Ultimate Doctor Who: Season 1

[SiHart]

Over the next few weeks we'll be hunting for Planet Skaro's Ultimate Doctor Who story. We'll be setting up polls looking back over the last 50 years of TV stories, and you can vote for your favourites, before we collate them all and find what is Planet Skaro's Ultimate Story!



Today we start with Season 1. Vote for your favourite story (not necessarily the best!) and if you'd like to tell us why you voted for the one you did, all the better.

So, get voting. Each poll is open for 5 days.

[Lissa]

Last year I went through season 1 for a book I'm trying to write and the variety of stories struck me for the first time. It's a fantastic season with the groundbreaking sci fi of The Daleks, the thought provoking history of The Aztecs, the Saturday morning serial fun of The Keys of Marinus, the hugely underrated moral drama in An Unearthly Child and the slow, almost real-time suffering we go through in Marco Polo. But, for entirely personal reasons, my favourite of the season will always be The Sensorites. Partly for what is there on screen and partly for what I've been creating post-screen for the last few (and hopefully next few) years. It's great and it's terrible all at the same time.

[Llordllama]

I've gone for The Edge of Destruction...because it's a great effort, very early on to do something pretty freeky/weird on what was at the time supposed to more about edutainment. It's up there for me with episodes of the Prisoner in terms of WTFery.

Also the fast return switch is clearly a jibe at ST:Voyager some three decades early for their constant use of the reset switch in their plot lines. Clearly some time travel MUST have been involved

[SiHart]

It's The Aztecs for me. A gripping story about the consequences of traveling in time and trying to impose your time's beliefs on a primitve people.

Jackie Hill and William Hartnell shine throughout this story and give magnificent performances. William Russell has some good fights and Carole Ann is sidelined for a couple of episodes. Superb!

[Jonno]

The Aztecs. In the pre-VHS era, the likes of DWM constantly told us that the historicals were boring and unpopular. However, I really enjoyed reading the Target book of The Aztecs and thoroughly enjoyed it viewing it on VHS in the early 90s. IIRC Woolworths passed up on releasing this as an exclusive and opted for The Twin Dilemma! (And what happened to Woolies?!)

It's a wonderful piece of drama which doesn't need invading aliens added to the spice and in which the "villain" isn't really a villain in the normal sense, but who is a real threat to the crew nonetheless. And I love the fact that when he knows that it's not really Yetaxa he still his to play his hand carefully - and Barbara knows it and plays on it too.

The romance between Yetaxa and the Doctor is absolutely delightful and their "break up" is heartbreaking. And the famous scene between the angry Doctor and the resolute Barbara always sends a chill down my spine.

[SiHart]

The romance between Yetaxa and the Doctor is absolutely delightful and their "break up" is heartbreaking.

I think you mean Cameca, unless I've missed something all these years Jonno!

[Jonno]

Oops - that'll teach me to write a fairly lengthy post when a) I'm still a bit sleepy and b) I'm in the office!

Mind you, I reckon the first Doctor had a soft spot for Barbara!

[Alex Me]

Difficult to do this one, all the stories in this season are good. Though there is not really an outstanding one that stands above the rest. It is quite an interesting series as the show is still learning what it want's to be, and I am tempted to vote for the The Daleks for establishing (Possibly against the production teams intentions!) that the show ill be about monsters.

Though In the end I choose the Aztecs. A example of the show still in it educational mode, and as such very unlike what we would be considered 'normal doctor who' even in a few years time. Still it's a great example of what the show was originally intended to be, and is a very great story to boot.

[Dino]

I chose The Keys Of Marinus. Because it's got the biggest range story wise. Every episode is a different story. It's like a condensed Key To Time! Maybe the effects don't stand up, but I've since learned to make allowances for these things.

Although that said, it was hard to choose.

[Rob McCow]

Absolutely no doubt in my mind - it's The Daleks / The Mutants / The Dead Planet. (So three to choose from).

