60 Years of Doctor Who - The 2nd Doctor Era Ranked

Hello!

If you've been following my story-by-story rankings of the entirety of Doctor Who's 60 years on TV then you'll be aware that I have now reached the end of the Patrick Troughton era. His stories really lay the foundation for what the show has become today, moving away from pure historicals and leaning more into the sci-fi elements. Indeed, for many of Troughton's best episodes, it was this breaking the mould and reinventing the wheel, so to speak, that really allowed the show to shine and push it further. Throughout my marathon, I've been ranking the episodes, the companions, the enemies, and the alien species and robots encountered along the way - where did your favourites rank on my list?

MY EPISODE RANKINGS:

Troughton starred in a respectable 21 stories, but which ones made my top 5? Below you can find my full ranking for his era, with a little bit of reasoning behind my top 5.

1. The Mind Robber

I LOVE this story. It has everything. It's inventive, it's unique, and it's incredibly polished. The Mind Robber takes the show to a place it never had before, pitting the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe against mythological beasts and futuristic robots with the aid of a fairytale princess and other fictional characters. The Land of Fiction offers so much untapped potential for stories that I can't believe it's never been revisited on screen before.

2. The Web of Fear

The Web of Fear is another brilliant story. Virtually the entirety of season 5 is made up of base-under-siege stories but none does it quite as well as this, and very few have since. Placing the Yeti in the London Underground was a genius idea that makes for an eerie, atmospheric tale with plenty of iconic imagery. Plus it also wins bonus points for introducing the legendary Colonel (who would go on to be Brigadier) Lethbridge-Stewart, and seeing the return of guest character Professor Travers from The Abominable Snowmen, which was unusual for the Classic era.

3. Fury From The Deep

I fell in love with this story the first time I saw it. This was my first experience of Victoria, which was ironic giving it was her swansong, but I instantly took a liking to her, and even though I'd only just met her, I thought her farewell was emotional and well executed. The story itself is another great base-under-siege story with an interesting enemy and the animation looks great. It continues to hold up well with every rewatch. 10/10

4. The Macra Terror

This story really surprised me. I thought I'd enjoy it but I really didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. It was brilliant, the jaunty soundtrack juxtaposed with the action on screen made the whole thing unsettling in the best way. The Macra themselves were also a great villain, and it kind of saddens me to see the way they were used in their almost cameo-like appearance in the modern era.

5. The War Games

Everyone loves The War Games, and rightly so. It's a lengthy 10 parts but it doesn't suffer from it at all. The story unfolds at just the right pace, giving the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe one last adventure whilst still managing to greatly expand the lore of the show ready for the next era. The exits of all the main cast make this an essential watch too.

And here are the runners-up:

6. The Faceless Ones

7. The Tomb of the Cybermen

8. The Moonbase

9. The Power of the Daleks

10. The Seeds of Death

11. The Enemy of the World

12. The Invasion

13. The Dominators

14. The Krotons

15. The Underwater Menace

16. The Ice Warriors

17. The Evil of the Daleks

18. The Wheel in Space

19. The Abominable Snowmen

20. The Highlanders

21. The Space Pirates

MY COMPANION RANKINGS:

Going in reverse order, here are my thoughts on who were the best companions that the Second Doctor had:

6. Colonel/Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

Nicholas Courtney finds himself at the bottom of the companion rankings for a second time, but with a completely different and unrelated character. It's impossible not to like the Brigadier. He and the Second Doctor make a terrific duo and he only ranks at the bottom of my list purely because they only share two stories together. I look forward to seeing more of him in future stories.

5. Zoe Heriot

Zoe is great. I took a while to warm to her because in her debut she is simply the one-dimensional female genius whereby her emotional intelligence has been sacrificed to present her as incredibly knowledgeable and presumably to distinguish her from her predecessor, Victoria. But once Zoe starts to get a chance to her show her mettle and develop more of a personality in future stories, she becomes a great asset to the TARDIS team in her stories.

4. Ben Jackson

Ben continues to grow as he becomes one of the first companions to witness a regeneration and responds believably to the fact that the Doctor has become a completely different person. He's well developed and his chemistry with Polly is great, and his dynamic with Jamie is also entertaining. I was sad to see him go but his role did seem to be split with Jamie once he came onto the scene.

3. Victoria Waterfield

I really like Victoria. I think she is often just remembered as the girl that screamed a lot, but when you reflect on Classic Who that was often required of the female leads. Considering Victoria was meant to be a 14 year old Victorian child who sees her father murdered and is subsequently thrust into a life of travelling through time and space getting into scrapes, I'd say she handles herself remarkably well. I warmed to her quickly and her dynamic with Jamie is especially endearing. Her exit is also very moving as she becomes the first companion to relinquish her place aboard the TARDIS, essentially because she doesn't think she's cut out for it.

2. Polly Wright

Polly is just brilliant. A girlboss. She gets stuff done and always looks effortlessly stylish at the same time. She refuses to be pushed around by the Doctor, Ben and Jamie. I don't know what they'd do without her. I wish she'd had more to do in her final story though.

