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Need Whovians Opinions

Starfleet Engineer

Starfleet Engineer

Vice Admiral
Admiral
A long time ago I asked what episodes/series from each Doctor people here considered essential viewing. I received several suggestions and just put this list together today. I wanted to ask if you believe this covers the essential Doctor Who or would you suggest additional shows. Here's the list.

The Beginning DVD set
The Pyramids of Mars
The Caves of Androzoni
The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
Horror of Fang Rock
Resurrection of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks
The Visitation
Earthshock
The Curse of Fenric
Spearhead from Space
Carnival of Monsters
Revelation of the Daleks
The Ark in Space
The Robots of Death
The Three Doctors
The Key to Time
The Invasion
Genesis of the Daleks
City of Death

I've already seen The Five Doctors.
 
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Add Tom Baker's City of Death in there, and remove Liesure Hive, and that should pretty much cover it. Also, you may want to watch those in order... ;)
 
Good! And, really, Leisure Hive is complete ass. City of Death is considered to be one of THE best Doctor Who's ever made... :techman:
 
Agree City of Death is a good one and IMO a must see

Would personally add Genesis of the Daleks as a must see

and on a personal note, one of my absolute favourites is The Green Death
 
Personally I think The Invasion is better than Tomb, so I'd add that in. Also I think you should add Vengence on Varos(but that might just be me!)
 
Definitely add City of Death and Genesis of the Daleks. And definitely ditch Leisure Hive. I'd also add The Invasion.
 
OK, The Leisure Hive is gone and I've added suggestions.

The Green Death and Vengeance on Varos, would those be considered essential?
 
^Come on, man! I love Colin's era as much as you, but we both know Trial of the Time Lord is NOT essential.

Starfleet Engineer, Vengence is a good intro to the 6th Doctor's era (and there's not many of those), but I wouldn't say it's "essential". Same with the Green Death...
 
The said:
Add Tom Baker's City of Death in there, and remove Liesure Hive, and that should pretty much cover it. Also, you may want to watch those in order... ;)
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Depends what you mean by essential, as in...
City of Death? It's excellent (so essential), it contributes absolutely nothing to the ongoing 'mythos' (so utterly inessential), it epitomizes the entire approach of the series for that era (so essential).
Leisure Hive? It's a shocking sea-change in the entire style of the series (so essential, as part of the history of the series), it also contributes nothing to the ongoing mythology (so inessential). Oh, and personally, I like it (but I hated it at the time... too big a change!)

As the first UNIT story, Invasion is probably a bit of an essential from any point of view.

To Starfleet Engineer: Trial of a Time Lord doesn't actually take place on Gallifrey, but might as well do, as it's on a Time Lord space station.
However, it's a story which offers more than it delivers(for complicated behind-the-scenes reasons, including deaths and resignations among the writers involved in its 14 week run).
 
Starfleet Engineer said:
OmahaStar said:
Any list which does not include Trial of a Time Lord is incomplete.
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Hmmm. Sounds like something I'd probably like. Does it take place on Galifrey and do ya learn a lot about the mythology of Time Lords?
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No, and not really :)

It's a bit misleading really - the 'trial', rather than an actual trial per se, is more of an excuse to show three stories as evidence in the trial.

Really, it's not one of Who's higher points...
 
I kind of liked the Trial episodes but to each their own I suppose. They don't make up the best of Who but the last two parts are awesome.
 
Starfleet Engineer said:
OmahaStar said:
Any list which does not include Trial of a Time Lord is incomplete.
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Hmmm. Sounds like something I'd probably like. Does it take place on Galifrey and do ya learn a lot about the mythology of Time Lords?
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None of it takes place on Gally. The trial takes place on a space station fashioned after the planet, though entirely done by Time Lords and Ladies. Basically, Gallifrey puts the Doctor on trial for his very life, and he has to defend himself against events that haven't even happened yet. Or have they? Bwahahaha.

High point - Peri goes away. Low point - she's replaced by the screamer Melanie Bush.
 
I'd put Tomb of the Cybermen on the list - come on, it's a classic that I can re-watch over and over.

I'd add The Dalek Invasion of Earth because it's the first return of the Daleks, and it's not too bad - they even updated the wobbly spaceship in the DVD version (yes, you can watch it with the updated stuff off, if you like).

I'd also add The War Games on the list. I urge this one - it's 10 episodes, but it's Troughton's final serial and the first appearance of the Time Lords. It also lays out why the Third Doctor is stuck on Earth for the first part of his regeneration.
 
Presuming you only want those available on DVD...

First Doctor: The Aztecs is a must. The Rescue, The Romans and The Time Meddler are also well worth it.

Second Doctor: very few stories surviving, but The Mind Robber is superb.

Third Doctor: Doctor Who and the Silurians, Inferno, The Sea Devils and The Time Warrior.

Fourth Doctor: The Brain of Morbius, The Deadly Assassin (out on DVD soon), Warriors' Gate, The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis.

Fifth Doctor: Castrovalva.

Seventh Doctor: Delta and the Bannermen (also coming out soon).
 
The list does seems a bit short on Masterly goodness though. Wish they'd hurry up and get Terror of the Autons or Frontier in Space out. I think there are currently just the two Delgado stories out. They're okay, but probably not 'essential' viewing.

OTOH, I would add the New Beginnings box set to the list. The transition from Tom Baker to Peter Davison, plus the return of the Master probably qualify.

Edit: Oops, Andrew beat me two that last recomendation. Oh and I somehow forgot The Time Meddler. It was quite the milestone in DW history. Plus its a damn entertaining story thats a bit better paced than most Hartnells
 
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