We start with an alphabetised list of the stories. Include the telemovie as Enemy Within, adopt most common titles and consider the current two parters as one story. Include Mission to the Unknown and Shada. We now have 169 stories in alpahabetical order, whcih we proceed to sic on each other for gladatorial style combat.



And first up...Aliens of London and World War Three vs An Unearthly Child!

I'm not quite sure how we're supposed to be doing this, but I'll give it a go:



"An Unearthly Child" got the whole legend going, and for it's time it was a revolutionary form of science fiction.

Who knew where the show would go?

Who was The Doctor?



The foggy streets of London were juxtaposed with an alien technology that defies all sense of dimension known to the human senses.

The scene was set for adventures and time and space with the enigmatic Doctor. Who was he? Where did he come from? What were his motives? Questions about the character would evolve as the show went on into popular mythology - and this is all due to the first story and it's subsequent follow on with the Daleks........and now 43 years later the magic still lives on.



"Aliens of London"/"World War 3" focussed too much on the Slitheen and the very unlikable Mickey.

Fart jokes are never funny (unless you're some one with an infantile sense of humour) and the Slitheen were NOT a very interesting alien.

However, the special effects were great (the ship crashing into Big Ben will be a permanent reminder of just how far the show has come in over 40 years)........but it does not have the suspense, intrigue or imagination of "An Unearth;y Child"



My vote: "An Unearthly Child" (7/10)

"Aliens of London"/"World War Three" (4/10)

You only have to consider which of the two wins to achiveve an order! And this one's pretty obvious...



The next two are more evenly matched: Arc of Infinity vs Attack of the Cybermen.

Arc of Infinity gets my vote as the better story.



Attack of the Cybermen was a shocker.  A story soley for the benefit of the fans, and which drew too much on established mythology without making any new ones.



I won't even mention the overweight Cyber-Leader in that one either.........

Attack of the Cybermen was a hideous mess. Arc of Infinity was less daring and less successfull. If they'd swapped places in the production calender (and Doctors, perhaps), they'd probably both have benefited!



Arc of Infinity.



Next: Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways vs Battlefield.

No contest.  Bad Wolf /Parting of the Ways easily wins.



Those stories bought the 9th Dr era to a fine close and captured everything that the new series was all about.  The acting in them was first rate, and the stories were very involving.



Battlefield had interesting themes in it, but the dire production values and weak script editing really let it down.



The return of the Brig was a good move however.



I actually rank that story as the weakest of the 26th season.

I agree, so let's make the next contest a double--



Black Orchid vs Boom Town.



Carnival of Monsters vs Castrovalva.

Whoa guys - hold your frigging horses!!!!!



"Arc of Infinity" was terrible - "Attack of the Cybermen" romped over it!



"Bad Wolf"/"Parting of the Ways" - AGREED!!!!!



"Blak Orchard" is a clear winner over "Boomtown" (which was a pointless waste of space)



"Castrovalva" leaves "Carnival of Monsters" right behind. It was a great intro for Davison and one of Ainley's 'good' potrayals of The Master. "Carnival" was just too tacky in budget (but is still a good yarn - but up against "Castrovalva", it can't match it)

We'll go with the majority here!



City of Death Vs. Colony in Space.



Dalek vs. Day of the Daleks.

City of Death, because it's an engrossing story with some wonderful location shooting and good acting.



Day of the Daleks, because it had Pertwee at the height of his fame and he knew exactly how to play the Doctor so well.



I didn't like Dalek that much.  The attempts to make the lone Dalek a sympathetic creature was just too much for me.  There is no way I could ever sympathise with a Dalek!!!!!



I agree with Jimmy re: Black Orchard & Castrovalva - both actually one of my fave Davison stories by a long shot.

Axelf, the only good thing about Death to the Daleks is Pertwee. The rest is dribble and disappointing, just the fact that the Daleks are reduced to using those cheap pistols as weapons!!!! And is that city can drain the power of the Tardis, surely it can drain the power that controls the Daleks.... I know there are suppose to be holes in Doctor Who Storylines and things that don't make sense but Death to the Daleks is just so full of them... AHHHHHH!!!



Anyway, that's my two cents worth

It's Day--time travelling guerillas assasinate a VIP leading to a Dalek invasion...

Winners vs losers



An Unearthly Child vs Aliens of London / World War Three

Arc of Infinity vs Attack of the Cybermen

Bad Wolf / The Parting of the Ways vs Battlefield

Black Orchid vs Boom Town

Castrovalva vs Carnival of Monsters

City of Death vs Colony in Space

Day of the Daleks vs Dalek

Coincidentally, Sneb, here 'tis...



Death to the Daleks vs Delta and the Bannermen



Destiny of the Daleks vs Doctor Who and the Silurians

Death to the Daleks wins by a mile.



Delta and the Bannermen showed how wrong Season 24 was, simply appalling.



The Silurians easily wins.  Even though it was a 7 parter, it had an interesting story and Pertwee seemed to finally settle into how he wanted to portray the Doc.

I agree with both of these--indeed these are two of my favourite stories, huge plot holes and all! Destiny is one of the weakest stories, Daleks or not, and Delta? Well it was fun...

Here's a missmatched pairing...



Dragonfire vs Earthshock.



Enemy Within vs Enlightenment.

Hmm 2 tough ones.



Earthshock is much better.  Whilst it's still done in the over produced JNT style, the story had plenty of action in it, and the return of the Cybermen after so many years away was great to see.  Plus Adric finally met his maker in that one!!!



Dragonfire was ok, but hardly classic Who.  Although it did see the departure of Mel...



I have to go with Enlightment.  It was a fitting end to the Black Guardian trilogy, and was quite an interesting story.



Enemy Within was a terrible introduction to a doctor, and the whole half human idea didnt really come together.  Such a waste of time.

Consensus would be with you on Earthshock over Dragonfire! I don't like fantasy in my SF, however, so I'd give it to Enemy Within over Enlightenment.



Any one else on this bout?

Father's Day vs Four to Doomsday.



Frontier in Space vs Frontios.

Now thats an even harder choice!!



I have to go for Father's Day, because that further developed the characters of both Rose and the Dr, and revealed more about the relationship between the 2.



Four to Doomsday seemed to be rather messy, from what I recall.



Frontios was one of the more interesting 5th Dr stories.  With the Tardis scattered all over the place, the Drs group had to rely on their wits to get out of the place, instead of just running to safety to the old police box.