Best single episode to 'hook' someone on Doctor Who?

[The]

Well ignoring the ice cream crap

why not just show them the first episode YOU saw.

I would if I could remember exactly which one it was. I was five years old, and it was a Tom Baker episode. I'm pretty certain it was Revenge of the Cybermen, because I seem to remember the whole cave/"Harry Sullivan is an imbecile" scene. Of course, I had caught the show by accident, thinking Sesame Street should be on PBS at that time. What I saw made noooo fucking sense to me, and everyone talked in the strangest accents I'd ever heard. So, naturally, I was hooked.

However, as far as showing someone a legitimate example of Doctor Who, I'd have to go with something like City of Death, which presents Classic Who in its original Golden Age. Or, I'd go with The Empty Child two-parter, because it's the only NuWho I think stands as a perfect cornerstone to the show. Doctor and companion land in relatively familiar Earth setting, get involved, alien nanogenes, scary gas-mask zombies, and "Everybody lives!" The mood is perfect, the directing excellent, the cast the best TARDIS ensemble nuWho has ever seen, and the story is spot-on. There's not a groan-worthy moment in there. So, I always pop that one in with pride in my show...

 

[Cyke101]

First off, ice cream is NOT CRAP.

*ahem*

Anyway, I was trying to come up with a single episode per the OP criteria, but I found myself picking three, not surprisingly one for each of the modern Doctors:

-End of the World
-Smith and Jones
-Eleventh Hour

Of the three, I think the last one is closest in spirit to the mythos as a whole (and it even has the montage that drives it home like a sledgehammer), but I've had friends who were hooked on episodes like The Girl in the Fireplace as well.

 

[Pauln6]

Unearthly Child

or maybe Blink.

 

[Captain Pike]

It's a tough one. I know the OP singles out Blink as being disqualified, but I showed it to some not-we friends a couple of years ago and they still can't stop talking about how awesome they thought it was.

Otherwise I'd say The Eleventh Hour (modern) or Genesis.. (classic).

 

[Starkers]

What happened to this forum? It used to be a nice place, now it's just filled with predujice and blantant icecreamaphobia.

Someone'll mention RTD's pudding agenda soon.

 

[Whettestone]

Or, I'd go with The Empty Child two-parter, because it's the only NuWho I think stands as a perfect cornerstone to the show.

With one little exception: The "Everybody Lives!" references you made. It's like the only episode of the entire series where no one actually dies, that makes it stand away as a common example.

This episode allows me to bring up two more things. The first is the High Death Rate on the show, with the exception of Empty Child, (and yes Blink). The modern episodes even play up warnings that when the Doctor shows up, death follows. Doctor Who, 24, Friday the 13th TV Series, a few others have an insanely high death rate, killing people in almost every episode.

Second, modern Who is hard to understand the accents. Hartnell through Colin Baker all talked English. Sylvester McCoy to Smith talk funny. I can understand every word Jon Pertwee ever spoke. But I have to keep rewinding the tape to decipher half of what is spoken by Rose, Donna Noble, Eccelston and even Sylvester McCoy. It's like they're from another country. I clearly remember rewinding parts of EMPTY CHILD to understand what they just said. It took me YEARS to translate english on Red Dwarf, British pop culture references aside.

Did I make any point worth following up on?

I personally showed my cousins Colin Baker's Time-Lash (I like it), Remembrance of the Daleks, The Five Doctors, and (don't hate me) that Ice World episode where McCoy picked up Ace (we were bored). Showed someone else Robot, but that's because I was watching it anyway when he showed up. Made a relative watch Blake's 7's "Orbit" entirely just for the scene where Avon considered killing Vila to lighten the ship ("Damn it Orac what weighs 70 kilos?" "Vila weighs 73 kilos").

 

[Starkers]

"You know you're always safe with me, Vila."

 

[Sci]

Second, modern Who is hard to understand the accents. Hartnell through Colin Baker all talked English. Sylvester McCoy to Smith talk funny.

You're confusing speaking English with speaking with a Received Pronunciation accent. The latter Doctors tend to speak with regional accents instead of R.P.

I can understand every word Jon Pertwee ever spoke. But I have to keep rewinding the tape to decipher half of what is spoken by Rose, Donna Noble, Eccelston and even Sylvester McCoy.

*shrugs* I'm an American, I've never left the United States except for five minutes on the Canadian side of the border at Niagra Falls when I was 8, and I understand all of those characters just fine.

I think that sort of thing really depends on the individual and how familiar they are with the different British accents that are out there.

It's like they're from another country.

Well, another constituent country of the United Kingdom, at any rate...

 

[Whofan]

I'm not sure about Curse of Fenric (recommended by a few posters). It's kind of a complicated story and requires knowledge of the other McCoy serials to fully graspe it. Pyramid Of Mars has a similar story and does it much better IMO.

 

[The]

What does Curse require foreknowledge on?

 

[Whofan]

Mainly Dragonfire and Silver Nemesis, which establish Ace's origin story and the whole time storm/chess business. Also, the whole Cartmel masterplan thing.

 

[The]

OH! Right! I had forgotten about the Ace storyline. You're correct.

 

[Whofan]

In addition to Dragonfire and Silver Nemesis, "Fenric" also forms a loose trilogy of sorts with Ghost Light and Survival-all serials which for the most part focus on Ace's past.


