Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Top 5 Series from the Sylvester McCoy Years

DoctorWho7-silhouetteAfter the dust settled from all the backroom infighting, Doctor Who survived for another season. The only casualty being Colin Baker was out and Sylvester McCoy was in as the Seventh Doctor.

McCoy was older, and reminds me more of a cross between the quirkiness of Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor, the flamboyance of Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor, and the darker moods of Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor.

There certainly was a dark undertone to the Doctor in most of the scripts during the McCoy era. This might be a byproduct of using so many writers who had never written for Doctor Who before. Additionally, there was a new Script Editor.

It’s a shame that the show ended when it did. Special Effects were pretty minimal at best, and looked pretty bad compared to other shows of its time; Star Wars being a perfect example. A large part was due to the shoe-string budget producers were stuck with.

Something changed with Season 26 because things didn’t look as dated. A perfect example were when the Daleks shot people. I had to double check whether I was watching a special DVD with new effects, or not. They looked crisp.

* * *

1 – REMEMBRANCE OF THE DALEKS - The best Dalek themed series in quite some time. The pace kept me interested pretty much from beginning to end. Not nearly the campiness in some of the earlier McCoy series. Neat Easter eggs if you know much of the series history and pay attention to it.

2 – BATTLEFIELD - King Arthur in present day! Been done before in TV. But, the twist being they’re aliens. Worked very well to keep me entertained. Just the right length for what they had. When Ace pulled the sword I wondered where they were going with it.

3 – TIME AND THE RANI - So much better than the very first “Rani” program. According to the DVD extras, the authors wrote this series for Colin Baker, which makes me wonder what had to be cut to make room for the regeneration skit. The wardrobe part of the regeneration seemed dumb. With Tom Baker it worked. With Sylvester McCoy it seemed just like a copy of the first.

4 – PARADISE TOWERS - Too much campiness with this one. The cleaners are dressed in uniforms that resemble Nazis, and the head guy looked like he had a Hitler mustache in Episode 1, which becomes a full mustache by the end of the series. Plot isn’t too bad. Wonder if New Who’s “Beast Below” drew upon this for inspiration. Sure wouldn’t mind seeing having the Doctor visit this place again to see how things changes, especially with the 13th Doctor being a female now. A bit of a Road Warrior vibe to it.

5 – SURVIVAL - Pretty simple mystery plot, morphing into a story of survival (hence the title). Sure wish we’d visited the cheetah people on a different circumstance. I think they’d be kind of cool to get to know, especially if it had been the Fourth Doctor. The Master skates through yet again. Wish they’d come up with a way to leave him dead. An OK way for the series to go out (though they might not have known about it at that time). Not great. But, not horrendously bad either.

6 - Delta and the Bannerman
7 - The Happiness Patrol
8 - The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
9 - Silver Nemesis
10 - Dragonfire
11 - The Curse of Fenric
12 - Ghost Light

* * *

And so this ends my end-to-end run through of all episodes of Classic Doctor Who. It took three months, and that was pretty much most of what I actually watched.

There were many enjoyable episodes. But, it was clear that the longer the show ran, the longer in the tooth it started becoming. I suppose that’s to be expected. How many different plot lines could there actually be? Additionally, the BBC saddled them with a meager budget, which didn’t match pace with other science fiction shows of the time.

The final series DVD, Survival, briefly mentioned some plans for Season 27, which were intriguing. (Ace going off to Gallifrey to be trained as a Time Lord). But, had the show continued, it’s quite possible it might have died a few more episodes down the line, and prevented the relaunch of the series with Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor.

* * *

DoctorWho8-silhouetteI’d be remiss if I didn’t mention 1996’s The Doctor Who Movie. But, I have issues with it, and am glad it never made it to series form.

After a few attempts to entice the BBC into restarting the series, the American Fox Broadcasting Network approached them about possibly restarting the series for American television. This idea was rolled back to a 90 minute movie which would serve as a pilot to judge interest.

So much was changed when compared to the original series. Kudos to them for bringing back Sylvester McCoy for a regeneration sequence. But, it had such a violent ending to the Seventh Doctor, albeit typical of American television.

We were introduced to Paul McGann, as the Eighth Doctor. His portrayal, for the most part, made me think of past Doctors, and I see myself easily getting used to him. But, I wish they hadn’t introduced the whole love interest aspect (two things American television is good for, sex and violence). Judging from the ending, Had the movie spawned an American television series, he would have apparently had a difference companion, which means they wasted the time sexualizing a character who had been pretty asexual for over 30 years.

