#10. Shada
I suspect this fantastic Douglas Adams story about a lost Time Lord prison would have been just as popular as, say, City of Death had it not been cancelled. It's a brilliant story and has luckily been finished in more ways than one: a DVD release with linking narration by Tom Baker, an Eighth Doctor webcast and an extended audio version of the webcast. Shada is a great story and I highly recommend watching (or listening to) it in any of the three ways.
#9. Love & Monsters
The first of the Doctor-lite episodes, and the only one that everybody seems to hate. As I said in my review, I think it's an interesting story - FAR from brilliant, but it's very interesting to see what people who want to learn more about the Doctor get up to. I think LINDA was a great idea and I'd love to see the group again with new members, provided it didn't shut down after losing all it's members except Elton and, if you count paving stones, Ursula. The two major problems I have with Love & Monsters are, of course, the Abzorbaloff and the terrible joke at the end. I honestly enjoyed the first three quarters of the episode but the final quarter? Not so much.
#8. Boom Town
Another episode that gets a lot of hate. It's not amazing but it's got some classic scenes (It was a VERY icy patch and The Doctor and the Slitheen in the restaurant.) There's next to no farting in Boom Town (unlike the previous Slitheen episodes) which makes the Slitheen who stole Margaret Blaine's skin (Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen) seem much more menacing. Actually, I even felt sorry for her in the bathroom scene at the beginning!
#7. The Doctor's Daughter
I think the reason this generally gets overlooked is because Series 4 was generally of very high quality while this episode was just "okay". It was great to see Martha in the TARDIS again and it helps that The Doctor's daughter really is Peter Davison's daughter! The Hath are very likeable villains and the episode was an interesting idea overall.
#6. Meglos
Yeah, it's... About a... Talking cactus called Meglos. It's certainly not the best Tom Baker story but it's very underrated. It's alright and not as bad as everybody seems to think. Other than that, I don't have much to say about it.
#5. The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
Honestly, this is one of my all-time favourite stories and those with coulrophobia will probably be watching it from behind their sofas. I think the Psychic Circus was a fantastic idea and as bad as you may think it was, I really liked the Psychic Circus rap. It's full of wonderful characters such as Captain Cook, Mags (who really is an interesting specimen), Nord and the galaxy's biggest Psychic Circus fan - Whizz Kid. Stephen Wyatt did a brilliant job as did Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. Criminally underrated!
#4. Voyage of the Damned
As most of us know, Christmas specials are usually nothing amazing. Voyage of the Damned isn't either, but it's certainly better than most with lines like "I'm The Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm 903 years old and I'm the man who's gonna save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?" and "Human beings worship the great god Santa. A creature with fearsome claws." As much as I love Donna, I would have liked to see Astrid, Mr. Copper or even both as the Series 4 companions. I certainly recommend giving it a watch, because my name is Max. Actually it's not but I had to say that!
#3. Attack of the Cybermen
Another one of my all-time favourites. Most people seem to hate it but I just can't figure out why. Lytton returns and is helping the Cryons this time, the Cybermen are brilliant, it's an extremely violent episode (which is not a bad thing at all) and it's got a fantastic ending with The Doctor realising just how badly he misjudged Lytton. Seriously Paula Moore, you did a great job with this.
#2. Doctor Who: The Movie
My big question about the 1996 TV Movie starring Paul McGann is what the hell am I supposed to call it? Doctor Who? The TV Movie? Just The Movie? The Enemy Within? Well, the Revisitations 1 DVD box set refers to it as Doctor Who: The Movie so that's what I'm going to call it. Alright, this is another story that everybody seems to hate and I don't blame them for it to be honest - Eric Roberts as The Master, The Doctor claiming to be half human, it was way too Americanized, etc. While it's probably the most flawed TV stories in the show's history, I did find it rather enjoyable, mainly due to the excellent Paul McGann. Oh, and it was good to see jelly babies again and it had some funny moments but a couple of good things don't guarantee a good story!
#1. The Sun Makers
One of my top ten stories of all time. It's extremely overlooked. It's written by my favourite writer (Robert Holmes), it's funny, it's clever... It's just brilliant. The Doctor finally starts to like K9, episode 3 has a great cliffhanger and the scenes with The Doctor in the Correction Centre with Bisham were just brilliant. Hade was a great character too. I don't think it's everyone's thing but I certainly enjoyed it.
Honourable Mentions:
The Gunfighters
The Krotons
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
The Creature from the Pit
Resurrection of the Daleks
The Mark of the Rani
Dragonfire
Aliens of London / World War Three
42
The Lodger
This is all just my opinion so feel free to disagree... I'd love to know which stories you consider to be the most underrated!
The Invasion of Time is also quite underrated and I really love the story but I think all of the stories on this list are slightly less popular.
ReplyDeleteShada is what introduced me to Doctor Who, when I heard that it had been reworked into Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", which is one of my favorite books. I looked into this "Doctor Who" at that point & nothing has been the same since.
ReplyDelete