Season 17 Poll

Here are the results of the NZDWFC's first season poll and TSV's third poll. Thirteen people found time to reply. Thank you to those who did. I have decided to put the results out in a different way, rather than % and points. I think that it is easier to view the results.

EXAMPLE

	1st	2nd	3rd	- This line represents the rank
City	3	2	1
Death	1	2	3

What appears here is how many votes each rank received for that particular story. So 'City' received 3 votes in the first category and 1 in the third.

OK, on to the results. No real surprises here, and no contest for first place.

		1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1st	City	12	1
2nd	Destiny		7	3		3
3rd	Eden	1	3	4	4	1
4th	Pit		1	4	5	3
5th	Nimon		1	2	4	6

"City of Death is, in my opinion, the best Doctor Who story of all time... great acting and a great plot."
- Andrew Freeman

"Tom Baker was at his best during some of these stories, most notably Destiny of the Daleks and City of Death, which I thought was a very good story."
- Paul Kelly

"Quite simply, Nightmare of Eden and The Horns of Nimon should never have been made. The former was a good concept, but shoddily acted and executed, but the later, to put it bluntly, was crap."
- Paul Scoones

FAVOURITE SINGLE EPISODE

		Episode	Votes
1st	City	2/3/4	19
2nd	Destiny	3/1	7
3rd	Eden	1/2/4	3
4th	Pit	1	3
5th	Nimon	2/3	2

Again, City of Death comes up top. All four episodes received a mention in the No 1 story category. Episodes 2,3 and 4 from City of Death received a total of 4 votes each in the No 1 spot, making them the favourites.

FAVOURITE VILLAIN

		1st	2nd	3rd	Votes
1st	Scaroth/Scarlioni	9		3	12
2nd	Davros	2	5	2	9
3rd	Lady Adrasta		2	2	4
	Soldeed	1		3	4
	Movellans		1	2	3
	Nimon		2		2
	Tryst		1		1

"Soldeed and the Nimon were excellent even if The Horns of Nimon was a bit boring at times."
- Andrew Freeman

Scaroth/Scarlioni, in my opinion, had absolutely no competition whatsoever. Julian Glover (Scaroth) was a superb actor and filled the part perfectly. Again, I did expect to see Davros come either second or third. He always pulls in the votes, but as second place shows, he was a little sorry looking, nothing like the 'original' Davros.

FAVOURITE MONSTER

		1st	2nd	3rd	Votes
1st	Jagaroth	5	2	3	10
2nd	Daleks	5	2	1	8
3rd	Mandrells		4	2	6
	Nimon	1	2	2	5
	Wolfweeds		1	2	3
	Tythonians			1	1

A very close result between first and second. I decided on first place by the total across the rank i.e. Jagaroth (10), Daleks (8). Certainly, the Jagaroth deserves first place, a new, innovative and original monster. Possibly the biggest disappointment was the Nimon, who could have made it into 2nd or 3rd place, but poor acting and lines prevented this. A shame as the costume was not too bad. Lastly I'm surprised the Wolfweeds beat the Tythonian ambassador!

FAVOURITE SUPPORTING CHARACTER

		1st	2nd	3rd	Votes
1st	Duggan	8	3	1	12
2nd	Romana	5	3		8
3rd	Organon		4	3	7
	Seth		1	1	2
	Teka		1	1	2
	Erato			2	2
	Kerensky			2	2
	Tyssan			1	1
	Rigg			1	1
	Agella				0

Possibly, no, definitely the only saving grace in the way of supporting characters for this season was Duggan. Rarely has such a wonderful, entertaining performance been seen on Doctor Who. His role was played to perfection, deliberately overacting, which fitted the nature of his personality. Romana was also a welcome relief to the season. Organon, I think, deserved a second placing, and was quite convincing as the old hermit. I was quite surprised at Agella receiving no votes. She played a dual role, villain and supporting character, and quite a strong role.

BEST DIRECTOR

		1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1st	Michael Hayes	9	2	1
2nd	Ken Grieve	3	4	2	1	2
3rd	Alan Bromly	1	3	3	3	2
4th	Christopher Barry		2	4	5	1
5th	Kenny McBain		1	2	3	6

"The whole season was very good. This season marked the end of an era with Graham Williams leaving, in my view as one of the best ever Doctor Who Producers."
- Paul Kelly

"This would have had to have been the worst season ever, followed by Season 15 and Season 23. The stories were weak and the acting abysmal. Douglas Adams influence was all too obvious and the humour stretched."
- Jon Preddle

It's no surprise to anyone, I'm sure, that City of Death would have scooped up the No 1 spot in all categories.

Graham Williams was producer for Seasons 15, 16 and 17. All three are not highly regarded by fans. Season 17 was really quite an abysmal set of stories. In nearly all cases, the scripts were good, but again failed because of sets, acting and costumes, then there's The Horns of Nimon, as Paul Scoones says, a good concept but poorly executed. Destiny of the Daleks was a big let down after the classic Genesis of the Daleks. Davros looked and sounded very poor.

The season was a short one due to the missing story Shada, and having seen the complete six episodes, I'm sure it would have had quite an influence on the rank order of stories. Although, Douglas Adams missed out on one story, City of Death, his second script was very well done. Paris was a superb choice for location work and a welcome relief after stuffy sets and open quarries.

Any comments on this survey and results, plus anything else, would be welcome. Again, thank you to those that filled in a form and please remember to supply comments on the season.