CliffChapmanS5. Often condemned as samey, I think this is a fantastically produced and effective season, where I like every story and absolutely adore 4. I'm not sure I could ever work out how to rank Tomb, Ice Warriors, Enemy & Web. They all feel so special (not just because of the circumstances of being lost and then found.) Seeing Victoria be so strong in Snowman and Fury was great too. I even like Wheel. It's not great SF, but it IS great horror, with good characters it kills shockingly.
S6. Oh, War Games. Just stunning, and an absolute lesson in keeping longer Who stories engaging when so many six parters and even four parters weren't nearly so compelling - before AND after. But I also adore Mind Robber and Invasion. And The Seeds of Death is like a "best of" base under siege with some fantastic direction.
S7. Inferno; you could parachute Eccleston in to that and it'd work. Pertwee's best performace. We take it as read Camfield directed things are going to be great, but he fell ill and much of it is Barry Letts - an underrated director, albeit presumably working from Camfield's camera scripts? But Spearhead From Space is brilliant & a huge nostalgia draw for me, given the VHS was so early in my formative years and the novelisation was one of the first I ever borrowed from the library.
Can't really go wrong with S7 though. Silurians; brilliant. Ambassadors - sprawling and sometimes a bit messy given how it had Hollywood levels of redrafting by different writers (ish), but visually brilliant and stuffed with great performances.
S8. As much as I love Manning, wasn't a favourite for many years, but that must have been partly because most of it looked absolute arse on a quality level because of how little survived on PAL video tape. In the blu ray age, Terror of the Autons, which I've always liked, Mind of Evil and The Daemons look SO much better. My heart and head say Daemons because it's daft but delicious. But Colony In Space is a sleeper. The Chariots of the Gods stuff is a draw. Good cast.
S9. Three absolute belters, two much maligned stories I didn't like either for many years but quite enjoy now. Day was seminal, Sea Devils for the 92 repeat, Peladon because it's a lovely mash up of fantasy and SF. I *think* Peladon, with Day very close behind (Oh Jo Grant, my first crush.) But Mutants has a brilliant story (with poor execution - book is great). Time Monster is daftness and bits of brilliance. First two eps, bobbins. That Doctor/Master TARDIS scene thoough...
S10. One of my all time favourite seasons, along with 5, 12, 14, 18, 23 and 26 (yes, my tastes are eclectic.) Three Doctors is as Christmassy as Classic Who gets, Carnival is tremendously all over the place but completely works, and is very funny. Frontier transcends superficial sameyness for a great story. Planet is like a "best of" Dalek story with a Cushing aesthetic for TV. And the Green Death is sublime. Shag Carnival, Marry Green Death, Avoid none of them.
S11. For years seen as a weak link after the dominance of S7 and the Jo seasons getting better and better, but S11 is actually really strong. Time Warrior is funny and pacey. Invasion of the Dinosaurs is superb - with a strong criticism of extreme left wing idealism *from* the left, so it's no hatchet job. Never mind dodgy effects and dodgy colour in Ep1. Death to the Daleks has poor music buuuut good atmos generally. Monster is comfort Who... but my favourite is actually...
Spiders. Which I know will sound odd because even I thought it was rubbish for a few years. It's partly the great emotional loss of Pertwee, Lis and Nick, yes. It hits much harder now post 2011 (having met the latter two and narrowly missed Pertwee several times, to great sadness.) But also it does everything a modern era finale would do. Brings back loads of Pertwee era guest actors in new roles, gives new lore, confronts this Doctor's character. Overlong chase, bad effects? I dig it.
S12. Another absolute belter of a season. Robot is probably the weakest, and yet a genius move, giving us a textbook Pertwee story with only a new Doctor, which makes it ENTIRELY fresh. Ark smashes you in to the new, doing Alien five years early. Genesis might be the most famous classic story of them all; TSE is brutal and tight. Even Revenge is a slightly dippy script absolutely made by some strong direction and casting, and peerless regulars. Ark or Genesis FTW? Genesis. JUST.
S13. I *quite* like some stories some people consider absolute classics (Planet is very mid-tier Star Trek, a little overly serious and functional; Seeds of Doom is brilliant but not quite as engaging for me as some find it). Meanwhile Zygons and Pyramids are timeless classics, and Morbius is *wonderful* - sorry Terrance, I loved you, but Holmes can't have ruined it. Even the controversy about the faces doesn't dim it (Sorry, I'm old school, they're Morbius's faces AFAIC).
Android Invasion the weak link, but it's rather well directed and the novelisation was very good, effortlessly fixing loads of silly bits and plot holes. For a long time I'd say my favourite was Morbius, and sometimes it might be, but it's a bit of a tie of Zygons, Pyramids and Brain in the end, for me. What a bloody good run though.
