The classic BBC Doctor Who series remains among my favourite television, watched vividly as a youngster during the late 70’s and early 80’s. Now discovering the dvd releases with improved picture and sound opened my eyes to many stories that I had never seen (i never bought any of the videos). There is also the extra special nostalgia of seeing old favourites again with extra commentary and footage. So here are some thoughts on what make up the best 30 dvd stories as far as they are released, based predominantly on the stories themselves rather than commentary, but some extras, packaging and box set pricing will also be taken into account.

1

Genesis Of The Daleks                                                                                                         

4th Doctor

Hailed as the best story of all time, and it is easy to see why with a great storyline outlining the war on Skaro and the birth of the daleks at the hands of a superb new adversary Davros. It turns into a classic piece of Doctor Who, with excellent cliffhangers, with good pace over 6 episodes, and indeed some moments of real tension along the way. Whilst Arc in Space remains my favourite overall storyline, the artwork and the disk extra which follows the ‘Story of the Daleks’ on this 2 disk edition make this the best dvd to buy to experience Doctor Who at the height of its popularity.

2

The Ark In Space

4th Doctor

This is the story that i remember most fondly and vividly from its first showing. It is classically simple Doctor Who at its best, with Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan as assistants, and a tightly filmed location set on spacestation Nerva. It is a wonderful story about the future of mankind, and contains an insect monster called the Wirrn. The cliffhangers are notable, and the story builds beautifully from a theatrical play style opening episode, with excellent dialogue and delivery. New CGI effects have now been added to this dvd version. My all time favourite nostalgic Doctor Who story.

3

The Pyramids Of Mars

4th Doctor

Another classic and highly popular story from the Tom Baker era. A gothic style Egyptian mummy tale featuring the excellent Sutekh, the last of the Osirians who is planning to break free from his prison with the help of Professor Scarman. This is another great location story, set in the grounds of an English mansion. The use of the classic mummy monster just adds that extra special appeal. The story is wonderful and the enemy Sutekh is excellent, and as such forms another Sarah Jane Smith and Tom Baker classic.

4

Spearhead In Space

3rd Doctor

The opening story for the 3rd Doctor just after his regeneration. Weakened and exiled to earth he lands amongst the Nestenes invasion force. The autons are a fantastic enemy and somehow have extra scary realism due to their real life association. The story includes the classic showroom dummies coming to life scene. The core of this story sees the newly formed UNIT including Liz Shaw help the Doctor in what is an exciting adventure, as key political figures are being replaced by autons. You will also learn a little about the Doctors biological make up.

5

The Talons Of Weng-Chiang                                                                                               

4th Doctor

As a youngster i admit i never really quite understood what has going on in this story, but many years later and the whole thing comes to life in a brilliant way. A tale full of suspence with assasinations and mystery, building to a fast paced climax. This story seems to have a slightly darker and more adult feel to it, starring the Doctor in a Sherlock Homes style mystery, and thus keeps its value long after others may have faded. A great 2 disk dvd featuring Leela as the Doctor’s assistant and with some good acting from the strong supporting cast.

6

Inferno                                                                                                                                   

3rd Doctor

The Inferno project is a top secret drilling operation to penetrate the earth’s crust to release a new energy source. Toxic liquid starts to throw the operation into chaos, and the Doctor is flung into a parallel universe. There is plenty of scope for a good story here, and this delivers excitement over 7 episodes on a great powerstation location. Liz Shaw, the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton all have significant roles to play. This is another great 2 disk dvd with an excellent documentary on the history of Unit.

7

The Dalek Invasion Of Earth                                                                                             

1st Doctor

Not having seen any 1st Doctor stories before this dvd release, this turned out to be quite a revelation. First off the black and white really adds to the atmosphere of this story. The opening episode especially has good dialogue and again seems to have the feel of a theatrical play, working so well to build up the suspence... and then one of the all time great cliffhanger as a Dalek appears out of the water. Quite simply the whole story is superbly done, and seeing the Daleks in London just makes it all the more eerie. New CGI effects are available for those that like them.

8

The Tomb Of The Cybermen

2nd Doctor

The story that was recovered after over 25 years and is highly regarded by fans of Doctor Who. It certainly lives up to expectations as Patrick Troughton, aided by Jamie and Victoria discover the lost race of the Cybermen on Telos. The expedition storyline slowly builds the suspense in the opening episodes until the emergence of the Cybermen from the frozen tombs makes for one of the most memorable moments in Doctor Who history. We waited a long time for this one, and it was certainly worth it.