I think Lissa is spot on, this season has such a huge variety of stories and the majority are highly successful. Even the weaker stories, such as Marinus and The Reign of Terror only really suffer because people tend to watch them in one sitting these days rather than an episode-per-week.

That said, it wouldn't be half as enjoyable if the four leads weren't so brilliant. The divide in the TARDIS between Ian / Barbara and Susan / The Doctor adds a whole extra dimension to the line up that we never see again in the show. And of course there's the big question - can the Doctor really be trusted? By the end of this season the answer is definitely 'yes', but I reckon it takes all year to get there.

The Daleks though - from the story to the design to the music, everything popped out just right. Such an atmospheric story. Fab,

[Stuart Wallis]

It's The Aztecs for me. A gripping story about the consequences of traveling in time and trying to impose your time's beliefs on a primitve people.

Jackie Hill and William Hartnell shine throughout this story and give magnificent performances. William Russell has some good fights and Carole Ann is sidelined for a couple of episodes. Superb!

What? the story's superb, or Carol Ann's sidelining is superb? (The story is, so I'm going for The Aztecs.)

[Paul Clement]

I do wonder whether I would rate Marco Polo as the best story if it existed in visual format, but with audio/recon only it's good but Aztecs is better and gets my vote.

[Andrew Curnow]

It's a tough one, and I ended up really torn between AUC and The Daleks. In the end, I'm going for the first story - I know I've regularly said how I don't like my Who to be grim, and yet it's really the bleakness of the caveman story that grips me.

Actually, no that's not quite true - it's really the story of the interaction between the four regulars-to-be. They all do such a superb job, but I'm going to just single out Jackie Hill because she makes Barbara so totally real. She's dirty and sweaty and her hair's a mess, and there are moments of near-hysteria... and yet when it comes to it, she can't leave another human being to die after the sabre-toothed tiger attack, and she tries in her own way to try and get through to Hur. Maybe there's an element of 'Five Faces' nostalgia too!!

[Jason Thompson]

They all do such a superb job, but I'm going to just single out Jackie Hill because she makes Barbara so totally real. She's dirty and sweaty and her hair's a mess, and there are moments of near-hysteria

I agree absolutely with this. What I love is that she's been whisked off in time and space, threatened with death, tied up in a cave, run through a forest, and the thing that finally tips her over into hysteria is the comparatively trivial event of tripping and falling on the corpse of an animal. It is, as you say, so totally real.

But for me, my favourite story is The Daleks. The set design and sound are like nothng else, so totally alien. For once we have a city clearly designed for its occupants and not the actors who will be walking through it, as they all have to stoop and duck. The Daleks themselves are of course iconic and the interaction between the regulars is still at the uncertain stage. It's good to see them pairing off in different ways as the story unfolds. First it's Ian and Barbara's fear against the Doctor's curiosity, then Susan and Ian gang up on the Doctor to stop him leaving without Barbara. Later it is Barbara who agrees with Ian that it makes more sense for him to stay behind and warn the Thals alone than have all of them hanging around too, and then of course Ian and Susan have the big argument with the Doctor and Barbara about getting the Thals to fight for them. A few years later The Dominators would devote a whole five episode story to the argument of whether pacifists should fight to defend their way of life when confronted with aggressors, and do it far less effectively than the first ten minutes of the fifth episode of this serial does. I just love the looks on the Doctor and Barbara's faces when Ian scores the final say with his 'what victory are you going to show these people when most of them have been killed?' lone.

The odd thing about the story is that it is four episodes of atmospheric storytelling followed by three episodes of technically inferior stuff involving cardboard cutout Daleks, polystyrene rocks, Daleks that keep running into things and gaping plot holes. It turns out the Daleks have become conditioned to radiation, despite earlier saying they were in the city and their casings to protect themselves against it. How did they not notice their city was awash with radiation? Why do they leap to this conclusion rather than the more logical one that the Thal drug was simply toxic? Why does 'the disease' cause a Dalek in the control room to start going out of control when it was supposed to be a response to the Thal drug that was given only to Daleks in other sections at that time? How do they get out of the city at the end when the power was shut off and the Daleks ordered all the corridor intersections sealed?

