This one is tricky. It’s harder to decide on a least favorite than it is on a most favorite! There are the meh/mediocre stories that I simply don’t find very interesting. There can be some good lines or scenes but as a whole they do not grab my attention that much.
No Classic stories jump to mind. I even like weird ones like Ghostlight. Maybe the Gunfighters? Because of ALL THAT SINGING! Now, I like musicals (The Greatest Showman! *Faints*), but this just did not work in this story. At all.
Even in my post on one of my two favorite series, with my favorite Doctor (other than Tom), I really did not like Face the Raven. It just got me mad because it did not make sense – in a bad way (yeah, the show has way more than one instance of not making sense, but most of the time it doesn’t bother me), and that Clara’s death didn’t seem to mean anything. Frankly, I was glad she was brought back in Hell Bent (and a lot of people did not like Hell Bent). And when I re-watched it earlier this year, I as even more mad because it made even less sense. Though I do want to re-watch it again, to see if I am missing something. And maybe one day I will go into more depth of why I don’t like it…
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Couple
For this one, I’ll use as my favorite Doctor/Companion team-up
Classic Who: 7th Doctor and Ace
From Classic Who, I love 7th Doctor and Ace. These two were awesome together, and I wish we got to see more of their tv adventures (although there are loads of Big Finish audios with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred reprising their roles).
New Who: 10th Doctor and Donna
As I mentioned in my earlier Favorite Female Companion, I love 10 and Donna. A lot. They are a hoot to watch, but can be beautifully serious when needed.
Next on Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Least Favorite Episode
PS – Yeah, this one is a bit short. Not feeling well today, but wanted to get in today’s entry. Maybe I might write up more about these guys later on. I’ll now go back and watch Fires of Pompeii (again!! 😀 ) to cheer me up.
Another tie: Tenth Planet and Tomb of the Cybermen. Early versions of the silver nemesis (haha, pun). While the 1980s version of the Cybermen was what I was most familiar with in my early fan days, there is something about the first few Cybermen stories, especially the Mondsian Cybermen with their bare hands, that is really appealing. Maybe the early sci fi tv look, along with the excellent out-of-this-world music. At first I thought both versions looked really bad and sounded so weird. Both over time I grew to like them.
Tenth Planet is a true classic, not only do we get the first Cybermen story, we also have the first regeneration. While sadly there are parts missing, there is enough that survived that the recons (reconstructions) are very good (I am more of a fan of the telesnaps than the animation, to be honest.)
And below is what survives of the 1st regeneration:
A cool thing about this story is that it takes place in 1986, which is the year that I became a Whovian :).
Tomb of the Cybermen is another great one, this time with the 2nd Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria (not to be confused with Vicki)
And below, the sweet little chat the Doctor and Victoria have. This made the rounds last year when Deborah Watling, who played Victoria, passed away.
This story also introduces us to the nasty little pests known as the Cybermats.
Audio Adventures
For the audio adventures, I had already mentioned how Real Time scared me silly, so much so I can’t listen to that again because it creeped me out.
One story I have not heard yet, but I have heard many, MANY good things about is Spare Parts. One day (yes, one day) I’ll buy it. And be creeped out yet again!
Next on Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Friendship
The Christmas episodes have become a annual even since the show returned in 2005. And there are 2….3? Great episodes of them
First is A Christmas Carol, a sci fi spin on Charles Dickens’ classic story (which is, sort of sci fi in itself with the time traveling with the ghosts and Scrooge)
(And let’s not forget a earlier episode that took place on Christmas, with Dickens, and ghosts, although it did not air on Christmas: The Unquiet Dead.)
Another favorite Christmas episode is The Husbands of River Song.
This one was a lot of fun, Madcap-y, slapstick-y, with some dark overtones, and an introduction to a new character (Nardole).
