceable or the updated CGI ones on the DVD which are stunning,
this is a beautifully executed scene that shows that Doctor is a show that will
always take risks and win big every now and again. An idea so beautiful it gives
me goosebumps every time I see it.
In some ways I think I came to Doctor Who too late. My first
memory of watching the show is Battlefield part two aged nine and crying my
eyes out because I thought ‘the girl’ was dead, drowned in a spaceship.
It took my mum all night to console me, much to my sisters hilarity. In some
ways I feel like I missed out because if I were too sensitive to watch this,
imagine how terrified I would have been at some of the other, far more
frightening moments in the series history. Yetis in the Underground. Mutant
seaweed in the impeller shaft. Autons smashing their way out of shop windows. I
would have been scarred for life! As an adult I can appreciate how effective
the horror in Doctor Who can be sometimes but I can’t really connect with it in
that same ‘what’s scuttle about under the bed?’ way a child would. To be
really gripped by terror. Only a few moments have managed to get me like
that. The Samurai that cuts the Doctor off the cliff in The Deadly Assassin
(it’s that close up of the eyes that makes me shudder). The psychological
transformation of Keeler from a placid scientist to a hungry, meat craving
plant in The Seeds of Doom. Toby smiling in the vacuum of space as he seduces
Scooti towards him in The Impossible Planet. The Weeping Angels attacking in
Blink. However the moment in Doctor Who that scared me the most on my first
watch was a scene on The Robots of Death. My mum got the video for me when I
was nine and I stayed up late watching it on my birthday. So much of that
viewing has stayed with me to this day.
At his best on television, Colin brought a great deal of gravity and sensitivity to the part. Plenty of pantomime too, but let’s skip that for now. Note his wistful musings on the end of the universe in The Two Doctors. Or his quiet acceptance that Peri has been murdered by Daleks in Revelation. His soliloquy in The Mysterious Planet when trying to comfort her over the near destruction of her home planet is a marvellous piece of acting, as is his defence of life to Drathro in the same story’s conclusion. However, my favourite ‘acting’ moment for Colin comes in his swansong, The Ultimate Foe. His fury at the Time Lords for sacrificing the Earth to protect their secrets is truly explosive – not even Troughton was this furious when he faced the judgement of his people in The War Games. Of all the Doctor’s incarnations I am so glad it was the least appreciated and most theatrical that got the chance to really stick it to the Time Lords. Even if this wasn’t supposed to be the sixth Doctor’s finale it is wonderful to see him going out with such great material that exposes Baker’s passion for the character. He is undoubtedly one of the main strengths of the Trial season and my number one reason for watching. ‘In all my travellings throughout the universe I have battled against evil. Against power mad conspirators! I should have stayed here! The oldest civilisation; decadent, degenerate and rotten to the core! Power mad conspirators? Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen…they’re still in the nursery compared to us! Ten million years of absolute power! That’s what it takes to be really corrupt!’
35) Genesis of the Daleks ‘Perfect, the weaponry
is perfect. Now we can begin…’
Michael Wisher gives the single most impressive performance
as Davros in the characters run. The Terry Molloy version has taken flight on
audio and his prolific nature means that I still consider him to be the
definitive version but I would never suggest that Wisher’s performance here is
anything less than bravura. In a sequence that redefines the word iconic,
Davros is first seen in the half-light whispering to his subordinate that the
weaponry of his new creation is perfect and we pan back to reveal a Dalek.
We’ve never seen anything quite like Davros before. Sure there have been some
pretty gruesome monsters but this monstrous grotesque, somewhere between an
ordinary man and a twisted gargoyle truly sours the stomach. For a moment you
could be forgiven for thinking this is a nasty looking statue because he is
perfectly still and his icy, purring voice seems at odds with its lifeless
natures. His limp, scarred hands shake their way towards the buttons on his
wheelchair – what’s astonishing is how powerful this character seems despite
his obviously crippled nature. The metal grips that is embedded in his head is
nasty – it is literally knitting his skull together! What could have possibly
happened to make a man so disfigured? Only Davros could possibly think
that ‘the best is yet to come’ when talking about giving a
Dalek the ability to cold bloodedly kill. His wheelchair having a Dalek design
is a great touch because it makes total sense of where that part of their
design came from. There is something stiflingly claustrophobic about the way
Davros commands the bunker with practically all of his workers terrified of him
and opposing the Dalek project. Davros is also a skilled politician who can
manipulate the government with gentle words whilst performing the most
outrageous acts of treason by giving the opposition the ability to destroy his
own people. That was the point where he went from being a superb villain to
the best we have ever had. It's such a diabolical act of
cowardice to ensure that he can continue with his work you almost have to
admire his sledgehammer techniques. That is the point of no return where Davros
has surrendered everything to his work on the Daleks and nothing will
stop their completion. Even if he has to tear the entire planet apart with his
bear hands the Daleks will see the light of day. If you betray his trust he
will finds a way to kill you as Ronson discovers. Davros lays the blame for his
own treachery on the scientists doorstep and orders him exterminated. It's
fascinating to see how Michael Wisher builds to a tyrannical, Hitleresque
shriek as he orders the mans death almost as if he surrenders to his own Dalek
side when his bloodlust boils over. Even Nyder looks appalled at the notion
that Davros would murder his own people to suit his needs (although its not
enough for the man to show a flicker of emotion, naturally). Davros talks of
peace and prosperity on Skaro, a new dawn for the Thal race but as soon as they
fire their rocket to wipe out the Kaleds he sends the Daleks in to massacre
them all! It's typical Davros to talk about erasing ‘stupid emotions’ from
his workforce so they can still make use of their inventive skills. The Doctor
tries to convince Davros to make the Daleks a force for good in the universe
and his nemesis toys with the idea playfully but that was never going to be an
option. In Davros’ warped view of the world power comes through strength and
the ability to threaten and kill and the only way the Daleks will survive is if
they are dominant life form destroying everything else. It turns out Davros’
one weakness is a hunger for knowledge and he tries to turn on the charm to
extract the Doctor’s scientific secrets. Davros actually considers the Daleks a
force for good because once they have destroyed all other lifeforms there will
be no need for fighting – that’s some warped philosophy. Wonderfully we get to see
just how vulnerable Davros is, the Doctor practically killing him by a mere
flick of a switch. He’s little more than a robot after all. There’s a stunning
moment where gunfire sounds and Davros is alone in the dark in his laboratory
waiting for the Elite to find him, plotting silently. Your average villain
wouldn’t get a moment of chilling reflection like that. Just when you think
that Davros cannot sink any lower he exploits democracy to buy himself time to
get his Daleks back from their last massacre to wipe out the few scientists
that are left on the planet. Skaro is literally a sea of corpses with the
Daleks the only thing to show for the slaughter. After his psychotic attacks I
cannot believe there are people who would still stand at Davros’ side. Ignominy
is something that all power hungry dictators have to face and Davros’
punishment for his actions comes at the hands of his own creatures. Their lack
of pity, the very emotion everybody has been telling him to imbue the Daleks
with, is what brings Davros down and it has a delicious taste of irony to it.
