I was introduced to classic Who by a friend one year before the 2005 relaunch. Seasons 7, 8, and 25 were the ones that cemented my love of Doctor Who ever since.
I’ve actually been marathoning the Tom Baker era, I recently finished Season 14, and it’s also my favourite classic season, even a possible contender for best season of all time along with Series 1 and 10 of Modern Who
I can agree with many of these. I really enjoyed how you explained the way you evaluated each season with what you consider their strengths and weaknesses to be. This was especially interesting going by season, as most conversations I come across seem to gravitate towards comparing/ranking by actors and/or writers (which seems natural when you have everything at your fingertips, but for the perspective of viewership at the time of broadcast, it makes much more sense to compare seasons).
Couldn't agree more about Season 14! The pinnacle of classic who. Loving your love for 25 and 26 too - the series went out with its head held very, very high, IMHO.
Great stuff and instafan for effort and thought put into it! Interesting editing style, which works really well and must have taken you a ton of time to storyboard and edit! I'd put season 18 over 11, 19 a bit higher, and a few other order changes, but that’s just me-- and your reasoning for your order is strongly told. That, and season 22 would be on my top 7 as well. Underrated mostly by fan reputation, and with the passage of time is less violent than previously perceived. In 1986, in America watching PBS, I was expecting season 23 but was unaware of the hiatus. They had shown season 1. Fell in love with it instantly, and even didn't think much of padding. Though I do agree nowadays that there is some padding. Season 4 is pure magic too. Bstter than 6 and 5 IMHO. Many underrated stories and two near-perfect Dalek entries. Seeing Unwater Menace pt 2 come back really changed my opinion of the story as well...
I couldn't rank seasons as I was never a super fan of Who, but the episodes that I vividly remember enjoying were Seeds of Doom and Pyramids of Mars, so 13 would have been my fave. Tom Baker was THE premier Doctor imho
Im still getting through the entirety of classic who although I do have a few favourites not in any particular order. Seasons 7, 5, 2, 14, 6, and 10. Im currently on season 17, and I am so exhausted watching Tom Baker's era. I've been binge watching cos I really want to move into Peter Davison's era. Btw your list is amazing and totally agreed with.
I agree there are some great stories in S3 and proves Doctor Who can be anything but I think there's a lot of meandering serials like Galaxy 4, The Ark, The Celestial Toymaker etc.
Interesting that you think the wheel in space is the worst story in season 5. It is actually the best Doctor who story of all time. I have the advantage of actually seeing it when it was broadcast, and believe me it is brilliant. The two surviving episodes don't do it justice. The thing that makes it so good is the cybermen were absolutely terrifying, and killed practically everybody they came across. They also made a very sinister humming noise, which has sadly been missing ever since. Patrick Troughton was also the best doctor, and season 5 is the greatest ever season. I also find it difficult to understand why not many people like the Dominators. The "hippy" inhabitants of the planet act exactly like we would here if aliens landed. No one would believe what anyone said and they would be completely ignored, just as in the story. Nobody seems to realise this, strangely!
We agree on some seasons and disagree on others, as it should be. It's great being a doctor who fan. The updated effects for timelash do help it a bit.
I think I agree with these rankings more or less. I didn’t like the 7th Doctor stuff as I felt they had removed all the people that understood Who. But on a rewatch it’s not terrible. I’m glad Colin Baker got some highish rankings. His version of Who is much maligned, but I think he was amazing. He was let down by poor stories, but that wasn’t the production team it was the BBC interfering. Overall a well thought out list.
@@IsaacWhittakerDakin That's great! When I see all the youtubers putting his performance down to the lowest grades, I get so angry! He had not the best chemistry with Peri (awful stick-in-the-mud) and their stories were maybe not the best, but the 6th doctor personality was totally engaging! Love his swagger.
I put Season 22 above any season from 17-21, and 23-26. I think people just assume it is really bad because it was the running series when the hiatus was announced. People therefore assume that the public and the audience must have watched it, and then it was put on hiatus because it was so bad. The hiatus actually happened because Michael Grade already had a hatred of it. Grade even admitted he hated science fiction.
I might have a tiny niggle about one or two seasons going up or down in my own rankings, but overall a good summary. You do mention that the McCoy era wasn’t really appreciated by so called fans at the time but is now looked back as a high point. I really wonder if in 20 years time the Timeless Child arc will be seen as much of a gem as the Carmell masterplan and giving the series back to RTD will seem as bad as cancelling in it’s prime.
I’m tied between the 1st and 3rd doctor for my favorite doctor,because on one hand all my favorite classic who stories are in Pertwee’s era,but Hartnell has the best doctor performance
Like you, I rate Season 22 highly. The Sixth is my favourite Doctor and some of the stories of this season - especially Revelation and Varos - are classics. Timelash is definitely not one of them.
Season 13 is the pinnacle for me, but agree with the top 3. Key to Time would be lower, as would the infamously bad season 17. But apart from a few other tweaks, that's not a million miles off my list.
I like Season 22 as well. I think people have been told that it is bad, and believe it is bad because it was the running series during the hiatus. When I actually watched it I actually preferred it to all Davison and McCoy seasons, and a couple of Tom seasons. It does have some problems, but it is better than people said.
