And now for the inevitable post-marathon list:
(My) Top 10 Fourth Doctor Stories
*sans season 18, which I didn't get to this time
1. Horror of Fang Rock
Pretty much perfect. The pacing is just right. The production team nails this grim, claustrophobic atmosphere. The side characters are well drawn. Baker is on point as the Doctor. And Leela is exceptionally great, with some clutch lines and scene-stealing moments. The only flaw in the whole thing is the green jellyfish model/effect, which does not exactly inspire fear or dread. You could air this today as a Capaldi episode without changing anything else and it'd work just as well.
2. City of Death
Fun, funny, and Baker and Ward are just delightful to watch together. A little twee at times, but otherwise an extremely charming and witty batch of episodes that often feel way ahead of their time -- or really expose how much RTD and Moffat have cribbed from this story for their own writing.
3. Pyramids of Mars
The Doctor and Sarah Jane were never better together than they are here, I think. Sutekh is a compelling villain and the Doctor's palpable fear over Sutekh, and frustration over everything he throws at him failing one after the other, make this one of the darker Who stories I've seen, classic or modern.
4. Genesis of the Daleks
I think this could have probably worked fine as four episodes, but it doesn't feel noticeably padded at six. The politics and goals of the different factions involved are interesting to watch, Harry isn't a total knob in this one, and Michael Wisher delivers a legit GOAT performance as Davros. This story is bleak as hell and earns its reputation.
5. The Deadly Assassin
I really did not like the first episode; the Time Lords are so lame and a 25-minute tour of their culture and lexicon is tedious. The second and third episodes, which focus on the cat-and-mouse game hunting the Doctor through the Matrix, are pretty gripping. This is one of my favorite Master performances too, and certainly my favorite classic Master of the bunch.
6. The Talons of Weng-Chiang
The rare six-parter that really merits being that long. Really well-paced, Jaco and Lightfoot are hilarious additions to the cast, and Leela again kills it here. Minus a couple points though for some serious racism and my personal dislike for OTT shouty villains like Weng-Chiang, who is unfortunately the main focus of the last two eps.
7. The Seeds of Doom
The Fourth Doctor at his most action hero-y. Sarah Jane at her most proactive and biting. All the living plant and body horror effects are really well done (except for the big plant monster which just looks shitty) and Chase is a great villain. He reminds me a lot of Vaughn from The Invasion, who I also liked.
8. The Brain of Morbius
Even though this is probably the most Gothic-looking of the Hinchcliffe run of Gothic horror stories, that aesthetic belies how funny these episodes are. Like Weng-Chiang, Morbius strikes me as a lame villain, and the Sisterhood of Karn are also dull to listen to. But Solon is a great antagonist, and I love how much of this story has the Doctor clowning on his adversaries -- yet not so much that it undermines the threats he faces. It's a perfectly calibrated balance that the post-Hinchcliffe episodes largely lacked.
9. The Robots of Death
An interesting murder mystery story, largely made that interesting by engaging side characters and a sympathetic performance by the 'dumb' robot D84. But come on, "robophobia"?
10. The Pirate Planet
A sort of messy but mostly entertaining mash up of a lot of cool ideas. I especially love the central premise of a planet that jumps around and effectively eats other planets. The actual storyline, and the roles of both protagonists and antagonists, are pretty muddled, but Baker is as amusing as ever and Mary Tamm's Romana gets a better outing here -- despite not much material to work with -- than she did in her debut.
And for good measure, the other Baker stories I watched, roughly in the order I'd rank them in:
- Terror of the Zygons
- Robot
- The Ark in Space
- The Sun Makers
- The Face of Evil
- Shada
- The Ribos Operation