In one marathon session, I watched the most recent incarnations of Doctor Who on DVD. Billie Piper is stunning. Chris Eccleston is wonderfully intense. David Tennet is a tightly wound ball of sexy. But aside from all that, the show is really great. Needless to say, I’m hooked.
I’d like to familiarize myself with some of the older Doctors and adventures. Anyone care to recommend some must-sees for me?
I suggest the Pertwee era. Carnival of Monsters was my first exposure to the good Doctor.
Then there’s the Baker era “Key to Time” meta-storyline that covered the entire 16th season. Douglas Adams, Mr. Forty-two himself, contributed to the script editing for the season finale.
The McCoy era also had some interesting stuff going on, including a self-referential 25th anniversary storyline, killer candy, killer robotic custodians, and a malevolent clown.
The Romans (1st)
The Aztecs (1st)
Carnival of Monsters (3rd)
The Green Death (3rd)
Genesis Of The Daleks (4th)
The Deadly Assassin (4th)
City Of Death (4th)
A trilogy:
The Keeper Of Traken (4th)
Logopolis (4th)
Castrovalva (5th)
Caves Of Androzani. (5th)
(I’ve not seen many second Doctor stories, the ones I have seen I can’t recommend. As for the 6th and 7th doctors, they were universally awful. *Battlefield * (7th) is about the best of a bad bunch, if you really want to see it.)
For the past two years, these stories have been voted as the top three by the inhabitants of Doctor Who fansite Outpost Gallifrey:
The Caves of Androzani - featuring the fifth Doctor Peter Davison and his pneumatic assistant Peri
The Talons of Weng-Chiang - featuring the fourth Doctor (and consistent fan favourite) Tom Baker and the scantily-clad warrior Leela
(3. The Power of the Daleks - the first story of the second doctor Patrick Troughton. Of course, only fragments of this story still exist, but that’s fandom for you.)
Some of my favourites (although I can recommend the top two above) are:
Inferno - featuring doctor number three Jon Pertwee, and his companion Liz Shaw - a civilian member of UNIT.
The Ark in Space - again with Tom Baker, and one of the best-loved companions Sarah Jane Smith (who you’ve just seen in School Reunion), and Royal Navy man Harry Sullivan
The Pyramids of Mars - again with Tom and Sarah Jane, and I think one of the most sinister (and yes, the Baker years were mine when growing up)
The BBC Classic Who site along with the Outpost Gallifrey are invaluable sources of information.
The BBC shop has all the DVD’s for sale, or at least the details if you are getting them from Netflix.
Just thought of another one: The Time Warrior, the storyline that indroduced Miss Sara Jane Smith.
Ooh that’s a good one, and I love the tag-line from your link - “A Sontaran warrior brings exciting weaponry to the Middle Ages.”.
More with Douglas Adams’ influence:
The Pirate Planet (a Key to Time story) (writer)
Destiny of the Daleks (script editor)
City of Death (script editor)
The Creature from the Pit (script editor)
Nightmare of Eden (script editor)
The Horns of Nimron (script editor)
Shada (writer)
I think the OP should be warned that old Who is very different from the current version. They’re almost different programmes. I was never a fan before but, curiosity piqued by the new version, I have watched a couple of what are apparently classic stories on YouTube. I really enjoyed “City of Death”, co-written by Douglas Adams (and you can tell - it’s very funny in places). “Talons of Weng Chiang” was very good apart from an incredibly unsubtle performance form the villain. I hated “Genesis of the Daleks”.
Bit difficult to actually watch that one though, isn’t it? Though you could always read the book…
I never enjoyed the Douglas Adams episodes much myself (though I’m a fan of Hitchhikers and all) - he never really seemed to catch the feel of the series for me - too close to descending into slapstick.
I have a particular fondness for the first three Tom Baker episodes (Robot,Ark in Space and Sontaran Experiment). Face of Evil (the first Leela episode) is good too. My all-time favourites would have to be Genesis of the Daleks,Pyramids of Mars and Deadly Assassin. Oh, and the Krynoid one (someone help me out here, my brain’s turned to mush)
Someone may be spotting a common theme in my picks right about now…
Seeds of Doom.
Having watched it from the start :eek: , I echo Usram’s warning.
From ‘behind the couch’ decades ago, I saw cheap simple effects (no CGI, obviously), wobbly scenery, monsters consisting of a man in a rubber suit and lots of scary music before the monster ever appeared.
It was great being gently scared as a kid 
, but quite different from the current shows.
My impressions from all those episodes:
Thankyou! I knew it wouldn’t take long…
Alpha Centauri from the Peladon stories. 
Don’t forget that Season 3 of the current incarnation is starting tonight in the US on SciFi channel.
Warning duly noted. But I hear people on the boards and IRL talk about the old Doctor Whos so lovingly that I’s like to give them a shot.
I know! I’m sad Billie Piper’s gone, but I’m excited nonetheless.
Not impossible: I have a video of it. They released the completed scenes with Tom Baker describing what was missing.
I’ve been a fan since the mid-80s, and have seen all the existing videos. The show does change over the years, but was consistently good throughout.
My favorites:
First Doctor
The Chase – good adventure overall, with an appearance by the Beatles (!), a bizarre scene at the Empire State Building (check out the guy’s accent) and the teddy bear.
Second Doctor
*The War Games *(many of the Second Doctor’s episodes have been lost, so it’s hard to get a feel for him.
The Mind Robber is good primarily for seeing the Doctor’s battle.
Third Doctor
The Three Doctors
Planet of the Spiders
Fourth Doctor
Genesis of the Daleks – essential
Pyramids of Mars
The Brain of Morbius
The Hand of Fear
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
The Pirate Planet – made me a fan. Just a great script.
City of Death – Adams co-write (under a pseudonym). My favorite: witty, but with a great space opera theme.
The Keeper of Traken
Fifth Doctor
Earthshock – for the shock ending.
Mawdrin Undead – spectacular episode; one of the best for dramatic content alone.
Sixth Doctor
Trial of a Time Lord II: Mindwarp – another great shock.
Trial of a Time Lord III: Terror of the Vervoids
Seventh Doctor
Paradise Towers – not for everyone, but a terrifically well-thought out situation and good story. If you like off-beat, this is a gem.
The Happiness Patrol – one of my favorite Dr. Who villains: Helen A.
I’m a fan of Genisis of the Daleks…which in current continuity was likely the first shot in the Time war that ultimately (ok not really) Destroyed the Time Lords and Daleks.
It introduced Davros who was great until he was overused.
My top 5 Dr Whos:
1/ The Daemons - just unbeatably good. The first two Pertwee seasons are classic Who and this one has it all - including the best line of dialouge ever spoken in the series
Lethbridge-Stewart - “Right. Benton - chap with wings - five rounds, rapid!”
2/ Pyramids of Mars - delightfully silly and sinsister and scary
3/ Inferno - Epic Pertwee - great pacing
4/ The Caves of Androzani - best cliff hanger ever at the end of episode 3
5/ Spearhead from Space
More like overacted. The original Davros was a great subtle villain; but the actors who played him later turned him into a ranting maniac.