Don't really like the McCoy era. Although I think The Happiness Patrol is his best despite the Bertie Basset monster.
Remembrance of the Daleks I don't get the love for.

Caves Of Andozani, City Of Death and Logopolis. I just don't get why they are so popular, particularly Caves which I find deadly dull.

I too tried out 'Androzani' to see what all the fuss was about, as I had stopped watching the original broadcasts probably only several stories beforehand. Got as far as Ep.2 and saw nothing to differentiate it from the general quality of Who at that time.

This is my most favourite Fourth Doctor story. Everything about it is brilliant! The best scene is when both the Doctor and Morbius try to read each other's minds, with the Doctor passing out at the end of it, Sarah convinced he's dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51a1hoSn4uY

Sorry about the quality. Someone filmed their TV when the DVD was on, then uploaded that to YouTube. Couldn't find this in better quality elsewhere.

Love and Monsters with Shirley Henderson, Peter Kay and Marc Warren. Lots of people really like this, but I think it's boring. Doesn't have the Doctor in this much either. Doctor-lite stories are not all that IMO.

Don't know what Russell T. Davies was thinking, having Marc Warren shirtless in Jackie Tyler's flat, but to me it didn't do the story any favours. It was embarrassing!

I thought Matt Smith naked towards the end of The Time of the doctor, was more interesting than that!

The Mutants (3rd Doctor), Genesis of The Daleks, Ghost Light, Aliens of London/World War Three, New Earth, Midnight and Waters of Mars. I just find them boring! Especially The Mutants and (shock) Genesis of The Daleks. I just can't get into them, and I've tried on many occasions.

I'm not sure Love and Monsters could ever be described as popular! It seems to be one of the most hated stories (if not the most hated story) in Doctor Who history.

Which is fair enough because it is a pile of cack.

While I don't hate it, I've always found Earthshock to be terribly overrated. Yes, it featured the return of the Cybermen after a long absence and, of course, Adric's death (hooray!) but, as a story, it's incredibly dull, lightened only by the unintentional comedy of Beryl Reid in possibly the worst case of miscasting in Doctor Who.

I wouldn't say I hate it, but I found Genesis of the Daleks really really dull. Had a similar problem with Horror of Fang Rock (and just to balance things out a bit, I found Morbius OK and City of Death fantastic!).

I hate "Voyage of the Damned", but the general public (if not the reviewers) seem
to LOVE that story- not only did it get huge ratings, it still gets mentioned by causal
viewers years after (is it the new "that ep with the giant maggots?")

Basically the event episodes: Day of the Doctor, the season finales from the Tennant era. There's no iconoclastic motivation in that, I just prefer a good idea well executed than a contrived event full of sound and fury.

Look at this poll: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-...s-voted-by-you

What a dull and predictable list. Were they really the best episodes? Or were they the most memorable ones, because something big continuity-wise happened in them?

Bad Wolf is not too bad, once the Big Brother stuff is done with, but all of the other finales I found barely watchable.

Day of the Doctor is just an average episode. Not one of Moffat's better ones, but of course, with so many people watching it and in watching it in an uncritical mood, because it was the anniversary, it was going to be popular.

I think forums prove one thing: a lot of people watch with a pre-conceived notion or opinion and whatever they watch isn't going to alter that opinion And I would say that is the case with Day of the Doctor.

Other than those I dislike all of the multi-Doctor stories, with the exception of 'Two Doctors', and even that I like mainly just for the wit of Robert Holmes. Again, they're event episodes, what we would nowadays term 'fanwunk' (sic). The stories usually don't make sense and the Doctors don't behave true to their original portrayals. Again, I prefer an interesting idea well executed to gimmick episodes.


