Colin Baker era opinions?

I know at least how one person here feels about the Baker era LOL.

Still all opinions are welcome and I'd like to hear what people think about Colin's time as he sadly is the black sheep of the Doctors.

Personally I think Colin was a great Doctor, but his era sadly is one I probably revisit less than other Classic era Doctors. The problem is that his second season is taken up with one story, Trial of a Time Lord.

Now Trial of a Timelord I don't think is terrible. Parts of it are good, parts are utter crap, but still it is unfortunate that basically half of his era is the one overly complicated, hard to get into story for a lot of viewers.

I think that could be why he is so unpopular. Only the most die hard fans will watch TOATL and even then its not like its universally regarded as a classic is it?

All he has is one season, 22 on tv. Now out of this season, I'd say 3 stories are classics. Revelation of the Daleks, Vengeance on Varos, and The Mark of the Rani. 2 are dreadful Twin Dilemma, Timelash, and one is middle of the road, The Two Doctors.

To be fair that's probably the average for any season of DW. Look at season 12 for instance. It has 3 classics, Ark in Space, Sontaran Experiment, Genesis of the Daleks, 1 shit story, Robot, and 1 average story, Revenge of the Cybermen.

Still again I think the fact that Colin has a whole season taken with Trial hurts his era's reputation and sadly his Doctor more than anything else. What do you think?

I think the worst decision JNT and Saward ever made was not doing the planned season 23.

I liked Colin as the Doctor and I'm quite fond of Attack of the Cybermen. Timelash is underrated in my opinion, ignoring the budget and tinsel issues.

For me Matt Smith was The Doctor I least gelled with.
Colin Baker just had it all against him. Michael Grade was with an ex of his and wanted him out apparently.
Eric Saward lost all interest and should of gone earlier than he did.
45 minute episodes didn't work as well!.
I remember TOATL, but I remember the still captions and voice overs at the start of each episode rather than the actual episodes.
Right Doctor, but seriously wrong time.
Still at least I'm glad I got through this post without mentioning his wardrobe and aww, FUCK!!

Love Colin. I don't like Trial but I think season 22 is the second best season of the 80s and one of the top 10 best ever. Timelash sucks (Twin Dilemma is season 21 by the way and I think it's a riot anyway) but the rest veer from well above average (Mark) to classics (the rest).
It's only a shame Grade and company needed cash to set up breakfast tv and chose Who as one of the sacrificial lambs, I would have loved to have seen another couple of seasons in the 22 vein (though, of course, then we might have ended up losing Sylv and I couldn't have that).

BF need to do a Glitz and Dibber spin-off, pronto!

Loved the CB era.  My personal fav.  Here's a pic on me, Colin, and Terry Molly are flower city comic

CurrentMe wrote:Loved the CB era.  My personal fav.  Here's a pic on me, Colin, and Terry Molly are flower city comic

Nice always glad to see more appreciation for Colin.

I've met them both too. I remember I nearly walked away without paying because I forgot as I was talking to Colin. He was cool with it, he said "I love a trier Joseph" LOL.

Quick question why is Terry Molloy wearing a kilt?

Y'all know my position on his Doctor. I think if his "Lost Series 23" was given the go ahead, he would have been held in a higher regard.

Mr Seta wrote:Y'all know my position on his Doctor. I think if his "Lost Series 23" was given the go ahead, he would have been held in a higher regard.

I call him TDWSNHB
The Doctor who Sh

Mr Seta wrote:Y'all know my position on his Doctor. I think if his "Lost Series 23" was given the go ahead, he would have been held in a higher regard.

I still love TOATL, but I would have taken the proposed season as it could have turned it all around for both Colin and the show.

The irony with Toiletman's regular praise of the new show and slagging of C. Baker is there's one major similarity between Colin-era Who and the current show - The constant namechecking and referencing of old stuff just to court publicity & popularity that drives some older viewers up the wall - whether it's pictures of Jon, Michael Kilgariff in a huge cyber suit, CyberBrig, old cybermen, multiple masters, etc

I would say the fanwank/continuity obsession has been ten times that of in Colin's era in Moffat Who.

Yes... I agree, as much because Colin's era was so much shorter as any show runner decisions. I still say Vengeance On Varos and Revelation Of The Daleks rank with the finest stories in the show's history, with the gritty cynicism that made Caves Of Androzani so successful, it almost predicts the more violent Colin Doctor - and I've always had a soft spot for The Two Doctors, for all its flaws. Patrick T and John Stratton's repartee is a twisted joy!

True, Ian. The leaden anchor of hypercontinuity ran out of chain long ago, and Moffat was happy to be dragged to the bottom, bow-first.

The whole ship needs refloating.

And for that to happen they need to chuck out some of the ballast. Maybe even all of it.

iank wrote:I would say the fanwank/continuity obsession has been ten times that of in Colin's era in Moffat Who.

Agreed. It pisses me off when people still have the nerve to go on about JNT ruining the show, but then praise New Who, when everything JNT (and the 96 movie for that matter) did that was genuinely crap New Who has done about 10 times worse.

Camp Master. Ainley was a bit hammy in his worst stories. Missy is a horny Disney character, and Simm though better than her was still obviously way more OTT with things like the Master race and the Gollum Doctor.

