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Steven Moffat's Favourite Story per Doctor
Corwin
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http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/moffats-favourite-doctor-who-stories-45154.htm
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- William Hartnell: An Unearthly Child
- Patrick Troughton: The Tomb of the Cybermen
- Jon Pertwee: The Three Doctors
- Tom Baker: The Ark in Space (He also tips his hat to Pyramids of Mars, City of Death, Genesis of the Daleks, Logopolis)
- Peter Davison: Mawdryn Undead (Maybe. He has a tough time choosing. The others are Earthshock, Kinda, The Caves of Androzani, Frontios)
- Colin Baker: The Holy Terror (Robert Shearman’s Big Finish audio story)
- Sylvester McCoy: Remembrance of the Daleks
- Paul McGann: The Chimes of Midnight (Another Big Finish audio by Robert Shearman)
- Chris Eccleston: Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
- David Tennant: The Christmas Invasion
- Matt Smith: Vincent and the Doctor
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Comments
Hard to argue with many of these. He's obviously got a Troughton bias if he chose The Three Doctors, but so have I.
Assume by Unearthly Child he's thinking of the first episode and not all the Kal and Za business.
No it's not, it's very easy! Would maybe agree with 2, definitely agree with 7, but disagree with the rest (strongly disagree with 3, 4, 6, 10 and 11).
The Holy Terror was an unholy mess, but I can see why Moffat, with his style, would like it. With these two Big Finish choices I'm surprised he hasn't asked Sherman back to write for him.
A few slight low blows though, choosing the Three Doctors for Jon Pertwee where his limelight is taken up by 2 other Doctors?
Also, choosing an audio story for Colin Baker?
For his Tom Baker choice I like all his secondary choices just a teensy bit more than Ark In Space, but I'm not complaining as Ark In Space has a freshness to it and the dynamic between the Doctor, Sarah and Harry really makes its mark.
But eww at including Frontios, I don't like that one. Mawdryn Undead is a good first choice though.
Apparently he likes at least one out of three...
Sherman doesn't want to do it apparently.
They're both scary ones. :eek:
No way Holy Terror would be made now; last time I saw it in waterstones it had a 'not suitable for children' sticker covering a quarter of the cover.
For the newer ones, I can only assume he's ignoring his own stories, as The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances is by far Eccleston's best and Blink is Tennant's. Even if you ignore Moffat's stories, though, The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, Human Nature/The Family of Blood and Midnight are all far better than Christmas Invasion. No argument on Vincent and the Doctor though.
As always, it's amazing how opinions differ.
I'm surprised by The Christmas Invasion. Not only does Tennant spend much of it in bed but he hasn't quite got into his stride as its his debut. Maybe Moff doesn't like his take on the Doctor. ;-)
Can't argue with Tomb or Remebrance. But other than episode One I find Unearthly a bit dull. I'd go for the War Machines, maybe not Hartnell's best but I prefer the more 'modern' feel to it. For Pertwee I'd pick Terror of the Autons, T Baker Terror of the Zygons, Davison Kinda, C Baker revelation of the Daleks, McGann (only know the TV movie), Ecclestone Dalek, Tennant Human Nature/F of B and Smith The power if Three (not the best but the one I have enjoyed most so far).
I'd choose Kinda for Peter's reign, but then I like the more trippy stories (cf. Warrior's Gate).
Didn't RTD also have The Ark In Space as his favourite? I can find loads of sites saying that, but no actual quote.
1st - Dalek Invasion Of Earth
2nd - Tomb Of The Cybermen (with a nod to The Mind Robber)
3rd - The Sea Devils
4th - The Deadly Assassin (with nods to City Of Death, Robots Of Death, Genesis Of The Daleks, Face Of Evil)
5th Caves Of Androzani (With nods to The Visitation, Earthshock and Enlightenment)
6th The Holy Terror
7th Remembrance Of the Daleks
8th The Chimes Of Midnight
9th Dalek
10th Blink (with nods to Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, Gridlock, Human Nature/Family Of Blood, The Impossible Planet/The Satin Pit)
11th The Eleventh Hour (with nods to Time Of Angels/Flesh and Stone, Asylum Of the Daleks, The Snowmen)
This would be my list:
1) The Edge of Destruction
2) The War Games
3) Inferno (The Silurians is a very close second)
4) Genesis of the Daleks
5) The Caves of Androzani
6) Mindwarp (but strictly without Peri's exit being retconned afterwards)
7) Remembrance of the Daleks
8) The Movie (I have no other choice here)
9) The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
10) Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead (honourable mention to The Waters of Mars, Human Nature, and Turn Left)
11) The Eleventh Hour (honourable mentions to The Girl Who Waited, The Doctor's Wife and Asylum of the Daleks)
A brilliant writer - and a lovely bloke!
