The BBC (I assume) has set up an official Doctor Who channel on YouTube, adding more classic DW arcs as time goes along. (You know, *real* Doctor Who.) I hardly think I’m alone in thinking the Peter Hinchcliffe / Tom Baker period is peak Who. For myself, that’s partly because I always preferred the Doctor being on Earth and fighting alien invasions. Second, it’s definitely the period that has learned most heavily and successfully on gothic horror.
Seeds of Doom, posted this last weekend, definitely falls into that category. With echos of Lovecraft and Quatermass, it’s also one of several shows in the Pertwee / Baker era that featured giant monsters. To my mind, it’s also one of the most successful six-part stories. That’s because it starts with a sort of contained story that eats up a couple chapters and then leads into a largely discrete main story. I don’t know why they didn’t use that format more often.
Other great such arcs currently posted on YouTube include Terror of the Zygons and, my all time favorite Doctor Who story, The Pyramids of Mars.