9

The Green Death

3rd Doctor

A John Pertwee story set in Wales, where Jo Grant is set to leave the Doctor in a sad farewell. This is another great story focusing initially on the dangers of pollution, but then also introduces a mad mind-controlling computer called Boss. The opening episodes especially are wonderful, with huge maggots, contaminated green ooze and a harrowing search through the mines. There is also an almost family feel to all the members of Unit here too. A highly enjoyable story, which even has some fun on the way when the Doctor dresses up to avoid capture.

10

The Caves Of Androzani

5th Doctor

Rated by some as the best Doctor Who story ever and featuring Peter Davidson as the Doctor, you will admire some excellent production work and an exciting storyline set on Androzani Minor. Sharaz Jek makes for a great renegade in the battle for the valuable Spectrox. Whilst this story doesnt quite scale the very top of my personal chart, the cliffhangers and general drama do make it a classic storyline and i am sure you can overlook the underwhelming magma monster in the mines. A real highlight for the 5th Doctor.

11

Carnival Of Monsters

3rd Doctor

This remains one of my all time favourite target books, and probably works even better in print than on screen. It has a really clever and enjoyable storyline which connects the SS Bernice cargo ship from Earth 1926 and an amazing machine on the planet Inter Minor. It has a great idea at its core and is a well told story, and for me the concept is what makes this more special than usual. Featuring Jo Grant as the 3rd Doctor’s Assistant, it has a really neat cliffhanger at the end of the brilliant opening episode, and the Drashig monsters are a well presented menace for its time.

12

Horror Of Fang Rock

4th Doctor

Another great story for the Tom Baker and Leela team. The pair land on earth on Fang Rock where a lighthouse is under seige from an alien creature. A mysterious fog moves in, and one by one the occupants of the lighthouse are being picked off. Who will survive this encounter? The dialogue and character building is really enjoyable, the lighthouse setting is perfect and the small set just adds to the suspense. A well written story, and despite two average cliffhangers, the 3rd episode cliffhanger dialogue line is one of my all time favourites.

13

The Robots Of Death

4th Doctor

Another appearance for Tom Baker as the Doctor and assisted by Leela as they land onboard a Sandminer on Storm Mine 4. Here the skeleton crew are being killed off one by one and the Doctor must discover who is the killer and why this is happening. A great Agatha Christie style story, clearly featuring robots and with some really good cliffhangers too, especially where is the Doctor is being buried alive. Certainly a more watchable story for those not really big fans of the series.

14

Remembrance Of The Daleks

7th Doctor

Silvester McCoy returns to Earth with new assistance Ace to encounter a battle between rival Dalek factions. A romp around school buildings and junkyards reveals a new Dalek weapon and an ability to glide up staircases. A good performance from this quirky Doctor, with a strong story build up and some great cliffhangers makes for some classic Doctor Who. Finally we get a return to a decent Dalek story after a long wait, and thankfully the writers didnt add in Davros again for another return. This is an all round success and is the 7th Doctor’s best story.

15

The Keeper of Traken

4th Doctor

The Keeper of Traken is one of the real gems of Doctor Who, as the Keeper summons the Doctor to protect the harmonious planet from evil. The calcified enemy is excellent and the story holds out on the truth long enough to make it a real classic. This is a really enjoyable story featuring The Master. It is packaged in a box set with Logopolis ending in a neat regeneration scene, and Castrovalva introduces a new and ailing 5th Doctor together with a complex trap set by the Master, and represents a real bargain as a set.

16

Planet Of Evil

4th Doctor

Another great 4th Doctor story, located on planet Zeta Minor at the far edge of the known galaxy where a portal to another universe exists. A suberb and pretty believable jungle setting hosts a monster made of pure energy, where Professor Sorenson is extracting rare anti-matter minerals for shipment to earth. This eventually leads to the death of his party and a Jekyll and Hyde story unfolds as the military rescue ship tries to escape the planet. All in all this is a solid and entertaining story with a good build up and some excellent cliffhangers.

17

The Sea Devils

3rd Doctor

With The Master imprisoned on an offshore security installation and no hope of escape, what could possibly go wrong ? Ships start to sink off the coast and before long the navy are involved in a full scale war against the Sea Devils who want to reclaim the earth as their own. The Master is of course on hand to help them and the Doctor and Jo set out to stop the war escalating. This is a great location story, with the navy rather than Unit this time the clear supporting help for the Doctor. A 6 part story that moves along at a decent pace and is another classic for the 3rd Doctor earth based storyline.

