Do you have any single moments in Doctor Who that for some reason just speaks to you and you feel are underappreciated? Could be anything from a certain scene, an actors reactions or mannerisms, the way a particular word is pronounced. It can also be something you think has been unjustly maligned.
For me, this is such a moment:
It just sums up the relationship between the 5th Doctor and Adric, the way Davison and Waterhouse react to each other show that they have a bond and genuine affection for one another. It helped me to appreciate the potential of the character of Adric and view his era in a different light, while still being able to see the shortcomings of Waterhouse’s acting skills. First time through the early 80’s Who I was probably overly harsh on Matthew Waterhouse (sorry) as I was being influenced by my sphere of interactions on Twitter that I was still on at that time.
Also we have had three different Doctors say his name in the last 5 stories… Surely that means he joins Sarah Jane, Ace, Tegan, K9 and Mel in the modern series, right?
It is a great moment. I also find it lovely to have the Doctor reaffirm this line from Susan in “The Sensorites”: “Isn’t it a better thing to travel hopefully than to arrive?”
For the first time we see her doubting herself and she doesn’t have her front of always being self-assured, because she doesn’t know the Doctor is right next to her.
RIVER: “When you love the Doctor, it’s like loving the stars themselves. You don’t expect a sunset to admire you back. And if I happen to find myself in danger, let me tell you, the Doctor is not stupid enough, or sentimental enough, and he is certainly not in love enough to find himself standing in it with me!”
THE DOCTOR: “Hello, Sweetie”.
I love that bit. Both Alex Kingston and Peter Capaldi brings such gravitas (mavitas?) to their roles, the way Capaldi says “Hello sweetie” with such familiarity and tenderness is simply a masterclass in acting
Everyone raves/raved about the ‘talking down the snipers’ scene from The Happiness Patrol but, for me, the absolute best scene of that story is when Helen A discovers Fifi’s corpse and begins weeping. The camera pulls back, the harmonica soars and wow - it gives me chills that part.
That is definitely a fantastic moment.
She becomes a victim of the fallacies of her own tyranny of happiness - noone escapes the inevitably of sadness as an integral part of life. Happiness did indeed not prevail in the end.
It is really clever writing from Graeme Curry
It just sums up the Doctor’s exasperation in dealing with megalomaniacs, dictators, mad scientists, evil gods and general villainous beings. He has heard this speech so many times, in so many ways and has lost none of his contempt for it. So much history goes into this quite frankly ridiculous response. To quote the First Doctor: “Sheer poetry dear boy, now stop bothering me”
Probably another moment that isn’t necessarily underrated, but “You know in nine hundred years of time and space I’ve never met anybody who wasn’t important before” had a SUPER huge impact on me as a kid. I still think about it a lot. That and “Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind.”
Lovely Thread Idea! Thinking about it, there are quite a few Moments but if I had to choose between one (for now at least), then I go with my obvious Answer, which is very much not underrated, but I have to bring up every time such a Question gets asked.
Despite not being able to see (which is truly a Pity), I think this Monologue is easily one of the finest Work Hartnell did on the Show, I especially like how he corrects himself on Ian.
