DAYS OF THE DOCTOR

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Week 11. THE SEA DEVILS

THE DOCTOR’S DEMONS #3

The third Doctor brought a whole new style to Doctor Who. Now he was a man of action, a scientific 007, a superhero. And every superhero needs a supervillain…

The Master was the Doctor’s equal and opposite. Where the Doctor marched in like he owned the place, the Master was a master of disguise. Where the Doctor surrounded himself with friends, the Master hypnotised innocents to do his bidding. And where the Doctor used his knowledge to save the world, the Master used his skills to kill.

In The Sea Devils, the Master teamed up with – and betrayed – the Sea Devils, undersea cousins of the Silurians. But these monsters were not aliens – nor invaders – nor really monsters at all. They lived on Earth before the humans, and the Doctor’s great hope was to save both the humans and the Sea Devils.

Image from https://chrisbaer.net/mp/2017/08/10/doctor-who-project-the-sea-devils/ .

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Week 10. SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE

THE THIRTEEN FACES OF DOCTOR WHO #3 REGENERATIONS #3

Like The Power of the Daleks, this was a story that could make or break Doctor Who. This Doctor was a complete break from the past – no more Jamie, no more Zoe… no more time and space! But Spearhead from Space set out the new style in one fell swoop – with action from UNIT! Aliens invading high streets! Full colour! And a colourful new Doctor!

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Week 9. THE TOMB OF THE CYBERMEN

THE DOCTOR’S DEMONS #2

While the Daleks were without competition the first Doctor monster, it seemed that every time the second Doctor’s TARDIS landed, he met a different monstrous villain. But there was one monster that came back again and again – and when facing a Doctor who had come back to life, a demon that is trying to conquer death seems like a dark mirror.

And The Tomb of the Cybermen is the ultimate Cyberman story, with logical and mental challenges, human villains who think they know how everyone else should think, a dead army rising from their tombs, and the constant threat of conversion…

“You belong to us. You shall be like us. We will survive.”

Image from https://scifijubilee.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/dr-who-the-era-of-monsters/ .

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Week 8. THE MOONBASE

THE THIRTEEN FACES OF DOCTOR WHO #2

By the second Doctor’s fourth story, the historicals were in the past. Now it was all about the future. The monsters. The space bases. Under siege. And now it was clear who the Doctor was too – a clown, a cosmic hobo. Or was that all that he was?

And The Moonbase is an especially good microcosm for the Troughton years, since just like his era as a whole, half of it’s missing.

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Week 7. THE POWER OF THE DALEKS

REGENERATIONS #2

Possibly the most important story in the history of Doctor Who. If this first post-regeneration story hadn’t worked, then Doctor Who might have only lasted a few years. So a pair of new companions, Polly and Ben, were introduced a few stories earlier to provide continuity. Doctor Who’s first script editor, David Whitaker, was hired as writer. The Daleks returned. And central to the success, Patrick Troughton was picked as the new Doctor.

And since then, The Power of the Daleks itself has regenerated. The entire serial was wiped in the late 60s, and no copies are currently known to exist. But in 2016, for the story and the second Doctor’s 50th anniversary, it was recreated as an animation, using audio from recordings of the original episodes.

Image from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McRfaIjicvg .

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Week 6. THE TENTH PLANET

REGENERATIONS #1

Everything changes, and change is what’s made Doctor Who what it is today. As great as “An Unearthly Child”, “The Daleks” and “The Aztecs” are, can you imagine Doctor Who like that today – or even in the 70s? 1966 saw new types of story – celebrity historical, present-day earth invasion and base under siege – hip 60s companions, new alien menaces, and now the biggest change of all… Maybe you can’t change history, but you can change the future.

Image from https://tygerwhocame2t.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-tenth-planet.html .