His dying scream is the one moment where you feel for this character in over
two and a half hours, cut down as he tries to bring his creations to an end.
However, my golden nugget comes at the end of episode one.
One of the best directed cliffhangers of all time, which introduces us to this
insidious nasty and his link to the Daleks in a shivers up the spine fashion.
‘Now we can begin…’
34) The Enemy of the World ‘We’re going to put you
outside, Salamander…’
There are plenty of gems to choose from in this epic tale of
unnatural disasters and fake nuclear bunkers but my personal favourite came at
the climax when the two characters played by Troughton finally come face to
face. What’s impressive is that whilst Salamander is practically a feral creature
at this stage, desperate to get away, it is the Doctor who frightens me more.
He’s uncompromising in dishing out justice to the would-be dictator, informing
him in no uncertain terms that he will be put off the ship and left to run…but
they will catch up with him and he will pay. We’ve never seen the Doctor like
this before, practically handing out a capital punishment. Salamander brings
his fate upon himself by lunging for the TARDIS controls and his eventually
end, being dragged out into the vortex as the ship takes off and left screaming
hysterically in the void, is a spectacularly nasty way to go. It is a climactic
ending to a wonderful piece of televisual theatre, a nourishingly dramatic
climax.
33) The Green Death ‘Honestly Doctor, you never listen to a word I say!’
33) The Green Death ‘Honestly Doctor, you never listen to a word I say!’
As good as individual moments were during their run
together, you never get a sense that the Doctor and Jo were head over heels for
each other more than during her swansong where she finally decides to fly the
coop and move on with her life. Jo wants to go with Cliff more than anything in
the world and readily accepts his marriage proposal. She’s using her Uncle
again, this time to get unlimited funding for the Nut Hutch. I cannot think of
a more appropriate ending for Jo because it is one that springs naturally from
the direction her character has been taken in, it exploits her unspoken
affection for the Doctor and it is given enough consideration to not feel
forced or last minute (ala Leela). One of the few instances of a companion
falling in love that really works. The Doctor’s reaction to
Cliff proposal to Jo is really awkward, finally somebody has succeeded in turning
her away from him and capturing her heart. It looked as though King Peladon
might have been in with a shot, but I don't think wilting willow Latep was ever
in the picture. Their goodbye scene is desperately sweet, both actors clearly
holding back the tears. He’s never felt this heartbroken about somebody leaving
before so he downs his champers and leaves quietly to avoid any fuss (and the
look Jo gives the closing door is devastating, she knows how
upset he is). There is a real sense of a lonely old man losing the love of his
life, driving off into the sunset. You couldn't end every story like this but
after three seasons watching their relationship grow into something special,
this is really very touching.
32) The Mind Robber ‘We’re nowhere…it’s as simple as that.’
32) The Mind Robber ‘We’re nowhere…it’s as simple as that.’
Doctor Who is a show with a tight purse, I think we all know
that. The fact that it has managed to remain so popular for so long with so
little money being thrown at it is a miracle but that is all thanks to tireless
work of the production teams (including writers, directors, designers, etc) and
the actors that manage to turn the dialogue into money on screen. Tom Baker was
particularly adept at this and so was Patrick Troughton. The first episode of
The Mind Robber was an emergency script written to fill a gap left by the
previous tale, The Dominators, which thankfully had its length cut because it
was going nowhere fast. An episode was devised by producer Derrick Sherwin to
serve as a stopgap between the high-jinks (in reality anything but) on Dulkis
and the surreal jiggery pokery in the Land of Fiction. With zero money to spend
Sherwin had to try and devise something that the actors could sell and didn’t
cost any money. He created No-Where. The TARDIS emergency system is used to
shift the craft away from a volcanic situation and they find themselves slap
bang in the middle of Nothing. Outside the TARDIS is a white void that leads to
nowhere. Haunting, tempting images on the scanner try and lure the travellers
outside and an unearthly voice troubles the Doctor’s mind. As an example of
Patrick Troughton’s Doctor selling the severity of the moment there is no finer
sequence than the one where he looks severely troubled at their location and
tells Zoe to stay in the TARDIS no matter what. An actor we are used to
watching winding up authority figures and arsing about with monsters is
suddenly deathly serious and the situation feels more threatening than ever.
Thanks to Troughton, the TARDIS suddenly becomes somewhere unfamiliar and
terrifying as the alien presence invades the ship and his mind. No budget, and
yet somehow absolutely chilling.
31) The Massacre ‘Perhaps I should go home…’
31) The Massacre ‘Perhaps I should go home…’
The Doctor and Steven have an antagonistic relationship at
the best of times and that was probably always going to be the case with two
stubborn men travelling in the TARDIS but their relationship is sold on the
terrific chemistry between William Hartnell and Peter Purves who clearly adored
each other. As you follow their course through season three you can see how
they both soften towards each other and how they learn from each other; the
Doctor learning to ignite that fire in his belly to get his point across and
Steven learning the art of patience and observation. There is some genuine
development, which works so well because they hit some pretty bumpy rocks on
the road and learn more about one another because of them. One such bump occurs
at the climax of The Massacre where Steven is dragged away from Paris by an
insistent Doctor and is forced to leave Anne Chaplet to die in the furore of
violence that is about to erupt in the city. The Doctor is firm that he cannot
interfere with history and Steven doesn’t understand when that means letting
good people die. It’s something that will become an age old argument and it is
still doing the rounds (just as effectively, mind) come The Fires of Pompeii.