Season 17 is really a mixed bag. It has the best Tom Baker story (City of Death) and his worst one (Horns of Nimon). Furthermore, we have the great Shada, mediocre Destiny of the Daleks, and bad Creature from the Pit and Nightmare of Eden, which are hardly any better than Horns of Nimon.
Season 26 at number 4 is insane… that should be in the 20’s… it’s consensus that seasons 7 and 13 are the very best. 7 is my favorite, but I can understand putting 13 first
Pertwee for me doesn't pick up until Three Doctors. Exile didn't work wonders. Inferno is my least favorite story. McCoy the last eight stories i have seen at most twice, the one that stuck was Greatest Show of the Galaxy.. 20 and 21 are way low. I don't share the love that many folks have about Caves of Androzani.
The trouble with this exercise is that it’s just too damn difficult, I love classic who too much… If I had to pick a least favorite season, it would probably be one of the 5th doctor’s, but I still love all the 3 of his seasons. Also side note: I find season 8-10 an almost perfect run, with season 9 being one of my favorites (The Mutants is a personal Fav!)
Interesting. What was it about Monster of Peladon, Planet of the Spiders, and the rest of Season 11 that didn't work? Or do I have rank and season reversed?
4:28: Actually, The Five Doctors isn't part of Season 20. It was the 20th anniversary special, which was aired between Seasons 20 and 21. And Snakedance isn't a good story. It is even worse than Kinda.
What is this supposed 'conttroversy' because you place Season 22 high? Please have your own mind and dont be fooled by the few CB haters who just dismiss seasons 22 and 23 as crap when they are two of the best seasons of the entire 26 year run.
26. Season 17 25. Season 24 24. Season 11 23. Season 20 22. Season 9 21. Season 16 20. Season 22 19. Season 15 18. Season 19 17. Season 14 16. Season 21 15. Season 13 14. Season 6 13. Season 3 12. Season 12 11. Season 1 10. Season 8 9. Season 23 8. Season 4 7. Season 10 6. Season 18 5. Season 2 4. Season 5 3. Season 25 2. Season 26 1. Season 7 (Only Season I outright don't like is Season 17, the rest are still great imo)
@@IsaacWhittakerDakinTbf, my hot take is that the 4th Doctor is my least favourite Classic Doctor by a wide margin, so most of his Seasons would be lower, but Season 14 is still great.
#4 Season 26: The 5th and 6th Doctor seasons might all go at the bottom for me, and if they don't, I suspect there will only be a few other seasons at most mixed in with them. I don't like the 7th Doctor, and I don't like the approach to the show they're taking. It's no longer the show I love at this point, and we're in a time period I didn't see in my initial viewing, because I walked away in disgust (when the Doctor glued the Candyman to the floor using lemonade, in the prior season, that was the exact moment I decided to cut my losses). I eventually went back a decade or so later and watched everything, but that was more out of a sense of duty and completionism than enjoyment. By the end, I think the show pretty much earned the cancellation it got. #3 Season 13: I find "The Pyramids of Mars" to be dull and "The Seeds of Doom" to be entirely too long-winded and repetitive. For me, it's "Planet of Evil" that's the standout. #2 Season 7: I hate the Doctor being trapped on Earth (it's just far less interesting), and the stories in this season have a real issue with going on too long, with 3 of the 4 running for 7 episodes. It isn't until he starts to escape into space more often that things really get good for the 3rd Doctor (though "Inferno" with its parallel Earth may be an exception, even if it still runs long). #1 Season 14: It's hard to argue with this one. Leela is probably my favorite companion (the Leela/4th Doctor dynamic is on par with the Jamie/2nd Doctor dynamic), and the run of stories after her introduction is stellar. On the downside, I don't think the Sarah Jane stories are anything special.
Season 22 is the beginning of the end for the series, and it's the worst thing ever, and an abomination known to man. I find the 6th Doctor to be pretty grating and unlikable (though he's thankfully softened a bit for his second season, it isn't until the audio adventures that he really shines). I still like the 6th Doctor better than the 7th, and I'd still rank this season above most or all of his, but the show will never be the same from this point on, and despite a few arguable bright spots, it's basically just treading water until it eventually sinks below the waves of mediocrity to a well-deserved sleep with the fishes. Mind you, this is not where the slide in quality began; it's just where things got bad. The 5th Doctor's era, taken as a whole, is a significant step down from the 4th Doctor's, when the show was arguably at its best. (And being frank, the last two seasons of the 4th Doctor are pretty weak compared to the five that came before them.)
@@IsaacWhittakerDakin No, but then I really don't like Sylvester McCoy's Doctor, and it's hard to know how much of that affects my opinion. It also may be a bit of a cumulative thing, where I'd been unhappy with the direction of the show for a while, so the 7th Doctor ends up being saddled with the dissatisfaction I was carrying from before he even showed up, along with whatever I didn't like about his stuff. But yeah, I walked away from the show in the middle of season 25 and didn't come back and watch it to the end until maybe a decade later.
