The Best Classic Doctor Who Story.

pambaddeley said:
Talking of Lethbridge-Stewart, I have a soft spot for "The Daemons" where he says the iconic line - "Chap with the wings there. Five rounds rapid!"
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One of the Doctor Who original novels parodied it brilliantly - UNIT were about to shoot at a bad guy standing next to Paul McCartney's band :D
 
The actor also used the line Five rounds rapid in the audio comedy The Scarifiers.
 
Those are all rather good (I only saw Inferno and Androzani when Horror [Channel 70 on Freeview I think] was repeating old shows, but Genesis has been a favourite for decades). One thing, of several, that put me off New Who was how badly they buggered up Davros' character.
 
thaddeus6th said:
Those are all rather good (I only saw Inferno and Androzani when Horror [Channel 70 on Freeview I think] was repeating old shows, but Genesis has been a favourite for decades). One thing, of several, that put me off New Who was how badly they buggered up Davros' character.
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To be fair Davros has been a very uneven character since his inception, Michael Wisher was brilliant in Genesis but David Gooderson's impersonation was terrible in Destiny of the Daleks which is an awful story in any case.

Terry Molloy did his own thing with the character which kind of works in a very unsubtle Bond villain sort of way! I actually liked Julian Bleach as Davros to begin with but again the writing of the character deteriorated further by the time we reach The Magicians Apprentice.
 
Perpetual Man said:
I was recently reading an article in a SF magazine where they announced the result of a poll in which the vote was for the best classic Doctor Who story ever.

The winner, was not what I was expecting, to say the least, although it was an episode I have often spoken highly of.

I'm not going to say what it was yet - but it got me wondering, with all the Doctor Who fans on this site would we come to the same decision?

So, taking the original run of Doctor Who, twenty six years and an awful lot of stories what would YOU suggest as being the greatest story of the run.

To get the ball rolling:

THE UNEARTHLY CHILD - the very first episode, not the other three parts that are lumped with it. for 25 minutes of television this introduces so much that we take for granted now that it is easy to forget just how ground breaking it was from the music and opening credits, to the advanced time machine that looked like a Police Box, but was bigger on the inside, the mystery of Susan Foreman, The enigma that is the Doctor, just magnificent.

THE TENTH PLANET - Introducing the Cybermen, but special not because of that but the innovative to solution to Hartnell leaving the show - regeneration, inspired and unprecedented.

GENESIS of the DALEKS - Just sublime, perfect performances and one of the greatest debates in the shows history as the Doctor and Davros discuss ethics.

The CAVES of ANDROZANI - the last story starring Peter Davison, and possibly the last truly good DW story of the original run, it sums up all that is good about the fifth Doctor, his humanity and love of his companion. A truly evil villain who had more depth than originally appeared, the culmination in the Doctor sacrificing himself for Peri.
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For me it is 'The Doctor’s Wife' when the TARDIS is made flesh and you learn the basis of the Doctor's relationship with the time machine
 
For me it is the Happiness Patrol - Shiela Hancock with pink hair was scary enough and then there was the animated sweet that drowned people in candy...
 
Roj, but there was also consistent aspects to Davros. He was a control freak and megalomaniac. 'Coming to an arrangement', acknowledging the power of others over him and agreeing with it, is too out of character.
 
thaddeus6th said:
Roj, but there was also consistent aspects to Davros. He was a control freak and megalomaniac. 'Coming to an arrangement', acknowledging the power of others over him and agreeing with it, is too out of character.
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I'd definitely agree that nearly all the actors to play the part have captured a certain megalomania, Davros like most villains is a massive sociopath so coming to an arrangement with others and mimicking subservience is just another way of manipulating a group to get his own way in my opinion.
 
Except it wasn't mimicking. He was stuck in the Vault and going along with it. We never saw any rebellion as per Resurrection of the Daleks. I think your take on it could make sense, but it wasn't shown on-screen.
 
thaddeus6th said:
Except it wasn't mimicking. He was stuck in the Vault and going along with it. We never saw any rebellion as per Resurrection of the Daleks. I think your take on it could make sense, but it wasn't shown on-screen.
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The Daleks always run back to their creator and saviour only to ultimately betray him, plus using a "reality bomb" to destroy all of creation is definitely the brainchild of Davros.

So despite being prisoner he has actually brainwashed the Daleks into destroying themselves which is majorly out of character for them (Survival at any cost) just so he can have his ultimate victory.

Actually I think the crucible would have survived somehow thinking back to the episode but that seems rather pointless really.
 
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I just recently watched Remembrance of the Daleks and Revenge of the Cybermen. This has got me wanting to go through and watch the best of each of the doctors. At least the ones that can be found. Remembrance of the Daleks made me want to watch Sylvester McCoy's last two seasons.
 
It's hard for me because when Michael Grade canned it I was just a little boy. I do remember being entranced by The Cheetah People (have I even got the name of the story right?). I remember one cliff hanger at the end of an episode where Ace's eyes had changed so we had to wait a whole week to find out whether or not she would become one of Them
 
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