What this highlights so well is both the sharp interaction between the Doctor
and Steven and just how well they were written for throughout this incredible
year. Steven finds the Doctor’s researches so callous that he refuses to travel
with him any longer and walks out on their adventures at the next opportunity. This
leads to William Hartnell’s shining moment in the series, a soliloquy so
beautiful that it would have been a crying shame if he had fluffed it. He is
word perfect and injects so much emotion into the speech. The Doctor is
agonized by Steven’s departure and thinks back on all the others who have left
him and even ponders the idea of going home (a place we still know nothing
about at this point so there is some excitement in just a mention). ‘But I
can’t…I can’t…’
30) Planet of the Spiders ‘Please…don’t die.’
Sarah has already had a moment to pause and consider the
danger of travelling with the Doctor when she thought he was dead in The
Monster of Peladon and we get a glimpse of her future grief when he lies
unconscious outside the TARDIS on Metebelies Three. I’m so glad that the third
Doctor got such a brave exit – he was always one to walk into danger and here
he faces his fear even at the cost of his own life. He is missing for three
weeks after confronting the Great One as the cells in his body degenerate and
the TARDIS brings him home, which tellingly is Earth, UNIT Headquarters. Sarah smells
his coat to remind herself of him three weeks after he has gone to his death, suggesting
an intimacy and warmth between them and a longing for his return. Her tears at
his death make this easily the most affecting regeneration, it genuinely feels
as though the Doctor has died and his companion cannot cope with the loss. Pertwee
is astonishingly gentle and devastating in his last scene, proof of what a
superb actor he is right up to the last moment and the silent close up on his
ghostly face when he dies always reduces me to tears. He had me in rapt
attention right up to his last breath.
29) Vengeance on Varos ‘And cut it…now!’
My special moment comes midway through this, the most self
referential of stories. The Doctor has been pursued through the corridors (what
else?) of the Punishment Dome; a twisted maze of torturous alleys designed to
put your through your paces, force you to break when you face your fears and
finally kill you off in as entertaining a way as possible, the cameras watching
every exquisite detail. The Doctor is trapped inside an area where the lights
snap blindingly and the hallucinatory horror of being lost in a desert
surrounds him. Sweat beads on his brow, he starts to pant and finally collapses
in a heap, overwhelmed by the temperature. Peri is a mirage in the distance,
teasingly offering him water. In the control room the technicians are capturing
every detail of his suffering, forcing the real Peri to watch. Smashing through
the fourth wall with a wrecking ball, we are witnessing the perverted system on
this planet at work; editing the Doctor’s death so the audience of Varos can
balance precariously on the edge of their seats…just as the BBC technicians are
doing to ensure that their audience are experiencing the same apprehension.
It’s dash clever stuff. The Governor orders a close up on the Doctor’s ghostly
pallor after he has expired (as I imagine JNT would to nab some viewers from an
aggrieved Mary Whitehouse) and ends the episode with the glorious parting
riposte ‘and cut it…now!’ Blissfully self aware and yet still managing
to be very frightening.
28) Enlightenment ‘We’re on a ship…a spaceship.’
27) Robots of Death ‘Yes sir, I heard what you
said…’
This story frightened the life out of me when I first saw it
and even subsequent rewatchings give me the same chill of despair as I watch
the robots slaughter their way through the crew. It touches on both physical
and psychological horror in unusually adult ways for Doctor Who. The torchlight
picking out Chub’s corpse on the dirty floor of the scoop is pretty nasty.
Almost as chilling as Zilda’s dying confession belted out over the Bridge
intercom before she is suddenly cut short by a hand around her throat. I
remember the crippling fear I had of the scene where Leela was locked in the
room at the mercy of whichever robot would turn up to kill her – at the age of
nine that made me freeze up with fear, the powerlessness of her situation gave
me the shivers. Without airing my dirty laundry in public, Toos being trapped
in her bedroom with a menace outside brought home some real life fears I
experienced as a child. The psychological instability at the sight of the blood
on the robots hand gets me as an adult where it didn’t register when I was a
kid. Poul’s fear is locked in his head manageably because such a thing as a
psychotic robot is not possible but then his mind snaps at the sight of the
blood - it is as destabilising to watch as it is for him to experience. David
Collings aces these moments because it could have been so easy to go over the
top but his portrayal of a man that has succumbed to insanity is uncommonly
sensitive and mature for the show. Then there is the sight of the emotionless
robot on the operating table with its hands twitching anxiously as a giant
needle is slipped into the workings of its brain – this is some seriously
distressing imagery. What about the fear of somebody watching you when you are
at your most helpless, asleep as SV7 does to Toos here? The Hinchcliffe era
gets near to the knuckle again with graphic POV shots of the robot strangling
Toos to death, with her clawing desperately at him. Given that a probe is the
equivalent of a large needle it is very disturbing to see them being stabbed
into the robots heads.
However the scene that got to me the most was Chub’s sudden
realisation that he is trapped at the mercy of a robot is chilling enough but
what really gives me the shivers is the way the robot so dispassionately says ‘yes
sir, I heard what you said’ – it's mocking him and is said without a shred
of emotion. Brrr… Something clicked in my head, something that had never
occurred to me before but has stayed with me ever since. The fact that some
people must know they are going to die and barely have any time to get their
heads around that fact before they are screaming. It haunted me then and it
still haunts me now.
26) The Ultimate Foe ‘They’re still in the nursery
compared to us!’
Colin Baker is an interesting one to discuss. He’s had
something of a rough ride when it comes to his Doctor Who career. Landing the
title role at a time when the producer and script editor are both starting to
get a little tired of their roles in the series, when the fans are exhausted of
the style over substance nature of the show in the eighties and being given
what is arguably the weakest of opening stories for any Doctor – the chips were
stacked against him from the start. Bound up in a coat that does most of the
acting for him, written as a voluminous thesaurus and saddled with a whiny
companion…did he ever have a chance? Well yes, it would appear so because Colin
has plenty of admirers out there. Including me. In fact he is my favourite
Doctor. Not because of all the problems listed here but because I think he is a
genuinely good actor who managed to (for the most part) overcome these
obstacles and make the most of his time in the show. What is even more
impressive is how he embraced a miserly reputation and remained loyal to the
show, even after he was sacked and chose to take part in Big Finish when they
first burst onto the scene and as result became the most popular of Doctors
within that medium. The sixth Doctor on audio is an entirely different prospect
to the sixth Doctor on television but I will save discussion of that for my
‘top 50 Big Finish moments’ which is coming after this list has been complete.