Taking nothing away from Eccleston, I really wish McGann had had the opportunity to return to his role when the BBC restarted the series. He would have still been young enough. At the very least, I would have liked to have seen a regeneration sequence, though I can imagine Russell T. Davies decided that it would have confused most viewers who had never seen Classic Who.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around The Master being some kind of snake creature that takes over bodies, more like the Mara in Kinda and Snakedance, than another Time Lord. Eric Roberts played the human character well. But, it was strange.

the movie felt too American, if that makes any sense. There was a flavor to Classic Who, which was British, and it goes beyond the accents and locations to make up that flavor. It just didn’t feel right.

Top 5 Series from the Colin Baker Years

DoctorWho6-silhouetteColin Baker holds the distinction of being the first person to play a character in a Doctor Who episode, and then eventually take on the lead role. (Peter Capaldi did the same when he appeared in the Fires of Pompeii and later became the 12th Doctor).

When we’re first introduced to him the confused Doctor is not nearly as bad as with Davison, and we’re hoping things are getting better. Sadly, we are introduced to the mean side of the Doctor as we’d never seen before, when he attacks his companion, Peri, accusing her of being a spy. He even goes as far as grabbing her by the throat and throwing her around.

This didn’t sit well with me, and apparently not with the audience when it aired back in the mid-1980s, garnering complaints from parents and watchdog groups.

Matching this chaotic nature of the Doctor was his choice of outfit. The cricket sweater was discarded for an eclectically colored jacket, which even the companion joked about it resembling a “coat of many colors” like the Holy Bible’s Joseph had.

Not to be outdone, Peri, his first companion dawned a tight pink number, which could’ve just as easily been spray painted on, and must’ve cause some consternation for parents being that the show was moved back to the Saturday afternoon time slot it enjoyed during the first four Doctors.

Two things to note when judging the Colin Baker era. There was a concerted effort to cancel Doctor Who by the new BBC Drama chair Michael Grade. After much fan hatred, they backed off, and brought back after an 18 month hiatus. This lopped off a whole year’s worth of Doctor Who series, and is the main reason why Colin Baker’s run is only 11 series long.

Secondly, is the underlying behind the scenes disagreements that the DVD extras talk about. Producer John Nathan-Turner had a preference not to bring back veteran series writers for whatever reason.

This came to a head during The Two Doctors and The Ultimate Foe. Robert Holmes, considered by many as the best Doctor Who writer of the time.

During writing The Ultimate Foe, Holmes was unable to complete the two episode series, and so script editor Eric Seward wrote one of them. But, disagreements with Nathan-Turner caused him to pull out of the project, leaving the production in a bind.

The married writing team of Pip and Jane Baker were called in, given pretty much nothing from the first script, and then commissioned to write the final episode with three days time.

* * *

1 – TIMELASH - Pretty good. Pretty obvious from the beginning who the bad guys are, and it keeps the interest all the way till the end. Good resolution, and I love the twist at the end.

2 – VENGEANCE OF VAROS - Apparently this one was controversial due to all the violence that’s running pretty much beginning to end. But, it is an important part of the plot. Sil is a bizarre character. I liked him at first. But, the more I heard his gurgling voice throughout the show, the more annoying it became. Very glad this was only two episodes (albeit the new 45 minute versions).

3 – TERROR OF THE VERVOIDS - This was the best of the “Trial of the Time Lord” series. It harkened back to the better Doctor Who series, and could’ve stood on its own without the ‘Trial’ wrapper. The Vervoid costumes weren’t that particularly bad. The new companion with no backstory was pretty jarring.

4 – REVELATION OF THE DALEKS - This was kind of a fun one. The DJ guy was the best character in the show. The new Davros was a bit trippy though. Surprised Doctor Who made a whole series wrapped around the subject of death, though it didn’t stay maudlin all the time, which helped.

5 – MIND WARP - Tough one to watch. Sil is back. But, his unique laugh is grating on the nerves this time around. Some second tier characters which appear and then just disappear. Knowing Peri was going to die before seeing this series made me sad as she was one of the more fun companions to watch, though they apparently changed the very ending after some pressure, and both her and the King’s characters didn’t really die. I love Brian Blessed’s character. Another larger than life portrayal. But, why’d he have to yell so much?

