Having binged on the ‘David Tennant years’ for Doctor Who in 2019, I felt the need to re-visit some more Doctor Who. The next natural ‘Doctor destination’ after Tennant is then Tom Baker. So, for what it’s worth, here’s my “Skip or Watch?” list for working through the Tom Baker years in the UK’s long-running Doctor Who series. For a bit of fun during a dull January. I’m currently at the end of Season 13 in my viewing.

It’s fine to skip, as Doctor Who is always notoriously choppy within a season. The Baker era is said to be no different, but perhaps different in another way since it drew even more strongly on horror than on science. Indeed, for most of Baker’s run the science takes rather a back seat. But the horror angle may interest some Tentaclii readers who can tolerate the low production values (by today’s standards, and sometimes even by the standards of 1970s British TV). You’d also need to be able to tolerate some of the British wackiness, irony and eccentricity, from the lead Baker but also from showrunner Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide). Some of the plots and ideas are said to need a sharp ear and sharp mind to fully grasp, in the more downbeat and ‘science re-introducing’ final season of the Baker run.

The general format for each season was that each story had four episodes, and then the finale story had six. Only occasionally was this varied from. This means that you can expect each of these stories to run two hours, except for the finale for the season which should run for three hours. The audio-story inserts in this list vary on running time, from one to nearly three hours. In total: around 70 hours for the following list.

Doctor Who Season 11 – good old Jon Pertwee is the Doctor.

* “Planet of the Spiders” – not a great finale, but it ends with the famous regeneration scene. Some may want to view this final episode, after reading up on the plot.

Doctor Who season 12 – Tom Baker is now the Doctor.

* “Robot” – weak, and not the best way to start if you’re new to Doctor Who, yet it does ease Baker out of the Pertwee-era UNIT and off Earth.

* “The Ark in Space” – the Tom Baker era properly begins, with a TV sci-fi classic. Start here if you’re new to Who.

* “The Sontaran Experiment” – continuing from “Ark”, an uncharacteristically short two-parter in the middle of the season.

* “Genesis of the Daleks” – good, if a little ‘all around the houses to get back to where we started from’ at times.

“Revenge of the Cybermen” – SKIP, but read up on the plot.

Doctor Who season 13

* “Terror of the Zygons” – not great, but concludes the very loose story-arc begun back in “Ark”. There’s one point where it helps to have seen the ending episode of Season 11, to understand what’s going on. It also helps the viewer new to Doctor Who to have encountered UNIT back in the previous season, in “Robot”.

? Planet of Evil – it could be skipped, but then you would miss an excellent planetary-surface setting in the first half. Some tiresomely histrionic over-acting in the second-half.

* “Pyramids of Mars” – not quite as scintillating as I’d been led to believe, but definitely a ‘watch’.

“The Android Invasion” – SKIP.

* “The Brain of Morbius” – often hilariously ‘over the top’, but a lot of fun.

? “The Seeds of Doom” – this season finale didn’t grab me. Well-made and imaginative, and it starts well and the plot flows along but… it’s a drag. The unusually angry and very shouty Doctor, a surprise-free plot in a long three-hour slog, and a lack of funny jokes (most fall flat) all served to make it fall short of the classic it’s said to be. Feels like someone’s rather distasteful horror-thriller novel re-purposed as a Doctor Who story. Leaves a ‘bad taste’, all round.

Doctor Who season 14

* “The Masque of Mandragora” – excellent, one of the best. Only the VFX are a little dodgy. Surprisingly, most people slate this one but I can’t think why.

* “The Hand of Fear” – well worth a watch, with a good start and ending. Assistant Sarah Jane bows out.

* “The Deadly Assassin” – slumps in the third of the four episodes, but otherwise very entertaining.

* “The Face of Evil” – definitely not great, but you need to watch it because the new assistant Leela is introduced.

* “The Robots of Death” – very entertaining, and with excellent design-values, though apparently some fans don’t rate it. Slightly abrupt ending.

* Talons of Weng-Chiang. Excellent, a ‘must watch’.

> * “The Foe from the Future” (audio, in Fourth Doctor ‘Lost Stories’). This was a series 14 finale that was never made (the writer was sent to save an ailing soap-opera). “Foe” could be enjoyed here, and Tom Baker’s 2012 voice is apparently spot-on for the 1970s.

> * “Requiem for the Rocket Men” (audio, in Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 3) + “Last of the Colophon”/”Death Match” (audio, in Fourth Doctor Adventures Series 4). “Requiem” apparently helps set up the later “Death Match”. All three are stand-out stories and fit here in the timeline.

Doctor Who season 15

* “Horror of Fang Rock”. Excellent, a very good period-horror piece.

* “The Invisible Enemy” – robot-dog K9 1 introduced. Quite watchable, if you can ‘go’ with the silliness.

? “Image of the Fendahl” – COULD BE SKIPPED, but has an ambitious weird-horror atmosphere.

“Sun Makers” – SKIP.

“Underworld” – SKIP, widely said to be the worst episodes ever.

Invasion of Time – SKIP – Assistant Leela and K9 1 depart. Apparently dreadful, but you may want to just see the ‘Leela departure’ bit at the end.