At his best on television, Colin brought a great deal of gravity and sensitivity to the part. Plenty of pantomime too, but let’s skip that for now. Note his wistful musings on the end of the universe in The Two Doctors. Or his quiet acceptance that Peri has been murdered by Daleks in Revelation. His soliloquy in The Mysterious Planet when trying to comfort her over the near destruction of her home planet is a marvellous piece of acting, as is his defence of life to Drathro in the same story’s conclusion. However, my favourite ‘acting’ moment for Colin comes in his swansong, The Ultimate Foe. His fury at the Time Lords for sacrificing the Earth to protect their secrets is truly explosive – not even Troughton was this furious when he faced the judgement of his people in The War Games. Of all the Doctor’s incarnations I am so glad it was the least appreciated and most theatrical that got the chance to really stick it to the Time Lords. Even if this wasn’t supposed to be the sixth Doctor’s finale it is wonderful to see him going out with such great material that exposes Baker’s passion for the character. He is undoubtedly one of the main strengths of the Trial season and my number one reason for watching. ‘In all my travellings throughout the universe I have battled against evil. Against power mad conspirators! I should have stayed here! The oldest civilisation; decadent, degenerate and rotten to the core! Power mad conspirators? Daleks, Sontarans, Cybermen…they’re still in the nursery compared to us! Ten million years of absolute power! That’s what it takes to be really corrupt!’
25) The Crusade ‘Force me to it and I’ll turn the
world we know into your enemy!’
‘How would you have me go to Saphadin? Bathed in oriental
perfumes I suppose? Suppliant, tender and affectionate? Soft eyed and
trembling? Eager with a thousand words of compliment and love?’ ‘Well if it’s a
meeting you want!’ ‘I do not want! I will not have it!’ ‘I beg you Joanna!’
‘No’ ‘I entreat you!’ ‘NO!’ ‘Very well! We are the King, We command you!’ ‘You
cannot command this of me’ ‘Cannot!’ ‘No.’ ‘I am the King, name any one
man with greater authority than I?’ In Rome…His Holiness the Pope will not
allow this marriage of mine to that INFIDEL!’ ‘You defy me with the
Pope!’ ‘No you defy the world with you politics! The reasons you are here to
fight these dogs, defeat them, marry me to them and you make a pact with the
devil…force me to it and I’ll turn the world we know into your enemy!’
This sequence had to be quoted in full because it is so
beautifully scripted and remains one of the most impressive acting set pieces
in Doctor Who’s entire run despite taking placing in year 2 of 50. Episode
three of The Crusade has some very powerful theatrical scenes including the
Doctor confronting Leicester and Richard and Joanna in a furious battle of
words. Within this episode (and how lucky were we that this was the only
episode that survived at one point since usually the weakest installments
of stories are saved from the chop - The Enemy of the World, The Space Pirates)
there features some of the most extraordinary writing and performances we will
ever see in the series with Jean Marsh in particular switching from courtly
Princess to blazing eyed political opponent with absolute conviction. For once
Hartnell has to stand in the background and wait whilst two even better actors
slug it out. He can only slope on as the argument comes to a close and rather
bashfully make his apologies.
24) Ghost Light ‘We all have a universe of our own
terrors to face…’
Another one of my favourites aspects of Doctor Who is
strength through adversity. When the show is undergoing one of it’s less
enjoyed periods by the public it often manages to pull something so spectacular
out of the bag that it seems to be defying popular opinion by sticking a
massive middle finger in the face of it’s critics. Ratings bombed in season six
and it climaxed with one of the greatest Doctor Who adventures of all time, The
War Games. People were undecided on Colin Baker’s Doctor and yet his second
season produced Vengeance on Varos and Revelation of the Daleks, two of the
strongest eighties stories. Series 7b was going down the shitter in the UK and
out popped The Name of the Doctor and suddenly everybody was declaring the show
the greatest thing once again. I make so secret of the fact that I find the
McCoy era one of the weakest and most inconsistent of the shows entire run.
There is some good stuff in there, but you have to wade through some real dreck
to get there. Paradise Towers, Dragonfire, The Happiness Patrol, Silver Nemesis
and Battlefield are not the sort of material that emerge from a show at the top
of its game. Not only that but I also find Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred’s
performances alarmingly inconsistent and the characterisation of the Doctor and
Ace during this period. McCoy has more issues than Aldred acting wise (he
simply cannot get the hang of extreme emotion, which is something of a problem
when his Doctor has a penchant for shouting) but Ace has more issues as a
character than the seventh Doctor (she can go from loud and proud immature teen
to sophisticated, nuanced adult at an distressing rate, sometimes within the
same story).
Which is why I love this golden moment because it is the
perfect example of success through adversity and a real middle finger in the
face to me personally because my selected scene features McCoy and Aldred
giving precise and nuanced performances and it is written by Marc Platt with
pitch perfect characterisation. The scenes between McCoy and Aldred after she
realises that the Doctor has brought her to Perivale to face her fears are the
best acted moments either of them ever gave to Doctor Who. Ace can barely
contained her rage but manages to speak with a restrained fury and the Doctor is
purring with sympathy as he shows new dimensions to his character. Together
they discuss something that is worth discussing, facing your fears and the
horrors of racism. Ace even words something with cod-eighties embarrassment to
keep it real (‘white kids fire bombed it…’). It’s totally unlike
anything that has come before and refreshingly takes both characters to new
depths. The way he purrs ‘the nature of the horror that you sense here…’ is so
menacing you might think that the Doctor is the villain for a second. Had they
been written and acted with this much restraint more regularly I genuinely
think that the powers that be might have taken another look at this show and
considered whether it was worth saving instead of simply swinging the axe
thoughtlessly. ‘I can’t stand burnt toast. I loathe bus stations. Terrible
places. Full of lost luggage and lost souls. And then there’s unrequited love.
And tyranny. And cruelty. We all have a universe of our own terrors to face’
– this is the 1989 version of the ‘evils must be fought’ Troughton speech in
The Moonbase with much more poetry.
23) The Pirate Planet ‘Calufrax buried inside Zanak,
the Pirate Planet, and having the goodness sucked out of it.’
You might be forgiven for thinking that a show in it’s
sixteenth year might be coasting, imagination wise. That the well might have
run dry, they might stick to a formula that works and drift through middle age
without any ambition. Other shows maybe, but Doctor Who was firing on
all imaginative cylinders in the heart of the Graeme Williams era and producing
stories with some of the brightest, most ambitious and budget stretching
concepts the show had ever dared to explore.
