First, this.
I frequent two Facebook Who groups, one of which is devoted exclusively to Classic content (1963-1996, with concessions for Big Finish). It’s a nice, tightly run group with decent moderation and friendly banter, but one thing that occasionally frustrates me is a certain disdain towards negativity. It’s not quite the “everyone’s opinion is equally valid” rubbish that I had to put up with in GCSE RE, but it seems that dumping on the bad stuff is frowned upon. If you mention that Adric was a douche, for example, you’ll frequently get a bunch of people telling you that no, he was good, and it’s wrong to single him out, to which I typically reply that no, he was a douche.
The same thing goes when it comes to discussing individual episodes: a common response is “It was a good story, and I don’t understand the hate”. Frequently these are people who assume that if you dump on stories from 1985 you have a personal vendetta against Colin Baker. It’s as if the concept of quality control is entirely meaningless. I wouldn’t mind, but when this came up the other week the story being discussed was ‘The Twin Dilemma’. After pointing out the disastrous script, the unlikeable Doctor, the narrative-that-goes-nowhere and the dreadful acting from the twins (honestly, my dining table is less wooden), my closing response was “I think there are worse, and these things are always going to be a bit subjective, but if you really can’t understand why so many people hate it so much I might diplomatically suggest you haven’t really watched it properly.”
I mentioned a while back that whenever I’m done watching a Classic story, I’ll email Gareth a list of bullet points. I also mentioned that ‘Warriors of the Deep’ arguably warranted its own entry, and it does, just about. This is not a lengthy discussion – ook, there’s plenty of sensible critique about ‘Warriors’ out on the interweb, and you don’t need another essay from me as to why it’s the worst Silurian story of the lot (and yes, I’m factoring in ‘Cold Blood’). Instead, you may have my bullet points, occasionally embellished with images.
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– I love Tegan opening the ‘stuck’ door with no effort at all, particularly as it comes hot on the heels of a documentary I was watching this morning about women in Doctor Who and whether they were portrayed properly. (It features an irritating DW Magazine girl saying “No, I don’t think strong female villains are empowering…”)
– Someone call International Rescue, and tell the Tracy Brothers we’ve found those missing outfits.
– Stupid guard moment #1: they walk into the chemical lab, purposely looking for intruders, say “Nah, no sign of them here”, and they don’t bother checking behind the shelves. THEY DON’T BOTHER CHECKING BEHIND THE SHELVES.
– When I was a kid I watched an episode of Grange Hill when Jeremy was larking about in the swimming pool, and drowns. There is a reason, I think, why three decades later this is just about the only episode of the programme I can actually remember. The end of episode one of this is a bit like that, without the acne.
– Stupid guard moment #2: two of them, patrolling the perimeter, fail to notice an unconscious crew member left IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CORRIDOR ABOUT SIX FEET AWAY.
– The Manipulator. It’s like one of these:
– Ooh. Stunts. And the Second Doctor’s catchphrase. As long as you ignore the wobbly scenery, this is quite exciting.
– Oh dear God the Myrka.
– “Help! We’re being attacked by a green pantomime horse and I can’t get out from under this polystyrene door!”
– Hang on, did Solow really just try and do kung-fu on the horse? Because I think that’s a contender for ‘most stupid kamikaze move in history’. Almost as silly as attacking a Dalek with a baseball bat.
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– They left the TARDIS doors unlocked. They LEFT THE TARDIS DOORS UNLOCKED.
– Unfortunate, really, that the chief sea devil has a name that (in the filtered voice of a Silurian) sounds rather like ‘Cervix’.
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When I sent the Davison-does-mail-order image to Gareth, his response was “Surely there should be a Little Miss Moffett somewhere?”
I said “Funny you should mention that…”
Brian of Morbius 
I wouldn’t say I have a vendetta against Colin Baker, I just find him difficult to like ever since his comments in Doctor Who Magazine that time.
Now, what time was that?
When he criticised fans having “favourites” because it isn’t fair on other episodes and the people that made them. It was the Series 8 survey issue.
Ah, yes. Well, Baker has something of a bee in his bonnet about polls in general because his stories tend to wind up near or at the bottom of them. That’s not really his fault, and it’s a great shame – and it’s for that reason that he’s very (and perhaps rightly) disparaging of the sort of ‘worst story ever’ lists that occasionally appear in the press. But you can’t apply the same logic to the other end of the spectrum. There’s nothing wrong, for example, in saying that Androzani is a spectacular piece of work, with narrative oomph, intense characterisation, wonderful acting and impeccable direction. That’s nothing to do with it being a ‘favourite’ – it’s just of a very, very high standard. That other stories do not live up to this is sometimes down to writers, sometimes actors, more often than not time and money – but I’d always hope that when you’re voting, you make reasonable allowances for that sort of thing. (Put another way, I wouldn’t put Time and the Rani at the bottom of my list because McCoy was still finding his feet and is all over the place. I’d put it there because it’s rubbish.)