All three era's have their up's and down's, but I was interested to see which generation of Classic Who everybody likes best.


1960's: It's dreadful. Appalling television. Cheap, tacky, lazy, poorly written, poorly acted, boring, slow, and clumsy.

BUT

I absolutely LOVE 60's WHO. It's got this sort of magic and charm that only Who fans can see. To everyone else, it's just disgustingly bad television, but there's something about it that I love. It's excellent in it's own way, and of the three generations of Classic Who, the 60's is my firm favorite.




1970's: Again, it's actual quality remains low, but it's still very good in it's own right. I really love the early 70's. It's towards the later end of the generation that I feel the quality slips. When people think of, or talk about Classic Who, most people instantly think of the 70's. Pertwee and Baker 1st. In my opinion, the 70's is where Doctor Who really reached it's prime, but ultimately started to slowly slip back down as time went on.


I can't really put my finger on why I'm not so keen on the late 70's WHO. I think it's because the show really started to leave behind the Classic roots. The senseless and cheap beauty of the 60's did remain in the Pertwee, and to some extent, the Baker era, but by the time Williams became producer, it was as good as gone.




1980's: I personally dislike this era. I feel depressed watching it. Although the production quality improved upon the last two era's, the quality went the other way. I think John-Nathan Turner, in his desire to bring WHO to the 80's, accidentally killed something about the show. I can't quite put my finger on what the problem was, but something about the show seemed to die. Do I think JNT was a bad producer? Certainly not. He was, I think, the bravest producer WHO has ever had. Here was a man who was really willing to try new things on WHO. Some worked. Some did not.
The issue is that he was the producer for far too long. It would have been better if he was allowed to leave when he desired. I think that all shows need a new producer every few years, otherwise they stagnate. And this is what happened, in my view.

The mid 80's just seemed to plod along dully, and although the late 80's saw a definite improvement, it was ultimately too late.


So yes, this is all just my own opinion. This isn't intended to be a "Best Doctor" or a "Best Producer" thread, as we have plenty of those already. But what era, overall, do people like best?

By the way, if anyone could tell me how to add a poll, it would be appreciated.

There should have been an option to create a poll at the bottom of the page when you first created the thread.
I'm not sure whether you can now do it retrospectively.

Much as you love 60's Who, I would disagree that it's poorly written or acted. I've said enough about The Crusade so don't need to elaborate further than as to say it was far from being poorly written and certainly contained many outstanding performances. Boring was confined to a few stories; slow it may have been and there were indeed times such as in The Chase that it was clumsy. Therefore you're overall description does not apply to every single story of 60's Who!

Disagree about the quality of the 70's as well, the Pertwee Era did have some outstanding stories despite the tiresome Earth Scenario and the early Tom Baker years, especially Season 13, were also outstanding. I will agree however that later 70's stories saw the standard drop a bit but it was still good enough to watch.

80's Who is my fave as it was the time I started watching the show. The odd story aside I love the Era right upto Season 23. Season 24 and half of 25 sucked but Season 26 saw the show get it's mojo back but by then it was too late.

As for JNT, hard to disagree with your view, he was the Producer too long. I always think he should have left when Davison did then maybe the troubles in the later 80's years wouldn't have happened.

60's Who is my favourite. It's got a sense of mystery and experimentation that ticks all the boxes for me.
70's Who is great too but somehow it looks cheaper in colour and often feels a bit stale.
80's Who is embarrassing for many reasons but holds a strange fascination, like watching your favourite actor or musician during his burnt-out drug phase.

Didn't JNT stay on so long because nobody else would take the job and the show would have been cancelled?

70's era for me. Especially the Hinchcliffe era of Tom Baker's time.

Snap!

Yes, I'd have to agree. Philip Hinchliffe defiantly had a very strong run of stories during his time. Everything from "Robot" to "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" was very good, easily some of the best best there had been.

Graham Williams also did a good job. While not necessarily better than Hinchliffe's stories, some of the stories during this time are my personal favorites.

It would have to be the 5th Doctor's era for me

Tom bakers early years from Robot to talons / horror of fang rock is definitely my favourite. Anything from Peter Davison onwards is my least favourite.