One of the best scenes is below, when River doesn’t know that she is with the Doctor (she knew all the previous incarnations of the Doctor, except the current one). So the Doctor sort of plays along with it, but constantly drops hints. Which brings about the below:
I ma not one for romantic movies or romance novels, but even I was kind of hoping they would kiss at the end. It was so sweet!
And the other great Christmas episode was the 2016 Return of Doctor Mysterio (this followed exactly a year of no Who. that was a difficult year, in more ways than one). If you have seen the 1979 Superman movie with Christopher Reeve, the setting and certain scenes will look very familiar. While I am not really into the current super hero movies, I loved the 1979 Superman movie when I was a kid. So seeing this was a pure delight.
Below is shortly after we meet young Grant, who loves comic books
And the ending was a call back to Husbands of River Song and 12’s short speech about things ending was very touching.
A couple weeks after this episode aired, Peter Capaldi announced that the following series would be his last. And a bunch of us cried over that, and referred back to this speech.
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Cybermen Story
This is another really difficult one. There’s 26 years of Classic Who, and 13 (and counting!) of New Who. So yes, there’s going to be another tie! Several ties! Each one in a shape of a bow. Because ‘bow ties are cool!”
“Hate is always foolish, and love is always wise”
“Never cruel or cowardly. Never give up, never give in.”
“We’re all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?”
The Doctor: “But I don’t exist in your world!”
Brigade Leader: “Then you won’t feel the bullets when we shoot you.”
“Chap with wings there, five rounds, rapid!”
“Splendid chaps. All of them”
Watch Mojo UK put together a pretty good top ten earlier this year that bring out a lot of really good ones, and a couple I hadn’t thought of:
And here’s one that a fan put together.
There is the one by Steven Moffat about the Doctor:
“Heroes are important. Heroes tell us who we want to be but when they made this particular hero they didn’t give him a gun, they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn’t give him a tank or a warship or an X-Wing, they gave him a call box from which you can call for help and they didn’t give him a superpower or a heat-ray, they gave him an extra heart. And that’s extraordinary. There will never come a time when we don’t need a hero like the Doctor.”
And there is the one that means a lot to me because it’s what got me hooked onto the show:
“But that’s not right!” – Said by Susan Foreman from the first episode, An Unearthly Child as she’s reading a book on the French Revolution. Which got my imagination going and it hasn’t stopped since.
Next on Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Christmas Episode
Like with my Favorite Actor answer, I’ll go with naming someone who doesn’t have a major role on the show. But maybe a reoccurring role?
Penelope Wilton played the wonderful (and not dead yet) character Harriet Jones. Russell T. Davies, showrunner and head writer for Doctor Who at the time, created the character for
Wilton herself, and she was very committed to Harriet.
What I love is how she is willing to take charge out of necessity, and not out of hunger for power. And to not agree with the Doctor with how to handle a planetary emergency. And even though she didn’t agree with him, she didn’t hold a grudge when he said something that ending up removing her from office. And she was more than willing to organize a way to contact him if they needed help. I felt the Doctor treated Harriet unfairly at the end of The Christmas Invasion.
And I always had a theory that Harriet didn’t die in Stolen Earth. We hear the Daleks shooting and her screaming, but that’s done off camera. We never see her body. And my long held theory was confirmed last year by Davies, who wrote (among others) a poem in Now We Are Six Hundred about what happened after the Daleks attacked.
Then Penelope Wilton went to do some little show called… what was that? Downton… something or other.
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Quote
I answered this question earlier on Day 3, so I’ll give a different answer for this one.
A whole bunch come to mind, but the one I keep “but this one was totally awesome!”, and that is City of Death. It has the 4th Doctor, Romana II arriving in Paris, France in 1979. They encounter Inspector Duggan and soon after, the very suspicious Count and Countess Scarlioni.
Some great time traveling within the episode (always a plus in my book), a great almost-meet-historical-figure scene. The interesting invention by the scientist. And there is the great cameo by John Cleese and Eleanor Bron.
