Seen 'em all?

[Carol Baynes]

I've just completed watching "The Masque of Mandragora", and very good it was too! That's also extra significant since I have now seen every broadcast Tom Baker Dr. Who story at least once. It only took me this long! Most of the ones I hadn't seen were pre-1977 (before I remember watching the series originally). Now there's just some Hartnells and Troughtons and the rest of "The Mutants" to go!

How many of you have actually seen everything it's possible to see? Is there anyone like me, who's still got a bit in reserve?

[SiHart]

I've got nothing, at least until Christmas when the next new episode is on. I've seen it all, every bit that officially exists. *sigh*

Si xx

[Carol Baynes]

Aw, never mind Si! Apparently I shouldn't be too pleased- I've still got "The Dominators" to see yet!

[Wayne]

Me too Si, but there's loads that i'm glad i've got out of the way so that i don't have to bother with 'em again.
I probably dislike, or am at indifferent at least to about 1/3 or more of all Who.

[Carol Baynes]

Me too Si, but there's loads that i'm glad i've got out of the way so that i don't have to bother with 'em again.
I probably dislike, or am at indifferent at least to about 1/3 or more of all Who.

Bloody hell, Wayne! That's about 250 episodes you're not arsed about isn't it?!

[Andrew Curnow]

Like quite a lot of people it seems, I haven't seen "Underworld" - not ever. I'm just counting the days until the DVD.

Apart from that I've not listened to any of the audios of missing stories (I know it's SEEN 'em all, but you know) except for Reign of Terror, Massacre, and Enemy of the World; and there are a few stories I've only ever seen once, back in 1990/91, so I'll eventually come to them new (Keys of Marinus being one such).

[Wayne]

Bloody hell, Wayne! That's about 250 episodes you're not arsed about isn't it?!

I've not counted the individual episodes, but yeah probably.
There's a fair few missing stories in there though. Especially dull historicals like The Highlanders, The Myth Makers, The Smugglers, Marco Polo, Reign of Terror, & a few that do exist like The Romans, The Time Meddler, & The Gunfighters.

[Jon Masters]

There are a few bit-parts I've not seen, like Tenth Planet or Reign or Ice Warriors

For whole stories which are/were available, the only ones I have never seen are Delta and the Bannermen, and The Gunfighters.

I live in the hope that these are rare gems of DW world that I will treasure when I finally watch them

[Wayne]

For whole stories which are/were available, the only ones I have never seen are Delta and the Bannermen, and The Gunfighters.

I live in the hope that these are rare gems of DW world that I will treasure when I finally watch them

Better to grit your teeth & face reality than live in hope of any pleasure to come.

[Pip Madeley]

I've seen everything there is to see too, managed that in 1999 thanks to a friend who used to supply me with 'special stuff' like the existing Reign episodes - only when they've discovered new clips/episodes and the New Series began have I been treated to new stuff.

[Carol Baynes]

I've seen everything there is to see too, managed that in 1999 thanks to a friend who used to supply me with 'special stuff' like the existing Reign episodes - only when they've discovered new clips/episodes and the New Series began have I been treated to new stuff.

I'm just figuring out that if Pip got into Who through seeing the TV movie then it only took him just three years to watch all the available original series. It's taken me 32 years since I first saw the show to watch just the ones in colour! What a slacker I am!

[Pip Madeley]

I was just lucky really, we had UKGold as part of our analogue package and at the time they were showing the black and white stories on Friday nights and the colour ones on (some) Saturdays and Sundays. I just had to make sure I saved up enough money for blank tapes! Plus I'd got in contact with a fan via SFX who kindly did me VHS dubs of the incomplete stories & some telesnap recons.

[Wayne]

It's interesting how people's history of watching the show differs.
It's taken me from 1970 until last year to watch (or listen, in the case of some of the missing stories) the complete original series canon. (The New Series needs no explanation, as we mostly all watch that as it goes out)
Here's how it went for me:

1970 (S7) to 1977 (S15) - Watched on original transmission.

I did see a few other odds & sods on original transmission post 1977, (which left me particularly unimpressed with Davison & McCoy) but very little, & no complete stories.

1986 to 2003 - Started collecting selected BBC videos.