18

City Of Death                                                                                                                         

4th Doctor

A holiday in Paris for the Doctor and Romana leads to a chase to discover why the Mona Lisa has been stolen and who is interfering with time. Written by Douglas Adams (Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy) this is a quality script with some expected humourous moments. The time storyline is good, and retains its intrigue right up to the end, with a great locations used in this famous city. The simple detective, Duggan can be annoyingly brainless at times, but there is some excellent dialogue in here. Many fans hail this as the definitive Doctor Who story, and i agree that it is certainly the best of the K9 Tom Baker era, and has the most comedy driven dialogue of them all.

19

The Brain Of Morbius

4th Doctor

Heavily influenced by the Fankenstein hammer horror storyline this is one of the most unforgettable stories from my childhood. A spooky gothic castle holds a mad surgeon who aims to restore the Brain of Morbius (a rogue timelord) by creating a new body from pieces of other alien lifeforms. The monster itself is gruesome, there are some excellent scenes and great lines thrown in and the whole atmosphere is edgy and dark. A great moment when Sarah Janes reclaims her sight and exclaims ‘I can see’ only to turn around to face the Morbius creature.

20

The Seeds Of Death                                                                                                            

2nd Doctor

Another rare surviving story for the 2nd Doctor and a six part episode showing the future of Earth, as the impressive Ice Warriors plan their invasion. Aided by Jamie and Zoe the Doctor aims to thwart these enemies. Again the black and white filming just seems to add to the suspence, and despite a poorer episode showing a rocket ship trip to Moonbase, this story is really very enjoyable from start to finish. It just makes you wish again that more full episodes survived from this era. I much prefer the the Ice Warriors as an emeny than their later appearance as a more friendly race.

21

The Daleks

1st Doctor

This story is from a great opening historic box set The Daleks, arguably the single most important story in Doctor Who history, introduced this classic enemy for the first time and elevated the series into the realms of cult status. It is quite a rambling tale but has a good build up and some great moments. You have to just imagine what impact it must have had on its first showing. Packaged with the first story, An Unearthly Child and Edge of Destruction it is the start of a massive success story for the programme.

22

The Silurians                                                                                                                         

3rd Doctor

A seven part storyline in which Unit visit an underground nuclear testing plant which is suffering from power fluctuations. It isnt long before the cause is identified in the caves, as the Silurians emerge from hibernation. I really like these creatures as a part of Doctor Who history, although in this story the Doctor over labours in his efforts to make peace between them and humans. However this is very typical in style for the 3rd Doctor, and i have a soft spot for this story. Packaged alongside the Sea Devils and Warriors of the Deep it is one of my favourite box sets.

23

The Claws Of Axos

3rd Doctor

A mysterious object crashed to earth as the Doctor and UNIT face a new threat from outer space as gold-skinned aliens bring strange gifts to humanity, but all is not as it seems. The Doctors arch enemy, The Master appears, and in a neat twist actually ends up working with the Doctor to save the earth. The tentacled zapping monsters are great, and even the alien ship works hard to achieve some nice effects. Overall this is a good story that works well and is very enjoyable, and it is good to finally get The Master properly on dvd too.

24

Earthshock

5th Doctor

Earthshock will always be remembered for the death of one of the Doctor’s assistants, a stark reminder that he is not completely infallable, and that his adventures are not without danger. You dont see the real enemy, the Cybermen until right at the end of the first episode meaning that the cast and story unfolds in the caves well before the punchline. A bold story albeit with some miss-casting of the ships crew perhaps, but still one of the most memorable pieces of Doctor Who all the same with a classic finale.

25

The Three Doctors

3rd Doctor

Actually i have quite a soft spot for this story and possibly will watch it much more than many above it on the list. Whilst i have to recognise that it has a little padding around the middle, it is still Doctor Who as i originally remember it to be. The 1st and 2nd Doctors join John Pertwee for this adventure to prevent the great Time Lord Omega from escaping from his antimatter prison. Here you also get too see the other Time Lords on Gallifrey for the first time, and UNIT forms a key part of the adventure.

