Correct me if I’m wrong, but I couldn’t find a thread with this as its topic, which feels like such an incredibly obvious thing to discuss.
So, unless I’m missing a post, let’s talk underrated gems, whether it’s from the classic era, the revival, the books or the audios.
Here are a couple I personally think deserve more attention:
The Gunfighters:
An incredibly fun and perfectly serviceable Western that, whilst addled by a repeated and very annoying song, is great fun and one of the faster paced episodes of Hartnell’s era.
Colony in Space:
A genuinely really well constructed political thriller that I think pulls of the socialist messaging better thank Doctor Who and the Silurians. The Master’s involvement is very unnecessary but his and the Doctor’s debate over what it means to rule the universe makes it worth it.
Absolution:
C’rizz is a companion that never got what he deserved: a fascinating addition to the TARDIS that finally got the spotlight in Absolution; a gothic, Boschian nightmare filled with endlessly creative and terrifying imagery, a brilliant setting and an unfortunately rushed script that does put a damper on things.
Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS:
Whilst the reset button ending is admittedly contrived, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS is the only episode of Season 7b I can confidently call a favourite. Exploring the TARDIS is a concept long overdue and the whole thing is a genuinely scary horror runaround.
I agree with you about Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, my eldest loves Colony in Space but The Gunfighters can continue to wallow at the bottom of my rankings.
I adore Journey to The Center of the TARDIS. Unironically my fav episode ever.
I don’t feel the Big Friendly Button is contrived, because the original button didn’t have the markings on because that version of Clara became the Time Monster, and “died”. I only noticed this detail on a rewatch.
I assume that the Doctor we follow remembered that version we didn’t see, just as he remembered the events after the Big Friendly Button Doctor tosses him the button by asking Clara if she felt safe.
I’m gonna have to put forward a slightly controversial one, which is Miracle Day (maybe excluding Immortal Sins, which I’ve seen get a lot of praise it rightfully deserves). Yes, there are issues with this series, but I think overall it’s fantastic and just a lot of fun. Gwen is amazing in it, and I feel like a lot of people who hate her would appreciate her more if they watched it. In general this series gets a lot of hate by virtue of just not being watched. It’s really not as bad as people make it out to be.
For my money though it’s got to be Tell Me You Love Me
How many people actually watched class all the way through? Less than 80 people have the badge for it here on the guide and it’s only 8 episodes, and then how many people who did watch it went to listen to the audios?
This is genuinely the best the class audios have to offer and for me is 5 stars. It’s a great character study for Mrs Quill, Charlie, and Matteusz. There’s some relationship drama we dont’ see much of in the show, and obviously Mrs Quill and Charlie’s back and forth is always great, and the monster/alien is just so perfectly suited for that drama as well as just being a really interesting concept for an alien as well
I think you’re the first other person I’ve ever seen who shares my view on Miracle Day! Is it perfect? No, not by a long shot. Is it full of interesting ideas and good character moments? Absolutely! I wish more people would give it a chance
YANA, Miracle Day might be flawed but it’s a hell of a ride Gwen is fantastic in this series!
The outrage when it is revealed that the ovens have been built in secret only for it to be generally accepted by the general population only months later is just an all too real comment on human pack mentality
Plus Gwen is amazing!
What was the point of having the guy (can’t remember his name) be a convicted child molester though? Sweet Xoanon that was hard to watch those scenes
Agreed. I also love ‘Delta and the Bannermen’ and will rewatch it for the n-th time soon (currently re-watching all the Seventh Doctor serials).
‘The Gunfighters’ - It’s been years since I last watched it, but I vaguely remember actually liking it. I hear one of the weak points of the episode is awful accents. Maybe that’s why I was able to enjoy it: I am not a native speaker, so all the accents sound just fine to me.
Agreed on The Gunfighters. A top 3 First Doctor story for me, just a great time.
You all probably know by now that my first answer here is LotSD, but I’ll also throw in Orphan 55, which isn’t a favorite by any means but which I think is quite a bit of fun
It’s not even really ‘wider fandom’. It’s the vocal fans who shout the loudest so their opinion becomes ‘fact’. If you were to judge a story by the opinions of ‘wider fandom’ I’d imagine it would be a broad spectrum for every story. He’ll there’s people on this forum who don’t like The Caves of Androzani!
Robot Of Sherwood definitely deserves more love than it gets. It’s a really fun Robin Hood story. I love Ben Miller as the Sheriff of Nottingham, and that spoon/sword fight between the Doctor and Robin is epic.
My plan was to set a half-hour sleep timer to finish the first part of this one and continue next morning. Well that didn’t work out cuz it’s so gripping. I just finished. Thank you for mentioning it!
Gwen is fantastic in this series!
