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Well, I thought it might be fun to rank and rate the individual eras of each Doctor, and starting this is Jon Pertwee, because his era is the one with the most complete serials. And I know that the era are mostly distictive by way of the producer, but at least in this case, the entire Pertwee era is also the Barry Letts/Terrance Dicks era, so thats fortunate.
Now, one ground rule: Multi-Doctor stories from after he's left don't count in this. So no The Five Doctors, I'm afraid.
So... Which one of Pertwee's 23 serials* is the best for you? Which season was the best, overall? Which one was the worst and why? How'd you rank the seasons and the stories themselves?
* I count the Frontier in Space/Planet of the Daleks serials as one, mainly because they really do bleed one into the other, and story-wise make sense as such. Its not very different from other long serial like that, I think - the only thing it missed, IMO, as a Delgado appearence in the last episode, to really hammer the point home. But anyway.
I will say this, though: Because Letts and Dicks basically oversaw this Doctor's entire era, I do believe this is the most consistent one, in terms of feel, setting, visuals and overall aesthetic - unlike the following Tom Baker era, which is really two eras (Hintchcliffe, Williams) with a little of the upcoming 80's dominance (JNT). Anyway, discuss!
I disagree with combining Frontier in Space & Planet of the Daleks, since Frontier is so much better and the transition isn't as smooth as it should have been.
Day of the Daleks is the best for me - a superbly written predestination paradox serial. The special edition DVD version of the ep also fixes the weaknesses in the original production.
From best to worst:
Day of the Daleks
Spearhead from Space
Carnival of Monsters
Doctor Who and the Silurians
Inferno
Terror of the Autons
The Sea Devils
Ambassadors of Death
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
The Time Monster
The Green Death
The Three Doctors
The Time Warrior
Frontier in Space
Planet of the Spiders
The Mind of Evil
The Claws of Axos
Colony in Space
The Mutants
----- -cut off line for me overall enjoying the episode
The Daemons
Death to the Daleks
Planet of the Daleks
The Curse of Peladon
The Monster of Peladon
series best to worst:
Series 7
Series 10
Series 9
Series 8
Series 11, which has to deal with having the god awful "Monster of Peladon"
I haven't thought of mine, yet. But I do know that The Mutants is easily the worst Pertwee serial, for me. There is absolutely nothing good about that one. Its terminally boring, with one of the worst actors ever on DW.
I've yet to watch any of the Sarah Jane episodes, and skipped a couple of Jo's but here's mine.
Ambassadors of Death
Day of the Daleks
Spearhead from Space
Frontier in Space
The Mind of Evil
Doctor Who and the Silurians
The Curse of Peladon
The Green Death
The Three Doctors
The Sea Devils
Terror of the Autons
The Daemons
Planet of the Daleks
Carnival of Monsters
Inferno
Inferno just totally misses the point it could have made. The Doctor just makes all the same mistakes on his return to his world as he did in the 'mirror' universe.
Overall, I'd say Pertwee had the most consistent quality run of all the OldWho Doctors. The first two would have some wildly inconsistent runs, while the Fourth's era never quite recovered from Hintchcliffe's exit (though he was as good as always). The Fifth's run is also inconsistent, as its victim of awful storytelling, non-existent characterization and bad effects for a lot of the time, with the occasional gem per season. Colin Baker was also doomed - his first season is basically shit, while his second, while decent, still was rather problematic. McCoy... well, the less said about series 24, the better.
Meanwhile, Pertwee, who's not my favorite Doctor by any means, is the one whose entire run was, on the whole, decent. It wasn't a great time for the show, but it was one of its best by the sheer lack of bad stories. The way I look at it, there are some weak stories here but even they have their entertainment value, and I can only really count three stories are bad, the worst of them being The Mutants, a storytelling drivel with awful acting and some of the worst casting OldWho's ever employed.
23.The Mutants 22.Death to the Daleks 21.The Claws of Axos 20.The Monster of Peladon 19.Invasion of the Dinosaurs 18.The Time Monster 17.Frontier in Space/Planet of the Daleks 16.The Mind of Evil 15.Colony in Space 14.The Ambassadors of Death 13.Carnival of Monsters 12.The Curse of Peladon 11.Planet of the Spiders 10.The Dæmons 9. The Green Death 8. The Silurians 7. Inferno 6. The Sea Devils 5. Terror of the Autons 4. The Three Doctors 3. Spearhead from Space 2. Day of the Daleks 1. The Time Warrior
Not an era I'm particularly fond of - probably only the top 4 would make my top 100 Who stories of all time list.
However from best to worst.
