Obviously it goes without saying I'm writing this in march so the marathon went on a bit longer than expected, mainly due to other things coming up and getting in the way but I got there in the end and this blog is my journey through the worst of the worst according to the fans.
First of all I set myself a few rules, otherwise most of you reading this could reel off the stories that make this list. Because 8 only has one TV story (or did when I wrote this - thanks for solving this Moff but you were a little late) the first leg is only going to be Doctors 7-1, otherwise I'd be watching the TV Movie twice. I can't include a story I own on DVD or that I've seen in the last two years, because if there was a story that came bottom of the polls and I liked it I'd probably own it, this would help me get a story for each Doctor I didn't like. The two years factor would add a bit of fresh randomness in just to spice the marathon up a bit. Without further ado lets get started...
We start with the Seventh Doctor, the story that came bottom of the poll I used was "Time and the Rani" but I've seen that fairly recently, the next Seventh Doctor story was Silver Nemesis but I already owned it so for representing the Sylvester McCoy era on this marathon would be Delta and the Bannermen. Given that I was about seven when season 24 aired I've always had a soft spot for it and have never understood the flack it gets. In saying that Delta is a story that by and large has passed me by, and I've only seen it when it aired and a repeat on UK Gold at stupid AM during my college years. I do own the target novelisation though and have to confess in my mid teens I let the "Wales in England" stuff get to me and the nationalistic twit on me didn't like this story, although now I can successfully say the aforementioned trait has been largely dropped. Watching it, I'm finding it an enjoyable romp and rather a traditional story - it actually feels a lot like the post come back series, I'd put money on RTD or The Moff being tempted to take a galactic space war and plonk it in a holiday camp if it hadn't already been done.
The guest cast are very good, myself I'm only aware of Ken Dodd but the cast are full of names and faces the viewer can recognise from TV over the years. Hugh Lloyd, Richard Davies, Sara Griffiths and Stubby Kaye are clearly having loads of fun while unfortunately Belinda Mayne and David Kinder are a bit am-dram as the star crossed lovers. Don Henderson playing the villain Gavrock bar a brilliant scene where he confronts the Doctor at the cliffhanger for part two while tucking into a chunk of meat is surprisingly restrained for a Who villain. The regulars are on fine form, McCoy has a few stories under his belt now and is developing his character nicely - I really like the fact he lets Mel talk him into going to 1950's Disneyland despite his reservations about the holiday company. His confrontations with Gavrock, his interactions with Ray and the closing moments as he warns Delta and Billy but doesn't stop all show movement from the rushed character from earlier stories. Also dare I say it Bonnie Langfords quite good, this may actually be her best performance as she genuinely fits in with the Navarino's and the setting.
All in all after finishing this story I'm a bit bemused its rated so low by fans (yes there are two lower rated 7th Doctor stories but this is still very low) as I'm mentally putting it into the "fun romp" category. As an inside my award for line of the story goes to Richard Davies as Burton "You are not the Happy Hearts Holiday club from Bolton but instead are spacemen in fear of attack from other spacemen" which completely sums up the story.
We move on wards with marathon and enter the Sixth Doctor era, the story that came bottom for this era was The Twin Dilemma, however I've seen that a year or two back when the BBC put it on youtube. The next story up (although not that far in the rankings I used) is Timelash, any reader not familiar with this story may be interested to find out there in an anagram for this story that even Colin Baker himself has been known to use. If you can work it out and add it to the bottom of this blog you can win a bar of soap to wash your mouth out with. Anyway on with the blog...
Being the age I am, its fair to say I'm quite unfamiliar with the vast majority of guest stars in Who up until it came back in the 00's. Mostly this is down to age, where as most people can say "oh that's so and so from blah blah blah blah" which I miss out on because I'm to young to remember their other work. However due to DVDs and revisiting shows I wasn't around for the first time on a re watch like this a show can take on another dimension when I realise "hang on that's Avon off of Blake's Seven!" Being familiar with this story I can understand why fans don't like it, I however am firmly of the opinion its crap but its good fun crap. Yes its got the look of a Graham Williams "oh shit the budgets gone" season finale and bar Paul Darrow the guest cast are rubbish there's a lot to enjoy. Colin's clearly read the script, seen the sets, seen the guest cast and decided he needs to act big to save the show and his performance is lots of fun. As an aside I enjoy its a sequel to an untelevised Pertwee story, imagine a group of aliens expecting the debonair third Doctor to step out of the TARDIS and instead getting Sixy!
