Ranking the Anniversary Specials

[rushy]

1. Silver Nemesis (25th) - A fantastic Cyber-romp, with just enough hints about the Doctor's origin to make it feel like it's tying into the show's roots without explaining too much. 

2. Scream of the Shalka (40th) - There's decent enough nods to the past with the Master and UNIT's involvement, and again some sense of mystery regarding the new deal between the Doctor and the Time Lords. But the show otherwise looks firmly to the future. The actual story is pretty good too, if a little generic. 

3. The Five Doctors (20th) - Severely let down by poor cinematography/direction, but otherwise a classic. Terrance really pulled some War Games magic to not make it incoherent in spite of the shopping list of returning characters. 

4. The Day of the Doctor (50th) - Probably the most cinematic episode. Seeing all the Doctors unite to save Gallifrey is an iconic moment. Tom's cameo is beautiful. Love the bit at the end with all the Doctors staring up at the sky. Tennant and Smith are the most notable multi-Doctor pairing since Troughton/Pertwee. And it's always nice to see John Hurt, even if he's just being a Hurndall for Eccleston. 

5. Star Beast/Wild Blue Yonder/The Giggle (60th) - More a celebration of 2008 than anything else, but then 2008 was a great period of Doctor Who for me, so I don't mind. Tennant is still an absolute blast to watch compared to Capaldi, Whittaker and probs Gatwa too.

6. The Three Doctors (10th) - It's daring to celebrate the show's first ten years with the show's worst story in ten years. 

7. Dimensions in Time (30th) - Lol
 

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1. Remembrance/Nemesis (25th) I know Remembrance is the unofficial one, but it was still apart of the 25th anniversary celebrations and if bloody Star Beast is considered an anniversary special then obviously Remembrance should be too. I've always liked Nemesis too.

2. The Five Doctors (20th) A proper celebration of the 60s, 70s and 80s. It has all the iconic Doctor Who stuff and then some and to be honest the cinematography is pretty good. I liked where they filmed the outsite scenes although the actual camerawork isn't as dynamic as, say, Earthshock. Still a classic, though.

3. The Three Doctors (10th) Omega kicks major arse and Troughton/Pertwee are the absolute best Doctor duo in history.

4. Day of the Doctor (8th) A total shit show that annoyed me at the time and still annoys me now. I appreciate Moffat tried to get classic Doctors (which was ultimately rejected by the BBC!), but the War Doctor is just not good enough to fill in that role. I like Hurt, but I can't help but think of Rob's "Faketor" label whenever I see him. Some of the writing is dire too and there's way too much Tennant.

5. The 60th specials

Sorry, but they come across as "Fap, fap, fap, I love my own era soooo much, fap, fap, fap, fap" stories by RTD. I think he just assumes that everyone likes his work and if they don't he probably holds them in contempt.

[rushy]

Dec 6, 2023 18:43:02 GMT @kengrubshaw said:

and to be honest the cinematography is pretty good. I liked where they filmed the outsite scenes

That fog and the score do a LOT of heavy lifting to give it any kind of atmosphere. But it still mostly comes off as aged actors wandering around the English countryside, occasionally roleplaying being in a Doctor Who episode. Endearing, but not very believable.

[iank]

Five Doctors
Three Doctors
Silver Nemesis

[burrunjor]

Remembrance of the Daleks: One of the best stories of all time, perfectly paced, fantastic performances from all involved, manages to actually be political, but not overly preachy and an amazing conclusion to an epic story arc begun in Genesis of the Daleks 13 years prior. 11/10

The Three Doctors: Brilliant story all around. Troughton and Pertwee are the best Doctor double act, Hartnell is used as well as they can given his health, and Omega is both a great addition to the lore and a fabulous villain in his own right. 9/10

The Five Doctors: Its plot is a garbled mess that makes 0 sense, and Terrance Dicks was a petty dickhead to the Cybermen. That said it contains some fantastic ideas, great, uncoventional Doctor/companion pairings like the Brig and Troughton, Jon and Sarah, and some of the absolute greatest sequences in DW history like the Raston Warrior Robot slaughtering the Cybermen, the half blown up Dalek and Borusa's hideous fate. 8/10

Day of the Doctor: I do still like this story, though I haven't rewatched it in years and to be honest probably have 0 desire to do so any time soon. Ingrid Oliver is cute. That's it LOL, in all seriousness Matt, David and John Hurt are enjoyable together, bringing back Gallifrey was I thought a great idea, and I loved how Moffat worked all the other Doctors into it. Come on no Sir all 13 is still a fantastic moment ten years on. Sure some things could have maybe been done a bit differently. I think an invasion from the Daleks in modern day earth would have been more fitting, rather than the Zygons, and I think that they should have had longer clips for the classic Doctors. Still the best celebration of the past in New Who, and honestly had the Capaldi era been good and something come of the search for Gallifrey story arc, then I think this would have held up much better. It definitely can serve as a better finale to New Who than anything since. 7/10

Silver Nemesis: Sorry even though I've got Sophie reading out one of my stories LMAO, this is a pretty crappy adventure. It's just a retread of the Dalek one, with the Cybermen made into laughable punching bags, that the Doctor and Ace treat like doofuses "GIVE US THE BOW!" I'll admit it's good for Ace fans seeing her kill a huge chunk of them, but even then, couldn't they have just had her use bombs or some powerful weapon from the Nemesis statue? A f*cking slingshot takes them out? Sorry but 5/10

Agreed with Maxil that the so called 60th is nothing but RTD wanking himself off. Also sorry to say but whilst I like Bernard Cribbins and it's nice seeing that he was still sharp as a tac right to the very end, I honestly don't have any great nostalgia for The End of Time or the so called golden age with Donna, so I didn't feel much even with that cameo. Also this has NPH in it and I don't like him very much you may have noticed due to his weird corpse cake fixation LOL.

I've only seen one of the specials mind you and I hope to keep it that way, but certainly based on that one. -1/10

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I'm a big fan of Silver Nemesis myself. A lot of it is right down my street with things like sorcery, castles, the English countryside, 80s music and fashion, Cybermen (my favourite foes), Nazis and humour. I know it isn't for everyone and people are right in calling it silly, but for me it's my go to story if I just want a fast paced romp.

[rushy]

I'm bemused by the popularity of Three Doctors around here. It's so naff. Yeah, the concept of Omega is good, but the execution... the only time I genuinely felt Omega was well done was when Peter Davison played him for a few seconds, and that's because Davison (or at least the script) bothered to make him seem like a person rather than a monologuing supervillain.

But all that aside, the crap location filming, the Brigadier's imbecility, the meaningless side characters and the pantomime-looking production add up to a story that really isn't worth much outside of the novelty of having Troughton and Hartnell back.

[Deleted]

Dec 6, 2023 21:06:28 GMT burrunjor said:

That said it contains some fantastic ideas, great, uncoventional Doctor/companion pairings like the Brig and Troughton, Jon and Sarah, 

How are those in any way unconventional lol