What Fifteenth adventures of a Doctor are your favorites?

Another Wednesday, another week older, and 2026 is just zooming by Last Week saw[1] Deadly Assassin hold a slight lead at 37% Under the Lake/Before the Flood close behind with 36% and the Five Doctors round out the top 3 with 30%

All previous polls are still open and able to be voted on or changed

Remember you have two votes to choose from

Fifteenth adventures
  • The Space Museum
  • The Dominators
  • The Three Doctors
  • The Face of Evil
  • Warriors of the Deep
  • Gridlock
  • The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People
  • The Girl Who Died
  • Fugitive of the Judoon
  • The Interstellar Song Contest
0 voters

[2]


  1. at the time of posting ↩︎

  2. For the most part I’m using Tardis wiki for their story numbers with slight variations trial and flux have been/will be separated but that’s why woman who lived is not with girl who died. I’m still unsure if I should wish world with reality war or not. I consider it one story but TARDIS wiki shows 2 different story numbers. If anyone reads this and has thoughts let me know ↩︎

4 Likes

The Three Doctors and The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People.

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Three Doctors definitely a :locked:

Then I’m torn between museum, evil, gridlock, and fugitive. Even though I’m not a huge fan of TTC and pre Hartnell doctors fugitive as a stand alone was really good. edit and i do love almost every jo martin scene as fugitive just wish it was a stolen regen between 2/3 or something as opposed to be Hartnell - well I guess I made a second choice. If museums subsequent parts were as good as part 1 I feel like that would’ve been a lock

6 Likes

There are some fun stories on there, but my selection is pretty straightforward here:

The Face of Evil: A clever, subversive and deeply interesting script from Boucher. Plenty to say about faith, loyalty and even explores both AI and mental health. I love this story. An oft overlooked gem from season 14.

Fugitive of the Judoon: Genuinely did the unexpected. Changed what we thought we knew about Doctor Who forever, introduced the wonderful Jo Martin to the Whoniverse. All this, and it managed to be riotous fun as well. Brilliant!

Special mention, of course, to Gridlock and The Three Doctors. Plus, whilst it might be controversial, I find the combination of the events of The War Between… and the new special edition edit goes a very long way to rehabilitating Warriors of the Deep.

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Three Doctors is bonkers bit a riot of fun. The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People is beautifully old school but also dares to do something really interesting with the Doctor and concepts of personhood/identity.

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I cannot get into TRF/TAP for the life of me. Every rewatch I just find it duller and duller, if it wasn’t for the final scene I’d probably just skip it in its entirety

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Three Doctors and Gridlock were two easy choices. I wanted to vote for The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People as well, but in the end, I liked the other two more.

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Not a lot of stuff here that I’m crazy about.

The Three Doctors is good fun though. It’s not the best story in terms of production or writing, but seeing Pertwee and Troughton (and Hartnell) together is immensely fun.

I also picked Interstellar Song Contest. It’s one that divided opinions, but as a Eurovision fan, it’s definitely something that tickles my dugga doo.

7 Likes

The Space Museum is deathly dull.
The Dominators is deathly dull.
The Three Doctors is fun.
The Face of Evil is quite dull.
Warriors of the Deep is a mess.
Gridlock is fantastic.
The Rebel Flesh is dull.
The Girl Who Died is crap.
Fugitive of the Judoon is overrated.
The Interstellar Song Contest is a mess.

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Three Doctors (banter for days, and it introduces my favourite rival Time Lord)

The Girl Who Died (Jamie Mathieson Does :clap: Not :clap: Miss :clap:)

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I must simp for the Flesh two-parter. It’s such an improvement from “Fear Her”, Matthew Graham’s previous story, it’s wild. The acid-wracked monastery is a wonderful setting—atmospheric and creepy in equal measure—the side characters are dynamic, the Flesh is an interesting addition to Who lore, especially when it creates a Ganger of the Doctor, and a feeling of tense whimsy stretches from part one’s darts scene to part two’s terrifying cliffhanger. Give me more Base under Siege stories like this, please.

5 Likes

Two screamingly obvious choices for me today, although I do like most of the others:

The Space Museum: I actually quite like this serial, between the early attempt at a timey-wimey plot, the active role played by the regulars (especially Vicki, who is almost gleeful at getting the opportunity to lead a revolution) and the overwhelming 60s-ness of the costumes and setting. It’s far from the best here though.

The Dominators: Again, I think this is unfairly maligned - like The Space Museum, it’s fun to watch, even if it is silly. I also think the petty workplace struggles between the two Dominators are rather wittily played, which is more than you can say for some Troughton serials.

The Three Doctors: Obvious pick 1. The first multi-Doctor story (and still the best besides The Day of the Doctor), Pertwee and Troughton are a top-notch double act, Omega is a compelling villain with very interesting lore, the UNIT family are on great form, there’s just a lovely celebratory feel to the whole thing, and it moves the show forward by restoring the Doctor’s ability to freely travel the cosmos. A classic.