But even so this is seven episodes of great Who, and the best of the first season for me.

[Nyder]

I will have to hold my hands up with a few of these polls because there are some *whispers very quietly* episodes I've either not seen yet, or saw them so long ago I can't remember them. Shocking! Nyder Towers is doing all it can to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.

So, I'll have to pass over Reign.....

If Unearthly was just the one episode, then I would vote for it without question. Sorry Cavemen! If The Daleks were only 5 or 6 episodes long, I might consider that story (sorry, but it's a bit saggy in the middle - still fab though!) If Marco Polo turns up it might have to be that one (thoroughly enjoyed the audio recently).

So for now, my vote goes for Edge of Destruction. A wonderfully claustrophobic, disturbing tale with all the regulars in fine form. The scissors played a blinder too

[Dirk Gently]

Well as you probably know this season (with the exception of the addition of EoD) has a formula to it.
An Uneathly Child; Present but goes Historical for the main thrust of the story.
The Daleks; Futuristic.
Edge of Destruction; Present, what ever the time period outside.
Marco Polo; Historical.
The Keys of Marinus; Futuristic.
The Aztecs; Historical.
The Sensorites; Futuristic.
Reign of Terror; Historical.

This gives the season a good mix for all those watching to enjoy & was largely used in the return in 2005.
So this makes it difficult for me as they are all enjoyable. I agree with Andrew about AUC. But I have gone for the nostalgic feelings for The Daleks, because it was so WOW when I got the videos when they came out, and because of the very well pointed out reasons that Jason has said.



Yes, I'm cheating but what's the point in me writing out whats already been said.

[Rob McCow]

The Daleks, because it was so WOW when I got the videos when they came out

I remember it so well. I was working for my dad once a month at the weekends, when they did their stock-take at Richer Sounds. Essentially it meant counting up a lot of hi-fi equipment in a warehouse and inputting it onto a spread-sheet. The kind of thing Amazon have RFID for nowadays. We'd usually get something fattening in for lunch and after the morning's work (earning £30!) I would be treated with a trip to the old Forbidden Planet, to breathe in the stench of their musty carpets.

And there it was on two VHS Cassettes, The Daleks. I seem to remember in a stroke of genius, the BBC had simultaneously called it The Daleks, The Dead Planet and The Mutants. One cassette in black, the other in rusty red, three Daleks from a totally different story and something that vaguely resembled the Dalek city spreading across the bulk of the cover. Amazing and yours for a mere £19.99, about £450,000 in today's money.

The picture quality was so murky that I thought that the opening shot of the jungle was an aerial shot of the planet showing oceans and continents. It just made it even more atmospheric. And seven episodes of it as well! Absolute bliss.

[Andrew Curnow]

I got that for my 18th birthday! And still have it!

[Wayne]

The Daleks.
Not just because they're my favourite monsters, but because this story was so ground-breaking. And none of us would be here talking about Dr Who 50 years later, without it.

[MacNimon]

The stories in this season are all so enjoyable that, as others have said, it's hard to pick one outright favourite. However, The Daleks just gets the nod from me as I have such fond memories of those old BBC video releases...I just remember feeling a little bit in awe at the time, seeing a bit of tv history and thinking that it felt more like Doctor Who than anything shown on tv had for a long time! It was probably this video release which truly reignited my love for the series.

[Terry Leptil]

It would have to be The Daleks as it's an epic adventure which introduced the Doctor's deadliest enemy to us.

[Dave Tudor]

A very difficult season to choose a favourite from, but I've gone for the first story, if only for that very first episode - quite simply, one of the greatest pieces of television ever made.

[Nyder]

Congratulations to The Aztecs

[Jonno]

Hurrah! With no votes for Marco Polo, should the rumours prove true and we get to see it one day, it would be interesting to then do another S1 poll and see what happens!