Arc of Infinity

Arc of Infinity
by Johnny Byrne
Originally Broadcasted: January 3rd-January 12th, 1983

Omega, the creator of time travel, who has forever been banished to the realm of anti-matter, is hatching a scheme to return to this dimension by bonding with the Doctor. The Time Lords have decided the only way to stop this threat, is to bring the Doctor to Gallifrey and have him executed. Will Nyssa be able to prove the Time Lords otherwise so that the Doctor can survive to defeat Omega?

Arc of Infinity was the first serial of the 20th season of Doctor Who, a season where Producer John Nathan-Turner decided to feature a returning baddie in every story. For Arc of Infinity, writer Johnny Byrne looked back to the 10th anniversary special, The Three Doctors, and brought back the demented Omega. Omega is one of the more interesting characters in Who history, because he's not really that bad. It was an accident that caused him to be stuck in the anti-matter dimension, and that drove him to insanity. He desperately wants to return to our dimension, but what makes him a villain is that he'll do whatever it takes to return. The characterization of Omega in the final episode of this story is some really beautiful stuff. Omega finally got his wish. He had returned, in the form of the Doctor, and he's roaming around the streets of Amsterdam, at first just taking everything in. The joy you see in his face from something as simple as a street organ is really touching, even though you know there's actually a terrible person underneath the Doctor's face. That then turns into a wonderful, if slightly long chase around Amsterdam, where the Doctor, Nyssa, and Tegan chase an increasingly unstable Omega. The stuff on Gallifrey is interesting, yet a little less exciting. Of course, everyone remembers Arc of Infinity for the cliffhanger at the end of Part One, where Commander Maxil, played by future Doctor Colin Baker, shoots current Doctor Peter Davison. No one at the time would have known this man would eventually become the Doctor. Tegan returns in this serial, after being left stranded at Heathrow Airport at the end of the previous story, Time-Flight. She has the joy of filling up the almost unnecessary Amsterdam sequences in the first three episodes, that include one of the worst designed monsters in the history of Doctor Who, the Ergon. Also of interest, it is the scene of the Doctor trapped in the Matrix that was used to represent the Fifth Doctor in the spectacular episode from the most recent series of Doctor Who, The Name of the Doctor. Arc of Infinity is overall quite a good story, although it does have quite a few negatives, including some bad monster designs and some bad effects. But it's the 80s, so we can overlook that :P

Luke's Rating: 8/10

The Name of the Doctor

The Name of the Doctor
by Steven Moffat
Originally Broadcasted: May 18th, 2013

The Doctor's friends are being taken out of time by the Great Intelligence, and they've been taken to the one place in time and space the Doctor should never go, his grave on Trenzalore. The Great Intelligence's scheme involves going back in time to wreak havoc on all of the Doctor's incarnations. And Clara is the only one who can save the Doctor...

