Yes, it really is worth it. That's been quite a revelation to me, actually - partly because of my background as a Classicist. In Classics, I'm used to working my way around hundreds of texts which are either partially lost or missing altogether. However (although this certainly isn't true in all cases), there's a degree to which what's missing has fallen out of the record as a result of conscious choice - i.e. people didn't really think it was worth keeping on copying out the manuscripts, so the texts were lost.

I think I'd fallen into the temptation of approaching missing Who in the same way - i.e. assuming that if a story is lost, it must be because it wasn't very good in the first place. But I should have known rationally all along that that dynamic doesn't really apply to the way Who stories got wiped - and watching what's left of Marco Polo has really confirmed it for me emotionally as well.

And yes, I'll keep up the good work on the Bechdel front! I think this era will do pretty well - because of the two female companions, as you say, and also because the Doctor himself is much less dynamic and dominant than he becomes later.