10 Greatest Classic Doctor Who Stories

Inferno, City of Death and The Aztecs are brilliant episodes. 🤓

The Pyramids of Mars must surely be in the top 10.
As should The Daemons, the Moonbase etc.

Wow, proof that tastes vary quite significantly. The War Machines might have been significant in the way it impacted later episodes. I honestly wouldn’t know. But the episode itself was painful for me to watch. I do find it hard to believe that it was the episode that changed Doctor Who from being a stuffy education show to an action show. Land of the Giants was ridiculously creative and existed before Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The Space Museum gave me nightmares with it’s glimpse of a possible future where they all permanently become exhibits in a space museum. And if you are specifically looking for the William Hartnell episode that changed the trajectory of the show it would be The Tenth Planet that simultaneously introduced the Cybermen and Regeneration. And The Keys of Marinus is much earlier and definitely feels like an adventure story to me.

Where I will be very controversial, I absoluted HATED Kinda. I always said I couldn’t believe Snakedance remade what I considered to be the worst episode of Doctor Who up to that point. I admit Snakedance was worse than Kinda, but not by much, but it only exists because of that episode full of two-dimensional characters known as Kinda. To me, the problem with Kinda is that it is deliberately played over-the-top and in a two-dimensional way, but then it also tries to take itself seriously. I feel like episodes can do one or the other, but they really fall apart when they try to do both simultaneously. I’ll agree Janet Fielding’s acting in the episode was superb, and the story feels to me like it had POTENTIAL, but due to serious pacing and tone problems I just never could suspend my disbelief enough to get into it, and I find myself laughing at every serious part because it is just so ridiculously over-the-top. And I’ve watched some truly terrible stories that really struggle with pacing and was able to get into them enough to enjoy the story like The Web Planet. Where I’ll definitely get hate, I thought Time-Flight was MUCH better than Kinda.

I admit, I do love Inferno, but I admit the first time I watched it the beginning was so repetitive and slow that it was the first Doctor Who story I almost gave up watching. I’m so glad I didn’t give up because it suddenly turned into one of the best, but even to this day the fact that it takes so long to get into that episode always counts against it in my mind.

I agree City of Death is the best episode, so I can’t get too mad there. And while I believe Genesis of the Daleks is over-rated, I understand why it regularly gets the love it does, and it’s good enough I won’t dispute it’s location on the list, though personally I put episodes like The Pirate Planet and The Ribos Operation way above it.

I actually loved Tomb of the Cybermen the first time I saw it right after it was found. I didn’t know anyone ever questioned it. I do wonder if it gets it’s spot on the top 10 because it was missing at one point, though. Personally, if I had to find a Patrick Troughton episode that is better I would go with Mind Robbers. I also really love War Games, even though it’s too long – but it’s too long because the writers HAD to fill that many episodes, and I feel like even with it’s length it manages to at least stay interesting through all 10 episodes.

Spearhead From Space is a little too long, but it definitely holds up, so I won’t dispute it’s location on this list. Even though Terror of the Autons introduces the Master and has the amazing Terry Walsh stunt, it doesn’t capture the true terror of the Autons the way Spearhead From Space manages to do it, plus it’s the first color episode and is a regeneration episode, so it definitely qualifies, even if it probably wouldn’t quite make my personal top 10.

I do really enjoy Remembrance of the Daleks even if it doesn’t make my top 10, and I wouldn’t dispute it’s place for what it does. The Aztecs is also really good. It might not be on my personal top 10, but I can get on board with it being on the list.

Evil of the Daleks was a bit too juvenile and long for me. It does introduce a new companion, but beyond that it doesn’t do much. It’s one of those episodes that I feel like talks down to the audience. But I tend to be more lenient on the earlier episodes, so while I might think one of the first two stories fits better on this list than Evil of the Daleks, I can live with this one being on the list.

The one that definitely gets me the most is Kinda. To me, that is in the bottom 10, so putting it in the top 10 is crazy. I know I’m fairly alone in that opinion, though. Also, War Machines is pretty terrible. Heck, they didn’t even credit The Doctor correctly in the credits and acted like the charater’s name was Doctor Who. But with it being an earlier episode where the writers couldn’t just go get the old episodes to watch and when things like continuity mattered way less in shows I still give them more of a pass. So Kinda gets my special attention. Calling Kinda Peter Davison’s best episode when Caves of Androzani is not on the list of the top 10 is crazy. I do believe Caves of Androzani is over-rated simply because it’s surrounded by terrible episodes, which makes it look good by comparison. I don’t personally believe it deserves to beat out City of Death as number one. But it’s good enough I see why it would be in the top 10 of mosts lists. Don’t get me wrong, I can see leaving it off. But I definitely don’t see replacing it with Kinda.

You forgot Talons of Weng-Chiang