I don't think I have ever been as excited for an episode of Doctor Who as I was for The Name of the Doctor. The anticipation leading up to this episode was through the roof, with copies of the story accidentally being sent out on DVD early to some fans. So with all this hype, did the episode live up to expectations? For the most part, yes! It certainly started out on the right note, with perhaps the single most exciting pre-title scene ever. The very first thing we see is the First Doctor stealing the TARDIS all those years ago on Gallifrey! And then Clara is falling through time, and we see her running after many past Doctors, through clips from classic episodes. We see the Sixth Doctor walk past Clara in the current TARDIS, the Fourth Doctor on Gallifrey from The Invasion of Time, the Seventh Doctor hanging on for doom in Dragonfire (I find it funny how they used one of the most ridiculous clips from the McCoy era), the Third Doctor driving Bessie in The Five Doctors, the Second Doctor running outside what appears to be the San Diego Comic Con, and the Fifth Doctor trapped in the Matrix in Arc of Infinity. And then the episode kicks off, in routine Doctor Who fashion. Clara, River Song, Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax come together to discuss the Trenzalore issue. Clara is the one who tells the Doctor whats happening, and it actually brings him to tears. The idea of visiting his grave was a clever one, and I hadn't expected it up to that point. Yet, it immediately made sense while watching the episode. The Great Intelligence, in the form of Doctor Simeon from The Snowmen (played by the great Richard E. Grant) enters the Doctor's time-stream to destroy his life from within. The only way to save the Doctor from this eternal pain, is for someone to replace Simeon, and that someone is Clara. This finally explains why the Doctor saw Oswin Oswald on the Dalek Asylum, and why Clara was also living in Victorian England. She splintered herself throughout time, all to save the Doctor. But then the Doctor does something even crazier, and enters his own time-stream to save the original, real Clara. He manages to save her, but then we get the second big shock of the episode. A Doctor that Clara hasn't seen before. A Doctor that gave up that title. A Doctor played by John Hurt. Fan communities are running rampant with ideas of just who this could be. My bets is that it's the Valeyard from The Trial of the Time Lord season, but then again, that might be too obvious. Whoever it may be, we'll have to wait until the 50th anniversary special to find out. Boy am I excited for that! It feels like we already got a sort of 50th special with The Name of the Doctor, so imagine how great that is going to be! This episode also pretty much brought an end to the saga of River Song, although I'd say her appearance in this story wasn't entirely necessary. And once again, we had some lovely stuff with Vastra, Jenny, and Strax. The Name of the Doctor fully lived up to my expectations, and created one of the most fan-oriented, and truly great stories of Doctor Who ever!

Luke's Rating: 10/10

Luke's Top 50 Doctor Who Stories: #25-21

See #50-46 HERE
See #45-41 HERE
See #40-36 HERE
See #35-31 HERE
See #30-26 HERE

25. The Lodger

The Lodger gives us something the Doctor hasn't really had before, a recurring mate. For the Doctor is Craig Owen's lodger, in one of the most hilarious Doctor Who stories ever that brings us plenty of heartfelt as well as totally creepy moments. The story even harkens back to seeing the Fifth Doctor play cricket in Black Orchid, by having #11 play football. Now if only they'd actually made Meglos the enemy...

24. The Keeper of Traken

After being mostly absent from the show for 7 years, the Master finally returned to Doctor Who in grand style. Disguised as the truly terrifying Melkur, the Master wrecks havoc throughout Traken in search of a new body. He gets that new body, that of Tremas, father of Nyssa and anagram of Master. Geoffrey Beavers performance as the Master is truly terrific, and it's nice to see the future Master Anthony Ainley in a protagonist role.

23. The Green Death

The "one with the giant maggots" is a fine example of the Jon Pertwee era, which consistently deals with many ethical and political issues. The Green Death expertly tackles the topic of global warming, and very neatly brings an end to Jo Grant's time with the Doctor. The BOSS is a wonderful idea for a villain: a living, thinking, utterly maniacal computer.

22. Let's Kill Hitler

Let's Kill Hitler is my favorite episode from the weakest season of Doctor Who since 2005, Series 6. The scene where Amy and Rory's childhood friend Mels is revealed to be River Song, and then we see that regeneration, left me utterly gobsmacked. It is perhaps for that scene alone that I rank this story so high. Oh, and it's always fun to "put Hitler in the cupboard"

21. The Girl in the Fireplace

Before Steven Moffat wrote the universally loved Blink, he penned Series 2's The Girl in the Fireplace, another fantastic story expertly tackling time travel. The Doctor meets, and falls in love with Madame de Pompadour, yet due to faulty time travel, what for him is seconds, is years for Pompadour. In the end, the Doctor is devastated by her death. One of David Tennant's best performances as the Doctor, and a pretty hot Pompadour helps too :P

Pyramids of Mars

Pyramids of Mars
by Stephen Harris
Originally Broadcasted: October 25th-November 15th, 1975

The Doctor and Sarah Jane land in a Victorian Gothic mansion on the future site of UNIT headquarters, where there are some very strange happenings. Sutekh, the last of the Osirians, is developing a plan to break free of his eternal tomb, to bring his gift of death to all humanity. Will the Doctor be able to defeat the supreme mental power of this Osirian god?