Hinchcliffe Era for me too, closely followed by Barry Letts's time and then the 60's.

Classic Doctor Who ended for me from The Trial of a Time Lord onwards.

Have to say i think the OP is being deliberately provocative. 60's Doctor Who is clearly not 'disgustingly bad' it was being made by some of the most creative and talented people in British Television. Perhaps you should watch it again, any cheap, tacky, badly written, badly acted programme would not have lasted a year let alone 50.

Please don't just love it because it's "quaint".
1960s Doctor Who is no different from any other TV of its period.
It looks dated and slow now to many who are used to more recent TV, especially the 21st century incarnation of the programme, but for those of us who grew up with it and saw it evolve, it's still one of the bravest and most original shows of its era, and well deserves its longevity as a concept, even though it eventually had to be almost completely "rested" for 16 years!
The rest did it a power of good!

To be honest you totally lost me at this point. That is the kind of lazy, received wisdom usually spouted by people who haven't really watched very much of it. So for you to be supposedly knowledgeable (and allegedly admiring) of it and still be taken in by this received opinion kind of discredits you for me. That may sound harsh but I don't really feel like anything you say subsequent to this ridiculously sweeping dismissal is going to interest me. You say you like it but have no courage to go against the grain and attribute your liking of it to some actual qualities beyond a quirk of your personality to munificently indulge this pile of trash. You can't like it despite it being "dreadful. Appalling television. Cheap, tacky, lazy, poorly written, poorly acted, boring, slow, and clumsy" can you? What does that say about you if it's true?

Pfft, whatever. I'll remember your name so I know which posts to skip past in future.

To answer the question in the title, I would say I have admiration for the whole run of the show up to the JNT era. After that I do think things went wrong with the show but there was still some really good stuff, just fairly infrequently.

I do tend to see the Holmes / Hinchcliffe / Baker period as the show's golden era.

1970s Who for me. I have a massive soft spot for Pertwee because he was the first Doctor I ever watched, and I loved Tom Baker throughout his entire tenure - particularly during the Hinchcliffe era. I enjoy watching the 1960s episodes too, the surviving Troughton episodes in particular, they have a great atmosphere to them.

As I said, I love the 60's very much. But the awful costumes, unconvincing sets, horrible effects, endless talking scenes and often poor guest actors are not deniable. It's not the production team's fault at all, they simply had a very small budget, and as such, the quality was lower than it might have been.

Mind you, it isn't as if Doctor Who was alone in being rather cheaply made. A lot of 60's television was. However, Doctor Who relied on special effects and costumes a lot more than other shows at the time did.

I most certainly can, and do, like it despite the poor quality. I love the atmosphere. I love a lot of the actual story lines, even if they were often badly executed. I love the chemistry that the Doctor and his friends had, throughout the whole era. I love the creepy sort of feeling it has to it. And I love both of the Doctors in this era. What it shows about me is that I can see beyond the huge and very obvious flaws and see the rough beauty of it.

In terms of me not watching much 60's WHO, I'm afraid you are very wrong indeed. The list of 60's WHO I've watched is as follows (in no particular order):

An Unearthly Child
The Daleks
TEOD
Keys of Marinus
The Aztecs
The Sensorites
Planet of the Giants
The Romans
The Web Planet
The Dalek Invasion of Earth
The Chase
The Time Meddler
The Enemy of the World
The Mind Robber
The War Games
The Lost in Time boxset.

I think there are more, but they are the ones I can think of from the top of my head. And I enjoyed all of them.

It's a shame that you don't feel that you'll ever want to read my threads again, but if that's how you feel then fair enough. To be brutally honest, making jibes about my personality just because I've presented a view that you dislike is completely out of order, and utterly ridiculous considering you don't even know me. I think I've learned more about you from your reply than mine has taught you about me.

This is genuinely tricky, which just makes me realise yet again how much I adore this programme.

Sixties: I love this period. The sheer imagination shown completely transcends the limitations of the budget. Although IMO the Troughton era could on occasion become a little bit formulaic there is much to love, and I think the Hartnell era has seldom been surpassed if you're looking for variety and innovation.

