I have had a lovely journey with my girlfriend showing her Classic Who for the past few months. For context: she’s seen only series 1, 2, and Smith & Jones from the new series.
I’ve shown her Jon Pertwee from Spearhead to Mind of Evil so far, and random Tom Baker stories (Pyramids, Genesis, & Morbius).
She really likes the 3rd doctor! And she’s not very into the 4th so far. I think it might be how he plays the character in his earlier eras (I’m guessing she may enjoy later Tom, where he’s funnier).
She finds Classic Who to be a lot of fun to watch. And of course hilarious in parts (I mean, who doesn’t enjoy watching Pertwee get strangled by the phone cord? ). She actually wants to keep watching Classic and isn’t interested in going back to the new series, at least not yet.
Anyways, I thought it’d be fun to show her other doctors and asked her to pick one between 1-7, and she chose 5!
I have seen maybe half of the 5th doctor’s run. I’m most familiar with Season 19. I hesitate jumping into Castrovalva because it really is the 3rd part of a trilogy of stories. I was thinking maybe Four to Doomsday? Or The Visitation?
But I am all ears for your suggestions! (And perhaps stories you’d recommend so she starts coming around to liking the 4th Doctor?)
Much as I love Davison, his era has a real lack of obvious entry points for new viewers. I’d probably suggest Visitation or Frontios for a standalone story, or Mawdryn Undead if you’d like a small story arc, as the three Black Guardian stories are very different from each other.
For the 4th, either go for City of Death if you want to take a big swing with comedy, or just run thru his first season starting with Robot.
I would suggest Kinda and then, if she likes it, Snakedance (which is even better than Kinda imo!) And of course The Caves of Androzani is brilliant, but it’s a regeneration story so keep that in mind
I actually really enjoy Visitation, so I think that’s a fun one to start with! Kinda is also great, and you could follow with Snakedance afterwards. I also second the Black Guardian Trilogy (Mawdryn Undead, Terminus, Enlightenment) if you’re looking for a few connected stories. ^^ There’s always the Five Doctors for a fun taste of several Doctors as well!
For later Fourth Doctor stories, I enjoy a lot of the Key to Time season: Ribos Operation, Pirate Planet, Androids of Tara, etc. There’s a lot of humor in those! City of Death is amazing and a good story for newcomers.
As people have already said definitely the Black Guardian trilogy, and then maybe if you’re only looking for one story then Planet of Fire? A great story with the Master and a new companion introduction
I’d suggest going for either Black Orchid or Arc of Infinity, purely because I think they’re his two best stories that don’t require any familiarity with the characters to have the full emotional impact (Earthshock and Androzani)
Kinda isn’t for everyone, but I think it would be a perfect introduction for someone who is now familiar with the pace and limitations of the classic series. It has some wonderfully dramatic moments, even if it is sometimes a bit stagey and the effects require you to use your imagination to some degree. While it has its drawbacks, I still think its a superb story for someone who gets the classic show.
I think Four to Doomsday is the best balance of quality and accessibility - or The Five Doctors to give a bit of a flavour of One and Two at the same time without having to commit to their slightly less pacey eras.
Thanks for all your suggestions!! We sat down to watch Classic tonight and… she was in the mood for some sassy 3rd Doctor, so we watched episodes 1+2 of Claws of Axos lol. But now I have plenty of good 5th Doctor stories to show her soon!!
I’m definitely thinking about Four to Doomsday or Kinda as starters for now and going from there
The Visitation was my first Davison story and I really like it. The only thing that carries over from the previous story is Tegan and Nyssa talking about the Mara in the beginning, but that’s about it.
It’s a very difficult thing to gauge, especially with a Doctor as unconventional (for lack of a better word) as Davison. He can seem blander by comparison to the four predecessors, all of whom had some degree of pomp or eccentricity, and I think a lot of his stories lean into that more restrained personality and, perhaps, struggle to leave as much of a stand-out impression as may have been the case in previous seasons.
That said, he has no shortage of great stories to choose from. The question then becomes: what tone or genre is preferable?
If you want something more inclined towards horror, ‘Kinda’ and ‘Snakedance’ are great choices. For a slice of history, ‘The Visitation’ or ‘The King’s Demons’; for an emphasis on sci-fi, ‘Mawdryn Undead’ would be my choice, but there’s ‘Four to Doomsday’ and ‘Frontios’ as well. Or, if you want to just get to the juicy bits and see the Doctor against his foes, ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’, ‘Earthshock’, and ‘Castrovalva’ would be my choices.
). She actually wants to keep watching Classic and isn’t interested in going back to the new series, at least not yet.