When you think of classic Doctor Who, Pyramids of Mars could quite likely be one of the stories that immediately pops into your mind. It's considered to be one of the greatest stories of all time, written by one of the shows most prolific writers, Robert Holmes. I am one of the few that isn't all that taken with this episode. It's certainly not a bad story, but I don't think it deserves the supreme praise it always receives. There's some truly fantastic stuff with the Doctor pitting his might against Sutekh's supreme power in Part Four. Tom Baker's brilliant acting really shows the severity of the situation. If Sutekh were to succeed in his plan, life would cease to exist. But the first three episodes mainly consist of a lot of running, hiding, and setting up. There's a lot of good atmosphere, but the story seems a trifle lacking to me. And it really pains me to say that, because Robert Holmes is one of my favorite Doctor Who writers of all time. He penned my absolute favorite story, The Caves of Androzani (which also tops many other Doctor Who fans lists). Perhaps it was because this was a re-working of a script that proved unusable, hence why the show credited the writer as Stephen Harris (a pseudonym). The amount of forms of Sutekh confused me a little. You have the black hooded Sutekh, Marcus Scarman as Sutekh, the sitting Egyptian form of Sutekh, and the dog-like god head. Why are so many forms of one villain necessary? Another detriment to this story is some really poor acting. The gentleman that played Marcus Scarman seemed to have been top of his class in overacting, and many of the deaths in this story were so obviously fake. A good actor should be able to make even death seem convincing, not just screaming like a girl and falling to the floor half-assed. Fortunately, most of that is made up for by Gabriel Woolf's brilliant performance as Sutekh, and the always excellent Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen. Pyramids of Mars is definitely a good Doctor Who story, but not a great one as it is so often applauded as.

Luke's Rating: 6.5/10

Nightmare in Silver

Nightmare in Silver
by Neil Gaiman
Originally Broadcasted: May 11th, 2013

The Doctor is forced to take Artie and Angie, the kids Clara babysits, on an adventure into time and space. And so he picks Hedgewick's World of Wonders. Only trouble is, the theme park has long been abandoned. Rising from the ashes on the hallowed ground are the Cybermen! They're back to take command of the universe, and the Doctor...

Nightmare in Silver was definitely one of the more hyped up episodes of this season of Doctor Who. Writer Neil Gaiman is thought of as pretty legendary and perfect, and many a Doctor Who fan loved his first episode last year, The Doctor's Wife. I however wasn't too impressed with that story. It was good, but it definitely wasn't the best story of the season. So I had hoped Neil Gaiman would up his game for this one, and it looked like he was going to, but sadly I was wrong. Once again, he provides an OK script. Not great, but not bad. And certainly not up to the hype it got. Now while I was disappointed by the episode overall, there were some pretty awesome elements to it. The Cybermen have been redesigned with a sleeker appearance, and they are now able to move more freely and much quicker than ever before, really adding to the scary factor. Introduced in this story are Cybermites, a really great idea: Little cybernetic creatures that can form to control a human specimen long enough to be upgraded into a Cyberman. It is through this that the Doctor is actually under control of the Cyber Planner, who becomes known as Mr. Clever (a wonderfully silly name I thought). This led to some back and forth between the Doctor and Mr. Clever inside the Doctor's head, which I thought was played out for way too long. It was clever at first, but quickly became boring. Clara got an interesting role in this episode, where she was pretty much put in command of the incompetent battalion of troopers. She relishes in this and shows off her typical Clara charm. I love this girl. And I also loved Warwick Davis' performance in this episode, such an underrated actor. I read many complaints about the supposedly unnecessary inclusion of Artie and Angie, the two kids Clara babysits. But really, why not have them included? It was really creepy seeing them under the control of the  Cybermites, and just added extra severity to the situation. There were also some fun throwbacks to some classic Cybermen stories. One scene shows three rows of marching Cybermen, harking back to Earthshock (my personal all-time favorite Cybermen story), while another scene of Cybermen breaking out of their tombs is a clear tribute to The Tomb of the Cybermen. Nightmare in Silver was, overall, a pretty decent episode of Doctor Who. Sadly though, it just didn't live up to the hype that was built up for it, and so I was sadly a bit underwhelmed...

