Classic Who Question

[firefly124]

So, over the course of the past couple of years, I've been attempting to watch Classic Who through from the start, minus the obviously unwatchable eps that were lost to fire or otherwise destroyed. My progress has been somewhat underwhelming, as I've only just finished the Fourth Doctor's Key to Time story-series. November's approaching fast, with various anniversary-related things such as the classic multi-doctor audio book and whatever they'll do with the anniversary ep, and I'm finding that I'm less interested in seeing every little thing in order and more interested in getting a feel for all the Doctors.

So, here's my question for those of you who know your classics. What are the key stories that you would recommend in order to accomplish that? What else must I absolutely see before moving on from Four, and what do I absolutely need to see of Five, Six, and Seven? Eight is a bit easier, obviously.

Comments

[jenett]

Warrior's Gate is the last Romana story, and there's visuals from that that linger with me still.

The Keeper of Traken introduces Nyssa, who I always rather liked as a companion, and Logopolis, which comes right after it, introduces Tegan (and is the regen episode for Baker->Davison. I really really like Black Orchid (Five) for what it does with expectations and genre and also bits of character development. (Cricket! Masked balls! Lurking horror!)

TimeFlight has both Cybermen and another big moment in the series, in terms of how they handled narrative and implications.

Looking at various lists, Rememberance of the Daleks (which as quotes point out, they were treating as the 25th anniversary in some ways)

Saying I *liked* Greatest Show in the Galaxy is not quite accurate (it is creepy-circusville), but it's a good Ace episode, and it does that kind of Victorian Ambient Horror that Who does so very well in the process. Ghost Light also does that very very well, in a different style of Victorian Horror.

[firefly124]

Thanks for the tips! Those do sound like good recommendations.

[sahiya]

I really like "The Curse of Fenric" for Seven. I found "Greatest Show in the Galaxy" unwatchable.

I think Five shines most in his regeneration arc, actually, which is "The Caves of Androzani." I don't like him much otherwise, but "Androzani" endeared him to me (even if his companion Peri makes my list of Top Five Most Annoying Who Characters EVAH").

Eight's movie is supposed to be terrible. I actually got to know him through a couple of novels - The Turing Test and City of the Dead are both very good. The bulk of Eight's characterization and mythology was done through audios and novels, so it might be worth seeing if you can get ahold of some of them between now and November.

ETA: I agree with the person over on LJ who suggested the other anniversary specials. "The Three Doctors" and "The Five Doctors" are both really good fun if you haven't seen them.

[firefly124]

I'll have to try and get hold of some of those novels. I've heard the movie wasn't very good, but it would seem odd to skip his only visual "episode." The Three Doctors was great, and I'm definitely looking forward to The Five Doctors.

[sahiya]

I suppose so. Nothing I've heard about it has made me want to run out and see it, though.