Season One: Overview

Mighty 200 poll – First Season Ratings

Back in 2009 Doctor Who Magazine carried out a poll amongst its readers, to rate the first 200 stories of the classic and new series. These were the positions taken by the stories of the first season. I quote these as a useful comparison to my own ranking. Here’s the Mighty 200 ratings : -

The Daleks - 37

The Aztecs – 57

An Unearthly Child - 61

Marco Polo – 65

The Reign of Terror - 144

The Edge of Destruction - 158

The Keys of Marinus - 160

The Sensorites – 183

Now here’s my rating.

First season -

The Aztecs

Marco Polo

The Keys of Marinus

The Reign of Terror

The Edge of Destruction

The Daleks

An Unearthly Child

The Sensorites

This surprises me somewhat. Had you asked me prior to watching the season whether I thought the Historicals would come out so strongly, I would probably not have said so. This was based purely on how much I enjoyed each story – I didn’t take into account how seminal each story proved to be, or how influential – otherwise the Daleks would obviously have been much higher. As it is, though, it’s overly long, the Thals are a bit of a bore, and it outstays its welcome in my opinion. If I was ranking individual episodes, then episode one of An Unearthly Child would be a lot higher, but the caveman story which takes up three out of four episodes is a yawn. The Sensorites for me is nowhere near as bad as people have told me it is, but it’s still probably the least good of what has actually been a really good series. I’ve loved the way that the crew’s relationship with each other has developed, and feel sad that there’s only two more stories left with them as a unit.