I've not had much joy with these meme things, but I thought I'd give it another go. Today's meme of fun, to be answered in your own blog or in the comments section, is quite a simple one and I reckon there are enough people here in the know to give it a go.
So here it is: what are you three favourite Doctor Who stories and why? You can have stories from the old series, new series, audio plays, movies, books, comics, stage plays, even fan fic. You don't have to arrange them in any order (nor put down any other stories if you don't want). You just need to name your top three.
To get things rolling, here are mine:
- Caves of Androzani: It's just so bleak! With the exception of two characters, everyone dies; even the Doctor 'dies'. There are those marvellous, fourth-wall breaking asides to the audience by Morgus.
- Kinda: One of the only attempts to do proper literary-style sci-fi. Full of Buddhist metaphors, it does suffer a bit from cheapo production values and the inflatable snake. But it's a cracker all the same. It was either this or the sequel Snakedance anyway.
- Genesis of the Daleks: Well, it had to be, didn't it? Again, bleak as bleak can be, but it was Tombo at his finest, Davros at his most nuanced and the Daleks, surprisingly, at their scariest.
I toyed with Ark In Space (evil alien wasp things lay their eggs inside human beings), Deadly Assassin (the Doctor's first proper return to Gallifrey) and The Five Doctors (it's fun) but those were the winners.
Who wants to be first with the follow-ups? Anyone? Bueller?
UPDATE: I'm actually reconsidering Genesis of the Daleks in favour of Ambassadors of Death: it's adult, gritty, and intelligent thanks to a corker of a script from David Whitaker. Pertwee is on excellent form, Liz Shaw has great fun taunting bad guys (my faves: “It's so simple even you could understand it” and “Don't worry, I won't hurt you”) and there's some fantastic direction, with some particularly well composed shots that you just wouldn't have expected from the Beeb of the time. Plus you have to appreciate a composer of incidental music, who when faced with an action scene, doesn't go for the obvious but goes for the flute solo instead. Marvellous.
October 24, 2006 | Reply
"even fan fic"
The gentlemen in the white coats will be arriving shortly. Please cooperate with them, they are here to help you.
October 24, 2006 | Reply
Oi! There's nothing wrong with the occasional piece of fanfic, you know!
October 24, 2006 | Reply
At the risk of dragging down the tone, I'm thinking about this!
So here goes: my mind may change in two mins so I'm choosing...
NOW:
1) Got to go with you on Caves of Androzani. Bleeeaak.
2) Tough call this: I want to go with The Seeds of Doom because its possibly the first Dr Who I vividly remember from when it was broadcast apart from the snippets of them bloody spiders from the damn "Planet of the Spiders" story. But I'm basing the choice on memory and I'm not sure it would hold up to, say, Genesis of the Ds.
Screw it. The Seeds of Doom it is. Even if I can't rewatch it to check whether it holds up.
3) ahem. I have several favourite pieces of fan fic. Unfortunately several of them have a pr0n element to them and so I can't really check them out at work to create the links. There was a great one about Rose becoming a vampire though, which was great. And not really smutty at all...
October 24, 2006 | Reply
Okay, I've posted my three favourites...
October 24, 2006 | Reply
Seeds of Doom is a fun romp, notable for having Boycey from Only Fools And Horses as chief henchman. It also has an amazing bit where Tombo encounters a bad guy and does the neck-twist thing on him: so much for pacifism in Doctor Who!
Scott: thanks for those - was wondering if you were nominating your own fan fiction as your favourite stories for a while there. Interesting choices indeed!
October 24, 2006 | Reply
My three:
October 24, 2006 | Reply
1. Horror of Fang Rock. Tom Baker at his best.
2. Tomb of the Cybermen
3. The Girl in the Fireplace - I know it's 'new', but OMG what a beutiful and classic story - by far my favorite of the entire new series. Plus it had wonderful music.
October 24, 2006 | Reply
I've posted my list at Inner Toob:
http://toobworld.blogspot.com/2006/10/adhering-to-meme.html
October 24, 2006 | Reply
Horror of Fang Rock is actually the first Doctor Who story I can remember and is still cracking - it's that interim period between the pure Hinchcliffe horror seasons and the Graham Williams fun zones of 16 and 17.
Tomb of the Cybermen's a cracker too: particularly that bit where Pat Troughton's talking about his family.
