Doctor Who five favorites/least favorites
Apr. 16th, 2007 12:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ghost2There's this meme floating around everywhere, and I decided to list my choices for various Doctor Who favorites and least favorites.
Five favorite stories (in random order)
Mawdryn Undead. It has the introduction of Turlough, and the return of the Black Guardian and the Brigadier, and lots of running around and confusion and odds and ends.
City of Death. I had to list a Four/Romana serial, and this was the best of the bunch.
Black Orchid. It's a neat two-parter where Nyssa gets more to do than usual, and Tegan finally has some fun, and Adric stuffs himself at the buffet, and the Doctor winds up in trouble yet again.
Tomb of the Cybermen. This is the best Second Doctor serial I've seen so far. As I watch more, I might move another one into this place on the list.
Ghost Light, or The Curse of Fenric. I like a lot of the Seventh Doctor stories, even the ones that routinely make "worst of" lists. These two are my favorites at the moment (still have a couple to watch, so the order might shift after that).
Five least favorite stories (random order)
The Girl in the Fireplace. Hated Reinette, was bored throughout.
The Twin Dilemma. Poor Colin Baker. He did what he could, but what a dreadful script he had to work with.
The TV-movie. One of the worst things I've ever seen. At least it had Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann, but again, the script was deadly.
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. Intensely boring, with some cringe-worthy Doctor/Rose moments.
Doomsday. I could hate this one for the last few minutes alone. They inspired the worst wave of badfic I've seen since Mulder was abducted by aliens and Scully revealed her pregnancy on The X-Files.
Five favorite companions (random order)
Ace. On paper, I shouldn't like her. She's one of those assertive teenagers that usually irritates the hell out of me. Then I watch her episodes, and can't feel that way at all. Because she's smart and tough and vulnerable, and I love her.
K9. Always a great favorite of mine. This is dating back from early viewings on PBS, a good few years ago.
Romana. Not sure if I prefer Romana I or II; it's close.
Turlough. I started out hating him, but watching Planet of Fire a couple of times eventually changed my mind.
Evelyn. An audio companion, Evelyn works great with the Sixth Doctor.
Five least favorite companions (random order)
Mel. Just a poorly written character who didn't bring anything special to the table. But I don't hate her and have had no trouble thus far watching serials that include her.
Adric. Another character I don't hate, but feel was badly written most of the time. He comes off better in a lot of fan fiction than he did on the show.
Kamelion. He could have been interesting, if only the prop had worked as it was intended to. Since it didn't, Kamelion appeared in just two serials and in between was somewhere in the TARDIS doing something that evidently was not important enough to be mentioned onscreen.
Tegan, from Four to Doomsday through Time-Flight. She didn't want to be on the TARDIS during that time and made her feelings unfortunately clear. What about that attitude was supposed to be entertaining?
Rose in her second year. The definition of annoying. Too bad, since she was better than tolerable during her first season.
Favorite villain
I'm not listing five of them. Just the Master. He's the perfect enemy for the Doctor.
Least favorite villain
Right now, it's the Daleks. I'm really sick of them showing up so often in the new series. End it already, please. I once read a comment by another viewer in which she stated that if the Daleks appeared in the series 3 finale, she would cry. I'm right there with her.
Five favorite Doctors
This list IS in strict order.
1. Four. He had terrific stories and excellent companions throughout most of his run. Plus, he was fun or scary or insane or whatever else was called for at the time. I couldn't picture myself ranking any other Doctor ahead of him.
2. Five. There was the vulnerability, and the darker side in his final season, and the way he always tried so hard, and lots of other things I could babble on about for ages, but won't because I'm getting tired of typing. Suffice it to say, being second favorite behind the Fourth Doctor is no disgrace at all.
3. Seven. Until fairly recently, I would have ranked him a lot lower on my list. I had these very old and very awful memories of hating him and was reluctant to watch any of his serials again. Then I made myself check out The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and loved him. Having re-seen almost all of his serials and listened to several Seven audios since then, I can't figure out why I ever thought I didn't like him.
4. Eight. The TV-movie was dismal, but he was brilliant in it. And his audios are quite good.
5. Six. True, he got off to a poor start in The Twin Dilemma. Subsequent serials were better, though, and the audios really improved on his characterization.
Four least favorite Doctors
Again, in strict order.
1. Nine. To me, he was a guy in a leather jacket who called himself the Doctor, but only rarely captured the spirit of the character. Very disappointing.
2. Ten. I think David Tennant is trying too hard. At times, he overacts so atrociously it's embarrassing. To make matters worse, Ten-and-Rose were probably my least favorite Doctor/companion team. Too smug, too clingy, too damn precious for words.
3. One. I haven't been able to get interested in him.
4. Three. I can't really put my finger on why I'm not so fond of him. I just don't feel much connection to this Doctor.
I couldn't squeeze Two onto my "favorites" list but like him too much to list him as a "least favorite", so he's in limbo.
Five favorite stories (in random order)
Mawdryn Undead. It has the introduction of Turlough, and the return of the Black Guardian and the Brigadier, and lots of running around and confusion and odds and ends.
City of Death. I had to list a Four/Romana serial, and this was the best of the bunch.
Black Orchid. It's a neat two-parter where Nyssa gets more to do than usual, and Tegan finally has some fun, and Adric stuffs himself at the buffet, and the Doctor winds up in trouble yet again.
Tomb of the Cybermen. This is the best Second Doctor serial I've seen so far. As I watch more, I might move another one into this place on the list.