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Week 5. THE DALEKS’ MASTER PLAN

THE DOCTOR’S DEMONS #1

Every Doctor has their archenemy, their recurring nightmare… their demon. And you could say that every Doctor’s demon is the Daleks, haunting the Doctor from the second story ever to the most recent. But the Hartnell years were also the years of peak Dalekmania, with the Daleks appearing in four stories (and a one-off episode) in three years, and increasing their threat every time – from nuclear survivors trapped in their city, to conquerors of Earth, to time travellers hunting the Doctor through history, to the leaders of an axis of evil with a master plan to conquer all space and time.

Image from http://tragicalhistorytour.com/d01/1v/index.html .

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Week 4. DOCTOR WHO IN AN EXCITING ADVENTURE WITH THE DALEKS

Back in the 60s and 70s, if you missed Doctor Who, you missed it. You couldn’t live pause or rewind time to rewatch it. But there was a way you could reexperience many stories – even missing ones – and sometimes it was even better than the original. The first Target novelisations were released in 1973, and almost every Doctor Who story was novelised (and the last two remaining will be by the end of 2019). But the first three were actually reprints of books from the 60s, and the very first is one of the very best.

Image from the 2016 hardback reprint.

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Week 3. THE AZTECS

THE THIRTEEN FACES OF DOCTOR WHO #1

We’ve had two important – and great – stories so far, but if you only watch one first Doctor story (though why would you do that?), The Aztecs should be it. A classic historical, a style that faded away after the Hartnell era, and rather than fighting an alien invasion, the Doctor and his companions are fighting history…

Image from https://twitter.com/Mister__Rhys/status/952657056804294657 .

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Week 2. THE DALEKS

Doctor Who is inextricably intertwined with the Daleks, and it has been since the very second story. Their first (partial) appearance, at the end of episode 1, is a classic cliffhanger, and their alien design – in fact, not even alien, but completely inhuman – has been terrifying the universe ever since.

Image from https://thescene.com/watch/thenewyorker/the-daleks-must-survive .

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Week 1. AN UNEARTHLY CHILD

Where better to start than the very start. The first four episodes of Doctor Who are strangely unlike everything that’s come since, because unlike everything since they really focus on the strangeness of the TARDIS – the mystery of the Doctor & Susan – the confusion of time travel – and the character of all our heroes, the Doctor, Susan, Ian & Barbara.

Image from https://samihaeli.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/an-unearthly-child-and-wtf-doctor/ .

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What next?

Well, that’s all 365 (+1) Days of the Doctor done. No more Doctor Who till 2020. May as well just hibernate now.

Or… we could go back in time! And revisit a classic story every week of 2019! We’ve done the days of the Doctor – now it’s time for the Year of the Doctor!

Tune in at 7pm every Saturday for another thrilling trip into history…

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All the Days of all the Doctors

https://365daysofthedoctor.tumblr.com/archive

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365+1. RESOLUTION

One thousand years ago, the people of Britain came together to battle an unstoppable foe. Its corpse was split in three, spread across the globe, buried for a millennium. But even that won’t stop it.

Image from https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bx2rj3/ .

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365. THE BATTLE OF RANSKOOR AV KOLOS

The planet of Ranskoor Av Kolos is a battleground. The people can manipulate reality, and the planet can twist your thoughts. Ships have been destroyed and people killed. And someone wants revenge…

Image from http://whoisdoctorwho.ru/news/promo_fotografii_k_serii_bitva_na_ranskur_av_kolos/2018-12-04-2037 .

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364. IT TAKES YOU AWAY

Monsters are stirring in a Norwegian wood. A girl’s father has disappeared, and she’s left trapped in their cabin. And inside the cabin, there’s a mirror with no reflection…

Image from https://www.whyruntothetardis.com/2018/11/it-takes-you-away-promo-pics.html .

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363. THE WITCHFINDERS

Lancashire, 1612. Crops are failing and people are falling sick. Witches are clearly at large. And then an unfamiliar woman appears, brandishing a glowing wand and claiming to know the future…

Image from https://www.blogtorwho.com/doctor-who-the-reality-behind-the-witchfinders/ .