I have been a Doctor Who fan for as long as I can remember. I grew up with the show and watched as many episodes as I could. I now have every DVD available and when it's on the telly I watch each new episode every week and each new Christmas special every year without fail. Doctor Who has been a part of my life and my family's life and I have no doubt that one day I will be sitting down to watch it with my own children.
So it really pains me whenever I see a Doctor Who adventure that can only be described as awful. This is to be expected. Any long running TV show is bound to have its stinkers and considering Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction show with over seven hundred and sixty episodes, there are many pungent installments us fans have had to endure.
Here I have a short list of some of my least favourite adventures the good Doctor has subjected us to.
1-The Invasion of Time (1978)
starring Tom Baker as The Doctor with Louise Jameson as Leela and John Leeson as K-9
The Doctor and Leela travel back to his home planet of Gallifrey, becomes president, Leela goes outside to hunt and then the Sontarans come along.
Tom Baker's run as the Fourth Doctor is considered by many to be the best. He has an iconic look, a loveably eccentric personality and dozens of classic adventures under his belt (or scarf). He is so good that many people forget about his bad stories. Normally, a less than good Doctor Who adventure can be saved by the central performance and campy fun. The Power of Kroll being one of many examples. Sadly, not even Baker's charisma can salvage six episodes worth of bad acting, dull Time Lord politics, poorly written Sontarans, endless filler and one unforgivable scene where The Doctor, who we all know detests violence and bloodshed, kills a Sontaran with a ray gun. All his previous lectures to his warrior companion Leela about unnecessary violence seem totally hypocritical now.
2-Ghost Light (1989)
starring Sylvester McCoy as The Doctor with Sophie Aldred as Ace
Strange goings on in an old house. Sorry about the brief description but when there is only a shred of plot and that shred is incomprehensible it doesn't make describing it any easier. This hasn't always been a bad thing in Doctor Who. Warriors' Gate is nothing short of baffling but at least that had great visual flare with excellent performances and razor sharp editing. This insufferable tripe seems like it was cobbled together from rejected scenes off the cutting room floor. Dull barely covers it.
3-The Twin Dilemma (1984)
starring Colin Baker as The Doctor with Nicola Bryand as Peri Brown
The Doctor is shaken up by his new regeneration and plans to live as a hermit but some aliens bent on conquering the galaxy distract him.
Doctor Who producer John Nathan Turner decided it would be a good idea to have Colin Baker's first adventure as the Sixth Doctor finish off the 21st season instead of starting the 22nd. This proved to be a disastrous idea because not only does put a damper on the previous Doctor's run but Colin Baker's performance is so damn unlikeable and annoyingly pompous, not to mention mean spirited and a tad psychopathic, that it actually leaves the viewer really not caring about him or his future adventures. Thus began the dark days of Doctor Who.
4-The Doctor's Daughter (2008)
starring David Tennant as The Doctor with Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones
The Doctor and a young female clone type thing made from his DNA (see, not his actual daughter in case you thought the title sounded interesting) help stop a bunch of humans and aliens killing each other.
If previous episodes The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky were delightful reminders of the early 70's then The Doctor's Daughter can be considered traumatic reminders of the early 80's. With poor effects, scattergun editing, unnecessary plot lines and ham fisted hints to a spin off that never happened, this is a serious black mark in The Tenth Doctor's report card.
5-The Invasion (1968)
starring Patrick Troughton as The Doctor with Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon and Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot
The Cybermen, aided by a rich electronics manufacturer plan to take the Earth by force.
Easily Doctor Who's most boring adventure. Which is a shame because it has a great cast, wonderful locations and an early appearance from Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart. But the result is six, tiresome episodes. The acting is, for this Doctor and his companions, unusually flat and devoid of life or charm. All the action and excitement happens off screen while the tiresome expositions and techno babble remains. It plods along at a snails pace and when the actual invasion of the Cybermen eventually starts, there are no chills or thrills to be found. But that might have something to do with the Cybermen sticking to the footpaths instead of storming down the streets.
It may be interesting to note that episodes 1 and 4 are among those missing from the BBC vaults. However, the audio survives. For the DVD release, animation studio Cosgrove Hall recreated these episodes using the surviving audio track and original script direction notes. It's a unique idea and they did a very good job. Such a pity their skill weren't used for better adventures like The Reign of Terror or The Ice Warriors.
6-Ressurection of the Daleks (1984)
starring Peter Davison as The Doctor with Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka and Mark Strickson as Vislor Turlough
An evil group of evil doers plan an evil plan with the evil Daleks to resurrect the evil Davros, the evil Dalek's evil creator.
Peter Davison is usually wonderful to watch as a brave Doctor with a gentle soul juxtaposed with terrifying monsters and diabolical villains plotting destruction. These four episodes give us none of that. What they do give us is unrelenting violence and insultingly bad dialogue. Our heroes are given pretty much nothing to do but gasp in horror as people are shot and killed left, right and centre. Even The Doctor, who is usually a wonderful voice of reason, does sweet feck all but act as horrified as the viewer. None of the supporting characters are well written, not even the legendary Davros. If you're expecting a confrontation like in Genesis of the Daleks you are in for a sheer disappointment. All we get is posturing, shouting and bad acting. A total waste of time and an insult to viewers. It's woeful story telling (or lack there of) makes it bad. It's terrible acting makes it worse. But it's extreme violence and disregard to everything Doctor Who and its fans hold dear makes Ressurection of the Daleks my very least favourite adventure of Doctor Who.
D McEvoy
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