Sunday, November 13, 2011

A look at each Doc

So, I don't write a whole lot here, but this one has been wanting out of my system for a while – much like taco night gone wrong.. When people ask me who my favorite Doctor is, I always have trouble answering. I claim that every Doctor had at least one story that ranks as the best in the show's history. So, to back up that claim, I'm listing my top 11 stories in the show's history – one from each Doctor. Please, feel free to call me a dumb ass, but only if you post your own list :-).

Hartnell – The Edge of Destruction
Sci-fi perfection. Virtually no budget or special effects. Just 100% story with rock solid acting and directing to back it up. Twilight Zone eat your heart out.

Troughton – The War Games
The first of a couple outstanding regen eps. Troughton shows us a Timelord playing the big game for the first time, really. It just all works here, and is brilliant Who. For all his clown act, Troughton's Doctor knows what it means to be a Timelord as well as any.

Pertwee – The Daemons
Perfect ensemble cast. Great story. Great production values (for the era). 'Nuf said.

T Baker – The Deadly Assassin
In spite of all the amazing companions during Tom's era, he is just badass in this serial. The Doctor's character played to perfection, and Doctor Who telling a story that no other venue in sci-fi could ever tell.

Davison – The Caves of Androzani
An ok story completely stolen by Peter Davison, who simply acts the every-living-crap out of every scene. He is just amazing straight through.

C Baker – Attack of the Cybermen
Arrogance tempered with compassion, but on a scale that only a Timelord can appreciate. This is The Doctor as Colin Baker envisioned him, and it was written and played to perfection in this story.

McCoy – The Curse of Fenric
We see the character development cut short in the Colin Baker era played out here. McCoy's Doctor is just damn creepy here, playing a game on a scale that would make the Master blush at his own small mindedness. 10th Doc take notes – this is how you BE a god, and not just play one in the mirror.

McGann – well, duh. We only the one, but it had to be one of the strongest out-of-the-gates performances to date. Oh, what we could have had from him...

Eccleston – Dalek
Our beloved hero got screwed up by the Timewar. And Eccleston plays it brilliantly here. His emotional collapse (recovery?) at the end is exactly what we would expect. The badass-ness we saw develop with McCoy had to come to a head, and the human side of the Doctor we saw in Davison just couldn't cope with what he'd become.

Tennant – Blink
It may be “Doctor lite”, but still outstanding. This is how a Timelord should steer history. A perfect intervention into the course of history, with Tennant's few scenes reminding me of having just a few sips of a fine Scotch and realizing that more would spoil it.

Smith – The Doctor's Wife
Look at the evolution of the relationship between The Doctor and the TARDIS from Edge of Destruction to here. It's simply amazing, and something unique in all of sci-fi and all of TV. I'm a TARDIS freak, and I can't imagine this episode being written, acted, or directed any differently.

2 comments:

Joe Hadrin November 13, 2011 at 10:09 PM  

Damn right. Curse of Fenric indeed. The same goes for Attack of the Cybermen, The War Games & The Edge of Destruction.

All great episodes, which went a little deeper into the mystery of the madman with a box.

Unknown November 14, 2011 at 1:16 AM  

Kick ass list, Sen!
Pretty much agree with most of it. Might've done Talons or Genesis for Baker but can't really argue much with Deadly Assasin: Gallifrey culture, skeletal zombie Master AND Tom Baker? Woot!

And Doctors Wife.. That's like some sort of Doctor Who - TARDIS love poem, at least for me. So beautiful.

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