Utter nonsense!!! Tom Baker had 3 years out of seven of decent stories and Season 22 towers above his last four seasons with ease. I fear for your sanity if you truly believe anything in Season 22 is an 'abomination' - even 'Timelash' has the hilarious Paul Darrow as Tekker giving his Olivier impression. I can see no reason whatsoever for your damning appraisal unless, as already stated, you need to be in Broadmoor permanently x
@@rnw2739 Ironically, I didn't think "Time Lash" was as bad as everybody else seemed to, or at least I didn't think it was markedly worse than the rest of the season (but then I too dug Paul Darrow). While "abomination" is too strong a word to seriously apply to Colin Baker's era (I was quoting the video for humor's sake), "The Mysterious Planet" was nevertheless the only story I enjoyed (mostly) without reservation. Whatever other issues I had with those seasons, I didn't much care for the personalities of the Doctor and Peri, nor the execution/vibe of the show in general. If you'd given them a good Tom Baker script, I doubt I would've liked it nearly as much. But I'm unlikely to change your mind on this, so what I'm curious to know is which three of Tom Baker's seasons you consider the good ones.
@stuffyouotterlistento1461 Clearly seasons 12, 13 and 14. When Tom actually cared about his portrayal and wasn't either lagging drunk, inserting feeble and painfully unfunny gags or addressing viewers directly by looking down the bottle..
Minor controversial opinion, but s24 is THE worst season of any doctor who show. Yes even the chibnall era, which i think is over hated. I call it minor, because I think a lot of people are gonna agree with me, but a lot of people are also gonna hate me for saying that.
Season 4 Season 14 Season 26 Season 12 Season 5 Season 10 Season 13 Season 2 Season 24 Season 8 Season 6 Season 25 Season 3 Season 20 Season 23 Season 1 Season 21 Season 19 Season 17 Season 7 Season 11 Season 22 Season 16 Season 15 Season 9 Season 18 Season 24 is criminally underrated imo. Its fun and you need to stop taking it so seriously to enjoy. Season 18 out of the 7 stories - I only fully enjoy 2 - Full Circle and State of Decay. The rest are average or God awful. Leisure Hive being the dullest 4 part story ever and Logopolis honestly is a mess as it had too much it needed to 2 - bring Nyssa in, Introduce Tegan, The Regeneration, setting changes left right and centre. It's a mess. Warriors Gate is awful. The B&W Era as a whole is my favourite a d Troughton my favourite doctor. Its a shame Season 4 which has most of my personal favourites missing as actual episodes a s Season 3 has so many strong stories missing. Season 7 I know my placing is going to be controversial but its not a Season I pick to w Rewatch unless on a marathon with Silurians being the exception. 3 stories being 7 parts each makes it a Season I dread to rewatch. Inferno for me is overrated, its good but maybe that's me taste. I wish they actually gave Liz a departure in it though. Spearhead is a just there one for me. Pertwees era has a lot of the stories from classic Who I don't line. Colony in Space, the Mutants, Monster of Peladon, Carnival of Monster... Season 6 may have my all time Favourite - the War Games but it is the only Troughton Season with weak stories. The Krotons and The Space Pirates. The rest (even dominators) are fine And pirates if we had a visual in animation or its found I may think different. The mix of Historicals that do nothing for me knock Hartnalls a little lower. Season 2 has s Alot of highs but has the run of 3 I don't like The Romans-Crusade. Romans wpuld be good is Nero was written as a comedy character. Colins proper Season is a 50-50. Attack, Vengeance are amazing and Revelation is a little slow but that and Rani are OK the other 2 are dire. Season 25 the weakest McCoy season. The only McCoy stories myself and quite a few hate are Happiness Patrol and Silver Nemesis despite the Remembrance and Greatest Show being his best (or atleast up there) Tom's Seasons get weak in his 2nd half. Season 15 and 16 aren't that bad for me but seasons 16 and 18 so many duds and even the ones I don't find that bad aren't a candle to stories in his first half. Davison seasons are just all around good but no Season really stands put that much to me above that much
@IsaacWhittakerDakin everyone opinions are different, what makes life interesting. Sorry my explanations where all Over. I was writing them in order I saw most needing explaining rather than in order 😅
I like "Monster of Peladon". It may not quite measure up to the "Curse of Peladon", but I still dig the alien planet politics. I also like "Colony in Space", but some of that may have to do with the fact that the Doctor is finally getting off Earth, after having been stuck there for far too long. I don't honestly have a firm opinion of "Carnival of Monsters" and would probably need to rewatch it before I could rate it. Even if it did seem a bit slow at times, I dug the vibe of "The Mutants". So we're maybe not gonna see eye-to-eye on the Pertwee era, though I pretty much agree with you on season 7. "War Games" is too long and too all-over-the-place for me to rate it that highly. "The Seeds of Death" is the season 6 story that wows me. That may well be my favorite Troughton story. While I don't agree that the second half of Tom Baker's run was weak (I like seasons 15 and 16), I agree with you about the relative weakness of his last two seasons (I'm assuming you meant to say seasons 17 and 18, rather than 16 and 18, since you'd already covered 16). It doesn't help that his companions in these seasons were a downgrade (something that went on to affect Davison). I also agree that "Full Circle" a standout story in season 18, though in my estimation, it's _the_ standout story, since I'm not all that taken with "State of Decay". An far as season 17 goes, I actually think "City of Death" is overrated (they were far too excited about being on location in Paris), so I might actually rank season 17 below 18. Still, Tom Baker is great and vibe of the episodes continues to work for me, so even a lackluster Tom Baker story can top a Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy story with some good ideas but an execution I don't care for. I don't tend to like historicals as much either, and I think that has primarily to do with the way they're executed. They tend to feel rather restrictive to me. I think season 20 is obviously Davison's weakest, though I don't think any of them are consistently strong. I'd probably rate his first, season 19, as my favorite, on the strength of "The Visitation" and "Earthshock". I like the ideas in "The Caves of Androzani" more than the execution, and the whole Phantom of the Opera bad guy really doesn't work for me, so I tend to think the story is overrated, even if it's clearly one of Davison's better ones.
