What's the first bad Doctor Who story?

[SiHart]

A friend was just asking this on Twitter and getting some interesting responses, so I thought I'd ask it here...

So what do you think is the first out and out bad Doctor Who story and why?

[Rob McCow]

Out-and-out bad? All of the early stories have something to commend them! It's probably easier to rate them in order than to identify Doctor Who's first stinker.

I'd be tempted to say The Sensorites, but on its own terms that's a very good serial. The Keys of Marinus would be another choice, because it's Terry Nation doing what he does best (coasting).

[Stuart Wallis]

I'd be tempted to say The Sensorites, but on its own terms that's a very good serial. The Keys of Marinus would be another choice, because it's Terry Nation doing what he does best (coasting).

Fair comment all round; I do happen to like The Sensorites, and Terry did have a habit of just throwing scripts together and hoping for script editors to bail him out ("Yes Tewwy, Planet Of The Daleks is a good one, but we have seen it before..."). I would say that for sheer WTF-ness, it would have to be The Edge Of Destruction. I'm actually tempted to say An Unearthly Child because episode 2 onwards don't hold my interest, but the first part does.

[Perry Vale]

Sensorites and Keys both are weaker than stories around them, but I wouldn't call them stinkers.

I'd possibly nominate Planet of Giants, especially after recently seeing how much the last two episodes were butchered, on the dvd.

[Andrew Curnow]

My kneejerk reaction was to say Keys but that's probably unfair. If we're talking really 'bad' I guess it's got to be a failure at every level doesn't it? Poor script, bad design, some weak acting and naff direction. Something like Timeflight, although I don't think that can be the first example.

Or maybe bad just means 'weaker than all its peers' in which case, well, I'd say we're back to Keys!

[MacNimon]

It's a hard question to answer, isn't it? It isn't made any easier considering how many 60s stories are missing from the archives...The Enemy Of The World is a prime example of how a story not currently highly rated could easily be elevated to a fan favourite, or vice-versa, if all the stories still existed.

If, as Andrew says, 'bad' just means 'weaker' then you could easily pick something such as Marinus or episodes 2-4 of An Unearthly Child. I don't think that's really fair though, because they aren't really 'bad' are they? I'd rather go with the definition of 'failure on multiple levels', which makes things more difficult...

It would be easy to say The Web Planet, a story I can't get into at all, but that wouldn't be fair...I can still appreciate what they were trying to do there, they just didn't have the budget to do things justice. And it would be tempting to say The Gunfighters, but it's simply not as bad as it's reputation for decades suggested it was. I think that my choice would actually be The Dominators, simply because I find it so dull.

[Dirk Gently]

Twin Dilemma. Enough said.

[Wayne]

I don't like some of the Hartnell historicals, and it's difficult for me to be objective about stories that basically put me to sleep, So I'd probably say Marco Polo.

[Paul Clement]

Most stories have something to recommend them, I don't think the show has that many real stinkers. There are stories that aren't as good as some of the others, but when it comes to real stinkers, we're looking at a very small number that have no redeeming features. Under those conditions, the first real stinker would be Space Pirates (I would have said Gunfighters until recently but liked it far better on that viewing).