fifty frenchmen can't be wrong (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
some_stars) wrote2011-11-13 10:11 pm
some_stars) wrote2011-11-13 10:11 pm
the nice thing about DW fandom is you never actually leave it
ALSO, I'm going to do a meme, because I can, this one that I obtained from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nostalgia_lj: Rec one TV story per Doctor. Not neccesarily your favourites, but ones you think might appeal to newbies. This is your chance to sell your favourite Doctors!
I should note that I am GROSSLY UNQUALIFIED, having still not seen huge swathes of Classic Who--for instance, I have never seen a single Romana II episode. I know, I KNOW. I have Four issues, is my problem. And I haven't seen any Six episodes either, and there are entire other companions I've missed entirely--it's really terrible. However, I am qualified to say which episodes I think appeal to n00bs, since clearly they worked on me.
One: Well, you can't beat An Unearthly Child, though only the first episode is good. But it's SO good. After that I would recommend The Dalek Invasion of Earth, because it has some moments of genuine terror and some great guest characters. On the other hand, The Aztecs is less demanding for someone new to the pacing and style of the older episodes. And also fantastic. I'm pretty much ignoring the "pick one" aspect of this meme, apparently, which should surprise no one.
Two: Because of my allergy to reconstructions, my Two education is shamefully spotty. However you cannot ever go wrong with The Invasion, and it doesn't feel like an eight-part episode (unlike The War Games, which is magnificent and beautiful but really could have done with some cutting). It contains healthy doses of everything I love about Two and Jamie and Zoe and that whole season. And the missing episodes have been helpfully (if not very charmingly) animated, which allows me to listen to them without my brain switching itself off.
Three: Again I've got huge gaps in my knowledge--I've seen all of season 7 and 8, much of 9, and then The Three Doctors. I do love Three, lots, but UNIT and the Master are the main attractions for me. Anyway out of what I've seen, I would recommend Terror of the Autons, because it's just a great jumping-on point. Season 7 is kind of its own thing, with a very different tone, much more a show about ordinary but awesome grownups going to work at their awesome but ultimately down-to-earth jobs. It's a much more adult show, in the not-pornographic way. Which I LOVE, of course, especially because Liz, but it's fairly incongruous with what comes before and after. --and if the person I was recommending episodes to was particularly susceptible to slash, I'd probably go with The Mind of Evil. Which is marvelous aside from that, of course, but, well, you want to sell what you've got.
Four: SO UNQUALIFIED. I haven't even seen City of Death (I KNOW). That in mind, I'd choose something from The Key to Time, probably The Ribos Operation. Because it's impossible to watch without falling eternally and properly in love with Romana I. However I would also add a secondary recommendation for The Robots of Death, because Leela, and I remember being highly entertained by it. Also I think there was a moment where Four was sexy and it damaged my brain.
Five: It should be easier to pick a story, seeing as he is My Favorite, but somehow nothing is leaping out at me. I mean, my first Five episodes were the Black Guardian trilogy, and what even is that shit, so no. (Which is not to say I don't LOVE those episodes and own them on DVD, because I do. But they're not exactly inviting.) Planet of Fire is quite accessible to modern audiences with the whole "companions have backstory and it plays an integral part in the plot," but 1.) you wouldn't want new fans getting used to that or anything, and 2.) it's someone's last episode. I guess my final decision is Frontios, because it has my favorite characters, it's comprehensible and the writing is fairly slick as these things go, and it's contained. Although Black Orchid is a strong contender.
Six: I am entirely disqualified from this. Someday I really need to at LEAST watch Mark of the Rani, but that day has not yet come.
Seven: On the one hand, Survival is brilliant and ACE ACE ACE. On the other hand, it hurts my obsessive heart to think of someone watching it without first seeing all her other episodes. I realize this makes me the annoying kind of fan, but there you go. And The Curse of Fenric is--and I say this with deepest love--completely fucking incomprehensible without reading an episode synopsis, although it's not as bad as Ghost Light (which I also say with love, but jfc those two nearly defeated me). Battlefield is also incomprehensible, but in a more direct way that interferes less with your enjoyment, and it has the Brigadier and the Brigadier and Ancelyn, and Ace gets a girlfriend. So: Battlefield.
Eight: Earthworld WHAT, IT COUNTS.
Nine: Oh, this is tricky. There are a few episodes I love SO MUCH but at this point they all remind me of something terrible that happens the next season or the next. On the whole, I think The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances offers the most favorable balance of "awesome" and "less painful in retrospect."
Ten: Smith and Jones, hands down. Some of the problems that would soon become horrible are present, but in much reduced form, and Ten and Martha's chemistry is FANTASTIC. You can really tell that she was cast specifically alongside him, unlike Rose who was cast (and brilliantly so) to go with Nine, and never quite worked with Ten. (I have detailed thoughts on why this is, but no one cares.) This episode made me SO EXCITED for season 3, and Martha, and everything. Of course that excitement was ultimately betrayed, but it was so nice while it lasted.