The Pirate Planet is Douglas Adams’ debut Doctor Who script
and it is spilling with imagination, almost too much to be contained within
four episodes of a science fiction adventure serial. I love the idea of the
Pirate Captain with half of his body made up of spare parts after his ship
crashed (including a giant crushing metal arm) and whoever decided to stick the
mechanical parrot on his shoulder deserves congratulations and not just because
it probably pissed Tom Baker right off (who was still waiting for his shoulder
hugging cabbage to feature). The script is patient enough to show us the effect
of the TARDIS and the Zanak attempt to materialise on Calufrax at the same time
two episode before we even learn the planet can consume other worlds. Adams
treats his audience with intelligence and trusts that they can remember
details. The notion that makes it onto this impressive roll call of Doctor Who
moments is the one at the heart of this adventure and one which must have made
Graeme Williams have nightmares at the thought of executing it. The lights in
the sky, the engines, the gemstones – there has been a wealth of hints but upon
first viewing I don’t think anybody could have imagined the scale of the
operation with Zanak claiming entire worlds. Zanak wraps itself around other,
smaller worlds, smothers it, crushes it and mines all the mineral wealth out of
it. A literal pirate planet. It’s an astonishing notion, and one that is
brought home brilliantly during a gob-smacking sequence that sees the Doctor, Romana
and Kimus standing on the surface of a dead world that is about to have the
life sucked out of it. This is why I love the Williams era so much, it was
never afraid to take risks and occasionally it would win so spectacularly you
are reminded why it is the greatest show of all time. All down to the
imagination.
And to top it all of the second segment to the Key to Time
is an entire planet. That man Adams is a genius.
22) Carnival of Monsters ‘You mean we’re in a sort
of a peep show?’
There are many contributors to Doctor Who that have made it
the show that it is and who have been responsible for it’s enduring legacy. If
you had to choose one contributor that would change the landscape of the series
entirely if they were removed, who would it be? My personal choose is Robert
Holmes. Without him there would be no a very different show; one with a very
different emphasis on the Master, Sarah Jane Smith, Gallifrey, Romana, comedy,
the fifth and sixth Doctor’s era…he pretty much redefined where Doctor Who can
go in terms of comedy, horror and character drama. Without him there would be
no Spearhead from Space, Carnival of Monsters, The Ark in Space, Genesis of the
Daleks, Pyramids of Mars, The Deadly Assassin, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The
Sun Makers, The Ribos Operation, Caves of Androzani, The Two Doctors…and the
entirety of the Hinchcliffe era would be a different beast altogether. His
contribution to Doctor Who is unmistakable and I’m willing to bet at least one
of his stories turns up on your top ten list, probably more.
Carnival of Monsters might not be Robert Holmes best story
(although it comes pretty close) but it does get across everything that he was
trying to do with the series in a microcosm. I couldn’t point at another story
that has all the ingredients that he brought to the party in one package. It is
hilarious, clever, satirical, imaginative, frightening, exciting and bursting
with character and colour. Episode one throws a number of mysteries at the
viewer, giving them a puzzle to unravel (involving an extinct monster, alien
metal in the 1920s, a lost ship and a time loop - I know some Doctor Who's that
fail to generate half that many intriguing ideas and with Carnival of Monsters
this is just the tip of the iceberg) and the fun comes in the fact that the
answers are so convivial and much bigger and brasher than I was prepared to guess.
I would never imagine Doctor Who attempting to pull off something as bold and
as expensive as the Miniscope with its multitude of environments in one
battered machine. The sequence where Jo Grant has the mind-blowing idea
explained to her by the Doctor is one of my favourite reveals in the entirety
of the show because for once it isn’t packaged as a surprise. Because we have
already seen the evidence of what the Doctor is talking about we have already
overcome the shock of the enormity of the concept and can just go along with
the fun and imagination behind the concept. It’s insanely confident, awe
inspiring in it’s vision and very, very Doctor Who. Very, very Robert Holmes
Doctor Who. ‘Human beings are slightly more intelligent than whelks!’
indeed.
21) Inferno ‘Listen to that! That’s the sound of
this planet screaming out it’s rage!’
Inferno is a story that I don’t put myself through too often
for the simple fact that I find the events that take place in it far too
distressing and dramatic to handle on a regular basis. It is one the crowning
achievements in the shows canon, a slice of scientific horror that genuinely
offers thrills and spills and takes the series to some dark places as a result.
It is exceptional and deserves as much credit as it can get. My magic moment
comes towards the end of episode six, one of the most intense experience you
can have with Doctor Who. The story has been piling on the tension throughout
its first five episodes with very little relief (a rather sweet love story and
some moments of barracks humour is all) and it finally explodes in the sixth
episode as the Doctor and chums realise that the alternative Earth is well and
truly doomed with no hope of any of them surviving. How everybody copes with
that realisation is where the drama lies and my moment shows the Doctor trying
to point out that the planet has a few things to say about the state of affairs
too. Probably the greatest distinction between the way Patrick Troughton and
Jon Pertwee played the roles because Troughton could never have delivered this
line with the severity and gravitas that it needed to drive the point home that
they are all going to die horribly in about five minutes. It is a stunning
moment of dramatic reflection in a story that redefines how far Doctor Who can
go in terms of conceptual horror and character drama.
‘One day I will come back, yes, I will come back. Until
then there must be regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your
beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.’
20) The Dalek Invasion of Earth ‘Goodbye Susan.
Goodbye, My dear…’
I have never been a fan of Carole Ann Ford’s Susan and
genuinely think she did the show the world of good when she left and they
introduced the bubblier and perkier and generally more amiable Vicki
courtesy of Maureen O’Brien. My biggest complaints echo Ford’s ironically, that
Susan was barely developed beyond her initial story, that she lacked dignity by
continually being treated as a screaming wailing child and that the
relationship between Susan and the Doctor failed to engage (especially compared
to his far more complex friendships with Ian and Barbara). Generally I think
the producers got the show just about pitch perfect in season one and had more
trouble with the second year but with regards to the companion swap they were
bang on the nail. Oddly enough though she really bucks her ideas up in her last
story and gets some fine moments (it feels as though the writers can start
taking some risks with her and giving her some real autonomy now she is
leaving) and I especially like the exchange ‘What do you do?’ ‘I eat’
and when she tells Jenny to shut up when she is off on one of her negative
rants. Of course the focus of this golden moment is all about her romance with
David and how the Doctor accepts that she has outgrown his guardianship. Susan
admits she is always moving on and that she wants David to join them and escape
this horror and usually when a companion starts talking about their situation
like that they aren't long for the chop (Tegan and Peri did the same thing).
