Story arcs are ok, if they come to some kind of conclusion and not leave you saying “What about the thing?” I still wonder “What about the thing?” with the whole Bad Wolf arc and years later with the Hybrid.
There are things that are sort of story arc-like, like drips of Vote Saxon being mentioned in passing, then finding out who Saxon really is later that series.
I also liked how Missy is introduced in Series 8, first with Clara calling a “help line”, which is the Doctor’s Tardis, and she tells him that a lady in the shop gave her his number. You don’t see the mysterious woman. That is from the beginning of the second half of series 7. You don’t find out who she really is until the end of Series 8.
I two at the top, (yes, yet another tie) and they are both from the Classic era.
The War Games
The Second Doctor’s final story story,The War Games, which I recently saw earlier this year (I don’t think I saw this before, outside of clips). It has ten parts which lasted the whole of season 6. That sounds like it would drag somewhere in the middle, or the end, but it moves along at a good pace as certain things are revealed. (And how about that Steve Jobs look-a-like 30 years before Jobs got that look?) And it is also when we are first introduced to the Time Lords. As well as the departure of Zoe, Jamie, and the Second Doctor.
Trial of a Time Lord
Trial of a Time Lord is my other favorite, a 14 parter taking up all of season 23. I did see this as a young teenage fan, and later bought the VHS boxset because I loved it so much (I still have it with it’s wonderful Tardis designed box art!). Unlike The War Games, this is divided up into 4 smaller stories:The Mysterious Planet, Mindwarp, Terror of the Vervoids, and The Ultimate Foe. I loved the twist of finding out who the Valeyard was (wrote about that here), and also the alternate endings to characters. Also loved the bantering between the Doctor and the Valeyard, the discovery of what the mysterious planet really was, and the other characters. But yes, I felt it had a good closing on the arc as to why the Doctor was really summoned to court.
While looking up this, I found out there was a Big Finish audio that not only brings back Colin baker as the 6th Doctor, but Lynda Bellingham as the Inquisitor (love her!), and Michael Jayston as the Valeyard. Info here, but don’t listen to the trailer if you don’t know the identity of the Valeyard.
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Doctor Who Season
I’m not sure if the question is favorite main theme for the show, or Doctor, or character. So I’ll do all three!
Main Theme
Like my favorite New Who series, I would have just had one if this was 4 years ago. So it’s split into Classic and New Who.
First, there is a special place in my heart for the original. That kind of wins by default. If this didn’t exist, none of the other versions would. So hats of to Ron Grainer, Delia Derbyshire, and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for creating the song
Other than that one, my favorite Classic Who is the version that started during Jon Pertwee’s 3rd Doctor and continues into Tom Baker’s 4th
New Who goes to the rock version played in series 9 for the Before the Flood episode (I mention this in yesterday’s post). And that Peter Capaldi plays the guitar on it is just icing on the cake!
Doctor Theme
I don’t think this was really done during the classic era (I don’t remember reading or hearing anything) So I believe it’s a New Who thing.
Best one is 11th’s. No question.
Although 12th’s theme is also really amazing (well, all four are really). Not a tie (gasp!), but close.
Character
Well, this is hard. I listened to them again to try to make up my mind. And it’s so hard because Murray Gold was amazing on so many of the themes.
Tie! (surprise!)
Rose’s Theme is beautiful and haunting.
Same with Amy’s Theme. Just as beautiful and just as haunting. And incredibly said after watching the end of the first half of series 7 :'(.
Excuse me while I grab a box of tissues…
Next in the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Actor
This one didn’t take long to pick. There is, of course, Barbara and Ian, the Doctor and Rose, the Doctor and River, Amy and Rory,
But there is one pairing that is above them all. The Doctor and his TARDIS.
This has been brought up in the show a number of times how the TARDIS is connected through a psychic link with the Doctor, and is alive, though I think the meaning in the very beginning meant powered with electricity, but it later was clear that it is a sentient being.
For a long time, the Doctor thought he had stolen (sorry, “borrowed”) the Tardis to escape Gallifrey. It turned out that the Tardis stole him as well.
I love how a lot of this is brought up in the excellent episode, “The Doctor’s Wife” where the 11th Doctor, Amy and Rory end up outside the universe and a being called House takes the “soul” (for the lack of a better word) of the Tardis out and places it inside a woman so he can take over the blue box. And the Doctor and Tardis start talking to each other.
Anyway, The Doctor’s Wife is a great first episode (along with Blink).
