Doctor Who : Best Episode In Tom Baker's 3rd Season

Doctor Who : Best Episode In Jon Pertwee's 3rd Season

Blimey, this one is impossible. I'd guess Hand Of Fear is possibly the least good, primarily because the Brian-Blessed-a-like version of Eldrad in Ep4 is pretty weak.

But as for the rest... Talons is probably the right answer, but I'm not sure I can overlook Robots Of Death. Or Face Of Evil. Or Mandragora. Lumme.

easy. robots

Don't think I've seen any of these, shamefully. I'm always a bit weary of tackling Tom's catalogue as there's so much of it.

Talons should win (despite the giant rat) but you can never tell on ilx.

man i love almost all of these. "hand of death" is cornball, but it actually gave me a nightmare i still remember. (i said it on another of these threads, but dr. who scared me pretty regularly when i was 10 or 11.) anyway, talons -- it appealed to my sherlock holmes victorian-london fixation. robots/talons might be the best back-to-back combo in the tom baker canon.

the whole season is great

the last four* are all TOTAL GENIUS, so very hard to decide. I may plump for Deadly Assassin, or for Robots. Or Talons.

*Not that I have ever seen Face of Evil, mind, but am reading book at the moment.

the last four* are all TOTAL GENIUS

Spot-on. And even 'Hand...' gets points for one of the few really good companion-leaving bits (Sarah Jane really not wanting to leave, the Doctor leaving her in completely the wrong place, the labrador). And when I was a kid it gave me the fears. Interesting use of transgender villain, if I remember properly, too.

The Art Deco Robots are fabulous.
http://www.doctorwhotoys.net/robot7.jpg
http://www.doctorwhotoys.net/robot84.jpg

Mr Sin also gave me the fear.
http://www.doctorwhotoys.net/mrsin.jpg

Sorry, those pics were bigger than I was expecting.

Had to go for robots... if only for the Doctor's detailed explanation of "robophobia."

Basically these all rule. But Robots is stunning. Only problem with it is that the set design and costuming makes a lot of episodes look bad in comparison.

It's really a pity about the last part of Eldrad Must Live. The farewell scene saves it, though.

deadly assassin does have sweet outfits.

http://www.shillpages.com/dw/story/d4/st--4p09.jpg

"Humans feel pain."

Deadly Assassin, because it's true that these are all pretty great, but in DA the lack of a companion makes for an interesting dynamic.

true

I think I can safely say every episode here will get a vote

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Aaaaaand Herman was right.

Just watched 'The Face of Evil', and I was struck by how it was much more of a trad '60s sci-fi short story it was compared to much of the others; almost like something Ellison or Sturgeon would have written for classic Star Trek.

The particulars that stood out: the computer gone mad and schizo after the Doctor's previous attempts at repair, the group gone completely tribal and forgetting their history after evolving from a survey ship's crew(like something straight outta Aldiss' _Non-Stop_ or Heinlein's _Orphans in the Sky_), and naming themselves after a corruption of their function, the tribal shaman communing with his god thru the wireless gear of a rotting environment suit, the Doctor finally talking to a sane & sentient computer after it's all been cleared up.

I find this such a jarring contrast b/c you get so many standard story bits I'm familiar with as an American sci-fi dork who's consumed so much written genre work to now be included into something significantly different from that tradition(esp. the H/H-era Doctor, what with your Fang Rocks and Wang-Chiengs and Dr Morbiuses and all that).

Also finished 'The Invasion of Time' tonight, and I was surprised to find the cinematography leagues better than most of everything else in the classic series: better camera work, better framing, tight close-ups, the Tardis console room actually being underlit for once, etc . They actually shot people from low-angles, f'rinstance. Maybe I've just watched too many McCoy stories lately that the change in production values is causing a reaction.

My favourite bit in Invasion Of Time is till when Stuart Fell gets it totally wrong jumping across the corner of the swimming pool and nearly goes arse over tit on the sunbed.

Face of Evil is kind of genius, and the "the group gone completely tribal and forgetting their history after evolving from a survey ship's crew" idea still works even when it gets rehashed in Full Circle.

I watched the Deadly Assassin DVD yesterday and had totally forgotten how much it completely shit me up as a kid. HORSE IN A GAS MASK. I had also forgotten how much it rips off the Manchurian Candidate, even down to individual shots.

is face of evil out on DVD? it's not in the US, apparently, which is kind of bad as you don't really know the story on the tarzan chick in the robots of death.

No, and it's not in work either as far as I can tell.

Currently 'in work' i.e. likely future releases:

The War Games
The Black Guardian Trilogy
Keys of Marinus
'Dalek War' (Frontier In Space, Planet of the Daleks)

Further speculation on:

The Twin Dilemma
Mind Of Evil (currently being colourised)
The Chase/The Space Museum
'Myths & Legends' (Time Monster, Horns of Nimon and Underworld)
Planet of the Spiders

God in heaven, the makeup in "Talons" is atrocious. Top story, though.

Hand of Death is special to me, but only because Sarah Jane is special to me.
One of the better "let's just use this quarry" episodes, perhaps?

How many 'Noun of Death' Dr Who stories have there been?

Seeds Of Death
Ambassadors Of Death
City Of Death
Robots Of Death

..so, four?

There's a few other Deaths and Deads and Undeads, but I can't think of any other Noun Of Deaths. (Trip Maker was thinking of The Hand Of Fear. And it's true, that hand was p scary. Even if Sarah-Jane was dressed as Andy Pandy to lighten the mood.)

"Curse of Fatal Death"

http://www.pwrscan.com/home_files/Canon_logo.png

Happy birthday Tom Baker, 83 today

Here he is on the building site where he was working when he got the part
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2mg35KVEAA5Nuk.jpg

looks like Amazon just added a bunch of Tom Baker-era episodes in the US. Ribos Operation here I come...

Wonder if Talons would do so well these days

i hope it wouldn't and suspect it would :(

I saw it lost in a twitter poll to The Christmas Invasion the other day, so maybe not.

even without the racism I always found it to be one of the weaker stories of the era and didn't get why everyone was so keen on it.

The Robots of Death is arguably the best Tom Baker story, possibly the best classic Who story.

over time i've come more and more around to androzani, i appreciate how really well-directed it is

My top 5 are probably

Robots
Androzani
Mind Robber
Inferno
Pirate Planet

I've been saving these photos of Tom Baker for some time, now is the time to unleash their full power of joy 🖤 pic.twitter.com/zcDpLIaVth

— Alexander Tucker (@oldfog) March 18, 2020

Thank you!

note the bag of jelly babies on the table