Top 50 Doctor
Who Stories 50 to 41
50. Logopolis
Written By
Christopher H. Bidmead
Directed By
Peter Grimwade
Why It’s In
The Top 50:
Logopolis is
the last story for Tom Baker and the 4th Doctor. What is unique about it is that even though
The Doctor stops the Master from destroying the universe The Master actually
wins and causes The Doctor to regenerate.
It also ends an era and ushers in another as the seven seasons and
longest tenured Doctor’s era comes to an end.
It is also a pretty good story as it deals with entropy and what happens
when time collapses onto itself. It is
also the return of a human Master played by Anthony Ainley continuing The
Master trilogy from The Keeper of Traken.
Plus it also takes a page from Planet of Spiders as we see the future
Doctor walking around and thus becoming The Doctor at the end.
Written By
Louis Marks
Directed By
Paul Bernard
Why It’s In
The Top 50:
Day of the
Daleks is a pretty cool and different type of Dalek story. The Daleks have invaded Earth in the future
and a band of rebels travel back in time to prevent it from happening. The cool thing is that the rebels are the
cause for the Daleks invading and have created a paradox. This is a pretty cool story as we see the
Brigadier and UNIT battling the Daleks in a pretty good gun fight. It is also the first Target book I read and
my first foray into the past Doctors as I only say the Tom Baker stories at the
time.
Part 13 -14
The Ultimate Foe
Written By
Robert Holmes and
Pip and Jane
Baker
Directed
By Chris Clough
Why It’s In
The Top 50:
Well it is
the story where we find out that The Valeyard is really The Doctor. Imagine the shock and surprise at the reveal
of this mind blowing revelation. Way
before The Name of The Doctor did it with the John Hurt reveal we were treated
to this plot twist that kept Who fans talking for quite a while and made it
worth trudging through the whole mediocre Trial season. The Ultimate Foe was an ending that was really
well done and was also Robert Holmes last story and sadly was Colin Baker’s
last story as The Doctor before the BBC decided to let him go.
47. The Two
Doctors
Directed By
Peter Moffatt
Why It’s In
The Top 50:
It is pretty
obvious why The Two Doctors is on the list.
You have the return of Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines as The Second
Doctor and Jamie and it is as if they had never left the show. It is good to see The Sixth Doctor
interacting with his past self after searching and rescuing him. One of the funniest scenes is when The Doctor
is turned into an Androgum and goes out to eat with Shockeye. Patrick Troughton was marvelous in that
sequence. It is also the last time
Patrick Troughton would be involved with Doctor Who on television before he
died in 1987.
Written By
Brian Hayles
Directed By
Derek Martinus
Why It’s In
The Top 50:
The First
appearance of The Ice Warriors as the TARDIS lands The Doctor, Victoria and
Jamie on earth during the second Ice Age.
Love how they find a frozen Ice Warrior in the ice. It sort of has the feel of classic movie The
Thing to it for the first half of the story.
The Ice Warriors are written extremely well in it and so far this is the
best story that they have been featured in. It’s another one of those classic
stories where earth is threatened by an alien force and must rise up and defeat
the invaders. It is a good introductory
story for the recurring villains The Ice Warriors and a story that still holds
up today. Plus Patrick Troughton gives a
wonderful performance in it also immediately taking charge the minute his
Doctor arrives.
45.
Resurrection of the Daleks
Directed By
Matthew Robinson
Why It’s In
The Top 50:
This story
boasts the return of the Daleks after a long absence and the farewell of the
Fifth Doctor’s main companion Tegan. It
also returns to us Davros as we see he is still frozen from Destiny of the
Daleks and the Daleks need him back to help them with the Movellans as they
need a cure for a virus the Movellans have released. This story also has a very high body count as
practically no one survives and it is pretty violent also. One of the better Dalek stories and also has
a very sad farewell scene between The Doctor and Tegan.
44. Terror of the Autons
Written By
Robert Holmes
Directed By
Barry Letts
Why It’s In
The Top 50:
Terror of the
Autons is the first appearance, of many, for The Master. The Master arrives on Earth to terrorize The
Doctor and try and take over it. Roger
Delgado first appearance is such a strong story as Robert Holmes pens another
classic as he brings back the Autons for another go of invading Earth and the
universe. Roger Delgado is excellent in
Terror of the Autons and you get a hint at how great he was as The Master in
Terror of the Autons. Plus you get to
see one of the more gruesome death scenes in this story with the plastic chair
and that gruesome doll coming to life.
43. The
Greatest Show In The Galaxy
Directed By
Alan Wareing
Why It’s In
The Top 50:
This is just
a fun story that has the feel of a classic story that has been lacking in the
McCoy era to this point with the exception of the Daleks story so far and makes
up for the lack luster stories before it in season 25. The Greatest Show in The Galaxy closes season
25 on a high note and brings the season some scare factor as this is one has
some scary moments. It also is based at
a circus and shows that circuses can be evil but more to the point it tells us
clowns are evil also. In fact the Chief
Clown is pretty creepy and Ace can attest to that.
Written By
Malcolm Hulke
Directed By
Paul Bernard
Why It’s In
The Top 10:
The last time
Roger Delgado plays The Master and sadly it is one of his best performances
during his tenure. It is also the story
that has Jon Pertwee’s favorite monster the Draconians. He likes them because you can see the eyes
and their mouth moves and you can see the features in the face. It also has a pretty good surprise twist as
the Daleks make an appearance in the concluding episode. Frontier in Space is a really strong story of
cat and mouse and one of the best of the Third Doctor’s era.
41. The War Machines
Written By
Ian Stuart Black
Directed By
Michael Ferguson
Why It’s In
The Top 50:
It’s the
first story to take place in contemporary London. In fact this story takes place during modern
day and shows off the time very well. It
was neat to see The Doctor working with the army and you could almost see The
War Machines as a UNIT story. It has The
Doctor going up against a computer that wants to take over the world with the
aid of brainwashing and use of The War Machines. Plus it has the strangest of companions
leaving ever as Dodo is just whisked away and she tells The Doctor by a
letter. Plus Ben and Polly join him in
the TARDIS as the new companions. The War Machines is the torch bearer for the
way the show is now with it modern day setting and threat to present day
earth. The War Machines was a blueprint
that they used when setting up stories for the Troughton era.
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