Nostalgia is a hell of a drug they say.
Which eras of old and new who conjure up nice memories and feelings of the past? I'd be interested in hearing.
Well classic who it's a bit hard for me to pick out because I was born in 1991, and was introduced to it via video releases in the 90s. I therefore never had an era so to speak, which honestly I'm glad about. I think a lot of fans can maybe get a bit skewered in terms of what they think the show has to be like based on their eras. For me all the Doctors were legit, which can only really happen if you're born in the wilderness years ironically.
Still even then I remember seeing a lot of Jon Pertwee in my very early childhood, which is probably why he is still my favourite. Carnival of Monsters in particular takes me to a good place. I first watched it at an old caravan me and family used to go to in the 90s. It was up in the Galloway region of Scotland in an old camp site called Clayshant that I think is sadly defunct now? Anyway there used to be an old area outside the site that me, my sister and my brother used to play in that looked EXACTLY like the place the Drashiggs came bursting out of the ground and my older sister would always pretend to be a Drashigg chasing me. On a more melancholic note however, I also remember Jon Pertwee's real life death having quite a big effect on me when I was just 5 in 1996. It was the first time someone had died for me, and it was quite frightening back then.
Still overall all of classic who takes me back to my childhood. Playing with my siblings, my friends (even if they didn't watch DW they'd still often be interested thanks to the toys.) It was just pure escapism, imagination and joy as a child and I'm happy to be able to recapture a bit of that every time I rewatch it today.
My Dr Who history begins with Season 7, the first season of Jon Pertwee as the third Doctor. I was still just 6 years old, but I watched the program every week from
Spearhead From Space onwards.I remember being terrified of the Autons, and looking nervously at the shop dummies in the Co-op when my mum took me into town one day. It didn’t stop me watching though. Even though the Pertwee era became a bit more ‘cosy’ and familial in its feel; the serious and realistic tone of Season 7 definitely imprinted on me and formed my conception and expectations of the program.
At some point around this time, my uncle who gave me a copy of the 1964 Dalek Book, along with the very first Dr Who annual. I was introduced to the Daleks and the world of Doctor Who comic strips before I’d seen them on tv. Sometime shortly after, my mum took me to a local cinema showing of
Dalek Invasion of Earth 2150AD. I became a bit of a Dalek nut, and was very excited when they returned to TV in 1972.
With the release of the first 3 Target books and the Radio Times Doctor Who Tenth Anniversary Special; you could say that 1973 was the year I became an actual 'fan'. Along with
The Three Doctors on tv, these were a fascinating glimpse into the mysterious world of Dr Who before Jon Pertwee.
I was enthralled by the Dalek and Zarbi Target books, but I have to admit I couldn’t get into Dr Who and The Crusaders. At ten years old, I wanted spaceships, monsters and Sci-Fi. Not much has changed!
As regards
The Three Doctors, I automatically liked Hartnell’s original Doctor, despite his limited on-screen presence. But Troughton’s Doctor was a totally unknown quantity to me at this point. My instincts leaned very much towards the Doctor being a largely serious character, and I really didn’t know what to make of the whimsical and comedic elements that Troughton brought to the role. I instinctively preferred Hartnell, and still do.
When it was announced that Jon Pertwee was leaving Dr Who, I felt gutted. Season 11 was, and still is, one of my favourite seasons. I thought the new companion Sarah Jane Smith was great. Much better than Jo. And I felt that Jon and Lis had a great chemistry of their own for that one special season. However, it didn’t take me very long at all to accept Tom Baker, and the Hinchcliffe era was to become another high point in the show’s history.
Genesis of the Daleks became my favourite story of all time, and still is.
For me, the show began to lose it towards the end of Season 15. I was about to turn 15 and maybe I’d naturally outgrown it. To be fair, most of the season was still good, but
The Invasion of Time was the turning point where it started to become the Tom Baker show. I tuned in for Season 16, but after just one episode I bailed out. I appreciate the post 1977 seasons a lot more now, but at the time, but
Invasion of Time finished just before my 15th birthday, and I'd reached an age where music and girls had become more interesting, so when I tuned into S16, I just felt I'd outgrown it.
I didn't really come back to Who until the BBC vids started coming out. At some point around 1987 I discovered
Day of the Daleks on video, and
Death to the Daleks and
Spearhead From Space, shortly after. By this time the Sylvester McCoy era had started, and having never heard of this actor before, I tuned into Season 24 for a glimpse, but was completely alienated by S24. It was like some kind of joke. More like some kind of spoof than the real thing, and I decided to stick with the video releases that I trusted.
Aside from the three already mentioned, the most memorable early video purchases were:
Pyramids of Mars,
Robots of Death, and my first introduction to ’60s Who;
The Seeds of Death. I had no idea about the missing episodes at this point in time; but it was a thrill to see Patrick Troughton in the role, properly. I found more to appreciate about the second Doctor here, than I had in
The Three Doctors.
But along with favourite releases like
Terror of the Zygons,
The Time Warrior and
Ark In Space; the biggest thrill of all was finally getting to see William Hartnell in the very first adventure with
The Daleks. I loved this story, and despite it being slightly padded towards the end, I still do. And my appreciation of Hartnell’s Doctor went up tenfold.
As 1989 turned into a new decade, I barely noticed the cancellation of the show on tv. In 1990’91, I was busy discovering for the first time, such ’60s classics as
The War Games and
The Web Planet, alongside beloved favourites like
The Brain of Morbius and
Planet of the Spiders. Other notable releases included
The Dalek Invasion of Earth and the very beginning of Dr Who; with
An Unearthly Child, which was fascinating to see.
In the midst of all the ’90s video releases came the TV Movie. Despite enjoying McGann’s portrayal of the Doctor to some degree; This was a huge drift away from even ’80s Who. Clearly aimed at the American market, it didn’t even remotely ‘feel’ like Dr Who. It was more like a ham-fisted attempt at an American style action movie, complete with a Schwarzenegger mould villian who was supposed to be the Master, but failed to convince as such, on every level. To make matters worse, the Doctor was revealed to be half-human, and this along with kissing Grace, seemed like a precursor for allowing the character to move towards future romantic entanglements. I for one, was relieved that the TV Movie came to nothing, and continued my journey through the classic video releases.
As the decade ended and a new century was born, the last few VHS releases began to overlap with the first DVD releases, I bought Ambassadors of Death in the same week that I got the internet and discovered online Dr Who fandom, via the BBCi board for the first time in May 2002. In the many discussions during my first year in online communities; I realised that the large gap of stories from Season 16 onwards was prohibiting me from engaging fully in discussions, as there was lots of ‘history’ that I simply didn’t know about. So for better or worse, 2003 became my catch-up year, where I decided to complete the journey I abandoned when I was 14/15 years old. During that year; I watched everything in order from The Ribos Operation to Survival. 2003 and 2004 was also my ‘Audio’ era. I completed all the Missing Stories via the CD releases, and also discovered and explored Big Finish audio.
By the end of 2004 I felt fully conversant with the Classic Series of Dr Who, and whilst it’s fair to say that my personal golden era of 1970-’77 will always be my go-to, ultimate favourite era; with the ’60s overall being a strong second; I have mellowed towards post ’77 Who over the years; and have developed a better appreciation of it.
I'm not going to talk about NuWho. There's no point. Yes there are some bits that are better than others, but I'm just not really into it. To me, it's not the same show. So I'll leave it with
Survival. 
