Sunday 14 July 2019

How to Choose a Top Thirty


Every year, super forum Gallifrey Base runs the TTT: The Top Three Tournament, in which forum users are asked to vote for their favourite three stories from randomly selected groups of six or seven daily. The stories are whittled away until a final favourite arrives months later. It’s a gripping and often satisfying game but it can be painful: if a round of six or seven favourites arrives, it’s difficult to vote without feeling like you’re leaving a dear friend out in the cold. It’s agonising watching your favourites ignored by the rest of fandom too. If you’ve never joined in before, I recommend you hunt down the game and get involved: it’s such a fun way to spend a few minutes every evening and the highs and lows of the results are often moments to cherish.
However, there is an alternative game on the same forum for those with less patience: the one-round version in which users are asked to vote for their Top Thirty stories all in one go. The top story is gifted 30 points, the last 1 point. The results are collated and the story with the most points after two weeks wins! This year, Genesis of the Daleks ran away with it. Now Genesis has never been a personal favourite. I find it slow and drab-looking for the most part, despite an admittedly excellent opening couple of episodes. I have a theory that those 70s fans who enjoyed the cut-down LP version have a far fonder memory of it and that this omnibus edition works far better. But that’s by the by. With the sheer number of Doctor Who stories now available from which to choose one’s Top Thirty, I got to thinking: How on Earth does one go about such a selection? I would want my Top Thirty to be my very, very favourites, not necessarily the best written or produced, but those that I can watch over and over again and despite seeing the cracks, still find them utterly enchanting. 
So I’m going to give it a go! First, I’m going to list the stories I love in chronological order and see how close to thirty I get. Here goes:
1.       The Crusade
2.       The Daleks’ Master Plan
3.       The Massacre
4.       The Power of the Daleks
5.       The Tomb of the Cybermen
6.       The Ice Warriors
7.       The Enemy of the World
8.       The Web of Fear
9.       Fury from the Deep
10.   The Mind Robber
11.   The Ambassadors of Death
12.   Inferno
13.   Terror of the Autons
14.   The Sea Devils
15.   The Green Death
16.   The Brain of Morbius
17.   The Seeds of Doom
18.   The Deadly Assassin
19.   The Robots of Death
20.   Horror of Fang Rock
21.   The Ribos Operation
22.   The Androids of Tara
23.   City of Death
24.   The Leisure Hive
25.   Warriors’ Gate
26.   Logopolis
27.   Castrovalva
28.   Kinda
29.   Earthshock
30.   Snakedance
31.   The Five Doctors
32.   The Caves of Androzani
33.   Revelation of the Daleks
34.   The Happiness Patrol
35.   The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
36.   Ghost Light
37.   The Curse of Fenric
38.   Survival
39.   Father’s Day
40.   The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
41.   Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
42.   Tooth and Claw
43.   School Reunion
44.   The Girl in the Fireplace
45.   Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
46.   The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
47.   Love & Monsters
48.   Gridlock
49.   The Lazarus Experiment
50.   Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
51.   Voyage of the Damned
52.   The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky
53.   Midnight
54.   Turn Left
55.   The Eleventh Hour
56.   The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
57.   Vincent and the Doctor
58.   A Christmas Carol
59.   The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon
60.   Closing Time
61.   Asylum of the Daleks
62.   Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
63.   A Town Called Mercy
64.   The Snowmen
65.   The Crimson Horror
66.   The Name of the Doctor
67.   The Day of the Doctor
68.   The Time of the Doctor
69.   Deep Breath
70.   Into the Dalek
71.   Robot of Sherwood
72.   Listen
73.   Kill the Moon
74.   Mummy on the Orient Express
75.   Dark Water/Death in Heaven
76.   Last Christmas
77.   The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon Inversion
78.   Heaven Sent
79.   Hell Bent
80.   The Husbands of River Song
81.   Knock Knock
82.   Oxygen
83.   Extremis
84.   The Pyramid at the End of the World
85.   World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls
86.   Twice Upon a Time
87.   Arachnids in the UK
88.   The Tsuranga Conundrum
89.   Demons of the Punjab
90.   The Witchfinders
So…90. It proved easy enough to choose my favourites by moving along in chronological order and snapping up those stories I loved. However, the loss of two-thirds of this list is going to be difficult. If I move along the list and strike out those I can give a reason for giving the boot to, I might be able to do this while keeping my conscience clear. Might…
1.        The Crusade
2.       The Daleks’ Master PlanHave I picked it because of its sheer length and not because of its unremitting quality?
3.       The Massacre
4.       The Power of the DaleksIs it just the fact it’s the first regeneration (its iconic status) or is it a bit slow and cumbersome on occasion?