I’m afraid of saying anything more than that for any of you who might not have seen it. But it is highly recommended!
Back in 1993, I visited Paris, and of course while I was there I visited the Louvre. While being amazed by all the different types of artwork that was there (I think this is also where i saw Vincent Van Gogh’s work. Either way, that guy used really think paint strokes. Wow!) I went by the Mona Lisa. And the painting is smaller than you would expect it to be. My family and I walked from one side to another, noticing that her eyes always seem to be following us (one of those ingenious tricks that Leonardo played with?). And I would sometimes laugh to myself, wanting to ask the guide if there is anything written on the back of the painting? Didn’t get enough nerve to do that.
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Actress
All monsters are not villains, but all villains are monsters.
But my favorite villain is also a monster of sorts. And that would be the Master/Missy, the Doctor’s arch-nemesis. Or one of them anyway.
One reason why I like him/her is that he is a Time Lord like the Doctor, just works on the opposite side of the moral spectrum. When they were children, they used to be bet friends until he turned dark. And also he was originally inspired by Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories. Being a Sherlockian as long as a Whovian, I found that really interesting.
There are 3 versions of the Master that I really like. There’s the original Roger Delgado who played opposite Jon Pertwee’s 3rd Doctor. He did a fantastic job setting up the basis of who the Master was and how he knew the Doctor. When Delgado tragically died, Pertwee said he didn’t want to be on the show anymore because of the close friendship he had with Delgado.
Then there is Anthony Ainley’s Master, who is the one I remember most. He played along side the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Doctor (well, including The Five Doctors, he also was with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd). Unlike the Doctors, his Master was similar to Delgado’s Master, but no less awesome.
Then there’s Missy, who was a mystery when she first was mentioned in The Bells of Saint John (“the woman in the shop”), then later we see her throughout Series 8 but not know who she is. Then at the end of Dark Water, she tells the Doctor who she is
Back in 2016, I met Michelle Gomez at MegaCon in Orlando. Stories I had heard about her were that she was lovely, charming, and a little bonkers. I can 100% confirm that! Outside of meeting a Doctor, she (and Catherine Tate) was the one I wanted to meet the most. So after waiting in line, it was finally my turn for the photo op with Michelle. It was my first photo op like this (I had met a handful of celebrities before and had pictures, but not like convention setups). I was so nervous and scared, but I kept telling myself “I can do this!”. So I meet Michelle and I think I blurted out a “hi”. She leads me to a X on the floor and we look at the camera, and I’m trying to remind myself to hold up my sonic. There as no discussion on how to pose or anything.
Click went the camera:
I exited the little photo space to picked up my picture, in a bit of a daze. The whole photo op was about ten seconds. I went to another little area to picked up the picture, looked at it….and just busted out laughing. I had absolutely no idea what she was doing for the picture, until I saw it. I remember a slight tug at my neck, but, really, had no idea.
So the next day of the Con, I went to her autograph table to have her sign it. And she sees me and then the picture and she and her assistant start laughing. I thanked her and told her how I had been a Doctor Who fan for 30 years (one of the main reasons why I went was to celebrate being a fan of not only Who but Sherlock Holmes, and things in general), and how The Master was my favorite villain and how Missy was my favorite. And she thanked me. I don’t remember anything after that.
She’s just totally fab 🙂 .
Next on the Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Classic Episode
Least favorite Classic Who season is difficult, not because there are more than one, but I have finding any. There are a lot of episodes that I like within a season, a few are meh, and some it has been a long time since I’ve seen it so It wouldn’t be fair to say “I don’t like this season because of these 2, or 3, or 4 stories that I have not seen in years”.
And, of course, some stories are missing :'(. So I’m going to pass on my least favorite season.
However, I do have a least favorite New Who series, and that would be series 2. (I can almost feel the ire of 10/Rose shippers towards me right now)
Not to say I don’t like 10 (I love them all), these stories were some of my least likedin New Who, and most were in this series.
