Whoniversally Speaking

10. The War Machines- Season 3 A very different feel to this serial than a lot that had come before, this has a gritty hard SF sort of Quatermass feel to it, and in many ways feels like a proto version of the kind of stories we will see in S7 with Pertwee. It's tense, well executed and acted, ditches dismal Dodo for Polly and doesn't outstay its welcome. Love the computer style titles as well. 9. The Crusade- Season 2 Wittily written, brilliantly acted and lavishly staged pastiche of Shakespeare and drama which succeeds by casting proper RSC actors and playing the whole thing straight while the Tardis crew get to do the fun stuff around the edges. It's characterisation of Richard as a petulant manchild is just wonderful as well and there's some amazing scenes between Julian Glover and Jean Marsh. Fingers crossed we get animations of the missing episodes soon. 8. Edge of Destruction- Season 1 A proper bonkers one this, and something th...

15. The Reign of Terror- Season 1 As someone who knows a lot about the French Revolution, the amount of bad history in this made me wince, but once I got past that it was an exciting and often gripping adventure tale with plenty of politicking and double crossing thrown in. The only real problem with it is that it's too long. 14. The Space Museum- Season 2 Reputed to be boring and rubbish, I enjoyed The Space Museum more than I was expecting. The central conceit is really clever, at least one of the episodes is brilliant, the plot is good science fiction and the whole thing is acted with a kind of ironic knowingness. The whole thing felt almost like something from Douglas Adams. Maybe I was in a funny mood when I watched it, but it certainly amused me. 13. The Dalek's Master Plan- Season 3 While reputed to be something of a classic, in truth this is a really uneven affair with a lot of setpieces strung together with a sort of bare plot, some ...

20. "The Ark"- Season 3 The main reason this serial ranks so low is probably summarised by the fact that I've seen it about three times and still can never remember what it's about without looking it up, beyond the elephant, everyone getting cold and abject tedium. Though there is a kernel of a good idea in this one- specifically the idea of a time jump between two eras where the actions in the former have an impact on the latter- the execution is terrible and what should be exciting is really tedious. It's also just all over the place tonally. The Monoids are a slave race but the script can't decide if we're supposed to sympathise with or fear them, and them overthrowing their masters and killing them is characterised as bad rather than good which is a bit problematic. 19. "The Celestial Toymaker"- Season 3 Famously condemned by the always readable and provocative (though often deliberately, and sometimes tediously, icono...

William Hartnell is a Doctor who I never had much interest in before I started a marathon watch of Who from the start. Like many people I had made a lot of assumptions based on receive wisdom. That he would be an unlikeable crotchety old man, that his run was full of still and stagey historicals, that he flubbed all his lines. How wrong I was, because Hartnell is brilliant. It's true that at the start he is hard to like, savage, cruel, selfish, rude, but he mellows over his first season and reveals himself as one of the funniest of Doctors, with a twinkle in his eye while never losing a streak of darkness.  He also has some excellent companions, particularly Ian and Barbara who quickly became one of my favourite Tardis teams, then later Vicki, Stephen and Polly. The less said about Ben and Dodo the better, but mostly its an era that isn't afraid to be bold and exciting in a way that it is seldom credited with. Just as fans of the revival tell newcomers to "not skip 9"...

I, like many British nerds, love Doctor Who. From Hartnell to Whittaker and all in between, it's probably my favourite show. I'm currently in the process of rewatching the whole show from the start, usually with my 3 year old daughter who is fascinated by the show (and absolutely loves the Daleks) and had been live tweeting the venture until, unfortunately, I had to delete my account due to bullying and harassment (unrelated to Who I hasten to add). Still wanting an outlet for my Who related opinions I thought I might as well start another Who blog. I'll likely be posting rankings of story by Doctor.  Just a caveat, for early Doctors there will be a few stories I haven't included. I have only watched stories that footage exists for. No recons, no audios.  Will kick off back here with my ranking of Hartnell stories soon. I hope you enjoy.