Next in the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite New Who Series
A lot of people don’t like 6 or 7. Some people don’t even like 4. But for me, I love them all. As in the Day 1 challenge, I have two top favorites. Solid second place goes to 7 and 11 (and yes I know that traditionally this would be “third” place in “normal” ranking, but I never agreed to that way of doing it, and this is my list, so 😛 ). And all the other guys bob between 2nd and 3rd place, depending on which one I had just watched or listened to.
But, really, I don’t dislike any of them.
The closest thing to a least favorite Doctor would be the way the Patrick Troughton was portrayed in An Adventure in Space and Time. I was totally into the film, and I still love the thing to pieces. (Detail! So much detail! And all the cameos!) But seeing the person portraying Patrick Troughton portraying the Second Doctor was just off and pulled me out of the moment. For someone dressing up as him for a convention, that’s fine. But it really broke the “realism” that was given to everything else in the film.
Actually, now that I think about it, I wasn’t too keen on how the First Doctor was written in Twice Upon a Time, which soured me on the episode. Well, so did Testimony (not totally convinced that they were good guys, but that’s another blog post).
I loved David Bradley in An Adventure in Space and Time, and what was wrong with him in this wasn’t his fault. And I love Moffat, he just disappointed me with his version of the 1st Doctor. The housekeeping line (I don’t remember 1 saying things like that), or the smack-bottom (yes Hartnell’s Doctor did say that line, but it was to his grand-daughter Susan, not to someone who he just met. Different kind of relationship), While watching the 1st Doctors stories on Twitch Doctor Who marathon, people in the chat commented saying that he didn’t seem misogynistic. So that was good to see.
Tip to anyone who writes for a certain Doctor: watch some stories of that same Doctor beforehand and/or during.you writing your story!
But, when it comes to the original Doctors, nope, no problem with any of them :).
Next in the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – OTP (One True Pairing)
I checked out other people’s scariest episodes and most of them just weren’t “scary” to me. Since I didn’t start watching until I was 13 years old, some things just didn’t terrify me like it would little kids. But there were definitely moments that pop to mind.
Yes, there were some things that were gross or creepy, but scary is something different. It could be a type of jump scare. Or an idea. Or the true identity of a character. Below are my scariest:
The Valeyard
In the 6th Doctor’s very long Trial of a Time Lord arc, we are introduced to the Valeyard. And the true identity of who he really isn’t revealed in part 13 of 14. is scared me silly when I first watched it back in the 80s. I’m not going to say who he really is, for those who haven’t seen it yet.
When it played on the Doctor Who Twitch marathon earlier this year, people in the chat just bugged out when it was revealed. And it has remained one of my favorite twists in the whole history of the show
An Audio entry: Real Time
Real Time was an audio adventure that was turned into an animated adventure 16 years ago this month. I watched each part as the BBC released it. It’s a 6th Doctor story (with Colin Baker returning for the voice) and his companion Professor Evelyn Smythe (who I love. My favorite audio-only companion). I love this story dearly but the reveal of who the Cyber Controller is was just….*shivers*…scary and creepy and eeEEEWWWW and gross and …well I haven’t listened to the whole thing since then because it scared me too much.
Below is part one of the animated story remastered by a fan:
https://youtu.be/pXI5LLlxj_8
The Weeping Angels
Okay, if you are familiar at all with New Who, you knew this was coming. Blink is one of the best episodes ever. And one of the scariest. And even though the Weeping Angels lost their scariness in later episodes (Angels in Manhattan is an exception. Love that one), Blink still is the strongest appearance of them.
Below is a music video cleverly edited by a fan using Cameleon Circuit’s awesome trock song, Blink. (Trock is music, usually rock/pop inspired by the show)
Next in the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Least Favorite Doctor
There aren’t a lot of male companions. Ones I really love are Adric (another controversial opinion :P), and Captain Jack Harkness.
But again I have a tie:
Ian Chesterton
There aren’t a lot of male companions. Ones I really love are Adric (another controversial opinion :P), and Captain Jack Harkness.
But again I have a tie:
Ian Chesterton
Ian (played by William Russell) was part of the original Tardis team. He and fellow teacher Barbara went to investigate the strange behavior of one of their students, and wind up traveling in time and space with a mysterious person called “the Doctor”.
“Who is he? Doctor who? Perhaps if we knew his name, we would have a clue to all this.”
