Geek Syndicate Issue 8 | Page 40

Geek Syndicate

BEST STORIES: Incarnations

One and Two

NOTE: Unless stated otherwise, all images in this article are © BBC Worldwide.
As a follow up from last issue’s Doctor Who ranking article, Luke and Antony thought it would be
a good idea to put together some recommendations of stories which serve as “the best” for each
Doctor. Naturally, opinions differed and so it was decided to continue in the same vein. Over
the next few issues of Geek Syndicate magazine, Luke and Antony will each recommend a story
from each Doctor’s era of the show. The aim is to offer a couple of “ins” to Doctor Who while being
somewhat more analytical than perhaps would be the norm.
This issue, we look at the period from 1963 to 1975. This period contains stories for the first three
incarnations of the Doctor as we know him.

A Note on Nineteen Sixties Doctor Who and Our Story Choices
In many ways, Doctor Who in the sixties was the pinnacle of the show. It was the time when we
saw so many of the various elements of the show that we have become accustomed to appeared.
The Black and White presentation helped increase the creepiness of the show when required. The
crew behind the series had to utilise the money that the show had to the best it could. Of course
this was true throughout the classic series’ lifetime, the show was made and budgeted as a drama
series which means it was allocated the same budget as, say Z Cars – a Police Procedural show
that involved no aliens or historical locations. The directors had to be clever in creating the most
horrific images. Sometimes successfully – others less so, but the creativity involved was immense
given the techniques available at the time.
Unfortunately because many of the show’s episodes had their masters wiped so that the tapes
could be re-used (amongst other reasons...there’s an article in that, I think!), there are many
classic stories that no longer exist in their entirety, some only survive as soundtracks and photo
stills. For this reason, we will be picking stories that exist in their entirety and are available on
DVD. This does include stories for which some episodes have been re-constructed in animated
form (such as The Invasion, The Ice Warriors and The Tenth Planet).
40