Eruditorum Press Doctor Who Poll

[strange_complex]

Still with the muscle aches and general tiredness. I do think it is starting to get better at base level now, but between the approach of term and me wanting to go off a lot at weekends and Do Things, I suspect I am also cancelling out a lot of the gains. So this morning, the first time for three weeks that I haven't had to set an alarm, my eyes gradually opened at around 11:30am. Which is fine, because my whole plan for today was to Do Nothing, but I clearly need a few more of those.

Anyway, by around 13:30 I had eaten some breakfast and read the internet, and was looking for something nothingy to do, when I came across the Eruditorum Press Doctor Who Poll. Perfect! I have now voted, and since I started out by writing up a short-list of stories and ranking them, I have a record of what I chose which I may as well preserve here. Votes in different categories, including brief recaps of the poll rules, under the cuts.

Best televised Doctor Who story - five points

The Deadly Assassin

Nineteen other top televised Doctor Who stories - one point each

I actually ranked these individually, as I had a 'short-list' of more than twenty, so needed to rank everything anyway to be sure which came in the top twenty. So although they will all count for the same weighting in the poll, my list reflects subtler preferences than that.

The Edge of Destruction
The Stones of Blood
City of Death
The Masque of Mandragora
The Fires of Pompeii
Midnight
Utopia
The Romans
The Hand of Fear
Marco Polo
The Reign of Terror
The Aztecs
Turn Left
The Time Meddler
Genesis of the Daleks
An Unearthly Child
Pyramids of Mars
The Invasion of Time
The Space Museum

Twenty also-rans - nul points

That's where the 19 allocated slots ended, but as I say my initial 'short-list' was longer than 20 anyway, so this is what I had left over, also still ranked in preference order. More or less, anyway! I didn't over-think it.

Logopolis
The Android Invasion
The Tenth Planet
Blink
The Ark in Space
The Invasion
The Rescue
The Web Planet
The Highlanders
The Green Death
Doctor Who and The Silurians
The Day of the Doctor
The Shakespeare Code
The Horns of Nimon
The Sea Devils
The Daemons
Ghost Light
The Woman Who Lived
Time Crash
Black Orchid

Top five non-televised stories

Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures were allowed in this category, which I'm not sure was a great idea, as they are pretty different from novels, Big Finish audios, comic strips etc. I suspect in future years having another five separate slots for televised spin-offs might be more productive. Also, I'm not sure I took enough time to think properly about the Sarah Jane adventures. In retrospect, I should probably have put 'Death of the Doctor' in there somewhere.

Children of Earth (Torchwood)
Shada (Big Finish Productions 2003, Eighth Doctor)
Marc Platt (1997), Lungbarrow
Paul Cornell (1995), Human Nature
The Fires of Vulcan (Big Finish Productions 2000, Seventh Doctor)

Five hate votes

Included 'in order to give fandom's darker impulses an outlet', apparently! :-)

Most hated - minus three points:

The Twin Dilemma

Also hated - minus one point each:

The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe
Kill The Moon
In the Forest of the Night
Fear Her

Interesting to note here that although there are many pretty awful stories from the Classic period which I could have voted for, after The Twin Dilemma I didn't feel moved to award the others actual Hate Votes. After all, they're in the past now, and you can just not watch them if you don't like them. It is the more recent wastes of air-time, which carry with them the threat that they might fatally damage the programme's popularity and end up getting it decommissioned, which really rankle.

Best People etc.

Best Doctor - Fourth (Tom Baker)
Best Companion - Barbara (Jacqueline HIll)
Classic vs. New vs. Other - Classic
Best Writer - Robert Holmes
Best Producer - Verity Lambert

Note: 'Best Writer' was a radio-button poll, featuring only people who are, were or might retrospectively be identified as 'head writers'. I'm not sure that entirely worked either, as it cut out some major contributors to the Classic series, and on a somewhat arbitrary / subjective basis. I think I might have voted for John Lucarotti if I'd had the chance.

Polls close at the end of September, and the results will be on the Eruditorum blog over the course of October, apparently.

Click here if you would like view this entry in light text on a dark background.

Comments

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing this out - I've just been giggling at the Official Clarifications.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, the comments are quite worth reading for similar reasons. Hope you have cast your votes! :-)

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I'm actually not sure I have as many opinions as they want! But I'll do some of it.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Well, they did say you didn't have to fill in all the options, so a multitude of opinions is not compulsory!

[newandrewhickey.livejournal.com]

Good choices. I don't remember all mine, but there was a lot of overlap. I *think* my top twenty was (not necessarily in order) -- The Mind Robber (top), City of Death, Logopolis, The Time Meddler, The Romans, The Space Museum, Logopolis, The Three Doctors, Vengeance on Varos, Revelation of the Daleks, Remembrance of the Daleks, Genesis of the Daleks, The Deadly Assassin, The Time Warrior, Edge of Destruction, The War Games, Shada, The Two Doctors, Ghost Light, Castrovalva. There may be a couple of differences as I did it four or five days ago, but pretty sure that's very close.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, we're definitely on the same page for a lot of that. I will look forward to seeing the final results.