My Time With the Sixth Doctor

The Twin Dilemma 

Finishing the Twenty First Season with a story from the new Doctor was always a gamble, It was intended to be there the introduce people to him so they didn't have to wait 6-9 months wondering what he'd be like and the publicity hype could work better in the off-season. 

The problem is that the Doctor we were introduced to was a selfish, arrogant, uncaring man that had been messed up from a bad regeneration. Leave that thought with you for 6-9 months and would you go back to watch it? This was a bad start for the fledgling new Doctor

Twenty Second Season

Out of all the Sixth Doctor's run, I find the stories in this season to be the best he had to offer.

Attack of the Cybermen is tedious to me now, but as a young boy, there's a lot of significant imagery that has stayed with me and kept me interested in Doctor Who over the years - from decapitating Cybermen to bleeding hands and stealth Cybermen in the sewers - this story has a lot to offer aesthetically, but doesn't work as a trip down memory lane which is how it was intended.

Vengeance on Varos is great with a popular new villain introduced - something that hasn't happened in a long time. It was gritty and dark and worked well. The Two Doctors was less dark, but there is some attraction there, even if it's only to see the joy of Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines again.

Finally, Revelation of the Daleks is a story that should be truly dire, but the performance from the cast, especially Terry Molloy make this a very enjoyable story to watch.

Given the inconsistencies in quality, and these stories being mixed up with truly awful ones, there was little question that the BBC began to look at Doctor Who with cynical eyes.

Twenty Third Season

The last chance saloon to prove Doctor Who deserves to stay on the air, and this is what we're given.

It's a shameful show, with even the better stories being given extra leniency just because of the fact that the bad ones are really, really bad.  It was a fraught time for the show and the level of effort was sub-par to the point where it was as lazy and run of the mill as anything that Tom Baker put out in the last two seasons of his run.  

By the end, John Nathan-Turner had been given a stay of execution and one final chance to show how things could change. He needed a new crew and a fresh approach.

The Doctor

What to say about the Sixth Doctor? If you listen to Colin Baker, then it was doomed for a long time. He wanted an outfit similar to what Christopher Eccleston ended up having, but John Nathan-Turner saw an aspect of himeslf in the role and went "wacky" instead. 

Colin Baker's perchant for melodrama turned the sinister, tense "regeneration gone wrong" approach into something that turned me distinctly away from liking his character. Again, probably a decision from the production team, but rather than having the story then getting back to normal, his moody behaviour carried on for most of his next season which became old really fast.

The best times to see his Doctor at work are actually the stories with Mel as there's no argument and you get the real feeling that he cares for someone other than himself.  Thank god for Big Finish I say!

Favourite Moment

My favourite moment in the Sixth Doctor run has to be the scene in Revelation of the Daleks where Professor Stengos' daughter is brought face to face with her father and she watches him lose his humanity, turning into a Dalek.  It was scary for me as a child and to this day I feel the music, lighting and dialogue all work brilliantly to make a tense, horrifying scene

Worst Moment

There are in truth entire seasons worth of bad moments. To pick the ultimate, you have to find one that's so awful, it would take all your willpower not to throw something at the screen.  That my friends, is Perri's ending. No explanation needed or given. Just a dire, dire decision by the production team.

Favourite Story

Vengeance on Varos

There are some personal favourites in the Sixth Doctor's run, Reveleation of the Daleks being one of them. On the whole however, Vengeance on Varos has all it needs - the lighting, the tone, the political intrigue and a cool new enemy who is played spectacularly well. The story is interesting and has stood the test of time to be one of the better stories in the Doctor Who pantheon

Worst Story

The Ultimate Foe

Fraught with difficulties, there's some pity to be given in regards to this story, and it's by no means alone in the sin bin of terrible stories in the Sixth Doctor's run.  The Ultimate Foe however is just tedious to watch from start to finish, with over-complicated explanations, surreal (and ultimately pointless shenanigans) and an ending that pours out onto the screen like an unbaked cake. Truly not one to watch more than once.

Favourite Companion

Mel

Not a popular opinion, I'm sure. Mel is my favourite because she's pro-active. She's a go-getter and always looks on the bright side. Bonnie Langford may be as over the top as they come, and between her and Colin Baker, there's times where I'm surprised they don't slap their thighs or break the fourth wall to address the "kids", but on the whole she is surprisingly good and a breath of fresh air to the constant arguing of previous companions.

Worst Companion

Perri

She's here only because there's a slot to fill.  Given a rough deal on the quality of stories, Perri is no bad companion, it's her relationship with the Sixth Doctor that lets her down.

She had potential to be much bigger than what she was, with a background in botany that was never used and an intriguing family dynamic that was never re-visited. Perri was a companion that was criminally underused and denied even the possibility of an explosive send off.