David makes her realise that nothing is made better by continually running
away. Susan has never had a real identity (nope) or anywhere that feels like
home. It's not exactly subtle foreshadowing, is it? One day she will stop
travelling. Watch the scene where the Doctor chastises her for buying into
David’s opinion above his and then when he comes along he concocts a plan along
similar lines to please Susan - it is at moments like this when you can really
buy into their affection for each other. The little cuddle she gives him as a
reward is very sweet. The idea of rebuilding a planet from scratch really
appeals to her and to be fair it would one heck of a challenge. Susan and David
make for a convincing couple because they are both as wet as each other but
even I couldn't fail to admit that their scenes together work a charm for the
most part. They play about, hold hands and share a kiss in some very tender
scenes. The way Doctor Who was made in the sixties means we were able to follow
this romance over a month and half so you could hardly accuse them of rushing
things.
What is so poignant is how much she wants to leave and be
with David she cannot make the choice to abandon the Doctor. She cannot choose
between the two of them. David is offering her a place, a time and an identity.
The closing scenes of Dalek Invasion are disconsolate in a way the show
wouldn’t try to be too often and Hartnell gives these scenes a real feeling of
aching sadness. It breaks my heart to see him awkwardly handling Susan knowing
that he is about to force her out of his life. Making her leave and become her
own woman crushes his heart and thus is one of the most wonderful (and painful)
gestures the Doctor has ever made. He admits to her that he knows she has been
taking care of him and that one day he will come back for her. It is devastatingly good
drama. Even when Susan accepts her fate she is still overwhelmed that she will
never see him again. It is wonderful to see this relationship end on such an
emotional high.
19) The Ribos Operation ‘You believe it too?’
Two school teachers worried about their student and discuss
it after school. A man tells the story of the abduction of his wife and
daughter and is concerned her daughter will fall into the hands of El Akir. A
young lady left at the mercy of The Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Eve, gets
close to a rugged space pilot. A man stationed at the South Pole gets excited
at the thought of a pretty woman visiting. A chat between a 450 year old Time
Lord and a Victorian orphan in the Cyber Tombs on Telos. Casual flirting
between a photographer and a UNIT soldier. A quiet moment of disappointment
between scientists Lennox and Liz Shaw. ‘Fancy a pint, Brigadier?’ ‘The
Daisiest daisy…’ A 1920s flapper and a sailor discuss Bombay. A soldier
ponders wistfully on a quieter, conflict free world with a journalist. Said
same journalist gives her heart to a giant robot. ‘God Lord! He never paid
me!’ ‘Perhaps it isn’t the heavens that move as we think, perhaps it’s
we who move…’ ‘’Ere! That baint the way to make a fruitcake!’ ‘Doctor,
may I ask you a person question? Are you from Outer Space?’ Two Time Lords
discuss the beauty of the scenery as they punt down the Cam. An alien orphan
ponders the destruction of her home as the universe is eaten away on a screen.
An Australian Air Hostess stares wistfully in a mirror and ponders the invasion
of her mind that has recently taken place. A retired Brigadier angrily mocks
the suggestion that he might have had a breakdown. ‘Sounds an evil brew,
don’t it?’ A Time Lord muses over the end of everything poetically. ‘Planets
come and go, stars perish…’ A young lady cries in a laundry room at the
loss of her loves heart to another. Two old men ponder consequences over a
sugar bowl. A young cockney girl considers loses herself to her wild side.
Doctor Who isn’t just about grandiose villains and military
organizations, it has space for the little people too and is whilst it verges
on the side of operatic more often than not there is still time for intimate,
beautiful moments like this. And this is just one moment per season I have
chosen, if you dig there are several examples in every story. My favourite
comes quite unexpectedly in a Robert Holmes script that seems to be a rather
frivolous (if ridiculously entertaining) exercise in heist storytelling. On the
primitive planet of Ribos is a man called Binro who has been jeered at an
derided his entire life for believing that the twinkling little lights in the
sky are not ice crystal but other suns, with the possibility of other worlds.
He has been forced into exile for his beliefs and labelled a heretic, forced to
live his life in squalor. Along comes an intergalactic conman called Unstoffe
who listens to his tale and gives him the greatest gift of all. There are other
worlds out there. He comes from one of them himself. Delicately played and
expertly scripted, there are no words to describe how touching it is when Binro
sobs quietly and contentedly to learn that he was right to stick to his
beliefs. It adds a great deal of emotional substance to a frolicsome story, as
do all the moments above.
18) Tomb of the Cybermen ‘Look at the honeycomb!’
Doctor Who is the past master at the monster reveal set
piece. Everything from the Daleks emerging from water, sand, fibreglass and
even invisibility to a Zygon creeping up on Sarah whilst she is on the phone to
the Doctor, these are the moments where this show often scores its most
exciting moments. Tomb of the Cybermen goes one better than that by being not
content with one reveal of the metal meanies but two. The end of episode one is
one of my favourites; the hideous smoking corpse falling to the ground and the
cut to the pulsating Cyberman face fading away into the credits like a grinning
skull – what a cracking cliffhanger. I love the slow fade into the credits that
some of the sixties cliffhangers deployed, if they can fix on a chilling image
like this it is a very effective way to hold the audience on the edge of their
seats for as long as possible. However it manages to go one better than that
with the build up to the second cliffhanger. We have established that there is
a Cyberman threat on Telos and that something nasty is lurking beneath the
ground. I don’t think the audience was quite prepared for the sight that
awaited them, though.
The Tomb model is terrific but what impressed me was the
full size set that manages to match its scale and opulence. It's something they
couldn't achieve in the eighties but they mange to suggest a sense of majesty
with the tomb design, a real sense that this is a stronghold of many thousands
of Cybermen. There is something very disturbing about the embryonic Cybermen
coming to life, its one of Doctor Who’s best ever set pieces because it is
visually exciting and scary at the same time and it promises
more shocks to come. The Cybermen stalk towards the camera when they wake as if
to stare at the kids who are watching directly and really give them nightmares.
Once we're finished with this lot we're coming after you kiddos. It
doesn’t get much better than this.
