Celebrating Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary: 50 Pivotal Story Arcs

40. Highlanders 4.15-4.18

Highlanders In this recon serial we get a chance to see the Doctor meet new companion Jaime McCrimmon. This episode does the most work to distinguish this new Doctor from this predecessor and establish his zany side. Among his antics we see him try on some terrible accents and perform a staple of British comedy, get everyone out of trouble by dressing in drag. This story also sees another appearance of his other faithful companion, a recorder, upon which he plays tunes to lift spirts. The plot of the story itself is somewhat unsettling as the opposition faced this week are war savvy humans who wish to sell the Doctor and his friends new and old into slavery. The opposition of the serial, a man from that era with the surname Grey is a picture-perfect version of the moustache-twirling villain, and receives a very predictable end.

39. Doctor Who And The Silurians 7.5-7.11

Doctor Who And The Silurians Fans of Madame Vastra and other Modern Who homo-reptilians would hardly recognise these earlier versions, who are darker in colour and significantly less humanoid in shape. Intriguingly, the desires of these Silurians and those in their first appearance in Modern Who are remarkably similar in scope €“ a desire to wipe out the surface "apes" and reclaim the planet for themselves. Sadly this serial ends far less peacefully than this later encounter, as while the Doctor is hopeful to renegotiate with the Silurians at a later date, the Brigadier is less convinced of this possibly and wipes out this subset of Silurians entirely, an act much like Harriet Jones's ruthless obliteration of the Sycorax later in the Christmas Invasion. On a lighter note, the serial marks the first appearance of the Doctor's car, the bright yellow Bessie, and her famous license plate WHO1. I recommend the opening and closing part of this serial at the very least.
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