S14. Starts good, just gets better and better (and yes, I fully appreciate there are issues with Talons on a casting front, but it IS possible to acknowledge that AND rate the story overall - it does a fair bit of throwing shade at racism in the dialogue, and is an enthusiastic (perhaps over-enthusiastic) pastiche of literary and film genres of which the issues are a bug, not a feature. But Robots of Death! Assassin!
The glory of The Face of Evil (though with that one, the book was better). The Hand of Fear, with its stunning farewell to Sarah but not to forget it's a pretty solid contemporary earthbound story without UNIT, which is quite a novelty at this point. And Masque is textbook meat and potatoes Who with some sparkling dialogue. Best story? Robots of Death. By a nose.
S15. A season of two halves, brilliant first half, falls away a little at the end. Fang Rock is stunning; TOO dark for me as a teen, tbh, but Game of Thrones hardened self laps it up now. Fendahl is underrated and a brilliant horror story. Invisible Enemy is back to that Flash Gordon/Innerspace childhood SF feel; I think it's underrated and fun. Would have LOVED an 80s VHS of it but we had to fight for K9 stories as kids! Sunmakers witty and not a right wing rant at all, glorious.
(Oft discussed as Holmes having a rant about a high tax bill but 70s climate was very different and it's a brilliant revolution story with the Gatherer, funny, and the Collector timeless and creepy. Underworld descends (ha ha) into badly acted and shot boredom but Part One is very good. Invasion of Time is a mixed bag - some great stuff, some fumbled stuff, not least that Leela should have left the Doctor for RODAN! (Fun fact, I met Andred at my Equity branch once).
So maybe Fang Rock should win because that's the obvious choice, but maybe I should pick Sunmakers or Invisible Enemy. Tricky. Might have to go Sunmakers.
S16. Two absolute classics - I adore Ribos (rom com heist!) and Pirate Planet (dodgy Mentiads aside, what concepts, what jokes!). Not so keen on Stones, it has good bits but I really wish it had location stuff on film. I really enjoy Androids of Tara. Kroll is OK - it *looks* quite good actually, despite the split screen, but it's leadenly directed/edited. Armageddon Factor is interminable, though fun when Drax turns up. Ribos wins, beating Pirates, JUST. By a nose. :)
S17. Often derided as the worst Williams season, this is probably the best actually, simply because a) City of Death (Winner, winner, chicken skeleton dinner) and b) while the stories get cheaper, the dialogue and concepts are just terrific throughout. I'm very fond of Shada and love most of the animation (its one weakness is not recasting Chronotis as you really feel the missing dialogue).
Hated Destiny for years BUT the new sound mix on the blu ray massively helps with pacing issues and acting, at least for Davros. Creature From The Pit is also hugely entertaining; I know the robbers have grim connotations these days, but I think it was a very simple Oliver Twist/Fagin thing without any idea of differing interpretations. You'd never now, of course, as per Talons, but it's better there to learn from than erased from time so you can't etc.
S18. God tier season. Stop complaining about The Leisure Hive opening pan - it's a shaggy dog story joke! What terrible monster are we about to see? What could it be? Ramp up tension, ramp up tension.... ah, snorey Doctor! Is *funny*. S17 has loads of cool high concept science; S18 has loads of great jokes. Production gloss aside it's the same show, and a GREAT show. I grew up where you had to pick S17 or S18, like Nike or Reebok, or Sega or Nintendo. THEY'RE BOTH GREAT!
That said, S18 IS greaterer, because the E-Space trilogy is PHENOMENAL. Full Circle is fantastic, Warrior's Gate is a beautiful, sexy mind-fuck, State of Decay gives us a bit more Hammer, with Peter Moffat's best direction. Traken is another SF/Fantasy win. Logopolis is outstandingly good, brilliantly directed, cleverly written, which I've loved more and more as I've got older. I adore it all. I think It's a tie of Full Circle, Warrior's Gate and Logopolis for me.
S19. Castrovalva is another grower that gets better and better with age. Four to Doomsday is *weird* with some very off characterisation, but *interesting* and quite funny in places. Kinda is magnificent; Visitation solid, Black Orchid isn't well loved now, but I'd argue it's still a great, unsual and enjoyable little show.
Earthshock had its majestic era in fandom, then got panned for all the plot holes, but now I think it's a fantastically directed show and you can headcanon your way out of most of the (arguably too harsh) list of Goofs in The DisContinuity Guide. Beryl Reid works for me. (Well, she doesn't, she works for Space Freighters, but you know what I mean.) Time Flight is ok. Good first ep, ok rest, not a total disaster. Castrovalva and Kinda best. Earthshock riding high.