I don't know if you could say it's a hugely popular Doctor Who episode, but from recent years I found 'A Town Called Mercy' to be unwatchable rubbish. I couldn't believe the positive reaction it got. It's a good example of why I never unequivocally recommend Doctor Who to somebody because there's always a chance they will try it out and see an episode like that, and I just cannot bear the thought of someone watching that and thinking 'Tom likes this?! I thought he was a tasteful, clever guy...' :P

One more for the road... 'The Waters of Mars'. It's just a great exemplar of what I regard as the worst traits of RTD's writing. Don't get me wrong, he's a very good writer, and there's stories of his I really like (my favourites are Midnight and Love & Monsters), and I think he was fantastic for the show, but he has some characteristics in his writing just not to my taste and that episode is probably the most egregious.

Just one more... classic era: why do people love 'Terror of the Zygons' so much? It's okay but one of my least favourite episodes of possibly my favourite Doctor Who era (Baker, Holmes and Hinchcliffe). I don't dislike it but I can't see what it does better than say, Planet of Evil, or the Android Invasion, or some other similarly unheralded serial from that era.

Disclaimer: I don't 'hate' any of the above episodes; a bad episode of Doctor Who is hardly cause for consternation; the above is all, of course, just grist for the forum mill.

Hmm, I forgot Earthshock... yes, I agree. It's surely another example of the popular 'event episode'. Although, that said, the now sadly infrequent poster Davey Boy caused me to reappraise it somewhat and I no longer rail against it.

But I will throw in Kinda and Snakedance. God, they're boring, and not nearly so clever as they strive to be. And to me they represent the nadir of Doctor Who production. We know Doctor Who always worked with a disadvantageous budget and production schedule, but neither of those are an excuse for forest scenes where you can see the studio floor - in a 1980s TV program.

Turn Left- I've ranted before about this so won't bother again except to say it's utter drivel from start to finish. Basically a tired 'will this do' retread of that Gwyneth Paltrow film but masquerading as something with 'important things to say' because...well because what? You insert a pointless and patronising cameo from a grotesquely lazy Italian stereotype that makes the Dolmio puppets look positively Dogme-esque in their gritty effortless realism? No. Not having it. Throw in one of the most appalling bit parts in Doctor who history with 'Superstitious Menial Worker of Indistinct Ethnicity' (why act when you can point at things and make big eyes?) and some horrendous theatrics from Tate and its a nightmare on screen. Also any episode where a malevolent backpack is the most memorable element has problems. The fact the majestic Love and Monsters always gets such a pasting and yet this tat frequently sneaks into peoples top ten best episodes is utterly bizarre and depressing to me. 'Ooooh but look at the parallels with Nazi Ger....' No no no no no no no no no. Stop. Just stop.

The Name of the Doctor- an exercise in cosy nostalgia that forgets to actually include anything resembling a coherent story. Like listening to war stories from a senile relative that enrapture you at the time but then you go away and think about it and realise none of it makes sense and none of it fits together and you want 47 minutes of your life back. This for me is the epitome of the empty 'event episode'(that whole 'why bother actually writing stories when you can design movie posters instead?'experiment turned out great didn't it?).

A Good Man Goes to War- or A Good Man Comes Perilously Close to Infringing on LucasArts Copyright While Having a Minor Skirmish in a Warehouse as it should be known. The 'Battle of Demons Run'? That's not a battle. That's what happens when a Monastery and the staff of Games Workshop double-book a team building day out at the local Laser Quest.

There are a few more but I've wound myself too much already thinking about 'Turn Left' to continue.

Kinda and Snakedance? Right. Outside.Now.

Both classics, although Kinda has the edge. Some brilliant perfomances, innovative direction, and a fascinating script more than make up for budget limitations, even a certain serpent manisfatation.

(I also don't 'hate' any Who.)

Whilst it has amazing moments, I'm afraid I too like some above find Genesis of the Daleks a bit of a drag. And never liked Talons...as much as some. Maybe I should give it another go as it's years since I've seen it.

I'll add Revelation of the Daleks. I recognise it's many positives (Harper, William Gaunt, an interesting script) but just find it utterly unlikeable for some reason, and I usually like a bit of black humour.

