Thursday, March 11, 2010

My Top 50 Doctor Who Stories Part 3

And here's Part 3

36: Dalek (9th Doctor)


Reintroducing the Daleks for a modern day was going to be a tricky one, given their massive history with the Doctor but Rob Shearman did a cracking effort here with keeping the focus on just one. And Nine is far more intolerant of just one Dalek than Ten is of billions of them. I guess it was good that he had Rose to keep him from veering into the darkness with this confrontation.

37: City Of Death (4th Doctor)

One of the oddest and sophisticated stories of the bunch. Four and Romana in Paris, Leonardo daVinci, Count Scarlioni as well as the nasty Scarooth of the Jagarooth. I get the hype behind it, it's definitely a classic one and it's hard not to notice Tom and Lalla's chemistry throughout.

38: The Claws Of Axos (3rd Doctor)

No-one should be surprised that there are a lot of Master stories popping up in this list. Delgado in particular is just irresistable and while this was another in a line of stories where the Master allied himself with a race that backfired, it's hard not to feel a little bad for him when he thinks the Doctor is going to abandon the Earth and travel with him. Even then, the slash pretty wrote itself.

39: The Tenth Planet (1st Doctor)

Okay, so this mostly survives (3 out of 4 episodes, I stand corrected) but this is a pivotal story in the show's history. Not only did it debut the Cybermen (voices great, look not so much) but it's the first regeneration we see as William Hartnell left and Patrick Troughton entered the scene.

40: Terror Of The Autons (3rd Doctor)

How to make a good impression for Jon Pertwee's second year? I don't know, maybe introduce jo Grant, Mike Yates, further make UNIT into family or give us the Master, the bestest villain ever? Either way, all of these elements and a return from the Autons made this a wonderful story that needs a DVD release like now.

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