Doctor Who season 16

* “The Ribos Operation” – sets up the ‘Key to Time’ arc. Assistant Romana 1 and K9 2 appear. Very enjoyable, great sense-of-place and interesting characters.

“The Pirate Planet” – SKIP

* “The Stones of Blood”. Excellent, though the later episodes sag a bit.

* “The Androids of Tara” – progresses the ‘Key to Time’ arc. Not great, mostly seen-it-before pulp-era palace intrigues.

“The Power of Kroll” – SKIP

* “Armageddon Factor” – finishes the ‘Key to Time’ arc. Six episodes, definitely drags a bit.

Doctor Who season 17

“Destiny of the Daleks” – SKIP, apparently abysmal. Just assume that Romana 1 regenerates to Romana 2, and takes the shape of a recently departed princess.

* “City of Death” – an all-time classic gem, amid a rough season.

“The Creature from the Pit” – SKIP

“Nightmare of Eden” – SKIP

“The Horns of Nimon” – SKIP

* “Shada” – incomplete TV episodes for the six-episode season finale, cancelled and the ending was never broadcast due to leftist strike action at the BBC. Complete version eventually released in 2017, with recreated missing fill-ins in audio. Then a further enhanced Blu-ray version with animation and better audio. Not the ‘all-time classic’ hailed by the fans during the dead years, but now very watchable and worthy seeing. Also available as an unabridged 12-hour audiobook novel from 2012. Note that there is also a “Big Finish cast audio version of Shada”, but that this “features the Eighth Doctor [Paul McGann] instead of the Fourth”.

> * “The Trouble with Drax” (audio, in Fourth Doctor Adventures: Series 5). A very fine double-cross adventure, voices are good though Romana 2 sounds like Romana 1 for some reason. There are a few touches of modern politically-correct leftist snark, but it’s fairly easy to overlook them.

Doctor Who season 18 – Douglas Adams has now left as showrunner, his quirky 1970s humour is thrown out. The show is more scientific and a bit more thoughtful.

“The Leisure Hive” – SKIP

“Meglos” – SKIP

* “Full Circle” – begins the e-Space trilogy. Boy assistant Adric appears. Has ridiculous rubber-suited monsters, but is otherwise quite entertaining and interesting.

* “State of Decay” – develops the e-Space trilogy. A watchable take of the usual ‘medieval castle’ theme. Not as good as some say.

> * “Chase the Night” (audio, in the Fourth Doctor Adventures: Ninth Series). Fits here, excellent. Adds useful background for enjoying “Warrior’s Gate”.

* “Warrior’s Gate” – concludes the e-Space trilogy. Romana 2 and K9 2 depart. Excellent.

* “The Keeper of Traken” – another ridiculous rubber-suited monster… but definitely watch as it sets up the finale in which several characters continue.

* “Logopolis” – Tom Baker departs as the Doctor. A good finale.

Doctor Who season 19 – Peter Davison is now the new and rather different Doctor. He’s well-liked by fans but only had a short run, 1981-84. His new style was not always well-served by the scriptwriters.

Davison’s ‘watch list’, as suggested by others. I’m now going through these and being somewhat disappointed. I’d say several are ‘skip’:

* WATCH. “Castrovalva”. Directly continues and helps conclude the last episode of the Tom Baker run.

* SKIP? “Four to Doomsday”. Rather tedious ‘filler’, but some fine acting including Michael Gambon as an alien toad-king.

* SKIP? “The Visitation”. A rather weak ‘period costume’ story with very silly monsters, could be skipped. Some very clunky dialogue lines, but also a magnificent Highwayman.

* WATCH. “Black Orchid”. Short at two episodes, a fun ‘period costume’ story. Could make a good refresher after the long and heavy “Keeper of Traken” / “Logopolis” / “Castrovalva” sequence.

* WATCH. “Earthshock”. Starts very well, but soon drops into formula and gets more and more tedious. Yet the ending is un-missable.

* WATCH. “Mawdryn Undead”. Excellent. The companions at last get some new costumes. Introduces a new companion and an old friend.

* WATCH “Terminus”. Second in a trilogy. Average, but ends with the departure of an assistant.

* SKIP? “Enlightenment”. Third in a trilogy. Not great, but it closes the short ‘Black Guardian’ arc. Just watch the ending?

* WATCH. “The Five Doctors”. Excellent, but the ending can be guessed way ahead of time. Self contained. It’s best to leave Davison here, on a high-point.

* SKIP. “Resurrection of the Daleks”. Daleks, but a slow slog and it doesn’t amount to much. Some bad acting.

* SKIP. “Planet of Fire”. Terrible acting. I gave up on it after one episode.

* SKIP. “The Caves of Androzani”. I gave up on it after one episode.

So, overall for Tom Baker: skip perhaps 12 stories and watch 29, saving yourself several days and nights of tedium and cringe. Possibly also add six of the Big Finish stories, at the points indicated above. Be warned that Big Finish’s marketing blurbs ‘spread the spoilers on’ rather thickly. Then just six for the best of Davison.