5.       The Tomb of the CybermenLoved it as a child but is it a bit cheap-looking, even by 60s standards?
6.       The Ice WarriorsBetter with a cut-down recon of Two and Three than the full three hours?
7.       The Enemy of the World
8.       The Web of Fear
9.       Fury from the Deep
10.   The Mind Robber- Gripping and playful but it hasn’t got an ending. 
11.   The Ambassadors of Death
12.   Inferno
13.   Terror of the Autons
14.   The Sea Devils
15.   The Green Death
16.   The Brain of MorbiusSurprisingly, I haven’t got very much Hinchcliffe in the list. Bob Holmes could not write a decent climax though, could he?
17.   The Seeds of Doom
18.   The Deadly Assassin
19.   The Robots of Death
20.   Horror of Fang Rock
21.   The Ribos OperationGorgeous script. But then we have, “Bones of our fathers! Seek and find!"
22.   The Androids of TaraLooks lovely; a bit slow? 
23.   City of Death
24.   The Leisure Hive
25.   Warriors’ GateAlthough I love it, I’m still not certain that I understand it.
26.   Logopolis
27.   CastrovalvaIs confining Parts One and Two to the TARDIS acceptable?
28.   Kinda
29.   Earthshock
30.   SnakedanceThe lesser of two Maras.
31.   The Five Doctors
32.   The Caves of AndrozaniMagnificent script; a bit underwhelming in the design department.
33.   Revelation of the Daleks
34.   The Happiness Patrol
35.   The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
36.   Ghost Light
37.   The Curse of Fenric – Makes less sense than Ghost Light. There are times I wonder what on Earth is happening at all.
38.   Survival
39.   Father’s Day
40.   The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
41.   Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
42.   Tooth and Claw
43.   School ReunionLove the reunion itself but does the story feel a tiny bit twee?
44.   The Girl in the FireplaceRose and Mickey are suddenly getting on and I don’t really believe the Doctor is in love.
45.   Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
46.   The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
47.   Love & MonstersSorry William, but the Abzorbaloff itself is a bit naff. 
48.   Gridlock
49.   The Lazarus Experiment
50.   Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
51.   Voyage of the Damned
52.   The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky
53.   Midnight Very grey.
54.   Turn LeftDoes it work without the following two-parter?
55.   The Eleventh Hour
56.   The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
57.   Vincent and the DoctorBit boring in the middle.
58.   A Christmas Carol
59.   The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the MoonFew too many TARDIS scenes.
60.   Closing TimeBest of a bad season?
61.   Asylum of the Daleks
62.   Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
63.   A Town Called MercyLooks beautiful but ultimately insignificant?
64.   The Snowmen
65.   The Crimson HorrorA shade away from pure class. Can’t quite define what that shade is. Perhaps it’s that it feels like a homage to something else rather than its own beast?