Funny thing is, it was not intended that way. "Curse" was actually shot first, with I believe "Survival" second, Battlefield third and Ghost Light last. That's why McCoy is wearing the big coat for a few episodes, the new brown coat was suppossed to be a suprise reveal. But the episode order was flipped and we ended up with Battlefield first.

 

[Shatnertage]

How about "Ark in Space?" It's certainly representative of Classic Who, and there are some great moments.

Plus, if you can buy a guy with packing bubbles taped around his arm as an alien, you've already won the battle.

For NooWho, I'd say "Blink," ignoring for a second the OP specifically saying no "Blink."

If not that, then "The Lodger."

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Maybe Gridlock, Eleventh Hour or Empty Child/Doctor Dances (not a single ep I know). I'm going for good eps that have the essence of Doctor Who which is hard because there's different aspects.

For classic Who, Remembrance of the Daleks worked well for me when I hadn't watched any old Who in a long time. I think it feels more modern than a lot of the classic stuff. Despite the continuity elements I think it still works fine.

 

[Captain Pike]

How about "Ark in Space?" It's certainly representative of Classic Who, and there are some great moments.

I'd go along with that. In fact, pretty much any Hinchcliffe era Baker story would be suitable.

 

[watermelony2k]

I'd have to go with "The Eleventh Hour" at this point of time.

 

[23skidoo]

Although it doesn't fulfill all of the OP's criteria, I also have to go with Blink as the perfect jumping on point. It explains the essence of the show and time travel, the character of the Doctor and his impact on people, his relationship to his companion, and even neatly explains what the TARDIS is about, all in one fell swoop. Which is why Moffat took home a Hugo for it and is one of the reasons why he got the showrunner's chair later. Plus there's the added bonus of Carey Mulligan making the episode perfect for showing someone who might have a "nose in the air" attitude towards sci-fi by showing the calibre of people who get involved in the show.

I'm also "insisting" on Blink as a starter because it's also an episode that doesn't require the new viewer to have to worry about stuff like regeneration and all.

While there are any number of stories in which the Doctor is on screen 100% of the time that would also make great jumping on points, Blink remains the perfect example of "less is more". The Doctor may be on screen for less than 5 minutes, but he nonetheless dominates every scene.

Follow it up with The Eleventh Hour since the newbie will need to know what's up with the more recent episodes, and it sums up the issue of regeneration neatly.

Alex

 

[Bones2]

Second, modern Who is hard to understand the accents. Hartnell through Colin Baker all talked English. Sylvester McCoy to Smith talk funny. I can understand every word Jon Pertwee ever spoke. But I have to keep rewinding the tape to decipher half of what is spoken by Rose, Donna Noble, Eccelston and even Sylvester McCoy. It's like they're from another country.

I think I might know why that is.

I'm not sure about Curse of Fenric (recommended by a few posters). It's kind of a complicated story and requires knowledge of the other McCoy serials to fully graspe it.

Well, being complicated shouldn't be held against it. And the references to continuity are pretty much explained in themselves. You won't end up thinking "what the bloody hell?" if you haven't seen Dragonfire and Silver Nemesis. It successfully builds up mystery not only about the situation but also about the Doctor and ought to leave people wanting to see more.

Pyramid Of Mars has a similar story and does it much better IMO.

I disagree, but there you go. That's what we're here for.

For NooWho, I'd say "Blink," ignoring for a second the OP specifically saying no "Blink."

If not that, then "The Lodger."

Well, the thing with Blink is it's not representative of what Doctor Who usually does, and the same goes for The Lodger (only I think The Lodger is complete rubbish too). I still think The Beast Below is probably the best example in the new show of a great Doctor Who story that plays to the show's strengths - the Doctor and Amy show up (though they've only been together for one episode so it does more by way of introduction to the characters as well), something odd is going on, and it's both clever and intriguing and, ultimately, emotional.

For classic Who, Remembrance of the Daleks worked well for me when I hadn't watched any old Who in a long time. I think it feels more modern than a lot of the classic stuff. Despite the continuity elements I think it still works fine.

Remembrance works on one level in that there's lots of action and Daleks blowing up and stuff, but for anyone after a story it really is very continuity heavy. It's the same reason I didn't suggest Revelation.

Plus there's the added bonus of Carey Mulligan making the episode perfect for showing someone who might have a "nose in the air" attitude towards sci-fi by showing the calibre of people who get involved in the show.

It was before she became really famous though, wasn't it?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

For classic Who, Remembrance of the Daleks worked well for me when I hadn't watched any old Who in a long time. I think it feels more modern than a lot of the classic stuff. Despite the continuity elements I think it still works fine.

Remembrance works on one level in that there's lots of action and Daleks blowing up and stuff, but for anyone after a story it really is very continuity heavy. It's the same reason I didn't suggest Revelation.

You may be right, maybe it would only appeal to action guys though I thought it had more to it than that but it has been a while since I watched it. It did whet my appetite well though to check out more.

Plus there's the added bonus of Carey Mulligan making the episode perfect for showing someone who might have a "nose in the air" attitude towards sci-fi by showing the calibre of people who get involved in the show.

It was before she became really famous though, wasn't it?

I think they might still be impressed that Carey Mulligan is in it. Like "Oh hey, Carey Mulligan!" even if it's not "Wow, this show is so big and good they got Carey Mulligan to do it".