Handman said:
Classic Doctor Who stories could be a lot better if the padding were trimmed down. There is a hell of a lot of padding. It makes it very difficult to appreciate. Or maybe I was just watching something that wasn't very good (Tom Baker's last season).
Agree there's some padding, but there's also pacing. Older shows in general simply spent more time on atmosperic/transition/establishing scenes, featured natural gaps in dialogue, etc. Some of the new Doctor Who episodes are paced so breathlessly that they're difficult to watch. It's not a story, it's a sprint. I even like some of the ridiculously-paced new episodes, but wouldn't have minded if the episode was three times as long to feel more natural.
Anyway, any direct comparison of the two is going to highlight this difference. You need a palate cleanser in between. A nice slow-burn seventies heist movie or somesuch would do. But yeah, there's still some padding even after adjusting for the pacing. It just won't seem as bad when you're already in the seventies mindset.