I loved his friendship with Barbara and how they were in their weird adventure together and bound determined to return home… even if it was 2 years later (London1965!).
And a fun bonus. Earlier this year Russell T. Davies happened to be on the same train as William and shared this on his Instagram –
Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
The Brigadier is my other top fav. Also a unique character because he was the only character to have played opposite with every Doctor from 2 to 7 as well having worked along the 8th Doctor in the audio Minuet in Hell. And the actor, Nicholas Courtney, also played Space Security Agent Bret Vyon with the 1st Doctor. His grandfather met the 1st and 12th Doctors, and his daughter Kate continues to work for UNIT and has helped out the 11th and 12th (Kate is awesome!). I love how he continues to hold an important place in the show, even years after Courtney passed away, (Though I do have “ewww” feelings about him being turned into a Cyberman)
I remember watching one episode where the Doctor and Brig were arguing having totally different opinions on how to handle a situation, and my daughter asked me if they were enemies. And I explained that no, they are friends, they just are a bit stubborn, but they are both on the same side.
Recommended episodes:
Now we get into the controversial opinion (as with a few other challenges). I have many that I really like. From the classic era there’s Robert Holmes, Douglas Adams, Terrance Dicks, Malcolm Hulke. And new ones like Mark Gatiss, Russell T Davies, Jamie Mathieson. But there is my favorite, and a lot of people said he is the worst writer Who has ever had and he has ruined it… blah, blah. But I think he was great!
The Moff himself, Steven Moffat.
He has been a fan just about his whole life, written stories, a skit, before being hired to write for the show, then writing some of the most beloved episodes, and then becoming showrunner beginning in 2010 (and at the same time co-creating and write for Sherlock with Mark Gatiss). He also wrote the 11th, 12th Doctors and created the War Doctor, created River Song, and turned the Master into a woman (Love Missy!). As well as the Weeping Angels, the Silence, and Ohila of the Sisterhood of Karn.
Episodes that I loved are in chronological (or would that be timey-wimey?) order below:
There were others that I loved, but the above ones were off the top of my head.
And the wonderful Doctor Who The Fan Show had a three part interview with him earlier this year. And yesterday they finally uploaded the 3rd part after 7 months! Hooray! (and what the freak took so gosh darn long?)
I think, as time passes and some fans will start bashing on Chris Chibnall once series 11 starts, the ire will turn from Moffat, as what happened with Russell T Davies. That’s the mixed blessing of having a long running tv show. People start watching with one showrunner and get used to that sort of setup. Then someone else takes over with a different setup, and the new person is the worst person ever. Similar with who plays the Doctor.
Rolling right along with the Doctor Who challenges, we have the hardest question. Hundreds of stories. Only one winner. (“There must be only one” – Highlander voice).
This. This is really difficult. I could choose one story from each Doctor. Or one from Classic Who and another from New Who.
Hmmmm…. I might do the latter.
Yes, yes, I think I might…
Classic Who (1963-1989)
Just picking one story from the classic era is hard enough. Seven Doctors. Dozens of companions. Still hundreds of stories.
An Unearthly Child
Have to give it to the one that started everything. The first part, not so much the caveman story that followed. Just An Unearthly Child. What introduces the world to the companions everyday life, their curiosity about one of their students. The Doctor, who is not very social. And his ship that his granddaughter nick-named the TARDIS – Time and Relative Dimensions in Space.
I have seen this a number of times, and never have gotten tired of it. I love how things have remained, like the console (well, the things on the console and how it looks change over time but the basic purpose has remained). Commenting on how the TARDIS is alive. The sound of the TARDIS taking off.
https://youtu.be/aXBmQz2r2M8
https://youtu.be/hRsfKK34SFY
New Who (2005-Present)
Not nearly as many stories, but still a difficult pick.
Day of the Doctor
But it goes to The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary episode bonanza. Multi-Doctor story featuring the 11th, 10th, and a “new” Doctor – the War Doctor. Had classic bickering of the Doctors yet also finding a way to work together because they knew what was at stake.
Plus a big cameo towards the end, so big it caught me totally by surprise that I tweeted all in caps after I caught my breath. And when I saw it in the theaters a couple days later, everyone in the theater went crazy (and some of us had already seen by then and we were still excited by it). But I won’t say who it is for any new fans who haven’t seen it yet. Spoilers 😉
Well, there was another very brief cameo, which everyone also was very excited about and cheered loudly in the theater. I even had a screen-capture of his eyes on the top of my blog before his episodes even aired because I had a feeling I would like him.
