Was Season 17 good?

No

David Brierley doesn't have the vocal timing of John Leeson so K9 becomes annoying. Lalla Ward delivers an odd performance of being both bored to tears and OTT at the same time.
Adams Humour which is practically flawless in City feels forced elsewhere,

"Teach yourself Tibetan" and "Oh my Legs..." I'm looking at you.

Regards

mark687

Nightmare of Eden has a brilliantly imaginative and well written script. Let down by the Mandrels and some poor acting.

Graham Crowden's acting, for me, is the purest joy of that story. It's a rather dull Who-by-numbers effort and Soldeed just livens it up massively. Like Joseph Furst an The Kandyman, fandom has not been too kind to Crowden but, again like Furst and KM he's well suited for the story he's in when not viewed in isoltated out of context clips . I've never thought he's acting badly but that he's pitching a performance exactly where he thinks he should given the material. As you say, Tom wasn't interested in this story so aside from being an average script on paper the lead actor was effectively working a go-slow strike. From what I've read, Tom was at his most difficult during filming so Lalla Ward effectively becomes the heroic lead and Crowden plays off her understated performance (I'm being kind to Lalla) and he delivers the more out-there elements that give the story a bit of life. He absolutely chews the scenery...but it's seldom been so fun to watch a guest star do just that. What would be worth talking about here otherwise? There's a novelty for UK peeps to see Janet Ellis from Blue Peter and Jigsaw as Teka but not much else. Crowden was a terrific actor who made sensational work before and after this series - and anyone who hasn't seen A Most Peculiar Practice with him, Peter Davison and David Troughton please stop what you're doing and seek it out.

I actually think there's a lot more to Season 17 than a lot of the stories reputations suggest, City Of Death aside which is obviously a fan-fave. As Paul says Nightmare Of Eden doesn't get nearly as much credit as it should for it's ideas and concept and I have to disagree with Mark - the "Teach Yourself Tibetan" joke is one of my favourite on the show ever. It's entirely in keeping with the absurdity of the Doctor's pocket's having whatever he needs that week and it's taking that joke to the Nth degree. The set up is funny, the pay off is hilarious.  I know Bob Baker has credit for the story but that gag has to be Douglas Adams - it's something that could so easily be in Hitchhiker's.

I want to love it all because it does what the Williams era does so well: take allusions to classical literature, art and mythology and riff off that (providing the BBC has done a similar story in the past so they can use the props and costumes to keep the costs down), it's filled with humour, it has a great TARDIS Team but it has the old problem of show quality careering up and down the street all along the season.

There is one bona fide classic in it (City Of Death), a couple of good stories let down by poor execution (Nightmare Of Eden, Creature From The Pit), a half-decent story let down by very poor execution (Horns Of Nimon), a very average story that looks mostly pretty good (Destiny Of The Daleks) and one story that has been so overloaded with series mythology and retellings that it has too much baggage associated with it to make a really objective judgement about it (Shada). So overall, it's an average season with some spectacular highlights weighted down with liabilities (IMNSHO).

I will counter with another question: in City Of Death when the Doctor, Romana and Duggan are making their way across the barren surface of the Earth to stop Scaroth's spaceship, is it the first occasion that they use the "extended TARDIS forcefield/ atmosphere" that the modern show is so fond of?

That's how I perceive Shada.

The finished scenes from episode 2 where Tom Baker is on the bicycle are PURE MAGIC.  The Cambridge student street singer with the beard always reminds me of Adric!  I'm sure it's him, but it's not.

Season 17 wasn't that good. City of Death was, of course, amazing, and the novelisation of Shada is very good, but none of the rest of the stories were anything special. None of them were awful, but none were particularly memorable. Romana II is one of my favorite companions though.

Not memobrable?


You do not remember The Giant Green Dong?

Destiny of the Daleks was good for its first half, then pretty much falls apart.
City of Death is a masterpiece, no doubt.
Creature from the Pit was rather a waste that the show would be no poorer without. A damn shame because it's one of the more professional productions this season, but the story has little of merit.
Nightmare of Eden had potential but it's an out of control mess that makes me feel kinda queasy, and Tom Baker does get rather insufferable here.
Horns of Nimon I think is far better than its reputation. The problem is the previous two stories conspire to make it seem a lot more samey, indistinct and low on inspiration.

I think even the season's worst moments are nowhere near the lows of the coming JNT era, or indeed some of RTD's. It was a far cry from the Hinchcliffe golden age, but I still think of it as representing Doctor Who 'before the fall'.