The three best classic Who serials?

[Shatnertage]

Here are my suggestions. These aren't necessarily the best, but are just a mix of "I liked this one a lot" and "it's representative of a facet of Doctor Who"

1. Robots of Death--Agatha Christie on a sand liner. Surprisingly deep backstory to a standard murder mystery, great design, and good work from Tom Baker. Also my favorite one-off character, D-84.

2. The Time Warrior--a Pertwee pseudo-historical that introduces Sarah Jane Smith, who some consider the most popular companion ever, and who you might be familiar with via her eponymous Adventures. Pertwee doing what he does best, with some UNIT thrown in.

3. The Romans--I had to include something from the b/w era, and while I haven't seen every Hartnell, I really liked his presence in this one. It has a totally different feel from what you're used to in Doctor Who.

Some runners-up include "Tomb of the Cybermen," "City of Death," "Web Planet," "Carnival of Monsters," & "The Ribos Operation." Guess you can tell which way my tastes skew.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

So you're judging it by taking Alexei Sayle's part at face value?

Oh no, of course, I see it as a subtle, multi-layered piece of crap.

I suppose you prefer Cybusmen crying themselves to death, Daleks blowing up by the press of an idiot console, and jokes about oral sex from paving slabs.

Sure.

 

[26138]

actually I thought the 3 best who series were supposedly the 3rd, 4th, and 5th doctor..??

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 6th Doctor is the best.

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 2nd Doctor is the best.

 

[Bones2]

I see more misinformation is at work; the 2nd Doctor is the third best.

 

[jbny67]

Ooh, erm...ever seen Survival? Last story of classic Who, and it's worth a look if you've never seen it.

I have to agree with this. Even though I don't like McCoy and have trouble making it through most of the stories in his run.

 

[Starkers]

actually I thought the 3 best who series were supposedly the 3rd, 4th, and 5th doctor..??

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 6th Doctor is the best.

The Sixth Doctor is definitely the 13th best Doctor for me (I'm leaving the door open for 12 and 13 being better, it seems wise)

 

[Starkers]

1. Robots of Death--Agatha Christie on a sand liner. Surprisingly deep backstory to a standard murder mystery, great design, and good work from Tom Baker. Also my favorite one-off character, D-84.

2. The Time Warrior--a Pertwee pseudo-historical that introduces Sarah Jane Smith, who some consider the most popular companion ever, and who you might be familiar with via her eponymous Adventures. Pertwee doing what he does best, with some UNIT thrown in.

I love both those stories to bits. Both are endlessly rewatchable.

To gain back some sixth Doctor karma I'd suggest Vengence on Varos which is very good (marred only by Jason Connery's acting!)

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 2nd Doctor is the best.

It's self-evident.

 

[captcalhoun]

Battlefield - Seven meets Arthurians knights on a near future Earth and battles Morgana.

Day of the Daleks - Who does The Terminator before The Terminator was written. fuck you Cameron.

The War Games - a renegade Time Lord out to rule the galaxy, evil aliens, time lost soldiers, the reveal of the Doctor's back story.

 

[Candlelight]

The Daleks

Power of the Daleks

Inferno

 

[Winterwind]

Tomb of the Cybermen

Genesis of the Daleks

I can't decide on a third. I can say that it's nothing from the Fifth Doctor's era though.

 

[Takeru]

Thanks again for all the suggestions, I will place my order tomorrow, I just have to decide which serials I want ... it's harder than I thought it would be.

 

[starsuperion]

actually I thought the 3 best who series were supposedly the 3rd, 4th, and 5th doctor..??

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 6th Doctor is the best.

that is debatable.. here is why, you seem to give him a ton of leeway due to his personal circumstances.. but if you were to judge his performance, and overall nature as the doctor while leaving those factors aside, including the director's forcing of the coat..then you may change your perspective, if only briefly.. though it is very hard to convince one who is so dedicated to their already chosen convictions..

actually I thought the 3 best who series were supposedly the 3rd, 4th, and 5th doctor..??

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 6th Doctor is the best.

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 2nd Doctor is the best.