I'd not really bothered with Who for 9 years, but after spotting 'Day of the Daleks' in a video rental shop in 1986, i realized that the BBC had started releasing a few videos, & bought all the ones to date, which were Revenge of the Cybermen, Brain of Morbius, Pyramids of Mars, Seeds of Death, & Robots of Death.
Seeds of Death was he first time i'd ever seen a Troughton story. Intially, i'd decided to get only the Jon Pertwee & Tom Baker stories, but i was curious to see the 60's stuff, & i decided to collect everything from 1963 to the end of Tom Baker. Especially after loving 'The Daleks', which i saw for the first time upon it's video release in 1989.
My plan to collect all the Tom Baker stuff was amended to S12 to S15, after i saw City of Death for the first time upon it's video release in 1991. I thought it was rubbish, & sold it to a stall on Mansfield market the next day.
I'd also decided that i would collect all the Dalek & Cybermen stories, upon their release. Which i did with all the Dalek releases, but changed my mind about the 80's Cybermen stories, after deciding the 80's Cybermen were crap when i bought Earthshock upon it's release in 1992, & sold this one to Mansfield market as well.
A similar change in policy occurred later than same year when The Aztecs was released on video. Although i've grown to appreciate this particular story over the years,- At that time it simply wasn't Sci-Fi enough for me, so Mansfield market gained another Dr.Who video. This policy continued with further disappointing 60's releases like The Rescue/The Romans in 1994.

1996 - Watched the TV Movie on the telly. Didn't bother buying subsequent video release.

2003 to 2007 - Filled in all the gaps.

After joining PS in 2002, i started to become curious about all the 80's stuff (well technically almost everything from S16 to S26, bar the Dalek stories) that i'd never seen, & all the Missing Stories. I wanted to complete my Dr Who knowledge & be able to have an opinion on all these stories that everyone was talking about, so after joining eBay the following year, i gradually bought up everything that i hadn't got.
I started a series of theads to chart my journey through all this new stuff, which started with the Davison era in 2003, & finally finished with the Troughton era last year, in which completed my final Dr Who story from the classic series that was still 'new' to me,- The Highlanders. It was crap.
The New Series is self explanatory. So there we have it. That's how my complete Dr Who viewings went.

[Phillip Culley]

I've seen everything that exists - and disregarding everything made/discovered afterwards (so Day of Armageddon and the new series), my last story was The Mutants.

Shame it couldn't have been something better, really

[Carol Baynes]

It's interesting how people's history of watching the show differs.
It's taken me from 1970 until last year to watch (or listen, in the case of some of the missing stories) the complete original series canon. (The New Series needs no explanation, as we mostly all watch that as it goes out)
Here's how it went for me:

1970 (S7) to 1977 (S15) - Watched on original transmission.

I did see a few other odds & sods on original transmission post 1977, (which left me particularly unimpressed with Davison & McCoy) but very little, & no complete stories.

1986 to 2003 - Started collecting selected BBC videos.

I'd not really bothered with Who for 9 years, but after spotting 'Day of the Daleks' in a video rental shop in 1986, i realized that the BBC had started releasing a few videos, & bought all the ones to date, which were Revenge of the Cybermen, Brain of Morbius, Pyramids of Mars, Seeds of Death, & Robots of Death.
Seeds of Death was he first time i'd ever seen a Troughton story. Intially, i'd decided to get only the Jon Pertwee & Tom Baker stories, but i was curious to see the 60's stuff, & i decided to collect everything from 1963 to the end of Tom Baker. Especially after loving 'The Daleks', which i saw for the first time upon it's video release in 1989.
My plan to collect all the Tom Baker stuff was amended to S12 to S15, after i saw City of Death for the first time upon it's video release in 1991. I thought it was rubbish, & sold it to a stall on Mansfield market the next day.
I'd also decided that i would collect all the Dalek & Cybermen stories, upon their release. Which i did with all the Dalek releases, but changed my mind about the 80's Cybermen stories, after deciding the 80's Cybermen were crap when i bought Earthshock upon it's release in 1992, & sold this one to Mansfield market as well.
A similar change in policy occurred later than same year when The Aztecs was released on video. Although i've grown to appreciate this particular story over the years,- At that time it simply wasn't Sci-Fi enough for me, so Mansfield market gained another Dr.Who video. This policy continued with further disappointing 60's releases like The Rescue/The Romans in 1994.

1996 - Watched the TV Movie on the telly. Didn't bother buying subsequent video release.

2003 to 2007 - Filled in all the gaps.