The Target novelisation of Colony in Space that I read as a 10-year-old in 1975 was far better than the execution of the story I finally got to watch 20 years later.
Season 24 stories were all bad Season 23 Other than the Master in the Matrix nothing was good Season 20 - Introduced the worst male companion Turlough and the Five doctors made no sense, Borusa as a villain? Season 15 Only had 2-3 stories of note. The Invasion of Time could have been 4 episodes. Sorry Underworld is the worst Tom Baker story Season 17 is great except for Creature of the Pit, You have Destiney of Daleks one the best Daleks stories, Shada, Horns of the Nimon is great it's the first companion lead story in the modern era. Top 10 season Season 3 eh. Dodo one of the worst companions Season 9 stories is not a must watch season Season 6 Wargames is too long. Mind Robber is the best Troughton Episode Season 21 is horrible, Caves is the most overrated story in Classic. season 2 Gave us Vickie who is more interesting Susan, The Time Meddlar is great Season 18 is one of the top 3. You have the E Space Trilogy, Keeper of Traken is great and Logopolis is the best last Doctor episode. Season 11 is ok Season 16 another top 3. Key to Time was a great idea season 8 too much roger Delgado, Jo Grant was a downgrade from Liz Shaw and the uneeded Mike Yates. Season 19 when it went down hill. The Lets make Adric stupid Trilogy, Earthshock was the last great Classic story Season22 Introduced the Rani thats it Season 1 Axtects the great historic where the lesson for Barbara is don't bring your views into another time, Season 4 was rubbish Season 25 had a few good stories Season 10 had the best mutiple Doctor story. Frontier in Space was a great story. Jo Gran'ts dearture? TryAdric, Jamiie and Zoe Season 12 Tom Baker had the Ark in space and Genesis the best Dalek story and introduced Davros. Would have been better without Revenge of Cyberman Season 5 is too high Tomb of Cyberman is the only good one Season 26 is way to high Season 13 the worst Tom Baker Season. Terror of Zygons was awful, Pyramid overrated. Seeds should have been 4 episodes, Scorby could have been a great reddemed companion Season 7 Best Pewtree season. Season 14 had two great Stories Deadly Assassin(Best Gallifrey story) and Talon. Masque and Hand of Fear is awful( Sarah Janes was a companion too long
lol literally some of the best seasons you rank as some of the worst. Just goes to show how completely undoable ranking Doctor Who across its history is.
Old school fan here….your Top 3 are impeccable! ❤❤
I was introduced to classic Who by a friend one year before the 2005 relaunch. Seasons 7, 8, and 25 were the ones that cemented my love of Doctor Who ever since.
Great seasons to get into!! 🙂
Ive started classic who with season 7 and im now halfway through season 8. I loved the silurians and ambassadors of death.
Really enjoyed that, mate! Good work.
Thanks 😊
I’ve actually been marathoning the Tom Baker era, I recently finished Season 14, and it’s also my favourite classic season, even a possible contender for best season of all time along with Series 1 and 10 of Modern Who
S14 maybe my favourite of Doctor Who as well, both classic and revival.
I can agree with many of these. I really enjoyed how you explained the way you evaluated each season with what you consider their strengths and weaknesses to be. This was especially interesting going by season, as most conversations I come across seem to gravitate towards comparing/ranking by actors and/or writers (which seems natural when you have everything at your fingertips, but for the perspective of viewership at the time of broadcast, it makes much more sense to compare seasons).
That's a really great analysis, thanks for the comment!
I can't believe I am saying this, but I agree with your Top 3 Seasons.
Couldn't agree more about Season 14! The pinnacle of classic who. Loving your love for 25 and 26 too - the series went out with its head held very, very high, IMHO.
I only wish it carried on into the 90s.
Classic Doctor Who- no substitute ⭐️
That was great! I really enjoyed it!
The best season ever is definitely Season 13. There is no doubt about that.
Seson 4 is probably My personal favorite tbh
Great stuff and instafan for effort and thought put into it!
Interesting editing style, which works really well and must have taken you a ton of time to storyboard and edit!
I'd put season 18 over 11, 19 a bit higher, and a few other order changes, but that’s just me-- and your reasoning for your order is strongly told.
That, and season 22 would be on my top 7 as well. Underrated mostly by fan reputation, and with the passage of time is less violent than previously perceived.
In 1986, in America watching PBS, I was expecting season 23 but was unaware of the hiatus. They had shown season 1. Fell in love with it instantly, and even didn't think much of padding. Though I do agree nowadays that there is some padding.
Season 4 is pure magic too. Bstter than 6 and 5 IMHO. Many underrated stories and two near-perfect Dalek entries. Seeing Unwater Menace pt 2 come back really changed my opinion of the story as well...
