What story will top the DWM 200 Poll?

[SiHart]

Next month DWM will reveal the best Doctor Who story of all time, as voted for its readers. But what will it be?

Will Genesis of the Daleks hold its crown or will one of the new series stories steal the lead?

Make your predictions and we'll see who gets it most right next month.

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

I think Genesis will still reign supreme amongst DWM readers. They're not representative of the wider body of Who fans, children and new fans, so Genesis will still be up there.

I suspect that the Moffat stories and the season finales will fill up most of the rest of the top 20.

[Jon Masters]

I'd be gobsmacked if it wasn't a New Series story, and have a depressing feeling that it'll be The Stolen Earth/Journey's End , in light of

• many voters will be younger and focus on the New Series, and will have no nostalgic attachment to older stories
• a lot of these type of surveys are won by the latest stories because people forget how they responded to older stories and so view them as automatically better
• many people won't be able to separate 'better production values - more money' from 'better story'
• lots of old phogey fans like me won't have replied to the survey, expecting their vote to have little effect on the 'give everything 10 or 1' mentality of lots of voters

So for predictions I'll go
Third - Genesis of the Daleks
Second - Blink
First - Stolen Earth-Journey's End

[SiHart]

I have a feeling it'll be Blink, despite me marking it down it heavily. Judging by the reactions from fandom since it was broadcast, I just have this gut feeling that Blink could top the chart.

Jon though, could be on to something, though I reckon that Army of Ghosts/ Doomsday could be the season closer that could win out- Daleks v Cybermen, Rose leaves etc could swing it...

Si xx

[Rob McCow]

This poll will say far more about the people who voted than the actual stories!

[Si Hunt]

I think it'll be the "Stolen Earth/Journey's end", probably followed by "Blink" and then "Genesis of the Daleks" or something.

Jon can't really complain that the New Series bias is down to "old phogey fans not voting". If you don't vote, it's your own fault!

I think the New Series popularity will be a combination of younger fans voting and older fans. Don't forget a lot of us older fans think some of the New Series episodes are among the best ever too!

Si.

[Dino]

I like Blink, but it's pretty Doctor-lite in terms of his appearance isn't it?
The best Dr Who story ever won by a story in which he's hardly in it?

Genesis... seems as good a choice as any. Still amazing.
I hope "Rose" is in the top 5 as that bought the show back?

And although I praised Genesis of the Daleks, I'd rather see Talons... win as Earthbound as it is, it's well plotted and would still work as a story if you removed the Doctor and Leela from it altogether? (and there's not that many that would, but that's for another thread...) Even though Lightfoot and Jago would have taken longer to solve the mystery.

And if it's a new series that tops the charts... trickier... Bad Wolf.. No wait! The Impossible Planet...No wait!... The Sound of Drums... No wait!... (continues like this for several hours...)

[Jon Masters]

Jon can't really complain that the New Series bias is down to "old phogey fans not voting". If you don't vote, it's your own fault!

Si.

True enough - I did start giving them all a score, and then trying to refine them to get all 200 in order of like / dislike, but realised what a huge waste of time it was for the older stories when younger voters who had never seen them might vote (a) 1 as they're B&W and wobbly and stuff or (b) 5 as a middle of the road or (c) Not vote for them which completely screws up the averages.

That's not so much why I think NS stories will do well, but given past surveys I expect probably the first 30 or so on the 200 list to have an average score of above 9.5 . My vote of 3 for SE-JE is not going to make any real difference to its average.

Don't forget a lot of us older fans think some of the New Series episodes are among the best ever too!
Si.

Indeed - of the 26 stories I gave scores of 8 or more to, 7 were New Series stories.

[SiHart]

Does not voting screw up the averages? I'd have thought they'd just average the figure out byu the number of people who had voted for it. If someone doesn't vote for a story or leaves a gap or whatever, then it isn't registered as a vote. That way it's fair. Isn't it? I'm sure that's what Tom Spilsbury said on a thread on the old OG forum.

I think whatever way you do it, there will be problems, because you're dealing with the fickle nature of fandom! You know what those guys are like!

Si xx

[Larry]

I think Genesis will still reign supreme amongst DWM readers. They're not representative of the wider body of Who fans, children and new fans, so Genesis will still be up there.

.

I think i'd probably agree with that if a new series story dose top the poll I think it's inevitable it will be a Moffat one.