Luke's Rating: 7/10

Shada

Shada
by Douglas Adams
Originally Broadcasted: Never Aired (Released on VHS in 1992)

The Doctor and Romana are called to Cambridge University by an old Time Lord friend, Professor Chronotis. Trouble is, when they meet, he has no idea why he called them. Meanwhile, would-be conquerer of the universe Skagra has broken out of the Time Lord prison planet Shada, and he is after Professor Chronotis...

Shada, Shada, Shada, as Tom Baker so eloquently puts it in his 1992 video introductions to this serial. Those introductions were necessary of course, as Shada is the legendary half-completed serial of Doctor Who. Hastily written by then current script editor Douglas Adams (who at the same time was receiving fame for his marvelous Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy book, TV show, and radio series), Shada went into production on October 15th, 1979, where all location filming was completed at Cambridge. Following that, the first block of studio recording was completed. When the cast attempted to start the second block of recording, they found the studio blocked off and a crew on strike. Various remounts were attempted, even for the next season by John Nathan-Turner (JNT), but eventually Shada was put to rest. All the recorded footage survived to tease us with what could have been. In 1992, JNT commissioned a VHS release of Shada, with all the missing links filled in a visibly older Tom Baker. This gets us the closest we can to a complete Shada, and it is this version that was just recently released on DVD. The completed filming features some lovely stuff, like the Doctor and Romana punting down the River Cam (later used to fill in for an absent Tom Baker in The Five Doctors), Skagra's sphere chasing the Doctor on a bike, and some wonderful bits with the lovable and forgetful Professor Chronotis. I particularly love the scene where the Doctor rides past the Cambridge cappella group, added to the story after a drunk conversation with the director the night before filming. The later episodes become a bit harder to follow, as there is more Tom Baker talking than actual recorded footage. So you have to really pay attention if you want to follow along with the plot. My only tiff with this story is the incidental music, provided by Keff McCulloch of the Sylvester McCoy era. His music is arguably some of the worst ever presented on Doctor Who, having no real melody to it, just incessant beats all over the place. It feels totally out of place in a Tom Baker serial, and I wish they would have used Dudley Simpson instead. Now the question that always pops up is if Shada were actually completed, would it be thought of as highly as it is being incomplete? Probably not. Shada is a good story, but not a great story. The fact that it is incomplete adds to its legendary status, which is probably a good thing for the story. Now while it is sad that the story never got to air, at least we can see what remains thanks to the wonders of DVDs!

Luke's Rating: 7/10

The Crimson Horror

The Crimson Horror
by Mark Gatiss
Originally Broadcasted: May 4th, 2013

Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax are investigating a mysterious disease known as the "Crimson Horror", that has only been found at Mrs. Gillyflower's Sweetville community. The Doctor and Clara have gone missing, and so it's up to Vastra and the gang to figure out what's going on, wherever the Doctor is, and just who is Mr. Sweet...