Stories from this series are (along with short notes about each):
The Christmas Invasion (only good when the Doctor wakes up, and that’s near the end)
New Earth (eh)
Tooth and Claw (seeing Queen Victoria was neat, but other than that, meh)
School Reunion(only really good episode. Sarah Jane!!! And K9!!!)
The Girl in the Fireplace (almost always bothers me when the Doctor gets romantic with other characters. And where is the French accent?!?)
Rise of the Cybermen (this and the next episode is a two-parter and meh stories. Wasn’t crazy about this version of the Cybermen either.)
The Age of Steel (example of why I had a bad taste in my mouth about 2 parters)
The Idiot’s Lantern (meh)
The Impossible Planet (this and the next one made a 2 parter again. Story just was meh. One reason why I was not impressed with “under siege” stories)
The Satan Pit (another reason why 2 part stories were losing my interest)
Love & Monsters (not too bad, I like it more than most fans. Some interesting ideas they were testing out. But that ending is ewww! TMI !!)
Fear Her (meh)
Army of Ghosts (another beginning of a 2 parter. One great scene was the Daleks and Cybermen facing off. And dissing each other. Other than that…)
Doomsday (and yet another reason why 2 parters just didn’t do it for me. And Rose’s departure has lost it’s effect. Also she’s still alive at the end when she said she was dead? Being in a parallel universe is not the same as being actually dead.)
The cool thing that came out of season 2 were David’s vlogs where he would carry around a video camera and film what it’s like starting on Doctor Who. My favorite “episode” is below:
There he is, watching Doctor Who with family like when he was a kid, except now he’s watching himself as the Doctor. And his parents were adorable. Glad that they lived long enough to see their son play as his childhood hero.
If you want to see more of those video diaries, here’s a playlist:
Always like to end things on a high note, because it’s really difficult to stay in a bad mood when talking about Doctor Who, even the things with it that I’m not crazy about :).
Next on Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Favorite Monster/Villain
The enemy of the Doctor who helped save Doctor Who: the Daleks. Probably the most famous enemy that the Doctor has. And they were there from almost day1, While not my favorite enemy (I feel they are used waaay tooo much), they are cool and intimidating, and loud. Also cool to draw.
Again, a tie!
Classic Who
Genesis of the Daleks is my first pick. The story that introduced Davros. And in Tom Baker’s first season as the 4th Doctor., only his 4th story.
My other favorite Classic Who story is Remembrance of the Daleks. Aired during season 25. I think that they should have made this the 25th anniversary episode instead of Silver Nemesis, but the BBC knew better (*clears throat* ahem). It takes place in and around Coal Hill school in November 1963, right after the First Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara had left. And we see the junkyard again (albeit the door to the junkyard is not right, but that’s me being nit-picky)
And one of my favorite little bits. Made me freak when I first watched it. Weird Real World/In Universe type of things.
https://youtu.be/heaneTFht6s
Sadly, due to weird copyright issues, this one (along with just a few other Classic Who Dalek stories) is not on BritBox.
New Who
Got to be Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar. One of the reasons why I loved series 9.
Side Note
And a special acknowledgement for the Peter Cushing’s films as Dr. Who from the 1960s. Only two were made, and both had the Daleks. I have not seen these since I was a young fan, and have been meaning to re-watch them. After 30 years, it will be like watching it for the first time.
Next on Doctor Who 30 Day Challenge – Least Favorite Season/Series
I answered this question earlier 
There are 3 versions of the Master that I really like. There’s the original Roger Delgado who played opposite Jon Pertwee’s 3rd Doctor. He did a fantastic job setting up the basis of who the Master was and how he knew the Doctor. When Delgado tragically died, Pertwee said he didn’t want to be on the show anymore because of the close friendship he had with Delgado.
remember most. He played along side the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Doctor (well, including The Five Doctors, he also was with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd). Unlike the Doctors, his Master was similar to Delgado’s Master, but no less awesome.
