I can’t decide between The Sea Devils and The Curse of Peladon. The latter is an epic, wonderfully acted and very atmospheric dialogue-heavy monster-fest, while the former is my first real memory of Doctor Who.
I can’t get over how expensive these two serials looked - some excellent studio sets and model work from Ian Scoones (on film, as well, as opposed to videotape), lovely monster costumes for Peladon and similar stuff, and a lot of lovely-looking locations for The Sea Devils. But which to choose?
With a nod to the clever and intriguing Day of the Daleks story, I’ll put The Sea Devils in first place.
I just couldn’t help myself and voted for all five, as I genuinely love every story this season, as I do with nearly all of Pertwee’s stories. If I were forced to parse greatness, though, I would put ‘Curse of Peladon’ and ‘Day of the Daleks’ on the S Tier, ‘The Sea Devils’ and ‘The Time Monster’ as A Tier, and ‘The Mutants’ the lone B Tier resident (it’s still very good!). Season 9 is the final story broadcast before my birth, which took place two months prior to the opening episode of ‘The Three Doctors,’ and it’s also the Season where I halted my last rewatch back around 2018 (just after finishing ‘The Sea Devils’), so I am absolutely looking forward to reaching this era in the next couple of years!