6 - The Two Doctors
7 - Attack of the Cybermen
8 - The Mysterious Planet
9 - The Twin Dilemma
10 - The Mark of the Rani
11 - The Ultimate Foe

Top 5 Series from the Peter Davison Years

DoctorWho5-silhouetteGetting used to Peter Davison after spending a month watching Tom Baker was really hard.

It was interesting that the idea of the bumbling discombobulated Doctor really came into play with Davison. Yes, there was a bit with Tom Baker. However, it was nothing compared to what the viewer went through at the beginning of Castrovalva.

Over Davison’s run the Doctor never seemed to click like he did during Tom Baker’s term. The Tardis seemed to be constantly breaking down, or simply going where it wanted to.

It was also during this time, that companions seemed to grow on trees, having three of them at a time being commonplace. Unfortunately, having so many people share the spotlight with the Doctor just watered down things. Plus, none of the companion characters seemed to be as well developed as Tom Baker’s Sarah Jane Smith.

But, beyond that, they introduced Turlough, who I think had to be one of the worst companions ever. The whole premise that we was supposed to be killing the Doctor is reminiscent of The Master, only with a yellow streak which had him running away from danger every time anything went wrong.

* * *

1 – CAVES OF ANDROZANI - Tightly written. Has a lot of qualities of the Phantom of the Opera, including Jax’s mask. Everything looked good except the scene where the Doctor is retrieving the spider venom. That was pretty hokey. Davison had nowhere near the run that his four predecessors did, and I think it says something that his final show was what many consider his best.

2 – THE FIVE DOCTORS - Much better than the first “reunion” show though it was disappointing that Tom Baker wasn’t really in it, only using unaired footage from Shada. The stand-in for William Hartnell as amazing. Too bad that Jamie only had a cameo part due to contract conflicts. Wish it was another half hour in there, and they’d delved more into the tomb of Rassilon.

3 – FOUR TO DOOMSDAY - Such a rich story from nearly the very beginning. Sets were great. No real “monsters” per se so makes it easier to enjoy without the hokey makeup. One of the better ones in a long time from beginning to end.

4 – CASTROVALVA - Very nice start to the new Doctor. The script wanders for quite some time. But, it keeps busy. Very pretty looking. Constant music bed in the background is definitely different that what was done before.

5 – PLANET OF FIRE - Finally wrapped up Turlough, even though he was weak in this show too. Good backstory that was rolled into the plot line. Sure looked like the Master was finished off, though we all know he’ll eventually come back.

6 - Black Orchid
7 - Snakedance
8 - Enlightenment
9 - Warriors of the Deep
10 - Kinda
11 - The King’s Daemons
12 - Frontios
13 - Mawdryn Undead
14 - Terminus
15 - Resurrection of the Daleks
16 - The Visitation
17 - Arc of Infinity
18 - Earthshock
19 - The Awakening
20 - Time-Flight

Top 5 Series from the Tom Baker Years

DoctorWho4-silhouetteTom Baker was probably the very first Doctor I was exposed to thanks to KQED, in San Francisco. I can vaguely remember watching the show. I think it was on Saturday afternoons on the local PBS channel, KQED.

With his flowing multi-colored scarf and oversized floppy hat, Baker took the character to flamboyant levels high above that of the dapper Pertwee. It was the 1970s, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise.

Each week enriched the character of the Doctor, keeping even the most ardent fan interested.

Sadly, midway through the Tom Baker era, the Doctor seemed to be a little tired at times. Gone were his trademark outfit, and even his delivery seemed to be not as crisp. (Yes, he had a scarf. But, it was nearly the same color as his new jacket, so wasn’t as noticeable).

* * *

This Doctor took quite a while to go through as he was the longest running of any of the actors to play the role. In all Tom Baker appeared in 172 episodes. To keep that in perspective for NuWho fans, David Tennant only had 47 episodes. The Top 10 were really hard to finalize. I ranked things as I went along, and then when it came time to publish this list a few of them were shifted up or down depending on what I remembered.

1 – SEEDS OF DOOM - Very tightly written and keeps the interest from beginning to end. Almost wish this was a six part series. Effects were great, which helped carry things along.

2 – GENESIS OF THE DALEKS - Love/hate relationship with this one. The Kelads clearly are a symbol of the Nazis, which I get. But, the Thralls seem to be a representation of Israel and the IDF. Nice tight script by Terry Nation which explains how the Daleks came to existence. Now the episode where the Twelfth Doctor meets the young Davros makes a bit more sense.

