Rate the JNT era

sheringham wrote:I really like most of the JNT era. I gave it a 4 - the one mark it lost was for Slyv.


Let's face it - I jusst love Doctor Who. I am the Baysan Tulu of Outpost Wrinkly.

You are Baysan Tulu and I claim my five pounds. The JNT era started off incredibly well but it seriously went pear shaped with poor scripts, bunging two episodes on a week....grumble grumble

sheringham wrote:Let's face it - I jusst love Doctor Who. I am the Baysan Tulu of Outpost Wrinkly.

Awesome "I am the Baysan Tulu of Outpost Wrinkly" sheringham post. 10/10.

Now dance!

Frank wrote:You are Baysan Tulu and I claim my five pounds. The JNT era started off incredibly well but it seriously went pear shaped with poor scripts, bunging two episodes on a week....grumble grumble

When I'm feeling in a particularly charitable mood, which is most of the time actually, I simply tend to think of the JNT Era as a perfect case of the right man in the right job - for too long a time.

I've never subscribed to the "crucify and demonise him", mindset of a certain fan subset - he wasn't perfect, certainly - but he did try.

I reckon that the JNT era suffers from some external factors that have nothing whatever to do with JNT, but which he is blamed for.

First, I think that the audience started to change when Tom Baker left. I don't think we see Logopolis and Castrovalva as the watershed they really were. I think when Tom left, a lot of people didn't necessarily stick around to see how the new guy would work out.

I think the writers started to drift away from some of the core of Doctor Who; Androzani is a case in point. The Doctor has very little interaction with a large chunk of the story - he turns up, gets captured by a nutter, gets poisoned. He doesn't solve the problem or save the day, he's just caught up in events and desperately trying to save Peri. It's the innocent abroad.

But the back story is really grim, and quite gritty, with the mercenaries and the two bad guys and the drugs. It doesn't seem like any kind of traditional Doctor Who story, one of the reasons it stands out.

My pet theory is that the writers were hoping to draw the show in a new direction and keep the existing audience, which they realised were maturing.

It depends on which part of the JNT era:


The Davison Years = 4/5. Some poor stories such as 'Time Flight' however far more good than bad.

Season 22 = 4/5. Mostly good and I do like 'Timelash'. The only story I found disappointing was 'Revelation...' with the awful Alexei Sayle DJ bits.

Season 23 = 2/5. Mostly rather poor, bar Terror of the Vervoids.

Season 24 = 1/5. Just awful.

Seaons 25 & 26 = 3/5. Mixed but with some fine stories , 'The Happiness Patrol', 'Curse of Fenric' & 'Survival' spring to mind.