My Top 30 Faviort Stories

[Spark Doll King]

1. The Dalek Invasion of Earth
2. The Deadly Assassin
3. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
4. The Web of Fear
5. Invasion of the Dinosaurs
6. Ghostlight
7. Enlightenment
8. Inferno
9. Attack of the Cybermen
10. The Key to Time Arc
11. The Daleks
12. The War Games
13. The Aztecs
14. Carnival of Monsters
15. State of Decay
16. The Mind Robber
17. The Seeds of Doom
18. The Talons of Weng-Chiang
19. Remembrance of the Daleks
    
20. Revelation of the Daleks
21. The Three Doctors
22. Tomb of the Cybermen
23. Genesis of the Daleks
24. The Web Planet
25. The Silurians
26. The Visitation
27. The Time Warrior
28. The Horror of Fang Rock
29. The Sun Makers
30. Nightmare in Eden

Decided to throw together this little list of my top 30 classic stories, since I have now seen them all at least once and frankly my intreast in Doctor Who is at a record low. I just can't bring myself to watch it at the moment. Walked into a movie and tv shop, took one look at the Doctor Who section and just felt depressed.

[burrunjor]

I know I've given this list before on this site and other sites dozens of times and I don't doubt that it will be different every time in some ways LOL. Hey like a lot of people my favourite stories change over time, though again there are obviously some I always rate highly.

I also get love of DW being at an all time low. I was the same last year. I hadn't watched a DW in ages I couldn't even get angry at New Who. To me it was just a dead brand walking. However doing those live streams with my friends, and also getting to know some people in the DW fandom, including ironically some I'd fallen out with on GB helped me get back into it and I've had a brilliant time with the classics the last few weeks whilst doing my writing. 

Anyway my top 30 right now are. 

1/ Genesis of the Daleks 
2/ Inferno 
3/  Remembrance of the Daleks
4/ Carnival of Monsters (Honestly in the past I feel I've not rated this so highly because even in my personal top ten I hate to say I can be a bit, wanting to include the best of Who. However being completely honest this is top 5 for me. I know it's not the most intelligent, or well made story, but it's so imaginative, fun, and enjoyable. I can watch it 100 times and not get bored. It's real comfort watching for me.)
5/ Seeds of Doom 
6/ Curse of Fenric
7/ Day of the Daleks 
8/ The Mind Robber (Doctor Who at its craziest and most imaginative. I actually think episode 1 of the Mind Robber is the single greatest episode of DW ever made and one of the best pieces of television for me.)
9/ The Deadly Assassin 
10/ The Power of the Daleks
11/ Doctor Who and the Silurians
12/ Pyramids of Mars 
13/ The Robots of Death
14/ Earthshock
15/ Survival
16/ The Daleks
17/ The Tomb of the Cybermen
18/  The Time Warrior
19/ The Caves of Androzani
20/ The Daleks Masterplan
21/ State of Decay
22/ Brain of Morbius
23/ City of Death
24/ Revelation of the Daleks
25/ Frontier in Space
26/ The Three Doctors
27/ Vengeance on Varos
28/ The Five Doctors
29/ Terror of the Zygons
30/ Death to the Daleks. 


Tom Baker 9
Jon Pertwee 8
Sylvester McCoy 3
Patrick Troughton 3
Peter Davison 3
Colin Baker 2
William Hartnell 2
and if you want to get technical Richard Hurndall 1 LOL

[iank]

It's difficult to have the same enthusiasm for a show that's been dead for 34 years, and whose reboot is kind of embarrassing to the entire brand. It also doesn't help that I've seen most of the original series dozens of times, but I still love the show.
Anyway, mine:

1 Shada
2 City of Death
3 State of Decay
4 Ribos Operation
5 Spearhead from Space
6 Fang Rock
7 The War Games
8 Remembrance of the Daleks
9 Seeds of Doom
10 Day of the Daleks
11 The Five Doctors
12 Inferno
13 The Web of Fear
14 The Seeds of Doom
15 Attack of the Cybermen
16 The Invasion
17 Carnival of Monsters
18 Earthshock
19 Survival
20 The Time Meddler
21 The Moonbase
22 Invasion of the Dinosaurs
23 Enlightenment
24 Revelation of the Daleks
25 The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
26 The Deadly Assassin
27 The Sun Makers
28 The Horns of Nimon
29 Destiny of the Daleks
30 The Armageddon Factor

Tom 12, Pertwee 6, Troughton 5, Davison 3, McCoy 3, Colin 2, Hartnell 1, Hurndall 1.

