RANT: Why 80s Who Is The BEST!

A barely coherent rant regarding the sheer brilliance of Doctor Who in the 80s and the idiocy of "fans" who bash this most inventive of decades.

[TheSkully]

80s Who still remains as my favorite era.

As a kid when it was being reran around the time when the Christopher Eccleston series was being broadcast I completely fell in love with the Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy eras of the show.

In fact around the time David Tennant took over I completely abandoned the New Series simply because I refused to believe that Tennant could replace Eccleston in the role and thus choosing to stick with the Classic Series (arguably the best decision considering the quality of Series 2)

So while Nostalgia might play a big part of why I love the 80s era of Classic Who when I first saw it around 2005/2006 even as I've gotten older, my appreciation for it has doubled now that I've gotten to understand some of the better qualities of the episodes during Christopher H Bidmead, Eric Saward's and Andrew Cartmel's time as Script Editor.

Season 18: My favorite Season of Doctor Who I grew to love as I got older. Not only was I captivated by the new production values, music and the toning down of Tom's comical antics that came with the drudgery of the Graham Williams era, but the more melancholy tone combined with Chris Bidmead's influence as the stories tackled some science influenced concepts in stories like The Leisure Hive, Full Circle and the experimental high concept Warriors Gate.

It was a much needed change of pace and is always a pleasure revisiting stories like State of Decay, Keeper of Traken and Logopolis.

Season 19: Davison's era had a strong start, a new Doctor a new dynamic and one of my favorite ensemble casts of Adric Nyssa and Tegan but also some decent stories like Castrovalva, The Visitation, The Black Orchid (the last pure historical) and of course Earthshock.

Granted there are duds like Time Flight and Four to Doomsday, but they don't detract from just how much fun there is to be had with Season 19 as you really get a feel for the new lease on life Davison has for his role as the Doctor like when he's playing Cricket in The Black Orchid or exploring new worlds with intrigue and a love for travel.

Sadly it was Chris Bidmead's last series, but we did get another one of my favorite Doctor Who writers onboard as Script editor Eric Saward.

Season 20: A step down from Season 19, but not without its merit in stories like Enlightenment, The Five Doctors and Mawdryn Undead, bringing in a better usage of the Black and White Guardians.

Companion wise they wrote out Nyssa which was a tad depressing but in turn we did get a decent arc with Turlough and his deal with the Black Guardian as well as a bit of wasted potential with Kamelion joining the TARDIS crew in The King's Demons (not that it was anything within the production crew's control since the operator died and took the secret of how to operate Kamelion with him)

Not as bad of a season as many make it out to be, but a bit lacking compared to Bidmead's efforts.

Season 21: Barring its bad start with Warriors of the Deep, Season 21 was when Eric Saward's influence took hold on Doctor Who and Davison's final season was all the better for it.

Toned up the violence and the very oppressive atmosphere as demonstrated by stories like Resurrection of the Daleks giving such a macarbe and dower atmosphere that complimented its darker tone, The Awakening being one of my favorites purely for the concept of the Malus alone, and of course Robert Holmes's best story, Caves of Androzani.

I don't think I need to tell you why since most people consider Caves to be one of Doctor Who's best stories.

Season 22: Despite last season's misstep with the Twin Dilemma, Season 22's first story completely makes up for that with Attack of the Cybermen, continuing Eric Saward's morbid style of writing as we see the stories maintaining the same style of writing present in Season 21 taken further as it gives us a glimpse about what a more adult Doctor Who could've been like if behind the scenes complications hadn't gotten in the way.

Stories like Revelation of the Daleks, The Two Doctors and the aforementioned Attack of the Cybermen all doing well to demonstrate Saward's direction and one that I'm really saddened never continued.

Season 22 is also a season that I feel is given too much flack purely because people like to lump stories like Timelash in with the Twin Dilemma and judge Colin Baker purely on those two alone.

But no matter what script he was given, Colin Baker does a fantastic job as the Sixth Doctor and his chemistry with Peri while very back and forth with snarky quips always felt quite natural as no matter how many times they made a snarky remark to one another, they always made sure they looked out for each other, which to me speaks volumes about Peri and the Sixth Doctor's characters.

Season 23 was middling, Dominic Glynn's new theme tune I'm quite mixed on, but Trial of a Time Lord I respect quite a bit for its production values aging quite well (most especially for the Model shot in the Mysterious Planet and the darkened set design in Mindwarp) not to mention the incidental music of the season has a bit of an ageless quality to it.