Season 22 is personally my number 1 so it's nice that it's your comfort season
YES!!
I couldn't rank seasons as I was never a super fan of Who, but the episodes that I vividly remember enjoying were Seeds of Doom and Pyramids of Mars, so 13 would have been my fave.
Tom Baker was THE premier Doctor imho
They're great stories!!
Im still getting through the entirety of classic who although I do have a few favourites not in any particular order. Seasons 7, 5, 2, 14, 6, and 10.
Im currently on season 17, and I am so exhausted watching Tom Baker's era. I've been binge watching cos I really want to move into Peter Davison's era.
Btw your list is amazing and totally agreed with.
Thanks, your favourites are great choices!
I'm sorry but Season 3 is the best and most creative Hartnell season to me. And Daleks Master Plan is top tier. Unbelievable rating
I agree there are some great stories in S3 and proves Doctor Who can be anything but I think there's a lot of meandering serials like Galaxy 4, The Ark, The Celestial Toymaker etc.
Interesting that you think the wheel in space is the worst story in season 5. It is actually the best Doctor who story of all time. I have the advantage of actually seeing it when it was broadcast, and believe me it is brilliant. The two surviving episodes don't do it justice. The thing that makes it so good is the cybermen were absolutely terrifying, and killed practically everybody they came across. They also made a very sinister humming noise, which has sadly been missing ever since. Patrick Troughton was also the best doctor, and season 5 is the greatest ever season. I also find it difficult to understand why not many people like the Dominators. The "hippy" inhabitants of the planet act exactly like we would here if aliens landed. No one would believe what anyone said and they would be completely ignored, just as in the story. Nobody seems to realise this, strangely!
Patrick Troughton leads
FAXXXXX HES THE BEST DOCTOR
Season 15 done dirty....but I cant argue with your top 3! Season 24 is dross lol. My top 3 Season 14, Season 26, Season 13
I agree with your top 3 and your bottom 2. Everything in the middle I find more subjective than definitive. Thanks for putting this together!
You're very welcome!
Season 14 is number 1. It has to be, it has my two all time favorite stories, Robots and Talons.
Me too! S14 is one of the best seasons of TV ever!!
We agree on some seasons and disagree on others, as it should be. It's great being a doctor who fan.
The updated effects for timelash do help it a bit.
It certainly is great being a Doctor Who fan! 😅
@@IsaacWhittakerDakin Hope you do a series ranking for the modern series.
@@AnotherScifiGuyI've thought about it, but I'm away on work so no videos till next year probably
@@IsaacWhittakerDakin understandable.
I think I agree with these rankings more or less. I didn’t like the 7th Doctor stuff as I felt they had removed all the people that understood Who. But on a rewatch it’s not terrible. I’m glad Colin Baker got some highish rankings. His version of Who is much maligned, but I think he was amazing. He was let down by poor stories, but that wasn’t the production team it was the BBC interfering. Overall a well thought out list.
Thanks so much! I personally love what the creative team did during the 7th Doctor era. 😊
Great video, I've jumped in on Pertwee and want to know what I'm in for. By the way "pulling punches" means holding back. As in boxing jabs.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! At least someone appreciates Colin Baker!
I have his outfit as well!
@@IsaacWhittakerDakin That's great! When I see all the youtubers putting his performance down to the lowest grades, I get so angry! He had not the best chemistry with Peri (awful stick-in-the-mud) and their stories were maybe not the best, but the 6th doctor personality was totally engaging! Love his swagger.
I put Season 22 above any season from 17-21, and 23-26.
I think people just assume it is really bad because it was the running series when the hiatus was announced.
People therefore assume that the public and the audience must have watched it, and then it was put on hiatus because it was so bad.
The hiatus actually happened because Michael Grade already had a hatred of it. Grade even admitted he hated science fiction.
I might have a tiny niggle about one or two seasons going up or down in my own rankings, but overall a good summary.
You do mention that the McCoy era wasn’t really appreciated by so called fans at the time but is now looked back as a high point. I really wonder if in 20 years time the Timeless Child arc will be seen as much of a gem as the Carmell masterplan and giving the series back to RTD will seem as bad as cancelling in it’s prime.
Anythings possible, The Deadly Assassin wasn't popular at the time now its regarded as a classic
Weird, Invasion of Time and Paradise Towers are some of my favourites
I like Paradise Towers, I praise it in my seventh doctor video 🙂
I’m tied between the 1st and 3rd doctor for my favorite doctor,because on one hand all my favorite classic who stories are in Pertwee’s era,but Hartnell has the best doctor performance
Season 13 is my favourite, though I would say Android Invasion isn't as bad as you say. It's actually one of my favourites
Nice, I have done a more in depth review of the android invasion if you wanna check it out
I wish I could have been born in 1963 instead of in 1969, and also when Dr Who ended after 26 years I was gutted.
I legit cannot fault the top 5 picks.
Glad you agree!
I would only exchange season 19 for 22, otherwise this list is spot on in my opinion.
They are pretty close :-)
Like you, I rate Season 22 highly. The Sixth is my favourite Doctor and some of the stories of this season - especially Revelation and Varos - are classics. Timelash is definitely not one of them.
How can you rate oa Season 3 with all the missing episodes?
