Top 5 Series from the Tom Baker Years

Tom 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).

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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