Most comforting era for you personally?

Which era provides you with the most warmth? I'm going to say both the Peter Davison era and the Sylvester McCoy era. I've always found them rather cosy. I have affection for the characters (sometimes even Adric) and I find the majority of the stories produced in those eras to be very watchable and charming. I have some lovely memories of watching the likes of Mawdryn Undead, Enlightenment and Remembrance of the Daleks for the first time in 2013 and being completely blown away by them. I still refer to my thirteenth birthday as the Doctor Who birthday as I got so many Who DVDs that year.

The Tom Baker era.

Almost impossible to go wrong with.

There's early bits of the Davison era that are kind of comforting, like Castrovalva, The Visitation, Earthshock, and of course The Five Doctors, before it starts to turn bleak and nihilistic after.

Call me crazy but I find Trial a bit comforting too.

Series 4 of New Who is kind of comfort food too.

Tanmann wrote:The Tom Baker era.

Almost impossible to go wrong with.

There's early bits of the Davison era that are kind of comforting, like Castrovalva, The Visitation, Earthshock, and of course The Five Doctors, before it starts to turn bleak and nihilistic after.

Call me crazy but I find Trial a bit comforting too.

Series 4 of New Who is kind of comfort food too.

I feel that way about Series 3 mainly because I was such a huge fan of the show at the time I remember getting so hyped for Totally Doctor Who on a Friday night because they would often show a short clip from the episode that was going to air the next day. The only episode I missed live was Human Nature because I was on holiday. I have many fond memories of watching Series 3 especially Smith and Jones which made me fall in love with the show big time. 

Na, I can see why one might find Trial comforting. Maybe not Mindwarp, but the others have a degree of warmth to them.

Mid-late Tom.

Pepsi Maxil Foley wrote:
Na, I can see why one might find Trial comforting. Maybe not Mindwarp, but the others have a degree of warmth to them.

Warmth like a nice thick carpet

I dunno, I find most periods of classic comforting to be honest.

Pepsi Maxil Foley wrote:I have some lovely memories of watching the likes of Mawdryn Undead, Enlightenment and Remembrance of the Daleks for the first time in 2013 and being completely blown away by them.

Actually I'm thinking maybe it's time I gave Mawdryn Undead another look.

I found it rather too bleak last time I watched it, but maybe a second impression might prove rewarding.

Pepsi Maxil Foley wrote:I feel that way about Series 3 mainly because I was such a huge fan of the show at the time I remember getting so hyped for Totally Doctor Who on a Friday night because they would often show a short clip from the episode that was going to air the next day. The only episode I missed live was Human Nature because I was on holiday. I have many fond memories of watching Series 3 especially Smith and Jones which made me fall in love with the show big time.

I have to say I missed a lot of Series 3, after being left so sick and frustrated with Series 2 and the increasingly sycophantic fandom. I dreaded the fact Martha was going to have her own family domestics, and I kind of got sick of Rose still getting name-dropped all the time too.

In some ways though I can see it kind of working as a first-time viewer's season, with a little bit of everything in there (an historical, an offworld, a Dalek story, and all through the eyes of a new companion).

Na, I can see why one might find Trial comforting.

In some ways, Trial makes me wish the BBC had put their foot down with the show two seasons earlier.

It might've been the kick up the backside the production team needed to remind them it's a family entertainment show, and could've spared us the previous two years' sordid exhibition of the stupidest, most depressing self-harming impulses man is capable of.

Plus it might've actually been nice to go from The Five Doctors straight to Trial. Tegan discovering a devastated future Earth, the Master helping Davison one last time before getting his comeuppance.

Maybe not Mindwarp, but the others have a degree of warmth to them.

Mindwarp may not be comforting, but the joy and relief on Colin's face when he's later told Peri survived after all, kind of is I suppose.

If I went by era: Late Tom - Early Davo (seasons 16-20)

But probably what I find most comforting is the sort of pseudo-historical story (something set in the past but with aliens or time travel) stuff like The Masque of Mandragora or The Visitation. Or stories in a similar style set in the present like The Stones of Blood, or on another planet like Androids of Tara.

I would imagine for most people it's the era that they either grew up with or saw first, that got them into the programme in the first place.
So for me that would be 1970 to '77. As if you didn't know by now.

That's probably why I find it all comforting, as even though Sylv was my era I was experiencing most eras via official or pirate video copies.

Ludders wrote:I would imagine for most people it's the era that they either grew up with or saw first, that got them into the programme in the first place.
So for me that would be 1970 to '77. As if you didn't know by now.

I'd venture that's possibly not just childhood nostalgia talking.
I think that truly was the period where the Doctor genuinely was most the empowering hero we could feel championed by against personal adversity.
He still kind of was in Williams' time, and even some of the early Davison stories (Castrovalva, The Visitation, Earthshock) before he degenerated into a chump and learned helplessness.
But he was never more at his peak power as our champ than under Hinchcliffe and Holmes.