1. Jamie McCrimmon

Jamie is THE companion of the Troughton era. He's the Yaz to Troughton's Thirteen. Appearing in all but one of his stories, Jamie essentially stays with the Second Doctor for all of his life and it's undeniable that they share the deepest bond of all of his companions. Jamie adjusts well when he's taken out of his time and he is the best proof that a historical companion works. He may not have Zoe's brains, but he's got the brawn, the looks and the heart to make up for it. It was a bit gutting having to bid him farewell in The War Games.

MY RANKING OF THE SECOND DOCTOR'S ENEMIES:

The Second Doctor faced off against many adversaries, but who made my Top 3?

1. The Great Intelligence - The Abominable Snowmen/The Web of Fear

The Great Intelligence lives up to its name. As controller of the Yeti, it takes my top spot as its quests for global domination are compelling and the potential for them to pull it off was there. Whilst it's debut isn't the most memorable, it cements it's place with its resurgence in The Web of Fear where it seizes control of London and poses a very credible threat.

2. Macra Control - The Macra Terror

The Macra Control are intelligent creatures and the way they take control of the colony without the colonists knowing is brilliant. They are the OG gaslighters, and it's a shame that this intellect is missing when we next see them in the modern era.

3. Ramón Salamander - The Enemy of the World

This is a great idea. The Doctor sharing his face with a maniacal dictator offers great plot potential. Whilst Troughton's accent might be a bit dodgy, he gives a tremendous portrayal of villainy and Salamander's plan for global domination is brilliantly callous.

And here are the runners-up:

4. Professor Zaroff - The Underwater Menace

5. The Director of the Chameleons - The Faceless Ones

6. The War Lord & The War Chief - The War Games

7. Silver Daleks - The Power of the Daleks

8. The CyberTelosian Controller - The Tomb of the Cybermen

9. Slaar - The Seeds of Death

10. Navigator Rago - The Dominators

11. Tobias Vaughn - The Invasion

12. CyberTelosians - The Moonbase

13. Varga - The Ice Warriors

14. Krotons - The Krotons

15. The Cyber Planner - The Invasion

17. Dalek Emperor - The Evil of the Daleks

18. The Weed Creature - Fury From The Deep

19. Bragen - The Power of the Daleks

20. The Cyber-Planner - The Wheel in Space

21. Caven - The Space Pirates

22. Solicitor Grey - The Highlanders

SPECIES - ALIENS & ROBOTS

The Second Doctor's era introduced us to many weird and wonderful species and creatures. Here, I've ranked them solely on whatever their TV appearances gave us - including backstory, portrayal and character design.

1. Daleks

The Daleks claim the top spot again, building on their success in the previous era. Their portrayal in Power of the Daleks proves what great villains they can be - manipulative and cunning, whilst Evil of the Daleks introduces us to experimental Humanised Daleks that chillingly juxtaposes Dalek imagery with childish innocence. And above all this, their design remains timelessly iconic.

2. Macra

I really love the Macra of the Troughton era. They're criminally underused when they return in Gridlock and I think a future return for them could be really interesting. They offer a lot of potential as gigantic alien parasites with a high intellect that enables them to infiltrate civilisations and manipulate for their own ends.

3. Chameleons

These brilliant shapeshifters round out my top 3. Kidnapping youths in what was essentially a slow invasion to steal our faces, having lost theirs in some great disaster on their own planet, the villainous Chameleons look great and have a properly fleshed out means and motive to their plan.

4. Telosian Cybermen

I can't not talk about the Cybermen in the Troughton era. This was the era that really defined who they were. When they first reappear in The Moonbase in shiny new silver suits, we see the Cybermen as we know them today. With every reappearance, they're less about the body horror in The Tenth Planet but still just as menacing. It can be easy to forget they used to be people and just assume they're actually robots hell-bent on invasion though. That said, their stories are all pretty good, barring The Wheel in Space, and the Invasion model is my favourite Cyberman design ever.

5. Robot Yeti

How could I not tallk about the Yeti?! THEY'RE SO FLUFFY. And yet somehow they're still menacing. They look great and they appear in one of the best and most iconic stories of not just the Troughton era but of all of Classic Who.

And here are the runners up:

6. Ice Warriors

Quick honourable mention to the Ice Warriors - they miss out on the top 5 because though they're iconic and have reappeared a few times, they're not that remarkable beyond their appearance. In the Troughton era particularly they're guilty of lumbering around in their bulky suits and not a lot else.

7. Fish People

8. War Lords

9. Time Lords

10. Seaweed Creature

11. Quarks

12. Dominators

13. Krotons

14. Dulcians

15. Gonds

Thanks for reading! I hope you found it interesting. If you want to follow the rest of my Whoniverse marathon for the 60th anniversary, you can find a link to the thread here: https://twitter.com/charlieq_02/status/1624844688086773763?s=20

Where did your favourites rank on my list? Feel free to comment below!

Until next time,

Charlie