I mean yeah you can tell it was made in the 80s, but the way it was composed and the synths used feel very atmospheric, which as said does create an amazing atmosphere.

Storywise it had its amazing episodes with The Ultimate Foe and Mindwarp but there was quite a bit of executive meddling as well as the departure of Eric Saward and the death of Robert Holmes that really did affect the development Season 23 had and while I can't blame JNT for his efforts, it was quite clear by this point that the BBC wanted Doctor Who off the air.

Mel sadly wouldn't get the development she deserved until Big Finish and Colin's Doctor despite being remarkably more likeable to a general audience this time around, it was too little too late for the general public as Doctor Who was slowly falling from grace in the public eye.

Season 24: was where I feel things really were shot in the foot for Classic Who and marked the end of days for the show.

Saward was gone, JNT was so convinced that he was gonna leave by 1986 that he didn't even commission scripts for this season and on top of that two pantomime actors with Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford were taking center stage in Doctor Who's campiest season.

But even despite that, I enjoyed its camp value and even when rewatching the McCoy era I find something so entertaining about stories like Delta and the Bannermen and most especially Paradise Towers.

Its clear that at this point Doctor Who was a joke for most people about running down a corridor while a rubbish monster made out of cardboard chased after them, but despite this season being a clear target for people to point out "There! That's why Doctor Who is rubbish, only losers and 30 year old nerds like this crap" from the general audience Doctor Who would take a remarkable improvement from the moment Ace stepped into the TARDIS.

Season 25: While it still bears the monikers of Season 24's campy tone, Season 25 had a much more self aware look at itself and thanks to Andrew Cartmel taking the reigns this season has a much darker tone if you're willing to take a deeper look into a lot of the sub-text written into episodes like The Greatest Show in the Galaxy and The Happiness Patrol.

But weirdly in its own way it also feels like the show recognised that "Yeah we're probably gonna be cancelled quite soon so lets give our mainstay villains a decent send off" with Remembrance of the Daleks wiping out Skaro and Silver Nemesis destroying the Cyber-Fleet where if Doctor Who were to have permanently ended in 1989 it still would've made for a nice way to send off the Daleks and Cybermen with some decent stories. (Though admittedly my liking for Silver Nemesis mostly comes from the fact that the Silver Nemesis itself scared the piss outta me when I was younger... for some reason)

Season 26: A glimpse into what could've been for Doctor Who's future.

Gone is the campiness that was present in Seasons 24 and 25 and now instead we have a more refined and mature Doctor Who that go into greater detail on Ace's character development from rowdy upstart teenager into a mature young woman and the audience begins to see The Seventh Doctor in a much more mysterious and manipulative light.

Battlefield, Curse of Fenric, Ghostlight and Survival make Season 26 one of Doctor Who's strongest seasons to date and the ending of Survival is nothing short of a beautiful way to end the the Classic Series.

I really wish we could've seen Doctor Who continue into the 90s and thrive once again as the show very much had a sense that it was growing with its audience by 1989. And had it continued I guarantee that Doctor Who by 2005 would've been a far different and likely a more mature series than what Russell T Davies gave us with Eccleston and Tennant's eras.

I won't deny that there are some parts of 80s who that is shaky at times, but if you were to recommend any New Series fan to get into the Classic Series, then Season 25 would be the perfect place to start.

Good Doctor with Sylvester McCoy, Best companion with Ace, recognizable foes like the Daleks and Cybermen. Modern(ish) enough so that the stigma of "Old Doctor Who is too slow and boring" doesn't really apply to action packed stories like Remembrance of the Daleks. And on top of that it really gives them a taste for what Classic Who has in regards to its stories.

80s Who needs more love and its one that I revisit the most out of everything Doctor Who has produced.

[OGNeilNeilOrangePeel]

Really enjoying these! It is so refreshing. I love 80’s Who. I grew up with it. I love 70’s and 60’s too, but can’t get into the new show and not for want of trying. I also agree that Season 22 and Colin (and of course Sylvester) were actually marvelous and far better to what we get served up nowadays.

