Doctor Who Club of Australia

[Greg]

No prizes for this one, though extracts of posts may appear in Data Extract.

With Sylvester having just left the country, it's a good time to look back at his stories, so...

Which is your favourite Sylvester McCoy/7th Doctor story, and why?

(Only Sylvester's TV stories from seasons 24-26 are included.)

[Sulp Niar]

'Ghost Light'. For oh so many reasons. The best example I could give concerning this serial's brilliance is the "That's the way to the zoo!" scene, which just shows everything off immediately - the brilliantly lyrical script, the fantastic production, and the acting - er, alright, so she isn't playing the piano all that well, but still.

The excellent lines in this story are everywhere - "I can't stand burnt toast", or "And you don't like my tie!", or how about the still hilarious "The cream of Scotland Yard"? And it's incredible to see how much effort Marc Platt puts into these tiny little lines, even though he's painting such a broad picture, even though he's dealing with themes of Victorian attitudes to Darwinism. A debate, incidentally, I'm not going to go into here, because I'm not currently intelligent enough.

We have a fantastic cast, but crucially, they don't entirely overshadow the regulars, who both give what are probably their best performances ever.

Then there's the production, and the music - too loud in the original dub, perhaps, but better on the DVD. In fact, the story is much better on DVD anyway - what with the documentaries - just as 'The Curse of Fenric' was.

There are a lot of really good McCoy stories, though. 'The Curse of Fenric'. 'The Greatest Show in the Galaxy'. 'The Happiness Patrol'. That's three immensely memorable and fantastic serials in two seasons of eight stories. 4/8 so far, then - that's not bad, is it?

[The Apprentice]

How could you not love "Survival?"
It has everything...The Doctor at his quirkiest, a dust filled quary, The Master, Hale and Pace, Punks, Thatcherites, and more pussies then even Mrs Slocombe could handle.....its great.
Pity there wasn't a more fitting ending for the final episode for Doc #7, and his gal pal Ace. But thems the breaks.

I sometimes wonder what ever happened to Ace. I don't think she would go back to her old life like Teagan or Sarah Jane. I could picture them both as a kind of Thelma and Louise in space....Do they have a Grand Canyon on Gallifrey?

Either way, I shall never find out, as I could go to "An afternoon with Sylvester McCoy"....damn you flu season!!!! - I shall have my revenge!

[Tegan]

Remembrance of the Daleks. My favourite Dalek story for a whole raft of reasons, not the least of which is that the Daleks finally become a real threat by working out a way to get from one floor to the next that doesn't involve pressing lift buttons.

That and the fact that my DVD copy is signed, not only by Sylvester McCoy, but also by Colin Baker.

Now that is a rare copy.

Colin was very nice to sign a 7th Doctor DVD for a presumptuous colonial.

[SharazJek]

Curse of Fenric for me.

A wonderful conclusion to the story arc which began 2 years earlier with Dragonfire. Although not a great fan of the virgin novels, this story was probably the inspiration for many of those books to come, and a pivital point in the character development of the 7th incarnation of the Doctor, as the myserious alien fixing up past mistakes/issues.

I think of the entire era, this story is the most emotional, in regards to both Ace's 'coming of age' and the Doctor's confronting a past evil. I also feel Nicholas Parsons' role as the Vicar was extremely powerful, questioning the morality of war while rapidly drowning in his own loss of faith.

There is much more that can be said about Fenric, but I'll leave it at that for now. Season 26 is very difficult to choose from as they are all such strong stories, but it's definately the best period in McCoy's tenure.

[Ickabod]

I'm with Teagn.....The Daleks became more then just salt and pepperpots.......also a stuntman lost his life on that episode and it led the way to what the Dalek were in the new series

[Speckled Jim]

Greatest Show In The Galaxy I loved when I was ... crikey, 16. Time flies, eh Doctor?
An ambitious story that polarised fans - I know people who haaaated it. But I loved the bizarre undercurrent of humour mixed with menacing nastiness.
I admit it looks a little cringeworthy amongst the mind bending CGI and slick editing of today's TV. Some of the acting is a little Z-grade, and the fiendishly clever plot might have worked a mite better on the page than it did on the screen, but I'm willing to forgive Greatest Show's little faults. Clowns as evil guys; brilliant. That scene where the lead clown winds down the dusty window of the black van .... that wicked laugh and flourish of his hand ... and the Gods of Rrrrrrragnarok (a planet custom-named for Sylvester McCoy's rolling tongue) disguised as bored circus-goers who're more interested in discussing popcorn - Greatest Show was to Dr Who what Dali was to conventional painting.

Interesting question, this one, too. Looking back on these episodes and dragging my memories outta the late 80s, I seem to remember a lot of absolute garbage alongside a lot of really clever stuff.

[Chickmacgyver]

My vote goes to Remembrance of the Daleks. Not only does it revisit Totters Lane and has some very clever inlaid references to The Unearthly Child, but this one of the Sylvester McCoy stories that didn't suffer from the low budget like some of his other stories shot on video. The daleks seem menacing, stairs no longer being an obstacle, and when someone got killed by one of them you could even see their skeleton! That really gave me the creeps when I first saw it.

The atmosphere of 1963 was cold and grimy, not polished and new. Scenes took you into peoples homes, workplace, and the school (different for Who at the time), which made it more real, like something that could happen at anytime in any place and at any time.

This is the story where you can really see a change in the nature in Sylvester's Doctor, becoming darker and more brooding. The Doctor has a past, but Ace (as us) catch only a glimpse of it.

Regards, Izzy

[Speckled Jim]

[Chickmacgyver]

[SharazJek]

[charlie]

[Chickmacgyver]

[Speckled Jim]