Doctor Who 50th Anniversary: Top 50 Doctor Who Stories 50 to 41

 

Its now time for a countdown of the top 50 Doctor Who stories.  Most of these will be familiar to you as they were featured in the individual Doctor's Top 10 Lists and in fact most of the write up is from those lists with some new entries.  So here go with stories 50 to 41. 

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.

49.  Day of the Daleks

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.

48. The Trial of a Time Lord

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

Written By Robert Holmes

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.

46. The Ice Warriors

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

Written By Eric Saward

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

Written Stephen Wyatt

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.

42.  Frontier In Space

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.