[philadelphiawhovian]

Well, as a black female American who got into doctor who through new Who, 80s doctor who is one of the eras that I watch the most. and the amount of people who I meet that think the 10th doctor is the best doctor/had the best era, always baffles me! and I admit that I met so many people who have Five, Six and Seven at the bottom of their list of doctors, and they don't even watch a quarter of their runs. I even watched one youtube reviewer who admitted to hating Six without seeing one of his episodes. (he apologized for that stupid thought process later, but u get my point) but there's not one season in the 80s that doesn't have episodes that I like. there were some bold ideas in that decade. I could be biased tho, because I was born in the 80s. my mom got pregnant with me during season 22. either way, I like 80s Who too and that's never changing. fun rant, man :D I laughed. even if I sometimes fit on the side that u ridicule, I love ur rants as well as ur calm reviews. so welcome back, wrath and emotion! it was entertaining.

[buzzybeepopman]

I agree 80s era is underrated I love Sylvester McCoys era

[theodoredalton]

Gotta agree. I don't get why so many of them lamented that the show was so violent, but at the same time drooled over the Hinchcliffe era. Not hating on Hinchcliffe or anything, just saying that they can't prefer one era over another because of silly hypocrisy. Also why does everyone hate on the Keff Mcculloch theme?

[theoutcastboi]

I really don't like Delta and the Bannermen. But still, I'd take that over Hell Bent or Love and Monsters.

Either way, agree with alot of what you said. It's sad that people don't see all the good in the 80s and resort to slagging off the JNT era because that was where the show ended. Well, atleast when Classic Who ended, it ended on a high, with the high ups killing it off, I doubt it's going to be the high ups who kill NuWho...

Atleast nowadays, it seems like the 80s (mainly the 7th Doctor's run, though 6 is getting love cause of the audios) are becoming a bit more popular in general fandom.

[balogkrisztian]

80s is my favorite decade of Who:
I love Peter Davidson's run, season 19, 20, 21 is really great.
Colin's season 22 is underrated, and I feel like I'm the only one who genuinely like season 23.
Season 24 is really bad tbh, even I can defend it. Season 25 is mixed bag. But S26 is a fucking masterpiece.
Oh, and I think S18 is pretty decent, but it has some flaws tbh.

[SpectrumStorms]

I like the 80s. It has my two favorite doctors of all time, McCoy and C. Baker, my favorite companion, Ace, and it contains one of my two favorite stories, Remembrance of the Daleks (The other story being The Sunmakers).

[TheJaviferrol]

When it comes to Companions i do think SJ is a little overrated. Ace is arguably the G.O.A.T

[rayvenkman]

The Sixth Doctor and Seventh Doctor still had poor scripts but there was also some glowing moments of greatness within them such as when the Sixth incarnation declared the Time Lords & Ladies(yes Moffat, they exist) to be worst than the likes of the Daleks which I hear that burn has never quite come off now or the Seventh incarnation when he lets an artifact tear through the Cyberfleet.

Heck Meglos' absurd premise of a space catus impersonating the Doctor in a plot would be beyond salvaging had it not feature some good actors like Tom Baker that helps make the story more fun to watch rather than a chore.

[enny]

The Glynn theme is my favourite tbh, both of classic and modern who. I agree the incidental music if 80s Who is quite top notch though.

[stevencassidy]

The 80's or Nu Who? Sherez Jek versus River Song? Theres no comparison

[Doccywho]

I don't understand why people don't like the McCoy era and moan about how bad he is. I've seen season 26 and most of season 25. What I've seen is brilliant. I love virtually everything I've seen of Colin. I was one of the new Who fans up until 2015 when I started watching classic who

[peylix-ohm]

Did you know that there are bigger classic elitists than us? The ones who believe the show died in 1977 with Horror of Fang Rock being the last story.

[anthonychapman]

You missed 'Kinda' out, one of my all time favourites. Cerebral, experimental and some damn fine performances.

[Doccywho]

Granted season 12 is pretty mixed but I really like the Hinchcliffe era

[SpectrumStorms]

The one thing I don't like about the 80s is the Howell theme. It's good, don't get me wrong, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't overrated. The Glynn and McCulloch themes, on the other hand, are amazing, but nothing beats Derbyshire.

[BRAWGWill]

80s Who is statistically the same average quality as the Revived Series.

[Doccywho]

I recently watched Time monster and realised classic who can be as bad as new Who in some odd cases

[salliewagenblatt]

The last great era of old who still only liked Chris eccston short lived run in New who but after that not so much. The proper doctor who show has ended now its the separent pc feminist nurse who series who'll be writing the stories with that woman pretending to be this male alien character