In looking at all the episodes for this season of Doctor Who, The Crimson Horror appeared to me as just a run-of-the-mill story. It features no big developments in the whole Clara/Doctor's name arc, nor does it feature any returning monsters like the Ice Warriors. So because of that, I didn't really know what to expect. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised! After a bit of a let-down with Cold War, writer Mark Gatiss redeems himself here with a story that's filled with plenty of twists, some good drama, and a whole lot of fun! The Doctor and Clara are missing from things at the start of the episode, and it's actually Jenny, Madame Vastra, and Strax that are prominently featured at first. In fact, our first view of the Doctor in this episode has him covered from head to toe in pink, having been infected, yet rejected by "the Crimson Horror". That may sound like a bad thing put the main characters off to the side for a bit, but the awesomeness of Jenny, Vastra, and Strax is just too much to care. I will join in with the hoards of Doctor Who fans begging for these guys to get a spin-off show. It would be so fun! And we get to see more of them in The Name of the Doctor... Jenny manages to help the Doctor get rid of the disease, and we're then treated to an interestingly displayed back story. Things actually play out as if it's coming from an old turn of the 20th century camera. Maybe a bit too early for this stories 1883 setting, but it's a cool and unique direction style anyway. The evil Mrs. Gillyflower really is despicable in her Hitler-like view of the world. Only perfect people can be permitted, and so her blind daughter is left by the way-side. Actually, she's blind because of the experiments her mother had done to her. Now, behind all this was someone (or something) named Mr. Sweet. I kept thinking it must be the Great Intelligence, as it seems to be a recurring threat this season. So I was really surprised when it turned out that Mr. Sweet was nothing but a classic series throwback hand puppet. A little disappointing there, and kind of disgusting too. Once again, the Doctor has to save Clara, and when he does, his joy of seeing her still alive is really heartwarming. Add to that Murray Gold's absolutely beautiful musical theme for Clara, one of my favorite pieces he's ever composed for the show. Going in with no real high expectations, I was quite surprisingly impressed with The Crimson Horror, the 100th episode of Doctor Who since it came back in 2005!

Luke's Rating: 8/10

Luke's Top 50 Doctor Who Stories: #30-26

See #50-46 HERE
See #45-41 HERE
See #40-36 HERE
See #35-31 HERE

30. The Sea Devils

While I prefer the Sea Devils cousins, the Silurians, this is still a great example of the Pertwee era. You have the Doctor trying to diplomatically solve a situation, the Master trying to mess things up (even from prison!), and in place of UNIT, you have the Navy aiding the Doctor and the lovely Jo along the way. And let's not forget the iconic scene of the Sea Devils emerging from the ocean.

29. The Talons of Weng-Chiang

Robert Holmes again produces another fantastic script with The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Featuring many plot devices that would be featured in his greatest story (The Caves of Androzani), Talons still has a lot of good in it, despite the slightly racist connotations and long running time. The banter between Jago and Litefoot is particularly enjoyable.

28. Survival

The last episode of the classic series is one of the best from Slyvester McCoy's era. The theme of survival of the fittest, Ace's intriguing back story, and the return of the Master to the show after a three year absence made this story a great one. It's a real shame the show had to end when it did, but at least it got to end with that great speech from the Doctor.

27. The Stolen Earth/Journey's End

This is when David Tennant's Doctor was at his happiest. Every single companion from his era on the show pilots the TARDIS together in a wonderfully touching and memorable scene. Add to that the brilliant return of Davros and the usual menace of the Daleks, and you get a wonderful season finale. However I must say I found the fake regeneration to be a little unnecessary...

26. Voyage of the Damned

Undoubtedly the most cinematic the show has ever been, Voyage of the Damned is a thrilling, epic tale that has everything that makes a good Doctor Who story. An overly heroic Doctor, a great companion, fantastic monsters, a maniacal baddie behind it all, and some thrilling, heart-warming moments from beginning to end.

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS
by Steve Thompson
Originally Broadcasted: April 27th, 2013

In helping to teach Clara about the TARDIS, the Doctor takes down the shields at exactly the wrong moment. The moment when a salvage ship is passing by. The ship is exploding, and Clara is trapped inside. It's up to the Doctor and the salvage team members to save Clara from the centre of the TARDIS...

