What to watch?

[poprockgeek]

I've mainly only seen New Who - so here's my question to the lifelong Whovians ...

Which Classic series episodes do you recommend?

Some people have given me ideas on Twitter (and they have been noted down, not ignored or forgotten) but I'm keen to get more and I thought other people might also find this useful so suggest away 

[The Doc]

Classic Who, even at lows, is still great. Id reccomend starting with An Unearthly Child and go from there. Though there are lots of single serials of each Doctor you could watch as stand alones and love

[poprockgeek]

I did actually start doing that until the New Who box set arrived so I've seen from An Unearthly Child to the end of The Daleks (I think that's where I stopped!) - just sometimes I like doing things as The Doctor does them - in a random order!!! 

[The Doc]

Then get yourself the Mind Robber, The Time Meddler, Spearhead From Space and Pyramids Of Mars for starters

[poprockgeek]

Noted - thank you 

[BlueRose]

Genesis of the Daleks, Destiny of the Daleks, Terror of the Autons, The Daemons...heck, toss on The Pirate Planet, which is my guilty pleasure.

[poprockgeek]

Ooh you can't beat a good guilty pleasure - I'm getting a nice list here. Thanks 

Hope others find this useful too

[Vampyros Adric]

A very good #7 Doc episode is Remembrance of the Daleks - a great story and really goes at a ripping pace. Tom Baker's last season is fabulous and Keeper of Traken through to Castrovalva are my personal favourite Classic Who. (I mentioned Caves of Androzani as my favourite all time episode). If you would like a guilty pleasure then really you can't go to far wrong with Resurrection of the Daleks!

[Dame Roger]

All the ones already mentioned, plus The Dalek Invasion Of Earth, Tomb Of The Cybermen, Inferno and City of Death. And lots more, of course, but those were the first that came to mind.

And if you want a guilty pleasure, try Delta And The Bannermen. Most people seem to detest it, but I think it's hilarious!

[Nightingale]

I'm another new series fan catching up on the classics, so thanks for this thread!

 I started out with the "best to worst" list from Doctor Who Magazine and then skipped around a bit.   
An Unearthly Child is a great place to start, and The Aztecs is another 1st doctor episode I liked. 

It took me a while to adjust to the pace of the older episodes and to warm up to some of the characters.
I was irritated by Victoria in Tomb of the Cybermen until I learned her origin story from the audio Evil of the Daleks. Sarah Jane started out rather clueless in The Ark in Space, but had an unforgettable exchange with the Doctor near the end of that one. 

Sometimes supporting characters sell an episode. My favorite 4th Doctor eps are The Talons of Weng-Chiang and City of Death, and I also like the Masque of Mandragora.

I agree with a previous post about Remembrance of the Daleks.  That DVD also has some great deleted scenes and interviews with cast and crew.

When in doubt, pick a new (to you) doctor and start with his debut episode.

[Nyki]

In general I agree with that last advice, but not where the 7th Doctor's concerned - Time and the Rani is one of his weakest, in my opinion.

I'd agree with pretty much all the stories mentioned so far in the thread.  A few others - Daleks Invasion of Earth, The Invasion, The War Machines, Inferno, The Daemons, Seeds of Doom, The Sun Makers, The Androids of Tara (watch one of the film versions of The Prisoner of Zenda first for maximum effect), The Two Doctors, Ghost Light (but don't expect to understand it  )

[chrissymarieb]

This is the year that I start watching some Classic Who (hopefully).  I have already built my Netflix list based on what you good people have noted here.  Does it matter if I watch in order or is it ok to bounce around?  Thoughts?

[poprockgeek]

This is the year that I start watching some Classic Who (hopefully).  I have already built my Netflix list based on what you good people have noted here.  Does it matter if I watch in order or is it ok to bounce around?  Thoughts?

That's what I've vowed to do this year as well 

I'm not watching them order if that helps. Just do what feels right for you 

[chrissymarieb]

This is the year that I start watching some Classic Who (hopefully).  I have already built my Netflix list based on what you good people have noted here.  Does it matter if I watch in order or is it ok to bounce around?  Thoughts?

That's what I've vowed to do this year as well 

I'm not watching them order if that helps. Just do what feels right for you 

Cool!  Perhaps we can compare notes at some point

[The Doc]

The Great thing about not watching them in any particular order is that until the later series when they start having longer arcs, you can pretty much check them out in any order and they still make sense because of the nature of the show. There may be new faces on the Doctor and the companions may change but the general feel of the story is always the same and you always know where you are. The Doctor doesnt do things in order so why should you watch them in order

On that note, wikipedia has a list of all the Doctor who stories in chronoligical order so you could watch them in that order and start with the dawn of time and end with the end of the universe

[poprockgeek]

This is the year that I start watching some Classic Who (hopefully).  I have already built my Netflix list based on what you good people have noted here.  Does it matter if I watch in order or is it ok to bounce around?  Thoughts?

That's what I've vowed to do this year as well 

I'm not watching them order if that helps. Just do what feels right for you 

Cool!  Perhaps we can compare notes at some point

Yeah that would be great 

[Nyki]

On that note, wikipedia has a list of all the Doctor who stories in chronoligical order so you could watch them in that order and start with the dawn of time and end with the end of the universe

Ah, but where would you fit in stories like City of Death and Time Flight? (just to be difficult)

[Vampyros Adric]

On that note, wikipedia has a list of all the Doctor who stories in chronoligical order so you could watch them in that order and start with the dawn of time and end with the end of the universe

Ah, but where would you fit in stories like City of Death and Time Flight? (just to be difficult)

Time Flight operates in the parallel universe known as 'Bizarro-Land' (how that got commissioned and my story on the Russian moon programme didn't is frankly beyond me). So really, you can watch that at any point and marvel at just how bad things can sometimes get. Then you watch City of Death straight after and marvel at a show getting things so utterly right and perfect, with amazing casting, water-tight dialogue and a brilliant plot. Then just jump back in to the chronology

[Davros]

I'm surprised it's not been mentioned- Face of Evil! Robots of Death too is a great story. And Mawdryn Undead is a great 5th Doctor story and one of the few to actually use time travel as a plot device in classic Who. Plus the Brigadier!