Overusing villains and bringing villains back who didn't need an encore appearance. JNT really only overused the Master. The Daleks and the Cybermen and Davros he had once in each Doctors era (not counting the anniversary story). New Who has had the Cybermen, the Daleks, the Master, the Silurians, and the Sontarans more times than JNT had the Master and they have brought back badguys like the Macra and the Zygons too.

Overload of continuity, obviously as we have been over. Pointless references to the past have been abundant in Capaldi's time.

Celebrity cameos that will date the show. People have the gall to go on about Hale and Pace in Survival. They were playing roles. Modern audiences don't need to know who the hell they are. Meanwhile RTD used to fill the show full of people like Anne Robinson and Trinny and Susannah playing themselves!

Guest appearances by light entertainers, again see above. New Who also has had people like Kylie Minogue in it.

Making the Doctor needlessly horrible and violent to make him edgy. JNT had him try and choke Peri when he was mad. New Who has had him shoot a guy in cold blood for fabulous Clara.

Story arcs that don't go anywhere and have cop out endings. JNT did it once with Trial, Moff has done it every year.

Pandering to fan opinion, oh dead god yes (in Moff's case at least, and we all know which "fans" Moff courted at the cost of its viewers. At least JNT's were people who liked the show.)

Romance with the companion (96 movie I'm talking about.) Obviously it doesn't need said. The only companion there has not been any romance with was a lesbian, and if they go down the female Doctor route and Bill comes back that could change too.

Nobody staying dead and undoing companions powerful death scenes. Again JNT did it once with Peri, RTD and Moff have done it with well everyone bar Martha. Rose "this is the story of how I died" oh no wait she didn't. Captain Jack shot dead and then revived (not that I'm complaining as I love Jack and him being an immortal was actually a brilliant story, but still it counts.) Dalek Caan "And one of them will die AHAHAHAHAHAHA" oh no wait its just a memory wipe and she's fine. Amy and Rory how many times did they come back? Clara again how many times did she die, and now Bill who is converted but saved by her lover and is off travelling the universe.

The only thing that JNT did worse was the Doctors costume with Colin, but again when measured against New Who's mistakes I'll take Colin's coat any day of the week.

So true...

I think that Toiletman is confusing the Colin Baker era with this:

Twin Dilemma and Season 22 are fantastic. Seriously gripping stuff and an edgier direction that I appreciate. I have also warmed to Trial.

Oh, and how lovely is Peri? One of the main reasons for seeking out the classic series properly in the first place was because of her. I watched The Two Doctors when I was about 8 and I thought it was cooler than what was on at the time (series 4 I think) and I remember it have a cinematic quality to it. Quality adventure that I always watch in one viewing.

CommanderMaxil1983Returns wrote: I thought it was cooler than what was on at the time (series 4 I think)

That wouldn't exactly have been difficult then.

Series 4 was the one that finally made me seek out The Hive!

Many of you know my opinion of Colon Baker or as I refer to him TDWSHB I The Doctor Who Should Not Have Been. I don't think there was ever a poorer choice to play the Doctor. To say he was horrible would be a compliment. A pantomiming, over-acting, shouty mistake.
As I maintain, the only Doctor ever fired for sucking.
Spare me the fairytale about how it was over some argument he had with a producer's wife, that is just the BBC making nice, having sympathy for the man and white-washing what the real issue was.
It was not the quality of the scripts either or that "Poor Colon had not much to work with." as the TDWSNHB apologists insist.
It was a simple case of an actor who overestimated his ability and quickly found himself in over his head.

iank wrote:

CommanderMaxil1983Returns wrote: I thought it was cooler than what was on at the time (series 4 I think)  

That wouldn't exactly have been difficult then.

Series 4 was the one that finally made me seek out The Hive!

It was absolute rubbish. That two part Dalek finale where they fly the Earth back home was a total embarrassment. Much of what RTD and Moffat wrote felt like updated versions of some old fan fiction story they penned when they were 12.

Dear God, Journeys End. At the time the worst story ever... probably beaten dozens of times since by Mofftwat!

BobDominelliSudbury wrote:Many of you know my opinion of Colon Baker or as I refer to him TDWSHB I The Doctor Who Should Not Have Been. I don't think there was ever a poorer choice to play the Doctor. To say he was horrible would be a compliment. A pantomiming, over-acting, shouty mistake.
As I maintain, the only Doctor ever fired for sucking.
Spare me the fairytale about how it was over some argument he had with a producer's wife, that is just the BBC making nice, having sympathy for the man and white-washing what the real issue was.
It was not the quality of the scripts either or that "Poor Colon had not much to work with." as the TDWSNHB apologists insist.
It was a simple case of an actor who overestimated his ability and quickly found himself in over his head.

Listen to his Big Finish audio stories. He's much better in those than he was in the TV show due to the superior writing and better quality scripts that he had to work with. Colin is a fantastic Doctor who really doesn't get the credit he deserves from the fandom.

Frankly, I'd take Colin Baker any day over the bland, boring, and utterly dull Peter Davison.

DeadManRising wrote:Listen to his Big Finish audio stories. He's much better in those than he was in the TV show due to the superior writing and better quality scripts that he had to work with. Colin is a fantastic Doctor who really doesn't get the credit he deserves from the fandom.

Yeah, he is a much better actor when you can't see him

DeadManRising wrote:Frankly, I'd take Colin Baker any day over the bland, boring, and utterly dull Peter Davison.

Agreed