[rushy]

Crikey this is hard. I've never done a ranking like this.
...
Okay, after a LOT of thinking, this is what I got:

1. The War Games
2. The Ambassadors of Death
3. Shada
4. Marco Polo
5. The Ribos Operation
6. The Evil of the Daleks
7. The Seeds of Doom
8. The Daleks
9. Full Circle
10. The Power of the Daleks
11. Genesis of the Daleks
12. The Curse of Fenric
13. The Mind Robber
14. Paradise Towers
15. The Enemy of the World
16. The Daleks' Master Plan
17. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
18. State of Decay
19. Snakedance
20. The Stones of Blood
21. Planet of the Spiders
22. The Abominable Snowmen
23. The Sun Makers
24. Vengeance on Varos
25. The Web of Fear
26. Pyramids of Mars
27. The Dalek Invasion of Earth
28. The Romans
29. Enlightenment
30. The Mind of Evil

5 Hartnell, 7 Troughton, 3 Pertwee, 9 Tom, 2 Davison, 1 Colin, 3 McCoy

[Cherry Pepsi Maxil]

My lists change over time which is why I'll only list my top ten. 3 McCoys, 1 Pertwee, 1 Troughton, 1 Hartnell and 4 Tom Baker

1. Remembrance of the Daleks
2. The Curse of Fenric
3. The Robots of Death
4. The Talons of Weng-Chiang
5. The War Games
6. Spearhead from Space
7. The Time Meddler
8. City of Death
9. Silver Nemesis
10.Terror of the Zygons

[Ludders II]

1.  Genesis of the Daleks
2.  Pyramids of Mars
3.  Brain of Morbius
4.  Planet of the Spiders
5.  Planet of the Daleks
6.  The Silurians
7.  Spearhead From Space
8.  Seeds of Doom
9.  Terror of the Autons
10. Robots of Death
11. Terror of the Zygons
12. Ark In Space
13. The Green Death
14. Ambassadors of Death
15. Invasion of the Dinosaurs
16. Robot
17. The Time Warrior
18. The Mind of Evil
19. Image of the Fendahl
20, Horror of Fang Rock
21. Death to the Daleks
22. Revenge of the Cybermen
23. Talons of Weng Chiang
24. The Daemons
25. Inferno
26. Frontier In Space
27. The Three Doctors
28. Monster of Peladon
29. The Sea Devils
30. Claws of Axos

[burrunjor]

Glad to meet another Death to the Daleks fan. Honestly fandom is insane some times, the way they pick on these random perfectly okay stories as the worst ever and go out of their way to praise absolute shit.

[Ludders II]

Feb 23, 2024 15:29:34 GMT burrunjor said:

Glad to meet another Death to the Daleks fan. Honestly fandom is insane some times, the way they pick on these random perfectly okay stories as the worst ever and go out of their way to praise absolute shit.

You'll notice that I'm not biased towards the '70s at all. 

[Ludders II]

Feb 23, 2024 15:29:34 GMT burrunjor said:

Glad to meet another Death to the Daleks fan. Honestly fandom is insane some times, the way they pick on these random perfectly okay stories as the worst ever and go out of their way to praise absolute shit.

But seriously, I do like Death. How can you not like the root? A Palpable hit sir! 

[burrunjor]

Feb 23, 2024 15:35:14 GMT Ludders II said:

Feb 23, 2024 15:29:34 GMT burrunjor said:

Glad to meet another Death to the Daleks fan. Honestly fandom is insane some times, the way they pick on these random perfectly okay stories as the worst ever and go out of their way to praise absolute shit.

But seriously, I do like Death. How can you not like the root? A Palpable hit sir! 

I don't get the hate at all? It's baffling that hatred isn't directed towards Invasion of the Dinosaurs from that season instead?

The Daleks contrary to popular belief are not undermined. That's a lazy analysis based on two scenes where the Dalek gets killed by Exxilons which is still stunning visually, and the suicidal Dalek which is silly, but even then it's not as bad as people make out. Daleks DO kill their underlings for the smallest mistakes as seen in Planet and Daleks Masterplan.