66.   The Name of the Doctor
67.   The Day of the DoctorThere’s a long, boring stretch in a forest.
68.   The Time of the Doctor
69.   Deep Breath
70.   Into the Dalek
71.   Robot of Sherwood
72.   Listen – The climax doesn’t reach the heights of the vignettes beforehand.
73.   Kill the Moon
74.   Mummy on the Orient Express
75.   Dark Water/Death in Heaven
76.   Last Christmas
77.   The Zygon Invasion/The Zygon InversionFirst half is very wobbly.
78.   Heaven SentA cool experiment and Capaldi is amazing. But it’s guilty of naval-gazing, despite its greatness. 
79.   Hell BentThose courtroom scenes on Gallifrey have never quite worked (excluding those in The Deadly Assassin).
80.   The Husbands of River Song
81.   Knock KnockAnd everybody lived. Again. 
82.   OxygenIs the ending a bit easy?
83.   Extremis
84.   The Pyramid at the End of the World
85.   World Enough and Time/The Doctor FallsThe second half isn’t quite as blistering as the first.
86.   Twice Upon a TimeDavid Bradley.
87.   Arachnids in the UK
88.   The Tsuranga Conundrum
89.   Demons of the Punjab
90.   The WitchfindersThose lake scenes feel a little cobbled together.
Which means the list now looks like this:
1.       The Crusade
2.       The Massacre
3.       The Enemy of the World
4.       The Web of Fear
5.       Fury from the Deep
6.       The Ambassadors of Death
7.       Inferno
8.       Terror of the Autons
9.       The Sea Devils
10.   The Green Death
11.   The Seeds of Doom
12.   The Deadly Assassin
13.   The Robots of Death
14.   Horror of Fang Rock
15.   City of Death
16.   The Leisure Hive
17.   Logopolis
18.   Kinda
19.   Earthshock
20.   The Five Doctors
21.   Revelation of the Daleks
22.   The Happiness Patrol
23.   The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
24.   Ghost Light
25.   Survival
26.   Father’s Day
27.   The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
28.   Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
29.   Tooth and Claw
30.   Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
31.   The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
32.   Gridlock
33.   The Lazarus Experiment
34.   Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords
35.   Voyage of the Damned
36.   The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky
37.   The Eleventh Hour
38.   The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
39.   A Christmas Carol
40.   Asylum of the Daleks
41.   Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
42.   The Snowmen
43.   The Name of the Doctor
44.   The Time of the Doctor
45.   Deep Breath
46.   Into the Dalek
47.   Robot of Sherwood
48.   Kill the Moon
49.   Mummy on the Orient Express
50.   Dark Water/Death in Heaven
51.   Last Christmas
52.   The Husbands of River Song
53.   Extremis
54.   The Pyramid at the End of the World
55.   Arachnids in the UK
56.   The Tsuranga Conundrum
57.   Demons of the Punjab
So… 27 to eliminate. I thought there might be fewer than that but I have picked the stories I love the most so getting them down to a sizeable chunk was never going to be easy. This is feeling brutal. Here we go again:
1.       The Crusade
2.       The Massacre
3.       The Enemy of the World
4.       The Web of Fear
5.       Fury from the DeepToo hard to tell given that it’s completely missing.
6.       The Ambassadors of Death
7.       InfernoIt’s grand but it is a tad long. Namely Episodes 2 and 7.
8.       Terror of the Autons
9.       The Sea Devils
10.   The Green Death
11.   The Seeds of Doom
12.   The Deadly Assassin
13.   The Robots of Death
14.   Horror of Fang RockThe Rutan itself and that lingering model shot.
15.   City of Death
16.   The Leisure Hive
17.   LogopolisThe money had too clearly run out. 
18.   Kinda
19.   Earthshock
20.   The Five DoctorsFeels like a step backwards rather than forwards?
21.   Revelation of the Daleks
22.   The Happiness Patrol
23.   The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
24.   Ghost Light
25.   SurvivalThat cat.
26.   Father’s Day
27.   The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
28.   Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
29.   Tooth and Claw
30.   Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
31.   The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
32.   GridlockWe never really feel as if we’re in the undercity, and the sets are clearly re-used.
33.   The Lazarus ExperimentVery enjoyable but Gatiss is miscast. He ought to be a beautiful young man.
34.   Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords – Last of the Time Lords.
