Old School Doctor Who Episodes Love Meme

[doyle]

I've run memes like this before for companions and for ships (and I'm trying to dig up links to those) and decided it might be fun to try one for all the episodes of old school Doctor Who. In the comments are threads for every story from An Unearthly Child to The TV Movie (actually, The Curse of Fatal Death, because I couldn't leave Lumley Doc out); reply to these comments with what you loved about the episode, whether it's favourite lines, moments, squee for the rubbish dinosaurs, character love, shippiness, screencap picspam, or just 'best episode ever'. No harshing others' squee, please - there are 160 serials linked, there must be some you loved... Loving on stories generally derided by fandom is positively encouraged.

For some help navigating, this wiki page has the serials in order.

If any have been missed, feel free to stick them on at the end - I've just realised The Myth Makers isn't there...

Comments

An Unearthly Child

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

(Yes, I'm counting this and 10,000BC as two separate stories)

Re: An Unearthly Child

[tree_and_leaf]

Barbara! Ian! Susan being strangely lovable but definitely alien! The Doctor being.... definitely alien! The whole sense of something utterly out of the ordinary turning up in the everyday.

Also, that amazing camera work (the long pans round the junkyard, for instance, and the fog). It's like something out of an expressionist movie.

And the theme tune - so other. I can't imagine what it must have sounded like in 1963, when electronic music was just getting going. if nothing else, 'An Unearthly Child' would be worth watching on musicological grounds alone.

Re: An Unearthly Child

[ghost2.livejournal.com]

Complete love for this one. It's a brilliant start to the series and all the characters were interesting right away. The Doctor was kind of scary back then!

Re: An Unearthly Child

[sneakyangel.livejournal.com]

I've only seen part one of An Unearthly Child, and I absolutly LOVED it! As soon as my exams are over, I plan on doing a lot of cathing up!

Re: An Unearthly Child

[beccaelizabeth]

We watched this in class and I was surprised by how different everyone was. The Doctor was creepy, Susan was strange and interesting, and the teachers didn't seem very SF at all.
... no, this is reasons I like it, really.
All the little things that could be normal seperately got mixed together so they were entirely strange, and then, the TARDIS.
Even with class taking time to trace influences and images to other popular texts of the time (magic wardrobe / junkyard / policeman)... it's still like nothing else.
Way cool.

Re: An Unearthly Child

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

I completely love Hartnell's attempts to explain quantum mechanics to Barbara and Ian like they're idiots. He's so adorable.

Re: An Unearthly Child

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

"If you could touch the alien sand, and hear the cry of strange birds, and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?"

And that wonderfully creepy moment when 'Doctor Foreman' mutters sharply to himself "two of her teachers... not the police, then..."

Re: An Unearthly Child

[airie-fairy.livejournal.com]

There's so much that comes through in that little introduction. And also, first episode ever, there is a fucking kidnapping. WHAT.

Re: An Unearthly Child

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

It's just so incredibly creepy and tense and it just builds up on itself, odd thing upon odd thing, until the end, with the TARDIS taking off.

I also love how emotionally intense Susan is, and how surprisingly touchy feely she and the Doctor get even here, where they're upset with each other.

Re: An Unearthly Child

[ladyalcamy.livejournal.com]

The first Classic Who episode I ever saw, and it really is a true classic and wonderful introduction. :)

Re: An Unearthly Child

[ryttu3k.livejournal.com]

Intense and creepy and just WONDERFUL! Susan is so, so alien, but so, so real. And the Doctor's faintly terrifying. And Barbara and Ian are BRILLIANT!

Re: An Unearthly Child

[acciochocolate.livejournal.com]

This is a classic. Great intro to the series. Well-paced, mysterious, and still great writing after all these years.