Season 26 – Doctor Who

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Wolfgang B The final 2 seasons of the original, 27 year run of Doctor Who are not the best the show had ever been, but certainly the best it had been since about 1977 Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/02/23 Full Review Audience Member A bit of an underwhelming final season for McCoy, thanks to the slight disasters of 'Ghost Light' and 'Survival', but the classic gems of 'Battlefield' and 'The Curse of Fenric' certainly somewhat make up for them. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member It's a real shame that the BBC opted to axe Doctor Who after Season 26, as Season 26 was easily the best Season the show had produced since Peter Davison's first year. This Season showcases 4 stories, none of which are bad. Ghost Light is probably the weakest, but it's merely a 'Good but not Great' story, acting more as a demo reel for high-concept ideas rather than a coherent story, but the ideas at play are solid ones, and the gothic production values are surprisingly solid. Along with that, Ghost Light also showcases some depth for Ace, as she realizes that she's now trapped in a haunted house that scared her so much as a child that she, being a reckless child, burned down. Next up, in regards to quality, is 'Survival', a high-octane episode the delivers some genuine intensity throughout its runtime (even if the concept is a bit silly). It features the final appearance of Anthony Ainley as The Master (still my favorite portrayal, as he combined menace with mania very effectively) but sadly he almost feels like a guest, giving the evil force (the true villain) a face to root against, however he is great as always. Next up is everyone's favorite: 'The Curse of Fenric' - this one is pretty great, featuring solid pacing, some genuinely great twists, and again, a solid look into Ace's psychology. The final Cliffhanger of of Curse of Fenric might be the best Cliffhanger of the entire Classic Series, as it's a genuine jaw-dropping moment that's both intense and unexpected, as well as one that INSTANTLY raises the stakes ten-fold. Last is my personal favorite: 'Battlefield'. I could go on for a long time about how excellent this one is -- The dialogue is sharp and fast, the Villains and Guest Heroes very enjoyable and well-written, the themes are strong, the concepts solid, the twists creative, the musical score the most nuanced and enjoyable of the 7th Doctor's era, and features what are easily my favorite moments of The 7th Doctor himself, featuring not only an incredibly powerful (if short) anti-nuclear war speech, but even a moment where he casually walks through a brutal sword fight during the split-second where the two fighters were a few feet apart. It was also nice to see U.N.I.T ACTUALLY WIN on its own for once! *[major spoilers ahead]* Battlefield also features something that was somehow NEVER explored in the series until this point: The Doctor is facing off against villains that he had defeated in the past, but it was HIS future that defeated them, so he was against enemies that knew (and feared) him, but he had no idea who they were; only that they were a legitimate threat. Oh, and Battlefield also gives us an absolutely wonderful final story with The Brigadier, himself realizing that his prime is well behind him yet he is still more than able to be a hero -- In fact, this episode has 3 of my favorite Brigadier moments in his entire run: The first is when he has a moment talking with the Evil Queen, Morgaine (played brilliantly by Jean Marsh, one year out from Willow), and the two show a palpable, mutual respect for one-another, despite being enemies in this battle. Then later, when The Doctor's inability to perform lethal violence makes the most cocky of villains laugh in his face, The Brigadier has an intense "..try ME!" moment that GENUINELY instills fear into his opponent. The last is when The Brigadier performs a self-sacrifice to save The Doctor (he survives, don't worry) and actually defeats The Destructor, the most destructive enemy, by himself. I could go on for paragraphs more, but I'll just say it: Battlefield is my favorite episode post-Earthshock, even more than the brilliant Five Doctors and Remembrance of the Daleks (both outstanding on their own), and I would recommend the Blu-Ray for that, even if the others were mediocre. But since the other stories are Solid-to-Great, I'd recommend this final Season to any Who fan, and it's a tragic shame that the show was canned when it FINALLY started to become genuinely Great again! Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member shit show - reset audience score again - its sad really sad Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Season 26 is one of my favourite seasons of Classic Who, and really showed a continued upswing in quality continuing from Season 25, improving markedly from prior seasons of the show. The overall quality of the writing and tone were strengthened, with the story 'The Curse of Fenric' being one of the true pinnacles of Doctor Who and in my eyes arguably the greatest story in the show's history. There are some slightly lower points in this season that pull it from a 5 to a 4.5, Survival does lull in the middle for example, and I don't think it's unfair to argue that the high-concept nature of Ghost Light results in a rather confusing final product. But all in all I enjoyed each of these stories, and would have loved to see where the increasingly mysterious tone of the show could have lead had the television show been renewed, rather than being followed up on in the medium of Novels and Audiobooks instead. All around Season 26 was excellent, and even in comparison to the revived series I'd freely call it among the best that Doctor Who has to offer. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Season 26 proves to be an outstanding but bitter sweet end to the classic era of the show. Andrew Cartmel leads the series into a much better place than the majority of the 80s seasons, and sees the 7th incarnation of the timelord become increasingly comfortable expressing the more dark and manipulative side of the character. A strong start with the action-packed 'Battlefield' and followed by the haunting and notoriously layered 'Ghost Light', the season's first 7 episodes set the show on a definite course-correction. With penultimate occult masterpiece that is 'The Curse of Fenric' and the gripping and introspective 'Survival', this season is a breath of fresh air which makes its eventual finality all the more tragic. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Doctor Who — Season 26

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