17) Survival ‘There are worlds out there where the
sky is burning…’
Some moments are memorable simply because of where they are
placed. Would The Twin Dilemma get as much stick if it wasn’t the first story
for the sixth Doctor and was nestled instead somewhere in his first full
season? Would people think as much of The War Games if it didn’t have the final
two episodes that fundamentally changed the series so dramatically? What makes
Sarah’s grief at the end of Planet of the Spiders so much more attention
grabbing and effective as the similar outpouring of emotion in episode six of
Monster of Peladon when she also thought he was dead? The seventh Doctor’s era
was always going to be a turbulent one. He had a little known and inconsistent
lead actor in the part, it was unloved by the channel that spawned it and was
placed in an unenviable slot against one of the most popular television shows
of the time and its creative team was willing to take major risks and so
potential reputation destroying stories such as Delta and the Bannermen and The
Happiness Patrol were produced. And yet somehow, from all of this controversy
some spellbinding television was created. Stories such as Remembrance of the Daleks,
The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Ghost Light and Curse of Fenric can hold their
heads high amongst the classic from various other eras. Survival is an odd
story for sure, one that confirms the beliefs of those who feel that Doctor Who
might have had its day and need a rest (the dreadful Cheetah costumes, McCoy’s
hysterics, some dodgy guest performances) and those who thought it was forging
on with some fresh new storytelling (the rough council estate edge, the
stunning musical score, the most vicious appearance of the Master). The end of
this story is one of those moments that has achieved notoriety because it
happened to be the moment when the show was paused for many, many years and so
should technically be seen as the point where Doctor Who jumped the shark.
Instead it is a celebrated sequence because it offers hope for a future return,
because it is extremely well scripted by Andrew Cartmel and because it comes at
the end of a scene that shows the McCoy/Aldred pairing at its height. It is
such a tantalizing moment that it suggests that some amazing is coming for this
pair just around the corner. It is a crying shame that we never got to see it.
It is Doctor Who’s ultimate walking off into the sunset
moment.
16) The Talons of Weng-Chiang ‘England’s peerless premier Professor of
pathology!’
Doc Holliday & Katie. The Second Doctor & Jamie.
Vorg & Shirna. Garron & Unstoffe. Morgus & Krau Timmin. Kara &
Vogel. Glitz & Dibber. Sil & Kiv. Mel & Ace. Doctor Who has
exploited the double act for all it is worth, whether it be comically,
dramatically or simply for the entertainment of seeing two culturally different
characters come together and clash. The greatest example of this during the
shows classic run is to be found slap bang in the middle during possibly the
greatest Doctor Who story of all time. Jago & Litefoot made such an impact
on the show that people have been clamouring for a spin off series for the two
characters ever since and it has taken the efforts of Big Finish to make this
finally happen and such is the quality of their relationship people are still
crying out for more. Thanks to the scripting efforts of Robert Holmes and the
exquisite performances of Trevor Baxter and Christopher Benjamin, Jago &
Litefoot are a duo that once seen are never forgotten. What is strange is that
they exist independently of each other for much of Talons and only come
together in the final two episodes. The delirious entertainment that is wrung
from such a union was worth the wait though and finishes the three hour story
on a real high (not a compliment you could make about all six part stories).
Jago is a boisterous, verbose, arrogant and yet cowardly theatre owner with a
massive heart and virtuous morals. Litefoot is an upper class, precise,
mannered, kindly old mortician who only sees the best in people. Bring them
together and you have pure magic on screen. I would suggest checking out their
audio series if you haven’t done so already, it is as wonderful as you would
imagine it to be.
15) Remembrance of the Daleks ‘No hope, no
rescue…’
‘This is the Doctor. President Elect of the High Council
of Time Lords. Keeping of the Legacy of Rassilon. Defender of the Laws of Time.
Protector of Gallifrey…’ What a difference a year makes! I’ve always been
on the fence about Andrew Carmel’s approach to the Doctor because whilst I like
the way that he tries to shroud him in mystery (recalling the First Doctor) I’m
not sure that the hints and whispers about terrible doings in his past and
seeing him smugly committing genocide is perhaps the best way to go about it.
Not only that but I still to this day think that McCoy was never better than
during his goofy first season, deliriously silly and funny and playing with the
part as the light entertainer that McCoy naturally is. In Delta and the
Bannermen he is simply a delight to be around. Although during Remembrance he
is generally fine (more than that actually, he seems to positively revel in
this change of direction) there were times over the next two years where McCoy
would look extremely uncomfortable trying to bring gravity to the role and
failing because that isn’t where his talents lie. Battlefield, The Curse of
Fenric and Survival all suffer in this regard and see him trying act full of
rage and failing to convince. On the other hand it is clear that things
couldn’t stay the way they were going without DWAS all abandoning their anoraks
at the lingering murder of their favourite show and at this stage it looks as
if both McCoy and Cartmel are totally committed to bringing the show up to date
and reinvigorating the character. This is even more of a jarring leap than
Revelation of the Daleks was to The Mysterious Planet when the sixth Doctor had
suddenly turned charming and cuddly. Between seasons the Doctor has stopped
acting like he is in a pantomime every week (I mean it as a genuine compliment
when I say that I bet McCoy is awesome in pantomime) and suddenly behaves as
though the universe is much darker place. What happened to bring about this
change is a mystery to me to this day (and it surprises me that BBC books
haven’t tried to explain why with their continuity plugging PDA range). I don’t
want to sound as though I am being too harsh at the changes that have been made
because I genuinely think that Remembrance of the Daleks gets it just about
right. I’m just not entirely sold on the changes as a whole over the next two
years. What’s definitely true is that Ace fits his new character like a glove
(it’s a far more effectively pairing than McCoy and Langford) and their chemistry
is magnificent.
There are so many moments that you could choose in
Remembrance and for a while I was committed to selecting the night time café
scene simply because it is so simple and beautifully executed. However I wanted
to run with the idea of the dark Doctor, so next I thought I would choose the
moment when McCoy’s Doctor sold out and destroyed an entire planet in his
crusade against the Daleks (another massive step on the road to the Time War).
However what impressed me even more than these two scenes (and others,
Remembrance is packed full of goodies) was the astonishing moment at the end of
the Doctor where the Doctor callously talks the last remaining Dalek on the
Earth into committing suicide because he is all on his own now with no chance of
rescue. It is coldly scripted and delivered perfectly by McCoy who I always
thought was more effective at dark menace than hysteria. The Doctor has wiped
out the Daleks’ home planet and now he enjoys torturing it’s sole survivor.
What has happened to him?
