There's no denying it, back in the dying days of the classic series, Dr Who was regarded as a bit of a joke by the general public. And I won't deny that my loyalty wavered briefly during season 24 (although I stuck with it), but most of the time I would defend my favourite show in the face of withering criticism, even in those dark days when being a Dr Who fan could make you a target for ridicule. It wasn't helped when various light entertainment TV shows gleefully presented clips of our favourite show at its most naff and wobbly, usually to the mild embarrassment of their interviewees, past Doctors, companions and guest stars alike. Frazer Hines turn on This Is Your Life comes to mind, and his time on the show is represented by a clip from Tomb of The Cybermen, with Toberman swinging a quite obvious dummy wearing the Cyber-Controller's costume above his head, much to the amusement and derision of Hines' guests. Also, during an interview with Martin Clunes, a clip of him in that admittedly ridiculous Federator's costume is dragged out, a low point in an otherwise quite scary story, with an impressive early performance from Clunes.
I know, I know, move on, I hear you say, but back in those days when you silently squirmed in front of the TV, I bet you too wished that they would select better clips, more representative of the (occasionally) brilliant show we loved so much. It might a performance, a speech, a special effect, or a bit of comedy - something that made you proud to be a Dr Who fan in those wilderness years of the late Eighties, Nineties and early Noughties.
My choices? A few, just off the top of my head: the swoop-in on the Time Lord space station at the start of Trial of a Time Lord; the Doctor's defiant "Worth it" when being threatened with death by the Cyberleader in Silver Nemesis; the third Doctor's 'death' scene; the fifth Doctor's noble sacrifice in Caves of Androzani; the fouth Doctor's and Davros' "Would you do it?" discussion in Genesis of the Daleks; City of Death - too innumerable to mention; Ian and Barbara's first encounter with the Doctor in the Totters Lane junkyard; the second Doctor hopping and jumping and yelling as he runs from Cyber-gun explosions in The Invasion, followed by him posing for a photo in the aftermath, affectedly adjusting his bow-tie; the special weapons Dalek firing its gun for the first time in Remembrance of the Daleks; the reveal of the Valeyard as a future Doctor in Trial of a Time Lord; the Cyberleader calling the Doctor's bluff in Earthshock when threatening Tegan, exposing his compassion as a weakness, and the fourth Doctor's line in The Invasion of Time, after Major Stor of the Special Sontaran Space Service has introduced himself. "The SSSS? Isn't that taking alliteration a little far?"
I know, I know, move on, I hear you say, but back in those days when you silently squirmed in front of the TV, I bet you too wished that they would select better clips, more representative of the (occasionally) brilliant show we loved so much. It might a performance, a speech, a special effect, or a bit of comedy - something that made you proud to be a Dr Who fan in those wilderness years of the late Eighties, Nineties and early Noughties.
My choices? A few, just off the top of my head: the swoop-in on the Time Lord space station at the start of Trial of a Time Lord; the Doctor's defiant "Worth it" when being threatened with death by the Cyberleader in Silver Nemesis; the third Doctor's 'death' scene; the fifth Doctor's noble sacrifice in Caves of Androzani; the fouth Doctor's and Davros' "Would you do it?" discussion in Genesis of the Daleks; City of Death - too innumerable to mention; Ian and Barbara's first encounter with the Doctor in the Totters Lane junkyard; the second Doctor hopping and jumping and yelling as he runs from Cyber-gun explosions in The Invasion, followed by him posing for a photo in the aftermath, affectedly adjusting his bow-tie; the special weapons Dalek firing its gun for the first time in Remembrance of the Daleks; the reveal of the Valeyard as a future Doctor in Trial of a Time Lord; the Cyberleader calling the Doctor's bluff in Earthshock when threatening Tegan, exposing his compassion as a weakness, and the fourth Doctor's line in The Invasion of Time, after Major Stor of the Special Sontaran Space Service has introduced himself. "The SSSS? Isn't that taking alliteration a little far?"
