Why is the Davison era unpopular on the forum?

Quite a few members rate it as their least favourite era. I like it despite the general inconsistency in quality. I think the sheer greatness of the "classic" stories more than makes up for it.

I like it.

There's a lot of good stuff in there. I even find some of his lesser stories like Four to Doomsday and The King's Demons to be quite appealing due to their distinctive feel. I really want to visit that splendid castle seen in the location footage.

I rank S19-20 as amongst the best of the whole show, but S21 really only has 3 stories I can get into: The Awakening, Frontios, and Planet of Fire - neither of which I think were as good as the best stories in S19-20.

It's probably my least fave of classic who but that's still good because I'm a fan of classic who as a whole, not just bits of it. Plus it's largely just season 7 that just tilts the Pertwee era over it.

I like Davison. Very good actor and some fine stories in there.

Davison's tenure is not my favourite, but things definitely worse after his era.

The Fifth Doctor is a bit of a lad.

- Spends half of his first story sleeping on the job.

- Uses a cricket ball rebound to save himself from certain death.

- Manhandles the cyberleader.

- Defeats The Master in a sword fight.

- Leaves Tegan behind at Heathrow, giving no fucks.

- Runs away having been proclaimed Lord President of Gallifrey.

- Steals the unconscious Master's teleport, leaving him to the wrath of the cybermen, then departs with serious aplomb.

- Comes as close to cold-blooded murder as the Doctor ever does in the classic series when he struts off with Stien and Mercer with the intention of giving Davros a serious dose of laser nipple.

- Smokes a metaphorical fag as the Master burns alive, then finishes off Kameleon with the TCE.

- Nicks Stotz's ship and crash lands it on Androzani Minor while a gun is pointed in his face.

Very good doctor good era of the show love the title sequence his love of cricket his energy his companions are good

Too much is wrong with the era. It's overly pretentious. The companions are plastic and unlikable. The Doctor often unfit for purpose (to the point it hardly mattered how uniquely powerful or deadly the Daleks were, if Davison's defeat was a foregone conclusion anyway). The stories often take themselves far too seriously and stagnate themselves and the show with it in pointless, redundant continuity and navelgazing, and just whenever the era seems like it's getting good (Earthshock, Enlightenment, The Five Doctors), it seems to get followed by a complete disaster like Time-Flight or Warriors that screams contempt for the art of storytelling.

The problem isn't just that the execution is sometimes off, but that it's often unpardonably cynical in a way that the botched execution renders all the more naked. It's clear the makers only care about having the female companions there for eye-candy's sake (itself a shocking comedown from the writing of companions like Sarah, Leela and Romana who felt like protagonists in their own right). It's clear the makers don't have a clue how to recreate the spirit of the past, but they're going to try to pander to the fans anyway. It's clear the only reason the Master keeps coming back or being allowed to get away at the end is because the producer wishes it.

It's an era that's often hollow, clueless and bloodless to the point of nihilistic. That needed to be made by mavericks in order to work, and simply clearly wasn't. It really does feel like an era of unworkable elements (the Doctor included) that's being forced to work and go ahead regardless, almost like a zombie show. And that makes it often feel unbearably clunky.

The worst thing for me about Davison's time is, it was an era that seemed to change what being a fan of the show meant, as gradually the era seemed not just fan-aimed, but deliberately pitched to some of the worst egomaniacs, chauvinists and cranks of the fanbase.

The tragedy is that it's also very much an era of wasted potential. Davison is an actor who deserved much better (and if all that existed of his era was his first season, I'd probably have a stronger impression of him). There are stories like Snakedance and Enlightenment that tease the promise of a genuine renaissance for the show, but it feels like it was an arrested renaissance waiting to happen that never really did, and so instead those stories just get swallowed up amidst the murk.

It's my least favorite of the OS, but I don't hate it. It's heavily flawed with the tonal inconsistency, general plastic feel and dire companions and has some real duds like Four To Doomsday, Time Flight and of course Warriors Of The Deep but I generally find the stuff I like outweighs the stuff I dislike. Davison's great in most of his stories and even salvages the odd moment of his duds, most of the incidental music is great and even the later companions weren't too bad.

Boofer wrote:The Fifth Doctor is a bit of a lad.

- Spends half of his first story sleeping on the job.

- Uses a cricket ball rebound to save himself from certain death.

- Manhandles the cyberleader.

- Defeats The Master in a sword fight.

- Leaves Tegan behind at Heathrow, giving no fucks.

- Runs away having been proclaimed Lord President of Gallifrey.

- Steals the unconscious Master's teleport, leaving him to the wrath of the cybermen, then departs with serious aplomb.

- Comes as close to cold-blooded murder as the Doctor ever does in the classic series when he struts off with Stien and Mercer with the intention of giving Davros a serious dose of laser nipple.

- Smokes a metaphorical fag as the Master burns alive, then finishes off Kameleon with the TCE.

- Nicks Stotz's ship and crash lands it on Androzani Minor while a gun is pointed in his face.

Don't forget the time he pushed a Dalek out a window. Proper lad.

The Davison Era was my favourite before I got into the McCoy stuff. I still have a ton of affection for the Davison years especially his first two seasons. I think Resurrection is the only real classic of Season 21 although Frontios is very close to being one. I think there's more warmth to his first two seasons which make them easier to watch compared to his final year.

Indrid Mercury wrote:Don't forget the time he pushed a Dalek out a window. Proper lad.

I found that incredibly captivating as a child. As did Davison's son if you've ever watched the commentary.

'Doctor Daddy'!