Sixth Doctor Summary

Unsurprisingly, the Sixth Doctor is the first classic Doctor I finish and I can't say that I'm sad to see the back of him. I've nothing against Colin Baker and in fairness, I actually kind of liked his brusque, arrogant style of Doctor. But his era had some real stinkers and I'm not sure I ever got on with Peri. Mel was better in the Sixth Doctor era, but with only six episodes to evaluate, I could say the same about Tom Baker's cabbage companion.

Unfortunately, there were no stories of the Sixth Doctor era that really stood out as great. I ended up with three stories that managed a 4 for me but even in those, I may have been generous. Of those three, I think The Mysterious Planet was probably the best just because the shift from arguing to teasing helped Peri's acting and you had Dibber and Glitz as a fun comedy bit. But the other stories either flailed around at the middling level or tanked and tanked hard. When you have three of eleven stories pulling a 1 or lower, that doesn't say much for the overall quality of the era.

Ultimately, I'd say the Sixth Doctor era is the unfortunate by-product of a lot of little failures. John Nathan-Turner was ready to move on but not allowed. He regained some footing when he finally grasped that the BBC intended him to see the show to it's death in the Seventh Doctor era and that liberated the storytelling. Similarly, you had a script editor in Eric Saward who was overworked, stressed and hated the actor playing the Doctor. He and the other writers tried and failed at taking a darker turn while still attempting to be entertaining. It was probably the height of the arrogance of the show where they legitimately thought they could get away with whatever they wanted and the fans would still come. This began to turn with the Trial season, but the damage was done and lesson not fully learned until the Seventh Doctor era.

There are good performances and good stories in the Sixth Doctor era but they are buried in a larger supply of garbage. I am happy that the Sixth Doctor has gotten a redemption in the form of the Big Finish audio dramas and that has helped his overall reputation. But, his era will probably go down as both my least favorite and lowest rated of the classic Doctor eras.

Highest Rated Story: The Trial of a Time Lord: The Mysterious Planet - 4.0

Lowest Rated Story: The Twin Dilemma - 0.5

Average overall rating: 2.75

The Twin Dilemma
Attack of the Cybermen
Vengeance on Varos
The Mark of the Rani
The Two Doctors
Timelash
Revelation of the Daleks
Trial of a Time Lord Pt. 1: The Mysterious Planet
Trial of a Time Lord Pt. 2: Mindwarp
Trial of a Time Lord Pt. 3: Terror of the Vervoids
Trial of a Time Lord Pt. 4: The Ultimate Foe