Meanwhile beyond those two scenes for the rest of the story they are extremely crafty and use their wits to overcome problems, rather than just being made out to be so powerful. They overcome the power drain in a day that crippled the humans for months, they get passed the city that the most intelligent Exxilons couldn't for years before hand, and which only the Doctor was able to. (Establishing them as his equals, rather than quaking in fear of him like in Bad Wolf.) Hell they actually even outfox him, keeping their true motives secret from him to the end and actually would have won, had it not been for their servant turning on them (and he had to sacrifice himself to do it.) Also this story establishes the Daleks as having weapons even in small crafts that can destroy a planet, and finally it is also the only time we actually see them conquer a race on screen, rather than the after effect. (I also love their swish new colour scheme and Michael Wisher's voice.) 

Meanwhile the Exxilons themselves are scary monsters, with great designs and costumes, a fleshed out backstory, and unlike other monsters our attitude towards them changes over the story as they go from this big scary threat, to victims, to heroes. Also how can fans not love Bellal? He's like a rainbow character he's so adorable and again his design is brilliant. 

Also the direction is effective and creepy, like in the opening sequence, the Exillons sacrifice, the shots of the city (another fantastic design and the ending where it melts and screams is one of the most genuinely creepy moments in all of DW.) 

This one had a huge effect on me as a child (remember I saw it like 20 years after it was made.) The corpse in the Exxilon city, the zombies that attack the Daleks, the city melting, the violent opening, Sarah being tortured, all scared the absolute crap out of me. 

Meanwhile Invasion of the Dinosaurs is slow, boring, it's plot makes 0 sense with these modern day scientists suddenly being smart enough to build time travel technology that very few aliens have in the DW universe, and it has the single worst Dinosaur effects I've ever seen. Even by the standards of the 1920s they are laughable. 



Made 50 years earlier, and 50 times better than those on DW. Also as I've said before Mike Yates suddenly becoming a genocidal maniac is not good character development, neither is expecting us to feel sorry for him. Galloway from Death to the Daleks is a much better example of a more complicated character. Someone we think is going to be a Mavic Chen type because he is so ruthless, but ultimately ends up being the hero as whilst he is ruthless he is at least decent enough to include himself among the people he's willing to sacrifice for the greater good.

Invasion is also preachy too. You just don't notice it because Jon Pertwee is so much more charismatic and you obviously have a lot of good will towards him unlike the clowns in a lot of modern shows, but yeah it's the same. 

Again I think it's just because received wisdom says the Pertwee Dalek stories were crap because he himself didn't like them and so everybody comes down harder on his Dalek adventurers, whilst Invasion is such an embarrassing cock up, the only way DW fans feel they can save face is to say underneath its cheap effects it's a hidden gem, rather than just a total disaster. Though even then I've seen people start to reappraise the Dinosaur effects as not that bad by the standards of the time! 

King Kong, One Million Years BC, Valley of Gwangi, Godzilla ALL came before this. Trust me they are bad. Honestly DW fandom these days is baffling. The Capaldi era is being reassessed as the thinking man's era and this is an unsung classic. Does kind of make me think DW fandom is a niche audience that doesn't reflect the public right enough, but NOT in a good way. 

[Ludders II]

Feb 23, 2024 16:05:57 GMT burrunjor said:

Feb 23, 2024 15:35:14 GMT Ludders II said:

But seriously, I do like Death. How can you not like the root? A Palpable hit sir! 

Meanwhile Invasion of the Dinosaurs is slow, boring, it's plot makes 0 sense with these modern day scientists suddenly being smart enough to build time travel technology that very few aliens have in the DW universe, and it has the single worst Dinosaur effects I've ever seen. Even by the standards of the 1920s they are laughable. 

Invasion is also preachy too. You just don't notice it because Jon Pertwee is so much more charismatic and you obviously have a lot of good will towards him unlike the clowns in a lot of modern shows, but yeah it's the same. 

Again I think it's just because received wisdom says the Pertwee Dalek stories were crap because he himself didn't like them and so everybody comes down harder on his Dalek adventurers, whilst Invasion is such an embarrassing cock up, the only way DW fans feel they can save face is to say underneath its cheap effects it's a hidden gem, rather than just a total disaster. Though even then I've seen people start to reappraise the Dinosaur effects as not that bad by the standards of the time! 

I had no idea you felt that way about Invasion. I don't remember that way myself, but I'd need to watch it again before coming back to you on that, because it's been a while.

[burrunjor]

Feb 23, 2024 16:11:45 GMT Ludders II said:

Feb 23, 2024 16:05:57 GMT burrunjor said:

Meanwhile Invasion of the Dinosaurs is slow, boring, it's plot makes 0 sense with these modern day scientists suddenly being smart enough to build time travel technology that very few aliens have in the DW universe, and it has the single worst Dinosaur effects I've ever seen. Even by the standards of the 1920s they are laughable. 

