At the current time of writing anyway. I find that my opinions on this show can sometimes change though there are a few episodes that always remain my favourites, but still my tastes and opinions can vary over time as anyone’s can and this list reflects my top 10 at the moment.

10/ Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone

A lot of people felt that the Angels were not as strong in their later appearances but I disagree. I felt this was one of the greatest base under siege stories the show has ever produced. Its got everything you could want from a Doctor Who story. Great ideas, fantastic set pieces, compelling supporting characters (particularly Iain Glenn’s character), scary monsters, spooky atmospheric moments and brilliant action.

9/ Pyramids of Mars

One of the most genuinely terrifying Doctor Who stories ever made. This adventure is a classic haunted house story and features some of the darkest moments in the shows 50 plus year history such as when the possessed Marcus Scarman murders his own brother.

What really makes this story stand out however is Gabriel Woof’s amazing performance as Sutekh. He has easily one of the best voices of any villain. Calm, soft yet with a hint of quiet rage bubbling under the surface. His delivery of lines like “I am sutekh the destroyer and where I tread  leave nothing but dust and darkness. I find that good” is truly chilling!

8/ The Waters of Mars

David Tennant’s best story, this features one of the shows most frightening monsters in the form of the flood which plays on body horror and the fear of possession. It plays on an interesting idea of the Doctor a time traveller landing somewhere important like say the titanic where he knows something bad is going to happen, but has to let it happen anyway because its an important event in history.

Lindsey Duncan is also a brilliant, non sexualized Ellen Ripley style heroine and the end of her story is one of the darkest moments in the series.

7/ Earthshock

Easily the best Cyberman story in my opinion. Its plot is somewhat straight forward, but by no means poor and what makes it so strong is both its superb direction and the fact that it arguably features the most menacing and effective versions of the Cybermen to date. I not only liked the designs of them in this story, but David Banks is also the best Cyber leader and the monsters actually are only beaten by a fluke too.

6/ The Day of the Doctor

The best anniversary story in my opinion. I suppose you could consider this Tennants best story as he is in it, even though it isn’t in his era. Everything about this story is a joy from start to finish, from the fun with the Zygons to the three Doctors interactions with one another to the surprise twist at the end.

5/ The Web of Fear

My fave Troughton story, this adventure is just a straight forward monster romp, but it doesn’t matter as its superbly directed (it is Douglas Camfield) it moves along at a superb pace and it introduces the Brigadier! The Yeti attacking convent gardens is one of the greatest scenes in the entire history of the show.

4/ The Daleks

The first appearance of the titular monsters on the surface this is a fun, boys own adventure but underneath its actually one of the deepest Doctor Who stories ever made that is a powerful comment on race hatred, fascism, the threat of nuclear power, the horrors of war and even just standing up for yourself. Its a masterpiece in many ways and an important piece of British tv.

3/ Inferno

One of the best alternate universe stories ever made, this adventure offers a deep insight into the main characters of the series through their counterparts. It also has some of the darkest material in Doctor Who’s long history when we see the alternate world burn. I would also rate this as Nicholas Courtney’s greatest performance in the series too.

2/ Vincent and the Doctor

Narrowly missing out on the top spot, this story features what I think is one of the most beautiful and mature depictions of depression of any television series. Its impossible not to be moved by the final moments of the episode. Yes its overly sentimental but when dealing with Van Gough its hard not to be and Tony Curran is superb as the tortured artist.

1/ Genesis of the Daleks

Yes I now its a predictable choice but that’s only because it is the best in my humble opinion. Everything about this story works. Its plot, its dialogue, the performances, the sets, the direction, even the lighting. Michael Wisher is excellent as Davros one of the shows most insane, unpredictable and genuinely loathsome villains whilst the Daleks themselves have never been more alien and genuinely monstrous. Its just perfect.

Allosaurus was the lion of the Jurassic. Though it was much smaller than the likes of say Tyrannosaurus Rex, it was still the largest predator in its environment and preyed upon some of the mightiest animals ever to live on the planet such as the gigantic Sauropods.

