Best season 17 story

This season seems to be avidly love and/or hated. I love it myself, but which is the best story? I focused on either City Of Death or Shada, but had to go for City in the end. Regardless, this season is incredibly underrated, if certainly an acquired taste.

I really don't like Season 17 (in fact, I might call it my least favourite Classic Who Season next to Season 20), but that said, I adore Shada. That felt like such a grand finale to the Season. City of Death is great as well, the other stories I actively hate.

City of Death. Like a perfect date long ago that's magic has stayed with us ever since.

Tanmann wrote:City of Death. Like a perfect date long ago that's magic has stayed with us for years.

That’s probably the best description of City of Death I’ve ever encountered.

Helps if you've actually been on a perfect date... sigh. I'm still young, I suppose.

My standards are very low.

If it wasn't cut short by a toilet window escape, it was a perfect date.

Shada. Not because it is any good. More because it isn't as awful as the other 5.

There are some redeeming aspects of the season:

The delightful Dennis Carey as Professor Neame in Shada.

Julian Glover, some of the sfx and Dudley' musical score in the Paris story.

Geoffrey Bayldon in Creature.

Lalla Ward's glorious performance throughout the season. It made up for Baker's which was non-existent.

I went for Destiny because it's reasonable if a little dull. The best of a bad bunch where Dr Who begins to disappear up its own backside.
I've never got the love for the smugfest that is City of Death. To this day I don't get what people see in it. The whole season is the ancestor of New Who. Tom's ego is out of control by this point, and it provides the blue print for Tennant's abysmal forced eccentricity that became the template for every actor that had the misfortune to follow him.

My feeling on the season overall is that it starts reasonably well with Destiny of the Daleks, gets really good with City of Death, then gets a bit trite and obvious with Creature from the Pit but at least could pass for professional enough thus far. Nightmare of Eden is rather where the wheels fall off and it actually becomes a bit unpleasant to watch, and Horns of Nimon although it has its charms suffers from a feeling of sameyness making it blur into its predecessors, like the season's degenerated into the same comedy sketch that doesn't know when to end. It just doesn't feel an adventurous experience anymore like the previous season did.

I'm not sure I can really judge Shada, but I've never particularly seen it as any great Holy Grail. It might've elevated the season, who knows.

What an indictment! I’ll agree in retrospect that the season does have something of a New Who template to it in terms of style, though here are a few reasons why I thoroughly enjoy City of Death. The gorgeous location filming, the frequently witty and intelligent dialogue nary found in New Who (“Are you talking philosophically or geographically?...Then we’re going to lunch”), Dudley Simpson’s magnificent score and the superb guest cast. I’d say that elevates it above Destiny for me.

I think another reason as to why I personally wouldn’t liken it to New Who so avidly is due to the fact that Tennant’s era is extremely portentous and laden with self-importance, as well as being laden with poorly scripted prophesies and narratives that exist to pander to the soap genre. These aren’t criticisms I would apply to the Williams era, which for its flaws, I find considerably more charming, literary and earnest than the modern programme, and driven less by soap opera and more by ideas. This is just my take on it- don’t think I’m attacking you for your own stance. I just thought I’d actually offer a brief defence for this often loathed and derived season and era.

I’ll probably get a thrashing for this comment by most of the forum.

Tanmann wrote:My feeling on the season overall is that it starts reasonably well with Destiny of the Daleks, gets really good with City of Death, then gets a bit trite and obvious with Creature from the Pit but at least could pass for professional enough thus far. Nightmare of Eden is rather where the wheels fall off and it actually becomes a bit unpleasant to watch, and Horns of Nimon although it has its charms suffers from a feeling of sameyness making it blur into its predecessors, like the season's degenerated into the same comedy sketch that doesn't know when to end. It just doesn't feel an adventurous experience anymore like the previous season did.

I'm not sure I can really judge Shada, but I've never particularly seen it as any great Holy Grail. It might've elevated the season, who knows.

The problem with Eden is that it’s very tonally inconsistent and doesn’t really know what vibe or tone to aspire to. It’s probably my least favourite of the season as a result. I’ve always found Nimon hilarious, to be honest, even if it isn’t the best constructed story.

I think I probably would've liked Eden more were it set entirely on Eden as those segments of the story feel like a traditional adventure.
I think if Nimon has a problem, it's that the Doctor is sidelined and largely larking about through much of it and so inclines us to think if he doesn't seem to care enough to get involved, how can we? Which is a pity because otherwise the story has its merits.

Tanmann wrote:I think I probably would've liked Eden more were it set entirely on Eden as those segments of the story feel like a traditional adventure.
I think if Nimon has a problem, it's that the Doctor is sidelined and largely larking about through much of it and so inclines us to think if he doesn't seem to care enough to get involved, how can we? Which is a pity because otherwise the story has its merits.

Yeah- that is true. I don’t regard Nimon as an outright classic per se, but I don’t see it as being one of the worst stories of all time as many seem to. This season gets a bad deal from many corners of fandom, and I’m probably one of a handful of people who actually really enjoys it on the whole. Although I recognise its flaws.

One of my favourite seasons of all time! All you need to do to appreciate it is just stand up and gently ease that giant stick out of your rectum...

Not a single story I dislike here. Destiny is probably the weakest, since it lacks the fun of most of the season and veers toward dull toward the end, but I'm still more likely to actually sit and watch it than Genesis or Resurrection. And the rest is great. City, Nimon and Shada are three of my top 20 favourite stories ever.
I went for Shada. Always loved it from the VHS release in the early 90s. I was vaguely worried that the much longer part-animated version might slow it down too much and make me not like it as much, but no! Loved it even more in fact.
Awesome season.

iank wrote:One of my favourite seasons of all time! All you need to do to appreciate it is just stand up and gently ease that giant stick out of your rectum...

Not a single story I dislike here. Destiny is probably the weakest, since it lacks the fun of most of the season and veers toward dull toward the end, but I'm still more likely to actually sit and watch it than Genesis or Resurrection. And the rest is great. City, Nimon and Shada are three of my top 20 favourite stories ever.
I went for Shada. Always loved it from the VHS release in the early 90s. I was vaguely worried that the much longer part-animated version might slow it down too much and make me not like it as much, but no! Loved it even more in fact.
Awesome season.

Thanks for defending this undeservedly maligned season- it’s a favourite of mine too!

Bernard Marx, thanks for your great reply. I will get back to you.