Invasion is also preachy too. You just don't notice it because Jon Pertwee is so much more charismatic and you obviously have a lot of good will towards him unlike the clowns in a lot of modern shows, but yeah it's the same. 

Again I think it's just because received wisdom says the Pertwee Dalek stories were crap because he himself didn't like them and so everybody comes down harder on his Dalek adventurers, whilst Invasion is such an embarrassing cock up, the only way DW fans feel they can save face is to say underneath its cheap effects it's a hidden gem, rather than just a total disaster. Though even then I've seen people start to reappraise the Dinosaur effects as not that bad by the standards of the time! 

I had no idea you felt that way about Invasion. I don't remember that way myself, but I'd need to watch it again before coming back to you on that, because it's been a while.

Yeah LOL it's one of these stories I just can't understand the love for it? I thought it was laughably bad when I saw it, and not just because of the Dinosaurs, which I knew going in were going to be terrible. The other production values are pretty poor too. It's actually one of the few examples where the set actually does wobble! 

I guess I get a bit annoyed with DW fandom only because they come down so hard on stories that they think are shit. Obviously it's never good to generalise, but still you know how it is. You get a bit annoyed when you'll see one story get absolutely eviscerated for one thing, and then another which has dozens of problems get let off and sometimes even praised for them.

I won't use Missy as that is too obvious an example, but look at Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks, Human Nature/Family of Blood. People absolutely eviscerate the former for things like ridiculous villains, scientific gobblydigook, like having gamma radiation take the form of lightening. That was something that always got the piss ripped out of it, and also DNA being treated too much like magic. None of the stories good points, like being the only adventure to have the slimy human character working with the Daleks in New Who, making proper use of its atmospheric setting, taking the Daleks back to their roots as genetic monsters rather than simply alien invaders and using the Cult of Skaro idea to its full potential is ever given any credit. In fact you're laughed at and sneered at for trying to bring up those points of how could you defend such a turkey?

Yet the latter that's a story we've seen 10000 times before, that's actually ill suited to the Doctor anyway, and is to quote Rimmer a load of blubbery school girl mush,  has the Doctor use magic mirrors with no explanation, trap people in unbreakable chains which he just had lying around (and can also apparently make someone immortal,) go from being willing to sacrifice innocent men, women and children and force his black companion to work as a maid in a time where she'll get both racist and misogynistic abuse and create a sentient being in John Smith who she will have to get to know for months on end (possibly grow to care about, hell if things had gone differently, maybe even love) and then KILL, all to protect asshole aliens, only to then torture said aliens, in fact inflict the single worst punishment on them more than any of the planet destroying, genocidal monsters he's encountered when they did what he knew they always would always do anyway, IE kill to get his life span. (The start opens with them shooting at him and Martha), and it has some of the campiest, most ridiculously acted villains I've ever seen like the head of the Family and...... it's hailed as a masterpiece? So much so you get booted off forums practically for criticising it. 

I admit that's why I get so pissed off at received fan wisdom in DW. It's not like that in other fandoms. In Buffy I could say I thought the Body was a lot of self indulgent tripe without people going nuts and I was able to say I liked the badly regarded Angel story The Shroud of Rahmon without any problems either. 

[Ludders II]

Feb 23, 2024 22:15:14 GMT Cherry Pepsi Maxil said:

Quite a few changes since you were last here, Ludders. You'll notice I'm not quite against the Hinchcliffe era as I used to be 

I've noticed! 

[Ludders II]

May 29, 2024 21:10:08 GMT Cherry Pepsi Maxil said:

1. Remembrance of the Daleks
2. The Curse of Fenric
3. The Talons of Weng-Chiang
4. The War Games
5. The Robots of Death
6. Spearhead from Space
7. The Five Doctors
8. Earthshock
9. City of Death
10. Human Nature/The Family of Blood
11. Terror of the Zygons
12. The Caves of Androzani
13. Silver Nemesis
14. Blink
15. The Five Doctors
16. Horror of Fang Rock
17. Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks
18. Enlightenment
19. The Time Meddler
20. Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
21. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
22. The Invasion
23. Revenge of the Cybermen
24. Genesis of the Daleks
25. Inferno
26. Ghost Light
27. The Deadly Assassin
28. The Dalek Invasion of Earth
29. Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways
30. Destiny of the Daleks

NuWho above McCoy. Never thought I'd see the day. 

[iank]

Nurse, the tablets!