Worst FIRST story for a Doctor?

Following from CDR Maxil's excellent worst LAST story thread, how about worst FIRST story?

Twin Dilemma for me. There was a general malaise around Davison's debut but Twin Dilemma was an epic mistake.

NuWho there are so many awful debut episodes, but Capaldi's made my heart sink.

Twin Dilemma has the saving grace that it was following Caves of Androzani. A bit like a young wannabe actor getting his first gig understudying Laurence Olivier. Time & The Rani is arguably worse and did McCoy a great deal of damage before he'd really started.

I also vote for Capaldi - all the other Nu Who Doctors' debuts to that point were just about passable and at least gave us a good idea what their heroes would be like, for better or worse. Will I be brave enough to see what Jodie's is like? Probably not.

Nothing comes close to how bad The Christmas Invasion is. A horribly misguided episode and one that I consider to be one of the most boring bits of television I've ever had the displeasure of seeing. I realize Twin Dilemma is bad but at least he's actually running around doing stuff. Tennant spends most of the episode in bed. The shit in-between like Rose whining and the God-awful UNIT scenes really got on my nerves. Even Eccleston's debut wasn't THAT bad. I'm not sure there's ever been a truly good Christmas Special. They seem to range from OK to disastrous.

CDR Maxil wrote:Nothing comes close to how bad The Christmas Invasion is. A horribly misguided episode and one that I consider to be one of the most boring bits of television I've ever had the displeasure of seeing. I realize Twin Dilemma is bad but at least he's actually running around doing stuff. Tennant spends most of the episode in bed. The shit in-between like Rose whining and the God-awful UNIT scenes really got on my nerves. Even Eccleston's debut wasn't THAT bad. I'm not sure there's ever been a truly good Christmas Special. They seem to range from OK to disastrous.

Christmas "specials" should be special episodes AT Christmas not special episodes ABOUT Christmas. Just a special double length or climactic payoff or dramatic change episode on a day when everyone's on holiday.

The constant twatting around ABOUT Christmas kills all interest before you start because of the vewwy spesh luvvie approach to Kwissmss on telly.

Time and the Rani, and that's even as a hardcore McCoy era fan. It's just awful. Then again, Rose isn't much better either.
I've always enjoyed Twin Dilemma personally.

I think Twin Dilemma is just such a bloody shock coming off a classic of the Classic like Androzani. A bitter disappointment.

NuWho it's like shooting fish in the barrel but the Capaldi one was off in every category from tone, content, repetitive I AM A LESBIAN AND THIS IS MY WIFE BIGOT and the "pretty sure it won't lead anywhere... AGAIN" plot hooks.

Special mention too of what was once a deliberate one-off scripted scene in Robot but has now become an ESSENTIAL PIECE OF THE LORE in the Americanised fan era - the whacky post-regeneration scene where the ham is sliced thickly and it all goes on far, far too long.

Time and the Rani is objectively the worst post-regeneration story in DW history, and it's not even close.

I honestly don't think The Twin Dilemma is really that bad. Sure, the villain's plan makes no sense whatsoever and some of the costumes are horrific. But the story moves at a reasonable pace and the 6th Doctor's characterisation is excellent. Also, the 6th Doctor strangling Peri as a result of post-regeneration trauma is far more interesting to me than watching the 4th Doctor chopping bricks and playing dressup. Or watching the 5th Doctor do cringe worthy impressions of William Hartnell while just wandering around the TARDIS hallways aimlessly.

I think TATR is a fun little story. Kate O'Mara is superb and visually it's much better than anything in Season 23. I also like Keff McCulloch's score.

I’m with CDR Maxil. “Christmas Invasion” was stupid. Every “post-regeneration” cliche was used. “Deep Breath” is a contender but only because Moffat was clearly doing his version of “post regeneration sickness” which was such a disappointment after what he accomplished in “Eleventh Hour”. Honestly, that episode gave me hope we were past that cliche.

Forgot to put in Classic worst. I personally liked TATR. But I love the Rani, so my biased is showing there. I’d have to say the TV Movie. As much as I learned to love the Eighth Doctor in BFAs, I pretty much view the Movie as North American Fanfiction. Other than the design of the TARDIS, I can’t really think of anything I liked about it.

"Christmas Invasion". if I wanted to watch someone sleep through an episode of Doctor Who I would film myself watching "The Doctor, The Widow, and The Wardrobe"

The TV Movie is a mess, but very compelling as well, it crams a lot into it's run time and it's never dull. McGann is a delight and Roberts is pure panto. It's a blast. It even does the "companions return to life" trope that Moffat became notorious for, only it has a better explanation for it (and in my opinion, this is how The Doctor could have brought Ace back to life after her death in Ground Zero)

As for worst debuts, Twin Dilemma has it's unique moments, but I think Robot is the dullest outside of some cracking Tom Baker moments. Not the first time he'd save a story.

I think you mean not the last time, since that clearly WOULD be the first time!

I watched Time and the Rani recently.

Not out of choice though. My DW-fanboy priest told me I had to do penance for playing with my willy, and he agreed that TatR was worth around 1.5m hail Mary credits.

This now means I can wank my kidneys out at least 900 times before any possibility of divine intervention.

I can't stop thinking about what a beautiful little arsehole Bonnie Langford probably had back then.

I very much doubt she's ever had a poo, ever.

This is so shit

I nominate Deep Throat - though I'm yet to see Jodie's debut, a state of affairs I hope to continue...