The Classic Who (Re)watch Thread!

MISSION STATEMENT AND INFO, PLEASE READ BEFORE THREAD-HOPPING

Classic Doctor Who (1963-1989) is kind of obtuse. It's 700+ episodes, in a format that was long-dead even when the show was still running, with a large chunk missing and rather drastic tonal and plot shifts that make a mere three-year gap making it seem like you've stumped upon a different show entirely. That, and it's just plain plodding sometimes.

But underneath the difficulty factor is a lot of stuff worth exploring (for myriad reasons), and I figured it'd be easy for newbies if they had someone to take the plunge with, a bunch of other newbies who are all kind of on the same page. So each week we'll be looking at a different serial (selection criteria to be determined), and maybe this way fans of the new series can find a groove in the old stuff they're comfortable with. Kinda like a book club.

This isn't just exclusive to newbies, though. Maybe you're a long-time fan interested in helping out or reliving the good old days, or a fan of one Doctor trying to find a good vantage point on another that never quite clicked with you. All are welcome.

Choosing criteria thus far:

• No incomplete serials. Even the best reconstructions are hard to sit through, and we're contending with (from a modern standpoint) a lot of watch-ability problems already. I might make exceptions for ones with animated reconstructions, but those aren't on Dailymotion.
• No EU stuff. EU books generally has wide-ranging plot stuffs going on that threaten to steal the focus. (Hell, I'm not even sure how to deal with Key and Trial yet.) Moreover books and audios are hard to pirate come across. There's also a much larger amount of material. We're contending with 700+ episodes, as mentioned.
• No So Bad, It's Good, at least not yet. Let's figure out what good Who looks like first.

I might considering altering these when we've gotten through a decent breadth of material that qualifies.

So, let's begin, shall we?

SERIALS SO FAR: You may notice some of these conversations took a damn long time. In the interest of keeping things moving, we'll be rolling over to the next serial once every two or three weeks depending on the length of the serial. (General rule of thumb: serials of 2-5 episodes get one week, 5-10 get two.)

2012 Spearhead from Space (3) • The Mind Robber (2) • The Arc in Space (4) • The Edge of Distruction (1) • The Caves of Androzani (5) • The Curse of Fenric (7) • Inferno (3) • Pyramids of Mars (4) • City of Death (4)

2013 Vengeance of Varos (6) • The War Games (2) • Doctor Who and the Silurians (3) • Genesis of the Daleks (4) • Earthshock (5) • Survival (7) • The Chase (1) • The Krotons (2) • The Dæmons (3) • Horror of Fang Rock (4) • Kinda (5)

edited 9th Oct '13 7:06:28 AM by Wackd

/raises hand

Ooh! Ooh! Can I join?

I watched part 1 of Unearthly Child once, just to see what it was like, and then never got around to going any further. And this'll give me just the push I need to do so!

Welcome aboard, good [insert classy gender word here]!

We're probably not starting with An Unearthly Child. Hartnell's Doctor is wholly unlike any interpretation of the character in the early days and none of the characters involved stick around for a particularly long time or make a lasting impact on the program. (Hell, even Susan, much hyped for being the only link we have to the Doctor's past, is generally just a damsel in distress.)

It would also make it seem like we're going to watch the whole thing straight through, and...well...the point of this thread is to make the classic series less daunting.

Once more people hop on board we can start discussing where to start. I'd like to give it a couple of days.

edited 7th Aug '12 9:30:01 PM by Wackd

The only Classic Who I've seen is Tomb of the Cybermen and the first few minutes of Pyramids of Mars.

Welcome aboard, good madam!

...Tomb's got some funny and heartwarming bits, but overall? Can't blame you for not coming back to the series 'til now.

I just haven't had the time, nor do I know which ones I want to watch.

Oh, I've seen the first episode of The Romans as well.

Hello. I've watched a decent amount of Classic Who but there's still a lot of it I've yet to see (especially from the Hartnell years).

