The day of Doctor Who's 50th anniversary is finally here. Back in the 40th anniversary year it was difficult to imagine Doctor Who becoming as popular as it is now. I have already enjoyed the 50th Celebration event at the Excel on Friday, especially getting to see the Waris Hussein panel.
I thought I'd list the stories which are currently my top ten favourites. These are in no particular order.
1. The Aztecs
It's great to have a story where every companion is well utilized by the script writer. We also get to see a rare example, in the original series, of the Doctor falling in love, before it became unfashionable in later fandom and then came back in the new series.
2. The War Games
An epic that only sags slightly in the middle and lifts up again pretty quickly. The World War One sections are well directed by David Maloney. The War Chief/Security Chief/War Lord trio are a wonderful group of villains.
3. The Ambassadors of Death
Like the reversal of the "thing in the spacecraft" being ambassadors. This sums up one of the things I like about Doctor Who, which is that he's far more likely to want to chat to the monsters than kill them. It manages to be an action serial while still having a good moral message.
4. The Ribos Operation
This story is a favourite for nostalgic reasons, because it was the first Doctor Who story I ever saw. It's a fun con caper. The Fourth Doctor and Romana I are one of my favourite Tardis teams.
5. Snakedance
It was a choice between this and Kinda and in the end I went with this story.
What makes this story interesting is the way that evil, in this case the Mara, can been trivialized by being merchandised.
6. The Caves of Androzani
Some people find this story very downbeat. To me it's the victory of the small man, the Fifth Doctor, overcoming incredible odds in a cynical world. Peri, the innocent person, is the only one to survive.
7. The Curse of Fenric
This story contains a lot of interesting musings on faith. Ian Briggs' comments on the DVD reveal that this is a story with plenty of layers. We also get a rare example, for the original series, of character development for the companion.
8. The End of the World
People tend to talk about the Russell T Davies era being earthbound, but this story features large amount of crazy aliens. It also has a wonderful note about things not lasting forever.
A very creepy Doctor Who story. Although this story sees the Tenth Doctor at his weakest, it is one of his best stories. A great script by Russell T Davies.
10. Vincent and the Doctor
While Steven Moffat's Doctor Who tends to focus on time bending events, this brilliant script focuses on the life of one man, Vincent Van Goth, and the theme of depression.
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