35.   Voyage of the Damned
36.   The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky
37.   The Eleventh Hour
38.   The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
39.   A Christmas Carol
40.   Asylum of the Daleks – Terrific fun but a bit bread and butter?
41.   Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
42.   The SnowmenThe climax is unresolved so it can’t feel complete.
43.   The Name of the DoctorThere’s only the TARDIS set left, guys. Shall we cover it with leaves?
44.   The Time of the Doctor
45.   Deep Breath
46.   Into the Dalek
47.   Robot of SherwoodSome pacing issues and the cut was unfortunate. 
48.   Kill the Moon
49.   Mummy on the Orient Express
50.   Dark Water/Death in Heaven
51.   Last ChristmasThere’s a bit of repetition in the middle.
52.   The Husbands of River Song
53.   Extremis
54.   The Pyramid at the End of the World
55.   Arachnids in the UK
56.   The Tsuranga Conundrum
57.   Demons of the PunjabJodie’s wedding speech is awful. 
And now we look like:
1.       The Crusade
2.       The Massacre
3.       The Enemy of the World
4.       The Web of Fear
5.       The Ambassadors of Death
6.       Terror of the Autons
7.       The Sea Devils
8.       The Green Death
9.       The Seeds of Doom
10.   The Deadly Assassin
11.   The Robots of Death
12.   City of Death
13.   The Leisure Hive
14.   Kinda
15.   Earthshock
16.   Revelation of the Daleks
17.   The Happiness Patrol
18.   The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
19.   Ghost Light
20.   Father’s Day
21.   The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
22.   Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways
23.   Tooth and Claw
24.   Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
25.   The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
26.   Voyage of the Damned
27.   The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky
28.   The Eleventh Hour
29.   The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
30.   A Christmas Carol
31.   Dinosaurs on a Spaceship
32.   The Time of the Doctor
33.   Deep Breath
34.   Into the Dalek
35.   Kill the Moon
36.   Mummy on the Orient Express
37.   Dark Water/Death in Heaven
38.   The Husbands of River Song
39.   Extremis
40.   The Pyramid at the End of the World
41.   Arachnids in the UK
42.   The Tsuranga Conundrum
Twelve more to go! Time to be honest with myself! This is so hard.
1.       The Crusade
2.       The MassacreLike Fury, it is fair to have a completely missing story here?
3.       The Enemy of the World
4.       The Web of Fear
5.       The Ambassadors of Death
6.       Terror of the AutonsThe best stuff is in the first half although it’s amazingly well-paced. 
7.       The Sea Devils
8.       The Green Death
9.       The Seeds of Doom
10.   The Deadly Assassin
11.   The Robots of DeathWe know it’s Dask.
12.   City of Death
13.   The Leisure Hive
14.   Kinda
15.   EarthshockGutsy and action-packed but ultimately quite simple?
16.   Revelation of the Daleks
17.   The Happiness PatrolAt only three episodes, are the lemonade scenes repetitive?
18.   The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
19.   Ghost Light
20.   Father’s Day
21.   The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
22.   Bad Wolf/The Parting of the WaysVery difficult to dismiss, but the sheer quality of the second half makes the first seem lacking.
23.   Tooth and Claw
24.   Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of SteelThe first half is a bit slow.
25.   The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
26.   Voyage of the Damned
27.   The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison SkyShould Sontarans be blue?
28.   The Eleventh Hour
29.   The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
30.   A Christmas Carol
31.   Dinosaurs on a SpaceshipToo fluffy to be a favourite? This feels like an unfair dismissal.
32.   The Time of the Doctor
33.   Deep Breath
34.   Into the Dalek 
35.   Kill the MoonSome contrived mechanics for an otherwise clever tale (45 minutes to decide?).
36.   Mummy on the Orient Express
37.   Dark Water/Death in Heaven
38.   The Husbands of River Song
39.   ExtremisNot quite as good as Pyramid.
40.   The Pyramid at the End of the World
41.   Arachnids in the UK
42.   The Tsuranga ConundrumThat scene with Jodie and the doctor at the start is dreadful.
So my Top Thirty stands as:
1.       The Crusade
2.       The Enemy of the World
3.       The Web of Fear
4.       The Ambassadors of Death
5.       The Sea Devils
6.       The Green Death
7.       The Seeds of Doom
8.       The Deadly Assassin
9.       City of Death
10.   The Leisure Hive
11.   Kinda
12.   Revelation of the Daleks
13.   The Greatest Show in the Galaxy
14.   Ghost Light
15.   Father’s Day
16.   The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
17.   Tooth and Claw
18.   The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
19.   Voyage of the Damned
20.   The Eleventh Hour
21.   The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
22.   A Christmas Carol
23.   The Time of the Doctor
24.   Deep Breath
25.   Into the Dalek 
26.   Mummy on the Orient Express
27.   Dark Water/Death in Heaven
28.   The Husbands of River Song
29.   The Pyramid at the End of the World
30.   Arachnids in the UK
Happily, every Doctor bar McGann (for obvious reasons) is represented. But now to order them! This might prove more challenging than it looks! I’ve included a line or two about what makes each story so special, by way of celebration: a much nicer task than trimming away some of the all-time greats!