3 – THE SUN MAKERS - I can see why this is Louise Jamison’s favorite series. Leela spends a lot of time on camera, including when not with the Doctor. K-9 is growing on me. Plot line keeps bouncing around so keeps the interest.

4 – THE MASQUE OF MANDRAGORA - Pretty well done historical piece with the sci-fi injected in. The first few minutes had me scratching my head, especially when they ended back in the 1500s. But, the it was blended well, with no over acting on anybody’s part.

5 – ROBOT - So far this is the best first episode for any of the first four Doctors. Despite being hokey at times, it keeps the interest. Probably helped having former script editor Terrence Dicks write the story.

6 - Planet of Evil
7 - The Talons of Weng-Chiang
8 - The Brain of Morbius
9 - The Ribos Operation
10 - The Androids of Tara
11 - The Horns of Nimon
12 - State of Decay
13 - Horror of Fang Rock
14 - The Robots of Death
15 - The Face of Evil
16 - The Hand of Fear
17 - Warriors’ Gate
18 - Logopolis
19 - City of Death
20 - The Keeper of Traken
21 - Terror of the Zygons
22 - The Pirate Planet
23 - The Stones of Blood
24 - The Power of Kroll
25 - The Destiny of the Daleks
26 - The Invasion of Time
27 - The Armageddon Factor
28 - The Ark in Space
29 - The Invisible Enemy
30 - The Deadly Assassin
31 - Underworld
32 - Shada
33 - Pyramids of Mars
34 - Creature from the Pit
35 - Full Circle
36 - The Android Invasion
37 - Image of the Fehndahl
38 - Meglos
39 - Nightmare of Eden
40 - Revenge of the Cybermen
41 - The Sontaran Experiment
42 - The Leisure Hive

Top 5 Series from the Jon Pertwee Years

DoctorWho3-silhouetteWith Patrick Troughton deciding to not renew his contract as the Doctor, several changes were made.

Jon Pertwee assumed the role, becoming the third Doctor. Where Troughton was short, dark hair and frumpily dressed most of the time, Pertwee was taller, dressed like a dandy with a grey bouffant hairdo. The two couldn’t look any further apart.

It was also decided to return the Second Doctor’s two assistants to the place in their lives where they first met the Doctor, effectively wiping their memories of any adventures they’d had with him.

Besides the clean slate of actors, another major change was the switch to color. The previous six seasons had been filmed in black and white, which made the 1960s seem so much longer ago than the rest of Classic Doctor Who.

With all the monsters and exotic sites in glorious color, it was sure to be a feast for the eye. Unfortunately, due to BBC belt tightening, it was decided to have the Doctor banished to Earth. Rather than the Doctor going to the monsters, the monsters would have to come to him.

While they did loosen up on that requirement a bit, the Pertwee Years definitely do not have the variety of sets of any of the other Doctors.

I was a bit disappointed that his first companion, Liz, was only around for a few series. But, their writing her off was providential because the actor turned out to be pregnant and would have had to leave anyways. Whereas Liz was a brilliant scientist in her own right, Jo Grant was ditzy, and got on the Doctor’s nerves immediately. However, by the time she left the series, she’d matured quite a bit.

* * *

Unlike the Swiss Cheese availability of the previous two Doctors, all episodes are accounted for from the Pertwee Years. If DVDs are not available, they can be viewed on the Britbox streaming service.

1 – THE TIME WARRIOR - A really simple script, and a great mashup of historical and science fiction genres. The first appearance of the Sontarans, and not overdone. Almost wish it had another episode just to give us more information on the Sontarans.

2 – PLANET OF THE DALEKS - A good game of Cat and Mouse from beginning till end. At first I thought it was the same planet as in Mission to the Unknown. But, it’s not. Looked like Jo was a goner.

3 – THE DÆMONS - This would be a good one to watch on Halloween. Very unusual compared to most Doctor Who series that were done back then. The Master looked particularly creepy when dressed in the robes. Azal looked a bit on the fake side. But, that was more than made up for by Bok, his little silver colored henchmen! One of my favorite extra characters in the whole series!

4 – THE SEA DEVILS - Another episode which seemed pretty unique. Loved the fortress location, and the Sea Devil creatures. Seemed rather pirate-like. The connection with the Silurians is still not believable for me. But, I can get past that one. One of the better scenes is where they’re emerging from the sea, in a chain mail type outfit. The whispery voice was funny.