Inferno
Spearhead from Space
Carnival of Monsters
The Time Warrior
The Green Death
Doctor Who and the Silurians
Terror of the Autons
Ambassadors of Death
The Three Doctors
Colony in Space
The Sea Devils
Day of the Daleks
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Frontier in Space
The Curse of Peladon
Planet of the Spiders
The Mind of Evil
Death to the Daleks
The Mutants
Planet of the Daleks
The Monster of Peladon
The Daemons
The Claws of Axos
The Time Monster
I haven't thought of mine, yet. But I do know that The Mutants is easily the worst Pertwee serial, for me. There is absolutely nothing good about that one. Its terminally boring, with one of the worst actors ever on DW.
I love The Mutants! They pack so much into it. It feels very real to me. Lots of different things going on in different settings and it feels like a real world and real galactic civilization with a history. I know it's not the most popular story but I just love it. I saw it again recently and it was still just as good.
I've spent the past several weeks watching and enjoying the 3rd Doctor era. Though I'm not very good at doing rankings. But it's a very fun era of Classic Who and I can't say I've been bored with a serial so far.
The 3rd Doctor isn't my cup of tea. I have no issues with Pertwee himself or the stories, but I like my Doctors eccentric (Troughton, Tom Baker, Matt Smith) and #3 is just too self-assured and lacks any alien-ness. I guess the reasons why I'm not a James Bond fan are the reasons I'm not big on Pertwee.
I haven't seen every story yet, maybe about two-thirds. Some I'll admit I'll have to rewatch with greater attention. Others I fell asleep to (like the Mutants....I watched the first part THREE times but never got any further. From what people are saying, i'm not missing much). Part of the problem is that #3 has so many 6-parters. I really think I'd enjoy this era more if the stories were tighter; brought down to 4 or 5 parts. So much filler IMO - like the whole second part of "Planet of Spiders" which has almost no story. Its just a long chase scene, with Pertwee showing off how many vehicles he can master.
Anyway, from what I've seen and can recall - from best to worst
Terror of the Autons
Inferno
The Green Death
The Daemons
The Three Doctors
Death to the Daleks (my latest story. I quite liked it. I'm surprise how many rank it lower)
Spearhead From Space
Frontier in Space
Day of the Daleks
The Claws of Axos
Carnival of Monsters
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Planet of the Daleks
Planet of the Spiders
The Ambassadors of Death
I don't have time to go through the whole run of Pertwee and rank each story, but I will say that Carnival of Monsters, while being a great story in its own right, will always have a special place in my heart as being the first story I ever saw with someone other than Tom Baker as The Doctor.
10. Doctor Who And The Silurians
9. The Time Warrior
8. The Daemons
7. Planet Of The Spiders
6. The Three Doctors
5. The Sea Devils
4. The Green Death
3. The Ambassadors Of Death
2. Spearhead From Space
1. Inferno
He's certainly underrated. But its not unavoidable when sandwhiched by more "conventional" Doctors like Troughton and Baker. But I love him - and recently came to the conclusion that of all the Doctors, his would be the only one who could've been the protagonist for a Doctor Who feature film. For all the reasons we know about his era.
I'm not much of a "rank and list" kind of guy, and in truth, I haven't been able to watch as much Pertwee as I had hoped I would. Hulu used to have an amazing selection of Classic Who, and I was casually making my way through while jumping from Doctor to Doctor. When Hulu lost the contract, I lost my source for classic Who. I can say this however-- Pertwee was one of my favorite classic Doctors. It was different enough from the rest to stand out as being unique in the franchise, while still maintaining the core of the character and his history. And, the development of UNIT is one of the most important aspects in the history of the entire franchise.
He starts out well, loathing his exile and making allies of UNIT - back when the military was treated respectively and the UN didn't demand its name be removed from the organization. The show was on thin ice, hence being stuck on Earth. Later eras would stay on modern day Earth but provide no worthwhile (if any) reason.
There are innovative stories, "The Day of the Daleks" (whose special edition release largely gives it the look and feel it deserved) or like "The Claws of Axos" - just don't ask how it can travel faster than the speed of light - but it was clever how the makers threw in a last minute excuse to get around the weather conditions. Something later era stories wouldn't bother with...
And "Planet of the Daleks" with its moral messages about bravery and not glorifying war, even if it's a retread of previous Dalek stories...
And "Carnival of Monsters", the latter being the first big 4th wallbreaking story, though it's both subtle and frequent - once a viewer realizes they're seeing the wall broken, they'll re-watch and see something new each time. Which is largely unique for every time DW breaks the 4th wall. Robert Holmes was the sort of "capture lightning in a jar" that doesn't happen often. The same guy who's responsible for the first non-heterosexual character put into a TV show that's not a sitcom ("Blake's 7"), but had DW been an adult-only show he probably would have shown it there as well.
Many stories, like "Colony in Space", have interesting ideas but are so loaded with padding (budget saving)... watch them one or two episodes at a time and it helps.