"hate" is a strong word...but I disliked ALL of McCoys Era except for 'Remembrance of the Daleks' and 'Battlefield'. The rest were shite! Not McCoys fault either!
PS: 'Delta' wasn't too bad!

I'm not sure in what context you meant that but I thought TCOA was in a completely different class to every Davison story that preceded it. A lot of that difference lies in Davison's portrayal, Robert Holmes script and Graeme Harper's direction. Even the incidental music was noticeably different.

I think Holmes wrote The Fifth Doctor very much in the style of the Fourth as he was when he was Script Editor, there was plenty of flippancy and humour, like all the 'sir' stuff in Part 1 and his mocking of Sharaz Jek in Part 2.

So if you were saying it was no different to any other Doctor Who story at that time, have to disagree with you very strongly on that point. If you weren't, then forget I even mentioned it.

I think that maybe Robert Holmes also felt 'let off the leash' somewhat by Eric Saward, a man who loves to write a grim n' gritty, 'everyone dies' type of story, full of unlikeable scumbags himself. Whereas in the past producers like Barry Letts had reigned him in somewhat.

I also don't see how Caves could ever be seen as typical Doctor Who, even if one doesn't like it.


Delta has very good scripts. It really does! Some people would argue they're not remotely appropriate for Doctor Who and they may be right, but judging them just as scripts, in their own right, they're very decent. They'd maybe be more suited to a Saturday morning Doctor Who cartoon but they're well written.

And I think the Ghost Light scripts are some of the best Doctor Who has ever had. In fact, Andrew Cartmel managed to get some very good scripts together generally during his run as script editor; certainly much better than his predecessor Eric Saward. It's a shame they weren't always realized well on-screen.


But they're just so booooring :P

Which ones are the brilliant performances? :P

I would say not budget limitations at that point in the show's history but 'giving a s*** limitations'. Too many of the production team had a lazy attitude that never would have been allowed by Verity Lambert, Barry Letts, Phillip Hinchcliffe etc.


'A Good Man Goes to War' as empty event episode: yes, I can agree with that. It's no secret that I love Moffat's writing generally but this is one of his weakest episodes, and I agree has no real coherence or structure. The River Song reveal is a huge damp squib and that is just the icing on the cake. The whole baby storyline and the way it was handled was hard to give any credibility to. The majority of the episode is just people running around shooting guns in a warehouse. It has one of the elements I referred to above that I don't care for in RTD's writing: characters being written temporarily out of character for dramatic effect (Rory, suddenly becoming a tough guy. The Doctor suddenly becoming vengeful). There's the very forced 'Good Man' theme. And there's the corny poetry...

But it also has two of my favourite scenes from the Matt Smith era: Strax's death scene and the wonderful dialogue given to him, and Lorna's death scene, with the Doctor's pretending to remember her and subsequent 'who was that?' being one of the most poignant scenes I think I've seen in Doctor Who.

So... I let it off the hook :P


God, that was long... respect (but no pity) to anyone who read it all.

Agree on your Androzani point but Kinda boring? No way! Love that story, it was radically different at the time. Just as Androzani was but in a completely different way.

Delta I like more than I used to. It's still a bit too light hearted but whereas that doesn't suit the other stories of Season 24, it does this and it also suits Mel more and she isn't quite as annoying in this one.

One other popular story I think is overrated(but don't hate) is The Day Of The Doctor. Was disappointed in it after it's initial airing and after a few repeat viewings it still isn't much better. The Zygons are wasted, The Daleks should have been the main villain considering it was their 50th anniversary year. The whole thing was a mess, I found Name Of The Doctor a more appropriate anniversary story and less convoluted.

Agree that A Good Man Goes To War is also a complete mess.