[Andrew Curnow]

I think it'll probably be a NS story that tops the poll, although I kind of hope it's not Stolen Earth/Journey's End because it doesn't really deserve it. I'd really like to see something of an 'outside chance' end up a surprise winner, like Gridlock or even Boom Town - for me, none of Moffat's stories have been quite as good as the majority view would suggest (although, sorry Si, I think I like Blink the best of all his episodes).

To be fair though, half the fun of these polls is simply to see how much you personally agree or disagree with it, so as a 'conversation piece' it'll be worth the cover price I'm sure!

Obviously, I've concluded that my several hundred multiple entries for Castrovalva still won't quite have swung the balance...

[Rob McCow]

Andew voted for Castrovalva over here, down there, up there... and round here!

[Andrew Curnow]

I've been sending in votes since the poll was first announced, up to the present day...

[Jon Masters]

I've been sending in votes since the poll was first announced, up to the present day...

In the same handwriting !

[Perry Vale]

I fear it'll be Stolen Earth/Journey's End.

[Andrew Curnow]

Indeed Monitor, indeed...

It's occurred to me overnight that Castrovalva stands no chance of winning. Tom & his DWM posse will be there counting votes: "One, two.... What comes after two?"

[Larry]

also be interesting to see if any of the new series come in the bottom 10 stories I'd certainly rate The Long Game, The Idiots Lantern, Love and Monsters, Fear Her and the Lazerous Experiment far worse then Underworld or The Twin Dilema.

[SiHart]

Really? If nothing else, for me, none of those episodes are quite as tedious to watch as Underworld is.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Lazarus Experiemtn when I watched it with my nephew the other day. The scorpion creature isn't a triumph for the Mill, it's true, but I think the episode stands up pretty well aside form that.
But then I loved The Idiot's Lantern too, so what do I know?

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I'd certainly rate The Long Game, The Idiots Lantern, Love and Monsters, Fear Her and the Lazerous Experiment far worse then Underworld or The Twin Dilema.

Each to his own, but I'd love to hear you honestly say that after watching "The Idiots Lantern" and "Underworld" back to back and then properly thinking about it, rather than just relying on a half-arsed memory and vague but rigidly held belief that the comfy old series must always be better because it's longer, less challenging and requires less effort to absorb because you know it so well. What's wrong with "Lantern" anyway? It's a beautiful recreation of the 1950's, Lipman puts in a strong performance, there's a great subplot reflecting on womens lib, changing attitudes and "Don't talk about it" mentality of the post-war British household. The only thing I can possibly think that's wrong with it is the Doctor and Rose are a little too "Scooby Doo", but there's worse things than a Doctor and companion getting on too well. "Underworld" meanwhile, by anyone's standards, is almost two hours of a mediocre script being played out in front of a photo blow up of a cave!

I mean, I'm not slagging off your tastes, but why is "Underworld" better? What remotely shines in that story? Is the new series so terribly bad that even the darkest moments of New Who eclipse this story? Think, consider, and be fair!

Oh and "Love and Monsters" is amazing on so many levels. Surely it deserves points just for daring to do something unlike anything before. If not simply for the line "We only met a few minutes ago, and here I am flashing my knickers at you!"

Si.

[SiHart]

Lets face it, Underworld is a story about a megalomanic computer- something the series had done in 1966, 1973, 1976... what's new about it? All the stories Larry listed are at least doing something different- controlling the media, the isolation of a child, finding love and acceptance through the Doctor, running around a big cathederal with a scorpion chasing after you! I'd take any of those under dreary, boring Underworld any day of the week.

Si xx

[Perry Vale]

'The Lazarus Experiment' is, I think, the only new series episode I have never rewatched. To me, the CGI in it was on a par with the bad CSO of stories like Underworld. Yet I don't get any strong feelings of dislike for it, like I probably would for 'Fear Her' or 'Last Of The Timelords'. Does that make sense? I guess it's my NuWho 'meh' episode....

[Rob McCow]

The Lazarus Experiment was potentially great, but I think it was scuppered by having the worst monster design in the history of the show. Yes, even The Slyther and Erato are better than the Lazarus Mess!

Still, Mark Gatiss is fab, the premise is interesting and it's competently directed.

[Si Hunt]

I guess it comes down to what you value in a story. To me, the only thing that really makes a story unwatchable is when it's dull, or impossible to understand. No New Series episode has bored me really. So there's no new episode that I wouldn't re-watch. Yet unfortunately there are a few dull old series episodes, and a couple of incomprehensable ones too.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

42 is fairly dull.

[Si Hunt]

Oh yes, I forgot about that! The only new series episode I slept through on first broadcast.

Si.