Favourite Season 20 Story

What’s everyone’s favorite Season 20 story or stories? Remember, you can vote for more than one.

  • Arc of Infinity
  • Snakedance
  • Mawdryn Undead
  • Terminus
  • Enlightenment
  • The King’s Demons
0 voters
1 Like

Honestly, this run of story is a good one! For a long Time I felt Season 20 was 5’s weakest, I am not sure if I still believe it, but in hindsight I find myself having a lot of going for some. Obviously, Enlightenment is the 11/10 Story here. But Stories such as Mawdryn Undead I find myself really enjoying it, even if it brought the whole UNIT Dating Controversy to life, lol.
The weak spot is easily The Kings Demons, I just don’t really like that Episode, Ainley as always is great, and it’s fun to have another sword fight between the Master and the Doctor, but that’s about it. And Terminus is a hard one to rate, one of those Serial where the Episode have such a big quality shift between Scenes to Scenes, at least for me.
As it is a charming Season, even if the bringing back part gets a bit too much here.

3 Likes

Season 20 is one of the strongest runs the show has ever had. I feel the only one that really lets the side down is Terminus and I long for the world where The Return got to be made but even then that doesn’t detract from it all that much? I know it’s not that popular but I even really enjoy The King’s Demons for what it is.

Snakedance and Enlightenment are among the best stories the show has ever told though, and it’s a shame it’s so hard to recommend them to get new people on board because they’re both following up on other plot threads! Snakedance you can maybe get away with? But I feel like for Enlightenment to really land with people you need that build up with Turlough and the Black Guardian.

6 Likes

Haven’t watched this whole season but did really enjoy Enlightenment. And fun fact for anyone who didn’t know: it was the first episode of the show to be both written and directed by women! (The second would unfortunately not be until 35 years later with The Witchfinders)

10 Likes

Nobody seems to like Terminus. Interesting.

2 Likes

I am not a fan of this season. The fifth Doctor just doesn’t click with me.

My favorite is Five Doctors but that is not on the list.

6 Likes

I’ll be honest, I consider The Five Doctors part of Season 20, and that would get my vote if it were on offer.

Sounds like I like this season a little better than @Tian - I at least found a couple stories I felt comfortable voting for.

5 Likes

Terminus and Enlightenment are the high points of the season for me, but I also think Mawdryn Undead is quite good, The King’s Demons is a fun little story, and Snakedance has some really nice worldbuilding. Arc of Infinity I’ve never really thought much of :woman_shrugging:

6 Likes

I like Terminus just fine. I just wouldn’t consider it a favourite like the poll asks for :wink:

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Snakedance is a highlight of this season for me, Janet Fielding is great as Evil Tegan, and the costuming is exceptional.
In Arc of Infinity, Nyssa gets to wield a gun, so it’s automatically an 11/10

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I never used to rate Snakedance but rewatched it a few months ago and found it fascinating and a really good story. There was even a deleted scene on the DVD I’d never seen before which, after being a fan for more years than I care to remember, was liking finding hidden treasure!

5 Likes

(yes I am late to this lol. in my defence the celestial omnibus got a flat tire which took some time to fix XD)

five is my FAVOURITE classic who doctor, and this poll was so hard. Arc of Infinity was very enjoyable for me, Snakedance was pretty good too, Mawdryn Undead introduced Turlough (beloved) and it was such a fun serial too, Terminus wasn’t all that great but it was still cool, The Kings Demons is underrated and I enjoy it too.

But I HAD to vote for Enlightenment. It’s my favourite Doctor Who episode EVER :3

6 Likes

I think Terminus could have been excellent, it just didn’t translate well to the screen. Directed now with a little more urgency and it would be a great story.

3 Likes

Snakedance is tops for me. It’s not quite up there with Kinda, but with a really terrifying central concept (really glad Big Finish have brought the Mara back).

Arc of Infinity is the other one. It manages to present Omega in a more sympathetic light than in The Three Doctors, while sacrificing none of his power. Terrific filming in Amsterdam and a great performance from Peter Davison (although is there anyone who didn’t guess that Hedin was the traitorous Timelord?).

4 Likes

Echoing this, I think the two I chose (Snakedance and Enlightenment) are the only two I would say I particularly like. Arc of Infinity is ok.

3 Likes