Ah yes when every scene is a random doctor and companion for no reason at all
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I think a bad introductory story is one of lower quality (for obvious reasons) or one of the best stories (I wouldn’t want to give someone super high expectations), so for that reason I would say that “The Waters of Mars” would be a pretty bad introductory story, since I think it’s the best Doctor Who story. My other favorite episode, “The Unicorn and the Wasp,” wouldn’t be a good one since although it’s not a super low or high quality story (well, it’s high-quality to me subjectively, but objectively it’s not in the same league as “The Waters of Mars”), it follows a very different format (Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery) than most episodes, and is more humorous than most.
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funnily enough this was the first episode of classic who I ever watched!
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Chimes of Midnight
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I think chimes is a perfectly fine intro story
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I just find it overrated
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Overrated doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad intro
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Can’t wait to start Revival Who with the book of Chimes of Midnight, followed by the book of Jubilee, followed by Series 41. What is the worst order to experience Who? Interesting question.
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You know what? I am putting Vanderdekens Children as my Choice for ‘Worst Introductory Story’, bet nobody had that one on their Mind, eh?
I don’t even think it’s a bad Book, but just one that seems to dislike the Fact that it’s a Doctor Who Book, which I think could easily put people off and give a bad first Impression.
I can see why people would say the experimental ones or the lore-heavy ones are big No’s, but I think nothing beats a Story that activiely doesn’t like being Part of the Franchise like this one. (Again it’s not bad, just disinterested to actually be Doctor Who).
I guess if I had to pick one for TV, would DMP be a good one to choose? I mean I love it, but it’s the longest Serial (if we don’t count Trial as one), has most of its Episode missing, is Part of the 60s Era which was filmed and acted very differently to today’s media and so on. Many Points, which I can see would put somebody off, I would certainly not recommend it as anybody’s first when doing TV Who or the 60s Era of the Show.
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It wasn’t my first Doctor Who story (that was The Return of Doctor Mysterio), but Shada was my first Classic story, and I’d say a serial that literally never aired is a pretty bad starting point.
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Shada novelization was my first classic who story (at least on of the very firsts) and I loved it!
I listened to the audio book over and over again and it was the longest audio I’ve heard by then. Then I proceeded to read the Chinese translation of the novel (and forced my mate to reading it), the 8th doctor audio drama, then the 4th Doctor serial with animation for unproduced episodes. There’s just something that fancinating about Professor Chronotis… So maybe you just did it in the wrong way 
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/j obviously ↩︎
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Interesting answer. Why do you say this?
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It’s so continuity heavy that it might alienate most casual / new viewers.
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