The Face of Evil: Pretty good. It introduces Leela, the production is typically gorgeous for the Hinchcliffe-Holmes era, the concepts at the heart of the plot are genuinely interesting. I did find it dragged a bit in the later parts when I watched it, so it doesn’t quite do enough for a pick.

Warriors of the Deep: A mess, but one that’s not entirely unentertaining. Stuff like “Face it Tegan, he’s drowned” and the infamous scene of Ingrid Pitt going mano-a-mano (womano-a-womano?) with the Myrka is at least unintentionally funny, the updated Sea Devils and Silurians look gorgeous, and the ending is sobering. Not good, but bad in interesting ways.

Gridlock: Obvious pick 2. This is a great episode overall, but I find it almost impossible not to just leap straight to the final scene whenever I discuss it, because it’s genuinely masterful. Tennant’s best ever moment in the show by some distance, but also the most emblematic of RTD’s philosophy for it. The soap/family drama aspect is what fans usually bring up as the core innovation of RTD’s first run, but I honestly think it’s the repositioning of the Doctor as a tragic protagonist that’s had the more profound and lasting influence on the programme, looking at subsequent eras. I’ve never made the connection before now, and I don’t know if he’s ever commented on it, but you have to think there’s a link between RTD’s experiences during the AIDS epidemic and how he writes the Doctor, and this scene is the most explicit he ever gets with it. A profoundly heartbreaking moment, and one of my favourites of all time.

The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People: Not much to say here, it’s a thought-provoking concept and there’s some very creepy imagery, but not a story I’ve ever particularly thought back to or revisited.

The Girl Who Died: This is kind of like Gridlock, in the sense that the episode overall is good but the closing scenes are phenomenal. It’s not as good as Gridlock earlier on or in the closing scenes though, and it’s not breaking new ground for the show in the way The Three Doctors does.

Fugitive of the Judoon: Fun, mostly for the Jo Martin/Jodie double act, but I don’t think it’s as groundbreaking as proponents like to make out. It’s really just doing a variation of the same twist already used in The Name of the Doctor/The Day of the Doctor, and the Captain Jack plot strand is completely pointless.

The Interstellar Song Contest: Fantastic right up until the Doctor tortures the antagonist completely unchallenged and then isn’t called out for it whatsoever, which is a moment so bad it tanks the whole thing, Kerblam!-style. It’s a massive shame, because the episode up until that point is fun, witty and genuinely tense, plus it has some of the most breathtaking visuals the show has ever done.

8 Likes

This is such a neat way of portraying it. Haunting, too.

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I’m literally at the girl who died so I haven’t watched it :sweat_smile: why does this poll always line up at the wrong time I swear I’ll get through s9 quicker :folded_hands:)

I went for the three doctors (duh) and gridlock this time. Three doctors is just great, I love the beef 2 and 3 have with each other, Jo, Benton and The Brig Are all used very well, and hey we have an omega that isn’t a giant cgi abomination! Oh and obvious reason THEY BROUGHT MY MAN BACK IN GLORIOUS COLOUR! And his outing here is certainly better than his own episode…..

The other pick was a little rougher, but I picked gridlock in the end because at least it felt like it was doing something and had a neat premise. I did like the setting and one or two of the side cast are good. Martha does actually get to tell ten off at the end, and omg it’s the Macra! (Who don’t exist, totally don’t exist)

If I had to pick a third it would probably be rebel flesh/almost people but it might’ve fought out with dominators slightly. Idk rebel flesh never really grabbed me until the end, but I can sit through it perfectly fine. It’s serviceable and I did like parts of it. Dominators while extremely boring at least has the quarks, and twojamie just flourish this ep for some reason. space museum starts really great, then falls off but it’s fine for what it is

7 Likes

I completely forgot about this 5 minute poorly staged vaudeville act/warning

CJ Oh doctor! I love the older look flirt flirt flirt
G I’m not the doc,
CJ Oh well hello flirt flirt
R/Y yeah not me and not me
CJ flirt flirt, SO Wait none of you are the doc flirt flirt Why did I waste this scoop ugh
CJ Give her this stupid vague warning
FAM can we get some more info?
CJ Oh you’re asking for more info I’ll just keep repeating the vague warning instead of giving you more info in the time I’m just repeating myself

4 Likes

Haha at least all polls are open until December so you can always readjust if needed

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And thankfully I have started to do that :wink:

I’m actually not the furthest behind with four as well, Which is fun

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A few decent ones but I truly believe Fugitive of the Judoon is one of the best Doctor Who stories out there, so I’m only voting for one episode this time

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Not the strongest set of episodes, coming in at around 185 in average ranking position. There’s a bit of wiggle room in my ranking on this one, as I’m not sure I’d rank some of these where I have them currently, but that’s why I’ll be doing another preference revealer ranking after my current run is complete.

Dominators < Flesh/People < Museum < Warriors < Interstellar < Died < Gridlock < Fugitive < Face < Three

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I don’t get those who don’t pick all their choices they have in these. If you only like one, I’d think you’d then pick the least bad of the remainder for your second. I don’t think you necessarily have to like an episode you pick, it’s always just which two (or three) are your top two (or three) of the set.

6 Likes