The First 'New' Doctor Who.

Back in 2003 on the Ezboard PS, as a relative newcomer to fandom, & a staunch fan of 70's (& to a fairly large extent 60's) Who. I decided to obtain & review all those 80's stories, most of which i'd never seen, in a series of 3 threads devoted to the era's of Peter, Colin, & Sylv. After being encouraged by so much response/feedback on the threads, i decided it would be fun to cover my personal nostalgia era: The 70's, & thus did threads for Jon & Tom's time. As those threads were equally popular, i decided i might as well go the full hog & do the 60's. The last EZboard thread that i did covered Billy's era, but the whole thing was lost in the big EZboard crash, i never got around finishing off with the Troughton era. I had originally planned to do it on EZboard before we moved, but with the announcement of 'The Invasion' dvd released this month, i decided to hang fire until it was out.
So now the time has come for a look at the Troughton era. I hope people will share any views they have on each successive story as i get to it. I'll probably do 1 or 2 stories per week, depending on other committments. I tend not to write huge transvamp style reviews myself, but feel totally free to make any comments you have, as brief or as long as you like. All is welcome.

Just over 40yrs ago, Patrick Troughton appeared on tv screens, fronting what was at the time, the revolutionary idea of casting a completely different actor to continue the role of the established main character of a popular tv series. I'm not totally sure if the concept was entirely new, (ie. Roger Moore wasn't the first 'The Saint', for instance) But whereas other shows may simply have been re-made, i think i'm right in saying that this was the first time it had been done whilst keeping the continuity & history of the character going. And of course, it introduced a major concept into the Dr.Who universe: Regeneration.

My own history with the Troughton era begins as a 10yr old boy. In 1973, those of us not old enough to remember previous incarnations were introduced to them in 'The Three Doctors', & in my case there was also the 'Radio Times 10th Anniversary Special' with it's tantalizing look at the history of Doctor Who. I also became a keen collector of the Target Books; the first of which appeared that year, & i remember with affection the first Troughton Target: 'Doctor Who and the Cybermen'.

As regards 'The Three Doctors', my first impressions of Troughton were laid out in my review of the story on my Pertwee era thread:

"As a 9 going on 10yr old boy, i had little concept of the programme that started almost 10 years earlier. Yes, i knew there were 2 other Doctors before Jon, but all i had to go on was an old Hartnell annual that i'd inherited from my Uncle, & a couple of paperbacks like 'Dr Who & The Daleks' etc...etc... Even the 10th Anniversary Special, which in itself was unique at the time, wasn't out for another few months. So this concept of 'other' Doctor's was more or less a new thing to me.
Anyway, I remember being most confused by Patrick Troughton. He interpretation of the Doctor was of course quite different to Jon's, & i found it very hard to take in, at the time. Because in some ways he plays it a bit 'Anti-Hero(ish) compared to Jon, i immediately thought of him as in some way inferior. He wanted to toss a coin because he didn't want to go into Omega's domain first, wheras my hero Jon, grabbed the coin in mid-air & goes in first, anyway. I didn't like the recorder playing business, & generally thought he was a bit silly. In short, i was not that impressed by my first encounter with the 2nd Doctor!"

I got my first viewing of a 'proper' Troughton story when the BBC Videos started coming out. I can't remember what year 'Seeds of Death' came out, but that was the first one, & whilst i enjoyed it, i still felt some reservations towards Troughton's slightly whimsical/comedic content. I did buy the rest of his era that was available on video, but whilst i didn't actively dislike his portrayal; he remained my least favourite of what i considered to be the 'classic' Doctors. (ie. the first 4)
I have heard most of the Missing story audios, & seen all the existing episodes, but the vast majority of the Troughton era, i have only ever seen or heard once, & most of that is long overdue a viewing by many years. For example, I haven't seen 'The War Games' since it's video release, & in the case of 'The Highlanders' - It's the only remaining Dr.Who story that i've never 'done'.
So this thread will be a chance for me to give Troughton's era a proper re-appraisal, of both Pat Troughton's interpretation, & the stories themselves. And hopefully to get other people's take on the stories as well.
I'll be posting my thoughts on 'Power of the Daleks' tomorrow night, but in the meantime:
What was your first experience of Troughton? Was it the BBC video 'Seeds of Death'? Was the 'Five Faces' repeats on tv? What were your very first impressions of what you saw?