Every Sixth Doctor Story Ranked (1984-1986) 

A very enjoyale ranking video. I personally think that Pip & Jane Baker understood what Colin was trying to do more than any othe writers dring his time. Mark of The Rani and Vengeance on Varos are the stories that work best for Colin's Doctor imo. Thanks 👍

I was surprised to see Attack of the Cybermen, Mark of the Rani and Two Doctors rated so high in this list but your opinion is just as valid as mine and i enjoyed your commentary as always. 😊

Revelation holds back the Doctor who is barely in. Which was on purpose by Eric Saward. It also holds back the Daleks who are just guards.

Weirdly my ranking would be exactly the same as yours

I really like the Sixth Doctor actually

I always enjoyed (when it was at it's best, mind you) the conceptual aspects of Doctor Who, the ideas, the storytelling, but I wasn't usually drawn to the men who performed the Doctor as personae, as character. The two exceptions to that rule for me were William Hartnell, and the next best thing, Colin Baker. 1. Ultimate Foe 2. Mark of the Rani 3. Attack of the Cybermen 4. Two Doctors 5. Vengence on Varos

11. The Twin Dilemma 10. Terror of the Vervoids 9. Mark of the Rani 8. Mindwrap 7. Timelash 6. The Mysterious Planet 5. The Ultimate Foe 4. The Two Doctors 3. Attack of the Cybermen 2. Revelation of the Daleks 1. Vengence on Varos

Attack is also my favorite from 6's run. Varos would probably be my 2nd. I feel bad for Colin because he really did come on the scene at a bad time. He's last on my Doctor tv rankings, but hes #1 when it comes to the Big Finish audios.

Swap one with 2 surely, blimey and Roger Limb’s music in Revelation?! Though Attack is good and I was so excited for it to be back on that 5th Jan 1985 date so everyone has an opinion! Good work this video.

It's a shame that they made so many mistakes during Colin's era. The character of the Doctor was totally unlikeable, and more or less remained that way throughout. Admittedly, that IS a significant shift from the more quiet, kind-hearted Fifth Doctor, but it never really work out since Colin was never permitted to develop his incarnation. Yes, they really should have waited until the following season to introduce Six so they had time to determine precisely how to play this Doctor. So, Colin starts out on the wrong foot from the get-go. Even Colin knew that he had very much been cheated during his era. He said that he wanted to start out very alien, very off-putting, almost villainous -- and then, over the course of his time on the show, he would work to earn our respect and learn how to be a hero again. Which, of course, was the story arc that Peter Capaldi was able to bring to HIS Doctor, but Colin never was allowed to do this. And, of course, years later, we learned that Colin hated that costume as much as we did. He wanted a black uniform to fit his black persona, but that didn't happen -- and, again, Capaldi got what Colin wasn't allowed. In the end, the writers concentrated on other aspects AND that unlikability, and the whole was very much less than the sum of its parts. When the series came back after its 18-month hiatus, he and Nicola Bryant realized they had to show that being together HAS changed them, which meant that they would have had to show that change without any evidence that it took place and despite the scripts. And then ... Terror of the Vervoids, which pretty much took Colin's Doctor back to square one, and he never recovered. Timelash should have been so much better than it was. It was a "kiss to history," as Donald Bellisario said about similar scenes in Quantum Leap, but Leap did it so much better in this case. I felt Trial of a Time Lord was a microcosm of everything that was wrong with the Colin Baker era. It started with what should have been a straight-forward Doctor Who story with a great mystery -- and then they tried to explain it. Which didn't come out very well at all. Mindwarp was probably the best of the series, bringing back the Baker era's best new villain Sil and his people, but it's really dark and misleading. And with Vervoids, I think I spent more time oogling over pretty Yolande Palfrey (RIP). Obviously, the writers were trying to mimick what the series did with the Key to Time saga, but the Key to Time began with a definite overall plotline, and the writers were working to fit their stories into that plotline. Trial didn't do that - the stories were written and THEN linked to the overall plot, and no one had a clue how to put it all together. Of course, Trial was not helped by Robert Holmes' passing before finishing the frame, and Eric Saward finally resigning before the last two episodes were even written. Pip and Jane Baker had to basically work from nothing to end the saga, and, giving them every credit, it sorta made sense even if it left us with a number of loose ends that the series would never really address. Like how the Valeyard and Melanie really fit into the Doctor's continuity in the first place. So, Melanie never really had a start to her tenure, and not much of an ending either. The writers simply had no idea what to do with Melanie, and switching Doctors the following season basically made that impossible. It was perfectly understandable that Colin refused to come back after being unceremoniously fired from the show. I personally don't mind the regeneration sequence in Time and the Rani - it was probably the best they were ever going to do. The Doctor unconscious on the floor of the TARDIS allowed the regeneration without making a big deal about the difference in size of the two actors. Big Finish DID expand on the regeneration, but, IMO, it didn't work -- way too talky -- but at least they were able to bring Sylvester McCoy in to finish the process. We must thank Big Finish for doing a lot to rehabilitate Six -- the stories there for the most part were so much better -- and his delightful "The Very Model Of A Gallifreyan Buccaneer" in Doctor Who and the Pirates was simply delicious. His Big Finish work really made me reassess Colin's Doctor in a way that none of his TV work ever really did, and I am grateful for that. Sorry for the long rant post, but I was really thinking about this for a while once I knew this video was coming. Good work, Isaac!

Good list, my only issue is that Two Doctors isn’t nearly as good as it should have been. Six is my favourite Doctor, just ahead of Eight. Yeah, all thanks to the talented folks at Big Finish.

There are so few good ones. Vengeance on Varos is probably the best.

I think there's something wrong with your microphone. Sound keeps cutting out

19:13 Does nobody else think that this actor looks like a young D. Trump? 19:50 La "Hosteria del Laurel"! Not only is it real, that's where Don Juan Tenorio and Don Luis Mejía meet to boast about their crimes in Zorrilla's version of Don Juan. A very special version, you know why? It's the only version in the whole wide world (as far as I know) where Don Juan repents and is saved by sincere love!

Also, the Vervoids look too... phallic.

Twin Dilemma was a disaster. It's just incredible that a story of the quality of Caves of Androzani - well written, well acted with outstanding performances by Peter Davison and Christopher Gable (Sharaz Jek) coudl be followed by something so awful. The Doctor turns into an instantly dislikable twat who tries to strangle his companion, with performances that come across as hammy, badly acted and wildly over the top is a terrible misjudgement.The line "I am the Doctor, whether you like it or not!" could have been directed at the audience. Unlike Peri, the audience could get away from the Doctor by simply not bothering to watch the show, and that's what happened. It's just a bad story and pretty much set up Colin Baker's tenure to fail.

Next up the 7th doctor

I didn't think the 6th Doctor stories were all that great. I liked looking at Peri but the rest of it I think the writers were running out of material

The one part of 80's who I actively avoid as it was just horrible in his first full season and really JNT should have been replaced in 1983 as 1985 who was all the excesses of JNT and it was just Bad along with sadistic violence