My favourite serials, out of the ones I've seen, are The Caves of Androzani, The Seeds of Doom, Remembrance of the Daleks and Terror of the Autons.

I'm up for it. Seen most of Five and Six's run, as well as a couple of episodes all over the place.

I'm a much bigger fan of the classic series than the new, though I enjoy both series quite a bit. I've got every episode of the original series and seen them all many times. I love the black and white episodes, and really just about anything up until Tom Baker leaves the show. After that it's much more hit and miss for me.

I've actually attempted a "start to finish" marathon once, and I'd agree that the reconstructions can be a chore to sit through. If someone finds the pacing of the actual existing episodes to be slow, they'll never make it through any reconstructions. A friend of my wife who is a fan of the new series was watching some old Doctor Who with us one weekend, which she had never seen before. She found it really plodding and kept complaining that nothing had happened, so I can imagine how anyone who became a fan thanks to the current series might find the old episodes tough going.

Maybe the approach should be to pick a few of the best stories from each season, as a sampling? I'd be up for each and every episode from day one, but I'm probably in the minority there.

Some of my favorites: Warrior's Gate, Inferno, The Caves of Androzani and Horror of Fang Rock, though there are plenty of others just as good.

edited 8th Aug '12 5:28:38 AM by andersonh1

The Caves of Androzani is pretty awesome.

I got the Sontaran boxset a few years ago and found that The Time Warrior was also great. The Sontaran Experiment and The Invasion of Time are a bit meh, and I like The Two Doctors.

I'm interested. I've seen a fair number of episodes, my biggest blindspot is the middle and late 4th Doctor stories. Mc Coy is my favourite Doctor.

I'm in. Only saw first two eps of An Unearthly Child as well as half of Tomb of the Cybermen, though I've spent enough time on The Other Wiki and on Tardis Wikia to know about a great many famous serials. I also saw various clips of Classic Who.

I have actually started watching my way through Clasic Who. I am on the final serial of Season 2. I have so much to watch still.

Why don't we start with Androzani? I've heard a lot of good things about that one.

I support that. I think we should start with something that is a contender for best serial, which I know Caves is. Although I'd understand if people think we shouldn't start with a regeneration story.

How about an introductory story? I went to look at the list of great serials on the Gush page, and it included Spearhead from Space (Three's first story). There's also The Three Doctors, which some consider the best multi-Doctor story. Or would that one be too hard for most first-timers to get?

edited 8th Aug '12 2:25:51 PM by Mort08

I wouldn't really want to see that until I've seen something else from all three doctors involved, yeah.

I nominate Spearhead from Space, then.

Seconded. It's a fairly good serial.

Spearhead from Space is also one of those rare instances where the show does an almost total reset. New Doctor, new companions, new situation... it's a good starting point if you don't want to start at the beginning of the series.

Spearhead from Space. I've got it all ready here. Then, we can move on from there.

Spearhead makes sense, all the Third Doctor's stories are complete so there's not a whole lot of skipping around.

Apropos of nothing I'm surprised to see that Medicus has watched so comparatively little of the classic series, from his vehemence I kind of expected that he had watched or listened to he entire television canon.

Just for the record, no matter wher we start we're gonna do a shitload of skipping around.

But it appears to be unanimous. Spearhead it is.

edited 8th Aug '12 7:46:53 PM by Wackd

So let's start with Part One (we should go by parts, right?). And boy, oh boy, I'm liking it. But there's three things I can't stop thinking about:

1. The Brigadier looks and sounds like that Colonel character from Monty Python. I expect him to suddenly go "alright, this show is too silly, let's move on to the next sketch".

2. Speaking of silly, JON PERTWEE WHEELCHAIR RACER TWO THOUSAND!

3. Also, the ending. A bit of an abrupt cut, right? No fade, just... Doctor gets shot, suddenly credits.

Now to watch Part 2.

Let's let people watch at their own pace. No need to rush, really.