Ah, I think everyone loves The Girl in the Fireplace. It is one of the genuine classics of New Who.
Good choices, too, Toby. I love the bit in The War Games where Philip Madoc says, "It's the Time Lords" as the eerie god-like powers of the Gallifreyans are expressed for the first (and possibly last) time.
As for why only three stories, well ten's either too easy and requires no discipline or it's too hard and people don't bother with it. Three forces you to find the really important things that are close to your heart.
I'm hoping that that's a meta-meme that all other memes will now follow.
October 24, 2006 | Reply
Here's my three:
I know it's a "common" choice, but City of Death. I love the score, the monster is still better than that thing from Love & Monsters, the banter/dialogue between characters is fantastic, the Doctor and Romana are just fantastic together, and really it's a very good story. And lots of the Doctor and Romana just running around Paris.
Logopolis. This may just have an iconic statis from my youth, but I still genuinely enjoy it every time i see it. Yes the falling scene is terrible and it ushers in a whole new era of whiny companions that i personally wish the Master'd had a go at with his doll gun, but the scope and scale of the story is moving to me. The cloister bell, the crumbling planet, the handshake... i feel like it reached very high, and irregardless of the cardboard cutout of the Master, it's a great episode.
and finally, Ghostlight. Watch it ten times, you won't fully get it! That should be the tagline. Again, it has an iconic feel to me. great sets, great characters, a weaving storyline, the Doctor and Ace at their best... and great anarchistic tendancies from the Doctor towards house burnings at the end.
You're right, 10 is too easy, i really had to think a while, but these three always pop out at me. It's not about the monsters in them, it's the little things. The art gallery scene, the doctor being forced to work with the Master, and the way the 'Professor' can sit down and talk with Ace at the end. Well played out.
Now, a Season Meme!! Hands downfor me, it's 6, 18 then 26... but that's not why we're here is it......
October 24, 2006 | Reply
All good choices: love all of them (including Mark H Wilkinson's: sorry Mark - overlooked yours earlier!)
Hmm. 6, 18, 26? I would say 7, 18, 6 myself, but good overlap! Still, 6 has "The Dominators" and I can't take that seriously since I listened to Exile. Well, I couldn't before either, but less so since.
Anyone else want to add in some seasons as well, or have we started to enter a slightly scary place here?
October 24, 2006 | Reply
Easy -
16 (love that Key)
18
6
5
8
October 24, 2006 | Reply
"(love that Key)"
And The Master... ;-)
October 24, 2006 | Reply
BTW - meant 26 to be after 16 - my bad
October 25, 2006 | Reply
My three:
The Green Death. The first story I remember clearly, and it absolutely terrified me. Watching it again recently, it's not all that good (I'd forgotten the pantomime aspects, and wiped Jo Grant's annoyingness from my brain) but it still stands up as an eco-thriller.
City of Death. Mad Uncle Tom at his finest. Strikes just the right notes between silly and scary, and Douglas Adams' dialogue is great. Plus, it's one of the few stories that actually depends on time travel. I'll forgive all those pointless 'Look! We're actually in Paris!' runaround scenes.
The Girl In The Fireplace. It was a toss-up between this and Empty Child/Doctor Dances, but GitF wins out through being genuinely eerie, genuinely emotional, and telling us things about the Doctor we didn't know before. And, again, it uses time travel.
October 25, 2006 | Reply
"Watching it again recently, it's not all that good"
And let us not forget "The Maggot Roundabout". Still, it was a good indicator of the shape of things to come: a Doctor Who world of Welshness.
October 25, 2006 | Reply
Go round the corner in that mine, and there's a huge Pot Noodle seam.
October 25, 2006 | Reply
I imagine that's all the special-effects department could afford in those days.
October 25, 2006 | Reply
Excellent meme. My three are here.
October 25, 2006 | Reply
Thank you! Good choices. I can see Talons holds a place in a lot of people's hearts, as do Caves, City of Death and Girl in the Fireplace.
January 17, 2007 | Reply
hey!!! mine have got to be:
rose
the parting of the ways
the xmas invaision
chris ecclston was cool n david tennant seems like he was born to have this role! and hes sooo sexy!
favorite doctors are:
tom baker
chris eccleston
love it!
david tennant