After joining PS in 2002, i started to become curious about all the 80's stuff (well technically almost everything from S16 to S26, bar the Dalek stories) that i'd never seen, & all the Missing Stories. I wanted to complete my Dr Who knowledge & be able to have an opinion on all these stories that everyone was talking about, so after joining eBay the following year, i gradually bought up everything that i hadn't got.
I started a series of theads to chart my journey through all this new stuff, which started with the Davison era in 2003, & finally finished with the Troughton era last year, in which completed my final Dr Who story from the classic series that was still 'new' to me,- The Highlanders. It was crap.
The New Series is self explanatory. So there we have it. That's how my complete Dr Who viewings went.

That's fascinating, Wayne, thanks very much! Bad boy for taking "City of death", "Earthshock" and "The Aztecs" to the market! Do you like the latter two better these days (I think I know your current opinion on "City of death" )

If anyone's interested, I started watching in 1976 with "The hand of fear", although I now think it may have been a clip from the "Whose Doctor Who" documentary.

1977-80 (watched on original transmission, plus Season 18 which I missed much of)

My viewing started in earnest in september 1977 with "Horror of Fang Rock" (ironically just as Wayne's original viewing was ending). The 'gothic horror' style of the day has stuck with me as one of my favourite Who eras (although it was on it's way out by the time I started watching). I think "Image of the Fendahl" must have scared me so much I couldn't really remember it until I saw it again last year and my reaction was "Oh God! It's the one with the skull! Argghhh!!" Although bear in mind even "The Invisible enemy" scared me back then. Remember everything vividly from the end of season 15 (Tom's grinning face as he unviels K9 mark II is a strong memory as my Mum told me that "Dr. Who is going on holiday", as it was the end of the season. )
Saw all S16, but missed part one of "The Ribos Operation" as bath time over-ran (eventually saw it earlier this year). Saw all of season 17 on transmission (was becoming a big fan by then) but by late 1980 "Buck Rogers in the 25th century" had caught our fickle attentions on ITV and all the family were watching that by the time Season 18 started. I didn't see "The Leisure Hive" until it's video release in the late '90s and didn't see "Meglos" in it's entirety until last year. My memories of the episodes I did see are quite strong, however, and "Meglos" was the last Who story to really shit me up- the Meglos-Doctor is genuinely scary when you're 7 years old!
Saw all season 18 from "Warriors' gate" onwards on it's original transmission (and got to see "Full circle" during the 1981 summer repeats, along with another chance to see "Traken". I loved those repeats; it was a chance to pro-long my Tom Baker experience- I was already missing him terribly).

1981-1989

Saw all of the Five faces repeat season, Davison, Colin Baker and McCoy years on transmission except "Survival", as I was working as a waitress on a Wednesday night by then. Also saw a few other repeats (like "Genesis of the Daleks")

1990

Bought "The brain of Morbius" on VHS tape and played it to death.


1992-95

Saw "The Time Meddler", "The Mind robber", "The sea devils", "The Daemons", "The Green death" and "Pyramids of Mars" on BBC2 (repeats).
Bought "Destiny of the Daleks" on video in 1994.
In 1995/6 started buying Who videos in earnest, although I wouldn't just buy anything.

1996-2008

Saw the 1996 TV movie and have seen all the new series episodes so far!

Saw all the Pertwee and Tom Baker stories by August 2008 with help from Youtube, DVDs, videos, copies...(with the exception of a few episodes of "The Mutants"). Apart from that have seen everything from 1970 to the present.

Haven't heard most missing epsiode audios, and there are a few surviving HArtnell and Troughtons I haven't seen yet too.

[Wayne]

That's fascinating, Wayne, thanks very much! Bad boy for taking "City of death", "Earthshock" and "The Aztecs" to the market! Do you like the latter two better these days (I think I know your current opinion on "City of death" )

