We DW fans are an odd lot...

[thisbluespirit]

Because the last general post wound up with several of us talking about how we DW fans rarely agree on anything (50 years of canon, non-DW fans, can you imagine the potential for varying opinons on everything??), I can here proudly present further evidence of that fact. Few things are better than the giant poll DWM did once DW reached 200 stories (fans will not yet agree whether Planet of the Dead actually was story 200 or not, or even what all 200 stories are actually called and the Best story was voted as Caves of Androzani, the worst was Twin Dilemma. The two stories followed on from each other, yes. :Lol:). But this is probably one of them.

For the 40th anniversary, DWM issued one of their specials ("We ♥ Doctor Who"). It was obviously an extra special special because nobody but me seems to remember it or have a copy, including DWM as they never seem to remember any of the polls they did for it. Anyway, one of the polls was for people's least favourite things about Doctor Who.

And here is the resulting list, as transcribed by me! No, we really did not need New Who and Classic Who in order to argue...



1. Michael Grade (it is only fair to the voters to note that he got twice as much as any other entry on the list. He was the clear winner of the award by nearly 700 votes. If you're a New Who fan and don't know who he is, lucky you.)
2. The Myrka
3. The Sixth Doctor's costume
4. Dimensions in Time (the 1993 CiN sort of special thingy)
5. Mel/Bonnie Langford
6. Adric/Matthew Waterhouse
7. John Nathan-Turner (who also came #5 in the poll of Greatest Contributors to DW ever. We are contradictory, yes)
8. Delta and the Bannerman (no, no idea why this)
9. Death Comes to Time (webcast)
10. The Kandy Man
11. The Magma Beast
12. Ace/Sophie Aldred (Obv. a terrible mistake in counting; cannot explain this otherwise)
13. The TV Movie
14. The Sixth Doctor/Colin Baker (who also came #13 in Greatest Contribution to DW ever, :lol:)
15. The Trial of a Time Lord
16. Question Mark Costumes
17. The Twin Dilemma
18. Pip and Jane Baker
19. Timelash
20. Dapol (makers of legendarily inaccurate DW models. They did Davros with two arms, green K9s and scarfless Fourth Doctors, why not?)

And, just for good measure, they included things that nearly made it and a round up of random hated things that had got at least one vote from somebody, somewhere:

The Doctor
Hale & Pace
Eric Saward
Brigadier Bambera
K9
Erato
Morlox & the Bnadril Ambassador
Alpha Centauri
the Zarbi
the Giant rat
the Quarks
the Yeti
Kroll
the Vardans
Paradise Towers
Time-Flight
Warriors of the Deep
The Ghosts of N-Space
The Web Planet
Day of the Daleks
Greatest Show in the Galaxy
The Space Pirates
Ghost Light
The Gunfighters
Time and the Rani
The Underwater Menace
Inside the Spaceship (Edge of Destruction to everybody except DWM...)
Underworld
The Horns of Nimon
The Androids of Tara
The Rapture (BFA)
Doctor in Distress (charity single)
Doctor Who underpants
the Sky Ray Space Raider Ice Lolly
Phantasmagoria (BFA)
The Adventuress of Henrietta Street (EDA)
The Doctor Who pattern Book
The Ancestor Cell (EDA)
Do You Have a License to Save This Planet?
Transit (NA)
Travels Without the TARDIS
The Technical Manual
The Cancellation
The McCoy logo
Bad CSO
the Action Man tank in robot
the kissing in the TV Movie
Peter Howell's theme tune
Dodo's accent
photo-montage book and video covers
the obsession with returning foes in the 1980s
the Faction Paradox
Peter Davison's regenerating shoes
Mary Whitehouse
those two girls in Mawdryn Undead
the linking material on the Power of the Daleks audio cassette (what? who says DW fans are nitpicky?)
John Scott Martin's hair (I think someone was joking. JSM was one of the longest-running of the Dalek operators.)
the IM Forman continuity cock-up
the half-human nonsense
K9 singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas
the Rani's traps that turn people into trees
junking the episodes in the 1970s (a thing I feel should have come in at no 1 or 2, personally)
that bit in Black Orchid where the Doctor shows the people inside the TARDIS to prove his story.