I judged it based on telesnap reconstructions.
Season 13 is the pinnacle for me, but agree with the top 3. Key to Time would be lower, as would the infamously bad season 17. But apart from a few other tweaks, that's not a million miles off my list.
i adore season 22 too!
A fan of good taste!
I like Season 22 as well.
I think people have been told that it is bad, and believe it is bad because it was the running series during the hiatus.
When I actually watched it I actually preferred it to all Davison and McCoy seasons, and a couple of Tom seasons.
It does have some problems, but it is better than people said.
Season 17 is really a mixed bag. It has the best Tom Baker story (City of Death) and his worst one (Horns of Nimon). Furthermore, we have the great Shada, mediocre Destiny of the Daleks, and bad Creature from the Pit and Nightmare of Eden, which are hardly any better than Horns of Nimon.
Season 26 at number 4 is insane… that should be in the 20’s… it’s consensus that seasons 7 and 13 are the very best. 7 is my favorite, but I can understand putting 13 first
Great commentary. But. "Pulling your punches" means holding back, not hitting as hard as you can.
When do I say "pulling your punches?
@@IsaacWhittakerDakin Well, I don't have time to go through it again and look, but you said it twice, meaning that they knocked it out of the park.
@@IsaacWhittakerDakinseason 14 and season 1. you say pulling your punches when you mean pulling out all the stops.
Pertwee for me doesn't pick up until Three Doctors. Exile didn't work wonders. Inferno is my least favorite story. McCoy the last eight stories i have seen at most twice, the one that stuck was Greatest Show of the Galaxy.. 20 and 21 are way low. I don't share the love that many folks have about Caves of Androzani.
The trouble with this exercise is that it’s just too damn difficult, I love classic who too much…
If I had to pick a least favorite season, it would probably be one of the 5th doctor’s, but I still love all the 3 of his seasons. Also side note: I find season 8-10 an almost perfect run, with season 9 being one of my favorites (The Mutants is a personal Fav!)
I think Lala Ward was over dressed in City of Death
26. 24
25. 23
24. 19
23. 16
22. 17
21. 20
20. 3
19. 21
18. 11
17. 9
16. 2
15. 1
14. 25
13. 15
12. 18
11. 26
10. 8
9. 22
8. 4
7. 6
6. 14
5. 10
4. 12
3. 13
2. 5
1. 7
Interesting. What was it about Monster of Peladon, Planet of the Spiders, and the rest of Season 11 that didn't work? Or do I have rank and season reversed?
4:28: Actually, The Five Doctors isn't part of Season 20. It was the 20th anniversary special, which was aired between Seasons 20 and 21.
And Snakedance isn't a good story. It is even worse than Kinda.
What is this supposed 'conttroversy' because you place Season 22 high?
Please have your own mind and dont be fooled by the few CB haters who just dismiss seasons 22 and 23 as crap when they are two of the best seasons of the entire 26 year run.
I’d say that you’ve overrated Seven a lot, the Cartmel masterplan, was in my opinion anything but.
26. Season 17
25. Season 24
24. Season 11
23. Season 20
22. Season 9
21. Season 16
20. Season 22
19. Season 15
18. Season 19
17. Season 14
16. Season 21
15. Season 13
14. Season 6
13. Season 3
12. Season 12
11. Season 1
10. Season 8
9. Season 23
8. Season 4
7. Season 10
6. Season 18
5. Season 2
4. Season 5
3. Season 25
2. Season 26
1. Season 7
(Only Season I outright don't like is Season 17, the rest are still great imo)
S14 is that low? Wow....
@@IsaacWhittakerDakinTbf, my hot take is that the 4th Doctor is my least favourite Classic Doctor by a wide margin, so most of his Seasons would be lower, but Season 14 is still great.
#4 Season 26: The 5th and 6th Doctor seasons might all go at the bottom for me, and if they don't, I suspect there will only be a few other seasons at most mixed in with them. I don't like the 7th Doctor, and I don't like the approach to the show they're taking. It's no longer the show I love at this point, and we're in a time period I didn't see in my initial viewing, because I walked away in disgust (when the Doctor glued the Candyman to the floor using lemonade, in the prior season, that was the exact moment I decided to cut my losses). I eventually went back a decade or so later and watched everything, but that was more out of a sense of duty and completionism than enjoyment. By the end, I think the show pretty much earned the cancellation it got.
#3 Season 13: I find "The Pyramids of Mars" to be dull and "The Seeds of Doom" to be entirely too long-winded and repetitive. For me, it's "Planet of Evil" that's the standout.
#2 Season 7: I hate the Doctor being trapped on Earth (it's just far less interesting), and the stories in this season have a real issue with going on too long, with 3 of the 4 running for 7 episodes. It isn't until he starts to escape into space more often that things really get good for the 3rd Doctor (though "Inferno" with its parallel Earth may be an exception, even if it still runs long).
#1 Season 14: It's hard to argue with this one. Leela is probably my favorite companion (the Leela/4th Doctor dynamic is on par with the Jamie/2nd Doctor dynamic), and the run of stories after her introduction is stellar. On the downside, I don't think the Sarah Jane stories are anything special.