Eleven: The Eleventh Hour, everyone else is saying it and I will too. It's just the best introductory episode ever.
nostalgia_lj: Rec one TV story per Doctor. Not neccesarily your favourites, but ones you think might appeal to newbies. This is your chance to sell your favourite Doctors!I should note that I am GROSSLY UNQUALIFIED, having still not seen huge swathes of Classic Who--for instance, I have never seen a single Romana II episode. I know, I KNOW. I have Four issues, is my problem. And I haven't seen any Six episodes either, and there are entire other companions I've missed entirely--it's really terrible. However, I am qualified to say which episodes I think appeal to n00bs, since clearly they worked on me.
One: Well, you can't beat An Unearthly Child, though only the first episode is good. But it's SO good. After that I would recommend The Dalek Invasion of Earth, because it has some moments of genuine terror and some great guest characters. On the other hand, The Aztecs is less demanding for someone new to the pacing and style of the older episodes. And also fantastic. I'm pretty much ignoring the "pick one" aspect of this meme, apparently, which should surprise no one.
Two: Because of my allergy to reconstructions, my Two education is shamefully spotty. However you cannot ever go wrong with The Invasion, and it doesn't feel like an eight-part episode (unlike The War Games, which is magnificent and beautiful but really could have done with some cutting). It contains healthy doses of everything I love about Two and Jamie and Zoe and that whole season. And the missing episodes have been helpfully (if not very charmingly) animated, which allows me to listen to them without my brain switching itself off.
Three: Again I've got huge gaps in my knowledge--I've seen all of season 7 and 8, much of 9, and then The Three Doctors. I do love Three, lots, but UNIT and the Master are the main attractions for me. Anyway out of what I've seen, I would recommend Terror of the Autons, because it's just a great jumping-on point. Season 7 is kind of its own thing, with a very different tone, much more a show about ordinary but awesome grownups going to work at their awesome but ultimately down-to-earth jobs. It's a much more adult show, in the not-pornographic way. Which I LOVE, of course, especially because Liz, but it's fairly incongruous with what comes before and after. --and if the person I was recommending episodes to was particularly susceptible to slash, I'd probably go with The Mind of Evil. Which is marvelous aside from that, of course, but, well, you want to sell what you've got.
Four: SO UNQUALIFIED. I haven't even seen City of Death (I KNOW). That in mind, I'd choose something from The Key to Time, probably The Ribos Operation. Because it's impossible to watch without falling eternally and properly in love with Romana I. However I would also add a secondary recommendation for The Robots of Death, because Leela, and I remember being highly entertained by it. Also I think there was a moment where Four was sexy and it damaged my brain.
Five: It should be easier to pick a story, seeing as he is My Favorite, but somehow nothing is leaping out at me. I mean, my first Five episodes were the Black Guardian trilogy, and what even is that shit, so no. (Which is not to say I don't LOVE those episodes and own them on DVD, because I do. But they're not exactly inviting.) Planet of Fire is quite accessible to modern audiences with the whole "companions have backstory and it plays an integral part in the plot," but 1.) you wouldn't want new fans getting used to that or anything, and 2.) it's someone's last episode. I guess my final decision is Frontios, because it has my favorite characters, it's comprehensible and the writing is fairly slick as these things go, and it's contained. Although Black Orchid is a strong contender.
Six: I am entirely disqualified from this. Someday I really need to at LEAST watch Mark of the Rani, but that day has not yet come.
Seven: On the one hand, Survival is brilliant and ACE ACE ACE. On the other hand, it hurts my obsessive heart to think of someone watching it without first seeing all her other episodes. I realize this makes me the annoying kind of fan, but there you go. And The Curse of Fenric is--and I say this with deepest love--completely fucking incomprehensible without reading an episode synopsis, although it's not as bad as Ghost Light (which I also say with love, but jfc those two nearly defeated me). Battlefield is also incomprehensible, but in a more direct way that interferes less with your enjoyment, and it has the Brigadier and the Brigadier and Ancelyn, and Ace gets a girlfriend. So: Battlefield.
Nine: Oh, this is tricky. There are a few episodes I love SO MUCH but at this point they all remind me of something terrible that happens the next season or the next. On the whole, I think The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances offers the most favorable balance of "awesome" and "less painful in retrospect."
Ten: Smith and Jones, hands down. Some of the problems that would soon become horrible are present, but in much reduced form, and Ten and Martha's chemistry is FANTASTIC. You can really tell that she was cast specifically alongside him, unlike Rose who was cast (and brilliantly so) to go with Nine, and never quite worked with Ten. (I have detailed thoughts on why this is, but no one cares.) This episode made me SO EXCITED for season 3, and Martha, and everything. Of course that excitement was ultimately betrayed, but it was so nice while it lasted.
Eleven: The Eleventh Hour, everyone else is saying it and I will too. It's just the best introductory episode ever.