Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Greg]

Well, he played the Doctor for the longest period, so there's lots to choose from...

But which is the one for you?

(The incomplete story, Shada, isn't included - because it was never completed!)

[Sulp Niar]

This is the most impossible one yet... not cos I think Tom Baker has more awesome stories than the others, but because his run encompasses three entirely different eras. I'd have to narrow down to a favourite from each, and then narrow down even further to one. That is so hard.

Era 1: Talons
Era 2: City of Death
Era 3: Warrior's Gate

Y'know, I'm going to be slightly controversial and choose 'Warrior's Gate'. A stylish, vividly imaginative, realistically banal, hilarious witty, insanely intelligent sort of story. It also has Romana.

[montypython]

I definitely agree that Tom's era is the best, because the stories were so fantastic. Unfortunately I haven't seen the last few, but of the ones I have seen I'm going with Genesis of the Daleks. It was great to find out the origins of the Daleks, and the dilemma the Doctor faced really tested his character. Plus Davros was the best villain I'd seen since the Master.

[Speckled Jim]

What are you trying to do ... give us brain bubbles? What a decision to make.
So I've gone with Robots of Death, which even to this day creeps the hell outta me. Totally unsettling and nasty. Even the odd bit of overacting from the camp fella that played Poole can't detract from the sheer spine-melting feeling you get hearing the oh-so-chilled-out Voc robots. And I still love that cheap 70s red and silver fuzzy serum in the syringes. And the little plastic model sandcrawler vehicle.
But coming a hair-raisingly close second are, in no particular order, Genesis, Zygons, Fang Rock, Weng Chiang, City of Death, Pirate Planet, Meglos and Pyramids of Mars. Can't we just tick every button???

[Speckled Jim]

... oh, and add Face of Evil and Fendahl to that list, too.

[Sulp Niar]

[Ickabod]

Last one cuz that was the end of him

[charlie]

This is hard. The olny thing I don't like about Genesis is the length, especially the first episode. I love the concept in Logopolis but Adric gets on my nerves and Nyssa's arrival is just annoying. She should have come in the TARDIS. In the end I have to say my favourite story to watch is the Ark.

[Davros]

Too many to choose from, Genesis of the Daleks would be on the top of my list but I went for "Pyramids of Mars" to be different ...a good story, good period, good actors and good costuming plus a great villian ...way too many great stories to choose from

Keys to Time series with Mary Tamm was great too

[Speckled Jim]

[dave]

Has to be Terror of the Zygons for me, although it is a very difficult choice. So much good stuff in his first three seasons, and a few good ones after that. Genesis of the Daleks, Seeds of Doom, Brain of Morbius, Android Invasion, Face of Evil, Robots of Death, Talons of Weng-Chiang, Horror of Fang Rock, City of Death... all of these I could have chosen. But the Zygons just look so cool, I love stories involving doppelgangers, and it featured possibly the best explosion sequence in all of Classic DW... the only thing that didn't work well was the Skarasen, and I love that now because it's so comical.

I must add that Sarah Jane is by far my favourite companion, and the time she was travelling with #4 my favourite period in the entire run of the show (that I've seen), so this does influence my choice. I guess I'd rank Seeds of Doom as second. Android Invasion is a brilliant parody of a DW story, it cracks me up every time, and I regularly find people who didn't realise it's a deliberate parody. Anyway, enough ranting, Tom's run on the show really was, for me, the high point of the show's entire existence thus far.

[Davros]

[Tegan]

[SharazJek]

Talons for me. I know I know. I can't help it. I am confused by so many people voting for Genesis though. Great story but it's just too bleak. And Terry Nation is a very lazy writer.

[mayday]

Too much choice. I voted for Face of Evil because I still recall my reaction as a teenager to the introduction of Leela. Also, I liked the tie-in to past actions of the Doctor. Pyramids od Mars, Ark In Space, Genesis of the Daleks, and perhaps Warrior's Gate were in also in the shortlist.

[meglos]

Too Hard!

[kangamac]

GENESIS OF THE DALEKS.

Wow! Just wow... I have yet to see a DOCTOR WHO story from any era of the TV show - new or old - that tops this one.

There are a few that get close for me, such as THE ARK IN SPACE, PLANET OF EVIL, PYRAMIDS OF MARS, THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS, HORROR OF FANG ROCK and IMAGE OF THE FENDAHL...

There are also a few that equal it for me, such as TERROR OF THE ZYGONS, THE SEEDS OF DOOM, THE DEADLY ASSASSIN, THE ROBOTS OF DEATH and THE TALONS OF WENG-CHIANG...

But so far, nothing has ever beaten it...

However, that is hardly surprising when you compare the likes of Hinchcliffe and Holmes with others who have fulfilled similar roles in the production of DW. They are quite simply without equal...

[Davros]

[Greg]

I'm looking back over these old polls and I see some that I haven't voted in (for shame!) - or, like this one, where I haven't made a comment.

I voted for City of Death. Infamously written by Douglas Adams and Graham Williams over a weekend when another story didn't work out (and using some of the concepts from the failed story), this one has a substantial lack of a sensible story, but it is acted and produced with such style and grace that the lack of sensible plot glides by without much notice.

The cast is great - Tom Chabon's Duggan is a suitable companion-substitute in this story, providing an earthly counterpoint to the Doctor and Romana. Julian Glover's second appearance in the series is suitably paced so that the Count is charming and urbane when circumstances warrant, but can also be mysterious or threatening with only a slight change of how the performance is pitched (and, of course, the plot has led people to speculate whether he was playing the same character in his other story, The Crusade.

The dialogue is sparkling, being both humorous and emphasising the non-human nature of the Time Lords. It's vaguely like a James Bond story with dialogue by Noel Coward and a plot by, well, Douglas Adams.

In season 17, this one stands out from the otherwise very pedestrian stories that are often not so fondly remembered, and is in many respects Tom Baker's last great performance in the series (he was very much reined in during season 18, and never got back to the top of his game again).

Sure, there are Tom Baker stories that have greater dramatic merit than this one, but they don't shine the same way.

[DrJohnSmith]

Pyramids of Mars. Absolute classic.

Genesis of the Daleks and City of Death come a close second, but Genesis was a tad too bleak and gloomy, and City of Death had a monster that looked like, well, green spaghetti. But both were excellent.