Season 22 is the beginning of the end for the series, and it's the worst thing ever, and an abomination known to man. I find the 6th Doctor to be pretty grating and unlikable (though he's thankfully softened a bit for his second season, it isn't until the audio adventures that he really shines). I still like the 6th Doctor better than the 7th, and I'd still rank this season above most or all of his, but the show will never be the same from this point on, and despite a few arguable bright spots, it's basically just treading water until it eventually sinks below the waves of mediocrity to a well-deserved sleep with the fishes. Mind you, this is not where the slide in quality began; it's just where things got bad. The 5th Doctor's era, taken as a whole, is a significant step down from the 4th Doctor's, when the show was arguably at its best. (And being frank, the last two seasons of the 4th Doctor are pretty weak compared to the five that came before them.)
You didn't think the McCoy era, particularly S25 & S26 was an improvement??
@@IsaacWhittakerDakin No, but then I really don't like Sylvester McCoy's Doctor, and it's hard to know how much of that affects my opinion. It also may be a bit of a cumulative thing, where I'd been unhappy with the direction of the show for a while, so the 7th Doctor ends up being saddled with the dissatisfaction I was carrying from before he even showed up, along with whatever I didn't like about his stuff. But yeah, I walked away from the show in the middle of season 25 and didn't come back and watch it to the end until maybe a decade later.
Utter nonsense!!! Tom Baker had 3 years out of seven of decent stories and Season 22 towers above his last four seasons with ease. I fear for your sanity if you truly believe anything in Season 22 is an 'abomination' - even 'Timelash' has the hilarious Paul Darrow as Tekker giving his Olivier impression.
I can see no reason whatsoever for your damning appraisal unless, as already stated, you need to be in Broadmoor permanently x
@@rnw2739 Ironically, I didn't think "Time Lash" was as bad as everybody else seemed to, or at least I didn't think it was markedly worse than the rest of the season (but then I too dug Paul Darrow). While "abomination" is too strong a word to seriously apply to Colin Baker's era (I was quoting the video for humor's sake), "The Mysterious Planet" was nevertheless the only story I enjoyed (mostly) without reservation. Whatever other issues I had with those seasons, I didn't much care for the personalities of the Doctor and Peri, nor the execution/vibe of the show in general. If you'd given them a good Tom Baker script, I doubt I would've liked it nearly as much. But I'm unlikely to change your mind on this, so what I'm curious to know is which three of Tom Baker's seasons you consider the good ones.
@stuffyouotterlistento1461 Clearly seasons 12, 13 and 14. When Tom actually cared about his portrayal and wasn't either lagging drunk, inserting feeble and painfully unfunny gags or addressing viewers directly by looking down the bottle..
Minor controversial opinion, but s24 is THE worst season of any doctor who show. Yes even the chibnall era, which i think is over hated.
I call it minor, because I think a lot of people are gonna agree with me, but a lot of people are also gonna hate me for saying that.
That's a fair analysis, my upcoming thirteenth doctor video is fairly positive
Season 4
Season 14
Season 26
Season 12
Season 5
Season 10
Season 13
Season 2
Season 24
Season 8
Season 6
Season 25
Season 3
Season 20
Season 23
Season 1
Season 21
Season 19
Season 17
Season 7
Season 11
Season 22
Season 16
Season 15
Season 9
Season 18
Season 24 is criminally underrated imo. Its fun and you need to stop taking it so seriously to enjoy.
Season 18 out of the 7 stories - I only fully enjoy 2 - Full Circle and State of Decay. The rest are average or God awful. Leisure Hive being the dullest 4 part story ever and Logopolis honestly is a mess as it had too much it needed to 2 - bring Nyssa in, Introduce Tegan, The Regeneration, setting changes left right and centre. It's a mess. Warriors Gate is awful.
The B&W Era as a whole is my favourite a d Troughton my favourite doctor. Its a shame Season 4 which has most of my personal favourites missing as actual episodes a s Season 3 has so many strong stories missing.
Season 7 I know my placing is going to be controversial but its not a Season I pick to w
Rewatch unless on a marathon with Silurians being the exception. 3 stories being 7 parts each makes it a Season I dread to rewatch. Inferno for me is overrated, its good but maybe that's me taste. I wish they actually gave Liz a departure in it though. Spearhead is a just there one for me.
Pertwees era has a lot of the stories from classic Who I don't line. Colony in Space, the Mutants, Monster of Peladon, Carnival of Monster...
Season 6 may have my all time Favourite - the War Games but it is the only Troughton Season with weak stories. The Krotons and The Space Pirates. The rest (even dominators) are fine
And pirates if we had a visual in animation or its found I may think different.
The mix of Historicals that do nothing for me knock Hartnalls a little lower. Season 2 has s
Alot of highs but has the run of 3 I don't like The Romans-Crusade. Romans wpuld be good is Nero was written as a comedy character.
Colins proper Season is a 50-50. Attack, Vengeance are amazing and Revelation is a little slow but that and Rani are OK the other 2 are dire.
Season 25 the weakest McCoy season. The only McCoy stories myself and quite a few hate are Happiness Patrol and Silver Nemesis despite the Remembrance and Greatest Show being his best (or atleast up there)
Tom's Seasons get weak in his 2nd half. Season 15 and 16 aren't that bad for me but seasons 16 and 18 so many duds and even the ones I don't find that bad aren't a candle to stories in his first half.
