As excitement over the new series of Doctor Who reaches ever more feverish levels, Total Sci-Fi presents a five-part countdown celebrating the greatest aspects of the show.

Covering everything from companions to audio adventures, and from toys to the TARDIS, we’ll be taking you through our favourite aspects of Who over the coming weeks.

And of course, make sure to let us know what you agree and disagree with by commenting beneath the feature! Words: Jonathan Wilkins

CLICK HERE TO READ PART ONE!
CLICK HERE TO READ PART TWO!
CLICK HERE TO READ PART THREE!

40) Aliens in the Ark (The Ark in Space, TV, 1975)

The insect-like Wirrn that provided Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor with his first alien encounter are large, intimidating and genuinely scary. Even a dead one is enough to propel us into a cliffhanging episode ending!

39) Extra! Extra! (DVD releases, 1999–present)


OK, so the comedy spoofs are often disastrously unfunny, but the quality of the restoration these discs (an invisible extra, if you like) is nothing short of stunning. The bonus features are excellent, with in-depth documentaries that are refreshingly honest, great archive clips and audio commentaries that never fail to impress and amuse in equal measure.

38) The End of Eight? (The Flood, Comic, 2004-2005)


The final (comic strip) adventure for Paul McGann’s Doctor seems to build to a regeneration that we never quite get. No matter as an epic confrontation with iCybermen offers a grandiose story comparable with any of the season finales of later years.

37) Frightening Farters (Aliens of London/World War Three, TV, 2005)


Love them or hate them, the Slitheen (remember, that’s the family name!) are perhaps the revitalised series's most distinctive aliens. It’s easy to forget how evil these creatures originally were as they murdered chubby people and then climbed into their skins.

36) Basil (Nearly) Meets the Doctor (City of Death, TV, 1979)

There are many reasons to love City of Death. It’s one of Douglas Adams’s greatest scripts for the show, with witty one-liners, foreign locales and a fantastic plot making for a high point of the Tom Baker era. And just when you think the show can’t get any better, John Cleese and Eleanor Bron turn up. That’s how to do celebrity cameos.

35) Daak vs Daleks (Abslom Daak, Comic, 1980)


Tough nut criminal Abslom Daak chose to become a Dalek Killer rather than face the death penalty. It made for a great comic as he chainsawed his way through Daleks, fell in love and, after a tragic finale, declared death to “Every stinking Dalek in the galaxy!”

34) More than a Monster (Frontier in Space, TV, 1973)


Noble aliens are surprisingly rare in Doctor Who (where ‘alien’ usually means ‘monster’). The Draconians are an exception to that, with a distinct moral code and the ability to hold conversations with the Doctor without resorting to megalomaniac rhetoric about universal domination.

33) A Slavering Slug (Vengeance on Varos/Mindwarp, TV, 1984/1986)


Disgusting, conniving and as slimy as he looks, Sil is one of the later-period classic Who’s great villains. Lucky enough to feature in two fantastic stories (when fantastic stories weren’t a common occurrence), he’s played with gusto and humour by Nabil Shaban.

32) The First Action Heroes (Denys Fisher toys, 1977)


The Doctor looked suspiciously like a cross between Chris Serle and Gareth Hunt; The Cyberman had a nose; and the TARDIS had giant red and green buttons on the top (all the better to make the Doctor disappear when placed inside!) – but what did we care? This was the 70s when accuracy, not to mention actors’ approval, meant less than Doctor Who toys that brought the current Doctor and companions, the TARDIS and a menagerie of monsters into our homes!

31) She’s a Lady (Romana, TV companion, 1978-1981)


From the aloof and icy but gradually thawed Romana I (Mary Tamm) to the playful head girl antics of Romana II (Lalla Ward), the Doctor’s Time Lady companion made for an engaging foil to Tom Baker’s increasingly pompous portrayal of the Time Lord.

30) The End (But the Moment has Been Prepared For) (Logopolis, TV, 1981)


From its scary start as the Master drags an unsuspecting policeman into his TARDIS to an epic confrontation between the Doctor and his arch-nemesis, Logopolis is Who as a low-budget blockbuster. It’s a terrific send-off for the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, as he dies heroically saving not just a planet, but the entire universe.

29) A Ghost in My House (The Chimes of Midnight, Audio, 2003)


Similar in tone to Sapphire and Steel, this atmospheric audio adventure captures a nightmarish sense of déjà vu and terror, particularly in a scene in which, for once, the Doctor tries to escape in the TARDIS but is dragged back into the nightmare!

28) A Silurian’s Eye view (Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters, Novelisation, 1972)


In Doctor Who’s long history, its rare that we see things from the monsters’ perspective, so it’s a breath of fresh air to have extensive background given to the Silurians, who benefit greatly from being afforded names (Morka, Okdel and K'to) they never had on screen. The prologue, which features the creatures retreating into hibernation is something else we always miss when watching the TV version.

27) Warriors Through the Windows (Spearhead from Space, TV, 1970)

Jon Pertwee’s assertion that “there is nothing as scary as finding a Yeti on your loo in Tooting Bec” is one of the truisms of the series (apart from the loo part), especially during the UNIT era. The Autons breaking through the shop windows and onto the streets is not only iconic, but kick-started the idea of real world terrors so keenly exploited by Steven Moffat in recent years.

26) He Didn’t Start the Fire (The Visitation, TV, 1982)

After three-and-a-half episodes of routine action in the countryside, the events shift to the more urban setting of London. Shot on film, with an unusual and effective use of a red light, it’s a shame more of 80s Who didn’t look like this.

25) Doctor Who Ain’t Got a Clue! (The Tom Baker Years, Video, 1993)


Putting an actor who could barely recall the making of the show in front of a barrage of clips from every story he ever made sounds like a recipe for disaster but Tom Baker’s memories (or lack of) of his time on the show is hilarious, raw and never less than entertaining. The DVD extras have made a DVD release for this videotape from nearly 20 years ago redundant, but there’s still pleasure to be had from Tom telling us that certain female cast-members were “a lot of fun”; getting colleagues’ names utterly wrong; and, in lieu of production memories, what was drink of choice on each location.

24) Gallifrey Guardians (Time Lords, Characters, 1969 – present)


Omnipotent beings, bumbling old duffers, devious bastards happy to use lesser beings to serve their own ends, or battle-hardened war-mongers? There are elements of all these in the Time Lords’ make-up. That they haven’t been brought back properly into the modern show makes them all the more fascinating. And no, Timothy Dalton doesn’t count.

23) Tom’s Putting it Down (Horror of Fang Rock, TV, 1977)


Horror of Fang Rock Part 10 by tardismedia

Tom Baker’s Doctor got to issue some killer one-liners over the course of his seven-year tenure, but none as absolute as his wonderful put down aimed at a blobby Rutan warrior: “That’s the empty rhetoric of a defeated dictator. And I don’t like your face either!”

22) Diamond Geezer (Doctor Who Logos, 1963–present)


Despite the occasional misfire such as the Saturday morning kids’ show look of the McCoy-era logo and the spinning taxi light that lasted through Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant’s time, the Doctor Who logos have been mini-icons of pop culture. We particularly love the diamond logo that dominated 70s Who, but can’t resist the enduring Davison-era neon logo either.

21) Jo Moves On (The Green Death, TV, 1973)

You’d have to have a heart of granite not to blub your way through this heartbreaking scene – actress Katy Manning, who played the bumbling assistant, certainly gets watery-eyed during the DVD commentary for this story!

Come back for Part Five next week, where we’ll count down from 20 to 1…