Oh fine, let’s do one more “Doctor Who to watch while you’re self-isolating.” This time, as weird as I can go. These ones are not necessarily “good television.” They are, however, “on Britbox” and “amazing.”
Not going one per Doctor this time. Let’s just capture some of the most bafflingly wonderful television ever.
Season Two: The Web Planet. A story with no human characters besides the TARDIS crew that tries more than any other story to portray an alien landscape as alien. On a 1960s BBC budget. In a tiny television studio. It’s the most WTF of WTF stories. I love it.
Let’s also point out The Gunfighters in Season Three. A pure historical. With a singalong running through it. And British actors attempting to do American accents. Supposedly the worst Doctor Who story ever. Actually one of the best.
The most WTF of Troughton stories aren’t on Britbox, but if you’ve never seen the main reveal of the Enemy of the World then you’re missing out. Otherwise, go grab the animated version of The Macra Terror if you really want some WTF.
There’s a lot of WTF in Pertwee. You’ve probably seen The Curse of Peladon in Season Nine. (Though if you haven’t, it’s one that everybody enjoys.) Have you seen The Claws of Axos in Season Eight though? Glam Rock Overdrive. It could only happen in 1971.
Also check out The Mutants in Season Nine. An overstuffed glam rock mess with some of the most amazingly questionable effects and acting ever. Or, if you really want it inexplicable and of questionable quality, The Time Monster. Hard to like, easy to love.
Tom Baker... well, there’s always The Sunmakers, which sees Robert Holmes attempt to complain about his taxes an accidentally write a Marxist parable.
But you should also have a look at The Pirate Planet, which sees Douglas Adams not managing to be nearly as magnificent as City of Death, but still managing to be incomparable.
And then there’s Season Seventeen, which Adams script-edited, to mixed results. The Creature From the Pit and the Horns of Nimon feature the most consistently and beautifully questionable decisions. Creature is better, Nimon is... yeah.
Peter Davison... gosh. A certain lack of quality batshit there. But if you’ve never seen his debut, Castrovalva... gosh. That one’s a trip. Absolutely bursting with ideas.
Let’s go ahead and skip Colin Baker. But Sylvester McCoy, gosh. Delta and the Bannermen is one of the most idiosyncratic things ever put together—a story made up of strange parts that combine even more strangely.
But obviously I have to end this with The Happiness Patrol. At first you’ll think it’s a pretty normal dystopian parable. And then... well... you’ll find out.
