Underrated TruWho stories

Which stories from Who’s original run would you guys classify as genuinely underrated? Many examples spring to my mind, but how about you?

There's too many really, though aside from here and PMF I'm kinda out of touch with what "fandom" thinks these days. The Chase and The Time Meddler, Day of the Daleks, Ribos Operation, Horns of Nimon, Shada (but is Shada still underrated since the animation? I honestly don't know), State of Decay, Black Orchid, The Awakening, Attack, Two Doctors, Dragonfire, Happiness Patrol and Battlefield all spring to mind, but there may be others.

iank wrote:There's too many really, though aside from here and PMF I'm kinda out of touch with what "fandom" thinks these days. The Chase and The Time Meddler, Day of the Daleks, Ribos Operation, Horns of Nimon, Shada (but is Shada still underrated since the animation? I honestly don't know), State of Decay, Black Orchid, The Awakening, Attack, Two Doctors, Dragonfire, Happiness Patrol and Battlefield all spring to mind, but there may be others.

I enjoy all of those stories to varying degrees, and love a fair few of them- you have good taste indeed!

Here are mine:
The Reign Of Terror, The Crusade, The Myth Makers, The War Machines, The Moonbase, The Faceless Ones, The Claws of Axos, Day of the Daleks, Invasion of the Dinosaurs, Planet Of Evil, Image Of The Fendahl, The Ribos Operation, The Stones Of Blood, The Creature from the Pit, The Horns Of Nimon, Full Circle, State Of Decay, Warriors’ Gate, Black Orchid, Snakedance, The Awakening, Attack, Two Doctors, Happiness Patrol, Ghost Light etc. I’ve probably missed a few myself.

Agree about Creature. I didn't know some of those were even underrated!

iank wrote:Agree about Creature. I didn't know some of those were even underrated!

Well, underrated in terms of not getting the reception they deserve compared to other stories. Some on my list are outright hated, others just aren’t as recognised in fandom for some reason or another.

Edge of Destruction, The Sensorites, Frontier in Space, Planet of the Daleks, The Power of Kroll, Destiny of the Daleks, Horns of Nimon, Enlightenment (at least in the sense it seems to get overshadowed by Earthshock and Caves), Battlefield.

And I'm not sure it counts as underrated, but I do find Timelash to be a guilty pleasure.

The Myth Makers, The Celestial Toymaker, The Smugglers, The Underwater Menace, The Enemy of the World, Time and the Rani, Paradise Towers, Delta and the Bannermen and Ghost Light.

I actually quite like full circle a bit with the marshmen,warriors gate love time and the rani,paradise towers I think those are all underrated .

Colony in Space. I always love the Hulke stories. And Dent, in this one, is one of the best villains Pertwee ever had to face.

The Creature From The Pit. Love the humour! "Couldn't you just put up a notice?"

I liked the horns of nimon a bit.

I like Meglos.

Me too, actually.

Day and Death to the Daleks.

There's such a snobbery about Pertwee Dalek stories. I don't know why? Day is an absolute classic, whilst Death is a fun romp, that is actually quite creepy in places too. The Exxilons have a great design and their chanting is creepy. The Daleks are also at their craftiest in it too. People say they are undermined, but ironically I'd say that this episode showcases their intelligence better than most.

The Daleks get round the power outage first by using their guns, when the Doctor and the humans couldn't. They easily conquer the Exxilons, and mine the parranium in a day, when the humans were trapped there for months on end completely helpless. They also manage to beat all of the Exxilon's traps that NONE of their greatest genius' were able to in centuries, and they also locate the power drain and destroy it too.

Also they manage to trick the Doctor and the humans into thinking they just need the parranium to survive, and in the end had it not been for one of the humans (who had to kill himself.) They would have killed the Doctor.

Galloway is also quite an interesting character. He's set up to be the Mavic Chen, Lesterson, devious human bastard who is happy to work with the Daleks, but ends up being the hero. He was ruthless, and willing to sacrifice other people, but at least was decent enought to include himself in it at the end.

People say "oh the Dalek killing itself undermines them," and I agree that its a bit stupid, but its not so out of character. We all know that they kill subordinates who fail them in other stories like Daleks Masterplan, Planet of the Daleks etc.

I also love the Exxilon's city too. It looks gorgeous, and the ending where it screams as it melts is hauntingly effective. It also used to scare me the idea of being trapped in that city and being left to rot. "He didn't get out again did he." That line was so creepy.

Frontier in Space is another underrated gem. Delgado is at his best there, charming, two steps ahead of everybody and when need be vicious. IMO he was always so much more effective than the later Masters because of the way he could seem friendly, and then turn nasty. We see that perfectly the way he shoves Jo into the airlock after joking with her two mins earlier.

Frontier in Space also does a lot of great world building too. The future feels like a fully fleshed out world the way the Doctor isn't able to solve every problem. The corruption in the prisons for instance, and even the tensions between Draconia and Earth are not fully resolved either.

Finally the Time Warrior is an absolute classic. Its not looked down on, but IMO it is one of the best stories. One of the best to introduce someone to the show with as its so light and enjoyable, but is an intelligent story too.

I haven’t seen Death to the Daleks for a while, though Day of the Daleks is seriously underrated. In fact, I’d go as far as to call it an outright classic. I’ve no idea why it gets overlooked so much, or even called bad by certain fan circles- who gives a fuck about the Dalek voices when the script is as well put together as that?

I really like Frontier as well. To be honest, I really like all of Malcolm Hulke’s scripts, including the often completely forgotten Colony In Space. There’s a certain social and political astuteness to them that constantly maintains a sense of moral ambiguity, and as you say, they feature brilliant world building. I hold The Time Warrior in very high regard too- it’s a great Holmes script with some wonderful characters (especially in Irongron and Linx) and often hilariously witty and intelligent dialogue. To be honest, I don’t get the hate for season 11 round these parts at all. The first two stories are outright classics, and the rest are still fairly passable (even Monster of Peladon- it’s not great, but what’s so shit about it, exactly?).

Day is great.
Death is horrible! Though I would be interested to see if with a different, less ear-bleeding, music score.

Blyton’s score for Death is pretty shit, though his music is basically universally crap in every story he’s involved in. As great as The Silurians is, his score is a bit rubbish there too, especially his inappropriate placement of the kazoo during dramatic scenes. Although it’s OK in places in that story. I’m generally a big fan of Classic Who’s often experimental musical scores, but I’ll acknowledge when they don’t work.

I've come to really appreciate The Web Planet. I never used to like it that much, but there's something about the music and the atmosphere that really absorbs me these days. Out of the three Richard Martin directed serials of Season 2 I'd say it is the best.