S20. Snakedance is BRILLIANT. Rob Shearman's argued it better than I could (wonder if he's here? I should ask him). Mawdryn Undead is also a story I'm deeply fond of. Five Doctors is its own thing really, rather than part of S20, but you can't not love Five Doctors. And Enlightenment is beautiful, I enjoy it a lot. Arc and Terminus both have more to recommend than legend has it; good Nyssa stuff in both, also Amsterdam is not far from me, so fun!
Only King's Demons feels like a weak link; a strong start but it's not good if it's an old school two parter and it feels meandering and vague in the second half. Snakedance best; Mawdryn and Five Doctors snap it it's... well, not heels if it's a snake. Arse, I suppose.
S21. A much stronger season than fan lore has it, and indeed I remembered, better watched in contect. Warriors of the Deep has some rotten production and unusally bad dialogue BUT it has a dynamism and lots of good bits. Awakening is nice - again a bit vague in the second half. "The Toast of Little Hodcombe" is SUCH a dark line for the Doctor, delivered devilishly by Davison. Frontios BRILLIANT, Resurrection - again, if you're in the mood, a stonking action adventure.
Planet of Fire is more leisurely, lots of great bits, meanders a bit. Caves is astonishing - sometimes easier to respect than outright love cos it's so grim, but brilliantly made. Twin Dilemma is not the disaster it's said to be; the Doctor's violence is upsetting but that is rather the point, although Peri could be written more strongly and less complainy (Bryant plays her superbly with what she has). Try watching it in black and white - it works.
S22. Excellent season. I've had my issues in the past with it but it's such a great watch that's aged pretty well, MOSTLY. I do wish Saward had let Peri be more the sharp proactive character she is in Planet of Fire - but Colin and Nicola are great regardless. We get hung up on the continuity as fans, worrying about what casuals think, but it's no worse than soaps. And people USED to look up things they didn't understand rather than go "no, don't understand, therefore hate it".
Ironically, in an age where looking things up is easier than ever, people are more resistant to doing so perhaps? Anyway, for all the references and "easter eggs" most of them are just that. The stories are strong enough "who's them/why is that design significant" doesn't really impact as much on the storytelling as fans worry. Two Doctors is glorious and I adore it. Varos is way ahead of its time, with the Doctor busier than I remember.
Mark of the Rani is a solid trad Who story with some good banter, some marvellous use of obscure language (I love learning new words) and it really doesn't matter about the rubber tree. Timelash is ok; some bad dialogue, some fruity or flat performances, but there's worse in the new series. It's solid and Herbert is delightful. Revelation is brilliantly directed and rather good all round; I've made my peace with the Doctor doing very little in it...
As I think Saward was trying to give Colin an easier time as he would have been working in panto at JNT's behest and would have needed a break. So while filming doesn't clash, perhaps line learning time and rehearsals would have. Only disappointment is the Dalek voices; yes, they're "human" Daleks, but Skelton holding his nose with hardly any ring mod still sounds rubbish, and I'm sad they didn't put an alt track on the blu ray.
Anyway my favourite is Two Doctors - gorgeous score, love Troughton and Hines, and teaming them up with Colin and Nicola, love the softer side to Colin and him doing detective stuff, glorious villains. I know you can read dubious things in to the Androgum augmentation stuff, but the golden rule is a take is sometimes just a take, not the only or ultimate view ;)
S23. Some of my earliest solid memories of Who here, and despite all the production problems, I think it works really well. Yes, it's a shame we've switched to video over film, but that does bring paintbox and easier production, so fair enough. It's all told and resolved surprisingly well for me - Pip and Jane are criticised too harshly, not least by a certain future showrunner who'd frequently write far worse than they ever did... Mysterious Planet isn't vintage Holmes, but fun.
Mindwarp is astonishing, and Nicola Bryant is incredible in it. Blessed and Ryecart hugely entertaining, Sil and Kiv suitably scary and disgusting. Colin, confused by lack of info, makes smart acting choices and it's a powerful, if uncomfortable and disturbing watch. Vervoids is pretty enjoyable, and the climax is weirdly satisfying despite the common view for this reviewer anyway, some technobabble is always a thing. Underrated.
S24. I have memories of S22 and 23, and started taping Doctor Who properly for S25, but I *don't* have memories of S24, and I'm not sure if this is because I was only newly six and Trial had scared me so much I was steered away from it, or mum wanted Corry, or what. It might have been bath time... Anyway, I saw all of S24 in the mid 90s. I liked it and didn't see what the fuss was about, fandom kicking it loads. TATR is daft, but no dafter than Time Monster, say, and quite fun.