28 comments:
Looking forward to seeing "Battlefield" appear on this list ;) ;)
I think you know you'll be a long time waiting ;-) But I hope there are a few surprising choices... :-)
…oh and the Brig gets to punch the Master. Brilliant.
The Daemons is a wonderful serial and the ‘Fancy a dance, Brigadier?’ is a lovely end to a bonkers, endlessly quotable story.
McGann was/is excellent and those final moments of the film are great.
Looking forward to the rest.
Hurrah! I’m so looking forward to reading these!
I compiled my own Fifty last November and have been writing up one a week on my blog… Except that I’m several months behind. So good, luck, and I’m sure that with your fabulous rate you’ll soon overtake me. I’m fascinated to see what you come up with (no overlap in your four so far, but no doubt there will be).
I suspect some people will say it’s a shame you don’t integrate the new series with it, and include the Big Finishes, and the books, because you’re the leading reviewer of the wider Whoniverse… But having spent a couple of weeks last year working out my own list, I can understand exactly why you narrowed down your criteria. I’d wanted to include novels, comics, audio and all, but realised that it would take months merely to compile a super-long shortlist which would be frustratingly incomplete anyway. So I just stuck to the TV series, because it was the only way not to go mad and give up.
And your little parenthesis of who the Time Lords are made me splutter.
Alex, you are fine too kind about my scribbles, thank you. I never even thought about the novels and Big Finish's and now I am not sure why! You may have started something here...
Write your TV ones first. I'd love to read your extra fifties, but it might tax even your diligence to start them now. November 24th should do ;)
Just realised I've not done any of my own Fifties in September. Whoops. Maybe next month - only 34 more to go, at one a week, counts on fingers, that'll be OK for the end of November...?
How long did it take you to work out your list? My shortlist was about 300 scenes long to start with - I couldn't bear to leave them all out. I've cheated and snuck lots of them in as extras and quotes anyway. These were just my runners-up!
I'm already on it! :-0
If I'm honest my shortlist was really easy and took me about half an hour to compile! I simply pulled up the Wikipedia list of Doctor Who stories and went through each one from memory trying to think of a moment that either stood out on its own merits or encapsulated everything that I love about that period of the show. It was quite easy to choose. The hard part was trying to put them in any kind of order. I mulled over them for about ten minutes and couldn't choose one over the other so I thought sod this, I wont bother. I cut out all the stories into stripes, put them in a box and get my hubby to pull one out at random. Not the most scientific of systems but it works for me :-)
Fantastic! I love the random-boxing.
I'm clearly massively much more uptight, and spent a couple of weeks agonizing over which to go, which order, one from each year, etc... Next time I'll put them in a hat and let my Richard draw.
Anyway, looking forward to reading them all. It's so much easier than writing my own!
This is the best DOCTOR WHO blog I've come across and I'm loving the TOP 50!
Keep 'em comin'!!! :)
Thank you, Raiser! What a lovely thing to say :-)
Lovin' your Top 50 Joe - looking forward to the BF version as well. This is a great Blog and one I return to time and time again - long may it reign supreme!
Lovely list, but... what about the top 15 moments?
Unfortunately as number 15 drew close the 50th anniversary hit and then I started a new job which took up a great of my time...I really do want to finish this list as I had great fun putting it together! Thanks for the prompt! :-)
Looking forward to see your top 15, man. Gonna be great!
I might have had 'something in my eye' when I read your gorgeous appraisal of Colin Baker there.
He's my favourite too.
Come on, where's the next bunch?
GET ON WITH IT!
OK, its been over a year. Why can't we see the last batch? Why keep us waiting?
Seriously, you've not done the 14 favorite DW moments. What the heck?
Please do them.
Let's not forget that this is a free blog where I don't ask for a penny despite writing reviews for years and years. I'll complete this list when I am ready and not before. Something called real life gets in the way of these things sometimes. You'll have to be patient.
Great list, I've really enjoyed reading it!
And don't listen to those fools, people can be so rude when posting anonymously..
This list is gorgeous
3 1/2 years on and still unfinished? NOOOOOO!!!!!!
Seriously, though, several of my fav moments in this, including the Ghost Light moment and "Binro was Right" Ribos Operation.
And Day of the Daleks - "Styles didn’t cause that explosion to start the wars! You did it yourselves!" - one of Bob Holmes and Terrance Dicks' advice to scriptwriters (and themselves) was to not worry about writing for a particular Doctor. Just write for The Doctor, let the actor and the director do the rest. The convention circuit has often put this to the test as they've had various Doctor actors read lines from recent series that were written for their counterparts, such as the Stonehenge speech or the Zygon/DarkArchive WAR speech.
This is one of THOSE lines. No matter which Doctor I try to "think" in, in terms of voice and mannerism and inflection, this line works. Every time. Every Doctor. The line is THE DOCTOR, and it is enough.
I actually made a playlist on youtube of my favorite Doctor Who moments, inspired by your list, Joe. Of course, I was somewhat limited by what clips were available on youtube, but still, I was quite pleased with it.
Wow! What a great read and trip down memory lane. Thanks for posting. Caves of Androzani and Warriors Gate were among my favorites, and Ghost Light gets my vote as one of the most underrated episodes ever.
I don't know, call me an old fogey and maybe it's a generational thing, but I felt compelled to say that although I thought the Doctor Who reboot (Eccleston thru Whittaker) was at times very good and a few episodes maybe even great, for me overall it just doesn't have the charm and magic of the original series. For better and worse I think both series were very much a product of their times. Interesting how I recall someone saying the same thing about old vs. newer Star Trek and Star Wars.
Hi could you list what your top 15 is please? I’m so curious. I’m a big fan of Colin Baker like you so I’d love to see if Revelation and Two Doctors are in the there.
I have just finished a classic series marathon. These are my bests.
Best Doctor
1 T Baker
2 Troughton
3 Pertwee
4 Hartnell
5 C Baker
6 Davison
7 McCoy
Top stories for each Doctor
Daleks Masterplan
The Invasion
Inferno
Pyramids of Mars
Caves of Androzani
Revelation of the Daleks
Ghost Light
Worst of each
Keys of Marinus
Space Pirates
The Mutants
Underworld
Warriors of the Deep
Twin Dilemma
Time and the Rani
Top 3 ever
1. Pyramids of Mars
2. Talons of Weng Chiang
3. Genesis of the Daleks
Worst 3
1. Time and the Rani
2. Delta and the Bannermen
3. Warriors of the Deep
has the rest of the list been posted anywhere?
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