The Master can always depended on to reduce padding, or even to make otherwise pointless stories better. "Terror of the Autons" is almost a 100% shameless recycling of "Spearhead from Space", had it not been for the Master. Roger Delgado also makes an instant, palpable impression as the Doctor's new recurring nemesis.
My current ranking, subject to whenever I put the stories into a blender and see what I like after the latest mixing, is this - complete with synopses-driven mini-reviews:
Carnival of Monsters - first DW story to break the fourth wall in terms of using characters to reflect on other characaters (or even society) as direct metaphor. Shirna and Vorg are clearly representations of companion and Doctor being the tip of the iceberg, each viewing manages to eke out something not picked up on before - it's one of Robert Holmes' masterpieces. And don't go into fishkeeping unless you name the guppy "Truman".
Day of the Daleks - great story involving time travel paradoxes.
The Claws of Axos - novel little story, I'll assume the Master helped bring the Axons to Earth via his TARDIS since nothing is hinted at regarding how Axos can travel FTL.
Planet of the Spiders - one episode is almost too indulgent as it's nothing but a chase scene, but it's a novel story in what it covers. Nice use of Roger Delgado's wife to voice the Spiders' Queen, who does rather a great job and to the point it's a shame she didn't make return appearances.
Invasion of the Dinosaurs - wisely puts the dinos to the side for a plot that would work equally well for James Bond as it does for the Doctor
Spearhead from Space - great opener to an era - very adult with its use of blood and mannequin costumes that hold up to this day as well.
Doctor Who and the Silurians - a tad long, some clunky dialogue (forgetting the show's primary audience is young teenagers), but worthy as the Doctor ends up mediator in a situation that doesn't end well.
Terror of the Autons - remake of "Spearhead" but without the gritty look, elevated by the Master's inclusion.
Ambassadors of Death - dated, but worthy as a "first contact" story.
The Three Doctors - gratuitous but fun. Omega is a little too shouty, but the story's juggling so much that to spend all that time on one character would be a misfire.
Inferno - is good, but requires knowing and caring about the leads in the prime universe. It also doesn't explore the evil universe as much as it could.
The Time Monster - padded, but has a few fun moments.
Frontier in Space - 6 episodes of padding, since the (spoiler alert) Dalek story it's laying the background for is largely ignored.
Colony in Space - slowly paced until the Master shows up, needed more plot to justify six episodes.
Planet of the Daleks - retread of 1st Doctor Dalek stories with some original and creative bits added about fantasy planets, but there's a nice message about how bravery is supposed to be and the other bit about not glorifying war.
The Monster of Peladon - both Peladon stories are topical, of their time, and turn the Ice Warriors into goodies with the occasional baddie faction.
The Curse of Peladon - I'm one of the few who felt "Monster" was slightly better, or at least somewhat less boring, than its progenitor story ("Curse").
The Green Death - superficially enjoyable but becomes increasingly unrealistic and ultimately extremely hyperbolic, to the point of being unintentionally camp - right down to ginormous dragonflies. The Doctor is rightly depressed, he wanted to open the mind of a human being to see what's out there but is dejected because she just wants to stay at home and make babies with Hippie Longstocking, which goes back to the story being very cherrypickish over what it wants to denounce or fawn over, glossing over various realities - such as the land and machinery needed to cultivate all the mushrooms needed so people won't have a cow, in the very same story that damns oil use. There was never an official follow-up to Jo and her hippie hubby, but I suspect it would end in divorce. He was already driven nuts by her stumbling over everything since she was never as clumsy as Maxwell Smart anywhere before this story was written. If nothing else, at least the computer developed is less outlandish as a concept since speech control is a reality. And AI will never be written in a way that will have a computer taking over the world, moo-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.
The Daemons - a show that tells us there's no such thing as magic does a 180 by the end.
Death to the Daleks - a couple novel ideas but there's no real energy to it
The Sea Devils - half-pointless recycling of "The Silurians", even the Master doesn't help much.
The Time Warrior introduces the Sontarans, which returned mostly because of the novel design work. None of the later stories involving them, save for arguably "The Two Doctors" (and even then), uses them particularly well. If nothing else, DS9's Jem Ha'dar may have been based on the Sontarans (and innovated upon rather nicely...)
The Mind of Evil - padded, typical story example.
The Mutants - like Star Trek's "The Savage Curtain", it's a basic tale retold without any passion or energy, to the point that the draws (turning into a technicolor butterfly) just don't matter. Some bad acting doesn't help either.
15. Death to the Daleks
14. The Mind of Evil
13 The Dæmons
12 The Time Warrior
11 Planet of the Spiders
10 The Three Doctors
9 The Claws of Axos
8 the green death
7 doctor who and the silurians
6 day of the daleks
5 the ambassadors of death
4 frontier in space
3 the sea devils
2 spearhead from space
1 Inferno