You're welcome.
Yes, i've never really taken to 'City of Death', but the latter two have improved for me over the years.
With 'Earthshock', it wasn't so much the story, i just wasn't 'Davison' acclimatized back then. I didn't take to the companions either, but the biggest thing was probably the 80's Cyb's, which just seemed to lack the cold menace with all that shouting & gesticulating. I felt that they were too emotive & could've been any old Who baddie, like the Sontarans or something. And i thought the costumes were a bit rubbish too, although the heads were ok.
Obviously, i'm much more used to it by now, & would cite 'Earthshock' as amongst the best of Davison stories. But back on first viewing, it all seemed so camp. It was like a different show to how i knew Dr Who.
'The Aztecs' is an even better example of a story that i've really grown to like. Back then, my perception of Who was chiefly of a Science Fiction programme, so the 60's historicals weren't what i wanted from Dr.Who. To be honest, i still find most of the old historicals very dull. Especially those that only exist on audio, or lean towards 'light entertainment/comedy', like 'The Romans'. (Worse still if it's both, like 'The Myth Makers') But 'The Aztecs' is by far my favourite historical because it's just cracking great drama, with some excellent performances, especially from Jackie Hill. The only other 60's historical that comes any near for me, is 'The Crusade'. (& to a lesser extent 'The Massacre') But even that's still not in the same league as 'The Aztecs'.

Your own Who history is equally interesting btw. I'm just glad we never had bath night on a Saturday. The main one was always Sunday night before the school week started. Right after the Top 20 on the radio.

[Carol Baynes]

You're welcome.


You're own Who history is equally interesting btw. I'm just glad we never had bath night on a Saturday. The main one was always Sunday night before the school week started. Right after the Top 20 on the radio.

The "Ribos operation" scenario sticks in my mind very clearly, as I was making a big fuss about being bathed and ready to watch "Doctor Who" and had been all day. Anyway, bath time over with I go down stairs to see it's already on and my Dad is watching it! There's snow, there's some woman with dark hair in white and there's some monster behind a door...and that's my lot! Doooooooo-dum-de-dum-dum-de-dum whooo-wee-whoooo...end credits start rolling and I'm a very pissed off kid.

[Wayne]

ready to watch "Doctor Who" and had been all day.

I know what you mean, it was the highlight of the day!
I can remember my Mum & Dad were hacked off with me for my persistent disinterest in 'doing well at school', & the only effective 'punishment' they could think of was to stop me watching Dr Who.
I remember 'Terror of the Zygons' being on at the time, & i would sneak round to one of my friends houses on the street & watch it. (Without telling Mum & Dad of course.)
They clicked on after a couple of weeks or so, by which time 'Planet of Evil' was on, & they kept me in after Saturday dinner & i missed my first episode of Dr.Who!
After that, i became ever more devious, & it got to the point where i was sneaking off early on a Saturday morning, & i would go to school friends houses on the other side of town that they didn't know where they lived, & i would phone up saying 'Stephen's Mum says i can stay for tea', before hanging up on them.
I was a right little bugger. I used to get into terrible trouble when i got home, but the more they tried to crack down, the more defiant i became, & in the end they gave up.

[Rob McCow]

I used to get into terrible trouble when i got home, but the more they tried to crack down, the more defiant i became,

You still do that now!

[Antony Cox]

Your own Who history is equally interesting btw. I'm just glad we never had bath night on a Saturday.

I didn't know you lived near each other when you were kids!

The only episodes I've never seen are the extant episodes of The Reign of Terror. However, my missing soundtrack collection only stretches to a handful of of stories, so there are lots which I've never seen/heard at all.

There are also great swathes of existing stories which I've only ever seen once and that was about 15 years ago, so when I eventually plug the gaps with these it'll be almost as if I'm watching them for the first time.

[Wayne]

You still do that now!

I know.
I've always been useless at being told what i can and can't do. Why do think i ended up being self-employed?

[Carol Baynes]

They clicked on after a couple of weeks or so, by which time 'Planet of Evil' was on, & they kept me in after Saturday dinner & i missed my first episode of Dr.Who!

Gits! I don't think I ever got threatened with removal of Who priviledges, thank goodness! The closest was having to go and watch season 24 onwards on a small portable TV upstairs at my parents' house, because "Coronation street" was on at the same time. Believe me it took all my good will and loyalty to stick with the series in 1987- banished to a miniscule telly in a back room to watch stories like "Paradise Towers".)

[Ralph]

banished to a miniscule telly in a back room to watch stories like "Paradise Towers".)

too right!

[Wayne]

I didn't know you lived near each other when you were kids!

If we were about the same age i'm sure i wouldnt've minded playing with Carol in the bath.

[Carol Baynes]

banished to a miniscule telly in a back room to watch stories like "Paradise Towers".)

too right!

I hadn't even done anything wrong!