I wonder if they'll do a similar thing for the 50th? It would be very interesting to compare hates now we've got so much new material to work with... Or possibly disturbing and distressing. Or would dodgy monsters and question mark costumes still be worse than burninated episodes? 0_o (I would vote for burninated episodes, btw. My least favourite DW thing is unquestionably stories that people carelessly lost, wiped and burnt. But, you know, some people still hate the Kandyman worse than being unable to watch Marco Polo or Power of the Daleks, or any of the lost stories.)

I should add the entire special was a collection of Top 20 polls and was a lovely celebration of the show and even this article was done v light-heartedly. Anyway, 10 years on, I find this list kind of hilarious. As it says, regarding the much-hated monsters, "Boy, can Doctor Who fans hold a grudge..."

Just as long as we can all still be friends, even though some of us wince at the sight of a question mark and others are allergic to celery. ;-)

Comments

[aralias]

i love question mark costumes and colin baker's in particular and JNT. and mel and ace obviously. and the TVM. and i'm glad dimensions in time exists - i'd much rather it existed and we could all enjoy its cracktasticness than that it didn't and we couldn't

and everytime i remember that paul darrow is in timelash i want to watch it again!

twin dilemma is awful, though. let's be fair.

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, but this is a list where at lest one person voted for "the Doctor" as their least favourite thing in DW. (that must have been spoiling the show for 50 years, what a pain).

Timelash is terrible but fun; people should stop worrying and learn to laugh at the tinsel, the glove puppets, and Paul Darrow and enjoy themselves. There are better and worse stories that are far less entertaining.

I have a blindness for question marks. I always think Seven didn't have any on his costume, anyway, just his umbrella.

I haven't seen Twin Dilemma. I expect I will like it, at least a bit. ;-p

[lferion]

That is a highly entertaining list!

I happen to agree with you on the episode junking - just, gah! I think Michael Grade well and truly earned his most-hated spot, though.

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, yes, isn't it? I had to share. :-)

Yes, I'm glad actually that nothing about the show itself got anywhere near as many votes as Mr Grade. He did at least hate the show and its fans back, so it was fair enough.

[lolmac]

I am amazed that Meglos didn't make the cut. Or Terrance Dicks. (Of course, I violently disagree with some items while passionately agreeing with others, but what else would you expect?)

[thisbluespirit]

Well, it wasn't the story poll - if I look to that, Meglos was among about 20 or so unloved stories that didn't get a single vote. (Which surprises me, I'd have thought everything would have got one vote!)

Of course, I violently disagree with some items while passionately agreeing with others, but what else would you expect?

Congratulations, you're a DW fan! ;-)

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

Uncle Tewwy is one of the few things that unite Who fans. He's hugely popular, probably because he represents very early reading memories, and the only possible access to so many stories in the pre-VHS days. I've seen fans calling for him to have a knighthood, which is quite sweet really.

His books can be pretty dire, certainly! He's spectacularly prolific though, which probably in part explains it.

Your icon made me smile. I do love a good O'Neill smartass remark!

[taiyou_to_tsuki.livejournal.com]

Still waiting for fandom to get over its irrational hatred of Colin Baker and everyone associated with his era tbh. On everything else, I can agree to disagree.

(Honestly surprised the Doctor made it to the second list and not the Master. And I say this as a fan of the Master. Unless they just picked the most amusing contributions?)

Dear god I love this fandom. We are ridiculous.

[thisbluespirit]

Well, this list was from 2003. I don't know what the results would be for a similar poll for the 50th anniversary, really. I think time has moved on and there would be less hate for Colin. (But he also got higher in the Greatest Contributor poll than he did in the least favourite one!)

Yes. I think, from the context, the stories and monsters mentioned were generally those that nearly made it, and the rest were things they thought were too amusing not to mention. You can't help but feel sorry for the person who would really enjoy this TV show if they'd stop focusing on the Doctor all the time... :lol:

Dear god I love this fandom. We are ridiculous.