Ghost Light, or The Curse of Fenric. I like a lot of the Seventh Doctor stories, even the ones that routinely make "worst of" lists. These two are my favorites at the moment (still have a couple to watch, so the order might shift after that).
Five least favorite stories (random order)
The Girl in the Fireplace. Hated Reinette, was bored throughout.
The Twin Dilemma. Poor Colin Baker. He did what he could, but what a dreadful script he had to work with.
The TV-movie. One of the worst things I've ever seen. At least it had Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann, but again, the script was deadly.
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit. Intensely boring, with some cringe-worthy Doctor/Rose moments.
Doomsday. I could hate this one for the last few minutes alone. They inspired the worst wave of badfic I've seen since Mulder was abducted by aliens and Scully revealed her pregnancy on The X-Files.
Five favorite companions (random order)
Ace. On paper, I shouldn't like her. She's one of those assertive teenagers that usually irritates the hell out of me. Then I watch her episodes, and can't feel that way at all. Because she's smart and tough and vulnerable, and I love her.
K9. Always a great favorite of mine. This is dating back from early viewings on PBS, a good few years ago.
Romana. Not sure if I prefer Romana I or II; it's close.
Turlough. I started out hating him, but watching Planet of Fire a couple of times eventually changed my mind.
Evelyn. An audio companion, Evelyn works great with the Sixth Doctor.
Five least favorite companions (random order)
Mel. Just a poorly written character who didn't bring anything special to the table. But I don't hate her and have had no trouble thus far watching serials that include her.
Adric. Another character I don't hate, but feel was badly written most of the time. He comes off better in a lot of fan fiction than he did on the show.
Kamelion. He could have been interesting, if only the prop had worked as it was intended to. Since it didn't, Kamelion appeared in just two serials and in between was somewhere in the TARDIS doing something that evidently was not important enough to be mentioned onscreen.
Tegan, from Four to Doomsday through Time-Flight. She didn't want to be on the TARDIS during that time and made her feelings unfortunately clear. What about that attitude was supposed to be entertaining?
Rose in her second year. The definition of annoying. Too bad, since she was better than tolerable during her first season.
Favorite villain
I'm not listing five of them. Just the Master. He's the perfect enemy for the Doctor.
Least favorite villain
Right now, it's the Daleks. I'm really sick of them showing up so often in the new series. End it already, please. I once read a comment by another viewer in which she stated that if the Daleks appeared in the series 3 finale, she would cry. I'm right there with her.
Five favorite Doctors
This list IS in strict order.
1. Four. He had terrific stories and excellent companions throughout most of his run. Plus, he was fun or scary or insane or whatever else was called for at the time. I couldn't picture myself ranking any other Doctor ahead of him.
2. Five. There was the vulnerability, and the darker side in his final season, and the way he always tried so hard, and lots of other things I could babble on about for ages, but won't because I'm getting tired of typing. Suffice it to say, being second favorite behind the Fourth Doctor is no disgrace at all.
3. Seven. Until fairly recently, I would have ranked him a lot lower on my list. I had these very old and very awful memories of hating him and was reluctant to watch any of his serials again. Then I made myself check out The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and loved him. Having re-seen almost all of his serials and listened to several Seven audios since then, I can't figure out why I ever thought I didn't like him.
4. Eight. The TV-movie was dismal, but he was brilliant in it. And his audios are quite good.
5. Six. True, he got off to a poor start in The Twin Dilemma. Subsequent serials were better, though, and the audios really improved on his characterization.
Four least favorite Doctors
Again, in strict order.
1. Nine. To me, he was a guy in a leather jacket who called himself the Doctor, but only rarely captured the spirit of the character. Very disappointing.
2. Ten. I think David Tennant is trying too hard. At times, he overacts so atrociously it's embarrassing. To make matters worse, Ten-and-Rose were probably my least favorite Doctor/companion team. Too smug, too clingy, too damn precious for words.
3. One. I haven't been able to get interested in him.
4. Three. I can't really put my finger on why I'm not so fond of him. I just don't feel much connection to this Doctor.
I couldn't squeeze Two onto my "favorites" list but like him too much to list him as a "least favorite", so he's in limbo.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-04-16 12:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-17 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-17 08:57 am (UTC)WORD. I have avoided most post-Doomsday fic on priciple, but in a recent fit of nostalgy, I have been reading some x-files fic and some of it nearly had me fleeing from the computer, screaming ;-)
no subject
Date: 2007-04-17 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-07 01:26 am (UTC)groupiecompanion. Also, I totally agree with your complaints about Ten, the overacting especially the CAPSLOCKSRAGE!!11! fits he flies into so frequently. But! I find myself actually liking him *quite* a lot in the third series...I love Martha and Tennant seems much more...sane...in the role with her as companion instead of Rose. Anyways, sorry for babbling like a crazy person. THANK YOU once again for all the fic recs. I hope you wouldn't mind if I friended you?no subject
Date: 2007-08-07 10:05 pm (UTC)So far Martha seems like a pretty good companion, but I've heard negative things about her portrayal in the season finale. That could be a problem. As for the Doctor in the third season, he's a definite improvement over the previous year. Except for the gratuitous mentions of Rose that make me want to hit something! I do hope those stop happening. An episode will be going along nicely and then all of a sudden, Rose gets brought up. *headdesk*
Glad you enjoyed looking at my fic lists, and they were useful to you. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-07 11:17 pm (UTC)