The three best classic Who serials?

[Fenric]

the 3 I would pick would be

The Invasion - love this story and with the whole anime esq cartoons for the missing episodes make this a fantastic story to watch

Genesis of the Daleks - Great story with moral dilemma's a whole and seeing Davros for the first time

Curse OF Fenric - this is a great story from a much forgotten era of Doctor Who

 

[Takeru]

I ordered yesterday and instead of ordering 3 serials, I ordered ... 16. I just couldn't decide and they were so cheap I decided to get more.

If anyones interested, I ordered:
The Beginning (because it includes The Daleks and I figured the first serials are a good starting point, just to see how much the show changed over time)
The Rescue/The Romans
The War Games (I'm waiting for the re-release of Tomb of the Cybermen)
Inferno
The three Doctors
Beneath the Surface (The Silurians, The Sea Devils and Warriors of the Deep)
Bred for War (The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment, The Invasion of Time and The two Doctors)
The Curse of Fenric

I'm going to see all Doctors, historical stories, aliens, Sarah Jane's first story, some villains I know from the new show etc., I hope it's a good mix. If I like what I see I'm going to order more, does anyone know how long the sale at amazon will last? I have to pay £90 for everything, if they go back to £20 for a single serial that's going to kill me.

 

[captcalhoun]

they've been cheap for literally months.

 

[Takeru]

Then I hope they stay cheap.

I'm really exited right now, can't wait to get the DVDs, I don't have to go back to work for another 3 weeks, so the timing couldn't be better.

 

[captcalhoun]

well, i bought a load last year for the same kinda prices they're going for now, and then again at christmas, in march and a few weeks back.

they tend to start at the £12 mark and then drop down after ~6 months or so.

 

[The Lensman]

I ordered yesterday and instead of ordering 3 serials, I ordered ... 16. I just couldn't decide and they were so cheap I decided to get more.

If anyones interested, I ordered:
The Beginning (because it includes The Daleks and I figured the first serials are a good starting point, just to see how much the show changed over time)
The Rescue/The Romans
The War Games (I'm waiting for the re-release of Tomb of the Cybermen)
Inferno
The three Doctors
Beneath the Surface (The Silurians, The Sea Devils and Warriors of the Deep)
Bred for War (The Time Warrior, The Sontaran Experiment, The Invasion of Time and The two Doctors)
The Curse of Fenric

I'm going to see all Doctors, historical stories, aliens, Sarah Jane's first story, some villains I know from the new show etc., I hope it's a good mix. If I like what I see I'm going to order more, does anyone know how long the sale at amazon will last? I have to pay £90 for everything, if they go back to £20 for a single serial that's going to kill me.

Well you picked several that I was going to recommend.

Of the First Doctor, The Romans would prolly be a good intro. It's four parts, and it's got lots of humour. Typically when someone requests things like this, I can't help but make sure a First Doctor serial is in there somewhere. This is the original concept...and I love it. I prefered Dalek Invasion Of Earth over The Daleks tho'.....surprisingly dark episode.

It was a toss up between Inferno and The War Games. I love parallel world stories, and this was a good one. The War Games was also excellent....but verrrry long.

My third recommendation would've been a Fourth Doctor ep due to his longevity with the series and his status in DW history.

Again, it would've been a toss up.....between Robots Of Death and Talons of Weng Chiang. Generally I'd lean towards Talon, I just love that ep...but Robots is also a great ep as well...I'd love to see another glimpse of that world.

Fortunately, since you've already decided, I won't have to worry about making those final calls.

As for the Sixth Doctor being the "best"....only if by "best" you mean "hey, at least he's generally considered the second worst Doctor"....then yes, he's the "best".

But considering how much crap he was saddled with, he did do the best he could....and I do actually enjoy him.

McCoy.....I've tried and I just can't find anything that endears him to me. Survival was an embarassment and about the worst episode to go out on. But hey, it could've been worse, it could've been Ghost Light.

 

[Bones2]

As for the Sixth Doctor being the "best"....only if by "best" you mean "hey, at least he's generally considered the second worst Doctor"....then yes, he's the "best".

Oh, how funny. How do you come up with them.

 

[The Lensman]

As for the Sixth Doctor being the "best"....only if by "best" you mean "hey, at least he's generally considered the second worst Doctor"....then yes, he's the "best".

Oh, how funny. How do you come up with them.

