Pick me some RTD (maybe Classic) Who to watch!

[Rowan Sjet]

Looking over the list of episodes in NuWho series 1-4, it looks like I watched at least a bit, usually all, of everything up to Doomsday. After that, I became a bit of an intermittent viewer, missing quite a few eps along the way.

Since series 5 started and my interest was renewed substantially, I've since gone back and watched some of them, but I'd like your opinions on what to try next. These are the eps I have yet to see much, if any, of:

Runaway Bride
Gridlock to Lazarus Experiment
Voyage of the Damned
Fires of Pompeii to Unicorn and the Wasp
Turn Left to Journey's End
Next Doctor
End of Time Part 1

In addition, I also gave Troughton's Tomb of the Cybermen a go after Matt Smith in an interview recommended it to Karen Gillan. If you want to suggest a Classic Who ep to try, feel free.

 

[Count Zero]

Runaway Bride

Not a must-see, I guess, though it introduces Donna, the Doctor's companion in season 4. I liked it, but opinions are divided.

Gridlock to Lazarus Experiment

Gridlock.

Voyage of the Damned

Again, opinions are divided on some of the scenes, but overall I feel it's a great special. Quite gritty.

Fires of Pompeii to Unicorn and the Wasp
Turn Left to Journey's End

You should definetely watch season 4. In my opinion, it was the best of the new show. And polls here have shown that a lot of people share that view.

End of Time Part 1

You watched part 2, but not part 1?


As for Classic Who, I'd recommend The Dalek Invasion of Earth, a First Doctor story.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

You watched part 2, but not part 1?

Heh, yeah. Doctor Who is one of the shows my family watches during or after our evening meals. However, during series 3-4 I usually snuck off to go on the computer upstairs or watch something else when it came on. Part 2 was one of the times I stuck around.

 

[Count Zero]

Mmh, but did it make sense to you? I'm not sure how I would have felt about The End of Time if I had missed most of series 4 and the first part of it. The Doctor arriving on the Oodsphere in part 1 is one of the best scenes, ever, I think, especially after the dark ending of The Waters of Mars. Maybe you should watch series 4 and then The End of Time.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Yeah, series 4 seems a good place to go on (I do on the whole like what little I've seen of Donna). Not sure if I want to catch all of them though, so do you have a top two from the list to start me off?

 

[Count Zero]

Definetely Forest of the Dead/Silence in the Library and Midnight. But from the early season Planet of the Ood is sort of important for The End of Time. I also liked the Sontarran two-parter.
In my opinion, the weaker episodes of this series are The Fires of Pompeii (though it has some great scenes), The Doctor's Daughter (again, it has some great scenes and it's an interesting idea) and The Unicorn and the Wasp (it has a hilarious scene, though), but you seem to have seen most of them already.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

^ I can't agree with that. Fires of Pompeii is a must-see. Doctor's Daughter... well, I'm in the minority in really liking that one. Unicorn I don't think much of. Turn Left, Stolen Earth and Journey's End are must-sees. The Next Doctor is really good as well. The rest... you can survive without, although none of them are out and out terrible.

 

[Candlelight]

Timelash.

 

[Captain Pike]

Timelash.

Anyway, The Seeds of Doom, aka 'The shit'.

 

[The Sonic Mole]

If you enjoyed the Troughton stuff I highly recommend The Invasion...

 

[Cutter John]

For series 3, theres Gridlock, Human Nature, The Family of Blood. Oh, and of course the 3-part season finale.

Go ahead and check out all of season 4. Good stuff.

If you enjoyed the Troughton stuff I highly recommend The Invasion...

I'll second that. Plus its a good set up should you decide to move on to Pertwee.

And just out of personal preference. Pyramid of Mars.

 

[The Sonic Mole]

For series 3, theres Gridlock, Human Nature, The Family of Blood. Oh, and of course the 3-part season finale.

Go ahead and check out all of season 4. Good stuff.

If you enjoyed the Troughton stuff I highly recommend The Invasion...

I'll second that. Plus its a good set up should you decide to move on to Pertwee.

And just out of personal preference. Pyramid of Mars.

Pyramids of Mars is def highly recommended. To be honest though Classic Who is a very deep and plentiful well to to drink from!

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I think I've got an idea of what I'll be checking out now, I'll come back and let you know what I thought when I've done so.

Definetely Forest of the Dead/Silence in the Library and Midnight.

Human Nature, The Family of Blood.

These are the episodes that make up my recent rewatch so far actually (along with 42 - what? I had to see how bad it was in comparison to Chibnall's recent effort) and I enjoyed each of them a fair bit. I'd actually be interested in Paul Cornell doing a series 6 ep, despite finding the first part a little weaker than the second.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

-

 

[HappyDayRiot]

I don't understand why everyone hates 42.

 

[Starkers]

I don't hate 42, it's just incredibly bland. Not NuWho's worst but not really very interesting (despite being set on a space and all which I'd normally love as a matter oc course)

Best thing about it is the joke it prompted a friend of mine to make, namely that David Tennant should have said "Gurn with me!"

 

[Rowan Sjet]

I don't hate 42, it's just incredibly bland.

That's how I found it to be as well.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Watched Gridlock today, intriguing idea. A whole population stuck going in circles with nowhere else to go. The Bliss virus reminded me of the Pax from the movie Serenity. I had a bit of trouble buying the non-regular characters' behaviours (particularly the kidnapper couple) but that's a general problem with RTD's writing I have.

My favourite part was the Doctor using Martha's ignorance of his past to try to pretend the time war hadn't happened. That was a good emotional beat for him I thought. Second favourite would be the visuals of the Doctor dropping down through each level of traffic to reach Martha.

I'd put this at slightly above average.

 

[Cutter John]

Agreed on 42. One of the stories I've never rewatched.

Gridlock was one of my favorites though. Crazy, but brilliant story. And how can you not love Brannigan, Valerie, and talking kittens?

Not to mention the Troughton callback.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

The kittens talked? Musta missed that. And Brannigan was fun, but the actor playing him is very familiar from his other roles so it was a bit distracting.

What was the Troughton callback? The Macras?