Best Episode: Earthshock A powerful story involving the Cybermen, time travel, and the mortal end of a companion, the story found ways to provide a real role for every character, major and minor. Its poignant exit for Adric, a companion who had been given no real place with this Doctor, will never be forgotten in the history of the series. Worst Episode: Warriors Of The Deep During his short tenure, Peter Davison's Doctor had a number stories of dubious quality. This one was the most disappointing because the return of the Silurians and the Sea Devils from Jon Pertwee's era should have had the depth seen in the original appearance. Instead, it's just a bloody war and a tragedy. Best Race: The Terileptils This Doctor's period was not one filled with lots of great aliens; since the Cybermen have already been discussed, and the Sea Devils and Silurians were such a disappointment, it falls to the Terileptils to take this spot. While only a few criminals of the race appear, there is plenty of untapped potential here. Worst Race: Tractators At the opposite end of the spectrum are the Tractators, burrowing monsters that can harness gravity in some dubious sort of way. Dancers were hired to give the otherwise hard-shelled, clunky-looking creatures some type of grace. They did not always succeed. Best Companion: Tegan Jovanka The worst companion from the prior Doctor finally had the blessing of good writers giving her a place in the series. Here, she had a role of being more of a go-between for the Doctor and the audience as well as occasionally the intermediary between the Doctor and the locals where they landed. Worst Companion: Adric On the other hand, Adric fared pretty badly. With Tegan as the Doctor's "explanation foil" and Nyssa as the Doctor's "science foil," the character failed to serve a purpose save to get in trouble and then whine about it later. By the time of his departure in Earthshock, most fans of the series were sick of him.
Michael Marcus is a game designer, author, and mad scientist living in Hamtramck, Michigan; his current project list include a series of comic short-stories collectively called "One-Punch," a book on hypnosis and language called "The Prometheus Codex," a collaborative game project called "Art War," and a fun spy story called "The Adventures of Jack Uzi" at http://tinyurl.com/JackUziChannel (for those interested).