Lighten up Francis and learn how to take a joke.

 

[Bones2]

Traditionally, jokes are funny.

 

[starsuperion]

So what is the best Dalek and Cyberman stories??

 

[Whofan]

"Genesis Of The Daleks" is probably the most highly rated out of the Daleks stories. Funny thing is that it's more a story about Davros and the ethics of changing time than the Daleks.


"Rememberance of the Daleks" is my personal second best. McCoy actually, for the most part, gives an understated, quieter performance as the Doctor in this one (at least until his confrontation at the end).


Cybermen wise, "Earthshock" is considered by many to be the best of the later stories, with "Tomb Of The Cybermen" being the best of the B & W era.

 

[Captain Pike]

Power of the Daleks or Evil of the Daleks were probably the best dalek stories, with Dalek Invasion of Earth or Genesis.. after that. For the cybermen it has to be Tomb.. or The Invasion.

 

[Mr Light]

I liked the Tom Baker Cyber-Men story. Was that "Revenge of the Cyber-Men"? Actually I think that might be the only one I've seen aside from one of the B&W ones once and Five Doctors. I don't think I saw Earthshock.

 

[Bones2]

So what is the best Dalek and Cyberman stories??

Revelation and Tomb, in my opinion. Followed by Remembrance and either Earthshock or Tenth Planet.

 

[starsuperion]

I remember the genesis dalek episode, which I think is book ended quite nicely with the return to skarro and the movellans..

However, I do like the chase, and I am curious as to why that serial never gets any play?? as for the older dalek episodes, I need to research and watch.. and as for the cyberman stories.. the most I have seen were the C. Baker era and Davidson, and tomb.. so I need to see the invasion era, and the T. Baker one..

how is the silurian episode? classic of course, and as for the show inferno, is it worth watching??

 

[Bones2]

how is the silurian episode? classic of course, and as for the show inferno, is it worth watching??

Doctor Who and the Silurians is one of my all time top 3 stories, and Inferno's pretty good (think I gave it 4 out of 5 on my last watch).

Also, in my last post about Dalek and Cybermen stories, I should have put Attack as my second favourite Cyberman story, but embarrassingly I completely forgot about it.

 

[Captain Pike]

However, I do like the chase, and I am curious as to why that serial never gets any play??

I know some folks like it, and I don't hate it exactly, but it has its problems..

The people in the fish costumes look poor, even for the time.

The haunted house bit is confusing, and imo, ill-conceived.

The Mechanoids are just a badly designed 'monster'. Huge, unweildy and laughable. The mechanoid/dalek fight would have come accross better if the mechanoids were actually established as a threat.

The decision to use another actor to portray the 'cloned' doctor is questionable at best, and it turns those scenes into farce because he simply does not look anything like Billy Hartnell. Why they simply didn't just film the actor from the back and use Hartnell's face for close ups for both parts is beyond me.

Also, the astrological signs around the 'Time Space Visualizer' thingimabob annoy me on an anal-retentive-fan level..

and as for the show inferno, is it worth watching??

Very much so. It's one of the better Pertwee stories.

 

[Starkers]

Inferno rocks! Especially for the Brig and Liz Shaw...

 

[Whofan]

Yeah, it's an alternate universe story. Kind of Like Mirror Mirror but much longer and the Doctor isn't swapped out with his alternate universe counterpart .


Revenge of The Cybermen I think was the first ever Doctor Who released on home video-basically, if I recall, the Cybermen were pretty popular at the time because of Earthshock, and they wanted to start with a Tom Baker release-so we ended up with Revenge of the Cybermen being the first video tape. However it's often considered among the worst of the Cybermen stories for several reasons. Suprisingly, it was originally suppossed to be the Cybermen counterpart to Genesis of the Daleks (Something we eventually got in Spare Parts) but became a completely different story.


Earthshock is pretty excellent. Although it uses the more emotional Cybermen and gold weakness (but not the costume designs) and a similar plot to Revenge, it's a much better executed/written.

 

[Anji]

I'd like to cast my votes for:

Inferno. Loved it. Pertwee at his best plus a killer plot.

The Sea Devils. Also excellent Pertwee, plus THE Master, Roger Delgado. The cool animosity the two characters had for each other really shines through.

War Games. The Troughton Mega-series that will leave you exhausted. Watch late at night with plenty of popcorn to enjoy it at its fullest.