The War Machines is even better than I remembered it being.

(Although it is a bit weird that they write out Dodo, one of the Doctors companions, by hypnotising her and then just saying "she went to the country")

✨ Classic Doctor Who ✨
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to watch Classic Doctor Who, but don't want to slog through the boring episodes?

Check out my guide: https://averylychee.neocities.org/doctor-who/

Now with:
✨ updated recommendations for all of Seasons 1-3
✨ a much better introduction
✨ useful navigation buttons
✨ indicators of major plot changes

The first story of season 4 is so awful that it took me a week to build up the energy to watch it.

It's hard to even explain how it's bad, it's just... boring and predictable and nothing happens, and it has the same problem that almost all of the historical stories do: there's no energy. No-one seems to care all that much.

And it's made even worse by being a reconstruction, so you've only got stills of the actor's faces.

I'm so proud of myself for adding the navigation buttons to the webpage, tbh... it makes it a lot nicer, and I did a surprisingly good job designing them

Most of the titles of these stories start with "The"

In the first 4 seasons, there are 36 stories. Only 4 of them don't start with "The"

I'm watching "The Tenth Planet" (the last story starring the first doctor), and the doctor just... collapses unconcious for no reason at the start of episode 3

that was.... a much more intense regeneration scene than I was expecting

Despite many mediocre stories, the first doctor is still one of my favourites. His charm, his wit, his lovely laugh (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPlI1WpAwpU)... and his indescribable anger at human suffering.

He's a grandfather, who cares deeply about the world and those around him. None of the other doctors have that grandfather-ness to them, and it's part of what made the first doctor so special.

I knew something felt weird when watching Victory of the Daleks (an 11th Doctor story) - it's a story that's already been told, in the first 2nd Doctor Story (The Power of the Daleks)

I really wish the footage for Power of the Daleks still existed... the reconstruction is really hard to watch.

I was planning on watching the animated version of this story afterwards, but I think I'm going to be too drained to watch this same story over again, so maybe I'll try watching it after a long break.

nearly 2 weeks after starting, I finally got through The Power of the Daleks.

It's not a bad story, but it's just.... hard to watch something that's missing so much footage.

In my guide I gave it a maybe: https://averylychee.neocities.org/doctor-who/#doctor2

because (while I haven't watched all of it) the animated version would be a really good watch

I'm noticing that, in general, the stories that are completely missing are usually not worth watching at all

And now: The Highlanders, which is also completely missing.

Fun Trivia: The Highlanders is the last* of the "historical" stories – the show was originally conceived as having a mixture of historical stories (to teach kids history) and sci fi stories. But the historical stories were hated by the production team, and rarely were as engaging as the sci-fi stories, so they were abandoned - all subsequent stories set in the past also contained a sci-fi element.

footnote: while not intended to be an educational story, one of the 5th doctor stories was set in the past and contained no sci-fi element.

So there's a section in this story where the doctor dresses up as an old woman to get passed some guards. Should I make a note of this in my reccomendation, or should I just ignore it?

The highlanders was pretty good!

It's definitely one of the stories that I wish hadn't been destroyed, because even though it's a historical story, it's quite entertaining.

Next: The Underwater Menace.

It took me a while to track down a copy of Episode 2, which was thought to be destroyed until 2011.

Unfortunately, my source for all the other episodes seems to come from the mid 2000s, so it didn't include this episode

"They're going to carry out the fish operation on her!"

The Underwater Menace: finished

(see the site for a review: https://averylychee.neocities.org/doctor-who/ )

next up: The Moonbase

which is the second story about the Cybermen

@lizardsquid I think that last sentence is probably a bit too spoilery outside of the major plot change thing.

@BatElite except.... if you scroll down 1 line you see that we've moved on to the next doctor, so it's not that much of a spoiler

I'll rephrase that, though....

@lizardsquid I'd make a note of it. I don't know that it's "transphobia" specifically, but it's definitely a "look cross-dressing is funny haha especially when a ~man~ is wearing a ~dress~ lol" moment, which is worth TWing for, I think. :/

@lizardsquid
I would note it, and note that Ben (I think) teases him about it. It's definitely "man crossdresses for laughs," and that's a problem, but there's a larger discussion to be had here about this trope in British comedy, and in that context it's fairly tame because iirc the Doctor is genuinely trying to pass for disguise purposes.

@lizardsquid
I wish I could see this one so bad

@lizardsquid
There are a few in seasons 5 and 6 that you need to watch. Like The Ice Warriors and the ones with Lethbridge-Stewart (wasn't a brigadier yet).

@DialMforMara The Ice Warriors isn't missing ALL of it's episodes, though - I just mean the stories with no suriving episodes

@lizardsquid
Many that are missing 5 out of 6 are worth it.

@DialMforMara we'll see ::D