Ultimate Doctor Who: Season 5

[SiHart]

It was a time of relative stability for the show, with the regular cast set as The Doctor, Jamie and a female companion, this year mostly Victoria.

Lots of bases under seiges this year, lots of the well known enemies- Cybermen, Ice warriors, Yeti and of course, we've recently had the chance to see two of these stories for the first time since the 60s.

But which is your favourite?

[Terry Leptil]

It has to be The Tomb of the Cybermen - for many years until now it was the only complete story from this season to exist. It's atmospheric and memorable what with the Cybermen emerging from their tombs. A well loved classic everyone wanted back for years. (Come on Beeb, if you've got Fury, Abominable, announce them please.)

BTW What's the story Fursy from the Deep about? I've seen a PIF on Youtube titled Furry from the Deep (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SPyrIuz27I).

[SiHart]

Sorry it's a spelling mistake I don't seem to be able to edit. Should, of course, be Fury from the Deep.

[Dino]

Another vote for Tomb, but I'm looking forward to having it knocked off the top spot when I get The Enemy Of The World for Christmas!

[Wayne]

And another vote for Tomb.

[SiHart]

Web of Fear for me. I loved the book when I was a nipper, and I loved the audio when i first heard it in the 90s and well, I loved it to bits when I finally got to see a couple of weeks back.

[Stuart Wallis]

BTW What's the story Fursy from the Deep about?

There was a boy in my class at school called Ian Furse. It's about his diving holiday in the Med.

The Web of Fear for me. Sounds great on audio.

[Dave Tudor]

The 'Monster Season' was always held in high regard, but its reputation seems to have taken a knock in recent years. True, some of the stories are overlong and a bit plodding in places and are possibly not quite as good as we used to be told they were. However, it's Tomb which seems to have taken the biggest bashing - OK, so it's not the chilling, claustrophobic, perfectly-directed masterpiece we thought it might be, but it's still a brilliantly enjoyable adventure, and, even now, twenty-odd years later, I still think that it's remarkable that we are able to see it at all. And on a similar note...

when I finally got to see [The Web of Fear] a couple of weeks back.

How good does this still sound!?!?

[Andrew Curnow]

At the risk of sounding like the class idiot, I'm going for Wheel in Space. Tomb is great, and I suspect I'd love Snowmen to bits if I could see the darned thing - but after never really thinking much of Wheel before, last time I watched the two episodes I really enjoyed it. Maybe it's the attempt to give us a multi-cultural, cross-gender crew; and maybe it's the attempt to try and give us some 'real' people - Jarvis is a pain in the ass, but there's a distinct friendship between him and Gemma which goes beyond a 'black & white' portrayal of 'nuts commander' and 'sensible doctor'. And I think Gemma's death would probably have been quite shocking at the time.

Plus, there is something very eerie about those never-explained Cyber-eggs from which the Cybermen appear at the end of part 2.

[Dirk Gently]

Tomb, Snowmen, Web, Fury & Wheel all vying for the top position for me but I'll plump for Web based on the audios.

[MacNimon]

This one is very hard now...two stories I've always loved (based on the Target novelisations) are Snowmen & Fury, but no way of knowing whether the episodes would be up to scratch or not. I think Tomb still (barely) gets my vote. It's a hard choice, though!

Too bad every season doesn't have so many great stories to make it so hard!

[Rob McCow]

I cast my vote Abominably! This story seems so exciting to me, even more so than The Web Of Fear (really must watch that at some point!!!) because the Monks are so defenceless. And the final confrontation between Padmasambhava and the Doctor looks like one of the thrilling highlights of the entire series.

It's not Fury From the Deep though. Don't make me go back down to the impeller!

[Jonno]

Web for me - loved the Target, enjoyed the audio and happy to wait a few more months to watch it on DVD.

[brandynigma]

It's a cliche, but it's Tomb for me. If everyone story in the season had been 4 episodes, it would have had more competition (each six parter this season seems to have an episode which could be replaced with a few lines of dialogue!).

Also, I found Fury to be the weakest of the season...

[SiHart]

It's not Fury From the Deep though. Don't make me go back down to the impeller!

You and your red brick university opinions.

[Paul Clement]

Two of my favourite stories in Tomb and Web, but tough choices must, and it's Web that gets my vote.

[Rob McCow]

Not a single vote for Enemy of The World still! And after some people said it was the better of the two returned stories...

[Nyder]

I was very tempted to vote for Enemy (having recently watched it!) but no, Tomb is still the classic for me.

[Rob McCow]

What is it that makes Tomb such a classic? I feel a list coming on...

- Gorgeous design, some properly impressive sets and some of the best Cybermen outfits. The Cyber Controller with the BIG BRAINS was copied for the new series.
- Creeping tension. OK, there's a few cop-outs on the way (the Cyber-Trolley-Man) but the first two episodes are all about creeping around trying not to wake the Cybermen up. Then they wake up.
- Great performances all round. Great examples all from totally different schools of acting. There's a 1950's lantern-jawed spaceman, a nervous scientist, a Vamp Queen, a diabolical mastermind, the strong-silent racial stereotype (maybe not) and of course the regulars being superb. Troughton's scenes with Victoria in particular are delightful.
- Wah-wahwah waaah waaah BWAAAH-BWA-BWAAAHHH!
- The relentless and varied ways the Cybermen attack the humans. This is what makes this story (and Pyramids of Mars) such a success. We stop the Cybermen with X, but then they do Y. We stop that and they attack us in another way. The new series hasn't really had an episode set up quite like that, where it's a game of chess between two opponents, always out-manoeuvring each other. Maybe Dalek and Nightmare in Silver, but not quite for either.
- The fact that it was the first 'Lost Classic' that became a 'Found Classic'. And now there are more of them!

[Andrew Curnow]

Wah-wahwah waaah waaah BWAAAH-BWA-BWAAAHHH!