I completely forgot today was Wednesday. Well folks we are here the final of these polls. In the last matchup between multiple Doctors Last week[1] saw State of Decay hold off Time of the Doctor 67%-33%
All previous polls (should) still be open and will (should) continue to remain open until mid-December. However the forum threads are always open. I do plan sometime near the end of the year to do some sort of wrap up, stats, how each doctor did etc.,
Anyway since we only have 4th Doctor left all of the stories will go against each other for the final adventure battle
‘The Keeper of Traken’ and ‘Logpolis’ are both stories that I feel are less than the sum of their parts. The former has a very interesting setting and heralds the return of the Master after four seasons, but I struggle to recall anything significantly impactful from it aside from its ending. The latter is similar yet opposite, inasmuch that it has so many ideas the story struggles to muscle through in places; the Logopolitans, the Master’s scheme, the return of Nyssa, the introduction of Tegan, and the mystery of the Watcher all jostle for attention but, in my opinion, are crowded out by each other.
I’m not the first to suggest this, but these two stories may have fared better as a revised six-parter for Season 18’s finale. Process of elimination dictates I go with ‘Warrior’s Gate’!
A very interesting trilogy of stories here, you certainly can’t accuse any of them of being generic or playing it safe. In terms of which I’d actually rather watch though, it’s easily The Keeper of Traken - one of my favourite depictions of a fantasy society in the whole of Doctor Who, the production is gorgeous and the worldbuilding is well-done. I like the slightly Faustian theme behind the main plot, it’s got one of the creepiest portrayals of the Master (plus the only screen appearance of the wonderful Geoffrey Beevers). My pick for one of the best post-Hinchcliffe Baker serials.
Thanks for running these polls @PuddingBrainMummy, it’s been a lot of fun to think about and compare all these different stories each week.
Keeper of Traken is at least enjoyable enough for the return of that character, though it’s a tad slow. As I’ve noted before, Logopolis is a great onslaught of sci-fi concepts with a pace that sits somewhere between a rock and a limbless octopus stranded on land.
Warriors’ Gate is an ambitious story that is perhaps the closest the TV show ever gets to “esoteric”, and it wins out as a result!
as an aside… thanks for setting all of this competition up, @PuddingBrainMummy ! It’s been a real delight to take part in.
Once upon a time, I’d probably have jumped at the choice of The Keeper of Traken as I love Nyssa but over the years my tastes have attuned more to the weirdness of Warrior’s Gate.
I also find the guest cast of Keeper to be a bit odd in their performances, particularly Luvic.
It’s season 18 again, which I’m famously struggling with.
I don’t understand Warrior’s Gate and find it confusing and dull.
The Keeper of Traken is basically fine, but it’s not very special, save for Nyssa and the return of the Master.
I picked Logopolis basically because of it being the regeneration story and probably the one story out of the three that I enjoy the most. It’s a nice way to wrap up Tom’s era and bring in Peter’s. Even though the moments leading up to the regeneration are a bit disappointing.
Interesting, Logopolis in last surprises me. But it’s my pick. I just really like the gloomy vibe, the atmosphere, the tone. There’s just this sort of air of something coming to an end that works so well, and I really enjoy the themes of entropy and all of that. It’s all just very fitting for an end to a Doctor who’s been there so long. I quite like when the final story for a Doctor sort of forces them against their grain, like Eleven, the Doctor that’s so very much always running being forced to stay in one place for a long time. In this case Four is in a very serious situation, where there isn’t time for his usual goofiness and flippancy, and it’s great. Also, frankly, the best Ainley’s Master ever is is in his first proper appearance. I get that it’s not the most exciting episode, but honestly it, and a lot of Season 18, where Tom Baker and the show itself starts taking itself a little more seriously again was such a welcome change after the Graham Williams era.
The average for this set is upper middle in my rankings at 131, so all reasonably good stuff, but I’m just a big Season 18 fan generally.
Gate < Traken < Logopolis
Will there be a sort of conclusionary topic to discuss this game as a whole, or will this be the final thread? Curious when and where I should post my final stats.
Thank you everyone I did have fun doing this and honestly having my mind kind of shocked over what the consensus of us actually think is a good , meh, bad episode/selections etc
I honestly was just going to make a post in December with stats.
But I guess I can do a discussion thread next week as well as linking to all polls and then post stats and things once I assemble them in there.
Cool, I’ll just keep everyone in suspense about my own stats then. Since I know everyone’s interested in which Doctors’ stories I picked the most and such.
It’s Warriors’ Gate all the way for me. I adore it. Wonderful character work, superb performances, original and richly interesting plot. It’s a real favourite of mine and a superb bookend to the E-Space trilogy.
I like both Keeper and Logopolis though (and I guess I’m in the minority), despite the excellent world building and sumptuous production values, Keeper doesn’t feel quite so compelling as Logopolis (at least until that final episode). Nonetheless, a fine trip to end the polls on (and a big “Thank you” to @PuddingBrainMummy for doing this every week).
It is the end, but the moment has been prepared for.
Oh, and thank you to @PuddingBrainMummy for this series of posts! It’s been fun, even though a lot of people obviously voted wrong by not picking the 11th Doctor stories
It’s terrible, really - I’m able to ignore the more slow aspects of Warriors’ Gate by virtue of how weird I find it, even though my own perception of slow pacing is what causes me to dislike Traken and Logopolis when compared to Warriors’.
Is this me demonstrating my hypocrisy? No, though it is a poor way of going about framing my reasoning. I simply find the pacing of Traken & Logopolis too glaring an issue even with their admittedly interesting worldbuilding and concepts to then place them over Warriors’, in which I’m able to ignore it perhaps because the concepts grasp me in an even stronger grip!
I was really torn on this one. I think Traken is the better produced serial but Warriors has great ideas and bigger ambitions. In the end I voted Warriors, just because of the challenge of what it was trying to so.