There's a lot of actually Doctor-ish stuff going on in this story, HG Wells is in it but this is a far cry from modern day Who when well known historical figures often turn up. Most of the time these figures were involved in off screen anecdotes so its quite a treat to see Wells. Also the stuff with the android and "time break" are the kind of thing one assumes always happened in Who yet despite the timey wimey nature of recent Who its still a rare thing. However these aspects tend to get buried, for most of the time HG Wells is "Herbert" and the rest of the story gets sucked into the poorness of the production albeit with Baker and Darrow the only ones acting big to overcome it.
I find it highly watchable, for me Colin Baker and Paul Darrow save the story from sinking into boring mediocrity turning it into a fun little panto. Bar that there's not much to say, a lot of stuff about this one is poor but at least its fun.
Onto the Fifth Doctor era and unlike the previous two stories this entry in the marathon actually is bottom of this era, yes ladies and gentle readers this may come as a shock but I didn't own the double pack DVD of Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity! Despite that I'm on safe grounds as I quite enjoy this story, now I'm well aware of why its so poorly rated by fans but I'm having none of it, there's loads to enjoy about Time-Flight.
Lets start with part 1, its virtually a Pertwee era UNIT story first episode - UNIT even get a name check! Disaster happens on modern day earth but instead of the Brig stomping into the Third Doctors lab the Fifth Doctor lands the TARDIS right in the disaster area and is called into help. Peter Davison even gets to lark about in concord - Jon Pertwee would have been all over this! Peter Davison himself is also brilliant, he's so breathless, plus after the tragedy of the previous story he's clearly throwing himself head first into things because this is all the Doctor knows how to do. Also Peter has one of my favourite scenes in his era, when he gets bored of explaining the plot again to another guest character and stomps off and happens to stomp into Kalids lair.
I'm the first to admit the concord crew are pure panto however if your in the right mood this isn't a bad thing. Sarah Sutton, is Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding is in her element as Tegan. Despite being in her chosen workplace at last Tegan still feels more at home in the TARDIS than Heathrow. The story becomes distinctly uninteresting when Kalids identity is revealed and bar Peter Davison there's not a lot going on on the acting front. Like the previous story its another "oh crap the money's run out" story but its still , at least until the half way point and there's a good little plot here. Its another case of the lead actor being big to cover up the shows shortcomings which is always good to watch, plus Peter gets the best line when describing Concord, "This thing is smaller on the inside than the outside!"
Anyway on we go to the Fourth Doctor and Tom Baker era, any non fan or fairly recent newcomers yet to see any of the original series may be surprised to find this era has any duffers but low and behold Underworld only just finished higher than the previous stories on the pole. We're back in fairly uncharted territory for me here as I've only seen it once during the late 90's on a daft AM UK Gold repeat and can't remember anything whats over, I am however aware of its reputation and am looking forward to seeing some rubbish 70's CSO!
Watching the first episode I'm rather taken aback, its actually quite good and looks to be setting up "Jason and the Argonauts" in space, we could be in for another traditional story here. I'm going to say this now, I think the first episode actually promises something special and there's actually entertaining science going on here - especially with the cliffhanger. Plot wise we're in pivotal stuff for the series overall as we see why the Time Lords have a non intervention policy. Sadly after the first episode the rest of the series commits the cardinal sin of being a bit dull, even Tom Baker looks like he's not really bothered. Probably because of all the experimenting CSO filming, bar a few sets to save money most of the sets are CSO and in all honesty bar three or four painful shots (include the part three cliffhanger) its not to bad.
Louise Jameson and Tom Baker despite being low key do have good chemistry and Leela's first shot of the story is a "for the dads" moment. Of the guest cast Alan Lake as Herrick is brilliant and looks determined to enjoy himself, the rest however are instantly forgettable. Writing this I can't even remember what the villains were called as they are faceless (I mean this in both senses) and can't remember their names. All in all a good first episode which sets things up nicely only for the rest of the story to flop. Sadly unlike the previous stories in the marathon there's no "big acting" to save it.
Moving on we enter the Third Doctor era with the one and only Jon Pertwee himself, I feel the urge to point out that in the on line poll I'm using there is no story from this era in the bottom section - the lowest story is twenty seventh off the bottom which makes it just higher than Delta which was my third choice for the Seventh Doctor era. Anyway the bottom story for this era is The Time Monster, another story which I don't own and have only seen on daft AM UK Gold repeats.
Rather like the previous story I enjoyed the first episode and in fact I'd go as so far to say its the most traditional Pertwee opening episode I've ever seen. UNIT, the Master, technological doohickey, isolated location in the English countryside - its all here. Moving on there's actually a lot to like about this story, UNIT are fun, Benton gets a lot to do and the Third Doctor gets an atypical trip back into earths history. I'm of the firm belief though that this story is more interested in the Master and at times it feels like its his story, he's brilliant from his out of his depth plan to his seducing of Galleia - who I nearly didn't recognise from Where Eagles Dare. Things drag a bit after the first episode but then pick up when the TARDIS turns up. There's a bit in episode five when the Doctor speaks to Jo from the time vortex that's quite quick but I remember it going on forever. The Atlantis stuff is a good bit of fun and a novelty by this era's standards, the finale is a bit rubbish and its not the best Pertwee/Delgado confrontation but it never stops being a fun runaround. Coming away from this I'm firmly placing it in the fun romp category and not really understanding why its rated so low, surely its a classic example of a fun Doctor Who story and should be somewhere around the middle?