At one point it was one of the most famous of Dinosaurs, but sadly in recent decades it has been somewhat usurped in popular culture by other giant killers such as Giganotosaurus and Spinosaurus.

Still we know more about Allosaurus than most other Dinosaurs as there have been considerably more skeletons discovered of the beast over the years than the majority of other Dinosaur species.

Description

Allosaurus was a medium (by Dinosaur standards) sized carnivore. It could reach a maximum length of 39 feet long, with a height of 13 feet and a weight of 2 tons.

Allosaurus lived during the Jurassic period 150 million years ago. It belonged to a group of large meat eating Dinosaurs called the Allosaurs who flourished throughout the Jurassic period and the early to middle Cretaceous. They also included Giganotosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus two of the largest meat eating dinosaurs of all time.

Allosaurus lived alongside other giant predators such as Ceratosaurs with the two occupying different niches to one another. It is believed that Ceratosaurus may have been a pescovore. Allosaurus also lived alongside giant herbivores such as Diplodocus, Apatosaurus and Stegosaurus, all of which it may have preyed on.

Allosaurus was first discovered during the middle of the bone wars in the late 19th century. The first bone fragments were found in the year 1869, but it was not named until the year 1877. It was called Allosaurus Fragilis by Othneil Marsh which means Odd or different lizard.

It was originally thought that female Allosaurus’s were larger and more powerful than the males, but the evidence for this is no longer considered valid. Now no one knows whether the males or female were larger for any species of Dinosaur. It is possible that males may have been larger like most modern day reptiles and birds the living relatives of the Dinosaurs, or its possible that like modern raptors (birds of prey) the females may have been bigger.

Scans of its brain case reveal that its brain was virtually identical to that of a modern day Alligator meaning that it most likely would have behaved in a similar fashion and had similar levels of intelligence. Alligators have a higher level of intelligence than certain species of cats and dogs and therefore Allosaurus most likely would have too.

How Did Allosaurus Kill Its Prey?

Allosaurus was most certainly a predator. There are several pieces of direct evidence for this. A stegosaurus skeleton has been found with an Allosaurus bite mark on one of its plates that has healed, whilst at the same time another Allosaurus skeleton has been found with slash marks from a Stegosaurus tail that have similarly healed. There have also been footprints discovered made by a large sauropod Dinosaur with the footprints of an Allosaurus following behind.

Several other Allosaurus specimens have been found with broken bones and gruesome injuries that have clearly been gained in conflicts too.

Whilst some may dismiss these as rare occurrences its important to remember that given how rare the fossil record actually is this seems unlikely. In order for so many cases of active predation by Allosaurus on other animals to be preserved it would have to be happening fairly regularly.

Despite its size however, Allosaurus is believed to have had among the weakest bite forces of any meat eating Dinosaur.

The reason for this was because Allosaurus didn’t need a massive bite. Instead it would open its jaws much wider than that of most other meat eater, and then swing its head like a hatchet at its victims allowing it to cleave off huge pieces of meat. In order to do this more effectively Allosaurus skull was also much stronger and more reinforced than those of other predators too.

Allosaurus could open its mouth even wider than T. rex.

Allosaurus was also among the fastest of all the large meat eating Dinosaurs. Allosaurus could run at 35 miles per hour. This is almost four times as fast as an African Elephant.

Finally as if that wasn’t enough Allosaurus also was very strong and durable. They could survive injuries that would have killed other animals. One specimen, a sub adult nick named big Al had 18 major injuries including smashed ribs almost all of which had healed.

All of these factors made Allosaurus a very effective predator of some of the largest animals ever to live on the planet.

There is also a possibility that Allosaurus may have swarmed their prey in groups too. Contrary to popular belief, they most likely would not have hunted in coordinated packs like wolves, as such behaviour is not known among Archosaus. Still swarming behaviour is certainly possible, and Allosaurs may very well have been social animals too. There have been many Allosaurus specimens that have been found together, but all this proves is that they died together for now.

Thanks for reading.