5 – THE CURSE OF PELADON - Loved some things in this series. Hated other things. The Ice Warriors reminded me of Marvin the Martian from Disney cartoons, and were really dumbed down. Didn’t seem right compared to previous treatments of them. While Alpha Centuri looks just as comical, it was fresh with no backstory. Kudos to David Troughton. He played the conflicted Peladon nicely. I think my favorite part of the series was the Doctor’s hypnotic song when encountering Aggedor.

6 - The Monster of Peladon
7 – Doctor Who and the Silurians
8 – Invasion of the Dinosaurs   
9 - Colony in Space
10 - Planet of the Spiders
11 - Terror of the Autons
12 - Carnival of Monsters
13 - The Green Death
14 - The Mutants
15 - Inferno
16 - Death to the Daleks
17 - Frontier in Space
18 - The Three Doctors
19 - The Time Monster
20 - The Claws of Axos
21 - Day of the Daleks
22 - The Mind of Evil
23 - Spearheads from Space
24 - The Ambassadors of Death

Top 5 Series from the Patrick Troughton Years

DoctorWho2-silhouetteIn 1966, due to William Hartnell’s failing health, a change was made in who played the Doctor.

There was concern with recasting such an iconic character, and so producers came up with the unique idea that Time Lords regenerate at the point where their bodies are weak and cannot continue, rather than dying off.

Replacing Hartnell was Patrick Troughton. The final episode sees Hartnell falling to the ground, with his face awash in a white glow as it slowly morphs to that of Troughton in an extreme close-up.

Unfortunately, video of this regeneration is lost, and only snippets of it exist.

* * *

As bad as Hartnell’s missing series count was, Troughton is even worst, with a huge portion missing.

Once again I’ve had to rely on recons heavily to be able to view all of Troughton’s series.  Below of the Top Five series, followed by a numerical listings of the remaining series.

Unlike the Hartnell Years, there was no bottom group which stood out are particularly bad. The War Games is a good example. It’s looked upon as one of the iconic series of classical Doctor Who. I ranked it as low as it is on a good part that it was way too long in my eyes compared to most series (it bulges out to 10 episodes!).

1 – THE MOONBASE – The Cybermen are back after their home world of Mondas had been destroyed in the previous season. By this time Jamie, the Scotsman from the 1700s is still getting us to the idea of traveling through time. It’s funny to see his reactions during this trip to the Moon. Like a kid in a candy store he goes bounding about, and ends up knocking himself silly. His first meeting with the Cybermen is comical as he rationalizes that they are the “Phantom Piper” a legend from his own place and time.

2 – THE POWER OF THE DALEKS – At the beginning we can tell there’s something big coming up. But, we’re not quite sure what. Then they make their appearance! Despite the humans acting like they have the situation firmly under control, you just knew it was going to go bad for them, with the Doctor having to bail them out. The pace of this Dalek series was much better than the previous attempts. Its such as shame the original recordings have been lost and we’ve had to rely on animations and reconstructions to watch this series.

3 – THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMEN – Another one of those rather unique looking episodes, being set in a Tibetan monastery. The Yeti were not the main bad guys. But, rather filled the henchmen role, and looked nothing like the real Yeti is supposed to be like. The big balls of fur with chicken feet and not real face gave them a comical appearance as they slowly lumbered towards their targets.

4 – THE TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN – A flavor of a dig in Ancient Egypt with the sterile environment of a laboratory. When the actual actors come wriggling out of their individual sarcophagus it sends a shiver down the spine. The one thing I didn’t like was the costume change of the Cybermen. The leader looked like a rigger with a hardhat.

5 – THE ICE WARRIORS – Our introduction to those formidable reptilian Martians who seemed so invincible. The fact the Earth society is so advanced, yet can’t seem to fight off the attack from the Teutonic looking Ice Warriors is what does it for me.

6 - The Underwater Menace
7 - The Web of Fear
8 - The Wheel in Space
9 - The Enemy of the World
10 - The Mind Robber
11 - Fury from the Deep
12 - The Seeds of Death
13 - The Krotons
14 - The Space Pirates
15 - The War Games
16 - The Evil of the Daleks
17 - The Invasion
18 - The Faceless Ones
19 - The Macra Terror
20 - The Dominators
21 - The Highlanders

Top 5 Series from the William Hartnell Years

DoctorWho1-silhouetteAfter the July’s season finale with Peter Capaldi, I came to realize it’s going to be a long time before this year’s Christmas Special, and then a lot longer until Jodie Whittaker’s debut as the 13th Doctor, sometime in the Fall of 2018. What would I do?