This season of Doctor Who has had many moments for fans to look forward to. The return of the Ice Warriors, the forthcoming naming of the Doctor, and this wonderful deep look into the TARDIS for the first proper time ever. I say proper time, because we have gone further into the TARDIS before, just not quite as grand as this. The Invasion of Time tried to convince us that the interior of the TARDIS is a disused mental hospital. A few years later in stories like Logopolis and Castrovalva, we got to see many rooms of the TARDIS, such as the Zero Room, some strange garden area, and Romana's room. But here in Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS, we get the first story actually based off that premise. And boy does it deliver! Thanks to the wonders of CGI, we get to see many wonderful rooms deep inside the TARDIS. We finally get to see the swimming pool that has been mentioned so many times before. The library stands right at the heart of the TARDIS, with its roof making an outline of the top of the Police Box. In that library, Clara reads a book with a very interesting title: "The History of the Time War." Many a Doctor Who fan has always wanted to see what happened during the Time War, so maybe The Name of the Doctor and/or the 50th anniversary special will delve into that. The Doctor, Clara, and the salvage crew make their way to the TARDIS' engine room to stop her from exploding, and they must use the Eye of Harmony to do that. The Eye of Harmony has been seen before in The Deadly Assassin and the Doctor Who TV Movie. The one part of the episode that I was a bit perplexed by were the deformed creatures that kept attacking everyone. I had such a great theory to who they were. Old companions of the Doctor. I was wrong, they were actually Clara. Which made more sense in terms with this story, as the Doctor finally confronted Clara about her mysterious qualities. The whole side story with the Van Baalen Brothers was pretty interesting, but I think in the end ultimately distracted from the main focus of this story: The TARDIS. After writer Steve Thompson's previous Who effort (The Curse of the Black Spot), I was a bit worried if Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS would live up to the hype. I needn't have worried, for this was a great episode of Doctor Who that finally gave us a detailed look into one of the most iconic elements of the show!

Luke's Rating: 9/10

Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways

Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways
by Russell T Davies
Originally Broadcasted: June 11th-18th, 2005

The Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack are transported into what seem to be normal 21st century TV game shows, but these shows actually have a deadly twist. Turns out the Daleks are controlling everything, and they plan to launch an all out war on humanity. It's up to the Doctor and Jack to save not only Rose, but the whole of humanity...

Sadly, the Christopher Eccleston era has quickly become an almost forgotten era of Doctor Who. But it mustn't be forgotten that he was the Doctor when the show was brought back. Were it not for his terrific performance as the Doctor, the show may not have been as successful as it is today. So we all as Doctor Who fans have a lot to thank Mr. Eccleston for. The sad part is, he really couldn't care less. In interviews, he has spoken rather poorly of his time on Doctor Who, counting it as just another job. That's a big difference from his succeeder, David Tennant, who loved every minute of playing the Doctor because he was a huge fan of the show as a kid. With that, you'd think Christopher Eccleston wouldn't have made that great of a Doctor, but boy did he. A prime example of his excellence is his final story, Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways. The first part of Eccleston's swan-song, Bad Wolf, boldly brought Doctor Who into a different kind of era by landing the Doctor in a deadly version of Big Brother, and by the same thought, Rose in an even deadlier version of The Weakest Link. I can imagine how some would be turned off by this, but it was actually a very clever story plot that carefully built up to the unveiling of the Daleks as the masterminds behind everything. This is when we get the Ninth Doctor's defining moment, when the Daleks tell him to surrender or they'll kill Rose, he heroically replies with "No! 'Cause this is what I'm gonna do: I'm gonna rescue her! I'm gonna save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet! And then I'm gonna save the Earth! And then, just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every last stinking Dalek out of the sky!" Sends shivers down my spine every single time. That then catapults us into the second episode which is an all out war between the Doctor and the Daleks. Never before have so many Daleks been seen on screen at once, literally thousands of them. To save Rose, the Doctor sends her back home, but she won't have it. We get some really emotional conversations between Rose, her mom, and Mickey, and eventually she makes it back to Game Station by looking into the Heart of the TARDIS. All that knowledge is burning her head though, and so the Doctor decides to absorb it all from her, leading into his regeneration. Just like the Fifth Doctor before him, the Ninth Doctor dies to save the life of a companion (one who he loves), and that perfectly sums up what is great about this Doctor. Bad Wolf and The Parting of Ways brought the all too short run of Christopher Eccleston's Doctor to a close in one of the best season closers of the new series. But all is not sadness, for at the end of things, smiling Number Ten is on his way in!

Luke's Rating: 10/10