We move into the black and white years where Patrick Troughton played the Second Doctor - I must declare that Pat is my personal favourite Doctor and this entry may be a bit biased. This story has a reputation of being dull, being set on the planet Dulkis doesn't help and neither does naming the planets population the Dulcians. Its a fairly typical invasion story with the war like Dominators invading the pacifistic Dulcians, with the Dulcians not knowing how to defend themselves. There's a great moment where the Dulcian big wigs hold a meeting and decide to do nothing, although this does take about three episodes! The Dominators themselves sadly aren't very good in the action stakes either, they spend most of the story arguing with each other (at times its like watching a docudrama on office politics) when their robot Quarks do everything. The Quarks are the thing this story is known for, the writers had aspirations they would be the next "Dalek" but it never happened. I however think they're rather cute and watchable.
However I'm disagreeing with fandom and think there's a lot to enjoy about this, Troughton himself is on excellent form as are the rest of the regulars. Needless to say the most anarchistic Doctor does not get on with the titular Dominators and is infuriated with the Dulcians which makes great viewing. Highlights of the story are the Doctor and Jamie trying to act foolish so the Dominators underestimate them, the Doctor trying to divert the travel capsule, plus Jamie's and Cully's battle with the Quarks in the final few episodes to by the Doctor some time. I find this story lots of fun, a lovely little romp and am in firm disagreement that its rated so low.
We enter the final leg of the marathon and onto the First Doctor himself William Hartnells era. The bottom rated story for his era was The Celestial Toymaker but I went through a phase of going through the missing stories on audio (and surviving episodes) a while back so its up to the next poorly rated story which is The Web Planet. Again this is a story I've only seen early in the morning on UK Gold but its one I remember struggling through, this could be the toughest test of the marathon. Given that its the final leg I decided to watch it over one evening instead of my usual one episode an evening.
I feel the urge to point out to anyone that has never watched any early Who, this is one hell of a bonkers era. Don't be fooled into thinking Doctor Who found its format straight away and stuck to it rigidly for twenty-six years, this era in particular was throwing new things at the viewer on a weekly basis. This story is the perfect case in point, somebody at some point said "lets do a story with no humanoid guest characters" and we got The Web Planet.
However in order to make it look more alien they did something unusual to the camera filters and rubbed Vaseline on the camera. After watching this I had a migraine the next day and constant headaches, however I applaud the idea. Sadly for me this is a story full of good idea's that don't really translate well onto the screen, as a result its a bit of a struggle. I find the early episodes more enjoyable, the TARDIS has never looked or felt more dangerous, the mystery of the threat to come and Barbara somehow being mind controlled all add to a fantastic atmosphere. In fact the Doctor and Ians exploration of Vortis is the highlight of the story, Ian gets a bit of a hard time in this story - he has his pen stolen, his tie vandalised, gets covered in blisters and spends the later part of the story in a mucky tunnel. Its still the majority of the original regulars bar Maureen O'Briens Vicki coming in after Carole Fords Susan and its as formidable a TARDIS crew as ever there was. They throw themselves into the production with a sterling effort, of the guest Roslyn de Winters and Martin Jarvis deserve to be mentioned as the Menoptra do a lot better than the rest of the races on display.
Sadly the filters, Vaseline and for some reason gas makes this story hard to follow and I was forever rewinding the DVD as I was losing touch with what was going on. I have to applaud the production team as they actually manage to show the menoptra flying briefly. The script itself is fantastic, everyone gets something to do and there's a fantastic moment where an Optera describes digging which is outstanding. I think I'd be all over this if it existed only on audio but as I said earlier this story gave me a severe headache so its not really a story I can recommend - unless your planning on watching with your eyes shut.
So there we are, all of the original series Doctors are accounted for and the first leg of the marathon comes to an end. I feel I should have a conclusion for readers who have made it to this point however I have nothing, there appears to be no connection between these stories, some are radical, some are traditional, some earthbound some not yet all are fairly unloved, fandom is a strange thing. Anyway moving on I've yet to start the second leg of the marathon and as this has taken so long I'll probably do it in the run up to the next series. It will be Doctors One to Eleven but I'm undecided over weather I should do my favourites or fandoms favourites. Let me know which you'd rather read as I'm easily swayed.
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