Pepsi Maxil Foley wrote:

Tanmann wrote:The Tom Baker era.

Almost impossible to go wrong with.

There's early bits of the Davison era that are kind of comforting, like Castrovalva, The Visitation, Earthshock, and of course The Five Doctors, before it starts to turn bleak and nihilistic after.

Call me crazy but I find Trial a bit comforting too.

Series 4 of New Who is kind of comfort food too.

I feel that way about Series 3 mainly because I was such a huge fan of the show at the time I remember getting so hyped for Totally Doctor Who on a Friday night because they would often show a short clip from the episode that was going to air the next day. The only episode I missed live was Human Nature because I was on holiday. I have many fond memories of watching Series 3 especially Smith and Jones which made me fall in love with the show big time. 

Na, I can see why one might find Trial comforting. Maybe not Mindwarp, but the others have a degree of warmth to them.

I find the idea of travelling with an oversexed Freema Agyeman extremely comforting too.

For me it would probably be the Pertwee era. The Pertwee Doctor always felt the most in control of a situation, always felt like the smartest in the room, and could kick some serious ass. I felt safer with him than any other Doctor.

Added to that the old reliable Brig, and companions like Liz, Sarah and Jo obviously gave it a more family feel too.

The three Doctors and Eight in the Books for me are the most comforting eras for me. Not only do they explode with imagination the most, but the chemistry between each member feels like a proper family. You really get a sense that each member really care about each other. It sounds weird, but The Chase Pt 1 is one of my favourite standalone episodes from the entire franchise, because the wonderful chemistry between 1, Ian, Barbara and Vicki just hanging around in the Tardis is so wholesome, especially with Ian and Barbara rocking out to Ticket To Ride. Or 2 acting as a father to Victoria after her losing her father to the Daleks, while she and Jamie build up to have a relationship (for the record, I do believe that Victoria and Jamie were romantic). Or Three having friendly banter with Mike or Benton, or 3 and Jo just helping out each other. Or 8 and Fitz having a '2 and Jamie' like relationship. I could honestly watch/listen/read an entire section of these particular eras just doing laundry together or shopping in a mall, and that's because of the family like chemistry.

Tom Baker's Philip Hinchcliffe years and his last season with JNT.

Then the JNT years from Davison thru to Colin's first complete season.

Then Jon Pertwee.

Because so much is missing, the Hartnell and Troughton years feel disjointed to me so i can't get a proper overall view of the sixties. That said i do enjoy a lot of what has survived.

A toss up between early Davision and late McCoy for me.

Actually, the soundest coment made here is probably Iank's: most Classic Who is comforting regardless of the era it fell into. I would add even the odd DVD picked from the Williams and McCoy eras. It was just good fun. No one was trying to give me a political lecture and if they were it was incidental to the main thrust of what was on screen - the story playing out on my telly. At the very least i could ignore the lecture and just concentrate on the story.

Sorry. I should have said this in the first place.

There's something comforting in all eras of the original series but I'll go with the Troughton era. Great TARDIS crews with some wonderfully zany, imaginative tales that never fail to entertain.

The Pertwee years- Season 8 onwards.  Not my favourite Doctor or my favourite era, but there's just something so cosy and inviting about that period. Whether it's the familiarity of the setup - Earthbound Doctor, Jo, the Brigadier, the Master, etc or simply because I connect those particular stories with fond childhood memories of Saturday evenings in the early '70s, I don't know.

Seasons 13 and 14, which really solidified my love for the show.

McCoy if you couldn't already guess. I could watch his stuff all day.

Tanmann wrote:There's early bits of the Davison era that are kind of comforting, like Castrovalva, The Visitation, Earthshock, and of course The Five Doctors, before it starts to turn bleak and nihilistic after.

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at here.

Are you sure you wouldn't like to elaborate for the millionth time?

For all it's narrative flaws, Sawards stuff was far superior and adult than the "Everyone Lives" gold dust magic wand waving Disney bullshit of NuWho.

Pertwee era. It gave me hope in the darkest of times of my childhood when I was having eye surgery after eye surgery to save my vision. It allowed me to escape the pain and my fears for a while.

And I will never forget meeting Jon Pertwee visiting me, and writing me letters each time I went back in for more.

Jon Pertwee pretty much saved my sanity as a child.

The Seventh Doctor wrote:McCoy if you couldn't already guess. I could watch his stuff all day.

Not get off topic but I love your new profile pic. Please keep it!

I love McCoy too. Well from his second series onwards.

For me it's the Davison era. I've always thought that Davison's Doctor has the air or a lovable but hopeless supply teacher who's constantly trying to keep his class full of misfits together and not lose his cool. Thus I tremendously enjoy the 'field trip gone wrong' vibe of those years. And the argumentative but subtly protective dynamic shared between the characters feels intensely intimate and unusual for Doctor Who, classic or modern. At least to the extent that it's portrayed here. It's especially apparent in Season 19.