In defence of A Good Man Goes To War had some really good performances. It answered questions that had been waiting for a while. Who is River Song?. Why do the silence and Kovarian hate the doctor so much ?. I already suspected the revelation. However was still a touching scene when she revealed her true Identity to her future husband and then her parents. Yes it was sad they lost a little girl. However that little girl survived it and knew they all loved her. Enough to go back and assure them everything would be ok in the end.

This is going to be really unpopular, but I hate Inferno and The Deadly Assassin.

-=-=-=-=-=-

You see, I'm one of those people who finds myself sort of being drawn into the fictional world when I watch a story. If the story doesn't do that for me, I'm just plain not going to enjoy it.

I've never been a fan of stories like Inferno which take place across multiple universes. Unless the writer is very, very good at it, it makes it harder to be drawn into all of them at once. I'm all like, "Aaarrrgh! Stop wasting my time with this stupid, pointless alternate universe and get back to the proper story in the proper universe!"

-=-=-=-=-=-

The Deadly Assassin is annoying because it starts out like an Asimov-style space-whodunnit but fails to follow through because it doesn't understand what makes that type of story work in the first place.

Normal, real world detective stories only work because we already know who the real world works, how detection works in the real world, and how detection can sometimes fail to work in the real world. SF whodunnits have to take all that into account with a lot of detailed world-building so they can work.

The Deadly Assassin doesn't do that. Its version of Gallifrey isn't a believable world. Instead, everything about the whole of Time Lord society seems to have been created along the lines of what's needed to force people to make exactly the right mistakes to move the story along, rather than what actually makes sense in its own right. There's just no way the society could ever work at all.

(For example, the fact that the authorities don't bother to do any checks at all on the weapon found at the crime scene to see whether it's actually the murder weapon or not. Or the fact that no-one in the TV company has reported the theft of the film or the missing cameraman.)

And again, because the world's not believable, I can't find myself being drawn into it.

Well, Tom, Simon Rouse's performance in Kinda is one of my all time favourite guest appearances in the whole of Who. I think he's briliant in it. Also thought Richard Todd and Nerys Hughes were excellent, it's one of Janet Fielding's best performances, Peter D gives one of his terrific, fresh early performances and Mary Morris and the actress who plays her daughter are spot on.

Add the chap from The Bill, Anna Wing and Lee Cornes....oh, I love this story.

(Adrian 'That'sLife' Mills wasn't quite up to their standard, or, amazingly!, Matthew Waterhouse...although think it's one of his better performances.)

Ahem. I could bang on about Kinda for ages but, to everybody's relief, I wont.

Edit: I rather like A Good Man Goes To War. Matt had so many great moments, but I'd add the 'Colonel Runaway' scene. There was so much more to Matt's Doctor than zany flappiness. Oh, and I find Delta and the Bannermen hugely watchable and charming.

Been thinking hard about this one and would have to say The Mind Robber and Caves of Androzani.

I just don't like the type of story that The Mind Robber is. Don't hate it because Troughton, Hines and Padbury are always watchable but I'm honestly more likely to watch The Dominators.

Caves I know it's good but it's just two grim for me.

I'm also not as fond of Inferno or The Green Death as their reputations would suggest.

I'm afraid I found Kinda and Snakedance awful. The very worst kind of pseudo-intellectual claptrap that marred the original series from time to time.

Not keen on The Deadly Assassin, either. And Genesis of the Daleks does go on a bit...

The End of Time - a terrible ending for an amazing Doctor.

Nightmare in Silver - Not a fan of this one.

The Name of the Doctor - I'm very ''take it or leave it'' about this one.

I'm with you on Listen, worst of S8 by far as it made no sense and was boring. At least the Forest one had a midly interesting plot to make up for it making no sense.

The Doctor's Wife however was awesome.

Talons of Weng Chiang-Racist

Planet of the Spiders-let's give Jon one last jolly on his stupid Doctormobile, bessie, a helicopter and a hovercraft and not worry too much about the plot,

Listen-suspense was building nicely and then they forgot to put a monster threat in at the end.