The New Series of Doctor Who is brilliantly brought back to life by Russell T Davies and has provided us so far with 5 series of great new episodes and some longer specials. Some stories are all out hits, with a few misses that are perhaps inevitable, but here are a selection of my own favourites based on various reasonings from their cleverness, excitement or general importance to the overall developing storylines. I now have a 7 year old son to share Doctor Who with and so his own reactions certainly play their part as well.

1

The Girl In The Fireplace

Series 2

A Doctor Who love story, and a true classic which features time travel through the life of Madame De Pompadore and set in Versaille. The time travel aspect here is used beautifully to create emotion and loss, and the clockwork killers are a fantastic threat. This is one of the cleverest storylines for the new series, not an action packed thrill ride, but featuing intrigue and writing of the highest order. It features the Doctor in one of his most human episodes. 

2

Blink

Series 3

The Weeping Angels make their first appearance, and one of the greatest new monster creations since The Daleks. These stone statue like monsters cannot move if you can see them, so at all time you cannot ‘blink’. An outstanding success as the story tells the tale of the Doctor being lost in time and sending messages to Sally Sparrow to uncover the truth. Not only is the main storyline clever and features a mystery to unravel, but the Doctor is simply not the main star here. Another well written classic.

3

The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances

Series 1

The best story for the 9th Doctor and a double episode too. This combines everything, a great World War II setting, and a mystery of the unearthly child which takes the whole first episode just to build up. The Doctor and Rose meet Captain Jack Harkness for the first time, arguably the most important new character to enter the Doctor Who storyline which leads to the Torchwood spin-off show. The story is intruigingly clever and has excellent interplay between all the main characers.

4

Waters Of Mars

Specials

The penultimate story for David Tennant and a fantastic space base under seige storyline with real tension and suspense as the water monsters take over the Mars base occupants one by one. The Doctor is at his best here, with a real dilemma in whether to help the settlers whe were destined to die in one of the key fixed time occurances. The Doctor begins to unravel in the knowledge that his own time is coming to an end and decides to take on history itself. This is a classic on every level.

5

The Stolen Earth / Journeys End

Series 4

The finale two parter for series 4 and the earth is dramatically removed from its orbit by the Daleks. The Stolen Earth sees The Doctor try to track down the mysterious disappearance and he is then joined by a whost of previous cast characters for the final showdown with the great Davros. In addition the storyline for Donna reaches a dramatic and emotional conclusion. This is an epic in every sense and it is hard not to be impressed by the scale of this story and the cast included.

6

The Eleventh Hour

Series 5

One of the truly great openers for a new Doctor, as newly regenerated he meets an orphan girl Amy Pond in a mysterious house with a crack in her bedroom wall. A great mystery unfolds, with time a key element and some neat threads begun for the whole of the series. The new Doctor is admirable in his portrayal of a new eccentric character who ends up with just 20 minutes to save the earth from the galactic policeman. A great start for the 11th Doctor.

7

Dalek

Series 1

Another blinding stand out story for the 9th Doctor. Beneath the Salt Plains of Utah, the billionaire collector Henry Van Statten holds the last relic of an alien race. It turns out to be one of the Doctor's oldest and most deadly enemies, the last remaining Dalek. Here we find out more about what happened to this deadly race and the consequence of the great war. When Rose reaches out to touch the last Dalek everything takes a turn for the worst. Dramatic stuff and a rare great Dalek story.

8

The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang

Series 5

The series 5 double part finale where the Doctor is warned about The Pandorica which is said to contain the most feared being in the cosmos. The Doctor is about to find out its secret. This is a great twisting storyline which you will need to keep up with, but it is expertly told and keeps you guessing right the way through. It also ties up the threads begun right at the start of the series. Stephen Moffat the new producer shows us that the Doctor Who series remains in safe hands.

9

Turn Left

Series 4

A cracking look at what happens when Donna is influenced to change just one minor decision in her life and her world begins to unravel. This is a great storyline developer for Donna which raises her profile as one of the great characters within the universe and teams her up with Rose to save creation from an approaching darkness. It links many previous earthly events and has a parallel universe theme which holds the key to the forthcoming finale to this series. A cleverly developed episode. 

10

The Next Doctor

Specials

Amidst the strong rumours that David Tennant was moving on, comes a storyline that is located in Victorian London and another Doctor, presumed to be a future incarnation is superbly acted by David Morrisey. The Cybermen are back and the new Cyberking is looking to take over earth by building a giant steam powered machine. In the end the Cybermen storyline may not be one of the greatest, but the interplay between the two Doctors and the unravelling of the Next Doctors own story is quite excellent.