I like the 3RD doctor and the fourth the best.. thus far, and "maybe" the 2nd should anymore of his classic serials materialize in the future..that "maybe" would turn to "definitely"..I am still captivated by the few episodes of the Yeti and the mountain monks episode.. that was awesome!! I wish they would and could find the rest..

so Blame the BBC, and oh yeah.. as usual.. Blame Canada! CDC has some tapes disbursed to their far off stations which are probably not willing to part with their copies.. and probably show the lost episodes at 3AM on Canadian tele..

actually I thought the 3 best who series were supposedly the 3rd, 4th, and 5th doctor..??

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 6th Doctor is the best.

The Sixth Doctor is definitely the 13th best Doctor for me (I'm leaving the door open for 12 and 13 being better, it seems wise)

Ouch..

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 2nd Doctor is the best.

It's self-evident.

Meh.. blame the BBC for there not being enough material to confirm that assumption..I am looking at it from face value.. no handicap added.. this is also for the 6th, with the studio, cheating wife, and wardrobe issues..

 

[OmahaStar]

actually I thought the 3 best who series were supposedly the 3rd, 4th, and 5th doctor..??

Ah, I see you've been misinformed. The 6th Doctor is the best.

that is debatable.. here is why, you seem to give him a ton of leeway due to his personal circumstances.. but if you were to judge his performance, and overall nature as the doctor while leaving those factors aside, including the director's forcing of the coat..then you may change your perspective, if only briefly.. though it is very hard to convince one who is so dedicated to their already chosen convictions..

What do you mean? The Sixth Doctor had some decent stories, the actor was the best of the lot, able to do magic with sub-par scripts, making them entirely enjoyable. He's brilliant, snarky, he's smarter than you and has no problems letting you know it. He is the one who finally strangled Peri (and goddess knows somebody needed to!), and was able to put up with the two worst companions in the series, Peri and Mel.

I'll grant that, for a certain subsection of Doctor Who viewers, Peri was there for eye candy. That's fine. Duct tape over her mouth works wonders.

There is nothing that can work for Mel, short of a blunt object striking her head.

And yet, through all of that, the Sixth Doctor shines through as a shining beacon of hope. He is made of 100% pure awesome.

 

[Starkers]

Meh.. blame the BBC for there not being enough material to confirm that assumption..I am looking at it from face value.. no handicap added.. this is also for the 6th, with the studio, cheating wife, and wardrobe issues..

Say what now?

 

[The]

There is nothing that can work for Mel, short of a blunt object striking her head.

Meh.. blame the BBC for there not being enough material to confirm that assumption..I am looking at it from face value.. no handicap added.. this is also for the 6th, with the studio, cheating wife, and wardrobe issues..

Say what now?

I think he has his facts a little skewed. Based on what I remember: Colin's first wife, by then EX-wife, and Michael Grade were hooking up during Colin's stint as The Doctor. Some cite this as one of the personal reasons Grade aimed to axe the show...

 

[Starkers]

Ah, I was not aware of that.

 

[starsuperion]

Look all I am saying is to take it for face value.. Nothing more.. not the actor's plight or his ability to over achieve in a dull and drab setting.. I am sure that the 2nd doctor is one of the best, however, I think that because we are missing so much of his work, we have to consider that as a detrimental factor, like wise would you really say on face value that the 6th was the best?? I think that the 3rd is pretty up there in terms of one of the best docs there was because of the story and attention to detail in the series..and his actions were amazing!!

 

[FallOfFingolfin]

I am sure that the 2nd doctor is one of the best, however, I think that because we are missing so much of his work, we have to consider that as a detrimental factor

Well, that's just BS. His performances in the stories that do survive are so damn good that there's no reason we can't measure him on the same level with other Doctors.

 

[captcalhoun]

personally, after seeing Two in Tomb, Invasion, War Games and Three Doctors, i can definitely say he's in my top 3 of the eight doctors i've seen since 2005.

NB, I've not watched any 5, 6 or 1 yet. aside from One's appearances in T3D.

of the five doctors i've seen from the '63 to '89 era, Two is second only to Seven in my affections with Three close behind followed by Four.

for anal-retentive completeness sake, here's what i've watched of the classic era in the past two years.

Tomb of the Cybermen
The Invasion
The War Games
Spearhead from Space
and the Silurians
Inferno
Terror of the Autons
Day of the Daleks
Curse of Peladon
The Sea Devils
The Three Doctors
Frontier in Space
Planet of the Daleks
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Sontarran Experiment
Genesis of the Daleks
Destiny of the Daleks
City of Death
Remembrance of the Daleks
Battlefield
Ghost Light
Survival