'Dalek' will always rank as my favourite story from the Ecclestone series - not to mention one of the best stories of NuWho. Haven't read any of Rob's Big Finish stuff, but I imagine it will be pretty darn good.
Quite a damining indictment of the Colin Baker era from Moff really. I can't say I'm surprised myself. It was the point at which Classic Who passed the point of no return IMHO, and I think even Colin has said that he didn't get to play the Doctor as he wanted to until the audio adventures.
I think RTD was joking there. He's said on numerous occasions that Ark in Space was his favourite.
Mark Gatiss is also a huge fan of Frontios and once mentioned it in the same breath as Genesis of the Daleks and Caves of Androzani:
I wanted 'Nightshade' to be an ultra-grim and horrific adventure in the mould of favourites such as Genesis of the Daleks, The Caves of Androzani and Frontios.
He has said Ark in Space several times, including in an interview at BAFTA in 2008.
The Three Doctors may not be one of the best Pertwee era stories, but it's probably the funniest script. I reckon that's why Moff chose it. He likes a good laugh.
Wasn't Dalek massively rewritten by RTD? There was a script floating round (which draft I have no idea) that was markedly different from the finished programme. Something tells me it was mentioned in The Writer's Tale (I'm yet to read it)? I am totally happy to be proved wrong!
The original version of 'Dalek' involved something similar to the Toclafane, a child-like monster of sorts, in case they didn't get the rights to use the Daleks for the new series.
Nah, the script I read (no idea if it was genuine,or which draft) definitely involved a Dalek.
Hmm, I think some of the others are funnier. Irongron in Time Warrior had some classic funny lines. But all down to taste, I suppose.
Hartnell. I can neither agree or disagree as I just don't remember enough of the first Doc's stories to have much of an opinion on them. And by 'remember', I don't mean from the original transmission (that was before my time), My memories of the First Doc' are from the stories that were released on VHS or aired on BSkyB/UK Gold, which I watched at the time, but haven't seen again since then. Hartnell's actually the only Doc' absent from my DVD collection.
Troughton. Tomb? It's so dull. Plus, it goes without saying that any top Troughton story would need to have Zoe in it. So I'm going with The Invasion.
Pertwee. I'd be tempted to go for The Green Death, but the silly Jo/Mushroom Man love story takes the sheen off of that one. And when I think about, when I'm in the mood for a bit of the Pertwee, The Three Doctors does tend to be the DVD I'll usually go for first.
T Baker. Ark? No thanks. It's got Sarah doing her annoying breathy-talky thing and a man chewing the scenery with as much believabilty as the bubble wrap around his arm. Nope, let's go a little later for Baker's best. Which is obviously Robots of Death.
Davison. Even with two Brigadiers, Mawdryn is a bit boring. For me, it's The Five Doctors. Best story? Nah. One I watch the most. Yep.
C Baker. As a fan of the Sixth Doctor, there aren't many Big Finish stories I would consider my favourites because most of their Sixth Doctor stories don't actually feature the real Sixth Doc'. And if I had to pick one, The Holy Terror would be my very last choice. A Frobisher that sounds and acts nothing like Frobisher (OK, so I can't know how Frobisher sounds... but he doesn't sound like that) and comedy that just isn't funny. Shearman wrote a lot of very good Who... but this wasn't it. As the Sixth Doc is my favourite Doctor, and he was at his best in his first season, I'm going to go with Mark of the Rani.
McCoy. We're on the same page again this time. Of course it's Remembrance of the Daleks. It's so good, it's nearly New Who quality.
McGann. Two Doc's later and Shearman's back in my good books. However, I'm not going with Chimes, but Scherzo which, aside from being a sublime two-hander was pretty much the last time the 8th Doc' audios were worth listening to for some considerable time. After this it all went pear-shaped with the insomnia-curing C'Rizz and Charley suddenly just becoming this generic companion. For me, the Doc and Charley's adventures stopped with the amazing Scherzo.
Eccleston. Obviously Mr Moffatt couldn't pick his own story. But I can. The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances by a country mile.
Tennant. I would have gone for the Girl in the Fireplace. The fact is, I do consider it the best story of Ten's reign. However, being the best and being a favourite are not always the same thing. And despite it obviously not being as well written, Planet of the Dead does have Michelle Ryan in it. And that trumps everything.
Smith. Vincent and the Doctor is good. But The Doctor's Wife is better.