Tag Archives: Doctor Who

My Favorite Classic Doctor Who Episodes

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This is a handy list of older Doctor Who episodes to watch while waiting for the new season to start. For new fans, if you can get past the special effects, and imagine a series where most episodes were more like ‘The Empty Child’, slower, and a whole lot creepier, and maybe imagine yourself as a 7 year old, watching on a small black and white TV in the middle of the night alone, these will be fun. Enjoy!

  1. Fourth: The Brain of Morbius
  2. Fourth: The City of Death
  3. Fourth: The Genesis of the Daleks
  4. Third: The Three Doctors
  5. Fifth: The Caves of Androzani
  6. Fourth: The Deadly Assassin
  7. Fourth: The Robots of Death
  8. Third: The Spearhead from Space
  9. Fourth: Pyramids of Mars
  10. Third: Planet of Spiders
  11. Fourth: The Arc in Space
  12. Third: Inferno
  13. Fourth: Planet of Evil
  14. First: The Unearthly Child
  15. First: The Daleks
  16. Second: The War Games
  17. Second: The Evil of the Daleks
  18. Second: The Tomb of the Cybermen
  19. Fourth: Logopolis
  20. Fifth: Castrovalva
  21. Fifth: The Five Doctors

Missing Doctor Who 2: What to Watch: The Caves of Androzani

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Continuing my series of posts on what Doctor Who episodes to watch while it isn’t on the air, I give you “The Caves of Androzani”.

Voted the top Doctor Who episode ever by fans back in 2009, it is claustrophobic, fast paced, and leaves you wanting to know more about Peter Davidson’s Doctor. He is in way over his head, with villains who have complicated motives, that are more than one dimensional, in a life or death situation that is personal and not universe shaking. I think this may be the last episode featuring a Doctor that is ‘just another Time Lord’ and the stakes feel very high, without needing a story having the entire galaxy on the precipice along with him.

Missing Doctor Who 1: What to Watch: The City of Death

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So, you’re fan of the new Doctor Who series and are missing your weekly Doctor Who fix, this post is the start of a series just for you.

There are a lot of posts out there that introduce you to the history of the show that will introduce you to episodes of the old series gently. Feel free to read those I linked. Good stuff.

I’m not going to do that. I’m just going to suggest you watch one episode, maybe a week, with me, that hopefully stands the test of time. These episodes are available online if you have any Google-foo whatsoever. Remember, YouTube isn’t the only place where people post videos daily that have motion.

First in the list is an episode from the 4th, written by Douglas Adams (yes – THAT Douglas Adams!!!) that starts out a little cringe-worthy, but turns into a fun, and interesting story, that just maybe related to the current show in more ways than one (check out that ship for example – look familiar?) – “City of Death”.

Wikipedia: “City of Death”

TARDIS Index File: “City of Death”

Look for it, watch it. Sure there are more important things, but you got to have a little fun.

Elisabeth Sladen, “Sarah Jane Smith”, Rest In Peace

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Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who was Sarah Jane Smith on “Doctor Who” and the spin off children’s show, “The Sarah Jane Adventures”, passed away on Wednesday the 20th, at 63 from cancer.

I could probably write quite a bit about the effect that Doctor Who had on me as a kid, on late night public television, and her role in that was substantial. Back then, and growing up into my twenties, other than my brother and a few friends, it seemed like such a cult thing. You either knew about Doctor Who, and Sarah Jane Smith, or you didn’t. And the numbers of those who knew were few and far between.

These days, with the debut of the latest series happening same day with London, well, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The news of her passing was talked about from many corners of the web, resulting in tributes, shared stories, and more. Here are some that caught my eye.

BBC: original announcement

Metafilter conversation

Twitter: search: Elisabeth Sladen

Reddit conversation

Slashdot.org: conversation

Tom Baker’s tribute to her

Talis Kimberley wrote a great song, from her perspective talking to her daughter, about her passing, named Goodnight, Sarah-Jane

NPR.org: story about her

Boing Boing: Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) dies

BBC: Tributes paid to Elisabeth Sladen

BBC: Children share their thoughts and memories

Tor.com: My Sarah Jane: Remembering Elisabeth Sladen

Leanne Hannah:Elisabeth Sladen

YouTube: Doctor Who – The Time Warrior – Meet Sarah Jane

YouTube: The Third Doctor regenerates

YouTube: Doctor Who Farewells – Sarah Jane

YouTube: Best of School Reunion

YouTube: The return of Sarah Jane – Dr Who Confidential – BBC sci-fi

YouTube: Sarah Jane and Davros in “Journey’s End”

YouTube: Say goodbye

YouTube: Sarah Jane Says Goodbye to The Doctor on Sarah Jane’s Adventures

“‎The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it’s a world, or a relationship… Everything has its time. And everything ends.” – Sarah Jane Smith

I’m not sure anything ends Sarah Jane. In many ways, you’re going to live forever.

The Twelve Doctors of Christmas

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Tor.com ran a great series of essays on each of the Doctors titled “The Twelve Doctors of Christmas” that has some good reads.

My favorite essays out of the bunch:

“The Third Doctor”

“Born to be an Alien”

“Shifting into Fifth”

The Walking Wounded”

3, 4, 5, and 9. Pretty much coincide with my favorite Doctors as well. No offense all of you out there.

“Born to be an Alien” quotes an essay that was passed along a while back that is still a good read, “How Doctor Who Made Me A Liberal”. Sometimes I feel like I should write a version of this essay wrapping in Star Blazers, Star Trek, early Star Wars, and the Muppets because they, along with Doctor Who, left some similar imprints on me growing up.

The stories we are told as kids stay with us in some interesting, and powerful, ways.

As the series summarizes:

Until next time, remember: Bananas are good, Daleks are bad, try reversing the polarity, and intellect and romance should always triumph over brute force and cycnicism.