To ease the withdrawals, I decided to visit the classic Doctor Who seasons, broadcast between 1963 and 1989. (Doctor Who episodes since 2005 are nicknamed NuWho to differentiate them from the original shows).

When I was growing up the local Public Broadcast System stations had carried the early Doctors, and I can vaguely remember watching some of them on Saturday afternoons with my father. But, I couldn’t tell you which ones we’d watched. They were most likely from the time of the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker.

Besides that, I’d only seen a handful of episodes when I rented some DVDs from the local library a few years ago, so there was a vast amount of Classic Who waiting to be discovered.

As luck would have it, the Alameda County Library System has a huge collection of Doctor Who DVDs available.

On July 8th I took up the task to watch every Classic Doctor Who episode in order, from the pilot (An Unearthly Child) to Survival, when Doctor began what is known as “The Wilderness” by Doctor Who fans. At that point, the show went on a long 16 year hiatus, with only the American-based Doctor Who Movie (1996) to quench the thirsts of fans.

*  *  *

On November 23, 1963 an event happened which would effect the world in years to come. The British Broadcasting Corporation premiered a brand new Saturday afternoon television program, Doctor Who. Cast as the lead role was veteran actor William Hartnell.

Ratings much lower than hoped for, along with a more famous event from that date, nearly scuttled the program as quickly as it began. Fortunately for us, BBC Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, had faith and didn’t cancel the show.

Originally, they had figured the show would run for only a few weeks. An addition to the Saturday children's programming time. they had no idea it would become the hit that it would, and so many people would be talking about the show nearly sixty years later!

* * *

Here are my Top Five series from the William Hartnell era. To rank them I watched all available DVDs for those seasons which are still fully intact, along with fan reconstructions posted to the internet.

Unfortunately, the price of video tape was at a premium during the early years of Doctor Who, and the BBC management had a general feeling that once a show was broadcast, it would not be rebroadcast. As a result many first and second Doctor episodes were wiped for reuse in taping other programs.

Thanks to diehard Doctor Who fans who audio taped the sound, along with taking photographs off their TV screens, we have Recons, where the missing episodes were reconstructed to reflect what the show looked like. The recons made by Loose Canon Productions, are considered some of the best efforts out there.

My rankings are generally based upon story-line, and not production qualities.

1 -  THE WEB PLANET – Probably not a Number One choice for many people. For me, the relationships between the regular cast and alien creatures works very well. It has a Magnificent Seven feeling to it.

2 – MARCO POLO – It’s really sad this is one of the series where the original episodes have been completely lost. The Recons give the richness of this series, and color production photos that exist portray all the glory of the sets, with their color and details.

3 – THE TENTH PLANET – Our introduction to the Cybermen, who might be my favorite of the major reoccurring bad buys. It’s entirely possible this one shows up as high as it does because of the recent reappearance of the Mondasian Cybermen in NuWho, with their heads looking more like something out of a surgical theater than a steel machine. The voices are creepier than the mechanical ones as well.

4 – THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER – The Doctor and companions are in peril from a powerful enemy, who tantalizes them with the possibility of escape simply by solving some riddles or games. The unique part about this one is that the Companions take up most of the screen time, rather than the Doctor due to Hartnell being on vacation at the time of shooting.

5 – THE GUNFIGHTERS – I’m pretty sure there are plenty of people scratching their heads over this one, or saying I’m crazy. At first the ballad, which seemed to play every few minutes drove me up the wall. But, after a while it it grew on me. This episode is tight from beginning to end, and very unique compared to most historical Doctor Who series.

The remaining Hartnell Years series are listed below. It should be said that a good chunk of them are very close in ranking, and could easily have jumped places for very little reasoning. The bottom seven were definitely disappointments to me, and probably won’t be watched again unless there was a specific reason.

6 – The Daleks
7 – The Myth Makers
8 - The Aztecs
9 - The Savages
10 - The Reign of Terror
11 - The Time Meddler
12 - The Romans
13 - The Rescue
14 - The Crusade
15 - The Ark
16 - The Daleks’ Master Plan
17 - The Smugglers
18 - The Sensorites
19 - The Dalek Invasion of Earth
20 - The Chase
21 - The War Machines
22 - An Unearthly Child
23 - Galaxy 4
24 - Planet of Giants
25 - The Space Museum
26 - The Keys of Marinus
27 - The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve
28 - The Edge of Destruction
29 - Mission to the Unknown