Doctor Who: Tom Baker’s 10 Best Episodes

For me, Tom Baker is, was and always will be The Doctor. Others come and go and the other 10 actors to play the role before or since have all been great, don't get me wrong, but as Tom's incarnation said in Robot, 'You may be a Doctor, but I'm The Doctor. The definitive article, you might say'. The Fourth Doctor is that definitive article. His rich booming voice, boundless energy, enthusiasm and alien demeanour is such that sets him apart from all the other incarnations of the Doctor and achieves an eccentricity that will probably never be replicated. He is also the most iconic Doctor, with his long multi-coloured scarf, his floppy hat, his wide eyes and, as Jon Pertwee described it in The Five Doctors, his 'teeth and curls,' making him the most recognisable incarnation. His stories are classics and many are widely accepted as being among the best in the shows 50 year history. Indeed, in a 2009 poll in Doctor Who Magazine ranking all 200 episodes to date, half of the top 10 were episodes that starred Tom Baker as the Time Lord. This just speaks volumes about just how admired and adored the Fourth Doctor is. As is such, I found it very difficult naming a mere 10 best stories, when there are so many other elite episodes that do not find a place on my list. Indeed, many of the stories that do not make my top 10 could easily waltz into the top 5 of most other eras. However, a top 10 needed to be decided, and after much agonising and second guessing, as well as much research and re-watching (It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!) I have whittled it down a superb tenure to the ten best episodes of the Tom Baker era. There will of course be spoilers for all those who have yet to experience the sheer brilliance of the Fourth Doctor.

Honourable Mentions:

I was desperately trying to justify including a real favourite of mine into the top 10, but I just couldn't in the face of these gems. The story I wanted to include was Tom's opening serial €“ Robot. There were others, namely Logopolis, Keeper of Traken and the Brain of Morbius that I struggled to leave out, but Robot was the one that made it closest. The story may not be perfect but it had a real strong sense of a magic beginning. Something glorious was unfolding before the viewer's eyes that made one overlook the occasional plot failure. The top 5 were locked in, but the rest were really tough to choose between, and if I were to rewrite this in a month, a week or even tomorrow, I may come out with a different top 10. Yet with that in mind, read on.
Contributor
Contributor

I'm a massive fan of 24, Prison Break, Boston Legal, Doctor Who and House of Cards. I'm a great fan of rock and roll in particular New Jersey's finest of Bruce Springsteen, The Gaslight Anthem and Bon Jovi. I am a season ticket holder of Southampton FC and I follow basketball too. I moderate two forums: a 24 one (www.fanforum.com/f109) and a Doctor Who one (www.fanforum.com/f126) under the name Almeida's Army and am a regular poster on a Bruce Springsteen forum (www.backstreets.com/BTX) under the name Part Man Part Monkey. You can follow me on Twitter @binboy92.