Seventies: Whilst the Pertwee era isn't a favourite, some of his stories are right up there for me, and I grew up with Tom and there are a lot more hits than misses. The Hinchcliffe era is rightly lauded, but for sheer joy I watch Season 16 most often!

Eighties: Became a fan with Sir Peter Davison and love his era, but by Mid decade Who was pretty variable in quality. Always worth watching, seldom dull, but definately variable.

So......Right, going to stop waffling and say; Sixties shades it.

To be fair, I think it was your general description of 60's TV that has riled a few people. As I said previously your description does not apply to every 60's story and judging by the stories you have watched, maybe a better thing to have said was that some of them were either slow, boring and clumsy etc. That I think we could have accepted more readily.

Can I ask if you have listened/watched to any missing stories using CD's or watching reconstructions via telesnaps? If you haven't, you've missed out. As I said The Crusade is a wonderful example of great writing and acting. The Dalek Masterplan is a excellent story that has tension, variety, emotive drama and an excellent storyline. A description I would also apply to The Power/Evil Of The Daleks, The Abominable Snowmen and there's many more I could quote. Season 5 especially has some of the best stories the 60's ever produced and I noticed The Web Of Fear is missing from your list as well. None of your general description can be applied to that story.

If you haven't got round to watching/listening to the Missing stories yet, I would recommend you do so. In fact I'd recommend you try and watch or listen to all 60's Who in order and then see if your assessment is truly accurate, because I don't think it really is.

It's a bit like watching a couple of episodes from each Series from New Who and then proclaiming every episode is CGI Driven and badly written. Though true in some cases it doesn't apply to every episode and the same can be said of your assessment of 60's Who.

The Davison years were my favourite, but the rest of the 80's were not my cup of tea. Hmm... I'm not sure if I can choose between the 60's and 70's as I think they are well-matched in terms of appeal. Can't I just say I love the first 21 seasons instead?

I absolutely agree that what I said is controversial, and I've no problem with people not liking it, and arguing against it. However, "Tom Tit" took it too far.

I haven't watched/listened to the missing stories, I must admit.

I think that we, as fans, will hold Classic Who in high regard (and rightly so) but if you ask any casual viewer nowadays, they would describe the classics as "Rubbish." Even Moffat described the 60's as poor, which did surprise me. I think that the thing is, the casual viewer doesn't see the magic of the old years like we do. I guess that's the point I was trying to make. Whilst pretty badly executed, 60's who is good, but a lot of people just can't get over the poor effects, the slow pace and, indeed the lack of color. (personally I love the B&W it adds to the creepiness)

That's a very good idea. It's like my favorite Doctor. My favorite Doctor is the Doctor.

I guess the 4th Doctor/Sarah Jane era remains my favourite, with all those amazing dark gothic stories. Just wonderfully frightening for a little boy on a dark autumn Saturday evening! Oh, the amount of time I spent behind that bloody settee!

I also really enjoyed the 5th Doctor's first season. It was so exciting; a new young Doctor and THREE companions, each with their own stories and relationships. And a move to mid-week too! A great reinvention of the show just when it really needed it.

You have just taken me right back! The Talons of Weng Chiang are particularly vivid watching memory for me from that era.

My mum used to lay Saturday tea out on the coffee table so I could sit and watch Doctor Who while munching away on jam sandwiches and sausage rolls.

Favourite - Hinchcliffe era. Growing up that view never changed and it still hasn't as an adult with the whole history of the series to look back on. I remember running out of the room in utter terror at the end of episode 2 of the Seeds of Doom. Nearly passed out again the following week at the reprise of the cliffhanger! For me, Sarah really blossoms when the 4th Doctor comes along. Even now, I never really buy into her relationship with the 3rd Doctor, it certainly doesn't match the Pertwee/Manning double act.
Saying that - the Pertwee era is my 2nd favourite. Part of the reason I love Who is for the monsters and I think there's the start of a real golden age here - Autons, Axons, Ogrons, Silurians, Sea Devils, Omega....I could REALLY go on.
Next up is the Davison years, felt nice and fresh at the time and even now, it still looks like there's a god few Attempts to move away from what went before - Kinda, Frontios, Androzani.
But (and it's a big butt) I love it all. Even he ones I expect to be a bit crap and boring - I still enjoy them when I watch them now