10 Doctor Who Moments That Will Haunt You Forever
4. There Should Have Been Another Way (Warriors Of The Deep)
The Fifth Doctor really didn't have much fun across his era. Ironically, the incarnation generally considered to be the "nicest" classic Doctor was cast slap-bang in the middle of one of the most bleak and nihilistic parts of the show's history.
Nothing encapsulates this contrast more than the final line in Warriors of the Deep, where the Doctor, surrounded by dead humans, Sea Devils, and Silurians, utters the heartbreaking line "there should have been another way."
It’s such a bleak moment of defeat, not only in the context of Warriors of the Deep, but for the Fifth Doctor’s tenure overall. There are few other incarnations who have been consistently put in no-win scenarios where there is no right or good option. He always tries to do right by people, but often it’s just not possible.
The way Davison’s voice cracks as he delivers the line just completes this image of the Fifth Doctor as a broken man. We see how heavily all those defeats weigh on him, and how he carries the pain of those failures with him.
Warriors of the Deep certainly isn't winning any awards but this was a powerful final note to end on.