Davison seasons are just all around good but no Season really stands put that much to me above that much
Really interesting analysis here 👍
@IsaacWhittakerDakin everyone opinions are different, what makes life interesting. Sorry my explanations where all Over. I was writing them in order I saw most needing explaining rather than in order 😅
It's ok!
I like "Monster of Peladon". It may not quite measure up to the "Curse of Peladon", but I still dig the alien planet politics. I also like "Colony in Space", but some of that may have to do with the fact that the Doctor is finally getting off Earth, after having been stuck there for far too long. I don't honestly have a firm opinion of "Carnival of Monsters" and would probably need to rewatch it before I could rate it. Even if it did seem a bit slow at times, I dug the vibe of "The Mutants". So we're maybe not gonna see eye-to-eye on the Pertwee era, though I pretty much agree with you on season 7.
"War Games" is too long and too all-over-the-place for me to rate it that highly. "The Seeds of Death" is the season 6 story that wows me. That may well be my favorite Troughton story.
While I don't agree that the second half of Tom Baker's run was weak (I like seasons 15 and 16), I agree with you about the relative weakness of his last two seasons (I'm assuming you meant to say seasons 17 and 18, rather than 16 and 18, since you'd already covered 16). It doesn't help that his companions in these seasons were a downgrade (something that went on to affect Davison). I also agree that "Full Circle" a standout story in season 18, though in my estimation, it's _the_ standout story, since I'm not all that taken with "State of Decay". An far as season 17 goes, I actually think "City of Death" is overrated (they were far too excited about being on location in Paris), so I might actually rank season 17 below 18. Still, Tom Baker is great and vibe of the episodes continues to work for me, so even a lackluster Tom Baker story can top a Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy story with some good ideas but an execution I don't care for.
I don't tend to like historicals as much either, and I think that has primarily to do with the way they're executed. They tend to feel rather restrictive to me.
I think season 20 is obviously Davison's weakest, though I don't think any of them are consistently strong. I'd probably rate his first, season 19, as my favorite, on the strength of "The Visitation" and "Earthshock". I like the ideas in "The Caves of Androzani" more than the execution, and the whole Phantom of the Opera bad guy really doesn't work for me, so I tend to think the story is overrated, even if it's clearly one of Davison's better ones.
The Target novelisation of Colony in Space that I read as a 10-year-old in 1975 was far better than the execution of the story I finally got to watch 20 years later.
Season 24 stories were all bad
Season 23 Other than the Master in the Matrix nothing was good
Season 20 - Introduced the worst male companion Turlough and the Five doctors made no sense, Borusa as a villain?
Season 15 Only had 2-3 stories of note. The Invasion of Time could have been 4 episodes. Sorry Underworld is the worst Tom Baker story
Season 17 is great except for Creature of the Pit, You have Destiney of Daleks one the best Daleks stories, Shada, Horns of the Nimon is great it's the first companion lead story in the modern era. Top 10 season
Season 3 eh. Dodo one of the worst companions
Season 9 stories is not a must watch season
Season 6 Wargames is too long. Mind Robber is the best Troughton Episode
Season 21 is horrible, Caves is the most overrated story in Classic.
season 2 Gave us Vickie who is more interesting Susan, The Time Meddlar is great
Season 18 is one of the top 3. You have the E Space Trilogy, Keeper of Traken is great and Logopolis is the best last Doctor episode.
Season 11 is ok
Season 16 another top 3. Key to Time was a great idea
season 8 too much roger Delgado, Jo Grant was a downgrade from Liz Shaw and the uneeded Mike Yates.
Season 19 when it went down hill. The Lets make Adric stupid Trilogy, Earthshock was the last great Classic story
Season22 Introduced the Rani thats it
Season 1 Axtects the great historic where the lesson for Barbara is don't bring your views into another time,
Season 4 was rubbish
Season 25 had a few good stories
Season 10 had the best mutiple Doctor story. Frontier in Space was a great story. Jo Gran'ts dearture? TryAdric, Jamiie and Zoe
Season 12 Tom Baker had the Ark in space and Genesis the best Dalek story and introduced Davros. Would have been better without Revenge of Cyberman
Season 5 is too high Tomb of Cyberman is the only good one
Season 26 is way to high
Season 13 the worst Tom Baker Season. Terror of Zygons was awful, Pyramid overrated. Seeds should have been 4 episodes, Scorby could have been a great reddemed companion
Season 7 Best Pewtree season.
Season 14 had two great Stories Deadly Assassin(Best Gallifrey story) and Talon. Masque and Hand of Fear is awful( Sarah Janes was a companion too long
wanted to subscribe to you. But I find your opinion intensely boring!
Uh, thanks? 😂
@@IsaacWhittakerDakin np
Hear! Hear! Anyone who places Season 23 beneath the appalling dross of Season 17 and 16, is clearly insane and should be swerved at all costs!
@@rnw2739 I actually place season 23 quite highly. Whereas 17 is abominable. And 16 definitely has its fair share of problems.
lol literally some of the best seasons you rank as some of the worst. Just goes to show how completely undoable ranking Doctor Who across its history is.
Goes to show how diverse everyone's opinions can be
season 26 and 25 utterly dreadful worst dr who ever for me , he was just an annoying dr for me your choice for no1 was perfect