Of, course, there are many, many, episodes/stories that I love,And maybe I’ll write about my “Top Ten episodes”, or something. But this will have to do for now 🙂
There are a large amount of female companions. Ones I really like are Barbara Wright, Sarah Jane Smith, and River Song.
Well, River comes in a close second place. Really hard to decide. But I keep coming back to the companion who was with the Doctor when we first met River. The temp from Chiswick, the one and only: Donna Noble.
I loved Donna so much. Lots of sass and not afraid to straighten the Doctor out if he needed. And no romantic ties either. They were just best friends. And the ongoing joke when people would assume that they were married, and the Doctor and Donna would say “Oh, no, we’re not married”
DoctorDonna forever!
I would have added a picture of Catherine Tate and me because she came to Orlando for MegaCon this year, but I wasn’t able this year because of financial constraints. I was really bummed that I missed her.
Recommended episodes:
Fires of Pompeii
The Unicorn and the Wasp
Added Bonus:
Came across this music playlist of songs for 10 and Donna. I’ll list them below as well.
To help get this blog going again, I’m going to take on a Doctor Who 30 Day challenge (there are several out there, I picked one I liked). The image below is the lineup of challenges, and I hope to have them done by the time the new Doctor makes her (it is weird to write that) appearance. If I am really lucky, I can do it on consecutive days. The below challenge is one I found on the Doctor Who group on Amino.
Day 1 – Favorite Doctor
Right, let’s start with the most asked/biggest question, shall we?
Most of my 30+ years of being a Whovian, the 4th Doctor – the jelly baby offering, loooong scarf wearing, teethy grinning, “Do I have the right?” saying – has always been at the very top of my list. I love them all, but the 4th just has not been out-beaten. Not exactly a controversial favorite since almost everyone loves him, some exclusively only him.
But a couple years ago he became tied by the 12th Doctor. The angry eyebrows, hair of amazing, sonic shade wearing, guitar playing actor who was an ultra Doctor Who fan from toddler age and wrote sooo many fan letters to the BBC as a child and teen that some people at the BBC wished he would go away – has been tied with 4 since the end of series 9. (And I noticed that he is the 4th numbered Doctor in New Who. Coincidence?). Part of the reason why he is tied is how he played the role. Another reason is how Peter interacts with fans, going above and beyond the normal expectations of someone famous.I’m going to miss him sooo much! :'(
Recommended episodes
4th Doctor
Genesis of the Daleks
City of Death
Shada
12th Doctor
The Magician’s Apprentice/Witch’s Familiar (2 parts)
Undere the Lake/Before the Flood (another 2 parts – and immediately follows the 2 parter above)
The Eaters of Light
Post Script – It took me 5 days to write this (well, and the fitting of things onto the page). Don’t think I can do one everyday, but I hope to finish the challenge before series 11 starts!
wasn’t his fault. And 
In the 6th Doctor’s very long 
this month. I watched each part as the BBC released it. It’s a 6th Doctor story (with Colin Baker returning for the voice) and his companion Professor Evelyn Smythe (who I love. My favorite audio-only companion). I love this story dearly but the reveal of who the Cyber Controller is was just….*shivers*…scary and creepy and eeEEEWWWW and gross and …well I haven’t listened to the whole thing since then because it scared me too much.
Okay, if you are familiar at all with New Who, you knew this was coming. Blink is one of the best episodes ever. And one of the scariest. And even though the Weeping Angels lost their scariness in later episodes (Angels in Manhattan is an exception. Love that one), Blink still is the strongest appearance of them.
He has been a fan just about his whole life, 
But it goes to The Day of the Doctor, the 50th anniversary episode bonanza. Multi-Doctor story featuring the 11th, 10th, and a “new” Doctor – the War Doctor. Had classic bickering of the Doctors yet also finding a way to work together because they knew what was at stake.
I loved Donna so much. Lots of sass and not afraid to straighten the Doctor out if he needed. And no romantic ties either. They were just best friends. And the ongoing joke when people would assume that they were married, and the Doctor and Donna would say “Oh, no, we’re not married”
.
Most of my 30+ years of being a Whovian, the 4th Doctor – the jelly baby offering, loooong scarf wearing, teethy grinning, “Do I have the right?” saying – has always been at the very top of my list. I love them all, but the 4th just has not been out-beaten. Not exactly a controversial favorite since almost everyone loves him, some exclusively only him.