11 Amazing Stories That Define Doctor Who - A 49 Year Retrospective

6. The Trial Of A Time Lord

The Baker era (no, not that Baker- not yet, at least) was laden with mishaps and misfires, but with the I€™m A Celeb star Colin Baker€™s final season, the writing team of Who at least managed to give his Sixth Doctor a worthy send-off. Titled The Trial Of A Time Lord, this rather epic twelve-parter focused on the Doctor€™s incarnation- well, reincarceration- at the hands of his race the Time Lords, and the justification he attempted to provide for his random and mystical travels through the realms of time and space. Looking back, it€™s hard not to almost see this run as John Nathan-Turner€™s bold strive to convince the BBC that Doctor Who deserved screen time, reassessing and reiterating the core values of the show. In the space of twelve episodes we had old foes (Sil), new aliens like the Vervoids, and indeed even the most bizarre conclusion of a companion€™s story and beginning of a new companion€™s tale we had ever seen. All the key components of the sci-fi saga were there, and despite the drawn-out nature of the larger tale, the whole narrative was told with a style of bombast and gusto that had been missing for the show debatably since the Peter Davison era. As an overall story, The Trial Of A Time Lord is by no means perfect. That said, it represents Colin Baker at his standout best as the eponymous Time Lord- dramatic cliffhanger gasps aside- showcasing his talents in a layered tale of intrigue and darkness that gripped viewers right up until its spectacular climax. The Valeyard, the Master- so many elements of this tale made it an innovative form of storytelling for its time, and thankfully it still holds up as the best Sixth Doctor story we€™ve got to this day.