Absolutely! ♥

[lolmac]

Hurrah! I adored Colin Baker, and I found his outfit hilarious. He's the only one of them I've ever met in person, and it's one of my Best Fandom Experiences Evar.

[robot-mel.livejournal.com]

That is highly amusing! I must admit I agree with some of them but others make me truly puzzled!

[thisbluespirit]

:-) Yes, quite. And I'm amused by some of the random pet hates - can't help imagining some poor fan traumatised forever by some incident involving an ice lolly and his Doctor Who underpants, probably while watching The Twin Dilemma.

:-)

[thisbluespirit]

I really wouldn't worry. The list is truly random and does not even match up with the results of other polls in the same magazine. :-)

It's the state of being a DW fan, really. :lol:

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

Ah, DWM polls! Photocopying the page(s), so as not to ruin the magazine, and then laboriously filling the damn things in. I kind of miss that. Stopped buying the magazine in around 2007 after some sixteen years, when it all became "Isn't the new series the best thing ever!" all the damn time. Even when the new series wasn't being especially good. But I digress.

The burninating would be top of my list too! Along with Lawrence Miles, Matthew Waterhouse and the frankly embarrassing Dalek voices in the TVM. And Alexei Sayle, just because. I'd agree with the Kandy Man, I think. The Doctor vs Bertie Bassett?! What the hell?! But let's face it, most of the time when DW is being rubbish, we love it anyway. And we're allowed to mock it, but non-fans aren't! Viz the terrifying Cliff Of Doom that Sarah Jane falls down in "The Five Doctors". Or the Infinity Chicken. Or Billy fluffing his lines. Or Peri's cleavage attempting CPR on the Doctor at the end of "The Caves Of Androzani".

Actually that last one features on a lot of people's favourites list, which probably shouldn't surprise.

[thisbluespirit]

DWM polls! Photocopying the page(s), so as not to ruin the magazine, and then laboriously filling the damn things in.

Or, in my case, being too shy to fill in polls and send them away. :loL: (I think I did once. I'm not sure which once, though.)

the frankly embarrassing Dalek voices in the TVM

Ah, so you're one of those fans who hold a grudge? ;-p And leave Bertie Bassett alone, he's wonderful (to some misguided folks, like me).

DW and its randomness and everything that goes with that is just amazing. Even when that means none of us can ever do more than agree to disagree for about 3/4s of the time.

[rahirah]

What, Mel makes the top twenty and Peri didn't? INJUSTICE!!!

(Maybe when people voted for Ace they were confused and meant Peri. Yes, I will believe that.)

[thisbluespirit]

I'm quite sure Peri got some votes, too. :lol: (Poor Peri...!) As for Ace, you're probably right. They certainly must have been confused about something. ;-)

[femme-slash-fan.livejournal.com]

LOL.... that list. Wow. I really do seem to love 3/4 of the stuff that people mostly hate... oops.

I... have nothing else to say really. Sorry.

[thisbluespirit]

Ha, don't worry, I don't think this is any sort of guide to anything but the strangeness of DW fans. And was contradicted by things in other polls in the same magazine anyway. ;-)

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

There's nowt so queer as folk - unless it's DW fans!

[thisbluespirit]

Quite! :-D

[liadt]

Aaah, leave the Myrka alone, if only 'Warriors of the Deep' had been good.... And Ace defo a typo. I hope 'Edge of Destruction' made a high ranking appearence in the 'Top Stories' section, I really like it.

[thisbluespirit]

I think my favourite thing about this whole list is that it has Michael Grade, followed by the Myrka. It's somehow perfect and sums up everything.

(I can't help now imagining there's an Unpopular DW MOnsters support group, of which Michael Grade is an honorary member. :lol:)

I don't think it did, but it wasn't one of the 20 or so stories that didn't manage a single vote, so people like it, really.

[livii.livejournal.com]

This is just fabulous, really, haha!

[thisbluespirit]

It is, isn't it? :-)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Kind of shaking my head at some of the things on the list, in the full knowledge that they'd be shaking their heads at some of the things that'd go on my list. As you say, that just proves you're a Doctor Who fan. ;)

And it would be interesting to see something like this redone in the context of the new series - so many, many extra things to love or hate!