1.       Dark Water/Death in Heaven – My very favourite: the story of the end of Danny Pink. It’s bleak, devastating and brazenly includes Kate Stewart being torn from a moving plane. You leave feeling depressed and affected. It’s quite unlike any other Doctor Who story. (Probably thankfully, as I’m not sure I could take something so harrowing every week.)
2.       Ghost Light – The best of the classic series and ironically the last to be made. The sets are beautiful, the narrative challenging, the dialogue lyrical and poetic. Ghost Light belongs not on the television but in a gallery. It really is a work of art.
3.       Revelation of the Daleks – If Eric Saward had managed to get the writers he was after, Doctor Who may have been like this all the time, and those 80s years may have been more celebrated. This is joyously violent, aggressive, heart-breaking and insidious. The guest characters are probably my favourite in any classic story.
4.       The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit – The scariest Who story ever made? Whilst The Daemons had a stab at meeting the horned one, it is here where we experience the true evil of the devil, creeping into the psyches of the cast and the viewers all the way through to that last fiery rocket scene. The closeness of Devil-Toby to Rose makes him utterly terrifying.
5.       The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone – An all-out, action-packed thriller of the highest order. The show has such a strong sense of geography that the tension mounts and mounts and mounts all the way up from the beach, through the catacombs, the forest and finally the flight deck before the angels come tumbling back down. Outstanding.
6.       Kinda – If a show is compared to a Kate Bush video, it’s going to be good! The strangeness of Kinda is so well performed as to make it immediately real and vital. Just as the viewer thinks the weirdness has reached a status quo, another curveball is slung our way and Peter Howell’s amazing incidental music adds to an atmosphere quite unlike any other TV programme.
7.       The Leisure Hive – The most stylish story of the classic years and the best directed. It has a taut, thrilling script from David Fisher with all the wit and imagination of the Douglas Adams years combined with the wizardly sci-fi of Christopher H Bidmead. It’s a potent mix and a heady brew, again aided by a fantastic score from Peter Howell.
8.       Deep Breath – The best Doctor-Introduction story, although by far one of the least showy. Its length allows it to feel just as much like a movie as The Day of the Doctor and in its own way, just as special. It all comes down to that final towering scene between the Doctor and the Half-Face Man although there’s so much to enjoy elsewhere. The incredibly long and riveting scene in the cafĂ© is a belter, Clara finally comes into her own and the Paternoster gang fly in like ninjas. Thrillingly, by the story’s conclusion the new Doctor is guilty of either murder or assisted suicide. This is gonna get dark!
9.       City of Death – The most romantic of all Doctor Who stories. Viewed as a rom-com, City of Death works even better. It’s even got a rom-com title, or it would have given an exclamation mark. Imagine the poster: Tom sheltering under that umbrella, arms and mouth upturned; Lalla staring up at him sporting a “What is he like?” expression; Duggan in the background, fists clenched and poised; and behind them all, the Eiffel Tower. Now there’s a Doctor Who Movie.
10.   The Sea Devils – Confident, exciting and the best UNIT story that UNIT aren’t in, The Sea Devils sports all that is great about the Pertwee era: Jon Pertwee, Katy Manning and Roger Delgado all being excellent, with loads of slices of the action to share; Malcolm Hulke and Terrance Dicks’s suitably well-paced and bulletproof scripts; terrific cliff-hangers; all the hardware the Royal Navy could gift them. The very idea of the Sea Devils themselves is tremendous and set scenes on an abandoned sea fort is quintessentially Doctor Who.
11.   The Deadly Assassin – The best Gallifrey story bar none. It starts with a scrolling script and boasts almost an entire episode on film. This is knowingly rare and different. The scenes inside the Matrix are nightmarishly strange and the scenes on Gallifrey as gripping as any political drama. This is at the same time iconoclastic and unique.
12.   A Christmas Carol – A beautifully bittersweet, melancholy Christmas affair. The majestic Michael Gambon tears his way through a script that could have been written for him. Matt Smith suddenly has the vim of a man who knows how successful he is and his scenes with young Kazran are charming and sad. The showpiece shark ride across the city is just that. 
13.   Voyage of the Damned – Perhaps the polar opposite of A Christmas Carol but just as successful. As the Matt Smith special steers towards the possibilities of festive loneliness and miserliness, Voyage of the Damned is joyous and breathless, revelling in the thrill of Christmas Day. Despite this breeziness, it has moments of darkness and the Heavenly Host are as sinister as the Voc Robots. Mark Costigan’s Max Capricorn is a bombastic, hilarious villain, criminally forgotten by fandom. 
14.   The Eleventh Hour – Steven Moffat and Matt Smith delivered the unthinkable here: a story better than what had gone before with the promise of infinite adventures to come. This is Doctor Who as fairytale, the strange man in the garden entering a world of childhood fancy and fear. After 65 minutes, Matt Smith is indisputably the Doctor and the show feels brand new and ancient in equal measure. Who da man?!
15.   Tooth and Claw – A fearful tale of wolves, this unremarked upon classic surely has all the hallmarks of a traditionally brilliant Doctor Who story. The gothic mood, wooden panels and moonlit sets could be straight from the more celebrated Hinchcliffe years and there’s some viscerally implied violence to terrify the children. In the right mindset, Tooth and Claw can get under the skin.
16.   The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances – Rightly lauded as the best of Eccleston’s staggeringly good season, this two-parter now feels somewhat like a relic of a forgotten time, when story-telling was simpler, slower and mood and atmosphere were the order of the day. It’s the old-fashioned nature of the tale which elevates it to timeless status, whilst the sex gags and emotional heart plant it firmly in the 21st century. If you ever meet someone who has never seen Doctor Who before, stick this on. They’ll be instant addicts, I’ll wager. 
17.   The Greatest Show in the Galaxy – A cast of characters as colourful as their respective costumes; a permeating weirdness and an evocative musical score from Mark Ayres, plonk this tale of a sinister circus firmly in the “oddball” camp and it’s all the better for it. With no “normal” character as the eyes and ears of the audience, one must succumb to the strange world of Segonax - complete with all its own rules - and get lost in it.
18.   Father’s Day – Is this the only Doctor Who story whose prime purpose is to make the audience cry? It is only the coldest heart that can’t be moved by the sad story of Pete Tyler, the man who saved the world by jumping under a car. As Rose holds him in her arms, the emotional centre of the piece is transcendent. We cut to Eccleston’s alien face filling the screen ambiguously and we don’t know what to feel anymore.
19.   The Ambassadors of Death – At seven parts, Ambassadors loses its way many, many times. It doesn’t really know what it wants to be about and it doesn’t really know where it’s going. But it’s absolutely riveting. Dudley Simpson’s oppressive, moody score combines with sometimes staggering visuals creating a string of moments which excite and frighten and shock. “Right, cut it open!” And then the sting!
20.   The Enemy of the World – I had always been a champion of this James Bond-esque thriller. I’d always loved the recon of Episode Two in particular which constitutes its own little political drama. I’d always felt that Episode Three, far from the comments about its wallpaper choices, was gripping. Then it came back to us. And it was even better than I’d expected, chiefly because of one man: Patrick Troughton. He is mesmeric and brilliantly evil as Salamander and as charming and loveable as the Doctor. “I know volcanoes…”
21.   The Green Death – The story of Jo Grant: so full of wonderful scenes which beat with an honest, open heart. We feel for Jon Pertwee’s jealous Doctor as he watches his fledgling fly the coop. In Planet of the Daleks, he was happy for Jo to make her own decision about Latep, knowing she was always coming home. Here, in Professor Jones, he actually meets his match. “A younger you” that he absolutely cannot compete with. It’s heart-breaking. 
22.   The Pyramid at the End of the World – Why this wasn’t hailed as an instant classic, I don’t know. The blind Doctor finally comes unstuck by, of all things, a locked door. Moody shots of breaking beer bottles and broken spectacles add to the sense that the world is about to end not because of a giant pyramid, or countries poised to declare war, but by a couple of ordinary scientists making silly mistakes. Pyramid is worrying and doom-laden and ends horribly, with the entire world sold to the insidious menace of the monks.
23.   The Husbands of River Song – Like Voyage of the Damned, there is a sense of joie de vivre about Husbands. It includes Giant Greg Davies inside a giant robot, a man who pulls his head apart to reveal a bank account where his brain should be, Matt Lucas being Matt Lucas, a fall through a ballroom and then, finally the sad, sad scene by the towers, with Peter Capaldi being distant and alien and quietly wonderful in his Pertwee costume. The music swells and… is that a tear?
24.   The Web of Fear – The Troughton era is remembered for its dark bases-under-siege and its monsters. Web is the best example we have. Tomb comes close, though its visuals are sometimes lacking. I imagine Abominable and Fury are equally creepy and menacing, but right now The Web of Fear is the best we have. Amazingly well shot by Douglas Camfield, the London Underground feels real and threatening and the cast are outstanding. Troughton too puts in an off-kilter performance, convincing us that he too could be the master of the darkness that pervades this classic, frightening mood piece.
25.   Mummy on the Orient Express – And here, ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Peter Capaldi! Seriously, the man storms his way through this story. From his frightening, sad, “Is it?” as he ponders that this might be the end of his relationship with Clara in the dim lit corridor, to his quick-fire tearing through the guest cast as he questions the near departed soullessly. On the beach at the end, we can believe that he really did leave the other passengers to die. This is a Doctor we can’t take our eyes off but still can’t trust.
26.   The Seeds of Doom – It’s an easy candidate for Best Ever Story but there are so many reasons why: Tom Baker is alien and distant and funny. The violence is felt and disturbing. The transformation scenes are harrowing. The location work is outstanding. The monster in all its forms is terrific. The scale of the threat feels realistic and possible. Tony Beckley and John Challis are outstanding. There’s more, much more…
27.   Into the Dalek – A terrific CG space chase sequence gives way to the alien stillness of the TARDIS, Peter Capaldi being severely odd and the Daleks arriving. This is a fast-paced, no-nonsense, explosive story, and ends with the Doctor facing off exhilaratingly against his best enemy. It’s also the best-directed Dalek story, Ben Wheatley shooting them from angles never-before seen, slow-motion action scenes showcasing their invincibility like never before. And to top it all, the Doctor issues forth directives straight to camera: “Put it inside you and live by it.” Yes, that first Capaldi season rocks.
28.   The Crusade – David Whitaker is Doctor’s Who William Shakespeare. His script for The Crusade sings. “We are the only day and night for you, hunter.” It’s quite a lovely thing to revel in the lyricism of the dialogue. It’s quite a joy to watch the actors handle such dialogue with the aplomb of a rep company well-versed in such meters. It’s quite wonderful to see a BBC, at such a very early stage, becoming the masters of the historical drama. And best of all, it’s quite, quite special to see William Hartnell firing his temper in the court of King Richard against “stupid butchers” like the Earl of Leicester. The Crusade is an ancient, sumptuous delight. 
29.   The Time of the Doctor – Another uncelebrated delight, The Time of the Doctor surely has it all: Cybermen, Daleks, Sontarans, Wooden Cybermen, Silence, Weeping Angels and Handles the Cyberman. (Steven Moffat does love his Cybermen.) Amidst the furious, frenetic battles, and frantic, breakneck pace, two scenes stop to sing: the death of Handles is strangely, deeply affecting and later, the old, old Matt Smith sits and listens to his Christmas cracker joke, and we suddenly know we’ll never see him again. Often emasculated by the immediately preceding Day of, The Time of the Doctor deserves equal plaudits. I can watch it every year; it reveals new elements of joy with every viewing.

30.   Arachnids in the UK – This is perhaps the only time in Jodie Whittaker’s first series when the TARDIS crew really work. Graham is in mourning, Yaz has a family making her a loadstone for the audience and Ryan is properly cool. The spiders are terrifying. The comedy is genuinely funny. The whole concept is just the right side of zany and there's that "something under the bed" terror that only Doctor Who can pull off. Perhaps it isn't the most important story of Jodie's first year, but it's definitely the most fun!
And there it is. A Top Thirty I can be sure of! Until I look back and think, “Are they all better than The Robots of Death?” Or “Where on Earth is Horror of Fang Rock?” and “Why did I get rid of Terror of the Autons?” But that said, finding a Top Thirty is not an easy task and some things have had to go. Sadly, I wasn’t in time to enter the Gallifrey Base tournament, but I’ll save these results for next year when I’ll have another season of stories to consider and probably a radically different Top Thirty altogether. Because what is a favourite other than a thing we really, really love? And with Doctor Who, there are so many stories we really, really love. 
JH

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