My Favourite UNIT stories (so far):
Okay so I couldn’t sleep at all last night, so I decided to write out my top ten UNIT stories and why I like them off the top of my head because... why not? (Also I’m going to Time Fracture tomorrow, so it’s relevant and also I’m still very bitter about how Chibnall disbanded UNIT- for a Brexit joke!). However fair warning; the majority of these are Pertwee stories but there were so many to choose from because I love (most) of the UNIT stories with the exception of The Time Monster because it’s just a let down and I don’t want to be reminded of that ending 😂. Oh and my favourite episode, The Day of The Doctor is not actually on here and neither is the Zygon 2 parter also this goes without saying but- spoilers:
10) Invasion of The Dinosaurs- there’s a reason why it’s one of my very favourite classic who stories and yet it’s not high on the list and that is I can’t actually think of a reason why I like the story. I just do. Oh I like the Dinosaurs and Yates’ betrayal (although you do find out he’s the traitor very early on).
9) Sontaran Strategem/Poison Sky- I could have gone with Christmas Invasion, or Aliens of London/World War Three or even Power of Three (to an extent) but this is a great story and the story that is to blame for my love of UNIT that developed as a kid. That’s why I like it. Also the Sontarans feel threatening, unlike every Sontaran story in Moffat’s era (although I did like Strax as a comedic Sontaran, it’s when the other Sontaran got involved in that I didn’t like it) .
8) Terror of The Autons- the UNIT family really kind of starts here, and that’s why I love it. You’ve got the introduction to the Master, Jo Grant and Captain Yates and their introductions are all so good. And it’s actually a decent plot for the Autons, well, the first of two pretty identical plots but hey, at least they get to suffocate someone with a plastic inflatable chair (yeah, that’s the worst way to go in Doctor Who history)
7) The Green Death- I absolutely love this story. Mainly because of the character plots in this story. Jo leaves, which is utterly heart wrenching to watch, The Doctor doesn’t really like the fact that Jo is going off to get married but he has to hide it and be happy for her, Yates gets put through a lot (which is obviously very bad, and I like Yates but... it starts off one of my favourite character arc in Classic Who) and it involves a joke that makes me laugh every time. And it’s the original ‘toxic waste makes creatures grow big’ story in Doctor Who and they do it way better than Arachnids in the U.K (which you know, mashed this story and Planet of the Spiders to create the episode that I can’t watch 95% of because it is pure nightmare fuel for an arachnophobe) oh and the ending with The Doctor driving off in Bessie alone, is one of my favourite endings to a story in Classic Who because it’s so well done.
6) The Invasion- the original UNIT story! It’s a great one, Benton is introduced and the Brig becomes the Brig. Also the actual cybermen invasion scene is iconic. Okay there’s some sexism in there but Jamie is from 1746 so he has that excuse and he does get called out on it and the Brigader... well, we can assume the Brig learns not to be sexist by the time he leaves unit, considering he had to work with Liz, Jo and Sarah Jane.
5) Planet of Spiders- haha for someone who has bad arachnophobia, I’m surprised this is high on this list. Mainly, because the spiders look so fake I’m fine with it (compared to Arachnids in the U.K. in which I almost cry every time one is on screen because even though they’re CG they look realistic) as well as it being one of Jon Pertwee’s best performances (not that he wasn’t fantastic throughout his run as the Doctor), his regeneration was the first classic who regeneration to bring me to tears! Oh and I guess we’ve got Yates’ redemption in there too (what? I like that he gets redeemed).
4) The Daemons- this is a peak UNIT family story. It’s fun, great plot, Bok is hilarious, and it spawned the very iconic Brigadier line that everyone still references! (‘Chap with the wings there, five rounds rapid’) Oh and may or may have not helped influence a character’s backstory I wrote for project I took part in with my friends during lockdown one, which I am not going to explain beyond that, as it would take a LOT of explaining to do.
3) Deadly Reunion- At the moment, this is my favourite book to involve UNIT (Having read a total of two past adventures novels so far, both involving UNIT, not counting short stories in anthologies) and I could honestly go on about this for hours but I’ll keep it to a paragraph for now. Whilst it’s not exactly not the best Doctor Who book I’ve read it’s certainly the most memorable for one particular reason: years before he met The Doctor some point after the Second World War A YOUNG BRIGADIER FELL IN LOVE WITH PERSEPHONE AND WENT TO THE ACTUAL UNDERWORLD TO LITERALLY FIGHT HADES FOR HER. And in case you’re questioning the validity of this story and who exactly wrote this... it was written by Terrence Dicks and Barry Letts. Oh and the Brigadier and Persephone fact may have uh spawned an idea, that developed into a story pitch I did called The Atlantean Paradox that is still one of the best things I’ve written/thought up of and will now probably haunt me for the rest of my life, haha.
2) The Sacrifice of Jo Grant- okay. This story comes in the legacy of time audio boxset and it sees Jo Jones and Kate Stewart team up with the Third Doctor and without spoiling anything, is it an emotional rollercoaster of a audio, and it possibly has one of the most heartwarming and heartbreaking moments in an audio that I’ve listened to so far (it had me in actual tears) Fantastic story!
1) UNIT: Assembled- just the entire boxset, because I love it all. The team up between Classic Who and Modern Who UNIT is amazing, Yates, Benton and Jo all return and it’s fun to see how they’d all gotten on since their adventures in UNIT. Benton owns a pub, Jo’s being well, Jo, and still being and activist and Yates, well Yates, they’re not clear on what he’s been up to really, (to my recollection) but he’s doing okay after Planet of The Spiders. There’s Silurians, Sea Devils, and there are lots of moments that make me smile in this boxset.