10. The Kandy Man

Recount! Recount!

12. Ace/Sophie Aldred

Surely some mistake...?

[femme-slash-fan.livejournal.com]

... Why not do a Who-at-50 one boss?

(Heh, sorry but I'm too lazy to set it up right)

[singeaddams.livejournal.com]

I LOVE that rat and I LOVE that coat! I defy that list.

[thisbluespirit]

The list is hypothetical and doesn't really exist, and even if it did, it's out of date.

I think that, when asked what was their least favourite thing about DW, that 667 fans listed the Myrka is just kind of hilarious. Or endearing or something. Poor Pantomime Myrka! :lol:

[honeynoir.livejournal.com]

Hee! That is so great! The reasons garnering dislike are certainly many and varied...

[thisbluespirit]

Absolutely! I think some of them reflect some traumatic childhood moments or something. (The Doctor Who Pattern Book and the Sky Ray Ice Lolly? :lol:)

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but where are the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMSS on that list? Hrrrrm, who fandom? tsk tsk tsk.

*ponders* Aside from Michael Grade, I feel like there should be a challenge to write a fic featuring all of those things.

[thisbluespirit]

I'm quite sure that somewhere, someone gave them a vote, I wouldn't worry. ;-)

:lol: There really should, yes.

[ravenskyewalker.livejournal.com]

Wait... Sylvester McCoy himself wasn't trashed, but Sophie Aldred/Ace was? I mean, I remember the days when people were blaming Sylv for everything, and I was defending him, blah blah blah. Oh, fandom, you so silly.

I don't think that Colin Baker deserves the abuse, either, but I've sadly never been as fierce a defender of him. Sorry, Colin. *shamefaced look*

[thisbluespirit]

Well, it was a poll and most of the magazine was taken up in celebration, so I wouldn't want to give the impression that anyone was trashed. But she seems to have got the votes. I really don't think she would now at all!

Colin got pretty much equal love and hate on the Greatest Contribution polls (13th) and this one (14th). And, yeah, I think with so much other Who to hate now, he wouldn't get so many negative votes.

But, you know, some people just really hate their DW underpants. :lol:

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I have that issue! I went nuts buying stuff off ebay a few years ago, and that's one that I got. I love the favorites lists, too--and that Chimes of Midnight and Neverland were on it. (As I recall, anyway. It's been a while since I've actually looked at it!) Poor Colin. Really gave a damn but got screwed anyway and everyone hates him for no good reason. I can't blame him for bad writing when he's so fabulous on the audios. Obvs. not his fault!

[thisbluespirit]

I have that issue! \o/

Yes, the favourites lists are great. I'm a troublemaking so-and-so only sharing the least favourite one. And I'm indebted to it for the Big Finish top 10 audios, because at that point I really wanted to try some of the BFAs and had no idea where to start, so I just went for what was on the top 10, and it was a pretty good guide. Slowly, because of course, I fell in love with Eight and Charley, and Six and Evelyn.

Colin's position on the Greatest Contribution poll and this one (13th and 14th) shows that fandom was pretty divided then - I think he'd get a lot less hate now, ten years later. (There's so much other Who to hate these days... :lol:)

[doctorpancakes.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute, who doesn't love Phantasmagoria? (I mean, Five actually voices how much he thinks Turlough's looking splendid - Gatiss, do you maybe ship it a little?) And am I alone in rather having enjoyed The Rapture?

I dunno, I'm just going to go quietly grumble at the number of Six-related things on that list (how can you not love Trial Of A Time Lord? It has a Valeyard, and feels!)

[thisbluespirit]

Wait a minute, who doesn't love Phantasmagoria?

This is DW; there's always one, or in this case, enough to get it quite a few votes. I wouldn't worry about it for a minute. Even if this list weren't outdated, it's still kind of hilarious.

Colin also made it onto the Greatest Contributor poll at #13, so he was liked more than he was hated, even in 2003. It just shows how much we disagree on... everything. :loL: